receive it able to understand it b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotinus John 7.17 Ecclus 1.26 nor likely to profit by it Nor must any Man think these divine Precepts of the Moral Law so appropriated to the Jewish Synagogues where they were constantly with great reverence used as to deserve no place in the Christian Worship Or at least that we need not so great preparations before they are read to us For our Saviour hath rather more strictly enjoined than any ways abrogated these Measures of Eternal goodness And withal assures us that the keeping of the Precepts is the way to Everlasting Life Matth. 5.19 20. and Chap. 19.17 So that all of us are concern'd to know this Covenant to which we have ingaged in our Baptism this Rule by which we are to square our lives here and this Law by which we must be judged hereafter And therefore it is appointed that these Commandments shall be read in this place while all the Congregation is together to the Catechumens as well as to the Elder Christians to those that do not as well as to those that do Communicate And that immediately before the Gospel to make that the more welcom to us when the Law hath humbled us by its Terrors Wherefore we here present the general Division of them both to instruct the ignorant and to afford all an Opportunity to see their principal offences against them at one glance while the Minister is reading them or when we have no time for more particular Examination The Analysis of the Ten Commandments § 2. The Ten Commandments are by Christ himself divided into Two Tables I. Table Of Piety towards God 1. As to the Object of Worship I. Com. Thou shalt have no other gods c. I Sins chiefly forbidden Apostasie Deifying the Creature Distrust of God 2. As to the Manner of Worship 1. In our solemn Addresses to God II. Com. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image c. II Idolatry Superstition Slight and careless Worship 2. In all other Acts that have respect unto him III. Com. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord c. III Blasphemy Swearing vainly falsly Cursing Profaning Holy things Sacrilege 3. As to the Time of Worship IV. Com. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath c. IV Neglect of the Sabbath Holy Times Mispending them in Idlenesâ— or Debauchery II. Table Of Charity to our Neighbor 1. Directing us in the Duties of our several Relations 1. Natural as Parents Children 2. Religious Ministers People 3. Civil Princes Subjects 4. Domestical Masters Servants V. Com. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. V Superiours Negligence Pride Evil Example Inferiour Disobedience Contempt Resisting 2. Forbidding us to do any injury either 1. Indeed against our Neighbour's 1. Life VI. Com. Thou shalt doe no murder VI Taking away Life Quarrelling Anger Revenge Cruelty 2. Chastity VII Thou shalt not commit adultery VII Adultery Fornication Wanton Desires Words Behaviour Drukenness 3. Estate or Goods VIII Thou shalt not steal VIII Theft and Robbery Oppression Cheating Unjust detaining Idleness 4. Good Name IX Thou shalt not bear false witness c. IX False Testimonies Lying Slandering Tale-bearing Flattery 2. Or in thought or desire X. Com. Thou shalt not covet c. X Covetousness Envy at others Discontent with our own A Practical Discourse of the Ten Commandments § 3. It must not be expected that I should explain the particular Commandments which would too much swell this work Only I shall undertake two things First To direct how to use them for our profit when there is no Communion Secondly And chiefly how they may be used in private to help us in our Preparation for the Blessed Sacrament As our natural Ignorance makes it necessary to teach us this Law of God in our Catechism So our aptness to forget that which is good requires that it should be repeated in our publick Service It is dangerous either not to know or not to remember these holy Commandments which are proclaimed by our God approved by our own Consciences established with eternal rewards and punishments c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porph. de abst 1. 8. Whosoever therefore thinks it a trouble to hear them so often neither considers the weight of these divine Precepts nor observes that his own frequent breaches of them do shew that they are not read often enough to fix them so in his mind as to procure a sincere Obedience For till we do exactly observe them We do not know or remember them as we ought Let us then endeavour so often as we use them to receive benefit to our Souls thereby And to that purpose First You must with great humility receive them from the Mouth of the Minister as if they were spoken from Mount Sinai by God himself imitating the tenderness of good Josiah 2 Chron. 34.19 and cast your selves down upon your knees for that is the most suitable posture for Criminals who are to petition for pardon and thus listen to every Commandment with diligent attention and a submissive Reverence Secondly Apply them every one carefully to your ways for since you have neglected to follow the direction of this holy Law as your Guide d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex Paed. 1. it now becomes your Accuser e Rectum est index sui obliqui and it may be an excellent opportunity to bring you to the knowledge of your sinful Estate and so unto repentance because your gracious God doth allow you the liberty of second thoughts and will not condemn you for these offences if you condemn your selves for them Ask then your own heart seriously at every one Have I not been such an one Done this evil Neglected this duty And when your Conscience Answers Yes then you must most passionately cry out Lord have mercy upon me and forgive me this or that sin Thirdly Let the discovery of so many breaches and the sight of so vast a heap of guilt make you afraid to add Sin unto Sin f Iterata enim lex solliciâ—iores reddit regligente Ambr. in Galat. and to break these holy bonds any more g Hoc nos pâ—ssimos facit quod nemo vitam suam respicit Sen. Epist 38. for therefore have you lived at random because you have not considered your ways nor compared them strictly with Gods sacred Law But now that you are freshly minded of your Duty and reproved for your former Neglect It will be expected you shall be more afraid to transgress hereafter and therefore desiring never more to offend say Lord incline my heart to keep this Law And thus the hearing of the Ten Commandments may be an exercise of our Repentance and a means of amendment every day § 4. It is of excellent use frequently to compare our ways with Gods Law for so it would be our guide before we act to put us upon our Duty Our reprover afterward to bring us
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
And though this Child cannot perform them at Present yet if it live to years of Discretion it must either do the Will and walk by the Laws of God or else it can never come to Eternal Life Math. 19.17 Wherefore as you promised they should forsake all evil before so now you engage they shall do that which is good c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clement Constit without which neither they nor you your selves can be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven Perhaps some will say this is a hard saying and such as had rather dispute than obey and are readier to question than perform their Duty will alledge it is impossible to keep all the Commandments but it is dangerous thus to charge God d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil ho 19. Mandando impâ—ssibilia non praevaricatores homines facit â—ed humiles Bern in Cant. Facere quod possis petere quod non possis monet Aug. de nat grat as if he were a hard Master who though he binds us to our whole Duty yet will not exact more than we are able and is contented if we do what we can and lament that we can do no more and pray to him to strengthen us still to do better yet withal we are obliged to do all that God requires and in strictness are Sinners for every wilful neglect The sum is that this Child is engaged to believe and live like a Son and Servant of God because it is now about to be adopted and sealed in this Holy Sacrament Which is so solemn and sacred a thing that it ought to be ushered in with this necessary and compleat Preparation SECT II. Of the Administration of Baptism §. 1. The short Prayers for Sanctification of the Child O Merciful God grant that the old Adam in this Child may be so buried c. These Prayers are the Address to this holy Laver and since the Covenant is now made it is fit the Minister should more peculiarly interceed with God for grace to perform it And these as an excellent Author notes do supply the place of the Old Exorcisms which at first seem to have been certain Divine a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril praef ad Catech. Prayers collected out of Gods word for the purifying of the Soul and the exclusion of Satan from thence In like manner these short and pious forms are made in behalf of the party baptized that he may obtain the benefits of Baptism and be secured against the Enemy The first being a Petition for Regeneration the second for Sanctification the third for Power against spiritual Enemies the fourth for encrease of Grace All which are so necessary that every one of them requires our devout joyning in them 1. The first Collect is taken out of Rom. 6.4 5 6. where the Apostle teacheth us that a principal end of Baptism is for the mortifying of the old b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylac ad Coloss Man or old Adam that is for the destruction of Original Corruption and the extirpation of all evil concupiscence which when it is slain and buryed as it were then the new Man that is a gracious disposition doth succeed by the Spirits entring into us and as of old the Baptized Person was plunged over the head and came up again like a new Person as Jesus out of his Grave after his Resurrection so we pray according to the antient phrase c Vetus Adam in Lavacro â—otus moritur Novus cum Christo renascitur Hieron in Ruffin That the Old Adam or corrupt Nature in this Child may be mortifyed so as the new nature may appear in it That is that it may be born again in this Laver of Regeneration and not only have the guilt but the power of original Corruption taken away also 2. As the former Collect Petitions for the removing of the Cause so this for the destruction of the effects for carnal affections and inclinations to Lust Covetousness and Vain-glory do spring from Original Sin and are the Branches and Fruit of that Root of Bitterness now if these remain they will soon intice this new Souldier into the Enemies Quarter and make him lust to return to Aegypt notwithstanding all these Renuntiations wherefore we pray that the Spirit may root up these evil fruits and plant in their stead spiritual affections Heavenly desires holy purposes the Love of God c. that so it may keep its Covenant with ease and delight We pray that the Lusts of the flesh may grow weaker and weaker like the House of Saul and the Graces of the Spirit stronger and stronger like the House of David 2 Sam. 3.1 or as St. Paul speaks That the Body that is the affections of the Body may be dead as towards sin but the Spirit Life as towards Righteousness Rom. 8.10 3. The third Collect goes further and sues for spiritual strength not only that it may not be conquered but may Conquer and Triumph over those Enemies which this Child hath now defyed it seems indeed impar congressus an unequal match for a frail Man to contend with the flesh within the Devil without and the World round about him but Christ hath overcome the World John 16.33 and if we will use it he gives us grace in Baptism to subdue the Flesh and defeat the Devil who can do little when our Corruptions do not join with him d Diabolus plus confidit in adjutorio carnis quia est hostis domesticus Bern. Med. c. 4 Eva nostra caro nostra idem therefore let us take the Shield of Faith e Ephes 6.16 1 John 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Catech. 5. and follow our Victorious Leader so shall we be Conquerours our selves and then we may pray the more chearfully for this Infant it is now like the Israelites newly escaped out of Aegypt and will certainly be pursued but we hope it shall see all these Enemies Dead and sing a Triumphant Song over them in the Heavenly Canaan We know that humane Nature hath no such power of its own and therefore we beg it of him that is able to subdue all things to himself and O how blessed will this Child be if it be Master of its own desires and have learned to despise the World and be able to stand against all the wiles of the Devil 4. The last Collect advanceth still higher desiring that this Child and all other to whom this Salutary Rite shall be Administred may not only cease to do evil but learn to do well Isai 1.16 17. not only escape the pollutions of the World but add to their Faith Vertue 2 Peter 1.4 5. We pray that they may be indued with Grace and Heavenly Qualities Meekness and Charity Faith and Patience Temperance and Sobriety Zeal and Devotion c. so that they may obtain Eternal Life which though it be not due by the Servants Merit f Vita aeterna justitiae quidem stipendium