the beloved Son the first born of every creature according to the Prophecies which went before him of the seed of of Abraham and David and of the Tribe of Judah He who is the maker of all that are born was conceived in the womb of a Virgin and he that is void of all flesh was incarnate and made flesh He was born in time who was begotten from eternity He conversed piously with men and instructed them with his holy Laws and doctrine He cured every disease and every infirmity He did signs and wonders among the people He slept and eat and drank who feeds all the living with food and fills them with his blessing He declared thy Name to them who knew it not He enlightned our ignorances He enkindled Godliness and fulfilled thy will and finished all that which thou gavest him to do All this when he had done he was taken by the hands of wicked men by the treachery of false Priests and an ungodly people he suffered many things of them and by thy permission suffered all shame and reproach He was delivered to Pilate the President who judged him that is the Judge of the quick and dead and condemned him who is the Saviour of all others He who is impassible was crucified and He died who is of an immortal nature and they buried him by whom others are made alive that by his death and passion he might free them for whom he came and might dissolve the bands of the Devil and deliver men from all his crafty malices But then he rose again from the dead he conversed with his Disciples forty days together and then was received up into heaven and there sits at the right hand of God his Father We therefore being mindful of these things which he did and suffered for us give thanks to thee Almighty God not as much as we should but as much as we can and here fulfil his Ordinance and believe all that he said and know and confess that he hath given us his body to be the food and his blood to be the drink of our souls that in him we live and move and have our being that by him we are taught by his strength enabled by his graces prevented by his spirit conducted by his death pardoned by his resurrection justified and by his intercession defended from all our enemies and set forward in the way of holinesse and life eternal O grant that we and all thy servants who by faith and Sacramental participation communicate with the Lord Jesus may obtain remission of our sins and be confirmed in piety and may be delivered from the power and illusions of the Devil and being filled with thy Spirit may become worthy members of Christ and at last may inherit eternal Life through the same our Lord Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IV. Of Charity preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament SECT I. THE second great Instrument of preparation to the blessed Sacrament is Charity for though this be involved in faith as in its cause and moral principle yet we are to consider it in the proper effects also of it in its exercise and operations relative to the Mysteries For they that speak distinctly and give proprieties of employment to the two Sacraments by that which is most signal and eminent in them both respectively call Baptism the Sacrament of Faith and the Eucharist the Sacrament of Charity that is Faith in Baptism enters upon the work of a good life and in the holy Eucharist it is actually productive of that Charity which at first was designed and undertaken For Charity is that fire from heaven which unlesse it does enkindle the Sacrifice God will never accept it for an atonement This God declared to us by his Laws given to the sons of Israel and Aaron The Sacrifice that was Gods portion was to be eaten and consumed by himself and therefore to be devoured by the holy fire that came down from heaven And this was imitated by the Persians who worshipped the fire and thought what the fire devoured their god had plainly eaten So Maximus Tyrius tells of them that bringing their Sacrifices they were wont to say O Fire our Lord eat this meat And Pindar in his Olympiaes tells of the Rhodians that when they brought a Sacrifice to Jupiter and had by chance forgotten to bring their fire he accepting of their good intentions and pitying their forgetfulnesse rained down upon them a golden shower from a yellow cloud that is a shower of fire came and consumed their sacrifice Now this is the great emblem of Charity the flame consumes the feasters Sacrifice and makes it a divine nutriment our Charity it purifies the Oblation and makes their Prayers accepted The Tables of the Lord like the Delian Altars must not be defiled with blood and death with anger and revenge with wrath and indignation and this is to be in all senses of duty and ministration an unbloody Sacrifiâ—e The blood of the Crosse was â—he last that was to have been shed The Laws can shed more but nothing else For by remembring and representing the effusion of blood not by shedding it our expiation is now perfected and compleat but nothing hinders it more than the spirit of war and death not only by the emissions of the hand or the apertures of a wound but by the murder of the tongue and the cruelties of the heart or by an unpeaceable disposition It was love that first made Societies and love that must continue our Communions and God who made all things by his power does preserve them by his love and by union and society of parts every creature is preserved When a little wâ—ter is spilt from a full Vessel and falls into its enemy dust it curles it self into a drop and so stands equally armed in every point of the circle dividing the Forces of the enemy that by that little union it may stand as long as it can but if it be dissolved into flatnesse it is changed into the nature and possession of the dust War is one of Gods greatest plagues and therefore when God in this holy Sacrament pours forth the greatest effusion of his love peace in all capacities and in all dimensions and to all purposes he will not endure that they should come to these love-feasts who are unkind to their brethren quarrelsom with their neighbours implacable to their enemies apt to contentions hard to be reconciled soon angry scarcely appeased These are dogs and must not come within the holy place where God who is the Congregating Father and Christ the great minister of peace and the holy spirit of love are present in mysterious Symbols and most gracious Communications For although it be true that God loves us first yet he will not continue to love us or proceed in the methods of his kindnesse unlesse we become like unto him and love For by our love and charity he will pardon us and he will
it is a necessary disposition to the Sacrament p. 159 Sect. 5. Of the proper and specifick work of Faith in the reception of the holy Communion p. 172 Sect. 6. Meditations and devotions relative to this preparatory grace to be used in the daies of preparation or at any time of spiritual Communion p. 190 CHAP. IV. OF Charity preparatory to the blessed Sacrament p. 197 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. Of doing good to our neighbours p. 201 Sect. 3. Of speaking good of our neighbours p. 204 Sect. 4. Forgiveness of injuries a necessary part of preparation to the holy Sacrament p. 208. Sect. 5. Devotions relative to this grace of charity to be used by way of exercise and preparation to the Divine Mysteries in any time or part of our life but especially before and at the Communion p. 252 CHAP. V. OF repentance preparatory to the blessed Sacrament p. 258 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. The necessity of repentance in order to the holy Sacrament p. 261 Sect. 3. What actions of repentance are specially required in our preparations to the holy Sacrament p. 267 Sect. 4. How far we must have proceeded in our general repentance and emendation of our lives before we Communicate p 289 Sect. 5. What significations of repentance are to be accepted by the Church in admission of penitents to the Communion p. 329 Sect. 6. Whether may every Minister of the Church and Curate of Souls reject impenitent persons or any criminals from the holy Sacrament untill themselves be satisfied of their repentance and amends p. 334 Sect. 7. Penitential Soliloquies Ejaculations Exercises and preparatory Prayers to be used in all the dayes of preparation to the holy Sacrament p. 347 CHAP. VI. OF our actual and ornamental preparation to the reception of the blessed Sacrament p. 355 Sect. 1. Ibid. Sect. 2. Rules for examination of our Consciences against the day of our Communion p. 359 Sect. 3. Of an actual supply to be made of such actions and degrees of good as are wanting against a Communion-day p. 366 Sect. 4 Devotions to be used upon the morning of the Communion p. 373 CHAP. VII OF our comportment in and after our Receiving the blessed Sacrament p. 378 Sect. 1. Of the circumstances and manner of Reception of the Divine Mysteries Ibid. Sect. 2. Acts of vertues and graces relative to the mystery to be used before or at the celebration of the Divine Sacrament p. 381 Sect. 3. An advice concerning him who only Communicates spiritually p. 390 THE INTRODUCTION WHen St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mother had for a time lost their most holy Son they sought him in the villages and the high-ways in the retinues of their kindred and the Caravans of the Galilean Pilgrims but there they found him not At last almost despairing faint and sick with travel and fear with desires and tedious expectations they came into the Temple to pray to God for conduct and success knowing and believing assuredly that if they could find God they should not long miss to find the Holy Jesus and their faith deceived them not For they sought God and found him that was God and man in the midst and circle of the Doctors But being surprised with trouble and wonder they began a little to expostulate with the Divine Child why he would be absent so long and leave them as it must needs be when he is absent from us in sorrow and uncertain thoughts This question brought forth an answer which will be for ever useful to all that shall inquire after this Holy Child For as they complained of his absence so he reproved their ignorance How is it that you have so fondly looked for me as if I were used to wander in unknown paths without skill and without a guide why did ye inquire after me in high-ways and village-fields ye never knew me wander or lose my way or abide but where I ought why therefore did ye not come hither to look for me Did ye not know that I ought to be in my fathers house that is there where God is worshipped where he loves to dwell where he communicates his blessing and holy influences there and there only we are sure to meet our dearest Lord. For this reason the place of our address to God and holy conversation with him he is pleased to call his house that with confidence we may expect to meet him there when we go to worship and when the Solemnities of Religion were confined to the Tabernacle he therefore made it to be like a house of use and dwelling that in that figure he might tell us where his delight and his aboad would be and therefore God furnished the Tabernacle with the Utensils of a Prophets room at least a Table and a Candlestick and the Table must have dishes and spoons bowls and covers belonging to it the Candlesticks must have Lamps and the Lamps must be continually burning And besides this the house of God must have in it a continual fire the fire must not go out by night nor day and to this the Prophet alludes God hath his fire in Sion and his hearth or furnace in Jerusalem And after all there must be meat in his house too And as this was done by the Sacrifices of old so by the Lords Supper in the New Testament So that now it is easie to understand the place and the reason of Christs aboad even in his Fathers house there where his Father dwells and loves to meet his servants there we are sure to finde the Lord. For as God descended and came into the Tabernacle invested with a cloud so Christ comes to meet us clothed with a Mystery he hath a house below as well as above here is his dwelling and here are his Provisions here is his fire and here his meat hither God sends his Son and here his Son manifests himself the Church and the holy Table of the Lord the Assemblies of Saints and the Devotions of his people the Word and the Sacrament the Oblation of Bread and Wine and the offering of our selves the Consecration and the Communion are the things of God and of Jesus Christ and he that is imployed in these is there where God loves to be and where Christ is to be found in the Imployments in which God delights in the Ministries of his own choice in the work of the Gospel and the methods of Grace in the oeconomy of Heaven and the dispensations of eternal happiness And now that we may know where to find him we must be sure to look after him he hath told us where he would be behind what pillar and under what cloud and covered with what vail and conveyed by what ministry and present in what Sacrament and we must not look for him in the high-wayes of ambition and pride of wealth or sensual pleasures these things are not found in the house of his Father neither may they come neer his dwelling But if we
intrusted in a greater he that does not pray holily and prosperously can never communicate acceptably This therefore must be severely and prudently examined But let us remember this that there is nothing fit to be presented to God but what is great and â—xcellent for nothing comes from him but what is great and best and nothing should be returned to him that is little and contemptible in its kinde It is a mysterious elegancie that is in the Hebrew of the Old Testament when the Spirit of God would call any thing very great or very excellent he calls it of the Lord so the affrightment of the Lord that is a great affrightment fell upon them and the fearful fire that fell upon the shepherds and sheep of Job is called the fire of God and when David took the speare and water-pot from the head of Saul while he and his guards were sleeping it is said that the sleep of the Lord that is a very great sleep was fallen upon them Thus we read of the flames of God and a land of the darknesse of God that is vehement flames and a land of exceeding darknesse and the reason is because when God strikes he strikes vehemently so that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God And on the other side when he blesses he blesses excellently and therefore when Naomie blessed Boaz she said Let him be blessed of the Lord that is according to the Hebrew manner of speaking Let him be exceedingly blessed In proportion to all this whatsoever is offered to God should be of the best it should be a devout Prayer a fervent humble passionate supplication He that prays otherwise must expect the curses and contempt of his lukewarmness and will be infinitely unworthy to come to the holy Communion whether they that come intend to present their Prayers to God in the union of Christs intercession which is then solemnly imitated and represented An indevout Prayer can never be joined with Christs Prayers Fire will easily combine with fire and flame marries flame but a cold devotion and the fire of this Altar can never be friendly and unite in one pyramid to ascend together to the regions of God and the Element of love If it be a prayer of God that is fit to be intitled fit to be presented unto him it must be most vehement and holy The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man only can be confident to prevail nothing else can ever be sanctified by a conjunction with this sacrifice of prayer which must be consumed by a heavenly fire There is not indeed any greater indication of our worthiness or unworthiness to receive the holy Communion than to examine and understand the state of our daily prayer SECT V. Of preparatory examination of our selves in some other instances HE that comes to the holy Communion must examine himself concerning his passions whether that which usually transports him to undecency and shame to sin and folly be brought under the dominion of grace under the command of reason under the Empire of the spirit For the passions of the soul are the violences and storms of reason neither reason nor grace can be heard to speak when they are loud and in vain it is that you tell a passionate person of the interests of wisdom and Religion We see it in fools who have no allay of reason their anger is rage their jealousie is madness their desires are ravenous their loves are troublesome and unseasonable their hopes are groundless but ever confident their fears are by chance but alwayes without measure and a fool when his belly is full may as soon be perswaded into temperate discourses as he that is passionate to be obedient to God and to the rules of his own felicity A great fear and a constant vertue are seldom found in one man and a coward is vertuous by chance and so song as he is let alone but unless the fear of God be greater than the fear of man it is in the power of his enemy whether that man shall be happy or wise And so it is in a great or easie anger every man and every thing can put a peevish person out of his Religion It cannot in these and all the like cases be well unless by examining we find that our spirit is more meek our passion easier overcome and the paroxysms or fits return lesse frequently and the symptomes be lesse malignant In this instance we must be quick and severe and begin betimes to take a course with these vermin and vipers of the soul. Suetonius tells that when the witty flatterers of Cesar had observed that no frogs did breed in his Grandfathers Villa which was in the suburbs of Rome they set themselves to invent a reason which should flatter the Prince and boldly told abroad that when young Octavius was a childe he once in sport forbad them to make a noise and for ever after they were silent and left those pools ever since Octavius began to speak they left off to make their noises and their dwellings there If we suppresse our passions that make inarticulate noises in the soul if betimes and in their infancie we make them silent we shall find peace in all our dayes But an old passion an inveterate peevishness an habitual impotency of lust and vile desires are like an old Lion he will by no means be made tame and taught to eat the meat of peace and gentleness If thy passion be lasting and violent thou art in a state of evil if it be sudden and frequent transient and volatile thou wilt often fall into sin and though every passion be not a sin yet every excess of passion is a diminution of reason and Religion and when the acts are so frequent that none can number them what effects they leave behind and how much they disorder the state of grace none can tell Either therefore suffer no passion to transport and govern you or no examination can signifie any thing For no man can say that a very passionate man is a very good man or how much he is beloved of God who playes the fool so frequently nor how long God will love him who is at the mercy of his imperious passion which gives him laws and can every day change his state from good to bad It was well said of one If you give the reines to grief every thing that crosses thee can produce the biggest grief and the causes of passions are as they are made within He that checks at every word and is jealous of every look and disturb'd at every accident and takes all things by the wrong handle and reflects upon all disturbances switches and spurs his passion and strives to overtake sin and to be tied to infelicity but nothing can secure our Religion but binding our passions in chains and doubling our guards upon them least like mad-folkâ— they break their locks and bolts and
yet still this is done by parts and methods of natural progression after the manner of nature though by the aids of God and therefore it is fit that we expect the changes and make our judgment by material events and discerned mutations before we communicate in these mysteries in which whoever unworthily does communicate enters into death 4. He that hath resolved against all sin and yet falls into it regulaâ—ly at the next temptation is yet in a state of evil and unworthiness to communicate because he is under the dominion of sin he obeys it though unwillingly that is he grumbles at his fetters but still he is in slavery and bondage But if having resolved against all sin he delights in none deliberately chooses none is not so often surprized grows stronger in grace and is mistaken but seldom and repents when he is and arms himself better and watches more carefully against all and increases still in knowledge whatever imperfection is still adherent to the man unwillingly does indeed allay his condition and is fit to humble and cast him down but it does not make him unworthy to communicate because he is in the state of grace he is in the Christian warfare and is on Gods side and the holy Sacrament if it have any effect at all is certainly an instrument or a sign in the hands of God to help his servants to inlarge his grace to give more strengths and to promote them to perfection 5. But the sum of all is this He that is not freed from the dominion of sin he that is not really a subject of the Kingdom of grace he in whose mortal body sin does reign and the Spirit of God does not reign must at no hand present himself before the holy Table of the Lord because whatever dispositions and alterations he may begin to have in order to pardon and holiness he as yet hath neither but is Gods enemy and therefore cannot receive his holy Son 6. But because the change is made by parts and effected by the measures of other intellectual and spiritual changes that is after the manner of men from imperfection to perfection by all the intermedial steps of moral degrees and good and evil in some periods have but a little distance though they should have a great deal and it is at first very hard to know whether it be life or death and after that it is still very difficult to know whether it be health or sickness and dead men cannot eat and sick men scarce can eat with benefit at least are to have the weakest and the lowest diet and after all this it is of a consequence infinitely evil if men eat this Supper indisposed and unfit It is all the reason of the world that returning sinners should be busie in their repentances and do their work in the field as it is in the parable of the Gospel and in their due time come home and gird themselves and wait upon their Lord and when they are bidden and warranted then to sit down in the Supper of their Lord. But in this case it is good to be as sure as we can as sure as the analogy of these divine Mysteries require and as our needs permit 7. He that hath committed a single act of sin a little before the Communion ought for the reverence of the holy Sacrament to abstain till he hath made proportionable amends and not only so but if the sin was inconsistent with the state of grace and destroyed or interrupted the divine favour as in cases of fornication murder perjury any malicious or deliberate known great crime he must comport himself as a person returning from a habit or state of sin and the reason is because he that hath lost the divine favour cannot tell how long he shall be before he recovers it and therefore would do well not to snatch at the portion and food of Sons whilest he hath reason to fear that he hath the state and calamity of Dogs who are caressed well if they feed on fragments and crums that are thrown away Now this Doctrine and these cautions besides that they are consonant to Scripture and the analogy of this divine Sacrament are nothing else but what was directly the sentiment of all the best most severe religious and devoutest ages of the Primitive Church For true it is the Apostles did indefinitely admit the faithful to the holy Communion but they were persons wholly enflamed with those holy fires which Jesus Christ sent from heaven to make them burning and shining lights such which our dearest Lord with his blood still warm and fresh filled with his holy love such whose spirits were so separate from the affections of the world that they laid their estates at the Apostles feet and took with joy the spoiling of their goods such who by improving the graces they had received did come to receive more abundantly and therefore these were fit to receive the bread of the strong But this is no invitation for them to come who feel such a lukewarmnesse and indifference of spirit and devotion that they have more reason to suspect it to be an effect of evil life rather than of infirmity for them who feel no heats of love but of themselves for them who are wholly immerg'd in secular affections and interests for them who are full of passions and void of grace these from the example of the others may derive caution but no confidence So long as they persever'd in the Doctrine of the Apostles so long they also did continue in the breaking of bread and solemn conventions for prayer for to persevere in the Doctrine of the Apostles signified a life most exactly Christian for that was the Doctrine Apostolical according to the words of our Lord teaching to observe all things which I have commanded you And by this method the Apostolical Churches and their descendants did administer these holy Mysteries a full and an excellent testimony whereof we have in that excellent Book of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy commonly attributed to St. Dionys. The Church drives from the Sacrifice of the Temple meaning the divine Sacrament such persons for whom it is too sublime and elevated First those who are not yet instructed and taught concerning the participation of the Mysteries Next those who are fallen from the holy and Christian state meaning Apostates and such as have renounced their Baptism or fallen from the grace of it by a state of deadly sin or foulest crimes Thirdly they who are possessed with evil spirits And lastly those who indeed have begun to retire from sin to a good life but they are not yet purified from the phantasms and images of their past inordinations by a divine habitude and love with purity and without mixture And to conclude they who are not yet perfectly united to God alone and to speak according to the style of Scripture they who are not intirely inculpable and without reproach And when St.
or prevails dangerously and because our returns to God and the mortifications of sin are divisible and done by parts and many steps of progression they that delay their Communion that they may be surer do very well provided that they do not stay too long thâ—t is that their fear do not tâ—rn to timorousness their religion do not change into superstition their distrust of themselves into a jealousie of God their apprehension of the greatness of their sin into a secret diffidence of the greatness of the Divine mercy And therefore in the first conversions of a sinner this reverence may be longer allowed to a good man than afterwards But it must be no longer allowed than till he hath once communicated For if he hath once been partaker of the Divine mysteries since his repentance he must no longer forbear for in this case it is true that he who is not fit to receive every day is fit to receive no day If he thinks that he ought wholly to abstain let him use his caution and his fear to the advantages of his repentance and the heightning of his longings but if he may safâ—ly come once he may piously come often He caâ—not long stand at this distance if he be the man he is supposed But for the time of his total abstention let him be conducted by a spiritual guide whom he may safely trust For if he cannot by the usual methods of repentance and the known Sermons of the Gospel be reduced to peace and a quiet conscience let him declare his estate to a spiritual Guide and if he thinks it fit to absolve him that is to declare him to be in the state of grace and pardon it is all the warrant which with the testimony of Gods Spirit bearing witness to our spirit we can expect in this world I remember what a religious person said to Petrus Celestinus who was a great Saint but of a timorous conscience in this particular Thou abstainest from the blessed Sacrament because it is a thing so sacred and formidable that thou canst not think thy self worthy of it Well suppose that But I pray who is worthy Is an Angel worthy enough No câ—râ—ainly if we consider the greatness of the mystery But consider the goodness of God and the usual measures of good men and the commands of Christ inviting us to come and commanding us and then Cum timore reverentiâ frequenter operare Receive it often with feare and reverence To which purpose these two things are fit to be considered 1. Supposing this fear and reverence to be good and commendable in his case who really is fit to communicate but does not think so yet if we compare it with that grace which prompts a good man to take it often we may quickly perceive which is best Certainly that act is in its own nature best which proceeds from the best and the most perfect grace but to abstain proceeds from fear and to come frequently being worthily disposed is certainly the product of love and holy hunger the effect of the good Spirit who by his holy fires makes us to thirst after the waters of salvation As much then as love is better than fear so much it is to be preferred that true penitents and well-grown Christians should frequently address themselves to these Sacramental Unions with their Lord. 2. The frequent use of this Divine Sacrament proceeds from more as well as from more noble vertues For here is obedience and zeal worship and love thanksgiving and oblation devotion and joy holy hunger and holy thirst an approach to God in the waies of God union and adherence confidence in the Divine goodness and not only hope of pardon but a going to receive it and the omission of all these excellencies cannot in the present case be recompenced by an act of religious fear For this can but by accident and upon supposition of something that is amiss be at all accounted good and therefore ought to give place to that which supposing all things to be as they ought is directly good and an obedience to a Divine Commandment For we may not deceive our selves the matter is not so indifferent as to be excused by every fair pretence It is unlawful for any man unprepared by repentance and its fruits to communicate but it is necessary that we should be prepared that we may come For plague and death threaten them that do not communicate in this mysterious banquet as certainly as danger is to them who come unduly and as it happens For the Sacrament of the Lords body is commanded to all men saith Tertullian and it is very remarkable what St. Austin said in this affair The force of the Sacraments is of an unspeakable value and therefore it is sacriledge to despise it For that is impiously despised without which we cannot come to the perfection of piety So that although it is not in all cases the meer not receiving that is to be blamed but the despising it yet when we consider that by this means we arrive at perfection all causless recusancy is next to contempt by interpretation One thing more I am to add whereas some persons abstain from a frequent Communion for fear lest by frequency of receiving they should less esteem the Divine mysteries and fall into lukewarmness and indevotion the consideration is good and such persons indeed may not receive it often but not for that reason but because they are not fit to receive it at all For whoever grows worse by the Sacrament as Judas after the Sop hath an evil spirit within him for this being by the design of God a savour of life it is the fault of the receiver if it passes into death and diminution of the spiritual life He therefore that grows less devout and less holy and less reverent must start back and take physick and throw out the evil spirit that is within him for there is a worm in the heart of the tree a peccant humour in the stomach it could not be else that this Divine nutriment should make him sick Question II. But is every man bound to communicate that is present or that comes into a Church where the Communion is prepared though but by accident and without design and may no man that is fit omit to communicate in every opportunity To this I answer That in the Primitive Church it was accounted scandalous and criminal to be present at the holy Offices and to go out at the celebration of the Mysteries What cause is there O Hearers that ye see the Table and come not to the Banquet said St. Austin If thou stand by and do not communicate thou art wicked thou art shameless thou art impudent So St. Chrysostome and to him that objects he is not worthy to communicate he answers that then neither is he fit to pray And the Council of Antioch and of Bracara commanded that those
and ambitious desires were the thorns that pricked thy sacred head my vanity was the knee that mocked thee my lusts disrobed thee and made thee naked to shame and cruel scourgings my anger and malice my peevishness and revenge were the bitter gall which thou didâ—t taste my bitter words and cursed speaking were the vinegar which thou didst drink and my scarlet sins made for thee a purple robe of mockery and derision and where shall I vile wretch appear who have put my Lord to death and expos'd him to an open shame and crucified the Lord of Life 8. Where should I appear but before my Saviour who died for them that have murdered him who hath lov'd them that hated him who is the Saviour of his enemies and the life of the dead and the redemption of captives and the advocate for sinners and all that we do need and all that we can desire 9. Grant that in thy wounds I may finde my safety in thy stripes my cure in thy pain my peace in thy cross my victory in thy resurrection my triumph and a crown of righteousness in the glories of thy eternal Kingdom Amen Amen S. Austins penitential Prayer Before thy eyes O gracious Lord we bring our crimes before thee we expose the wounds of our bleeding souls That which we suffer is but little but that which we deserve is intolerable We fear the punishment of our sins but cease not pertinaciously to proceed in sinning Our weakness is sometimes smitten with thy rod but our iniquity is not changed our grieved mind is troubled but our stiff neck is not bended with the flexures of a holy obedience our life spends in vanity and trouble but amends it self in nothing When thou smitest us then we confess our sin but when thy visitation is past then we forget that we have wept When thou stretchest forth thy hand then we promise to do our duty but when thou takest off thy hand we perform no promises If thou strikest we cry to thee to spare us but when thou sparest we again provoke thee to strike us Thus O God the guilty confess before thee and unless thou givest us pardon it is but just that we perish But O Almighty God our Father grant to us what we ask even though we deserve it not for thou madest us out of nothing else we had not any power to ask Pardon us O gracious Father and take away all our sin and destroy the work of the Devil and let the enemy have no part nor portion in us but acknowledg the work of thy own hands the price of thy own blood the sheep of thy own fold the members of thy own body the purchase of thine own inheritance and make us to be what thou hast commanded give unto us what thou hast designed for us enable us for the work thou hast injoin'd us and bring us to the place which thou hast prepared for us by the blood of the everlasting Covenant and by the pains of the Cross and the glories of thy Resurrection O blessed and most glorious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen CHAP. IV. Of our Actual and Ornamental Preparation to the Reception of the Blessed Sacrament SECT I. HE that is dressed by the former measures is always worthy to communicate but he that is always well vested will against a wedding day be more adorn'd and the five wise Virgins that stood ready for the coming of the Bridegroom with oyl in their lamps and fire on their oyl yet at the notice of his coming trimm'd their lamps and made them to burn brighter The receiving of the Blessed Sacrament is a receiving of Christ and here the soul is united to her Lord and this Feast is the Supper of the Lamb and the Lamb is the Bridegroom and every faithful soul is the Bride and all this is but the image of the state of blessednesse in heaven where we shall see him without a vail whom here we receive under the vail of Sacraments and there we shall live upon him without a figure to whom we are now brought by significations and representments corporal But then as we here receive the same thing as there though after a less perfect manner it is also very fit we should have here the same that is a heavenly conversation though after the manner of men living upon the earth It is true that the blessed souls receive Christ always and they live accordingly in perpetual uninterrupted glorifications of his name and conformities to his excellencies Here we receive him at certain times and at such times we should make our conversation coelestial and our holiness actual when our addresses are so so that in our actual addresses to the reception of these divine Mysteries there is nothing else to be done but that what in our whole life is done habiâ—ually at that time be done actually No man is fit to die but he who is safe if he dies suddenly and yet he that is so fitted if he hears the noise of the Bridegrooms coming will snuff his lamp and stir up the fire and apply the oyl and so must he that hath warning of his Communion He that communicates every day must live a life of a continual Religion and so must he who in any sense communicates frequently if he does it at all worthily but he that lives carelesly and dresses his soul with the beginnings of vertues against a Communion day is like him that repents not till the day of his death if it succeeds well it is happy for him but if it does not he may blame himself for being confident without a promise Every worthy Communicant must prepare himself by a holy life by mortification of all his sins by the acquisition of all Christian graces and this is not the work of a day or a week but by how much the more these things are done by so much the better we are prepar'd So that the actual addresse and proper preparation to the Blessed Sacrament is indeed an inquiry whether we are habitually prepar'd that is whether we be in the state of grace whether we belong to Christ whether we have faith and charity whether we have repented truly If we be to communicate next week or it may be to morrow these things cannot be gotten to day and therefore we must stay till we be ready And if by our want of preparation we be compelled for the sâ—ving of our souls and lest we die to abstain from this holy feast let us consider what our case would be if this should be the last coming of the Bridegâ—oom This is but the warning of that this is but his last coming a little antedated and God graciously calls us now to be prepared here that we may not be unprepared then but it is a formidable thing to be thrust out when we see others enter And therefore when the Masters of spiritual life call upon us to set apart a day or two or three