beauty All my services are a due Tribute to the most perfect of Beings and yet thou rewardest them with infinite happiness Teach me therefore to love thee for thy Excellencies to worship and obey thee for thy Bounty and to consecrate my powers and faculties my strength and time to my Saviours honour give me that true love that casts out fear that tramples upon dangers and rescues from despair that is the fulfilling of the Law and stronger than death it self that I may taste and see how good the Lord is and that there is no unrighteousness in him that the greatest difficulties may not lessen my affection nor fear nor flattery separate me from thy favour but that I may maintain a Holy Communion with thee till I come to dwell with thee in the habitations of Love and Peace Amen The Anthem The Life of Jesus I. WHen Jesus first appear'd abroad The Divine Man th' Incarnate God In whom both Natures were entwin'd Say my Soul was he not design'd T' eclipse th' accomplishments of all mankind II. A Virgin Mother could lye in Of nothing but what was Divine Destin'd a Miracle from the Womb From his warm Cradle to 's cold Tomb From his first smiles unto his sorrowful Doom III. The beauteous Youth had not yet seen The day that bad him write Thirteen When all the Scribes and Doctors gaz'd And the Pharisees stood amaz'd 〈◊〉 his worst Enemies his acuteness prais'd IV. Such Wisdom shone in his Discourse In all his Arguments such force Such the charms of 's sprightly face So smart his Words so smooth his Grace Moses himself ne're so became the place V. This Essay past he humbly staid Labouring hard at 's Fathers Trade Where mindful in whose stead he stood With sweat he earn'd his daily Food And learn't th' obliging art of doing good VI. Till he unto the age attain'd VVhen Priests before the Altar stand Then at his Baptism th' holy Dove In State descended from above To crown him with the marks of 's Fathers love VII Jordan thy streams that smoothly flow Till now were never hallowed so Not when Joshua travell'd through The fertile Canaan to subdue Jordan thy streams are sacramental now VIII Jesus next to the desert goes To combat there the worst of 's Foes There Satan us'd his utmost skill To stoop our Saviour to his will But the lov'd Jesus is victorious still IX He to th' Infernal Powers gives law Nature of him too stands in awe At his command water turns wine Wild Tempests do their rage resign And winds and seas to peaceful calm encline X. He cures the blind recalls the dead Feeds thousands with celestial Bread What can oppose his word or will VVho multplies by Miracle Five Loaves till th' Fragments do twelve Baskets fill XI How useful was he and how good Yet never was well understood Not when his sacred Lips dispence Strong Reason urg'd with Eloquence And every word does Oracle commence XII Not when his time and strength were spent To rescue man from punishment Nor when his beauteous Eyes and meen Powerful incentives should have been T' endear him unto all that had him seen XIII Despis'd but useful Virtue how Durst profligate man treat thee so Must scorn and torture be thy meed My soul 't is often thus decreed The innocent do for the guilty bleed XIV Jesus by Judas is betray'd Whom Jesus an Apostle made Seiz'd by the rabble of the Jews Who this great Prince with scorn do use While perjur'd Witnesses the truth abuse XV. Pilate tho much inur'd to blood Rapine and fraud the Jews withstood Till tir'd with noise and aw'd with fear Lest his ill menage should appear Condemns the Saint and quits the Murtherer XVI Thus this illustrious Sun did rise With Beams that dazled weaker eyes Did sometimes shine and sometimes shrowd His bright Rays in a gloomy cloud Setting long ere his course was done in blood Thursday before EASTER THe Day on which our Blessed Master was apprehended was justly stiled the great and holy fifth day of the Passion-Week on which the Saviour of the World having his Crucifixion in view preach'd his last most Passionate and Heavenly Sermon to his Disciples in which he earnestly recommends them to God's Love Protection and Favour and as earnestly recommends to them the Love of God and of one another And because this was the Day when the Son of God was seized on in order to his paying a Ransom for our Offences * P. Innoc. Ep 1. ad Decent c. 7. Ambr. li. 5. Ep. 33. Hier. Epit. Fabiol and compleating our Redemption therefore did hte Church on this day solemnly reconcile Penitents not all that were under censures for some were never admitted to intire Communion till after Twelve Fourteen or Twenty Years Penance and some not till they lay on their Death-beds But such who having past through those methods of Repentance which the Church prescribed were thought fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of God's Table whereas now on the contrary in the Church of Rome on this day they anathematize and ourse all the Enemies either of their Faith or Grandeur and among them not only the Protestant Hereticks as they call them but even the King of Spain himself And whereas the Holy Eucharist was on the Evening of this Day instituted to be a lasting Rite in the Christian Church therefore the Day was stiled by way of Excellency * Aag Ep. 118. Caena Domini the Lord's Supper the day of mysteries and the birth-day of the holy Chalice to denoto besides the Original Appointment of the Sacrament the Mystical Sacrifice that is made on the Altar of our Blessed Saviour who was the Prince of the Martyrs the days of whofe sufferings were called their birth-Birth-days for the sufferings of our Lord began the Evening of the Thursday tho they were not compleated till the Evening of the Friday and for this reason this day is called the day before the Preparation and the Evening is called the Vigil of the Passion which among ‖ Dr. Smyth of the Gr. Ch. p. 42. the Greeks is wholly spent in reading the History of Christs sufferings and meditating thereon in severe Fastings intense Devotion watching all night in the Church and other acts of mortification no one unless in case of absolute necessity eating or drinking any thing till after Sunset on Friday others not till Easter Eve after midnight ‖ Euseb hist li. 2. c. 17. and this acccording to the Primitive Practice It was of old time observed ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 547. that those indevout and careless Persons who slighted the Holy Eucharist all the rest of the Year would in great numbers on this day when that Holy Ordinance was first instituted come to the Holy Table And then the Church contrary to her usual Custom of receiving these My steries in the Morning did every ‖ Chrys Aug. ub supra c. where communicate in the Evening because
Institution of the Blessed Sacrament The Crucifixion And the Descent into Hell On this Week the Church abstain'd from all Sensualities and Worldly Pleasures lived upon a dry Diet their Sorrow was deep their Prayers intense their Fastings strict and their Watchings frequent and for this Reason I have after the pattern of V. To. 5. p. 524. c. St. Chrysostome in his Homilies prefac'd every days Devotion with an account of the time and the Primitive practices on that day that the Ignorant and Unlearned might know the reason why such days are set apart by the Church of God as being well assured that the Lents and Festivals of the Greek Church are one of the most succesful means next the Blessing of God of maintaining the Christian Religion among them in despite of all the Mahometan Artifices and cruelty to ruin it I have also besides an account of the Ancient Usages relating to the Holy Sacrament subjoyned an Epistle and Gospel Meditation Prayer and Anthem suited to the time tho not so fitted to every particular day of the Great Week but that they may be more or less made use of according to the Capacities and Discretion of the Devout Christian on any day of that Week or on any other Week of the Year and for Friday I have annex'd a method of Self-Examination together with a Litany and other Collects which also may be used on Wednesday or on any other or every day of the Week because that day is a fasting-day through the whole Church of God and the time when our Holy Redeemer was Crucified upon whose Death depends all the Honour and Happiness of the Christian World Nor have I inserted a Litany of my own as if I were so vain to prefer it to that incomparable Litany which our Church enjoyns but because there seems to be a need of a more particular Deprecation of Sins in the Closet than in the publick Congregation And here I solemnly protest That none of these private Offices can attone for the neglect of the Publick Service which the Church enjoyns every day of this Week but that every good man ought to frequent the House of God and to be present at all the Hours of Prayer which if he neglects I cannot see how he can expect the Divine Blessing on his private Devotion In the Circumstantials of which private Worship I have instanc'd in those particulars which many good Christians to whom this Book may be serviceable cannot enjoy but every mans prudence must be his guide in such Cases and he who hath not a Closet so furnish'd as is advised ought to take care that he do not altogether want a place to pray in and God will accept of him not according to what he hath not but according to what he hath Here also I cannot but remark and censure a most unbecoming practise of our Dissenting Brethren who in despite of our Saviour's command that we should pray in secret chuse their Closets commonly next the Street and when they are in it Pray aloud tho alone that all who pass by at least that are in the house may hear them which what it can mean but a design to be heard of men I cannot understand for if they heartily confess their sins and as I think it ought to be in private Prayers by name and with all the Aggravating Circumstances that have attended their Transgressions What Temptations are such People under either to hide their sins from God that the World may not know them or else so to acknowledg them as not to be ashamed to continue in them because those whose Vices are notoriously known generally take shelter in impudence But how unhappily such men do disserve the interests of Religion is not the Subject of this Preface only I cannot forbear remembring some few things that relate to this Sacrament such as their total neglect of the Eucharist in so palpable a manner that one of their most Eminent Preachers confesses that he never gave it in 18 Years their admitting none to the Participation of the Mysteries but those who were in Church-covenant with themselves as if there were any other Church-covenant besides that of Baptism or any other Church-membership but that of the Holy Catholick Church which is the Communion of Saints their undecent and rude distribution of it not by the hands of the Priest but from one to another as if they were at a merry meeting rather than at Gods Table their slovenly Receiving of it sitting to the scandal of their Brethren and to the Encouragement of the Socinian and other Hereticks with many other such Usages which I shall not mention I have nothing more to account for in this Preface but that I have freely made use of several passages Prayers especially of the Ancients and of some few Modern Writers without any scruple and I here profess so much by way of acknowledgment to all those good men by whom I have profited for if God have the Glory and the World the Benefit it matters not who is the Instrument And now may the God of Peace and Truth enlighten the Vnderstandings of all Mankind that they may know and love and practice their Duty that every one that is called by the Name of Christ may depart from Iniquity and may delight to Communicate with his Saviour that we all in Gods time may pass from the Festivals of the Church on Earth to the Everlasting Feast that is held in Heaven Amen The CONTENTS PART I. THE Introduction Of the Circumstances of Religious Worship in private Chap. 1. Of the Obligations of the Sacraments to Holiness Chap. 2. Of the common excuses for not coming to the Blessed Sacrament Chap. 3. Of the danger of unworthy Receiving Chap. 4. Of Examination in General Chap. 5. Examination of past sins Chap. 6. Examination of present Virtues Chap. 7. Examination of the Communicants Knowledg Chap. 8. Of the Study of the Holy Scriptures Chap. 9. Of Christian Love Chap. 10. Of the Love of God Chap. 11. Of the Remembrance of our Blessed Saviour Chap. 12. Of the Love of our Neighbour Chap. 13. Of the Duties of Unity Chap. 14. Of the Duties of Charity Chap. 15. Of the Love of Enemies Chap. 16. Of Love to the Holy Sacrament Chap. 17. Of Resignation and Self-denial Chap. 18. Of Humiliation before the Reception Chap. 19. Of joy and resolution after the Reception Chap. 20. Of the Qualities of the Priest who Consecrates Chap. 21. The Methods of the Ancients at the Reception Chap. 22. The Honour done to the Sacrament by the Ancients Chap. 23. The abuse of the Sacrament to evil ends PART II. The Introduction The Office for Palmsunday For Monday before Easter For Tuesday before Easter For Wednesday before Easter For Maundy Thursday For good-Good-Friday The Examen The Litany For Easter-Eve For easter-Easter-day Rules of Conduct for Easter-day and the Sacrament THe Reader is desired to pardon the Faults of the Press in Mispointing the English and
Pictures in the Closet while at other times any draught that represents a grave and honest Subject may well enough become the place except a Mary Magdalen or Peter in his penitent posture after the denial of his Master or a lively Representation of my dying Saviour with this Motto I desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified For I would willingly have my bleeding Master always present to my eye when I am well inclined to encourage me when bent to do evil to reclaim me He pray'd often and meditated frequently and was continually a man of sorrows and mortification But his Passion is an indispensible Obligation to Piety For what can endear holiness so persuasively as the remembrance that Christ died to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Can I look upon that sad spectacle and not be toucht with remorse and compassion and with a due consideration that my sins brought my Saviour to so much shame and torture and nothing but my Repentance can answer the ends of his sufferings A Lute or some such grave instrument if the devout person hath any skill in Musick were very proper to joyn with the Voice in the praises of God The room also should be hung so as the Windows may be darkned to make the Closet gloomy and awful upon any time when it may be convenient but more especially during the Lent the weekly Stations or half fasts of Wednesday and Friday but above all on good-Good-Friday and the Holy-Saturday the days when our blessed Master suffered on the Cross and lay in the grave I know nothing more necessary but that the place should be furnisht with Books according to every mans capacity as he is able to buy and to understand but nothing should be there but what is devotional such as Sacred History Divine Poems devout Meditations and the Rules of Holy Life Nor should these be intermixt with any Books of other sorts for tho Secular History and Poems Romances and Plays be an allowable diversion yet because the Closet is a Chappel I think them not allowable in that place For the men who are lovers of those Writings never carry them to Church with them And therefore any other room in the house is better fitted for such Books Those who can only read English for the Masters of Languages are best able to advise themselves I counsel That whatever else may be either admitted or wanting the devotional Works of the Reverend Dean of Peterborough Dr. Patrick with his excellent Paraphrases may always find a shelf there and with them the Writings of that good person the Author of the Whole Duty of Man who hath given so liberally to the Treasury of the Church and so humbly denied himself his due praises by a studious concealing of his Name together with the Primitive Christianity of Dr. Cave that they who cannot read the Works of the Ancients may in that Learned Author admire and imitate their transcendent Virtues And I mention these Books only not that I undervalue any other Authors who have writ on Pious Subjects for I know that there are now extant many very valuable Treatises set out by the Divines of our Church and perhaps more and better than all the rest of the Christian World can boast of but because in so great a multitude there ought to be some choice and I think these the most convenient and best adapted to the necessities of the persons to whom I undertake to prescribe tho at last I must acknowledg that all this discourse hath its relation only to people of condition of estate and leisure For to the poor every room in the house that is private is a Closet and the Liturgy of our Church with the Whole Duty of Man a Library When the Closet is so furnisht the next thing considerable is what time must be spent in it And here it is impossible to prescribe the same Rules to all persons only it is to be remembred that the rich and prosperous are freed from the drudgeries of Life and so have much time to dispose of as also have Scholars and all that are studiously inclined And that whereas twice or three times a day may be enough for a man of business to retire and serve his Maker I much question whether people of leisure can be dispenc't with unless they observe all the Canonical hours at lest those which happen between six in the morning and nine at night inclusively as long as health will permit I am injoin'd in the Name of our Holy Saviour and St. Paul * Luke 21.36 1 Thes 5.17 to pray always and without ceasing that is as often as I can conveniently for the other duties of my Calling as a Man and a Christian but I must never omit doing it every day at some set seasons and returns of time For so the good Widow is said * Luke 2.37 to have served God day and night at the Temple i. e. at the accustomed hours of the Jewish devotion And so this Example binds me also to the publick service of the Church if I am where I can enjoy that honour and priviledg as well as to the private performances of my Closet And to encourage this it is well worth the remembring * Act 2.1.15 V. Basil regul fusior inter 37. that the Holy Ghost the most glorious and useful donative that ever the Christian Church did enjoy was bestowed on the Apostles when they were celebrating the Festival of the Pentecost with prayers and praises and that upon one of the solemn set-hours of prayer the third hour of the day My first employment in my closet is Prayer and that either supplication or praises as I am sensible of what either sins I have lately committed or blessings received And if the Aegyptians acted only by the light of Nature in the beginning of all their ceremonies made three solemn acclamations to the Unknown Darkness i. e. to that God whom humane faculties cannot comprehend ought not I to preface my service with as many acts of solemn adoration to the blessed Trinity After I have prayed I am under obligation to read some part of Holy Writ and after it some Paraphrase or other suitable discourse with awe and attention And when I have so done I meditate which when I do I fly the society of the World to converse with God and good Angels I put my self into the true way to that peace of mind which a sinner wants and I walk directly toward Heaven I follow my Saviour who left the multitude and went into a mountain apart to enjoy the society of his Father I am taken from the occasions of censuring others or judging my Neighbours and have nothing to do but to contemplate the state of my own foul and the Mercies of my God In this place also do I chuse to fast that I may do it in secret and by avoiding being seen of men may earn an open
World indulg'd to the gratifying their extravagant Appetites then their destruction was at the door they were drown'd first in their full Bowls and then in the Deluge And that Job's children while they were in the height of their mirth and feasting were upon the brink of their graves with many other such Instances And therefore the Christian Church in imitation of the Jews who fasted twice in the week kept also their solemn Meetings on every Wednesday and Friday on which they pray'd heartily and heard the Word of God gladly and at Three in the Afternoon first received the holy Sacrament and then went to their ordinary meals On these days they humbled their souls and sent up strong cries to God for the pardon of their sins and the diverting of the divine Judgments from themselves and all the world But as if those days of Mortification would not be sufficient they appointed the Lent-Fast to be in an especial manner a time of preparation to the blessed Eucharist At that time they inured themselves to all sorts of hardship they abstained * Constit Apost l. 5. c 17 Chrys To. 5 p. 581 c. from their Baths they drunk nothing but water and did eat no thing but Bread and Herbs not changing dull and heavy Flesh for Fish and Wine the Dainties of the Old Epicures as the Romanists do * Nay the present Greeks during Lent will not so much as mention the word Butter Cheese Flesh Fish withour the following Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with reverence to the holy Lent be it spoken Grelot 's Voyage p. 143. they frequently watcht all night and when they slept lay on the bare ground And lest people thorow the weakness that cannot but succeed such severities might fall asleep in the Church they had among the Eastern Christians * Typic Sabae cap. 5. p. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Officer to awaken all drowsie persons and to bid them be intent on the duties of the season Then also they made their frequent Confessions heard Sermons every day and practis'd all the Rules of Self-denial and took care not only that their Diet should be mean but their * Tertul. de Penit. c. 9. de Jejun Habit coarse Their Penitents were covered with rough sackcloath and sprinkled with ashes till their faces were lean and dis-figured with their abstinences For he who pamper'd himself while the Church fasted was look'd on as an Atheist or an Epicure says Tertullian ' That his Belly was his God his Lungs his Church his Paunch his Altar and the Cook his Priest That the steams of his cramm'd Dishes past with him for the blessed Spirit and his poynant Sauces were look'd on by him as the influences of the Holy Ghost and his Belchings as Prophecy that all his Charity was warm'd in the pot wherein his Dinner was boyled his Faith kept alive in the Kitchen and his Hope preserv'd from starving by his divers Dishes They were not to be perswaded that a small degree of penitence would attone for a great Crime and take off the Ecclesiastical Censures Those who were reconciled were not admitted to the Holy Communion till they had addrest to the i◠spiritual Guide and had his benediction and the Prayers of the Church But many Criminals were never admitted to the priviledges of the Altar till the day of their death and some were left wholly to the mercy of God especially if the man had relaps'd * Ambrose de Paenit l. 2. c. 10. For as they never baptiz'd any man twice so they never admitted any man twice to publick Penance For should they have done so the Compassion of the Church would have brought her Laws into contempt And tho the Church hath since thought fit to give Transgressors better hopes by an easier Remission of her Censures to let the Novatians know who thought the ancient Discipline indispensible and for that Reason denied the first Paragraph of the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel to be Canonical because it afforded an Example of such Lenity in the Remission of gross sins that she had such a power yet it were to be wish'd that the ancient Discipline could be retrieved to curb the Extravagancies of a loose sensual and Atheistical Age whereby notorious vile and profligate sinners were bound to Ten Twenty or Thirty years Penance and sometimes longer proportionate to their Crimes and the heinous Circumstances that attended them This would repair the Ruins of Religion and restore the lost Reputation of despised Christianity In those best days their holiest men inured themselves to the greatest strictnesses And what extraordinary performances must we think were then required to fit a gross Offender for the Holy Communion For they had learnt that such severities are the proper method to subdue the body and deliver the soul from the drudgeries and impositions of its sensual Appetites That to fatten the body is but to make the Prison of the soul the stronger that the mind is then best enlightned when it is free from the burthen of meat and the cares of the world and that the longer a man fasts while he prays the fatter and more acceptable will be the sacrifice of his Devotion and that when * Acts 10. Cornelius did so then came the Vision that brought salvation to his house But above all they remembred our Holy Redeemer's * Mark 2.19 20. Injunction and that this was the time in which the Bridegroom was taken away from the earth and that therefore the children of the bride-chamber ought to fast Nor will every slight degree of sorrow serve to express the Resentments of such a loss and the sins that caused it For when I look on him whom my Transgressions have pierc'd I ought to mourn as one mourns for his only son and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born And is it not a shame to the Christians of this Age not to follow such an excellent pattern But why do I call my self and others to the imitation of the Vertues of the Disciples of Christ * Simon Coriar Ep. 12. inter Epist Socrat Socratic p. 28. The very Heathens will make us blush at the Day of Judgment who advise their Friends to inure themselves to Hunger and Thirst because those things do wonderfully advance a man in the study and practice of the Laws of Wisdom But here I must observe That every Abstinence is not a Fast For I may be kept from meat either by poverty or business by the Rigor of my Enemies by the Violence of a Disease or the injunction of my Physician But that which makes a Fast in the Ecclesiastical sense of the word is when it answers the ends of Religion and the performance is directed to the good of my soul Nor does every Fast which is voluntarily undertook for the ends aforesaid presently commence an acceptable Sacrifice to God unless it be
flames begun to rage in the Recollects Convent And yet many of the practises of some men of that Communion are no way reconcilable to the notion of the Divinity of the Eucharist for not to mention ‡ Alan de Sacrific c. 32. that if but a Hen be sick in the Neighborhoud you may have a Mass said for its recovery it was usually buried with the Corpses of Bishops whom they Inter'd in their Episcopal Robes with a Patin and Chalice by them and the Consecrated Bread on their breast and this says the old ‡ Bals in Can. 83. Trullan Canonist was done to affright the Devil from Hannting their Tombs and it was also given as an ‡ Bals in Can. 61. Trull Conc. Wormat. c. 10. c. Ordeal to discern whether a person were guilty of a crime that could not be proved especially to Clergy-men to purge themselves from notorious crimes It was also sometimes left as a pawn or pledg and so St. Lewis of France pawn'd an Host for the pledg of his Ransome to the Sultan of Aegypt as did also Uladislaus King of Hungary to the Turkish Emperor Amurath when they made an Agreement But beyond all this men were not only contented to receive this Sacrament as an Oath of secrecy to conceal Treason Parricide Murther and such like crimes but some were so hardy as to attempt the damnable villany of poysoning their God to murther the Lords Anointed so the * Naucler Gener 42. p. 991. Emperor Henry the 7th was dispatcht and so also Pope ‖ Malmesb. l. 3. c. 39. Victor 3d was sent to his Grave and we are told * Lambard's Peramb of Kent p. 66. that William Arch-Bishop of York being discontent that he could not get the Preeminence of the See of Canterbury mingled Poyson with the Wine of the Chalice and so murther'd himself But I should tire my self and others should I multiply quotations for either these are proofs enough or a greater number of witnesses will not serve turn And May the Blessed Jesus the Governor of his Church purge it from all dross from all unwarrantable opinions and superstitious practises that all his Family may Worship Serve Honour and Humbly Obey him as we ought to do till the number of the Elect be Consummated when the Sons of God shall be admitted to sing Eternal Praises to his Majesty in Heaven Amen Amen The End of the First Part. PART II. Containing an Account of the Festivals of the Holy Week Lessons Meditations Prayers and Anthems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenag legat pro Christ p. 5. No Christian can be wicked unless he be-ly his profession PART II. The INTRODVCTION THE devout Christian being thus fitted to commucate with his Saviour being instructed how to discern the Lord's Body and being acquainted with the advantages which the worthy receiving of it does bring with it and with the Duties preparative to such a receiving what remains but that every occasion of coming before God and partaking of the Dainties of his Table be with all eagerness pursued after and embrac'd Consider therefore O my Soul how shouldest thou long to dwell in the Courts of God and to serve him in the Beauties of Holiness His Name is wonderful and he is fairer than the Children of Men full of Grace are his Lips for God hath blessed him for ever and in him also hath God blessed the rest of the Sons of Men him hath God anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows consecrating him to be our high Priest to make Attonement for the Sins of the World All his Garments smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia of bitter Scents that embalm his Crucifixion for when he was nailed to the accursed Tree then was the Wine mingled with Myrrh given him and when he was to be buried he was laid in a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes to fit his Body for its Sepulcher And what wilt thou do O my Soul to express thy gratitude to this thy Redeemer who is become thy Lord and thy God But worship him and Adore him and give Thanks unto him World without end Every day of his Life was to him a day of Affliction and Suffering from his first appearance at Bethlehem to his being Crucified on Mount Calvary his whole Age was one continued good-Good-Friday and should not every day of my Life be an Easterday He dyed daily and should I not daily remember that Passion and celebrate the Praises of that Condescenton and live to the Glory of that Mercy Should I not every day if I may be actually concern'd in the showing forth the Lord's Death till he come or at least intentionally and in Preparations Representing to my mind my bleeding Saviour and mourning over those Sins of mine which brought him to so much shame and so much torture and rejoycing in the Salvation which he hath wrought out for me By this means the subsequent Directions will serve as well for any other Week as for the Holy Week and I shall always be in a readiness to communicate with my Master Jesus and blessed are those Servants whom our Lord when he comes shall find so doing The Collect. HOly and immortal Saviour who didst both Dye and Rise again that thou mightest be Lord both of the Quick and Dead and didst Institute and in thy Holy Gospel command thy Church to continue a perpetual memory of that thy precions Death and glorious Resurrection until thy coming again Send thy Grace unto me and to all People that we may Worship thee Serve thee and Obey thee as we ought to do and be thou pleased to give us all things that be needful both for our Souls and Bodies give us this day and every day that heavenly Bread the Spiritual Manna that comes down from above and send thy Holy Spirit into our Hearts that we may be always in a fit Posture to receive it forgive us all our Sins and preserve us from all Temptations that we may live for ever to ascribe unto thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and for ever Amen PALM-SVNDAY PAlm-Sunday is the day on which our blessed Saviour being determined to fulfil all that was spoken of him in the Law and the Prophets took his last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem to compleat our Redemption by his Sufferings and his Resurrection the People meeting him at Mount Olivet with Branches of Palms Olives and other Trees in their Hands Emblems of his Meekness and his Triumphs crying Hosannah to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosannah in the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks Dominica Palmarum Florum atque ramorum among the Latins and from this Original the day hath its Name in all Churches and the Transactions of this day were so observable that the Latin Church of the later Ages turn'd this as well as the other Festivals into
to the Honour of God also inviting all occasional Comers to buy and offer liberal Sacrifices as an Exchange tempts Customers it also making provision for Proselites and strangers of such Money as was current at Jerusalem which only was to be offered to the Lord and for the poor that they might borrow tho not on Usury yet on Pawn so as they might not comeempty handed before the Lord the place of this Traffick being only the outer Court of the Temple into which were admitted even the Gentiles and Uncircumcised why was our Masters Zeal so Fervent With great Reason doubtless was this done for all that Jesus did was by the guidance of the Infallible Spirit nor was it without reason that this Action was called the greatest of our Saviour's Miracles and one of the most solemn Declarations that he was the Son of God VVas it not a great Affront to the Divine Majesty to make a Butchers stall or a Bankers shop of his House To alienate it from its right use and instead of a house of Prayer to make it a den of Thieves of Publicans and Extortioners and of the Practicers of the Arts of Fraud and the Methods of Cheating VVas it not Irreligious to serve the Ends of Covetousness more than the designs of Piety For these Markets were at first held only near the Temple but at last through the greediness of the Priests were brought into the first Court of it to their no little gain while they managed the Markets either by their own servants or by exacting a Tribute of all those who there erected stalls and perhaps selling one and the same sacrifice over and again to several Persons Now what could create in mens minds mean thoughts of Religion and depreciate the service of the Almighty if such Actions did not And how could men chuse but abhor the Offerings of the Lord This therefore incited the Zeal of our dearest Lord and it was a sad Omen that the Priests themselves should in a little time be banisht from the House of God and turn'd out of his service because they had corrupted and huxter'd the VVord of God and handled it deceitfully And now O my soul and my body are not you the Temple of God And ought not the same measure of Zeal to be in me that was in my Redeemer Ought I not to cleanse this Temple and to expel thence all brutish Affections all covetous thoughts all self love and love of the VVorld all pride and vain glory and to keep my self undefiled in the VVorld fit for the residence of God and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit for if a man defile the Temple of God shall not God destroy that sinner I will therefore devote my self intirely to my Maker what he loves shall be my delight and I will honour him here in his Person in his Will in his Ordinances in his Habitation in his Revenue and in every thing else that appertains to him that I may hereafter enjoy him and live with him for ever Amen The Collect. ALmighty and most Merciful Saviour who in the heighth of thy Glories wast mindful of thy Humiliation and thy sufferings as thou wert contented to be made the Son of man tho by an ineffable generation thou wert the Son of God so new make me thy most unworthy because thy most disobedient Servant create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me that my soul whom thou hast redeemed may always sing thy Praises and celebrate thy bounty that all my faculties and all my members being consecrated to thee and thy service my Zeal may be flaming and unquenchable my love to thee victorious over all self love or love of the world my love to my neighbours generous and disinterested and my constancy and resolutions to be thine unalterable that I may preserve thy living Temple free from all Pollation till I come to the New Jerusalem where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it through the Merits und Mediation of thee my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen The Anthem for Palm-Sunday ETERNITY I. MY Eager Soul 's upon the wing To view th' Court of th' Heavenly King So passionate 't is those Joys to taste and know That it disdains all pleasures here below For what can this sad world impart To ease the longings of my Heart Which Heavenly Love hath wounded with its Dart II. The Palace Glorious was where God Made his perpetual abode E're his Omnipotent Word bad all Things be The Mighty Undivided Trinity Resided in Eternal Light Before the Sun appear'd in sight Or Time was impt to make his earliest flight III. With Joy the Father then look't on The Beauties of his only Son Miraculous Child whose great Sire cannot be Above his Son in Age or Dignity From both these did proceed the Dove Which gently up and down did move And fill'd the place with Harmony and Love IV. In this vast space the Equal THREE With mutual Sentiments did agree That God the Father should the World create The Son redeem the Spirit regenerate Transcendent Fountain whence did flow What infinite Pity could bestow To make men Gods and bring down Heav'n below V. No longer can my Soul forbear It Sighs and Wishes to be there That it may celebrate the Father's power Love Jesus and the Holy Spirit adore For tho my Saviour's Presence here My Soul to Scepters does prefer On Earth she dreads to lose him there 's no fear Monday before EASTER THE Monday before Easter was called the Holy and Great Monday or the second day of the Paschal-week and the whole week was called the Great week ‖ Chrys To. 5. p 541 c. not because the days were longer than ordinary but the blessings were greater because of the great and stupendious Blessings not to be comprehended or utter'd which God this Week conferred upon the World in the Death and Resurrection of our blessed Saviour and because it immediately preceded the great Festival as Easter is called Joh. 19.31 or * Bern. Ser. 3. in domin Palmar because of the four great Days in it viz. The Procession of Talm-Sunday the Institution of the blessed Sacrament on maundy-Maundy-Thursday the Passion on Good-Friday and the continuance in the Grave on Saturday which was the Eve to our blessed Masters Resurrection The Week also was stiled the Passion-week the Week of Fastings dry Diet and Penances in which the Devouter sort did eat nothing but Bread and Salt and drank nothing but Water from which strictness no day was exempt except the Lords Day on which it was a great Crime to Fast ‡ Constit App. l. 5. c. 17. alii Every day of this Week was a day of business the whole time from the days of the Apostles being spent in Prayers Watchings and Mortifications ⸫ Chrys ub Sup. p. 586. Tribunals and Courts of Justice were now shut up no Pleadings no Suits of Law no publick Business no
thought what they had seen Only had a Vision been Till the Seraphick Herald silence broke And in these taking words his message spoke IV. ' From you Palace am I sent ' Built beyond the Firmament ' Where th' Almighty keeps his Court ' And the indigent resort ' Thence the obliging Jesus full of Loves ' Full of Attractives down to th' dull Earth moves V. ' Cease your Tremblings and your Fears ' Ill news Gabriel never bears ' Haste to Bethlehem there behold ' Him the Prophets have foretold ' What greater Instance can than this be given ' How dear the ruin'd world hath been to Heaven VI. 'To the Sacred Stable go ' And before the Manger bow ' The Infant-God adore and praise ' Wrapt in Swath-bands there he lies ' These are the marks to know your Savionrby ' He came from Heav'n t' illustrate Poverty VII Lovely Gabriel scarce had done Charming their attention When the humble shepherds view'd The Seraphick multitude Who did themselves round the Arch-Angel post Th' Arch-Angel Captain of that Heav'nly Host VIII Eyes they had that shot loves Darts Meen and Garb to captive Hearts Faces smooth as infant Light Ere the blustring winds durst fight Or Clouds durst interpose their obscure Skreen To keep the useful Rays from being seen IX Their wings impt with Plumes so gay Gold such Lustre can't display Nothing could with them compare But the bright Curls of their Hair VVhich when the sportive blasts of Air did move Nothing could view but what must be in love X. In the Air they gently hung There they danc'd and there they sung ' Glory be to God on High ' Let Peace this sad Earth beautifie ' That men of the Divine Good Will may taste ' And relish here below Heavens Antepast XI Thus they danc'd and thus they sung And the Sky with th' Musick rung Till the Day-star did appear Till the morning beams drew near The watchful Cock preclaim'd the Prince of Light Then they soar'd upward and flew out of sight XII Happy Angels your employ Brings you Honour brings you joy While on Earth I sigh and grean Vastly distant from that Throne Grant Jesu tho my voice be not so sweet My Notes in consort mixt with theirs may meet Wednesday before EASTER THE Ancients called this day the holy and great Wednesday or the fourth day of the Passion Week and among our Forefathers it was called Tenable Wednesday on which Day the Consultation was held for our Blessed Saviour's Apprehension * Constit Ap. li. 5. c. 10. which being begun on Monday was continued on Tuesday but compleated on Wednesday when they agreed with Judas to betray him from which Treason of the Son of Perdition it hath its Name in the Latin Church feria quarta in proditione Judae Now because on this Day the Sanhedrim were consulting how to take the Messiah the Ancients on the same Day were more than ordinarily employed how to receive him the Jews how to treat him unworthily but the Church how to give him due Entertainment And for this cause by the order of the Apostles the †Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. Tertul. de jejun c. 2. Epiph compend c. 21. c. Catholick Bishops bound all Christians to a weekly observation of We dnesday Friday on the first of which days our Saviour was sold as he was on the last Grucified as Days of Fasting which they called their Station days because as a Centinel dares not leave his Post till he be relieved which is seldom done till after a Watch of Twelve or Twenty four Hours so the Primitive Christians would never at such times move from Church till all the Service were over which was not finish'd till about Three a Clock in the Afternoon which Service was compleated with the Reception of the Blessed Eucharist in all Churches except at ‡ Socrat. l. 5. c. 22. p. 287. Alexandria where they had Prayers and a Sermon but no Sacrament and probably in this Week of extraordinary Mortifications the Fast ended not till Night In the present Greek Church on this day as on all the other days of Lent except the Saturdays Sundays and the Feast of the Annunciation which are Festivals they do still receive the Sacrament about Three Afternoon but they receive it of those Elements that had been * V. Bals Zon. in Can. 52. Trullan consecrated before on the precedent Holy-day and which are reserv'd for that purpose they at the same time observing our Blessed Saviours Institution of imploring the Divine Blessing every day by the Oblation and Merit of this Christian Sacrifice and yet preserving the Severity and Solemnity of this Christian Fast The Epistle 2 Pet. 1.16 WE have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the Power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty for he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount we have also a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed The Gospel Luke 9.28 JESUS took Peter and James and John and went up into a Mountain to pray and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was alter'd and his Rayment was white and glistering and behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias who appear'd in Glory and spake of his Decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem and there came a voice out of a Cloud saying This is my Beloved Son hear him The MEDITATION IT was a lovely sight and to be long'd for with Transports to see the Blessed Jesus in his meanest and most contemptible dress for even then when he was covered with out sins and his own sorrows he was the fairest among men but how Glorious O my Soul was his Appearance when he was cloathed with the Robes of Immortality in the Holy Mount How transcendent were those lively Representations of the Joys of Heaven and that foretaste of the Pleasures of Eternity Tabor was of it self a delightful place on the Top of the Mountain there was a spacious plain whose fruits were breath'd upon and cherished by a most wholsome Air and moistned with a perpetual Dew the Vines and Olives and other Herbs and Trees cloathd it with a perpetual Verdure affording a Prospect that at once gratified both the sight and the smell and by them affected the mind but never was the Hill so fertile as when the Son of God watered it with his Tears and warmed it with his Rays To the Mountain our Blessed Master retired when he offered his Sacrifices of Suplications and Praise from a Mountain did he preach the glad Tidings of the Gospel and on a Mountain was he Transsigured there he prayed not that the highest Hill is nearer
our great Master at that season first gave Being to the Sacrament dispensing with Peoples eating before they received which at other times was not allowed And ⸪ Aug. Ep. 118. in some of the African Churches they celebrated the Eucharist twice on this day in the morning for the sake of those who intended to dine and in the evening for the sake of those who fasted and in the * Ludolph li. 3. c. 6. alii Aethiopick Churches to comply the more exactly with the practice at the Institution they use unleavened Bread whereas all the rest of the Year they celebrate in Leaven And the ‖ Prateol de Haer. p. 202 Guid. Car. Alph. a Castro c. Greeks are perswaded that the Sacrament consecrated on Maundy-Thursday is of more Virtue and Efficacy than when it is consecrated at any other time and therefore they and the Moscovites in imitation of them reserve some of the Sacramental Bread consecrated on this day to be administred to the sick the whole Year following and it is not a little remarkable that among the Roman-Catholicks in Holland and as ‖ Ep. Vossio init Ep. Ecclesiast Theolog. Ep. 557. p. 807. Grotius thinks elsewhere time out of mind until now on this day after Supper the Father or Master of the Family in imitation I suppose of the Jewish Custom after the eating of the Passover having read the History of the Sacrament out of the Gospel gives to every one of his Family a piece of bread dipt in Wine This day is also called among the High-Germans Green Thursday among the Low-Germans White Thursaday and among our Forefathers Sheer Thursday as it was generally and among all the Western Christians Lavipedium and Maundy-Thursday either because of the Maundy or Alms that were given this day to the Poor by Princes Bishops and religious Persons or rather because of the Mandate or Command John 13.34 A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another which Passage is the Antiphona for this day in the Wâ—stern Churches an Instance of which Love and Condescention our Blessed Saviour then gave when-he wash'd his Disciples Feet which in the East was the Office of Servants toward their Masters and this Custom also is not only continued in the ‡ Smith p. 40 41. Greek Church and among the other Oriental Christians but in the Latin Church also the Bishop performing this Office to his inferior Clergy and the Governour of every Religious House to those of his Fraternity the custom being Ancient and Apostolical ‡ V Conc. Aquisgr c. 20. Aug. Ep. 119. c. 18. tho the practice as to circumstances were not uniform in all Churches and on this day the King of England anciently in his own Person now by Proxy the Grand Almoner supplying the place does wash the feet of as many poor men as he is Years old to whom also he gives an Alms as the Bishops do on the same occasion which was wont to be called the * Anastas in Adrian P.P. p. 112. Paschal Alms or the Easter Charity The Lessons on this day if I mistake not the Fathers were the Book of ‡ Ambr. ub supr Jonas a very proper Portion of Scripture to set forth the Divine Pity and inclinations to forgive and the ‡ Chrys ub supr History of Judas's Treason together with the Account of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament The Epistle 1 Cor. 10.16 THE Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ for we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread The Gospel out of the Evangelists and St. Paul THE Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betray'd after his Disciples had eaten the Paschal Lamb took Bread and when he had given Thanks and Blessed it be brake it and gave it to them and said Take Eat This is my Body which is broken and given for you This do in remembrance of me after the same manner also when he had supped he took the Cup and when he had given Thanks he gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me Verily verily I will no more drink of the Fruit of the Vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom and they all drank of it And having sung an Hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives The MEDITATION THE Condition of Mankind in this Life is relative and made up of dependancies upon Heaven nor could Adam in his best Estate subsist without the Benediction of his Maker Communion with God is the End of Religion and was the Employment of Paradise nor can any thing else make the World happy But because God who is a pure Spirit cannot converse with men without condescending to treat us according to our Capacities therefore Truth when it visits us is content to be drest in our Habits when God speaks to us he entertains us not with his own Losty and Majestick Expressions but with modes of Speech and Representations of Things that we are acquainted with It is true had we been made without Flesh and Blood our Graces had come to us like themselves not wrapt up in Emblems and Figures but because we cannot live without our senses and are most affected with what we hear and see theresore God speaks to our outward man in visible ministrations the Almighty Wisdom treating the World with sensible Objects the better to lead them to the Contemplation of those things that are invisible and this was the cause why Rites and Ceremonies were instituted in the Church as marks of Communion and incentives of Devotion Angels we know who are not clogg'd with a load of Flesh and Blood and whose dwelling is above have no need of Sacraments they who have the Honour of a clear Vision of the Almighty and the freedom of a more immediate Converse with him need not these remoter Encouragements to Piety and such also shall be the Happiness of God's Servants after they dye but man in his best and most innocent Estate wanted them and therefore God planted and by a particular sanction constituted the two Trees in Eden to be two Sacraments outward and visible sings of the Favour which Adam should partake of if he perform'd the conditions of obedience which God required from him they representing to him the state of Wisdom and Felicity which was reserved for him in Heaven and serving to inform him that to attempt the knowledg of the highest Mysteries to the prejudice of the Divine Commands is not the way to Life and Immortality To maintain this Union with God Adam was endued with Original Righteousness he had no
the morning break wilt me deny With execrations and with perjury Weak was th' attempt and impotent the hand That did my resolutions countermand While an impertinent Girl me kept in awe Who singly durst before the rabble draw How easily when the criminal does begin Does time engage him to grow bold in Sin Till what at first is but a single lye At the next act commences blasphemy Of all my Master's sufferings tho accurst Ill treated and contemn'd this was the worst Of only twelve Disciples one betray'd him Ten more deserted him and I deny'd him Leaving the Innocent to dye alone VVhile we deserv'd the crucifixion Thus down the stream I went and on had swom Forgetting Jesus and his Martyrdom Had not my dearest Saviour lookt about When the shrill voice advis'd me to go out The Cock that calls the early Lark to sing Mattens to th' praise of the eternal King All cheerfulness does from my Soul expel As if his voice had been my Passing-bell Had I a full swoln River in each eye I 'd mourn till I had wept the Fountains dry Can man be unconcern'd when God must dye Ingratitude is here a Prodigy But to assist thee were but to affront The Martyr Jesus does no seconds want Conquer by suffering and when thou art gone Carryed by brightest Angels to thy Throne Poor Peter arm'd with courage will defy The next temptation and thy Martyr dye Inverted on his Cross that there may be An humble difference betwixt him and thee GOOD-FRYDAY ON this day was the greatest act of Villany and injustice committed that ever the Sun beheld for on this day was the Son of God Crucified and therefore it is called the Paschal Solemnity of the Crucifixion the great and holy Preparation the day of the most holy Passion and the day on which our blessed Saviour suffered but this day also was the happiest time that ever mankind could enjoy or long for because our Redeemers sufferings were the cause of our freedom from Sin and Death and Hell and therefore we call it good-Good-Friday of old the Great Friday because it was the day on which the World received all that was good all that God could bestow or the World want in a dying Saviour who by his once offering of himself put an end to the numerous diverse and ineffectual Sacrifices required by the old Law On this day of the Week Adam was created cloathed with the Image of God and constituted the Lord of the World and on this day too sadly he fell and was driven out of Paradise but on this day also the same Adam and all his Children were redeemed and the sorrow for the Fall was out done by the joy of the Restoration and yet because the Sins of men were the only cause of our blessed Masters sufferings who knew no sin himself therefore ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 907. this day was indispensably made a day of Fasting through the whole Christian Church * Aug. cont Epist Fund c. 8. the Manichees being for this among many other their wicked practises condemn'd that they observed the day of the Martyrdom as they called it of their Master Manes but neglected the observation of good-Good-Friday and tho all the Lent was properly a Fast before Easter yet this day and the Saturday that followed it were called the ‖ Tert. â—d Vx l. 2. Cypr. Ep. 53. v. Chrys to 5. p. 940. solemn days before Easter i.e. the more eminent times of Fasting upon which days as our Saviour was Crucified and Buried so his Apostles who were then his Church were covered with sorrow and hid themselves for fear of Persecution and for this Reason it is called by the Germans still-Still-Friday and by the Saxons long-Long-Friday because the Fast was extended beyond the usual hour And as our Master lay three days in the Grave so did the Church think fit to Fast three days till the time of his Resurrection for if the Sun then lost its light and the Rocks were rent was there not greater reason that the Church of Christ his Spouse and his mystical Body should be concern'd at his Crucifixion And tho the blessed Eucharist were usually given on every day through the rest of the year yet on Good-Friday and the Great Saturday it was probably omitted From ⸫ De brat c. 14. Tertullian it is plain that they omitted the Kiss of Peace and Charity which was always given at the Sacrament and * Capit. Lothar l. 4. tit 46. l. 7. tit 371. in after Ages the celebration of the Eucharist was expresly forbidden And now in the Romish ‡ Durand Rat. l. 6. c. 72 77. Church they ring no Bells but knock with a Wooden Mallet on a Table-board to give notice of the hours of Prayer they omit several parts of the office particularly the Doxology and the Salutation The Lord be with you they read the Lesson of the New-Testament in a faint low voice and the Priest who reads the History of the Passion does it barefoot their Altars are hid for then there is no Sacrament celebrated and the Lights are put out to represent the obscurity of the night in which our blessed Saviour was apprehended and the wondrous darkness that attended his Crucifixion from whence the time is called Tenebrae or the days of darkness and in the Greek Church they by an Image represent our blessed Saviour's sufferings and his taking down from the Cross on this day also did the ‖ Constit Apost l. 5. c. 12 14. Primitive Church as does the Church of England pray for all Jews and Infidels c. in imitation of our dear Redeemer who wept over Jerusalem because they knew not the day of their Visitation and on the Cross prayed for his enemies The observation of the day was very * Orig. Cont. Cels l. 4. Ancient and I believe Apostolical By ‡ Eas Vit. Const l. 4. c. 18. p. 534. Constantine the Great it was commanded to be observed with as much respect as the Lord's-day The ⸫ Aug. Ep. 118. Fathers call this day the Saturday following and Easter day the Most holy three days of our Saviour's Crucifixion continuance in the Grave and Resurrection and sometimes the ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 940. Passover And in the †Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 6 7. Western Church on Good-Friday the Holy Priests were obliged to Preach to the people the Mysteries of Christ's sufferings all people except Children old and sick persons being bound under the penalty of being kept from the Lord's Table at Easter to tarry at Church and to Fast till the Priest toward evening with a loud voice did pronounce the publick Absolution that by such a testimony of their true repentance for their sins and by the assistance of the Priestly Absolution the people might be the better fitted to keep the Feast of Easter and to eat the Christian Passover * Theod. Lect. lib. 2. Collect. On this day
other Divine Men to such extraordinary undertakings was nothing but the remembrance of the Great Captain of our Salvation who led the Van of the Noble Army of Martyrs together with the powers of that Grace which he endowed them with and the Crown that he held out to them from Heaven What could discourage or affright those who saw the Son of God engaged by no necessity but acted only by his disinterested love so freely to undertake submit to and glory in the Cross and the Purple-robe in the Gall and the Vinegar in the Scoffs and Crown of Thorns and at last make a triumphant Stage of his Cross Who can forbear dying for such a Saviour who so freely lay'd down his life for us The distant prospect of a Messias to come inflamed the Patriarchs gave them life and inspired them with vigour to subdue Kingdoms to work Righteousness to stop the mouths of Lyons to quench the violence of the Fire to escape the edge of the Sword when tortured not to accept of deliverance to be content to be Stoned to be Sawn asunder to be slain with the Sword to wander about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented that they might obtain a better resurrection in him who is the first fruits from the dead And so did their Successors demean themselves who saw Christ and acknowledg'd him come in the flesh they willingly chose to hunger and thirst to be naked and buffeted and to have no certain dwelling place to be persecuted defamed and accounted the off-scowring of the World in fine to be made like their Master a Spectacle to the World to Angels and to Men. Blessed Jesu these are patterns of courage and love to God that I am amazed at and am afraid I want courage to imitate but Lord by the help of thy Grace I will endeavour to make my zeal as ardent and as acceptable as theirs and whereas thou hast hitherto given me my lot in thy Church at such a time when Peace is an attendant on Religion and may God of his Mercy long continue it I will be a Martyr in that way which thou art better pleased with because I may give my body to be burnt and not be a Martyr I will make an oblation to thee of my self I will sacrifice my passions and mortify my members that are on the earth and will lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset me that I may run with patience the race that is set before me For when I crucify the old Man and abandon the paths of disobedience then only am I truly to be said to follow Jesus And if providence think fit so to order it and my blessed Saviour enable me I will dye for his interests and seal my vows with my blood for what should hinder but that I should exert the same resolution that was the glory of the Primitive Ages Do not I look for the same reward am I not a member of the same Church and a Disciple to the same Saviour Their zeal and patience their chearfulness and contempt of the World their fortitude and constancy made it appear that they put an estimate on nothing but the Service of God and the concerns of Eternity and why should not I as they did look stedfastly upon Jesus for he is the author and finisher of our Faith the sole institutor of our Religion who for the joy that should accrue to him in the redemption of a ruined World from Sin and Death and Hell in the glorification of his Body and the establishment of his Empire over all the Sons of Men was content to be made vile and of no reputation to endure the Cross and to despise the shame and to submit to all the sufferings and indignities that either his Father's anger or Satan's malice or the witty and inventive cruelty of sinful men could inflict upon him for what could be greater than the Cross and the shame but the courage that underwent them and the Love of Jesus which was stronger than death Luke 12.20 I have a Baptism says Jesus to be baptized with and I am streightned and in pain till it be accomplish'd I am under great struglings death looks formidable to the eyes of nature and that makes me wish the Cup may pass from me but my love makes me resolve to drink it and to wish it were accomplish'd There is a warm conflict between my resolutions to redeem the World and my humane infirmities between my love to men and my natural desires of self-prefervation And why if a poor despicable sinner may expostulate with his Maker why these struglings a few days before thy apprehension Was not thy whole Life one continued act of Martyrdom Was not the Tragedy begun at Bethlehem tho the last scene was acted on Mount Calvary Was not this bloody Baptism administred to thee in thy Infancy and did not thy Crucifixion begin in thy Cradle was not thy Circumcision the morning-sacrifice and was not the completory oblation made in that dismal evening in which thou wert Crucified for tho thou wentest not into thy Grave till about the Thirty fourth year of thy Age yet thou didst dye dayly and thine agonies were commensurate to thy Life they begun the first hour thou sawest the light in the Stable and they lasted to the moment in which thou gavest up the ghost at Golgotha every day was a good-Good-Friday a day of sorrow and sufferings Only herein lies the difference under all his antecedent sufferings the Life of the Son of God was still preserved but at his apprehension that also was to be sacrificed and he who was only sprinkled with blood at his Circumcision was now to be truly baptized and drench'd in it on his Cross but this Cross he endured and the appendent shame he despised under which terms are included all his sufferings the torment and the ignominy of his exinanition If the torment that he endured be considered his pains were acute and to any but Jesus insufferable the uneasiness of his poor estate the trouble of having no house or shelter and the many attempts upon his Life were but the prologue to the fatal scenes which begun in the Garden every circumstance of that Agony is productive of wonder 'T was in a cold night when the High-priest's Servants could not be without a fire within doors while he was abroad in the cold Air and lay prostrate on the cold Earth where being alone no violence but what proceeded from his love could be offered him and yet there he Sweat till that Sweat was Blood and that not a faint Sweat of a few thin drops rarified and spirituous but great drops congealed lumps and gobbets of blood and those in so great a quantity that they went through cloaths and all and ran in a great stream to the ground till the Garden was the fittest place about Jerusalem to be called the Field of Blood Immediately after this he was