who were Baptized which is also the meaning of those in St. Cyprian l Ea parte corporis notatur Ozia sc offenso Domino ubi signantur qui Dominum promerentur Cypr. de unit Ecc. Vide Chrys hom 54. in Mat who were signed when they were admitted to Christ but most clearly St. Augustine * Credit Catechumenus in cruce Christi quâ ipse signatur August in Gal. 6.14 who tells us expresly that the Catechumens were signed with the Cross of Christ in which they had believed There is it may be some difference in the time of making the sign of the Cross for the Antients seem to have used it before the Act of Baptizing whereas we use it afterwards the better to content our scrupulous Brethren who cannot justly charge us with making it essential to Baptism because the Rite as to the substance of it is finished before we make the Cross and we esteem Baptism in Cases of haste no worse as to the effects where it is celebrated without it If it be alledged that it is a signifying sign of humane institution and so ought not to be annexed to a Sacrament of divine appointment I desire it may be remembred that the putting white Garments upon the Baptized and the Receiving the Infant into the Church with a kiss m Cyprian l. 3. epist 8. as now become one of our Brethren n 1 Thessal 5.26 with many others were signifying Signs and instituted and used by the best Christians and yet never any offence was taken at them and a good Mythologist will make every action and gesture to be significant But I am now beside my purpose wherefore I will return to consider with how innocent intentions the Church doth use the Cross in this Office When we receive any into the Society of our Religion it is certainly as lawful to declare it by a o In nullum nomen Religionis seu verum seu falsum coagulari homines possunt nisi aliquo signaculorum vel sacramentorum visibilium consortio colligentur Aug. in Faust l. 19. c. 11. sign as by words And surely there is no Character or signature so universally known to be the mark of a Christian as the sign of the Cross which makes St. Paul to put the Cross for Christianity it self 1 Corinth 1.17 18. Galat. 5.11 Philip. 3.18 because the belief of a Crucifyed Saviour is the proper Article of this Faith distinguishing the Christians from Jews Turks and all kinds of Religion in the World Wherefore when the Emperour was Converted immediately the Cross became the most usual badge p Vexilla militum crucis infignia sunt Regum purpuras ardentes diadematum gemmas patibuli salutaris pictura condecorat Hieron ep 7. ad Lat. and of publick use as a testimony of his being a Christian Hence it is called the Sign of the Faithful the Seal to make us known by our Master and the Seal of Christ q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Catech. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan haeres 30. signum Dei Cypr. ep 56. Wherefore to sign with the sign of the Cross is to declare the party to be Christian and as the Custom was of old for Servants to have their Masters name in their Forhead Caelius Rhodig l. 5. c. 31. so we set the mark of Christ there to shew they have taken Christ Jesus for their Lord or if as the Church directs we like the military application better St. Chrysostome tells us that the Roman Souldiers would sometimes in love to their General burn his Name upon their Skin and Procopius affirms that the devotion of some Christians made them in like manner imprint the sign of the Cross upon their Arms Com. in Jesai 44. but we by an easier Rite do sufficiently publish to what General they belong Baptism is the solemn Oath which we take r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril praef ad Catech Vocati sumus ad militiam Dei vivi jam tunc cum in Sacramenti verba spospondimus Tertul. ad Mart. Sacramentum verae religionis accipere Lact. Instit l. 1. when we are entred Souldiers of Jesus Christ and then we first put on his Badge which is like the Ring that the Aegyptians gave unto their new listed Souldiers ſ Aelian histor animalium l. 10. cap. 15. with a device to mind them to fight manfully And what more auspicious sign could we chuse than the Trophy of the Cross since our Victorious Redeemer did triumph over those Enemies which we have renounced by it yea upon it Coloss 2.15 t Ver. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 14. so that it is a terrour to the Devils u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Cateches 13. and a great encouragement to the Christian to remember he fights under that Triumphant Banner which hath been so successful it is a shame to follow such a Leader x Malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur Senec. ep 107. with a faint heart or to fly from these happy Colours when we have so good assurance that if we keep close unto them In this Sign we shall overcome the Cross doth shew our Captain died for us and therefore it doth incite us to follow him unto the Death striving against Sin and if we die in this service that Death shall be to us as it was to him the way to a glorious and everlasting life Let the World deride a Crucified Lord and Atheism mock at the Cross of Jesus we are so far from being ashamed of our Faith that we glory in nothing more than in the Cross of Christ and therefore we print it upon the proper seat of blushing y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril catech 4. Nec nos pudet crucifixi sed ubi pudoris signum est crucis ejus signum habemus August in Gal. 6.14 To conclude the Ceremony is exceeding proper and very innocent used by most Christians approved by all the Antients and by some of the most eminent Reformed Divines expresly z Bucer Zanchy and condemned by no Church so that if this Ceremony be rejected by any they ought to consider that the fault is in a Scandalum ni fallor non bonae rei sed malae Exemplum est aedificans ad delictum bonae res neminem scandalizant nisi mulam mentem Tertul. de veland Virgin cap. 3. themselves not in the thing at which offence is taken but none justly given if the Church be but rightly understood so that it will be much more profitable for us all to join against real Idolatry and Superstition than to contend about the shadows of it and we shall do better to live like him whose seal is set upon us and to fight against our spiritual Enemies than for so small an occasion to fall out with an excellent Church and be at enmity with our
and incouragements in order thereunto And thus we see here is comprized in this Warning so full directions in order to the address to the Holy Table that there needs no Paraphrase to make it plainer only God grant us to be as willing to do as we are able to understand these things Amen SECT IX Of the Exhortation to the Communion § 1. OUR Lord Jesus hath not fixed the time nor determined how often we should partake of his last Supper that so we might have an opportunity to make it a free will offering and that he might by our voluntary and often coming make an experiment of our Love But this gracious liberty hath been perverted and some have from thence taken occasion to do it seldom and others wholly to leave it undone We read that of old in the Church of Alexandâ—ia many of the people went out after the Reading of the Gospel but John sirnamed the Almsgiver then Patriarch there followed them out and sharply reproving their neglect said he came to administer the Eucharist to them neither would he leave them till with him they all returned to the Holy Table With such an importunity do we here seem to follow those who do so unworthily turn their backs upon these Mysteries We find St. Ambrose m Si quotidianus est cibus cur post annum illum sumis Ambros de Sacr. l. 4. S. Chrysost Ser. 3. in Ephes Augustin Epis ad Januar. 118. and St. Chrysostome as also St. Augustine in their times complaining of and blaming the peoples omissions in this kind But sure we have now much more reason since the neglect of this Sâ—crament is grown far more common and scandalous some by ill principles glorying in their foâ—bearâ—nce others out of Worldly carefulness excusing their absence and the most as unwilling to take pâ—ins being become too remiss To redress which evils our Church hath provided this excellent Exhortation both to convince us that it is our duty to come and to discover the danger if we wilfully stay away The Order whereof the following Analysis will shew and the discourse annexed will represent how agreeable it is to so pious a design The Analysis of the Exhortation to the Communion § 2. This Necessary Exhortation containeth Five Parts 1. The Preface being an Indication of 1. The Persons invited Dearly beloved Brethren 2. The Time when on I intend by Gods grate to celebrate 3. The Thing to which c. the Lords Supper 2. The Invitation calling them all 1. Most plainly unto which in Gods behalf I bid you all that are here present 2. Most earnestly And beseech you for the Lord Iesus Christs sake that ye will not refuse to come thereto being so lovingly called and bidden by God himself 3. The Arguments to press it being 1. A plain Similitude urged by 1. Setting it before us Ye know how grievous and unkind a thing it is when a man hath prepared a rich feast c. 2. Appealing to us Which of you in such a case would not be moved Who would not think a great injury and wrong done unto him 3. Applying it to this Case Wherefore take ye good heed lest ye withdrawing your selves from this holy Supper provoke Gods indignation against you 2. A full Answer to the Excuses 1. In particular concerning 1. Business It is an easie matter for a man to say I will not Communicate because I am otherwise hindred with c. 2. Sinfulness If any man say I am a grievous sinner and therefore am afraid to come wherefore then do ye not c. 2. In general shewing they are all 1. Base When God calleth you are ye not ashamed to say ye will not come When ye should return c. 2. Vain Consider earnestly with your selves how little such feigned excuses will avail before God 3. A proper Example setting out 1. Such like sinners They that refused the feast in the Gospel 2. With like pretences because they had bought a Farm or would try their yoke of Oxen or because c. 3. Sadly doomed were not so excused but counted unworthy of the heavenly feast 4. An Exhortation to come from 1. The Ministers care in 1. Preparing I for my part shall be ready 2. Inviting them again and according to mine Office I bid you in the Name of God I call c. 3. Urging them I exhort you as you love your own Salvation that ye will c. 2. The Love of Christ And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his Soul by death upon the Cross for your Salvation 3. The Obligations laid upon us by it So it is your Duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the Sacrifice of his Death as he himself hath commanded 4. The evil of neglecting viz. 1. The Danger Which if ye shall neglect to do consider how great injury ye do to God and how sore punishment c. 2. The Sin against God when ye wilfully abstain from the Lords Table Men and separate from your Brethren c. 5. The Conclusion expressing 1. The Ministers hope of them These things if ye earnestly consider ye will by Gods grace return to a better mind 2. His Charity for them For the obtaining whereof we shall not cease to make our humble Petitions unto Almighty God our heavenly Father A Practical Discourse upon this Exhortation § 3. Dearly beloved Brethren on I intend by Gods grace to Celebrate the Lords Supper unto which in Gods behalf I bid you all that are â—ere present and beseech you for the Lord Iesus Christs sake that ye will not refuse to come thereto being so lovingly called and bidden by God himself The Kingdom of grace as well as glory is likened in Scripture to a Banquet Luke 14.16 Math. 8.11 and the offers of both are named our Calling or Invitation Ephes 4.1 2 Tim. 1.19 and we that now partake of his grace and are hereafter to enjoy his glory are stiled the called or invited Guests Rom. 8.28 by a plain allusion to this Sacred Feast the Epitome of the Gospel wherein we are called without a Figure and invited to participate of the grace of God And as it is the Custom of all Nations n 2 Sam. 13.23 1 Kings 5.9 Job 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylac Com. in Luc. 14. to invite those who are designed to partake of the Feast So hath the King of Heaven now sent his Minister Math. 22.3 Luk. 14.17 most courteously to salute us in his Name and to bid us to that Celestial Feast viz. the Supper of the Lord which he hath made ready for us The notice is sent thus long before because we may prepare suitably to so great an Entertainment and be fitted for this which is the highest Festival in the World It is true we receive the Message only from the mouth of a Servant but it is in the name and behalf of his great Master o Math.
their meat in due season Math. 24.45 For this Cause the Antient Church appointed the Priests in great Cities to have a Communion every Day so that devout people might always find the Table spread whensoever they hungred after this Bread of Life and in such places our own Church still makes monthly preparations and also sends the Minister to the Altar upon every great Festival on purpose to mind the people that he is ready if they were so also But when the Table is actually spread methinks we should need no other Oratory than those holy Symbols to invite us did we know our need of that food and were we acquainted with the pleasures of that Celestial Banquet we should be attracted with the very sight of the Elements and long yea languish to participate of them and sure they upbraid those wretches who go away and turn their backs upon them but there are some who cannot or will not hear this still voice and therefore the Minister doth once again ex officio invite us in the Name of God who is the great Master of this Feast and in the behalf of Christ who is the precious food there provided beseeching us that we will not by neglecting affront the great God and slight his dear Son and further exhorting us by the most cogent Argument viz. for our own sakes as we love our Souls as we fear to be Condemned and wish for Salvation that we will come Cicero thought a man might as soon run away from himself as lose the desire after those things which conduced to his own happiness h Prius à se poterit quispiam discedere quam appetitum earum rerum quae sibi conducunt amittere lib. de fin 5. But we have some so wretched who know there is no Salvation but by the Sacrifice of Christs Death and no so proper and ready way to get an interest in that Sacrifice as to eat of the remainders thereof in Faith and yet are hardly perswaded by the most pressing invitations But let us Consider that by frequent and long omissions our devotion grows flat our purposes wavering our Faith weak and our Corruptions strong the Enemy gets ground of us and the Spirit begins to withdraw from us i Mens deficit quamnon recepta Eucharistia erigit ac accendit Cypr. Ep. 54. ad Cor. so that if we would go safely to Heaven we must not too long neglect this holy Sacrament § 11. And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his Soul by Death upon the Cross for your Salvation so it is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the Sacrifice of his Death as he himself hath Commanded Although we be by Gods Embassadors strongly intreated to come to this Holy Feast yet we must not think it left to our choice to hearken or to disobey for if they should not invite us we are obliged to come hither by the strongest Bonds of reason and duty For if Jesus thought our Salvation worth his Death do we think it too dear of a little preparation is he willing to bleed for our sins and are we not willing to weep for them shall he yield up his Soul in the midst of the most dolorous agonies and will not we yield up our Lusts and come to remember his love in this Holy Sacrament Our Saviour hath satisfied the divine Justice obtained a Pardon and done his part towards our Salvation but our part is still behind viz. to sue out this pardon in the Commemoration of his Death and in this Communion of his Body and blood to apply his merits by Faith to our own Souls And that we should Do this was one of his last and dying Commands Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.25 and is it not our duty to obey it How wretched then are we if we refuse to kneel and extend our hand for this Pardon which was purchased at so vast a price How unworthy are we to have any part in this Redemption if we disobey so small a Command and deny so easie a Request of so dear a Master His last Precept was to keep the memorial of the last Act he did for us on the Earth and sure it is our duty never to let that be forgotten § 12. Which if ye shall neglect to do Consider with your selves how great injury ye do to God and how sore punishment hangeth over your Heads for the same If we be resolved in spite of all this still to neglect this divine Ordinance the Minister can do no more than sadly tell us First the grievousness of our sin Secondly The greatness of our danger First We are desired to consider the sin which is called a great injury to God even as we esteem it to our selves when our Guests slight our invitation § 4. 'T is true we cannot properly injure God Job 35.6 by taking away any of his essential happiness Yet because we owe Obedience to him as our Soveraign Lord we are said to wrong him of his due k Debitum contrahitur quoties delinquitur quod debitum solvi in gehennâ quandoque necesse est Aug. Serm. 126. de Temp. Creditor est qui minus quam quod suum est habet vel voluntario ut in mutuatione vel involuntariò ut in Criminibus Vide Grot. de sat Chris c. 2. when we refuse to observe his Commands And in this Case let us consider before we resolve not to come that hereby we shall rob our God of this solemn part of his worship reject a plain and loving command despise the Passion of his dear Son slight his provision refuse his invitation grieve his Servants by such rash and obstinate denials and perhaps bring an evil report upon the Ordinance it self when men see we must be dragged to it The Sacrifices of the Erecynian Venus came of their own accord to the Altar saith Aelian hist anim l. 10. c. 1. But we are forced hither as to a slaughter house is not this a great injury to the Master of this divine Feast But secondly The mischief in fine lights upon our own heads for no man provoketh this King but in so doing he sinneth against his own Soul Prov. 20.2 God is just as well as merciful and severe to revenge the abuses of his love He will not always pass by this scorn nor put up these affronts but punish us perhaps temporally with losses and crosses sickness or an evil Death which careless neglecters deserve as well as unworthy receivers 1 Cor. 11.30 for so those Israelites who laughed at Hezekiahs invitation to the Passover 2 Chron. 30.10 were carryed into a sad Captivity within two years after 2 Kings 18.9 And we must not think presently we are safe because as yet none of these Judgments have seized on us for they may hover over our heads as the Arrow over Julians and at last pierce us to the heart but if we do escape a while l Si nunc omne
Essens d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porph. ut supr l. 4. c. 12. and the Christians e Tert. Ap. c. 39. Nec cibi sumantur nisi oratione praemissâ Hieron ep 22. ad Eustach began their common meals with a solemn Prayer for a blessing The Jews would not eat of the Sacrifice till Samuel came to bless it 1 Sam. 9.13 How much more then ought we to expect the Prayers of the Priest over this mysterious food of our Souls before we eat thereof especially since Jesus himself did not deliver this Bread and Wine until he had Consecrated it by giving thanks There are some other parts of this Office which may upon some occasions be omitted * Non prius discumbitur quam oratio ad Deum praegustetur but this must never be left out it being the most antient and Essential part of all some learned Men do believe that the Apostles themselves in their daily Communions did ever use the latter part of this form from who in the same night c. Alcuin de divin off and it is most certain that no Liturgy in the World hath altered that particular For in every Church the Priest repeats the words of our Saviours Institution and by those words the Consecration is made f Quomodo potest qui panis est esse corpus Christi Consecratione consecratio igitur quibus verbis est Domini Jesu paulò post ubi venitur ut conficiatur venerabile sacramentum jam non suis sermonibus sacerdos utitur sed Christi Ambr. de sacr l. 4. c. 4. ita D. Chrys serm de Judâ prodit Vbi Christi verba deprompta fuerunt jam non panis dicitur sed Corpus appellatur Aug. de verb. dom ser 28. ita Author de Card. op Christi ap Cypr. for it is not the power of the Priest but the efficacy of the Author which makes the Elements to become sacramentally the body and blood of Christ S. Chrys hom 2. in 2. ep ad Cor. versùs fin The Roman Church indeed hath made large additions to this Primitive Form so that it is not above a tenth part of the Canon of their Mass much of the rest being the names of Saints and commemorations of the dead But these corruptions and innovations being removed our excellent Reformers have given us the Apostolical and Catholick Form alone only with a short Prayer to introduce it and because all the Communicants ought to join with the Minister therein we will proceed so to explain it as may assist every ones understanding and devotion The Analysis of the Prayer of Consecration § 2. The Prayer of Consecration hath Three Parts 1. An Introduction shewing the Reasons of this Duty because 1. We have a dying Saviour given for us Almighty God our heavenly Father who of thy tender mercy didst give thy onely Son Iesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our Redemption 2. That Death is so perfect and meritorious who made there by his own oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World 3. We are commanded to remember it and did institute and in his holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious death until his coming again 2. A Petition for a Blessing on it intimating 1. The Author of this Blessing Hear us O merciful Father we most humbly beseech thee and grant 2. The occasion of desiring it considering 1. The Act which we are about to do that we receiving these thy Creatures of Bread and Wine 2. The Manner we intend to do it in according to thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christs most holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion 3. The Blessing desired may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood 3. The Consecration it self reciting 1. The time when it was instituted Who in the same night that he was betrayed 2. The Manner how it was Instituted 1. As to the Bread 1. The Preparation I. Took Bread II. And when he had given thanks III. He brake it 2. The Administration and gave it to his Disciples saying Take eat This is my Body which is given for you 3. The Direction Do this in remembrance of me 2. As to the Wine also 1. The Preparation Likewise also after Supper I. He took the Cup II. And when he had given thanks 2. The Administration He gave it to them saâ—â—ng Drink ye all of this â—or This is my Blood of the New-Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins 3. The Direction Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me Amen A Practical Discourse upon the Prayer of Consecration § 3. Almighty God our Heavenly Father who of thy tender mercy didst give thy only Son Iesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our Redemption Our blessed Lord hath taught us to whom we should direct this Prayer even to God the Father of whom he himself did first beg this blessing and since the foundation of this Ordinance was the Death of Jesus Christ we do most fitly begin this Prayer with a Commemoration of that Mercy for how can we more effectually move Almighty God to give his blessing to us in this Sacrament than by acknowledging his infinite love in granting so glorious a Redemption to us And he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up to death for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 He that made him a Sacrifice for us will certainly make these Symbols to communicate him to us if we be desirous and prepared to receive him It is the method of the divine bounty to give his second mercies meerly because he had freely given the first g Cui initio ratio non fuisset praestandi aliquid ei praestamus ob hoc quia praestitimus Sen. de benef l. 4. c. 15. especially when he finds the former thankfully accepted so that we cannot have a better introduction to this Petition than the acknowledgment of Gods goodness in first giving his own Son for us especially if we make it with an humble and graâ—eful heart Besides it must need be a mighty strengthening to our Faith and a great encouragement to our hope of prevailing in this request when we have first remembred so rare an experiment of Gods mercy already received Let us therefore most thankfully confess the incomparable bounty of our Heavenly Father in giving his only Son to suffer for our Redemption and then we may with more confidence beseech him to sanctifie these Elements that they may be his body and blood to us because the divine appointment hath made them to be the means whereby we may become partakers of the benefits of that Holy Passion § 4. Who made there by his own Oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice
Oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole World As we have declared the bounty of the Father so now we must acknowledge the merit of the Son before we did set forth the admirable love of the giver and next we magnifie the incomparable worth of the gift for God did not evidence his love to us by any insignificant testimony but by giving us the most real and inestimable benefit in the World The Death of this Saviour which he gave us though suffered but once was so infinitely meritorious as that it was sufficient to satisfie for the sins of all Mankind And where is it more proper to set forth that one all-sufficient Sacrifice in all its glories than here where we come peculiarly to celebrate it with our highest Praises and to make an everlasting memorial thereof If we regard the persons for whom this was done it is a Sacrifice if we respect him that did offer it it is a free Oblation if we consider him to whom it was offered it is a satisfaction and in every one of these respects it is full perfect and sufficient or particularly it is a full satisfaction a perfect Oblation and a sufficient Sacrifice not like the legal Offerings for the sins of one kind or the offences of one Nation or of one Person but for the sins of all the World Let none therefore mistake or imagine we are about to Sacrifice Christ again as the Roman Church falsly teacheth for that is not only needless and impossible but a plain contradiction to St. Paul who affirms that Jesus was to be offered but only once Heb. 9.26 Chap. 10.10 12. and by that one oblation h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theop. in 10 Hebr. v. 12. Illo sacrificio singulari à peccatis omnibus mundaremur Aug. de Civ Dei l. 7. c 31. he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctifyed ver 14. so that there needs no more offering for sin ver 18. And besides if we think that in this Sacrament Christ is daily offered up it seems we do not believe that which he did on the Cross to have been sufficient and so we should exceedingly derogate from that most meritorious Sacrifice to which we pretend to do honour by this Commemoration nor shall we make any difference between the all-saving Death of our Saviour and the daily offerings of Mosaick Institution if this also be continually to be reiterated Wherefore we do deny this Communion to be any new sacrificing of Christ For there is but one Sacrifice saith S. Ambrose not many and this is but the exemplar of that i Ambr. in 10. ad Hebr. This is only a memorial which the Lord hath delivered to us instead of a Sacrifice saith Eusebius k Euseb praep Evang. l. 1. c. 10. The Sacrifice need not be reiterated it is sufficient to remember it with Eucharist and Thanksgiving Rejoyce ye poor repentant Sinners for the price is paid by Christ and accepted by his Father already Acknowledge it gratefully and believe it firmly express it with all the honour you can devise since you came to this Heavenly Feast on purpose to glorifie the compleat and absolute satisfaction which your Redeemer hath made Let no man deceive you for Christ on th◠Cross assured you that the work of expiation was then finished there is nothing left for you now to do but only to pray that these outward Elements may be so blessed as to convey unto you the benefit thereof § 5. And did institute and in his holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that his precious Death until his coming again The work of our Redemption is so very excellent in it self that it deserves a perpetual memorial and who so fit to direct the particular manner of remembring it as he that did so nobly accomplish it and this is that very way which he himself hath instituted so that we have a most direct and powerful Argument to move our Lord to sanctifie these Elements because we celebrate this mystery in obedience to his own Commands Do this saith he in remembrance of me Luke 22.19 and we are bid to shew forth the Lords Death till he come 1 Cor. 11.25 26. And surely he will make these Symbols to be his Body and Blood to us because we are about to receive them purely by his Order no doubt he will establish that which he hath wrought for us l Grandis in rebus humanis est praerogativae ut aliquis operibus beneficiis faveat suis Amb. ser 10. in Ps 119. Psal 68.28 for otherwise he would seem saith S. Ambrose to abrogate that which he hath appointed We are desirous as much as in us lyeth to be partakers of his precious Body and Blood and according to his command we are come thus far but we can only strike the Rock it is he must bring forth the Water we must now stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord for till he have blessed the Bread and Wine we can go no farther Now if this Holy Rite were a meer humane device we could hardly expect to have so great a grace and power shewed for its ratification they that invocate God for those that are falsly called Sacraments cannot so rationally hope to be heard as we who only desire him to be favourable to the work of his Hands and to prosper us in that which we undertake by express Commission from the blessed Jesus O let us then revere this Ordinance which hath so divine an Author on which the Image of God is so plainly stamped let us with a mighty affection embrace our dying Saviours love who was so much afraid we should forget him and so desirous to be ever with us let us chearfully go on without doubts or fears knowing that he who hath bid us Do this is able to make it whatsoever he will or whatsoever we need let us not startle at the difficulty of this Sacramental change but rest satisfied in the power of the Author and Enjoyner let us call on him earnestly and then believe that he will so be present by his Spirit and his Grace as that we shall feel the virtue and efficacy thereof from time to time from one Communion to another even till we come to see him unvailed and face to face at his coming again in glory § 6. Hear us O merciful Father we most humbly beseech thee and grant that we receiving these thy Creatures of Bread and Wine according to thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christs most holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood We have now made a sufficient Introduction to this great Request by acknowledging the mercy and merit of Christs Death as also by declaring the divine Original of this Sacrament wherefore in the next place we come to the Petition it self which is the very Grace before this Coelestial food and herein
as many as had sinned even for all the World for all saith St. Chrysostom are many When therefore we see this so plainly represented in the pouring forth of the Holy Chalice let us not only shew a high estimation of that most meritorious Blood which saves so many Souls effectually and hath virtue enough to redeem all the World but also actuate our devotion in some pertinent Soliloquies after this or the like form Methinks O my dear Redeemer while thou art pouring forth thy most precious blood thou lookest on me with a Countenance mixed of pity and upbraiding that I should take so little care to save this Soul which thou hast bought at such a rate Do I not behold those drops and streams to trickle down that have sealed the Covenant of Peace and confirmed all the Promises of the Gospel why then am I not swallowed up with admiration why do I not breath and pant after it I came not to quench my bodily thirst but to wash my Soul in this salutary Fountain oh how freely it flows how perfectly it cures Lord let me tast thereof Make it unto me the blood of Jesus for it is that my Soul thirsteth after And now that thy powerful word hath hallowed it let me not by evil thoughts or unbelief malice or impenitence make it to my self an unhallowed thing but as thou hast fitted it for the mystery oh fit me also to receive it I cannot now have any more low or common thoughts about it I will by Faith esteem it as my Saviours blood and though I am unworthy of so divine a Cordial yet my Soul gaspeth for it and without it alas I must die and perish § 13. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me Amen We have here again a renewed injunction to Do this and if we have any sense of our Redeemers love or any care of our own Souls we shall not need to be pressed to it but shall desire to Do it often and yet always to Do it well not Drinking it as common Wine but as the memorial of his blood-shedding in remembrance of him and his inestimable kindness but of this we have spoken before § 10. Only we must note that this Amen in the end of this Prayer was antiently spoken z 1 Cor. 14.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atque ubi Praeses orationes gratiarum actiones absolvit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Ap. 2. by the people with a loud voice not only to shew their joining in the desire that the Elements may become truly Consecrated but also to declare their firm belief that they are now to be esteemed as the very Body and Blood of Christ Let us therefore here most devoutly seal all that the Priest hath done and unfeignedly testifie our Faith by a hearty Amen Lord it is done as thou hast commanded and I doubt not but the mystery is rightly accomplished I am perswaded that here is that which my Soul longeth after a Crucifyed Saviour communicating himself to poor penitent Sinners Oh let me be reckoned among that number and then I shall assuredly receive thee holy Jesus Amen The Paraphrase of the Prayer of Consecration § 14. O Almighty God infinite in Power and wonderful in thy goodness Thou art our Heavenly Father who to save us from Eternal Misery of thy tender mercy and free Compassion didst give thy only and well-beloved Son Iesus Christ not only to be born in our nature but also to suffer a most grievous and bitter death upon the Cross that his life might be for our Redemption from everlasting Torments to which we were forfeited We believe and confess it was this thy Son who made there on the Cross by his own voluntary oblation of himsel◠to that accursed Death though he was but once offered in this manner a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and satisfaction to thy offended Justice not only for the sins of some times or some Persons but for the sins of all men that are were or shall be throughout the whole World so that there is none but might upon their Faith and Repentance be forgiven by the vertue thereof And because there needs no other Sacrifice for sin now therefore our Lord Jesus appointed and did institute this holy Sacrament to represent it And in his holy Gospel he doth accordingly plainly command us to observe this Rite thereby to continue a perpetual and lively memory of that his most meritorious and most precious Death So that his love may be fresh in our hearts until his coming again to judgment in the end of the World In obedience to this command we are now about to make this memorial of his Passion and that we may do it effectually Hear us O most merciful Father Consider our need of this Heavenly food We most humbly beseech thee in whose power it is alone to feed our Souls And grant that we receiving with a true repentance and lively Faith these thy Creatures of Bread and Wine which thou hast chosen to express this mystery and partaking of them according to thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christs gracious intention and most holy Institution namely in remembrance of his bitter Death and bloody Passion Let them Communicate him unto us that we by them may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood and of all the benefits of his Incarnation and his sufferings But it is not in us to make these Creatures to be a Sacrament wherefore we will do as our Lord did and say as he said And be thou pleased to grant that the Words of Jesus pronounced by thy Servant may have the same effect upon these Elements which they had when spoken with his blessed mouth Who in the same night that he was betrayed to his Crucifyers as one of the last tokens of his love Took Bread the staff of life as we now take this into our hands to resemble his taking our nature and when he had begged thy blessing as we do also thereon and given thanks shewing how chearfully he suffered for us He brake it as we this Bread into many pieces an Emblem of his broken and wounded Body and gave it to his Disciples to whom he designed the benefits of his Passion Saying Take this pledge of your Redemption most thankfully and by Faith Eat that you may be nourished by my Love for This is the Communion of my Body and shall make you partakers of it as it is a Sacrifice which is given to God to satisfie for you Provided you Do this in a most thankful remembrance of me and my all-sufficient Oblation Likewise also after the Paschal Supper that he might give himself wholly to us He took the Cup of Wine which maketh glad the heart of Man even as we take this And when he had begged thy blessing on it as we now do and also given thanks that his blood was accepted for the life of the World He
yea upon all thy Merits and Graces Lord thou reachest out most freely that which I need infinitely and that which I wish for above all things Adored be thy admirable bounty in complyance wherewith unworthy though I am I do stretch out a trembling hand I do open my mouth yea my heart to receive thee Open your Doors O ye Gates of my Soul and the King of Glory shall come in Rejoice and be exceeding glad for behold thy King cometh meek and lowly to visit the meanest of his servants Come Lord Jesus come quickly A Meditation while we Eat the Bread §. 8. In remembrance that Christ died for thee An Act of Contrition O my Soul behold how thou hast incensed the Majesty of Heaven see how he gives up the most innocent and most holy Jesus thy best thy only friend and his own dear Son to be tortured and tormented for thy Sins O how cruelly was he scourged with whips wounded with Thorns loaden with the Cross torn with Nails pierced with a Spear and rackt on the most painful instrument of Death His lovely Face is defiled with blood and spitting his Ears filled with taunts and curses his Eyes drenched in tears for the ruine of his Enemies and his Soul amazed at the terrors of the divine wrath till at length all wounded broken and bloody with many groans yet with admirable patience he breaths out his holy Soul And yet whatever he suffered was my portion My pleasure hath been his pain my wicked life hath caused his bitter death Wretch that I am to live in such a manner that nothing else could satisfie or make my Peace But here I come this day to call my sin to remembrance I will look on thee whom I have pierced with a most tender and sympathizing affection and while I break this holy Bread with my Teeth I will commemorate how thou wast bruised for our iniquities and how our offences did grind thee with grief and pain Holy Saviour I am angry at my self and full of anguish to see what I hâ—ve brought upon thee I am sorry with all my heart that I have given harbour to thy Murtherers but I hope this most dismal spectacle l Est enim tanta vis crucis Christi ut si ante oculos ponatur in mente fidelitèr retineatur ita ut in ipsam mortem Christi intentis oculis adspiciatur nulla concupiscentia nulla libido nullus furor nulla potest superare invidia Origen in 7. ad Rom. shall mortifie in me all desires after Evil and make me abhor all those desperate pleasures which must be so dearly paid for by thee or else stand charged upon my Account for ever No no I will never crucifie thee again by renewing my disobedience for I have done too much already A Meditation after the receiving of the Bread §. 9. And feed on him in thy heart by Faith with thanksgiving An Act of particular Application and Gratitude Hail holy Lamb of God thrice welcome art thou to a poor perishing Sinner was it not enough that thou shouldst suffer so much for me but thou wilt also give all the purchase of those sufferings to me thy loving kindness is truly admirable Thou hast taken my sins on thy self and communicated thy Righteousness unto my Soul Lord while I believe and consider the benefits of thy Passion I am revived and filled with an unwonted vigour My Conscience doth accuse me of many and grievous sins but I do here most humbly and thankfully set forth this perfect Sin-offering before thy divine Majesty and I know thou canst not except against it I believe it is sufficient to attone thy anger what I owe he hath discharged what I have deserved he hath endured so that for his sake I hâ—pe thou wilt set me free Blessed Jesus how is my Soul refreshed that it is thus restored again to thy Fathers Love Let Heaven and Earth praise thee and declare the merit of this glorious Sacrifice and I will bless thee while I have my being I will love thee because thou hast loved me better than thy own life my heart shall feast with joy and Eucharist upon the pleasures and Comforts which I expect to draw from this Coelestial food I have received thine immaculate Body and it shall cleanse my sinful body and teach me by the vertue of so rare an example to relieve my poor Brethren for whom thou hast died and to conquer my Enemies by my Charity for thus thou hast done to me And both my lips and my life shall set forth thy Praise I begin to feel my self one with thee already and I will wait till I am perfectly united to thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Meditations before the receiving of the Cup. §. 10. The blood of our Lord Iesus Christ An Act of Acknowledgment It will not suffice me Dearest Saviour to receive thee in part only for I must be wholly thine and blessed be thy Name thou art willing to be wholly mine also Thou hast already given me thy holy Body to cleanse my nature and now thou art preparing thy precious Blood to wash away my guilt My sins have poured out every drop thereof wherefore thou presentest it to me by it self to shew how truly thou didst suffer Death for me And now O my Redeemer thou hast said this Cup is the Communion of thy blood and thy Truth is unquestionable thy power is infinite and thy love was such that thou gavest thy hearts blood for me I will receive it therefore as the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant the seal of all the Promises of thy holy Gospel I have indeed vile Sinner that I am drunk in iniquity like water and therefore am unfit to taste this Water of Life and yet I shall perish without it for I am all over defiled and this is the fountain which thou hast opened to cleanse us I am scorched with the flames of evil Lusts and unruly Passions and this is the Cup which thou hast provided to cool and refresh us O thou Medicine of immortality my Soul longeth for thee what value is sufficient for me to put upon this Heavenly Cordial how can I reverence it enough since the God of Heaven esteemed it a price sufficient for millions of perishing Mankind Lord let me taste and my soul shall live let me wash in this Laver before I come to thy great Tribunal so shall I be whiter than Snow §. 11. Which was shed for thee An Act of Repentance mixed with Faith Was there ever so base a wretch as I have been who have accounted those sins small and trivial yea and made them my sport and pleasure which have pressed down and wounded the holy Jesus till he is all over drenched in his own blood Woe is me I have easily committed that which nothing but these streams can wash away O ye accursed Lusts ye have by wicked hands taken Crucified and slain the Lord of Life and if he had
to Repentance and our Monitor to prevent the like misdoings for the future But I am the briefer in this consideration because my main design tends to the Holy Sacrament And also because the Church hath here placed the Ten Commandments principally as the Rule and Measure of that Examination which St. Paul makes to be necessary before we eat thereof 1 Cor. 11.28 For the same Apostle teacheth us that by the Law is the knowledge of Sin Rom. 3.20 And experience also sheweth that there is no readier way to discover our iniquities and humble us for them than the serious application of this exact Rule to our perverse and crooked paths I shall therefore Secondly Give Directions how we may so try our ways by them as to prepare our selves for this Heavenly Feast To which purpose let it be considered that this duty of Self Examination is never so necessary as now when we purpose to receive the Holy Communion For it is but hypocrisie to seek a pardon for sins which we never perceived our selves guilty of and foolish presumption to make a Covenant before we have weighed the conditions to which we are to be obliged Until we see the number and apprehend the heinousness of our transgressions and fear the vengeance due unto us for them we are altogether unfit for the Commemoration of his Death who suffered for our offences It is the sight and sense of sin alone that will shew us what need we have of so glorious a Redeemer This will shew us our obligation to Jesus and teach us heartily to praise God for him and passionately to beg an interest in him whilest he that doth not discern his guilt nor foresee his danger is stupid and unmoved at this amazing spectacle of a bleeding languishing dying Saviour and hath no love nor no fear No tears nor no desires No relenting or indignation for what is past Nor any vows and wishes as to the time to come and shall be judged an unworthy Receiver So that if you desire comfort in benefit from or acceptance at the holy Table I charge you to be exceeding curious and diligent in this Examination The Pythagoreans and better sort of Heathens did strictly call themselves to an Account every night before they went to sleep where they had been what evil they had done or what good they had left undone And shall not they condemn those Christians who will not do the same once in a Month or three or four times in a Year especially upon so solemn an occasion and for so excellent an end as to procure a pardon sealed for all their misdemeanours The Rabbins perswade the devouter Jews to spend a whole Month together before the Feast of Expiation Buxtorf Synag Judaic c. 18. in examining all their lives assuring them that all those offences which they discover shall be forgiven them in that great day Which may more truly be applied to this Ordinance That holy Anchoret which the Patriarch of Alexandria found in the Egyptian desarts said he had imployment enough there where he had nothing else to divert him for his whole life to judge and condemn himself And shall not we be justly condemned of the Lord who think a day or two too much to be so imployed But I hope I need add no more to perswade to so good a work And therefore supposing this a sufficient Conviction to those who have any care of their Souls I shall proceed to direct how we must examine our selves by these Commandments § 5. When the Minister gives warning of an approaching Communion We must contrive to have at least one whole day separated to this so necessary Trying and judging our selves And first As this Law was given in the Wilderness Exod. 19.1 So we cannot use it in a crowd but when we purpose thus to apply it we must retire from the World and lay aside all secular business h Secessi de populo in me unicum negotium est mihi Tertul. de pall c. 5. Psal 4.4 and carry our minds with us into some place of privacy that we may wholly attend this great work which will take up our whole time and imploy all our faculties For we communicate so seldom and generally live so carelesly between one time and another that our Sins are numerous our Consciences intricate and many things forgotten and all confused So that it is not for us to alledge that the Primitive Christians did not use such solemnity of Preparation For they lived strictly received daily or weekly and kept their Souls always in good Order For which cause I suppose neither were the Commandments appointed to be read in the Antient Liturgies Did we lead such lives we might be accepted with lesser and shorter preparatives But most of our hearts will tell us the case with us is far otherwise Secondly Having thus chosen a time and place for the undisturbed proceeding in this grand affair we must resolve to spend it Fasting Dan. 9.3 not only that we may not be diverted or lose any of this precious time by our meat but that our minds may be more spiritual and more clear our body more gentle and more at the command of the Spirit i Infirmitas carnis vigorem mentis exacuit ut affectis artubus vires corporum in virtutes transferantur animorum Salv. lib. 1. de prov that our hearts may be tender and more apt to grieve for Sin and fear Gods wrath as also that we may punish our flesh for the gratifying of which most of our Sins have been committed that we may acknowledge our selves unworthy of our daily bread And finally declare that we desire peace with God more than our very food and do so earnestly hunger and thirst after Jesus that we forget our bodily sustenance Thirdly Begin this work with humble and hearty Prayer to him that sees your heart and must be your Judge Beseech him to help you to prevent his judgment by condemning your selves Desire him to fix your thoughts strengthen your memory and to work upon your affections that you may perceive how often how heinously and how long time you have offended and may with a relenting wounded heart bewail the same Fourthly After this rise up and meditate how merciful thy God hath been in not summoning thee to his Tribunal as yet and in giving thee this opportunity to prevent a sad and final Doom Remember thy heart is deceitful and not willing to see its own baseness or to discover its own shame nor apt to censure it self k Prov. 21.2 Nemo non benignus sui judex Sen. de ben l. 2. Nemo suae mentis motus non astimat aequos Quòdque volunt homines se bene velle putant aright And yet cursed are they that do this work of the Lord deceitfully Jer. 48.10 for it will be their own ruine Wherefore resolve to set about it with all possible sincerity and strictness as believing thou mayest never
reports of my Neighbour § Have I not incouraged such ill-reports nor published the faults of another to his disgrace § Have I not undervalued good or flattered bad men and given a false Character to please a friend § Have I not suffered an innocent persons good name to be traduced when I had opportunity or power to clear it § Have I not by pride conceived or by boasting uttered false things concerning my self § Have I neither sought unjustly to uphold or wilfully to blast my own Credit Lord have mercy c. And encline c. X. Commandment § Have I not secretly murmured at the Providence of God as if others had too much and my self too little § Have I not greedily coveted the Estate honours o◠comforts of my neighbours nor sought by evil means to procure them to my self § Have I not envyed any so as to be grieved at their prosperity or to wish or rejoice in their losses and calamities § Have I not been apt to undervalue all my own things and neglected to give God thanks for them § Have I not too passionately pursued riches and honours so as to neglect my Soul and Religion upon these accounts § 7. Whosoever hath particularly and seriously asked his own Soul the foregoing Questions will be far from the vanity of the young Man in the Gospel nor is it likely that he will now have the confidence to say as he Matth. 19.20 All these have I kept from my youth For his own Conscience will tell him in most inquiries that He is the Man And accordingly the Church hath provided the Publican Confession Luke 18.12 Lord have mercy upon us Which now may be fitly used First As an humble and dolorous Confession that we are Guilty very Guilty For when the Prisoner falls down and craves Mercy It shews he is convinced of his fault and in that phrase is supposed to acknowledge it Secondly As a passionate and earnest Exclamation for Pardon which now appears infinitely needful when this black and dreadful Bill is set before us Yet lest all this should not be sufficient to produce that sorrow and shame which is necessary for this solemn Confession but our hearts remain still obdurate and unrelenting Let every one lay before himself these Considerations First Meditate of the nature of all these Sins of which thou art guilty They are the Actions of a poor helpless depending Creature done against the holy Will and most gentle and reasonable Commands of that Majesty who could destroy thee in a Moment and whom Angels and all the World besides exactly do obey And besides thou maist upbraid thy self with the folly of Anger the fury of Revenge the filthiness of Lust and the shame of Lying the beastliness of Drunkenness and the misery of Covetousness the unreasonableness of Pride and the vanity of seeking humane Praise the restlesness of Ambition and the vexation of a discontented mind Consider the malignity of all Sin and the baseness of every particular and surely it will appear it was impudence and ingratitude simplicity and madness in thee ever to commit them Secondly Meditate of the number of them And think that if there be so much evil in one Sin How deplorable is thy Case who hast offended in so many kinds Oh how often hast thou acted or designed the greater and more notorious wickednesses And for those which we account the lesser What is wanting in the odiousness of the single Acts thou hast supplyed by frequent repetitions Few days nay minutes passing in thy whole life in which thou dost not sin in these instances I doubt not but thy memory now presents a vast number to thee but alas those that were never observed are far more and those that are forgotten are much more numerous than both Yet these are all noted in the Records of Heaven So that if thou couldest apprehend this formidable Army it would lay thy confidence in the dust and strike thee with amazement to consider how many times thou hast deserved Condemnation Thirdly Meditate of the Desert of these Sins viz. that the wages of any the least unobserved or forgotten sin is death Rom. 6.23 And then how many times hast thou deserved to be cut off Consider how thou art by these transgressions exposed to the wrath of God and to suffer all those Temporal Spiritual and Eternal miseries which the Righteous Judge of all the World hath threatned in his holy word And if thy heart be apt to excuse its faults on pretence of a corrupt Nature a violent Temptation or a sudden surprize and will not believe or fear that God is so highly displeased then tell thy own Soul that for one offence the Angels were cast out of Heaven and Adam out of Paradise and He that is the lover of Men for lighter or fewer Crimes doth lay dreadful Plagues and Miseries upon thy Brethren And God is no respecter of Persons He spared not his own Son when he stood in the place of Sinners and shall He spare thee Oh look up to the Cross of Jesus and behold his Agonies and his Sorrow hear his groans and cryes observe his anguish and his pains Is not God highly displeased with Sin when he makes his own Son the Example of his wrath to his offending Servants In short know that if Repentance do not now procure thy Pardon thou shalt have God and all Creatures thy Enemies and maist justly expect Losses and Crosses Poverty and Reproach Diseases and an evil Death and which is more horrid to be deprived of the aids of Gods Spirit and the offers of Grace and to be left in thy own hardness and impenitency as one that refuseth to be reclaimed And if any or all these have not yet faln upon thee it is only because the Lord will try whether at this time thou wilt seriously Repent but thou art not acquitted though he do awhile forbear Fourthly Meditate of those Aggravations which make thy Sins worse than those of other Men and that will convince thee that thou deservest no less For First Have not many of them been committed against thy knowledge and reason and in despite of all the checks and reluctancies of thy Conscience Secondly And although thou hast made so many vows and taken so many resolutions never to act them more yea and engaged this upon the holy Sacrament of Christs body and blood Yet hast thou not entertained them again Thirdly Have not all those mercies and favours spiritual and temporal wherewith thy Heavenly Father hath courted thy Love been abused by thee and cast away upon thee when all this could not prevail to make thee leave one lust or perswade thee to give over piercing him that hath died for thee Fourthly Hast thou not proceeded in thy evil Courses after all those Examples of divine vengeance on others and all those Calamities which Sin hath brought upon thy own self Hast thou feared any longer than the smart remained Hast thou not made the
Almighty almost weary of Correcting thee and shewest thou lovest thy Sin too well to be easily torn from it Fifthly And finally how mischievous have the effects of thy transgressions been They have dishonoured God disgraced thy Religion incouraged the wicked to persevere incited the innocent to follow thy steps and offended weak and tender Christians This is indeed a sad story and if we rightly apprehend it may make the best to cry out with trembling and deep contrition Lord have mercy upon us But lest this dismal Account which will scarce fetch one sigh from a stupid Soul should overwhelm others in grief and desperation I shall add that we are not like the Jew who when the Law thundered from Mount Eball could only sign it with a dreadful Amen For we look further and beholding the Lamb of God make bold to crave mercy the very acknowledgment of our Sin being wrapt up in a Petition for Pardon And the right use of all this is not to affright us from Jesus but to drive us to him to shew not only how little we deserve but how much we need a pardon It is to represent how far God can forgive and how highly our dear Redeemer hath merited seeing so great and deserved vengeance is yet with-holden and the Gate of Mercy still kept open for such wretched Creatures Our design in this discovery of Sin is to convince us that it is high time to desist from adding to this infinite heap that it is extreamly necessary to seek for Absolution and that it will be an admirable ingaging favour if we be again accepted For Mount Sinah is the way to Sion and the Law our School-master to bring us to Christ When therefore your heart is full of these thoughts and when hope and fear sorrow and desire are strugling within you In the midst of these Passions bend your knees and begin to arraign your self at the Bar of your merciful Judge where humble Confession a In quantum tibi non peperceris in tantum tibi Deus crede parcet Tertul. is the readiest way to Remission Acknowledge therefore all you have found relate your shame and indignation at your self your grief and anguish for all your misdoings intreat as for your life and with all earnestness beg for pity and pardon remembring he never did cast off any that thus came to him Your Confession it self will be no other than a larger Paraphrase of Lord have mercy c. But if you require a form the Church hath made excellent provision in that acknowledgment before the Consecration b See Part. 2. Sect. 3. Sect. 9. to which the Reader is desired to turn and while his heart is in this frame with great Devotion to recite that Form § 8. But that this is not all the use of these Ten Commandments we may learn from the other part of the Versicle repeated after each of them which is Davids Prayer Psal 119.36 viz. And incline our hearts to keep this Law Which minds us of the next part of our Preparation for the Holy Sacrament to which the Law is apt to minister viz. Secondly The Renewing of our Covenant and this will necessarily follow our Confession if it be sincere and the language of a contrite heart Since we now have discovered the vileness and danger of our sinful courses We must needs be full of indignation against those ways and cannot but wish we may never fall into the like circumstances again Nay God may expect that those who are so drenched in tears and amazed with fear shall now study how they may keep the right paths of his Law hereafter And this was the principal end why you were put upon considering your ways that you might turn your feet to his Testimonies Psal 119.59 And if you be now desirous to do this it is the best sign of your Repentance the surest evidence of your pardon and the best disposition in the World for your reception of these Mysteries wherein it is Gods part to seal your Absolution by the blood of his dear Son and yours to give up your self entirely to his Service for ever hereafter since he hath so graciously quitted the old scores So that there is no doubt but the true Penitent doth now desire with all his Soul to forsake his Sins and do his duty better Only because he finds his heart averse and not easily inclined to this which his Conscience tells him is his interest and his happiness The Church hath added this short but significant Petition to him that can turn the heart and work in us both to will and to do That he would Encline c. Which Prayer that it may be said with Davids Spirit c Et oremus quod ille â—ravit quod oremus imitemur effectu si eramus sermone compatiamur mente S. Ambr. in Psal 119. We must resolve to follow those good inclinations when it pleaseth God to work them in us And to that purpose before we make this our solemn promise we must labour to bring our hearts to condemn the wayes of Sin and to approve of the ways of Holiness lest we should mock the Almighty by begging his help in that which we never intend to perform and lest our vow should vanish into Air if we do not first consider the particulars to which we bind our selves And for our assistance herein viz. that our Engagement may be advised and well grounded and our Prayers for the divine Aid may be hearty and sincere We may after our Confession while our hearts are yet bleeding for our former offences enlarge our thoughts into these or the like Meditations § 9. First to alienate our affections from Sin that we may in earnest and for ever renounce it Let every one of us ask his Soul these Questions First How little of either true profit or solid pleasure have I reaped from Sin The gain is cursed and intangled the delight short and unsatisfying ending either in vexation or a restless desire which stays longer and wounds deeper than ever the fantastick pleasure reached How certain is it that none of these purchases can last beyond the short duration of my frail life and how little security have I that my death shall not be ere the next Morning Secondly How great a trouble yet have I had all my life for this trifling and uncertain reward the gain was a shadow but have I not thereby lost my good name or my health my time and my parts the love of my best friends and the hopes of Gods favour Have not these Sins hindered my Prayers disquieted my Conscience set my Neighbours against me and filled my ways with losses crosses mischiefs and evil Accidents Have they not often made me ridiculous and base hated and distrusted and left me full of fears and sad expectations making my life uneasie and my death far more bitter and more terrible Thirdly But these are but the beginnings of sorrow
and the compliance of our affections being not only confident of their truth because God hath revealed them but delighted with their excellency because they tend to make us holy and happy and then we shall believe them with a perswasion stronger than can be built upon the Scholastical Demonstration we shall adhere to them closely and for ever because they are amiable and lead us to God and immortality Let us not think our Faith sufficient till we so believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour that we are moved thereby to repent of our sins and cast our Souls on him for Pardon and then we have spiritually communicated already we have obtained the benefits and perfected the designs of this Sacrament and done that internally and nakedly by Faith which is more solemnly effected in the Mysteries themselves To which there is no better preparation than such a repetition of our Holy Faith The Paraphrase of this Creed Sect. 4. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart in one God a pure and infinite Spirit distinguished into three Persons the first of which is God the Father declared to be Almighty as he is the Maker of Heaven and Earth Creator of the whole World and all things contained in any part thereof both visible as all bodily substances on Earth and invisible as spiritual beings and Angels in Heaven And I also believe firmly in one Lord Iesus Christ the second Person of the glorious Trinity who is not as Angels or Men the adopted but the only begotten Son of God not created in time but begotten of his Father from all Eternity before all Ages of the Coelestial or Terrestrial Worlds Of the same nature with his Father God begotten of God after a mysterious and spiritual manner as Light is kindled of Light not diminishing his Fathers substance and yet being very God of very God derived not as the Creatures for he was begotten and not made and is equal to God being of one nature and substance with the Father and of the same dignity and power for he is that Eternal Word by whom all things were made out of nothing I believe also it was this very Son of God who passing by the fallen Angels for us Men and for the effecting of our Salvation and deliverance out of the state of sin and death in which we miserably lay came down unto this Earth from Heaven and left his glory for he took our nature and was incarnate by assuming a body of flesh like ours only without sin because it was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary so though he was still very God yet he took the form of a servant And was made Man living holily and working Miracles till at last he was unjustly condemned and was crucified also with intolerable torments to satisfie Gods justice for us and all Mankind who were become liable to Damnation which cruel Death he endured under Pontius Pilate the Roman President by whose unjust sentence he suffered till he was really dead and was buried and yet when he had paid the full price of our Redemption The third day after his Crucifixion by his divine power he rose again to life according to all those Prophecies and Types of him before recorded in the Scriptures After which he conversed with his Disciples fourty days and ascended in their sight into Heaven where he is restored to all his glory and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father interceeding for us And he shall come again at the end of the World with glory and Millions of Saints and Angels to judge all men according to their works both the quick then living and the dead who departed never so long since whereupon the wicked shall be condemned to endless Torments and the righteous received to immortal joy by the same Jesus whose Kingdom shall then fully begin but shall have no end but remain for ever and ever And I believe most firmly in the Holy Ghost the third person of the glorious Trinity who is also very God the Lord and giver of grace and all spiritual Life who is not made nor begotten but proceedeth from the Father and the Son yet is not less in dignity as who with the Father and the Son in all Offices of the Church together and in the same manner is worshipped and glorified being the inditer of holy Scriptures and he who spake by the Prophets in the Old Testament and by the Apostles in the New And finally I believe that the whole body of Christian people holding the right Faith do make one Catholick and Universal True and Apostolick Church in which Society I acknowledge there are great priviledges viz. One Baptis◠instituted by Christ not only as a sign of but a means for the remission of all those sins which we are guilty of when we enter into this Covenant Wherefore being my self baptized I hope for pardon and grace in this life And I look for and expect that my body though after Death corrupted and turned to dust shall be restored to life in the Resurrection of the Dead at the last day and I hope then for a Portion in glory and the life Everlasting and that I shall Reign in the blissful Kingdom of the World which is to come after this is utterly dissolved Amen Lord be it unto me according to my Faith Amen § 4. The Sermon which is here to follow comes not within the Method we have proposed so that we shall only note that it was appointed by Antiquity there should be Sermons i Concil 6. Constant can 19. Concil Mogunt can 25. or Homilies k Concil Vasense can 4. an Christi 460. every Lords Day especially when the Lords Supper was Administred l Acts 20.7 Post lectionem legis prophetarum Epistolarum c. Ordinatus-alloquatur populum verbis Exhortatoriis Const Apost c. 4. Leo. 1. Serm. 2. de Pasch Aug. confes l. 3. cap. 3. and surely this is the fittest place since the Sermon is either an explication of some Article of the Creed preceeding or an exhortation to the following duty of Charity But I do earnestly wish that when there is a Communion the Minister would sute his Discourse to that occasion for to treat of another subject then although otherwise never so good will too much divert the minds of those whose careful preparation hath composed their thoughts for this Ordinance whereas if the Sermon be chiefly tending to raise them still into a higher strain of Devotion for their communicating it will be a word spoken in due season Prov. 15.23 and rarely improve their Souls then made tender by Repentance and much more apt to receive impressions from all representations of the love of Christ and the means of our Union with him Yet withal the people must now hear with extraordinary attention and receive with great affection these holy Instructions and Exhortations drawn from the Word of
do his duty so well as he can nor did Jesus institute this Ordinance to be a snare to intangle Souls Secondly The truly humble Christian also pleads this and wishes with all his heart he durst come but he is kept off by a deep sense of his own guilt and great unworthiness To such I shall observe that this Feast was not made for Angels and glorified Saints but for lowly and Repentant Sinners it being a Seal of their Pardon or at least a most refreshing Declaration of Gods willingness to forgive for Jesus sake If their fear did only make them examine more strictly repent more heartily and come more humbly to their Saviour it were filial fear b Sapiente diffidentiâ non alia res utilior est mortalibus Eurip. Prov. 28.14 and the best disposition in the World for the Eucharist but when it drives them from Jesus c Stultus est timor reverentia minus prudens qui ad Dominum se vocantem invitantem non accedit sed procrastinat Gerson in Magnif who invites and calls all that are heavy laden Math. 11.28 it is foolish and unreasonable and is mixed with some infidelity Many of these Persons have already the first part of preparation viz. a true sorrow for sin let them therefore endeavour to add the second that is a lively Faith If they say they are so sinful they cannot believe there is any mercy for them I ask why is God so hard to Sinners whom he doth court and wooe to turn to him protesting he desires not their ruine but longs for their restauration hath he not given his Son for Sinners and sent his Ministers to them and offered his grace and glory also to engage them to return and live to be afraid to live in sin is something but to be afraid to come in when our heart is humbled for it and desirous to be quit of it is most unreasonable but let them entertain better thoughts of God and in all humility venture to approach if they stay in their sin they die and if God should reject them they can but die but oh blessed venture to commit their Souls to that infinite mercy which never did cast off any in this Case they that are Sinners and are sensible thereof either at present or quickly may be fit to come to this Celestial Banquet therefore let not the pretence of former sins keep any back who are now humbled for them Thirdly Those who live in open and notorious sins do also make this excuse that they dare not receive the Sacrament because they are so grievous Sinners But to these we cannot give so gentle an answer For though they must not come so long as they are Drunkards and Adulterers Swearers or malicious yet because they are thus by their wilful wickedness it doth not extenuate but aggravate the Crime of absenting themselves because they have made themselves unfit Were it not a strange excuse in a Jewish Priest daily to touch dead bodies and so plead he was excused from attending on the Sacrifice would he not deserve a double punishment both for wilful defiling himself and then for making that a pretence to neglect his Duty It seems these men know they are Sinners but thâ—y make a mischiâ—vous use of their sight of their sins viz. not to excite them to Repentance but to shelter them in omissions oâ— Gods commands and spend the time which God gives them for Repentance in making vain Apologies And yet some of these known Sinners do perswade thâ—mselves that they reverence these mysteries and dare not prophane them by coming to them but nothing is more false for if they fear to offend God why are they not afraid to live in abominable sins which he hates Is there more danger in receiving the Sacrament than in being drunk and adulterous violent or revengeful or do they imagine nothing will damn them but this Holy Food Alas it is not staying from the Communion that will keep off Damnation but a sincere and speedy Repentance Hence the Church hearing them confess they are Sinners asks them sharply why then do they not Repent for then they might come hither without danger and truly if they repent not they shall perish although they stay away so that if they could consider God hath brought them into a happy necessity of repenting for without that if they come to the Altar they die as coming unworthily if they forbear and continue in sin they die also so that there is but one way left We do not exhort men therefore to come in their sins but to cast away their sins that they may come worthily and therefore we give them notice so long before If they say a week is too little time to do this great work of Repentance in let them ask themselves why they put it off till Death when perhaps they may not have an hour and can such Persons be sure that their Death is not nearer than this next Sacrament If they think it be too sudden to resolve to leave their Sins let them blush to say they are not yet resolved and beware that the time do not come when they shall wish they had done it sooner It is possible that scandalous and habitual Sinners cannot be fit against the next Communion but then they must lament their unfitness and spend all the time they can to be prepared for the next after and only forbear for once that they may come with more Comfort ever after And to plead they are sinful and never strive to amend but to neglect Receiving from time to time is a Declaration that men have sinned and will sin and intend not to be troubled with Repentance or tyed to a religious course of life and therefore they avoid this Sacrament as a thing which is inconsistent with their purposes of going on in sin Wherefore neither is this excuse sufficient to hold us back § 8. When God calleth you are ye not ashamed to say you will not come when ye should return to God will ye excuse your selves and say ye are not ready Consider earnestly with your selves how little such feigned excuses will avail before God There are two sorts of those who absent themselves from the Eucharist those that are so bold as wholly to deny to come at all and those who more modestly put it off till another time the first are arrogant and the second trifling but neither the confidence of those nor yet the policy of these can excuse them to Almighty God First Those who say plainly they will not must consider it is intolerable insolence thus to Answer their supream King and Master our Lord Jesus doth expresly bid us to do this Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.25 and under the name of Wisdom earnestly invites us to this Feast Prov. 9.2 3 4 5 c. he intreats us to accept his love Revel 3.20 the Spirit saith come and the Church saith come Revel 22.17 The Primitive Councils
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas whether he were fitted to come or no. The Magistrates of Sparta were wont to examine all the Citizens how well they observed Lycurgus's Rules honouring those that were found blameless with the Title of Approved h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persons and shall we not think our pains well bestowed if our merciful Father give that Character of us I grant that after our strictest Examination we cannot bespeak our God with the confidence of the Grecian Wrastler who challenged Jove as he was just to give him the Victory if he had duly prepared all things for the Exercise Clem. Alex. but yet the severer search we make before we come the greater Comfort and the more success we shall have in our approaches Obj. But some will say it is too late for men to consider now when they are come to the Altar and it is impertinent to urge it here since all is done that can be done in this matter in order to this Communion Ans Not so for if any have presumed to come altogether unprepared it is not yet too late to warn them of their sin and danger And it were better for them to go out to day saith St. Cyril i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hieros praef ad Catechum Meliùs est de mediâ viâ recurrere quam semper currere malé that they might come better fitted against the next opportunity yea Christ himself adviseth Math. 5.23 24. in some Cases to leave our gift before the Altar and retire till we are better disposed intimating that it offends Godâ— less to withdraw even from the beginning of his service than to proceed if we are unfit St. Ambrose knowing the Emperour Theodosius to be guilty of blood unrepented of although he was come to the Church with purposes to Communicate sent him back from thence with a serious Exhortation to Repentance k Recede igitur ne conare novo scelere scelus ante editum augere in vit D. Ambros So also St. Chrysostome being disturbed by a malicious and impertinent request just as he was about to consecrate the holy Symbols went out of the Church and desired another to finish the mystery which he durst not do being discomposed in his mind l Palladius in vit Chrysost Secondly But if we have in any measure prepared our selves yet is not this Exhortation to be thought unseasonable for as the most famous Orators though they had composed their Orations some days before yet were wont privately to recite them immediately before they spoke them to the Pâ—ople so it becomes us Christians to review the Records and sad Catalogues which we saw yesterday and briefly to act our Examination over again lest if the number and heinousness of our sins be at present out of our mind we should become as obdurate as if we never had beheld them What was done yesterday was to humble us just now and we are at this instant m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arr. in Epic. l. 1. to give the proof what we did in private and St. Pauls adding and so let him eat seems to direct us to make this the immediate duty before our receiving Let us then remember afresh what we found upon our inquiry and if we pass directly to the participation from this review of our offences we shall no doubt become so penitent and desirous of Pardon as not to be judged presumptuous Receivers § 4. For as the benefit is great if with a true penitent heart and lively Faith we receive that holy Sacrament for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we are one with Christ and Christ with us Although the command of God by his Apostle is enough to require our obedience yet it is here backed with two of the most prevailing motives of all shewing that it is not only required of us to examine our selves but necessary for us and that we ought to do it for our own sake n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epic. l. 2. 1. Because of the great benefits of worthy receiving 2. The dreadful danger of coming unprepared And first if we bring with us a penitent heart and a lively Faith the benefits are so many and so excellent that whosoever considers them cannot but long for them and they that obtain them may despise all other pleasures because they are as blessed as they can be on this side Heaven and are they not worth a little pains to dispose our selves for them They are surely most unworthy of them who will lose them rather than submit to the trouble of a sincere Examination of themselves The particular benefits are here expressed in the words of Christ John 6.54 55 56. in that mystical Sermon wherein he did secretly prepare the minds of his Disciples for this Sacrament shortly to be instituted and clearly alludes to the same The first benefit is the spiritual eating Christs body and blood For the humbled Sinner believing in the Incarnation Death and Passion of Jesus and receiving this Bread and Wine in token that God hath given him for his sins and that he doth rely on him as his only Redeemer This doth convey to such a penitent Believer all the benefits of the Birth and the Death of Jesus and as the Bread and Wine being received do communicate to us all the strength and comfort that they contain so the worthy Receiver by apprehending and embracing a Crucified Saviour draws perswasions of his pardon and encouragement to his Graces and so hath spiritually eat the flesh and drunk the Blood of Christ and hence flows the second benefit viz. His Dwelling or remaining in us and we in him that is when he have thus received our Saviour there is a blessed Communion between him and our Souls for he communicates of his fulness to us and we open our necessities to him and Thirdly hereby there is produced so near an Vnion that God esteems us as members of his dear Son lays our sin upon him and imputes his satisfaction to us and consequently all those benefits are derived to us which are mentioned by many and found by the Devout Communicant hope of pardon encrease of Grace assurance of our Resurrection and the expectation of Eternal Glory O Blessed mystery which dost communicate my Saviour and convey his Graces to me which givest me an interest in him and makest me one with him whom my Soul loveth How am I ravished with the sweetness of this Heavenly Feast how strongly do these benefits attract me if any pains or cost trouble or difficulty stand in my way I will account the pains to be pleasures the cost gain the trouble delight and the difficulty easiness which leads me to such blessedness O my Soul dost thou not wish with all thy Powers to be reconciled to God to be one with Christ and to be filled with the Spirit behold the
require less time and pains to review the sentence Now our Souls will easily lye down in all humility and penitential acknowledgments at Gods footstool we shall long for mercy passionately vow amendment sincerely and be at peace with all the World so shall we be by God himself accepted as worthy Receivers and then all the terrors vanish for there are better things provided for us § 7. And above all things ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and Man To commemorate the Death of Christ with thanksgiving is the principal duty at this Eucharistical Feast Humiliation and Repentance are chiefly to be exercised before But now we are come to the Altar we must above all things give thanks for all the foregoing Exhortations to examine and judge our selves are designed to bring us with a clear Conscience and an unburdened Soul to sing Praises For which reason this Admonition doth well follow the former because those that have searched most diligently for their sin and those that have been most fully convinced of it and most deeply humbled for it these will best apprehend their need of the Death of Jesus and offer up the most affectionate praises for it These will offer up most humble thanks because they see their danger and unworthiness and most hearty because they have the briskest perception of this sweet and seasonable mercy Draw near therefore ye contrite Souls and behold the Lamb of God dying for those sins for which ye have mourned removing that wrath at which ye trembled let your sorrow be turned into joy and your fear into Faith and Hope Come and offer up your best praises to the Father who contrived this glorious Redemption to the Son who effected it and to the Holy Ghost who gives us the benefit thereof As every Person of the blessed Trinity hath joined in this noble work let every person share in the praise and as all the World hath been Redeemed so let every man make his particular acknowledgments Behold how fit a Saviour is provided One that is God that he might conquer Man that he might suffer and both God and Man that he might reconcile the Divine Majesty to humane nature Praise ye the Lord Thus in general we do excite you to give thanks and the next Paragraph will furnish you with particular Considerations on which your gratitude may enlarge it self § 8. Who did humble himself even to the Death upon the Cross for us miserable Sinners who lay in darkness and in tâ—e shadow of Death that he might make us the Children of God and exalt us to Everlasting Life As the Jews had their Paschal Hymn recording their miraculous deliverance from Aegyptian Bondage Buxt Syn. Jud. cap. 13. and the Antient Christians their Commemoration of the Lords Passion at this Holy Feast So our Church hath here provided a brief but clear description of the wonderful work of our Redemption taken from Philip. 2.8 and Colos 1.12 13. thereby to supply every devout Soul with rare matter for those humble and hearty praises which are here to be offered up For in these few words are contained these four Considerations 1. Who it was that did redeem us 2. Whereby he did redeem us 3. From what we were redeemed 4. To what Estate we are thereby brought Each of which we shall so represent as may best beget or exercise our Gratitude on this Occasion 1. Let us consider the dignity of our Redeemers person who was the Eternal and only begotten Son of God far above all Principalities and Powers higher than Angels or Arch-Angels adored by all the Coelestial Host He was the delight of Heaven the joy of his Father in whose Bosom he had perfect felicity and should have enjoied it to all Eternity whatsoever had become of us He was most happy in himself and not concerned with us yeâ— no other durst undertake no meaner Person b Ex personae celsitudine facti aestimatio augetur Grot. in Johan 13.3 idem de satisfac Christi cap. 8. pag. 173. could have accomplished our Redemption and ought we not to be infinitely thankful that such a Saviour is given to us 2. Let us further meditate by what means he did effect this great Salvation He could by one word create the World out of nothing but it cost more to redeem our Souls This was not to be accomplished till he stripped himself of his glory descended from the felicities of his Throne and was abased into the condition of a man yea of the meanest of the Sons of Men. He took on him the form of a servant who was Lord of all and yet all this was not sufficient He that did no sin must suffer he from whom all receive life must die and that by the most cruel and tormenting the most ignominious and accursed kind of Death too base for the meanest of Slaves c In Crucem milites tulit servilibus suppliciis semper affecit Jul. Capitolin de Macrino 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion de Sossio Visum est ignominiosâ morte obscurare memoriam ejus Joseph Antiqu. l. 15. c. 1. Pone crucem servo Juven Cur non honesto aliquo mortis genere affectus est cur potissimum cruce cur infami genere supplicii quod etiam homini libero quamvis nocenti indignum videatur Lact. inst l. 4. c. 26. too barbarous for the worst of Malefactors Yet thus he was contented to exchange the Musick of Angels and the pleasures of Heaven for reproaches and Agonies scorn and tortures that so he might expiate our offences But as C. Marius when he shewed his wounds received for his Country once in the Senate-House so may I say now What need is there of words when there are so many bleeding Witnesses He suffered more than we can conceive or express more than the best of us would have endured for the greatest or dearest concern in the World only that we might suffer nothing and will not this elevate us into the highest Key of Praise 3. Let us remember the Persons for whom Jesus endured all this and that will help to encrease the wonder it was not for Angels or any of the Heavenly Orders but for Creatures of a meaner kind even for us the miserable Sons of Men his Vassals by Creation but Rebels and Enemies against him by our Sins for us who could not expect it did not deserve it nor cannot requite it for us who were Heirs of Hell and Slaves of Sathan unable to satisfie Gods Justice fly his Anger or bear his Sentence for us whom with Equity and honour enough he might have left to perish for ever For our sakes he suffered all this moved so far by his pity till he forgot all pity to himself and took that load upon his own shoulders that would have sunk us into the bottomless
to the Church and those of the Closet performed by humbled Souls in order to their preparation for this Sacrament We learn from St. Chrys that all the Communicants were wont to join in saying the same general Prayer for Mercy a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 18. in 2. ad Cor. and St. Aug. b August de salutar dorum c. 33. affirms that when they received these mysteries they first did fly to Confession and Repentance and what sins they found themselves guilty of upon a strict survey of their actions they did immediately purge away by penitential acknowledgments So that of old not only the Priest as the Custom of Rome now is but every one of the people made an open Confession to God before the Communion it was indeed in general Terms c In hâc confessione non in specie sed in genere confitenda sunt peccata quoniam ista confessio non occulta est sed publica Innocen l. 2. de myst but omitted by none because there is no Man but he hath sinned and he that is not censured by the Church nor lyable by humane Laws may yet be guilty before God The Death of Jesus is now to be set forth and if we do not confess those sins which caused that his bitter Passion he might seem to suffer for his own offence Nor can we expect a publick pardon sealed till by Confession we declare how little we deserve it how much we need it and how highly we are obliged for it And by doing this one duty well we shall renew the sense of our sins and enlarge our affections to him that died for them we shall move our God to forgive them d Quando homo detegit Deus tegit cum homo coelat Deus nudat cum homo agnoscit Deus ignoscit Aug. in Psal and give the best testimony of our amendment e Somnium narrare vigilantis est vitia sua confiteri sanitatis iudicium est Senec. ep 54. Now that we may thus offer up this exact and pious Confession let us first labour to understand it and be affected with it by the following explication The Analysis of the Confession Sect. 2. This Confession hath five Parts 1. An acknowledgment of our sins shewing 1. To whom we do confess Almighty God Father of our Lord Iesus Christ Maker of all things Iudge of all Men. 2. What we do confess 1. In general We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness 2. In particular 1. The number Which we from time to time most grievously have committed 2. The kinds by thought word and deed against thy Divine Majesty 3. The effects of them provoking most justly thy wrath adn indignation against us 2. An Act of Contrition for them expressed 1. More largely We do earnestly repent 2. More strictly in our 1. Sorrow for them and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings 2. Hatred of them the remembrance of them is grievous unto us 3. Trouble under them the burden of them is intolerable 3. A supplication for pardon intimating 1. What we crave Have mercy upon us have mercy upon us 2. Of whom we crave it most merciful Father 3. In whose name for thy Son our Lord Iesus Christ his sake 4. How far our Petition extends forgive us all that is past 4. A Petition for such Grace as may be true 1. In the duration of it and grant that we may ever hereafter 2. In the Acts of it serve and please thee in newness of life 3. In the end of it to the honour and glory of thy Name 5. A general motive to them all through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen A Practical Discourse upon the Confession § 3. Almighty God Father of our Lord Iesus Christ maker of all things Iudge of all men When the glories of God were described before holy Job he immediately abhors himself in dust and ashes Job 42.5 6. and there is not a more effectual instrument of contrition than a serious prospect of the Majesty whom we have offended hence the Servants of God in Scripture do usually begin their Confessions with the mention of the Divine Power and goodness Nehem. 1.5 Dan. 9.4 And for this cause our Church hath selected four most comprehensive Titles which do most clearly set before us the Greatness and the Goodness of that Lord against whom we have sinned We will therefore particularly consider them First As they contain matter of terror for our humiliation Secondly As they express grounds of hope to encourage us to ask Pardon 1. We may meditate that he whose Laws we have broken is an Almighty God infinite in Power and terrible in his Anger from whom nothing can defend us but submission and a great humiliation It was desperate presumption to offend him and it is a strange stupidity and madness if we now be void of fear and sorrow Are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 if not why did we provoke him at first or how dare we now stand out against him 2. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him he is the Father and Fountain e Pater Hebraicè pro authore vel fonte misericordiae ita Ephes 1.17 Job 38.28 c. of all mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 and by him he hath expressed such an affection to us as all the World can never parallel and have we thus requited him by profaning his name disobeying his Commands despising his love and doing that which his Soul hateth Oh monstrous ingratitude 3. He is the maker of all things and so may justly challenge obedience from all the World nor is there any of his Creatures but we alone that are refractory to his will Can there then be greater injustice than that we should rob him of the service we owe unto him and abuse him by those very things which he hath made to serve our needs 4. He is the Judge of all men Gen. 18.25 at whose sentence we must either be justified or condemned for ever and yet instead of obliging him to stand our Friend we have even urged him to become our Enemy and forced him as he is just to pass a dreadful doom upon us Let us lay all this to heart and his Power will shew the Boldness his Love the Baseness his Title to us the Injustice and his Authority over us the folly of every sinful Act and all together I hope will melt our rocky hearts and make us sincerely Penitent 2. That we be not too much dejected let us review these Attributes again and we shall also find in them motives sufficient to support our hope and encourage us to ask forgiveness For first He is Almighty even absolute and supream so that if he please he can forgive without controul and none can reverse his Acts of Grace Secondly He is the Father of our dear Redeemer and in him loveth us with an everlasting love by him our Peace is made so that through him we
sight to see servants riding and Princes beside them walking on foot Eccles 10.7 But how much more abominable is it to see such evil and base servants as we are with proud hearts pretending to celebrate the memorial of the greatest and best Master who humbled himself to the death of the Cross if we are righteous why did he suffer if we be sinners why are we bold and puffed up be assured that this sin alone if there were no other would turn this Banquet into Poison or make us at least incapable to receive any benefit from it 2. Consider the great dignity of these terrible mysteries had we the purity of an Angel and the affections of a Seraphin we could scarce be worthy to come so near to a most holy and All-seeing God to lay such claim to the blessed Jesus and all his Merits and to be so wholly united to him as we are designing in this admirable Communion But thirdly We are so far from such excellencies that our late Confession is yet fresh in our memories wherein we did most truly accuse our selves of many and grievous offences and our own Conscience will check the vanity of all proud imaginations of our own merit by discovering to us that we have done very little good and that very imperfectly yet even that also by the grace of God and not by our own Power d Debetur enim merces si fiant sed gratia quae non debetur praecedit ut fiant Aug. in Julian How then can we fancy our selves worthy to make this approach Especially if we remember Fourthly That our preparation it self the only remaining suppletory hath been very imperfect if not deficient and who is there that can shew such a tender heart such strong desires so lively affections and so vigorous a Faith as this Ordinance doth require Upon all which accounts we have no reason to come presumptuously trusting in our own Righteousness We should be more likely to fly from this holy Table with shame and fear but only that we hear our God is merciful 1 King 20.31 and that Jesus will in no wise cast out those who come unto him John 6.37 We have manifold and great miseries and he hath manifold and great mercies and by these we are invited Our own righteousness is nothing the merits of others are insufficient for themselves but the compassions of God can never fail to these we fly for refuge and oh happy venture to take sanctuary in the divine mercy where there is no hazard e Pulchrum periculum confugere ad Deum D. Bern. but that he who is mercy it self should not pity us Wherefore behold O Lord we come unto thee thou mightest indeed justly censure this approach of such wretched Creatures to be the most daring presumption but we beseech thee condemn not the action but behold the motives that drew us hither even our own miseries and thy mercies and help us to supply in humility what we want in worthiness let our mean and just opinion of our selves our bended knees and broken hearts shew that we durst not have adventured so nigh if thy mercy had not held out the golden Scepter to us § 4. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy Our Saviour adviseth us even at an ordinary Feast to take the lowest room Luke 14.10 and Solomon warneth us not to put our selves too forward in the presence of a King Prov. 25.6 How much more then is it our duty to think the meanest place too good for us at this Heavenly Feast of the King of Kings How scornfully do the great ones of this World sometimes look upon their poor Brethren thinking their footstool f Jam. 2.3 Populus terrae scabellum pedûm Pharisaeorum Proverb Hebr. or a place among their Dogs good enough for them Job 30.1 and is there not a much greater distance between God and us When Mephibosheth was admitted to King Davids Table he in great humility compares himself to a dead Dog 2 Sam. 9.7 8. but we have much more reason to esteem our selves as such before the Majesty of Heaven Had we always been dutiful and obedient Children we might then have expected to have been fed at our Fathers Table but we have been Rebels and therefore with Adonibezeks Captives might justly be made to gather up the Crumbs Jud. 1.7 under the feet of our great Lord Nay by our Anger Luxury Intemperance and especially by falling back into our old sins g Canis ad vomitum rediens Prov. 26.11 2 Pet. 2.22 we have behaved our selves like unto Dogs and therefore how dare we challenge the Childrens Bread We may well confess with the poor Canaanitish Woman that the Crumbs and Reliques h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip Cress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist 2. de gen which are the part of Dogs are too good for us That is the common mercies of food and raiment health and habitations and the least measures of grace and comfort which are but small i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl in Math. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz ep 45. considering the Power of God and his bounty to his own Children but very great considering our unworthiness If the Lord will please but to give us these necessary things and to bestow so much grace and comfort on us as will support us and encourage us in our Repentance we will be very thankful although we be not filled with extasies and assurance It is true this Heavenly bread is too good for us but only that our merciful Father is admirable in his condescensions he looks at our necessities but weigheth not our merits and doth most graciously receive us wherefore we will lie down in the dust and be as vile as may be before so good a God our acknowledgments shall lay us as low as ever our sins have done we will profess we are unworthy of the least favours that so we may the better set out the divine goodness which vouchsafeth to give us the greatest And no doubt they that thus humble themselves sincerely shall certainly be exalted Luke 14.11 For our God is always gracious and ever the same whose property it is to have mercy upon humble and contrite ones § 5. Grant us therefore gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Iesus Christ and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our Souls washed through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and be in us Amen In the midst of these our acknowledgments of our own unworthiness we are seasonably minded that we have a gracious Lord who is apt to pitty us even when we are justly miserable He sees our bodies are defiled and our Souls polluted and both empty and void of Christ and he hath appointed this
so afterwards that we may retain the benefits which we have received as the more particular consideration thereof will shew The Analysis of the First Prayer in the Post-Communion § 2. This First Prayer consisteth of Three Parts 1. A Supplication to the Father 1. For the Acceptance of our Sacrifice of Praise O Lord our heavenly Father we thy humble Servants entirely desire thy Fatherly Goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving 2. For the Benefits of the Oblation made by Jesus Christ Most humbly beseeching thee to grant that by the Merits and Death of thy Son Iesus Christ and through Faith in his Blood we and all thy whole Church may receive remission of our Sins and all other benefits of his Passion 2. An Oblation of our selves by 1. A solemn Dedication 1. The thing dedicated And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our souls and bodies 2. The end of the Dedication to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee 2. A Petition for Grace to make good this Vow Humbly beseeching thee that all we who are Partakers of this Holy Communion may be full filled with thy Grace and heavenly Benediction 3. An Act of Humility expressed in 1. Acknowledging our unworthiness And although we be unworthy through our manifold Sins to offer unto thee any Sacrifice 2. Petitioning to be mercifully accepted yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden Duty and Service not weighing our Merits but pardoning our Offences 3. A Doxology to the whole Blessed Trinity Through Iesus Christ our Lord by whom and with whom in the Vnity of the Holy Ghost all Honour and Glory be unto thee O Father Almighty world without end Amen A Practical Discourse upon the first Prayer with Meditations after the Communion § 3. O Lord our Heavenly Father we thy humble Servants entirely desire thy Fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving The devout Soul being newly refreshed with these Heavenly Comforts and even ravished with joy to find him whom she loved and longed after desires now an opportunity to express her gratitude But alas what have we to return we can make no requital only we must acknowledge the favour and offer up a Sacrifice of Praise for it and since this is all we can do we had need do this very well but if we reflect upon the manner even of this Oblation we shall easily perceive there have been many defects so that without a merciful acceptance it could never avail us in the sight of God how apparent is it that we have not praised God so affectionately and unfeignedly as so infinite a mercy doth deserve Wherefore if we be really his humble Servants the first thought in our hearts and the first word in our mouths will be the confession of our failings even in the whole office from the beginning to the end for the Ancients called the whole Communion the Sacrifice of Praise c Ecclesia immolat in Corpore Christi sacrificium laudis Aug. l. 1. in advers legis cap. 20. as our Church here doth whereas the Romanists only call it a Sacrifice d Praesta ut hoc sacrificium quod oculis tuae Majestatis indignus obtuli Missal Rom. without any other addition but it is not the Sacrifice of Christ which we here speak of for that is always pleasing to God and was absolutely perfect but it is our own Peace-offering in Commemoration thereof in which there have bâ—en many failings and therefore we desire and beg that it may be accepted in mercy so that our infirmities may not deprive us of the benefit and the comfort thereof to which purpose let us thus Meditate When I compare thy acts with mine Holy Jesus I am exceedingly ashamed to behold so vast a disproportion thou givest me thy merits and graces thy life and thy love at present and hast promised thy Kingdom to me in reversion and I have scarce returned this with the intire devotion of one half hour Oh how little is my obdurate heart affected with the sense of my own guilt the fears of the divine wrath or the apprehensions of thy sufferings Yet Lord I do desire and did endeavour to praise thee so that I hope thou wilt consider my infirmities with much compassion and measure my services not by the exactnâ—ss of the performance but by the sincerity of my wishes so shall I be accepted before thy Heavenly Father and by the mercy of that acceptance be obliged unto thee for ever § 4. Most humbly beseeching thee to grant that by the merits and death of thy Son Iesus Christ and through Faith in his Blood we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of his Passion Our Heavenly Father doth not at any time require our praises meerly for the advancement of his own glory but that we may thereby be the more fit to receive greater benefits from him e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ch. in Gen. hom 52. thus in the design of this holy Sacrament he doth not only intend it as a Sacrifice of Praise for the Death of Christ but as a means to convey the blessings thereof to us Wherefore we must in the next place petition that we may find the happy effects of our Lords Passion and then we shall have good grounds to turn this memorial thereof into Eucharist and Thanksgiving We have beheld that sacred body broken and that precious blood spilt in a mystery which is sufficient to attone our sins and the sins of the whole Church and we have now perceived our own need of mercy and we are in perfect Charity with all Christian people so that it is now most proper for us to pray that that so excellent a price may not be paid in vain so glorious an offering may not want its due effects But that by this Sacrifice as the meritorious and moving cause and by our Faith therein as the instrumental we and the whole Church may find remission at the hands of God This is the great end of our Communicating and if we would most earnestly intreat for it we may thus enlarge our selves Gracious Lord we have beheld the efficacious and all-saving Sacrifice which thy Son hath offered for us we have remembred it and blessed thy name for it as well as we were able though not so highly as we are obliged to do f Gratias agimus Deus omnipotens non quantum debemus sed quantum possumus Liturg. S. Clement For the benefits thereof are inestimable Oh let them not all be lost unto us for want of Faith to believe and receive them There is no want of merit in Jesus to deserve no want of mercy in thee to bestow remission Oh let there not want in us or in any of those for whom Christ died grace to accept this Pardon Behold Lord how we struggle under a load of guilt
profess if we had not been encouraged by his love and goodness and commanded by his own Precept we durst not have approached to these terrible mysteries Yet since it is our bounden duty and a service so fit so just and reasonable we may hope he will accept us not because we are worthy or have done any thing to merit his favour but because he is merciful y Non aestimator meriti sed veniae largitor Ambros Rom. Missal and apt to forgive our failings if he should take a measure of the worth of our Sacrifice by the Holiness of the offerers z Qui petit primo debet attendere ut pro suis meritis nihil accepturum se putet sed de Dei misericordiâ tantum Bern. in sent it is sure ours would be rejected and therefore it is best for us to fly to his mercy For the best of Gods Saints whose devotion far excelled ours have set us this Example and found it the wisest and safest way I confess to thy goodness saith St. Ambrose that I am not worthy to come near to so great a mystery for my manifold sins But thou canst make me worthy Wherefore although a Sinner I come to thy Altar to offer the Sacrifice which thou hast appointed Whose example we may follow by this or the like Act of Humility O thou all-seeing and most holy Lord God I have been admitted to make an Oblation of my praises and my self unto thee and I am infinitely concerned that thou shouldst accept me therein not for any merit in me but for thy own mercy sake O my God thou knowest I have been polluted with Sin undutiful to thy commands unfaithful to my promises unmindful of my obligations confederate with thy Enemies yea and even in the time of these holy mysteries so obdurate and confused that I might justly fear lest my wretchedness should make my Sacrifice an abomination I blush that I am no fitter I lament that I should bring so many defilements where the purity of an Angel is scarce sufficient but I take sanctuary in thy most obliging condescensions and because I am so unworthy I will endeavour to esteem my self as vile as I really am in thy sight O do not look upon the deserts of a wretched sinner but remember thy own mercies and accept what thou hast required of me And so shall thy favour be more illustrious because it is bestowed upon so undeserving a Creature and the sense of my unworthiness shall enlarge my thankfulness and make me praise thee more than if I had approached with all perfections § 8. Through Iesus Christ our Lord by whom and with whom in the unity of the Holy Ghost all honour and glory be unto thee O Father Almighty World without end Amen When the people prayed without Luke 1.10 they directed their faces toward the Temple and the Priest who was there offering Incense but we have much more reason to lift up our hearts to our great High Priest who is now entred into the Heavens and doth there present most perfect intercessions and unreproveable Mediations for us We know our own services to be altogether imperfect wherefore we do here declare that our only hopes of Acceptance and Pardon is Through Jesus Christ by whom we are directed to offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Heb. 13.15 as we here do in this present Doxology which comes very near to the antient form used in this Office a Audi quid dicat sacerdos Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum in quo tibi est cum quo tibi est honor laus gloria magnificentia potestas cum Spiritu Sancto à seculis nunc semper in omnia secula seculorum Amen Ambros de sacr l. 6. c. 5. and doth glorifie the whole Trinity from every person whereof we have now received peculiar testimonies of grace and favour and I wish that we may do it with a devotion proportionable to the great Obligations now laid upon us and then it will be accepted according to our desire Amen The Paraphrase of the first Prayer § 9. O Lord whom though we may make bold to call our Heavenly Father through Christ Jesus yet We esteem it our honour to be accounted thy humble Servants Having now finished this great mystery we do most heartily and entirely desire thy Fatherly goodness to pass by our failings therein as the infirmities of thy own Children and beseech thee mercifully to accept this our Oblation of our selves together with our Eucharistical Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving for the sufferings and merits of our Redeemer Most humbly deseeching thee who hast given such a Sacrifice for us and in this holy Sacrament offered the benefits thereof unto us That thou wilt please to grant that it may not be in vain to us or any of thy people But that â—y the merits of the Passion and death of thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christ which we have now commemorated and through a lively Faith in his blood which was shed for us Both We who have now Communicated and thy whole Church throughout the World may receive a free Pardon and full remission of our Sins And also obtain reconciliation and adoption sanctification and power against sin assurances of peace hopes of glory and all other benefits of his all-saving Passion And here at thy Altar where thou hast re-minded us of thy giving thy Son for us and where thou hast offered to make a League with us in his most precious blood We offer not only the praises of our lips which are too mean a return for such favour but we dedicate and present unto thee O Lord that which thou chiefly requirest and all that we have to give even our selves wholly and entire all the powers of our Souls and all the members of our Bodies designing them absolutely to thy service and intending them to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice and therefore we have consecrated them unto thee And we hope thou wilt accept us for thine own and never suffer us to be enslaved to sin hereafter And that we may keep this vow we do here crave thy gracious assistance humbly beseeching thee to send thy holy Spirit to take possession of our hearts so that all we who are partakers of the outward part of this holy Communion being made thine may be fullfilled and replenished in Soul and Body with thy grace within us and thy Heavenly benediction upon us And although we confess thou maist justly charge us to be unworthy through the stain and the guilt of our manifold sins which mingle with all our duties to offer unto thee so pure and holy a Majesty any Sacrifice of Praise or to make any Oblations before thee Yet we have ventured in hopes of thy goodness upon this â—acred mystery and we do beseech thee to accept this our imperfect endeavour as a testimony of our desire to please thee since it is our bounden Duty to shew
be forgiven by Faith in their Baptism as St. Cyprian argues how much more shall Infants who have no actual sin but only the Contagion of Death which they drew from Adam and will the more easily gain remission here because it is not their own but others Sin which is forgiven to them Epist 59. The Fathers also of the II. Council of Carthage Anathematize those that say Children are not by Baptism delivered from Hell and made partakers of Eternal Life The same is affirmed by St. Augustine n Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 16. Fulgentius o Fulgentius de fide cap. 30. and all the Catholick Fathers And the Heretick Hierax is censured for denying it by Epiphanius p Epiphan l. 2. Tom. 2. haer 67. But the Waldenses made it an Article of their Confession That Baptism was necessary to Salvation and that Infants were saved thereby q Hoveden Annal. ap Usher de Christian Eccl. success cap. 8. Sect. 34. and none have any reason to oppose so pious and so received a truth I confess some of the later Doctors and the Assembly at Trent have been too positive in asserting the Damnation of Infants which die unbaptized as if God could not save without it forgetting that it is commonly the Parents neglect and that it is they who despise the Covenant r Non infans qui discernere necdum valuit verum majores ejus qui id servare poterant noverant debuerant irritum fecerunt pactum Beda in Luc. 2. and deserve the greatest punishment And yet we may affirm there is no promise for the Salvation of such their Estate is uncertain if not evil Wherefore let no Parents who love their own or their Childrens Souls upon pretence of Gods power or mercy presume to neglect that which is so certainly a means of Salvation neither let them think it indifferent whether their Children be baptized or no for this springs from a dangerous mistake And it is evident saith St. Ambrose how great a negligence and carelesness it breeds in the hearts of Christian Parents concerning their Childrens Baptism when they think no harm can come to them either by their own neglect or the Childrens dying before De vocat gent. l. 2. c. 8. If Children be weak the Parent must immediately endeavour to procure their Baptism but if notwithstanding all possible care they die before we must not then confine the Almighty to the outward means but believe he may save without where he did not give the opportunity And in such Case the Parent may take Comfort in his having done what he could and ought to hope in the Divine mercy Of the Baptism of those of riper years § 4. In the Baptism of Persons who are of Age and Understanding there is more required than in that of Infants for they being capable to receive Instruction to declare their Faith and to exercise an actual Repentance our Church commands that they be first Taught and Catechized Math. 28.19 which of Old lasted all the fourty days of Lent and then that they be Examined concerning their Faith and Repentance Lu e 3. 8 9 10 11. Finally the Persons themselves are advised according to the Primitive Discipline Å¿ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. Ingressuros baptismum orationibus crebris jejuniis geniculationibus pervigiliis orare oportet c. Tert. de bapt cap. ult to prepare themselves for this Seal of Remission by Fasting and Prayer and a serious Consideration of the Covenant into which they are about to enter This variety between their duty and that of Infants hath occasioned the compiling of a peculiar Office but alas there is too seldom occasion to use it for we see but few Converts to Christianity in these days and may justly lament the scandal which is given to the Unbelievers by the wickedness and the divisions of those whose manners are the disgrace of their Principles t Aut haec non est Christiana Religio aut vos non estis Christiani Dictum Hominis Pagani S. Scripturam inspicientis And it is sad to consider that the several Sects of Christians are more concerned to diminish each others party than to add to the whole Church u Hâ—c sit negotium illis non Ethnicos convertendi sed nostros evertendi hanc magis gloriam captant si stantibus ruinam quam si jacentibus elevationem operantur Tertul. de praescrip c. 41. The first poor despised Planters of our Religion brought in thousands and in despite of all the Wit and Learning Power and Malice which did oppose them they daily added to the Church of God whereas now when we have all imaginable advantages on our side such is our sloth that an Age scarce produceth an hundred Converts of Jews Turks or Infidels Yet this office is sometimes used for the unhappy Children of those licentious Sectaries who not content to oppose all the prudent Institutions of the Church have cast off both those Sacraments which are of Christs own appointing by reason whereof those who spring from them want their Baptism till they come to understand and hate the accursed Errours of their deluded Parents But on what occasion soever it is used the Person to be baptized may by this discourse be instructed in order to so great a work by altering some few circumstances and applying all unto their own Case and it will be proper also for those who are Sureties to learn here how far their obligation doth extend yea all that are baptized may from hence be instructed in and remembred of their great Baptismal Vow For although we treat principally of Infant Baptism yet a little variation will make this Discourse sute the other Cases But before we begin with the several Parts let this Table give you the method of the whole Office SECT I. Of the Preparation before Baptism The Analysis of the Office of Publick Baptism § 5. The Office of Publick Baptism is divided into Three Parts 1. The Preparation before Baptism which concerns either SECT I. 1. The Child it self 1. Enquiring if it want Baptism The first Question § 1. 2. Shewing the necessity of Baptism The first Exhortation § 2. 3. Praying it may be fitted for it The two Collects § 3 4. 2. The Sureties in its behalf 1. Encouraging them by 1. The Gospel and its Application § 5. 2. The Thanksgiving § 6. 2. Engaging them by 1. Perswasion The Preface to the Covenant § 7. 2. Stipulation The Interrogatories and Answers § 8. 2. The Administration of Baptism which consisteth of SECT II. 1. Devotions for the sanctifying of 1. The Child The Short Prayers § 1. 2. The Water The Prayer of Consecration § 2. 2. Holy Actions in The Form of Baptism § 3 4. 3. Solemn Declaration The Reception of the Child into the Church § 5. 3. The Close and Consequents after Baptism being SECT III. 1. A Recital of the Benefits of Baptism in The Exhortation
Ambrose saith the Priest spoke to the Person Baptized in this manner God the Father Almighty who hath regenerated thee by Water and the Holy Ghost and forgiven thee thy Sins c. which shews that the Antients did not question the effect of the Sacrament no not in Persons of Age until their future Conversation declared they had broke their Covenant how much more then ought we to believe this in the Case of Infants who can put no impediment to the Grace of God and are all alike so that either all or none receive these blessings Now the particulars for which we bless our most merciful Father they are Three all of them acts of free Grace and effects of a mighty favour and all of them highly beneficial to the party on whom they are bestowed First That it hath pleased God to Regenerate this Infant with his Holy Spirit which is an invaluable mercy For whereas it was by its first Birth guilty of Original Corruption and lyable to Eternal Death in this second Birth that guilt is done away and that Obligation to Death cancelled and so shall ever remain unless it fall under it again by actual disobedience And whereas it was defiled and corrupted in the principles of its being deprived of the image of God under the Power of Sin and the Dominion of the Flesh in a servile wretched condition so that it could never have pleased God Rom. 8.8 nor conquer'd its evil affections nor had it any assistance or strength so to do But now it is born of the Spirit and purifyed in the inward Man and the image of God is begun to be drawn anew it hath a new principle put into it which will resist the flesh and may wholly in time subdue it it is in Covenant with God and hath promises of aid from him so that its nature is healed at present and shall be sanctifyed throughout hereafter if this Grace be not expelled again it was an Object of divine wrath a Vessel fit for destruction a corrupt abominable Creature but now it is beloved purifyed and restored it is admitted to a state of Pardon put into a Capacity of pleasing God and Conquering all its Enemies and it hath as fair possibilities of glory as the best of Gods Saints which now injoy it once had Oh let us bless the Almighty for this change for from such beginnings Eternal felicity uses to spring and this little seed by the divine influence and careful cultivating will thrive and grow into a state of perfection and immortality 2. We must praise him that he hath adopted it for his own Child which is a consequent of the Regenerating it for God adopts none for his Children till he hath first sanctified k Pythagoraei vocant Deum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocles them and made them in some measure like himself Now how excellent a favour is this also that so poor a Wretch whose Kindred was Worms and Corruption if not evil Spirits should so freely be adopted by the King of Kings not because he wants Children of his own the usual reason of Adoption l Adoptio solet fieri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aulus Gellius Divus Augustus amissis liberis nepotibus exhaustâ Caesarum turbâ adoptione domum desertam fulsit Senec. Consol ad Marc. Sect. 15. for besides the Holy Jesus the Blessed Angels are all Sons of God nor yet because he deserved this favour was this Child Adopted But of his own infinite goodness Our Heavenly Father takes the Slaves of his Enemy whose lives are forfeit to his Justice and not only pardons them but makes them his own Children and thereby gives them the best freedom even the glorious liberty of the Sons of God m Eum servum quem Dominus actis intervenientibus filium suum nominaverit liberum esse constituimus Justin institut l. 1. tit 2. Sect. 12. Rom. 8.21 and intitles them to a Portion of his Grace and also an Inheritance in his Glory and a right to the Crown of Life Oh who can parallel this mercy or how can we sufficiently express it Lastly We are to give thanks that this Child is made a Member of the Church it is a rare mercy that the great Husbandman should take this dead Branch of a wild Olive only fit to be fuel for Eternal Flames and graft it into the true Olive Rom. 11.17 so as to make it partake of the same Spirit and grace which is derived from the Root into the most flourishing and fruitful Branches That this Stranger should be incorporated into the Society of Christs Holy Church and made a Denizon of the New Jerusalem n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost The Chief Captain purchased his freedom in the Roman City at a very great rate Acts 22.28 and it was formerly thought a reward for the greatest merits to give them the Priviledges of a Roman but behold one that could deserve nothing most freely made a Fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Ephes 2.19 admitted to all the Franchises and Immunities that belong to the Communion of Saints Blessed be God! Could this poor Infant understand its own happiness herein or were it able to express it self it would most passionately sing praises and be ravished with Admiration at so marvellous bounty and condescension but since the Child cannot do this as yet let us to whom the like favour hath been shewed lend it our Tongues and Hearts to bless the Lord at present and let us really rejoice in remembrance of our own Mercy so that the Name of his Majesty may be magnified as it ought to be Amen 2. To our Thanksgiving we must add Petitions and beseech Almighty God that it may not receive this Grace in Vain And herein also we have a President in the Jewish Rites where the Circumciser having ended the Circumcision saith O our God and the God of our Fathers strengthen and preserve this Infant unto his Parents c. and as he hath entred into the Covenant of Circumcision let him enter into the state of Marriage and good Works But our Prayers are more spiritual viz. for inward Grace rather than outward Blessings and good Reason for all these benefits will vanish unless they be afterwards improved they will not have their full effect unless the Conditions be performed Neither we nor the Primitive Church do believe them to be so regenerate or so endued with the Spirit but that by sloth and wilful iniquity they may be deprived of all again their Corruptions are not so mortified but that by complyance and base negligence they may revive again so that the last Estate shall be worse than the first and it shall be more tolerable for Heathens than for vile Apostates Wherefore we beg most humbly and earnestly that this Child may live as one upon whom such great favours are bestowed The Words of these Requests are St. Pauls Rom. 6.4 5 6. and ver 11 12 13. and
the Phrase is frequently used by the Fathers in this Case The sum of them is to desire that whatsoever is shadowed in the Outward part and signified in Rite may in Substance and reality be fulfilled o Baptismus salutaris est si perfectum est in corde quod factum est in Corpore Augustin and that whatsoever the Scripture affirms to be the duty of all baptized Persons may be particularly performed by this Child That as this Child hath in figure imitated Christs Death and Resurrection so it may hereafter live as one dead unto sin and all the desires of it but alive unto righteousness and ready to execute all the commands thereof That as it is baptized into the Faith of Christ Crucified for Sin so it may mortifie and kill all its corrupt affections until it have utterly abolished all the powers of Lust and Concupiscence and brought the flesh in subjection to the Spirit We pray that it may not renew the guilt that is remitted nor fall back into the bondage from which it is delivered that it may not defile what God hath cleansed nor expel what he hath given but when it comes to understanding that it may make use of the Grace that is offered unto it and improve the beginings planted in it and live like one of Gods Children and one of the Society of Saints and then we are assured that it shall not only have an Interest in the merits of Christs Death but feel the power of his Resurrection and finally it self also shall rise again in the Resurrection of the Just of which this Mystery is a pledge p Baptismus itaque resurrectionis pignus est imago Ambros in Rom. 6. We do most ardently therefore desire this Infant may lead a holy life for if it live like Jesus on Earth it shall live with him in Heaven if it be an obedient Son it shall not fail of the Inheritance if it follow the steps of holy Saints it shall go whither they are gone and with them at last sing Hallelujahs in Everlasting Glory And oh what pity is it that when this Child is set in the right way thither when it is put into such a state that neither former Guilt nor future power of Sin can stop its passage if it hold fast the Grace received what pity is it I say that it should fall off and lose all again And yet too many do thus Apostatize and exchange Life for Death Liberty for Bondage and Heaven for Hell whose sad Catastrophe doth stir us up most heartily to pray that this poor Infant may never do the like but through the Continuance of the grace of God may lead the rest of its life according to this blessed beginning for Jesus sake and let all the People say Amen §. 4. The concluding Exhortation to the Sureties Forasmuch as this Child hath promised by you that are his Sureties to renounce c. The Church hath always had an especial care that this Vow of Baptism may be conscientiously performed And in regard that nothing tends more directly to the securing of Holiness and Religion here is added endeavours to our Prayers for the fulfilling thereof In the first Ages when those of riper years were Baptized the Exhortation q Alloquimur recentèr baptizatos ut animos accendamus sive ad virginalem integritatem sive ad continentiam vidualem sive ad ipsius thori conjugalis fidem Aug. de Civ dei l. 1. cap. 27. was directed to the Persons themselves and there are many excellent Tracts of the Fathers made upon that occasion But now that Children are most commonly the Subjects of Baptism who are not yet capable of Admonition here is a serious and earnest Exhortation made unto the Sureties Which if it be well considered will shew how base it is for any to undertake this Trust meerly in Complement how absurd to put little Children whose Bond is not good in humane Courts upon this weighty Office and also how ridiculous for those who have taken this duty upon them to think they can shake off this Charge again and assign it over to the Parents which are the evil Customs of this Licentious Age It is sure that if this Institution of Godfathers and Godmothers were prudently undertaken and well performed there could not be a more effectual means to repair the decay of Christian Piety and therefore it is very lamentable to behold how slightly men enter upon it and how little they do regard it afterwards For remedy whereof I wish that all Sureties would well weigh this Excellent Exhortation which contains First A review of what they have done Secondly A direction concerning what they are to do Thirdly A reason why it is so necessary that these things should be done by them 1. They have engaged for a Minor unto Almighty God the God of truth and the Judge of all Men they are become Sureties and Bondsmen r Quicunque viri quaecunque mulieres de sacro fonte filios spiritualiter exceperunt cognoscant se pro ipsis fide-jussores extitisse August de Temp. Serm. 136. for this Child unto the Majesty of Heaven and it is a hainous Crime to deal falsly with him ſ Eccles V. 2.4 Quam gravia vincula promittere Deo non solvere Ambros in Luc. 20. and he will in no wise be mocked You have undertaken that this Infant shall renounce the Devil believe in God and serve him and though the Childs wilful Apostasie doth not forfeit your Bond yet your own negligence may if you do not endeavour to instruct and amend him God knows it is not in your power to give the Childs Grace but it is in your power to teach and to admonish and if you will not do so small a matter the Child is lost through your default and it is apparent you care not what you promise to Almighty God for the least that a Bondsman can do is to call upon the Debtor to discharge what is owing nor can there be a more easie condition than that the Surety shall be free if he do but often admonish him that he is bound with to pay the Debt Consider therefore all you that are concerned what you have done and then it is easie to gather from thence what you are obliged unto 1. To teach these Children the nature of their Baptismal Vow and this was of old appointed even as to grown Persons when they had been baptized in haste in Cases of imminent danger they were to be taught afterwards what favour God had done them and what duty they owed for the same t Qui in aegritudine constituti baptismum perceperunt facti sani fidei symbolum doceantur ut noverint quâ donatione digni sunt habiti Concil Laodicen Can. 59. Much more is it necessary in the Case of Infants wherefore The Godfather or Godmother saith an antient Author ought to signifie to those whom they have received from the