of the Synagogue would not in this particular be singular and therefore are apt to believe * Mat. 14 26. that the Hymn which he sung before he went out to the Mount of Olives was the great Hallel But if it were not the same it was doubtless some Laud to the Almighty as for all his Benefits so particularly for his Sacraments And this is highly worth consideration that when Jesus sung this Hymn it was the Eve to his cruel and unparallel'd Tragedy that the Man of Sorrows who all his life long did eat the bread of affliction and quench his thirst with his tears having the Cross in view sung an Hymn 'T was a dismal and affrighting Evening But God gives the good man songs in the night while the sinner is astonish'd with the Terrors of a disturb'd Conscience And as this Joy agrees to the Custom of the Synagogue and our Master's practice so it properly corresponds with the intention of the Institution For tho Thanksgiving be but a part of the Office yet because the denomination is given from that which is most eminent the whole Service is called the Eucharist by the ‡ 1 Cor. 10.16 Apostle because ‖ Cabasil Expos Liturg. cap. 52. when we communicate we have greater cause to rejoice than to supplicate For when we are made partakers of these Mysteries we have received many more favours than we want For of the things that we want some we cannot yet attain unto as the incorruptibility of our bodies and our translation to Heaven Some we have forfeited by our frequent Relapses as the Gifts of the Holy Ghost our Health and our Riches So that were we as pious as we ought there would be even in this world no need of supplications all our Offerings would be Eucharists and Praises But our sloth and our negligence are the causes of our needs Do we beg Remission of our sins Was not that given us in Baptism And how came we but by our own fault to need it again Do we want Heaven Does not the Scripture tell us the Kingdom of Heaven is within us And were we not made Sons of God in the Laver of Regeneration And if Sons then Heirs Why then do we so pray Because we have forfeited that Estate and deserve to be disinherited and to be made of Sons Servants And do we want Temporal Blessings We should first seek the Kingdom of God and all these Things would be added When we are fit to communicate with God our Wants are inconsiderable and our greatest Employment in the duties of Religion is to celebrate his Condescention to admire his Goodness and Patience and to adore his Majesty and therefore the Hymn which the Ancients sung at the Celebration of these Mysteries was by some called ‖ Dionys Ar. Eccl Hier. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Eucharist because it comprehended in it self the commemoration of those holy Gifts that descend from God and seemed to include all the particulars of that Office nor did the Primitive * Constit Ap. li. 5. c. 13. Just M. apol 2. c. Church ever receive this Blessed Sacrament but they had their Psalms and Forms of Thanksgiving for if every worldly Blessing deserved its Remembrance and an acknowledgment how much more were they bound to praise God for spiritual Blessings in heavenly places and to this day the ‡ Olear Itiner li. 5. p. 279. Armenian Church think they cannot communicate aright unless they have not only vocal but Instrumental Musick and they plead for the usage that while our Blessed Saviour prayed in the Mountain the Angels came down and entertain'd him with such sort of Musick and tho this be an ungrounded Tradition yet Antiquity was agreed that the Angels were present at the Celebration of this Sacrifice and that when the o Gr. Nyss To. 1. p. 957. Church sung Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth the Seraphim sung with them and that they attended on these Representations of our Saviour as they did upon his Person For it was also an ‖ Hippolyt in Ps 42. apud Theodorit dialog 2. Euseb Epist ad Constant Imp. in act Conc. Nic. 2. act 6. Col. 493. Jul. Firmic p. 48. Ambros de his qui initiant c. 7. c. undisputed tradition among them That when the great Conqueror of Death and Hell was ascending to His Father's Right Hand the Holy Angels which attended him on Earth followed him with Songs of Praise and Triumph and spake to their Brethren the Angels in Heaven in the Words of the inspired Psalmist Ps 24.7 c. according to the Translation of the Septuagint then in use Lift up your gates O ye Princes and be ye life up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in To which the Heavenly Angels sollicitous to enquire who it was that came with so much Authority to demand the opening of the Gates of that Palace because no man to that day had ever entered into the Holy of Holies answered Who is this King of Glory To whom the return was presently made It is the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in Battel and after that all the Heavenly Host joined Consort and did sing with one Voice Lift up your heads O ye Princes and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in And if those bright Spirits were so transported at the sight of the victorious Jesus should not my Soul be much more engaged to break out into Exclamations and Rejoicings and to imitate the Harmony of the admiring Angels And for this Reason when the Church at Easter had remembred the Resurrection of Christ and strengthned themselves with the Sacrament that they might be able to walk in his steps every day between that Festival and VVhitsuntide was a day of rejoicing every day of the fifty was a Sunday say ‖ Tert. de coron c. 3. Ambr. in Luc. li. 8. c. 17. Marx. Taurin Homil. 61. the Fathers nor did they on any of those days so much as stoop to kneel at their Prayers nor do we in our Church ever fast the Eves of the Feasts that then happen * Except before Ascention day only in this interval we humble our selves in the Rogation Week which was introduc't upon extraordinary occasion and necessity or rather as I think was transferred to this season from some other time of the Year And so sensible was the Church of the infinite Benificence of God that in the fourth and fifth Centuries several Monasteries were erected societies of devout Persons whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men who never slept because some or other of the Fraternity was always in the House of God singing his Praises and celebrating his Bounty But why should I want the Encouragements to adore my Redeemer which Angels and Saints afford me The Heathens guided only by the Dictates of Nature entertained every little secular
the men and the Deaconesses to that belonging to the Women and this they were advised to do with this sober caution * Const Ap. ub supr that no one should salute his brother deceitfully and treacherously as Judas kist our Lord when he betrayed him In the Liturgy of St. Basil the people are bid to salute one another that they might unitedly confess the Father Son and Holy Spirit the consubstantial and inseparable Trinity and then they repeated the Creed and in that of St. Mark there is a prayer to be said at the performance of this Ceremony wherein ' They desire God to look down on his Church and to bestow on them his Love and his Assistances and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that with a pure Heart and a good Conscience they may salute one another with the Holy Kiss not in Hypocrisie but in purity and innocence in one Spirit in the bond of peace and of Love that they might become one Body and one Spirit in one Faith and one hope of their calling that at last they might all be partakers of the Divine and infinite Love o-Christ Jesus Then in ⸫ Cyril ub supr the Church of Jerusalem the Priest did bid the people lift up their hearts and they answered We lift them up unto the Lord the Priest rejoined Let us give thanks unto the Lord The people answered It is meet and right so to do after which the Church calling upon the whole Creation to praise God did sing the Angelical Hymn Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath Which Hymn was usher'd in with this Preface o Liturg. S. Jacobi ' Let all Flesh keep silence and stand with fear and trembling and put off all worldly and sensual Thoughts for the King of Kings the Lord of Lords Christ our God is coming forth to be slain and given for Meat to all his Faithful Servants the Quires of Angels go before him and with them Principalities and Powers the Cherubim with many Eyes and the Seraphim with six Wings shading their Faces and singing the Hymn Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Then followed the Prayer of Consecration and with that the Prayer for all states of Men and for the peace of the World together with the recital of the Diptychs which was always closed with the Lord's Prayer But in other Churches it was otherwise * Constit li. 2. c. 57. li. 8. c. 11 12. First the general Prayer for the whole state of mankind for Peace and Prosperity and all other Blessings was said at the end of which the Names of all the Eminent Persons who either had dyed in the Communion of the Church or yet lived in it were recited out of the Ecclesiastical Tables or Dyptichs and then the people were bid to lift up their hearts unto God c. Whereupon the Bishop making the sign of the Cross blest the People saying Preserve O Lord thy people and bless thine inheritance which thou hast purchas'd by the blood of thy Christ and hast called to be a royal priesthood and an holy nation And then the Bishop standing at the Altar proceeded to the Prayer of Consecration which was agreeable to our Saviour's Form at the Institution at * Dion areop ub supr Basil de spir S. cap. 27. which time the Elements which were before cover'd with a fine Linnen Cloath in Imitation of Christ's being so wrapt when he was lay'd in his Sepulchre were uncover'd that the people might see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out After the Prayer of Consecration the ⸪ Cyril ub supr Priest first heartily said Amen And after him ‡ Just in Apol. 2. Dion Alex. apud Euseb li. 7. c. 9. c. the people praying that so it might be and protesting that they believed that that Sacrament was the true Body and Blood of Christ but in the Liturgy of St. James when the Words of the Institution were recited the Deacon first said Amen and then acknowledged That they did believe and confess that as often as they did eat that flesh and drink that blood they did show forth the Lords Death To which the people answered We do show forth thy death O Lord and we do acknowledg thy Resurrection This being done the Deacon bid the people attend to the holy oblation in peace and quietness and to bow their heads to their Saviour Jesus in honour to his name and institution Then it was said Holy things to holy persons To which the people answered There is one holy one Lord one Jesus Christ blessed for ever in the glory of God the Father Then the people were exhorted to the reception of the holy Mysteries the Priest singing with heavenly Melody the words of the Psalmist ‡ Cyril ubi sup Psal 34.8 O taste and see that the Lord is gracious to which the Congregation in some ‡ Liturg. S. Jacobi Churches answered Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. When the Consecratlon was done which probably if there were many Bishops or Priests present they all joined in the person consecrating said ‖ Liturg. S. Marc. As the Hart desireth the water-brooks so longeth my soul after thee O God And then himself received in which Action it is observable by St. Chrysostome's Liturgy he was obliged to drink three times of the Chalice bowing all the while in honour of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and afterward he gave it to the Clergy if any were present the Bishop giving it to the Priests the Priests to the Deacons and the Deacons to the people after the ⸪ Const Apost ji 8. c. 13. Clergy the Monks received for they gave them the preference because they look't on them as a sort of Ecclesiastical persons not purely Laymen tho not in Orders and after the Monks the Deaconesses Virgins and Widows then the Children then the rest of the Laity in their several Orders that is as I conjecture first the Men afterward the Women * Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 17. the Priests and Deacons communicating at the Altar the Inferior Clergy in the Quire and the people at the Rails without tho I am well perswaded that in the first Ages the Laity also came up to the Altar to which they were invited to draw near in the Fear of God and with Faith and Charity and when they approacht they were commanded by the Deacon to stand decently and reverently in the fear of God and with contrition of heart and to receive modestly and piously behaving themselves as those who approacht the presence of a King And accordingly they received in a posture of deep Reverence and Adoration for no man durst to receive but he adored and while the Mysteries were distributing the Congregation * Const Apost ubi sup Liturg. S. Jacobi S. Chrysost c. sung the 33d Psalm or as we reckon it the 34th I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually
beauty All my services are a due Tribute to the most perfect of Beings and yet thou rewardest them with infinite happiness Teach me therefore to love thee for thy Excellencies to worship and obey thee for thy Bounty and to consecrate my powers and faculties my strength and time to my Saviours honour give me that true love that casts out fear that tramples upon dangers and rescues from despair that is the fulfilling of the Law and stronger than death it self that I may taste and see how good the Lord is and that there is no unrighteousness in him that the greatest difficulties may not lessen my affection nor fear nor flattery separate me from thy favour but that I may maintain a Holy Communion with thee till I come to dwell with thee in the habitations of Love and Peace Amen The Anthem The Life of Jesus I. WHen Jesus first appear'd abroad The Divine Man th' Incarnate God In whom both Natures were entwin'd Say my Soul was he not design'd T' eclipse th' accomplishments of all mankind II. A Virgin Mother could lye in Of nothing but what was Divine Destin'd a Miracle from the Womb From his warm Cradle to 's cold Tomb From his first smiles unto his sorrowful Doom III. The beauteous Youth had not yet seen The day that bad him write Thirteen When all the Scribes and Doctors gaz'd And the Pharisees stood amaz'd 〈◊〉 his worst Enemies his acuteness prais'd IV. Such Wisdom shone in his Discourse In all his Arguments such force Such the charms of 's sprightly face So smart his Words so smooth his Grace Moses himself ne're so became the place V. This Essay past he humbly staid Labouring hard at 's Fathers Trade Where mindful in whose stead he stood With sweat he earn'd his daily Food And learn't th' obliging art of doing good VI. Till he unto the age attain'd VVhen Priests before the Altar stand Then at his Baptism th' holy Dove In State descended from above To crown him with the marks of 's Fathers love VII Jordan thy streams that smoothly flow Till now were never hallowed so Not when Joshua travell'd through The fertile Canaan to subdue Jordan thy streams are sacramental now VIII Jesus next to the desert goes To combat there the worst of 's Foes There Satan us'd his utmost skill To stoop our Saviour to his will But the lov'd Jesus is victorious still IX He to th' Infernal Powers gives law Nature of him too stands in awe At his command water turns wine Wild Tempests do their rage resign And winds and seas to peaceful calm encline X. He cures the blind recalls the dead Feeds thousands with celestial Bread What can oppose his word or will VVho multplies by Miracle Five Loaves till th' Fragments do twelve Baskets fill XI How useful was he and how good Yet never was well understood Not when his sacred Lips dispence Strong Reason urg'd with Eloquence And every word does Oracle commence XII Not when his time and strength were spent To rescue man from punishment Nor when his beauteous Eyes and meen Powerful incentives should have been T' endear him unto all that had him seen XIII Despis'd but useful Virtue how Durst profligate man treat thee so Must scorn and torture be thy meed My soul 't is often thus decreed The innocent do for the guilty bleed XIV Jesus by Judas is betray'd Whom Jesus an Apostle made Seiz'd by the rabble of the Jews Who this great Prince with scorn do use While perjur'd Witnesses the truth abuse XV. Pilate tho much inur'd to blood Rapine and fraud the Jews withstood Till tir'd with noise and aw'd with fear Lest his ill menage should appear Condemns the Saint and quits the Murtherer XVI Thus this illustrious Sun did rise With Beams that dazled weaker eyes Did sometimes shine and sometimes shrowd His bright Rays in a gloomy cloud Setting long ere his course was done in blood Thursday before EASTER THe Day on which our Blessed Master was apprehended was justly stiled the great and holy fifth day of the Passion-Week on which the Saviour of the World having his Crucifixion in view preach'd his last most Passionate and Heavenly Sermon to his Disciples in which he earnestly recommends them to God's Love Protection and Favour and as earnestly recommends to them the Love of God and of one another And because this was the Day when the Son of God was seized on in order to his paying a Ransom for our Offences * P. Innoc. Ep 1. ad Decent c. 7. Ambr. li. 5. Ep. 33. Hier. Epit. Fabiol and compleating our Redemption therefore did hte Church on this day solemnly reconcile Penitents not all that were under censures for some were never admitted to intire Communion till after Twelve Fourteen or Twenty Years Penance and some not till they lay on their Death-beds But such who having past through those methods of Repentance which the Church prescribed were thought fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of God's Table whereas now on the contrary in the Church of Rome on this day they anathematize and ourse all the Enemies either of their Faith or Grandeur and among them not only the Protestant Hereticks as they call them but even the King of Spain himself And whereas the Holy Eucharist was on the Evening of this Day instituted to be a lasting Rite in the Christian Church therefore the Day was stiled by way of Excellency * Aag Ep. 118. Caena Domini the Lord's Supper the day of mysteries and the birth-day of the holy Chalice to denoto besides the Original Appointment of the Sacrament the Mystical Sacrifice that is made on the Altar of our Blessed Saviour who was the Prince of the Martyrs the days of whofe sufferings were called their birth-Birth-days for the sufferings of our Lord began the Evening of the Thursday tho they were not compleated till the Evening of the Friday and for this reason this day is called the day before the Preparation and the Evening is called the Vigil of the Passion which among ‖ Dr. Smyth of the Gr. Ch. p. 42. the Greeks is wholly spent in reading the History of Christs sufferings and meditating thereon in severe Fastings intense Devotion watching all night in the Church and other acts of mortification no one unless in case of absolute necessity eating or drinking any thing till after Sunset on Friday others not till Easter Eve after midnight ‖ Euseb hist li. 2. c. 17. and this acccording to the Primitive Practice It was of old time observed ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 547. that those indevout and careless Persons who slighted the Holy Eucharist all the rest of the Year would in great numbers on this day when that Holy Ordinance was first instituted come to the Holy Table And then the Church contrary to her usual Custom of receiving these My steries in the Morning did every ‖ Chrys Aug. ub supra c. where communicate in the Evening because
Saviour So when the Sons of Zebedee coveted places of Trust and Honour in an imaginary Monarchy Mat. 20.21 our Blessed Redeemer told them that the preferments of his Court old not consist in fitting at his Right and left Hand but in drinking of his Cup and being baptized with his Baptism And when St. Paul was called to an Apostleship Acts 9.16 the Lord told Ananias in a Vision that his Mission was not design'd to Triumph over the Gentile World nor should his Revelations discover to him what Kingdoms he should convert tho that he did but I will show him says God what great things he must suffer for my Names sake And this that Apostle well understood 2 Cor. 12.12 for when he reckons up the signs of an Apostle he begins with his Patience under affliction as if that generosity of mind that slighted the Tribulations attendant on the Gospel was a more eminent and surer sign of his Apostleship than all his power of working Signs and Wonders and mighty deeds for to be afflicted was to be clad in the best Livery of the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls I will therefore resolve to imitate those admirable guides of the Church in their sorrow I will lament the death of my Saviour and hate my sins that crucified him I will as they did retire from the World and love it no longer because it despised my dear Redeemer And I will also imitate them in their Patience and their Courage I will endure all things for the sake of my friend who died for me and nothing shall fright me from following the pattern and treading in the steps of his first and best servants The Collect. ALmighty and Immortal Saviour who wert victorious in thy sufferings and triumphant upon the Cross and wert always present with thy Church either in thy Person or by thy substitute the Holy Ghost keep and defend thy flock from all Heresie and Schism from mistakes in matters of Faith and all irregularities in practice from desponding under afflictions and from carelesness in prosperity Arm all thy servants with an invincible courage and resolution to live and dye thine let the consideration of thy Passion engage us to bewail our Transgressions but let the consideration of thy Resurrection defend us that we may not sorrow as men without hope but that we may pass the time of our sojourning here on Earth in fear and finish it with joy through thy Merits and Intercession O our only Mediator and Advocate Amen The Anthem The Descent into Hell A Dialogue between Mary Magdalen at the Sepulcher and an Angel I. Magd. APpear dear Jesus unto me I love I long for none but thee Whither is my Beloved gone And left me here sad and alone My soul breaths nothing else but sigh Since Jesus fell a Sacrifice Ang. Down to the Prison of the Fiends The dying Conqueror descends And o're those rebel spirits his Victories extends II. VVith courage and resistless might Alone he undertakes the fight Meets whole Legions and defies Hells Guards and her Auxiliaries Scales the VValls and storms the Gates Razes the Towers revers'th mens Fates And into the Dungeon Lucifer precipitates III. Magd. But tell me Angel cloath'd with light Did not my Jesus show his might VVhen upon the Cross he stood Like a Rock that brav'd a flood Did not his Patience and his Cries His VVounds his Thirst and Agonies Compleat his glorious Conquest and our Sacrifice IV. Ang. 'T was done when Jesus bow'd his head And told the world 't was finished Then Satan was discomfited And all his baffled forces fled But he lest men might doubt his love Or Victories did the scene remove Pull'd Satan from his Throne and from his Kingdom drove V. Magd. If so what keeps my Jesus there What stops th' Almighty Conqueror Thy Pupils do thy presence want T' instruct the blind and ignorant To charm the froward and defend The weak who on thy Strength depend And guide poor wandring me unto my journeys end Appear dear Jesu unto me I love I long for none but thee EASTER DAY THO the Christian Church had many Festivals yet some of them were days of greater Eminency than others Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide being frequently called in the Writings of the Fathers by way of excellency * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Christian Solemnities because as the Jews were obliged three times a year on their three great Festivals of the Passover Pentecost and of the Tabernacles to go up to Jerusalem to worship So anciently the body of the people of every Diocess met at those times at the Mother Church where the Bishop Preach'd to them in person and gave them the Holy Sacrament And on those days if the Church could not hold all the Communicants at once the Offices were repeated the Prayers renewed and the Eucharist ‡ Leo. M. Epist 71. p. 149. a second time consecrated and given Now among these great days easter-Easter-day was the day on which the Son of God return'd from Hell rose from the Grave and being attended with his holy Angels and the bodies of many just persons who left their Tombs to accompany their Saviour brought Life and Immortality to light This was the day which the Lord made in which all wise and devout persons do rejoice and therefore without all doubt the Ancients after their long Fasting till near day-break * Const Ap. li. 5. c. 18. retired home laid aside their Sackcloth and Ashes and other habits of mortification and having washed and cloathed themselves in their best apparel came again early to Church and sang the praises of the Lord. And for this reason this Feast is called ‡ Cypr. Laetitia Paschalis The Paschal joy or the Paschal solemnity of the Resurrection ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 587. the bright and glorious day of Christ's rising from the dead the noblest of the Christian solemnities o Euseb vit Const l. 4. c. 22. p. 536 c. the holy and venerable day that brought Life into the World the holy Convention and Festival the Queen of Feasts the Festival of Festivals the great and holy Sunday the day in which the hopes of Eternity were confirm'd to us and the Great day in which Salvation was given to the World The * Constit Ap. l. 7. c. 37. Apostles injoining the Observation of it to all Christians and probably when we are bid to keep the Feast 1 Cor. 5.8 it belongs rather to the Annual than to the Weekly Feast of the Resurrection As some Wise and Learned men think that the Lords-day mentioned Rev. 1.10 does not so much mean a Sunday at large as Easter-day for * Procop. de bell Perfic l. 1. c. 18. this day was honoured by the Christian World above all other days ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 583. this day is a day of rejoycing on Earth and it is a Holy-day in Heaven too for if the conversion of one
Reward from my Father that seeth in secret And tho on every day I give my God my earliest attendance yet on the days of my solemn Vows I bind my self to prevent the morning that in the beginning of the watches I may pour out my heart like water before the Lord. Thus every day will be a day of business and traffick and every night I shall be some steps nearer to my Fathers Palace The Collect. GRant Lord that when I serve thee in secret I may do it with a true and upright heart and that all my publick performances may be encouragements to others to love and praise and adore thee that I may pray fervently and thank thee heartily and read carefully and meditate seriously and fast humbly and live conscientiously all the days of my life in hopes at my death to be admitted into thy presence through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. I. Of the Obligations of Religion especially the Sacraments to Holiness WEre the Christian Religion to be judg'd of by the excellency of its Author and the purity of its Precepts by the wisdom of its contrivance and the usefulness of its designs it would need no other Credentials that it came down from Heaven and that its Original was from God But if we judg of it by the practices of its professors who under the mask of Piety allow themselves in all sorts of sensuality who scruple not to break all their Vows made to their Maker tho confirm'd and renew'd in the presence of Men and Angels and sealed by the most precious Body and Blood of the Son of God who call themselves Saints and yet live more irregularly than Brutes This very consideration is enough to encline a man to applaud the Morals of the Heathen World and to believe that either that body of holy Precepts is not the Gospel of the blessed Jesus or such men are not professors of it so strongly are the generality of Mankind in a loose and ungovernable Age bent towards Vice and Ruin Nor can it otherwise be expected when men put on the form of godliness in defiance to the power of it and think that the Redemption wrought out for them by Christ is only a deliverance to do all sort of abominations Nor can I give a better Reason why the Christian World are so degenerate from truth and holiness than that so few of us reflect on the Obligations of the Covenant that we have enter'd into with God tho so often and so solemnly acknowledged by us that we confidently lay claim to the Priviledges but never mind the Duties of Religion May our gracious God so mercifully forgive me and the rest of sinners our former neglect as we may resolve for the time to come to alter our course and put on more becoming Resolutions and faithfully make good what we have so solemnly promis'd our Redeemer For when I seriously and as becomes a Christian consider with my self the Relation which every baptized person hath to the Son of God and that that initiatory Sacrament was design'd as to free him from his share in Adam's sin so to engage to a life of Obedience to the Laws of our blessed Saviour and that therefore we are buried with him in baptism that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life reckoning our selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord I cannot but remember that among all those holy and beneficial Precepts which he hath blest the World with that is none of the least in advantage and usefulness that injoins me to do as he did in remembrance of his Passion the great cause of our redemption and happiness and encourages me to frequent communicating because as often as I do eat that bread and drink that cup so often do I show forth the Lords death till he come so often do I call to mind my old promises of obedience and conformity to the divine prescription and enter into new engagements to love and adore my Saviour How eagerly therefore ought my soul to pursue after and to embrace all Opportunities of coming to that holy Table where God exhibits himself Happy are those Servants of his who stand continually before him and keep themselves always in that frame of mind that fits and encourages them to communicate every day Happy are those men who only want Occasions but are never defective in intention or preparation who are never without the Wedding Garment nor without Oyl in their Lamps How did our dear Saviour long to institute the Sacrament * Luke 22.15 with desire did he desire to eat the passeover at the close of which the Eucharist was celebrated before he suffered And shouldst not thou my soul as earnestly long to receive it Were this Sacrament like that of Baptism not to be re-iterated or but once only in my life to be received and that just before my death with what ardors of mind should I wish to be dissolv'd that I might thus also be with my Saviour And must the Blessing because it is common be for that Reason cheap Is the bread of Heaven become contemptible because it may be my daily food But remember O my soul it is not enough to approach this Venerable Altar unless thy Repentance be sincere thy Sorrow hearty thy Resolutions unalterable thy Piety flaming and thine Alms generous My preparations should be the same with those of dying persons not of those who have lived loosly all their days in hopes to make their faint desires of Heaven when the pleasures of the Earth have deserted them to pass for true love to those joys but of those who all their lives long have been crucified to the world My care ought to be so to approach Gods Table on Earth as if I were the next moment to be carried by Angels to eat bread with him in his Kingdom It is true I am too sensible that this is more easily talkt of than done that when the good Man is acting the Priest and sacrificing himself to God then Satan is at his right hand perplexing him And I have sadly experimented how difficult it is to deny my self to put off the Old Man and to crucifie my transgressions But is it not O my soul much more sad and difficult more uneasie and distracting to be confin'd to utter darkness and to endure the tortures of Hell in a remediless Eternity To argue from a present state of ease is a shortness of discourse that is not to be allowed Were I never so passionately bent to gratifie an unreasonable Lust I doubt not but I should be afraid to proceed did any man but threaten me with immediate death if I should pursue my unlawful design And ought I not with greater Reason to forbear when that God who can neither lie nor deceive threatens me with everlasting damnation Am I afraid of the
And these were the Subjects of all the Sermons of those days And there was nothing expresly required from the person who came to the Font but a solemn profession of the Articles of the Creed And upon this profession the Catechumen was baptized and after his Baptism immediately admitted to the Lord's Supper When therefore I know and understand that our blessed Saviour by his precious Death sealed a Covenant with God in the behalf of Mankind and that I have solemnly in my Baptism ratified my part of that agreement resolving no further to depend on his Merits than I obey his Laws When I understand that I must be truly penitent for my former Offences and ought to live better for the future when I believe all Gods promises of Mercy and Salvation made to me in Christ Jesus and am convinc'd that I ought to be thankful for that Mercy to God and charitable to all Mankind then I suppose I have knowledg enough to intitle me to this Ordinance For if my search after knowledg should engage me in the Labyrinths of the Schools and I must not receive till I am able to demonstrate how Christ were present there and to comprehend all the Arguments that are brought for and against Transubstantiation I might perhaps be always seeking but I should never come to the knowledg of the truth And if I happen'd to understand what I enquired after should probably be never the better For what advance hath that man made in Christianity that hath spent his days in the little questions of the School men how one body can be hid under the accidents of another body * Suarez to 3. disp 51. how the whole body can be so present as that what was cut off in his circumcision should not be wanting Or whether a Rat when he nibbles a Consecrated Host doth communicate and truly eat the substantial Body and Blood of Christ with many other such Impertinencies to give them the softest Name Whereas one day spent in the due consideration how I shall receive worthily and how I shall live more piously gives me more useful knowledg than an Age of controversal studies That God is present in the Sacrament I have infallible Authority to assure me Thy Word O my Saviour is sufficient to command my belief but the mystery is enough to stifle my curiosity And to seek to know more than thou art willing to reveal were to derogate from the Reverence due to thy Oracles and Authority For how can I pretend to describe so transcendent an Institution which the Angels themselves stoop to look into This Sacrament was ordain'd for better purposes than to puzzle and confound It was design'd to strengthen and confirm to bind us to remember God and our selves to remember his love and our Returns of gratitude For the deepest speculations seldom make a man more wise or more holy but the knowledg of Jesus Christ and him crucified I am sure is the true method to endear me to God The business of a good man is not to amuse but to prepare himself to communicate with his Saviour The understanding of a Religious soul is vastly different from that of a great Scholar and the Wisdom that comes down from above consists not in Word but in Power I am resolved therefore not to meddle with the quarrels of the different parties of Christendom While they dispute I will pray while they sacrifice their Charity to the maintenance of their Faith I will pursue after peace and holiness And by that means I doubt not but I shall be fit to communicate here and to see God in Heaven The Collect. TO thee the only wise God from whom comes every good and perfect gift does my soul in her Necessities address her self beseeching thee who givest liberally and without grudging to enlighten my understanding with the beams of truth and to lead me to the Palace of Wisdom Give me less of that Knowledg that swells and makes vain and more of that Charity that edifies Enable me in all my Engagements to contend for Truth and not for Victory in all my Reading to be more in love with the Piety of the discourse than the Eloquence that all my Reasonings may be subdued and every thought brought in captivity to the obedience of Christ And since my proficiency in thy School O my best of Masters is not to be judg'd of by my being honour'd with Visions or enabled to unriddle Mysteries not by the Eminency of Learning or Station but by a transcendent Piety an Angelical Conversation and a profound Humility give me to this end thy Grace and let thy Holy Spirit govern me because without those Assistances all Learning is but Neise all Wisdom Craft and all my Natural Powers Impotence my Virtues but Formality and my Devotions but Pretence so shall my Knowledg no longer consist in empty Notion but shall exert it self into practise And I shall so follow thee my dearest Saviour here as I may live with thee for ever Amen CHAP. VIII Of the Study of the Holy Scriptures IF the most useful wisdom be that which is practical instead of busying my self with Books of Controversie I will be a diligent Reader of the Holy Scriptures For they are the Oracles of God able to make me wise to salvation and perfect unto every good work In those Oracles there is nothing trifling and impertinent nothing doubtful or obscure of the things which belong to my eternal welfare * Dionys Areop Eccl. hierar c. 3. For the whole Book of Holy Scriptures saith the Eloquent Father doth set before us either the creation and disposal of all things by the divine Power or the Polity and Government both of Church and State under the Law or the distribution and possession of the inheritance which God had given to his peculiar people or an account of the wisdom of their sacred Judges their holy Kings and devout Priests or the undaunted courage and bravery of their Patriarchs under all sorts of Affliction or excellent holy Precepts how to govern our Actions or the Songs of heavenly Love and the Idea's of Divinity imprinted on the Mind or the prophecies of future things or the Atchievements of the Son of God in our Humane Nature or the Acts and holy Discourses of the Apostles deliver'd to them from God and done in imitation of him or the mystical and abstruse Visions of his beloved and inspired Disciple In these shall be my delight and in these will I spend my time These Oracles alone can charm my Passions and allay my Griefs And what a dishonour is it to us * Olearii Iâ—iner that the Turks in their Schools should teach their children nothing but to read and write and remember the sentences of the Alcoran which is their Scripture and that the poor * Abudac c. 22. p. 29. Coptite Christians tho under severe and cruel bondage to their Mahometan enemies should take care to instruct their Youth in
the Doctrine of the Book of God obliging them to learn the Psalter and the Epistles of St. Paul without book while we think that study unworthy of our selves or our posterity We plead it 's true as St. Caesarius of Arles says the difficulty of learning the Rules of Faith and Holy Life without book especially if we cannot read But if the most ignorant and unlearned can find out a way to remember a prophane or lewd Song or Story will their ignorance excuse them if they have not learnt the Precepts of the Gospel Men have wit and memory enough to attain without reading to that which the Devil teaches them for their destruction But when they are to receive from the mouth of their blessed Saviour the Laws that will make them eternally happy then they plead ignorance But whatever others do or my self have heretofore practis'd I profess for the future that I will love thy Law And do thou think upon me O Lord according to thy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust Thou hast given me thy Holy Scriptures that through them I might have hope in all capacities and in all distresses of mind body or estate For tho I read there that Lucifer sinn'd himself beyond the hopes of Redemption and that there is a sin against the Holy Ghost that cannot be pardon'd and a sin unto death that is not to be pray'd for yet the state of sinful men is declared to be different from that of the fallen Angels And what these particular Transgressions are and wherein they consist is not plainly revealed in those Oracles that no man might despair of mercy but withal that every man might beware of the smallest sin as if it were of the greatest magnitude the deepest dye and most dismal consequences From this Book also I learn That at what time soever a sinner repents and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect since it is God who justifies and who is he that condemns since Christ hath died and is risen again and sitteth at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Lord be merciful to my former sin for my neglect hath been great and keep me stedfast to my duty for the remainder of my life that tho I cannot see my God yet I may every day hear him and converse with him in his word and being inlightned thereby may learn to depart from evil The Collect. For the 2d Sunday in Advent BLessed Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning grant that I may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy Holy Word I may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed Hope of Everlasting Life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IX Of Christian Love WHen I have thus adorn'd my soul with saving knowledg my next employment is strictly to examine my practise and what degrees of divine love I have attained to now I better feel what that love is in my heart than I can describe it with my tongue For when I am in the Palace of divine Love I am in St Paul's Third Heaven where tho the Apostle without doubt saw ravishing sights and such as were worth dying for and heard admirable discourses such as the King of Glory entertains his favorite Angels with yet he assures us he heard and saw * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12.4 what could not be uttered or described But as it is said of Heaven tho it does not appear what we shall be yet we have a glorious character of that City given us in Holy Writ so it may be said of Christian Love Great things are spoken of it and such as render it venerable in the eyes of all wise and discerning persons For 1. It is a complication * Aug. de C. D. l. 15. c. 22. Nihil aliud virtus est quà m or do amoris Id. de C. D. l. 14. c. 7. Amor inhians habere quod amatur cupiditas est idem habens eóque fruens laetitia est c. of all Vertues When it longs for what it affects it is desire and when it enjoys it it is gladness when it flies what it abominates it is fear and when it falls into the hands of its enemies it is sadness says St. Austin and * 1 Cor. 13. a greater than St. Austin hath told me That Love is the most comprehensive Vertue For Charity suffers long and then it is meekness it is kind and then it is courtesie it envies not and so it is peaceableness it vaunteth not it self and so it is modesty it is not puft up and so it is humility it doth not behave it self unseemly and then it is called decency seeketh not her own and then it is publick-spiritedness is not easily provok'd and then it is patience thinketh no evil and so it is simplicity and innocence rejoiceth in the truth and so it is verity and spiritual gladness beareth all things and so it is Christian fortitude believeth all things and so it is faith hopeth all things and so it is assurance endureth all things and then it is magnanimity and it never fails and so it is perseverance it purifies more than the flames of Martyrdom and is a better Alms than the world dispos'd of to charitable uses it enlightens more than all reading and all contemplation and it makes a man a Christian while Knowledg and Miracles only make him a Prodigy In a word it is all Philosophy and all Religion and he alone truly knows how to live who knows how to love Nay it is Heaven upon Earth says the devout Poet For We know not what they do above But that they sing and that they love Nay it is God himself * 1 John 4.8 For he that loves not knows not God for God is Love ' Who is able to describe the beauties of Holy Love says St. Clement * Ep ad Corinth p. 63 64. The height to which it carries us is unsearchable it unites us to God and it covers a multitude of sins it is the bond of Union and the bane of Schism and Divisions and without it nothing can please God It was nothing but Love that brought down Jesus from Heaven to shed his Blood for us and nothing but Love that can carry us thither whence he came down on Earth 2. Love is the only Original of all our satisfactions in this Life it sweetens all sufferings and makes difficulties easie for it subdues whatever opposes it True Love is a flame enkindled in the mind by our holy Saviour which preys upon and destroys all secular and carnal affections its eye is fixt on Heaven and its wings spread toward that bright Palace and thither it endeavours with unwearied speed to fly because that is
them for whom thou wert pleased to shed thy Blood and we supplicate for those for whose welfare thou didst sacrifice thy Body They also believed that as long as they did Communicate they did enjoy the company of those blessed Spirits and that when they were kept from the Lord's Table they were under the power of Satan for Excommunication was a terrible sentence to them and the worst of punishments so great an affliction did they account that which is now our choice being fully perswaded that he who was shut out of the Church here without a deep Repentance and Absolution must necessarily be kept out of the Kingdom of Heaven And May God of his great Mercy and Goodness give his Holy Spirit to all that are called Christians that they may put a just value on the Priviledges of the Church of God that they may Honour Reverence and Frequent the Holy Sacrament which is the Communion of Saints and may dread the being justy deprived of those advantages that we may neither excommunicate our selves from thy Table nor deserve the censures of the Church to drive us from it but that thy fear may be upon us all the days of our Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. XXIII Of the abuse of the Sacrament to evil ends IT is an Observation confirm'd by sad Experience That the best of things or persons when they degenerate prove the worst of their kind and it is also as sadly confirm'd That the best of enjoyments when employed to bad ends and purposes prove the causes of the greatest mischiefs and this is demonstrated as by many other instances so by the abuse of the Divine Institution of the Holy and most Advantageous Sacrament of the Eucharist to serve the designs of sensual ambitious and covetous men very great alterations having been made both in the Doctrine and Rites of that Sacrament from the Primitive Institution and Original Practise Of this Nature I must confess there are some things that seem to me not so fairly defensible in the Centuries that preceded the Establishment of Popery such as * Aug. op imperf adv Julian l. 3. c. 164. the making Plaisters of the Eucharist to Cure Blindness or other Diseases ‡ Id. de C. D. l. 22. c. 8. the Celebrating of this Sacrament in a private house to expel the Evil Spirits that haunted it * Nicet Paphl Vit. Ignat. Theop. an 20. Heracl the dipping Pens in the Consecrated Wine when they either Sealed Covenants or condemn'd a notorious Heretick †Ambr. in ob Satyr Fratr the tying it about the neck as an Amulet in the time of Imminent danger ‡ Hesyc in Levit. l. 2. c. 8. the burning or burying the remainders of the Consecrated Elements or ‡ Evagr. l. 4. c. 35. giving them to School-boys and such like persons who were not present at the Consecration with other such usages but I remember that those were the days of Miracles and Extraordinary men might make use of uncommon methods and that it becomes not me to uncover the Nakedness of the Fathers especially because at this distance of time few men are capable of understanding the reasons why they did many things at which we now wonder And it were to be wisht the same Apology were so made for the succeeding Ages wherein strange Opinions and as Novel Customs had their Original for then the reverence due to the mysteries degenerated into Superstition and Idolatry and the Mysteries themselves were many times applyed to unbecoming usages and on trifling occasions For men would not be content to believe that God was really present in the Sacrament but they were resolved to study a way how to make him so by a Method that baffles sense and contradicts reason and to this purpose men begun not to be satisfied with the common Bread in which the Eucharist was Anciently Celebrated the bread that was usually eaten at ordinary meals was thought unfit for this sacred use and therefore unleavened bread and wasers were introduc'd and this perhaps was the practise of the eighth Century and in two or three Hundered Years after the notion of Transubstantiation began to be owned but in such an Age which Baronius and other Historians say was the shame of the Papacy when there was neither Learning nor Vertue at Rome but the greatest ignorance and the greatest debauchery imaginable and with this Doctrine the half communion was introduc'd the people being Sacrilegiously rob'd of the Cup for sear they should in Receiving spill the Blood of Christ after which the Schoolmen first amus'd themselves and then their neighbors with impertinent inquiries relating to these Mysteries which made neither themselves nor others wiser or better and what number of Miracles were then coyned to uphold the new Doctrines that when reason would not perswade men to believe they might be convinc'd by wonder and extraordinary apparitions People being told that the Bread by the Prayers ‖ Jo. Diac. vit Greg. l. 2. c. 41. of St. Gregory the Great was turn'd into a piece of Flesh in view of all the people that our ‡ Paschas c. 14. de Corp. Dom. Saviour frequently appear'd on the Altar in the shape of a beautiful Boy ‡ Vid. Pinelli meditat 4. p. 126. ad p. 146. That St. Antony of Padua's Mule worshipt the Host and that Bees in their Hive built a Chappel to an Host which was by the owner put there to increase his stock And thus by degrees it grew to be a God till at last it had a Festival appointed called Corpus Christi day on which it is solemnly prayed to as at other times it is bow'd down to and Adored And as the Ark of the Govenant was carried before the Camp of the Israelites so the ‡ Hey l. Hist of Reform p. 70. Cornish Rebels in Edw. 6 time carried the Consecrated Host under a Canopy with Crosses Banners and other such solemn appendages before them in hopes thereby to get a certain Victory and as the Kings of Persia had their Immortal Fire carried before them to is this Sacrament carried before the Pope on solemn days and as Anciently men swore by the Name of God so they now swear by the Sacrament and did not Pope Hildebrand confult this Sacrament as as an Oracle to know what success he should have against the Emperor of Germany and when it did not answer expectation threw it into the Fire if we may believe Cardinal Benno and if he be doubted there are other ‡ Vid Orland in Hist Soc. Jes l 12. ss 48. p. 394. li. 16 ss 22. p 544. Instances out of more Authentiek and uncontroverted Authors to prove the usage and how often hath the Pix been brought out to quench Fires As was lately done at ‡ V. Daille de obj Cult Relig. li. 1. c 10 p. 138 Con Saligunst c 6. Avenion by the Popes own Legal Governor of that City when the
flames begun to rage in the Recollects Convent And yet many of the practises of some men of that Communion are no way reconcilable to the notion of the Divinity of the Eucharist for not to mention ‡ Alan de Sacrific c. 32. that if but a Hen be sick in the Neighborhoud you may have a Mass said for its recovery it was usually buried with the Corpses of Bishops whom they Inter'd in their Episcopal Robes with a Patin and Chalice by them and the Consecrated Bread on their breast and this says the old ‡ Bals in Can. 83. Trullan Canonist was done to affright the Devil from Hannting their Tombs and it was also given as an ‡ Bals in Can. 61. Trull Conc. Wormat. c. 10. c. Ordeal to discern whether a person were guilty of a crime that could not be proved especially to Clergy-men to purge themselves from notorious crimes It was also sometimes left as a pawn or pledg and so St. Lewis of France pawn'd an Host for the pledg of his Ransome to the Sultan of Aegypt as did also Uladislaus King of Hungary to the Turkish Emperor Amurath when they made an Agreement But beyond all this men were not only contented to receive this Sacrament as an Oath of secrecy to conceal Treason Parricide Murther and such like crimes but some were so hardy as to attempt the damnable villany of poysoning their God to murther the Lords Anointed so the * Naucler Gener 42. p. 991. Emperor Henry the 7th was dispatcht and so also Pope ‖ Malmesb. l. 3. c. 39. Victor 3d was sent to his Grave and we are told * Lambard's Peramb of Kent p. 66. that William Arch-Bishop of York being discontent that he could not get the Preeminence of the See of Canterbury mingled Poyson with the Wine of the Chalice and so murther'd himself But I should tire my self and others should I multiply quotations for either these are proofs enough or a greater number of witnesses will not serve turn And May the Blessed Jesus the Governor of his Church purge it from all dross from all unwarrantable opinions and superstitious practises that all his Family may Worship Serve Honour and Humbly Obey him as we ought to do till the number of the Elect be Consummated when the Sons of God shall be admitted to sing Eternal Praises to his Majesty in Heaven Amen Amen The End of the First Part. PART II. Containing an Account of the Festivals of the Holy Week Lessons Meditations Prayers and Anthems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenag legat pro Christ p. 5. No Christian can be wicked unless he be-ly his profession PART II. The INTRODVCTION THE devout Christian being thus fitted to commucate with his Saviour being instructed how to discern the Lord's Body and being acquainted with the advantages which the worthy receiving of it does bring with it and with the Duties preparative to such a receiving what remains but that every occasion of coming before God and partaking of the Dainties of his Table be with all eagerness pursued after and embrac'd Consider therefore O my Soul how shouldest thou long to dwell in the Courts of God and to serve him in the Beauties of Holiness His Name is wonderful and he is fairer than the Children of Men full of Grace are his Lips for God hath blessed him for ever and in him also hath God blessed the rest of the Sons of Men him hath God anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows consecrating him to be our high Priest to make Attonement for the Sins of the World All his Garments smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia of bitter Scents that embalm his Crucifixion for when he was nailed to the accursed Tree then was the Wine mingled with Myrrh given him and when he was to be buried he was laid in a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes to fit his Body for its Sepulcher And what wilt thou do O my Soul to express thy gratitude to this thy Redeemer who is become thy Lord and thy God But worship him and Adore him and give Thanks unto him World without end Every day of his Life was to him a day of Affliction and Suffering from his first appearance at Bethlehem to his being Crucified on Mount Calvary his whole Age was one continued Good-Friday and should not every day of my Life be an Easterday He dyed daily and should I not daily remember that Passion and celebrate the Praises of that Condescenton and live to the Glory of that Mercy Should I not every day if I may be actually concern'd in the showing forth the Lord's Death till he come or at least intentionally and in Preparations Representing to my mind my bleeding Saviour and mourning over those Sins of mine which brought him to so much shame and so much torture and rejoycing in the Salvation which he hath wrought out for me By this means the subsequent Directions will serve as well for any other Week as for the Holy Week and I shall always be in a readiness to communicate with my Master Jesus and blessed are those Servants whom our Lord when he comes shall find so doing The Collect. HOly and immortal Saviour who didst both Dye and Rise again that thou mightest be Lord both of the Quick and Dead and didst Institute and in thy Holy Gospel command thy Church to continue a perpetual memory of that thy precions Death and glorious Resurrection until thy coming again Send thy Grace unto me and to all People that we may Worship thee Serve thee and Obey thee as we ought to do and be thou pleased to give us all things that be needful both for our Souls and Bodies give us this day and every day that heavenly Bread the Spiritual Manna that comes down from above and send thy Holy Spirit into our Hearts that we may be always in a fit Posture to receive it forgive us all our Sins and preserve us from all Temptations that we may live for ever to ascribe unto thee with the Father and the Holy Ghost the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and for ever Amen PALM-SVNDAY PAlm-Sunday is the day on which our blessed Saviour being determined to fulfil all that was spoken of him in the Law and the Prophets took his last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem to compleat our Redemption by his Sufferings and his Resurrection the People meeting him at Mount Olivet with Branches of Palms Olives and other Trees in their Hands Emblems of his Meekness and his Triumphs crying Hosannah to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosannah in the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks Dominica Palmarum Florum atque ramorum among the Latins and from this Original the day hath its Name in all Churches and the Transactions of this day were so observable that the Latin Church of the later Ages turn'd this as well as the other Festivals into
made in despight of all the Opposition of the Scribes and Pharisees his implacable Enemies And where O my Soul shouldst thou wish thy self a place but among the Train of this Omnipotent Victor Thou hast been by him raised from a sad estate from being dead in sins and trespasses and whom shouldst thou Love and accompany but thy best Friend I will follow him therefore into the High-priest's Palace and to the Judgment-seat of Pilate I will go with him to Mount Calvary and there I will dye with him but first I will view his Triumphs and admire his Grandeur I will first accompany him to the Jewish Temple and then to the Christian Altar that is to the Cross on which he was Offered as a Lamb without spot and blemish From the East came the Sun of Righteousness to Jerusalem for on that side of the City lay Bethany and rejoyced like a Giant to run his course tho he foresaw he should suffer a dismal Eclipse and in this also he might be likened to the Sun that he appeared greater and shone brighter than ordinary just before his setting 'T was required by the Mosaical Law that every Male should appear at Jerusalem three times a Year nor would Jesus be tho he was exempted from those attendances for thus it behoved him to fulfil all righteousness and in this he was so punctual that the best account which the Christian World hath how long our Savior lived appears from the Evangelists recording how many Passovers he kept The past years of his Life he went up to the House of God in a State of Privacy but now he resolves to approach the City like a Prince that is like himself But where is the Ceremony of this Royal Parade Where is the Gilt Chariot Where the Purple Robes Where are the Armed Lifeguards and where the Retinue of Nobles Is the King of Israel no better equip't than with an Ass and that Ass borrowed Are his most Eminent Courtiers but Twelve poor Galileans most of which were Fishermen and one a Publican And hath he no other Followers but the Multitude the Dregs of the People 'T is no Wonder that at this sight all the People were moved Never was Prince in Exile worse attended And can this be the King of the Jews Is this the Messiah But remember O my soul that all this was Prophecy and no word of God is ever unfulfilled his Poverty was a sign to the Shepherds to know him by at his Birth and the same sign is given to the Holy City at his Death Zech. 9.9 and she is called upon to rejoice and to shout for joy because her King comes to her a just Prince and one that brings Salvation but he comes in a state of Humility riding upon an Ass and a Colt the Fole of an Ass and must God falsifie his Word to comply with our impertinent notions of Greatness And is not the Condescention an Emblem of his Meekness He came into the world to conquer not by the Sword but by the Cross not by fighting but by dying and does not this Ass denote his Contempt of the World and the lowliness of his Mind How mild and good and how benign he should be even to his worst Adversaries Besides it was necessary his first coming into the World should be distinguish't from his second coming to Judgment Nor was this but an addition to his Honour that the first Confessors of the Christian Religion were not many mighty not many wise not the Kings or the Generals or the Philosophers of the World but a few abject and contemptible men rude and unassisted ill-clad and unlearned and yet they converted the World But this is not all see something that compleats the Wonder for could there be a greater instance of my Blessed Saviours Divinity than this That notwithstanding the wariness of the Roman Garison who to secure the Imperial Title to Judea were ready to take Fire upon the notice of a new Kings Arrival as a Competitor of the Government notwithstanding all the Spite Malice and Cunning of the Pharisees Jesus makes this Triumphant Entry preaches in the Temple casts out the Buyers and Sellers and works many Miracles without any disturbance this was certainly the Finger of God and a Specimen of the Divine Power Be not therefore scandalized O my soul this poor Saviour is the Son of God and the Redeemer of the World and his Poverty is his Churches Patrimony and this is the Day which many Kings and Prophets have long'd for but never could see joyn thy self therefore to the Company and sing thy Hosannahs also to the Lord of Life and Glory 'T is shameful to slight thy Saviour when the Multitude admires him Of the People some followed Jesus from Bethany while others met him from Jerusalem both joining together in one Company of which some went before him others followod the Messiah who rode in the midst of them under whom they spread their Garments in they way as was the Custom of many Nations when they entertained their Princes and strowed Flowers and Leaves for so were Monarchs also treated at their Entrance into any City the People meeting them and carrying Lawrel and Roses in their Hands and covering the streets with them by which they testified their acknowledgment and submission to their Sovereigns Authority and probably the Jews coming immediately from Mount Olivet carryed Olive-Branches in their hands as other Nations used to do on such solemnities Emblems of Peace and Union between a Prince and his Subjects and signs how ready great Persons should be to forgive Injuries after which manner they also carried Palms as a good Omen of Victory And all this was done at this time to denote that the true Messiah the King of the Jews was now come to his own City of Jerusalem a Meek and a Compassionate Saviour and ready to triumph over the powers of darkness and all the other Enemies of Mankind To him therefore the people sung their Hosannahs wishing him all happiness and themselves all happy in him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ' Most acceptable is his Person most welcome is his Reign and Kingdom Hosannah in the highest Let our Shouts reach Heaven 'T is the God who dwells there whom we praise and may that God whose Throne is there make us eternally happy in this Son of his Love Peace in Heaven Glory in the highest the Messiah is come and our Fears are at an end And who would not joyn in Consort to this Heavenly Song 'T is one of the Anthems of the Angels and some of the Entertainment which God's Palace will afford us The joy ought to dilate my soul tho it did not swell my Saviour and this also was another argument that he was the Son of God and the Lord of Glory that this extraordinary reception did not transport him but with the same evenness of temper he enjoys all the various dispensations of
Providence his poverty never deprest him his disgraces never ruffled his quiet nor can honours and pomp make him proud and insolent But that which made no impression on the Son of God made a very deep one upon the Pharisees for envy is a busie and restless Vice they when they saw they could not curb the multitude would have put our Saviour upon checking and repressing them for as the covetous man cannot endure a discourse of voluntary poverty nor the lascivious person a lecture of Chastity as you raise the passion of the Oppressor when you preach to him the Laws of Justice and inflame the froward and the cruel when you urge him to forgive Injuries and to love his Enemies so to the proud and ambitious nothing is so killing a sight as another mans Honour But Jesus tells them the meeting was not procured by craft nor were the people flattered much less affrighted into the combination the Oblation of Thanksgiving was voluntary and an accomplishment of a prophecy God now intending out of the mouths of babes and sucklings to perfect praise for Virtue makes it self admirers where ever it goes and should these people hold their peace the very stones would cry out and who dares check the Holy Spirit and fight against God But what need of all this complaint have patience O ye Rulers of the Jews and the people will answer your desires such is the vanity of all worldly fruitions they who to day cry Hosannah shall in a few days cry louder Crucifie him Crucifie him Now they sing Blessed is the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord and anon We have no other King but Caesar Now they spread their Garments in the way but then they shall strip him of his own raiment Now they bless and cry Master but then they shall curse and despise him such is all Secular Pomp and Humane Applause it depends upon popular Breatu which when it turns like the Wind it blows back again and carries away all that before it brought Upon foresight of this sad sinful Change see the Marks of a deep Sorrow on the Face of Christ amidst all the Acclamations and other Testimonies of Publick Joy Jesus the Prince of Peace was now at the foot of the Mount of Olives the Emblem of peace in view of Jerusalem whose name implies the Vision of Peace and yet he knowing their sins and foreknowing God's Judgments could not forbear Tears and the terrible denunciation of the Divine Vengeance upon that City that was now become the sink of all wickedness and yet this weeping was but the Prologue to the mightier grief of his upon the Cross to which no sorrow could be compared when he offered up Prayers and Supplications to his and our Father with strong Crys and Tears and was heard for that his Piety Now he mourns only the fate of one City of one People but then he wept over and dyed for the sins of the whole World of Disobedient and desperate Wretches who doted upon ruin all the Honour that could be given him all the Grandeur that could surround him gave him no Pleasure in this Triumphant Entry while he saw the end of his designed death frustrated and a whole Nation obstinate to be undone when the Son of God was most willing and most busie to save them Every Drop was of more Value than a Pearl and the Streams that ran down his Sacred cheeks more precious than those Waters which bring down Gold from the neighbouring Mountains And does my Saviour weep and can I dare to indulge to immoderate Laughter Can I rejoice when he is covered with Sorrows Or live in sensuality when the chastisement of my peace is upon him God forbid Now therefore O my Soul contemplate thy Saviour in all his Offices in his Triumphs he shows himself a Prince in his Mourning over Jerusalem he acts the part of a Priest whose Office it is to weep over and atone for the sins of the People and how does he declare himself to be a Prophet when he foretels the precise time of the ruin of the Jewish Nation before the present Generation should pass away In this disconsolate plight does our endearing Redeemer draw nigh to Jerusalem and to let the world know that his Kingdom is not of this world he balks the direct way over the Brook Kedron to the fortress of Zion and diverting passes through the Sheepgate which led to the House of God he goes not up to the Palace of the High-Priest nor to the Court of the Roman Governour but immediately hastens to the Temple to teach us to begin every Action with God and to love the place where his Honour dwells more than all the Tents of ungodliness to love the Gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob and to assure us that he who would meet God comfortably must enquire for him in his Temple For where should I seek for thee O my dear Saviour where should I find thee but in thy Father's House The Temple is thy Palace and the Chair of Moses thy Throne thence thou didst baffle the Doctors and from thence didst thou dispence the Oracles of Heaven to the world rescuing the Doctrines of Religion from the Traditions and the Duties of it from the evil practices of the Pharisees and to demonstrate that thy complaint of them was not without cause thence didst thou drive the buyers and sellers such was thy Zeal for the Habitation of God when the Lord came to his Holy Temple and who could stand before thee when thou didst thus appear like a Refiner's Fire and like Fuller's Soap Thus when Reformation is begun at the house of God there is great hope that the rest of the City will easily be reform'd At this Visitation Jesus beheld all Things not for Curiosity but to see what was amiss and needed amendment he lookt into all the Corners of the Temple and diligently attended to all the performances of the Priests in their several stations how they kept up the Reputation of Religion how exactly they performed all their Service a fit Employment for the great High Priest and Bishop of Souls But why all this Severity Why the Buyers and Sellers banisht VVhy the Money-changers Banks overthrown Were not the Jews obliged to come Three times a Year to Jerusalem And when they came were they to come empty Now to bring with them from the remotest parts of Judea Sheep and Oxen and the first fruits of their Cattel VVine and Oyl with orther Offerings was very troublesom and to dispose of those things in kind in the Countrey and turning them into Money to buy the like at Jerusalem was not only reasonable but agreable to the Divine Command and for this purpose had the Jews their Markets and Banks Deut. 14.24 25. in or near their Temples as the Gentiles also had Now the Practice having the countenance of a Law and tending so much to the ease of the People and
to the Honour of God also inviting all occasional Comers to buy and offer liberal Sacrifices as an Exchange tempts Customers it also making provision for Proselites and strangers of such Money as was current at Jerusalem which only was to be offered to the Lord and for the poor that they might borrow tho not on Usury yet on Pawn so as they might not comeempty handed before the Lord the place of this Traffick being only the outer Court of the Temple into which were admitted even the Gentiles and Uncircumcised why was our Masters Zeal so Fervent With great Reason doubtless was this done for all that Jesus did was by the guidance of the Infallible Spirit nor was it without reason that this Action was called the greatest of our Saviour's Miracles and one of the most solemn Declarations that he was the Son of God VVas it not a great Affront to the Divine Majesty to make a Butchers stall or a Bankers shop of his House To alienate it from its right use and instead of a house of Prayer to make it a den of Thieves of Publicans and Extortioners and of the Practicers of the Arts of Fraud and the Methods of Cheating VVas it not Irreligious to serve the Ends of Covetousness more than the designs of Piety For these Markets were at first held only near the Temple but at last through the greediness of the Priests were brought into the first Court of it to their no little gain while they managed the Markets either by their own servants or by exacting a Tribute of all those who there erected stalls and perhaps selling one and the same sacrifice over and again to several Persons Now what could create in mens minds mean thoughts of Religion and depreciate the service of the Almighty if such Actions did not And how could men chuse but abhor the Offerings of the Lord This therefore incited the Zeal of our dearest Lord and it was a sad Omen that the Priests themselves should in a little time be banisht from the House of God and turn'd out of his service because they had corrupted and huxter'd the VVord of God and handled it deceitfully And now O my soul and my body are not you the Temple of God And ought not the same measure of Zeal to be in me that was in my Redeemer Ought I not to cleanse this Temple and to expel thence all brutish Affections all covetous thoughts all self love and love of the VVorld all pride and vain glory and to keep my self undefiled in the VVorld fit for the residence of God and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit for if a man defile the Temple of God shall not God destroy that sinner I will therefore devote my self intirely to my Maker what he loves shall be my delight and I will honour him here in his Person in his Will in his Ordinances in his Habitation in his Revenue and in every thing else that appertains to him that I may hereafter enjoy him and live with him for ever Amen The Collect. ALmighty and most Merciful Saviour who in the heighth of thy Glories wast mindful of thy Humiliation and thy sufferings as thou wert contented to be made the Son of man tho by an ineffable generation thou wert the Son of God so new make me thy most unworthy because thy most disobedient Servant create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me that my soul whom thou hast redeemed may always sing thy Praises and celebrate thy bounty that all my faculties and all my members being consecrated to thee and thy service my Zeal may be flaming and unquenchable my love to thee victorious over all self love or love of the world my love to my neighbours generous and disinterested and my constancy and resolutions to be thine unalterable that I may preserve thy living Temple free from all Pollation till I come to the New Jerusalem where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it through the Merits und Mediation of thee my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen The Anthem for Palm-Sunday ETERNITY I. MY Eager Soul 's upon the wing To view th' Court of th' Heavenly King So passionate 't is those Joys to taste and know That it disdains all pleasures here below For what can this sad world impart To ease the longings of my Heart Which Heavenly Love hath wounded with its Dart II. The Palace Glorious was where God Made his perpetual abode E're his Omnipotent Word bad all Things be The Mighty Undivided Trinity Resided in Eternal Light Before the Sun appear'd in sight Or Time was impt to make his earliest flight III. With Joy the Father then look't on The Beauties of his only Son Miraculous Child whose great Sire cannot be Above his Son in Age or Dignity From both these did proceed the Dove Which gently up and down did move And fill'd the place with Harmony and Love IV. In this vast space the Equal THREE With mutual Sentiments did agree That God the Father should the World create The Son redeem the Spirit regenerate Transcendent Fountain whence did flow What infinite Pity could bestow To make men Gods and bring down Heav'n below V. No longer can my Soul forbear It Sighs and Wishes to be there That it may celebrate the Father's power Love Jesus and the Holy Spirit adore For tho my Saviour's Presence here My Soul to Scepters does prefer On Earth she dreads to lose him there 's no fear Monday before EASTER THE Monday before Easter was called the Holy and Great Monday or the second day of the Paschal-week and the whole week was called the Great week ‖ Chrys To. 5. p 541 c. not because the days were longer than ordinary but the blessings were greater because of the great and stupendious Blessings not to be comprehended or utter'd which God this Week conferred upon the World in the Death and Resurrection of our blessed Saviour and because it immediately preceded the great Festival as Easter is called Joh. 19.31 or * Bern. Ser. 3. in domin Palmar because of the four great Days in it viz. The Procession of Talm-Sunday the Institution of the blessed Sacrament on Maundy-Thursday the Passion on Good-Friday and the continuance in the Grave on Saturday which was the Eve to our blessed Masters Resurrection The Week also was stiled the Passion-week the Week of Fastings dry Diet and Penances in which the Devouter sort did eat nothing but Bread and Salt and drank nothing but Water from which strictness no day was exempt except the Lords Day on which it was a great Crime to Fast ‡ Constit App. l. 5. c. 17. alii Every day of this Week was a day of business the whole time from the days of the Apostles being spent in Prayers Watchings and Mortifications ⸫ Chrys ub Sup. p. 586. Tribunals and Courts of Justice were now shut up no Pleadings no Suits of Law no publick Business no
Ground without Accomplishment Did the Truth ever entertain the world with a Lye 'T was a denunciation of the greatest Veracity as well as of the deepest Horror That the present Generation should not pass away till all should be fulfilled and that even in similar circumstances At the Passover they murdered the Messiah and at the same time of the Year when all the people of Judea were come up to Jerusalem to worship did the Roman Armies beleaguer the City From the Mount of Olives did the compassionate Jesus exhort them to know and consider in the day of their visitation the things belonging to their peace And on the same Mountain the first Tents of the Roman Army were pitcht the miseries of the siege when Famine and the Sword raged in every street were very terrible the Sack of the Town more affrighting when the Flames spread themselves over all the beautiful Palaces the publick Buildings and the Glorious Temple of God and blended their ruins with the common rubbish but the most astonishing Judgment is That to this day that infatuated people have lost the priviledges of going up to the House of God have never since had the face or show of a Kingdom among them and are scattered over all the world and this probably was a wise Providence that the Gentiles might dread the like Ingratitude towards God which hath made the Jews a visible spectacle of the Divine Vengeance to all Nations and to all ages Israel of old was Gods First-born and his Darling they were a Holy Nation a Kingdom of Priests separated from the rest of the world the seed of Abraham the Children of the Promise and by natural Birth the kindred of the Messiah but now they are the off-scowring of the Earth and a proverb and by-word to all Nations For who can contemn the Son of God and be innocent VVho can disobey his word neglect to be better'd by his Sacraments grieve his Spirit and refuse to be convinc'd by his Miracles and hope to escape the Anger of God With what greater reason then shouldst thou tremble O my soul and be in a great Agony when my conscience is examined My fears are not of the loss of temporal priviledges of being disfranchis'd of losing my Liberty my Estate or my Life but of being cast into Hell and ruin'd for ever The loss of a worldly Kingdom is no way comparable to the loss of the Kingdom of God Crowns and Scepters are but Trifles when put into the Ballance with the Favour of the Almighty and how much more dreadful are the inflictions reserved for those who have been blest with greater priviledges and yet have requited their Saviour with more gross Offences and more notorious Ingratitude How shall they escape who have neglected so great Salvation And is it not a greater Crime to affront despise and reject a Saviour now he is glorified than it was when he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with Grief And is it not an addition to the offence to continue in the ways of disobedience when so many examples of God's indignation are visible to the world how sharply he resents the contempt of his long suffering And am I not convinc'd that the same Anger hath already seized many Churches of the Gentiles that fell so heavy upon Jerusalem In what a sad and deplorable condition are the once famous Churches of Carthage and the rest of Africa How is the once religious Aegypt overrun with Mahometanism And where are the anciently venerable Seven Churches of Asia If Antichrist hath fixt his Seat in the Temple of God who can hear and does not tremble And what should hinder O my stubborn heart but that thou shouldst at last relent Do not these Examples unriddle thy Doom and can there be more mercy reserv'd in store for thee than hath been shown to those others who were as much in Covenant with their Maker and more justly intituled to his Tuition If no Church dare presume on its priviledges no single person ought to think himself secure of thy Favour O my God any longer than he obeys thy Commandments Teach me therefore O my Saviour not to be high minded but to fear lest if God spared not the natural Branches he may be much less inclined to spare me whose Title is worse and whose Enormities have been more notorious The Collect. O Most Gracious Lord God who hast caused all the Divine Oracles to be written for thy Churches Learning and hast recorded thy former punishments to affright the sinners of the present Age from committing the like Offences bring to my remembrance all the sins of my Youth and enable me to mourn over them with a sorrow never to be repented of let thy Mercies and long-suffering lead me to amendment of Life and thy denunciations and judgments affright me from continuing a proselyte to vice and folly that I may live in awe of thy Power and Justice and secure my spiritual Interests with fear and trembling that nothing may separate me from the Love and Compassion of my God through Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen Another ALmighty and incomprehensible Being who tho the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain the Glory of thy Majesty art pleased to stoop thy self to the meanest of condescentions to bespeak the contrite and humble Spirit for thy Habitation soften my obdurate heart and give me that broken and penitent frame of mind which thou wilt not despise Nothing is impossible to my Almighty Saviour for he can raise up children to Abraham of the stones give me therefore a thorough sight of my sins a true fear of thy Judgments and a repentance unto life Teach me to comply with the great exemplar for if he who knew no sin was yet a man of Sorrows how much more should such a wretch as I who am nothing but Pollution refuse to be comforted till I have sorrowed to repentance and then let me partake of the merits of his Tears and Agonies of his Shame and Sufferings Let thy Love and Condescentions prevail upon me to make me penitent but if they prevail not awaken me by thy Thunders wound and affright me rather than let me continue in this spiritual Lethargy that tho my present state be afflicted my soul may be saved in the day of the Lord that I may serve thee with Humility and a true Grief and offer up my supplications with strong Crys and wash thy Altar with my Tears Every where do I meet with Encouragements to this Compunction within me a deplorable Frame of mind cover'd with shame and the Fears of thy Judgments without me a giddy world making haste to Hell before me an angry Judg and behind me a dismal Prison Sanctifie these Considerations unto me that they may deter me from being vicious that I may no longer dare to continue in my Rebellions against my Maker that my present confusions may end in eternal Confidence and I may see that day with comfort when
thought what they had seen Only had a Vision been Till the Seraphick Herald silence broke And in these taking words his message spoke IV. ' From you Palace am I sent ' Built beyond the Firmament ' Where th' Almighty keeps his Court ' And the indigent resort ' Thence the obliging Jesus full of Loves ' Full of Attractives down to th' dull Earth moves V. ' Cease your Tremblings and your Fears ' Ill news Gabriel never bears ' Haste to Bethlehem there behold ' Him the Prophets have foretold ' What greater Instance can than this be given ' How dear the ruin'd world hath been to Heaven VI. 'To the Sacred Stable go ' And before the Manger bow ' The Infant-God adore and praise ' Wrapt in Swath-bands there he lies ' These are the marks to know your Savionrby ' He came from Heav'n t' illustrate Poverty VII Lovely Gabriel scarce had done Charming their attention When the humble shepherds view'd The Seraphick multitude Who did themselves round the Arch-Angel post Th' Arch-Angel Captain of that Heav'nly Host VIII Eyes they had that shot loves Darts Meen and Garb to captive Hearts Faces smooth as infant Light Ere the blustring winds durst fight Or Clouds durst interpose their obscure Skreen To keep the useful Rays from being seen IX Their wings impt with Plumes so gay Gold such Lustre can't display Nothing could with them compare But the bright Curls of their Hair VVhich when the sportive blasts of Air did move Nothing could view but what must be in love X. In the Air they gently hung There they danc'd and there they sung ' Glory be to God on High ' Let Peace this sad Earth beautifie ' That men of the Divine Good Will may taste ' And relish here below Heavens Antepast XI Thus they danc'd and thus they sung And the Sky with th' Musick rung Till the Day-star did appear Till the morning beams drew near The watchful Cock preclaim'd the Prince of Light Then they soar'd upward and flew out of sight XII Happy Angels your employ Brings you Honour brings you joy While on Earth I sigh and grean Vastly distant from that Throne Grant Jesu tho my voice be not so sweet My Notes in consort mixt with theirs may meet Wednesday before EASTER THE Ancients called this day the holy and great Wednesday or the fourth day of the Passion Week and among our Forefathers it was called Tenable Wednesday on which Day the Consultation was held for our Blessed Saviour's Apprehension * Constit Ap. li. 5. c. 10. which being begun on Monday was continued on Tuesday but compleated on Wednesday when they agreed with Judas to betray him from which Treason of the Son of Perdition it hath its Name in the Latin Church feria quarta in proditione Judae Now because on this Day the Sanhedrim were consulting how to take the Messiah the Ancients on the same Day were more than ordinarily employed how to receive him the Jews how to treat him unworthily but the Church how to give him due Entertainment And for this cause by the order of the Apostles the †Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. Tertul. de jejun c. 2. Epiph compend c. 21. c. Catholick Bishops bound all Christians to a weekly observation of We dnesday Friday on the first of which days our Saviour was sold as he was on the last Grucified as Days of Fasting which they called their Station days because as a Centinel dares not leave his Post till he be relieved which is seldom done till after a Watch of Twelve or Twenty four Hours so the Primitive Christians would never at such times move from Church till all the Service were over which was not finish'd till about Three a Clock in the Afternoon which Service was compleated with the Reception of the Blessed Eucharist in all Churches except at ‡ Socrat. l. 5. c. 22. p. 287. Alexandria where they had Prayers and a Sermon but no Sacrament and probably in this Week of extraordinary Mortifications the Fast ended not till Night In the present Greek Church on this day as on all the other days of Lent except the Saturdays Sundays and the Feast of the Annunciation which are Festivals they do still receive the Sacrament about Three Afternoon but they receive it of those Elements that had been * V. Bals Zon. in Can. 52. Trullan consecrated before on the precedent Holy-day and which are reserv'd for that purpose they at the same time observing our Blessed Saviours Institution of imploring the Divine Blessing every day by the Oblation and Merit of this Christian Sacrifice and yet preserving the Severity and Solemnity of this Christian Fast The Epistle 2 Pet. 1.16 WE have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the Power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty for he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount we have also a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed The Gospel Luke 9.28 JESUS took Peter and James and John and went up into a Mountain to pray and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was alter'd and his Rayment was white and glistering and behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias who appear'd in Glory and spake of his Decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem and there came a voice out of a Cloud saying This is my Beloved Son hear him The MEDITATION IT was a lovely sight and to be long'd for with Transports to see the Blessed Jesus in his meanest and most contemptible dress for even then when he was covered with out sins and his own sorrows he was the fairest among men but how Glorious O my Soul was his Appearance when he was cloathed with the Robes of Immortality in the Holy Mount How transcendent were those lively Representations of the Joys of Heaven and that foretaste of the Pleasures of Eternity Tabor was of it self a delightful place on the Top of the Mountain there was a spacious plain whose fruits were breath'd upon and cherished by a most wholsome Air and moistned with a perpetual Dew the Vines and Olives and other Herbs and Trees cloathd it with a perpetual Verdure affording a Prospect that at once gratified both the sight and the smell and by them affected the mind but never was the Hill so fertile as when the Son of God watered it with his Tears and warmed it with his Rays To the Mountain our Blessed Master retired when he offered his Sacrifices of Suplications and Praise from a Mountain did he preach the glad Tidings of the Gospel and on a Mountain was he Transsigured there he prayed not that the highest Hill is nearer
which our Redeemer once offered to cleanse the world from their sins and we offer as often as we communicate setting that Immaculate Lamb before the Eyes of God and by that intreating him to have Mercy upon us For our Saviour commanded us to do as he did at the Institution in remembrance of him not only to our selves and our Neighbours but to God also as the Ancients and the most judicious of the Modern Writers affirm For tho my Saviour was many Hundred Years since Crucified yet he is the Sacrament represented as if his Passion commenc'd at the same time in which the Holy Office is performed and what should hinder my receiving the benefits of his sufferings tho so long since undergone For if by reason of my share in the first Adam's Transgression notwithstanding the vast distance of Time and Place I and every one that is born is infected with Original Sin what should hinder but that the Crucifixion of my Saviour tho transacted so many Ages past and in a Countrey so remote as Judea should be available to my Salvation For as by one mans sin many were made Offenders so by the Obedience of one many are made Righteous The Priest therefore offers a Sacrifice at Gods Altar a commemoration of that one full perfect and intire Sacrifice which was once offered on the Cross And at the same time Jesus our High Priest offers in Heaven pleads his VVounds and the merits of his Death and implores the Divine Pardon and the assistances of Grace for all his Servants And this is as much as the Church can pretend to while it is Militant so under the Old Law the Priests who had admittance into the Temple were denied entrance into the Holy of Holies thither only the High Priest went once a Year but they were not denied the Liberty to direct the smoak of their incense toward that sacred Place and their Prayers and their Incense had access where themselves could not come And so is it in the Christian Congregration for when the Oblation is made we that are concern'd in the Offertory cannot reach Heaven while we are in this state of Imperfection but our High Priest is there already and gives his People liberty thither to address their supplications and the sweet Odours of their Devotion this is the Honour and these the Priviledges that are purchased for the Church by that Sacrifice and secured to it in this Sacrament Blessed Eucharist Glorious things are spoken of it in the Writings of the good men of old It is called the Supernatural Bread the Divine Mysteries the Sacrifice of Sacrifices the Honourable the Holy the Heavenly the unspeakable Gifts the Sacrament of Sacraments the Holy of Holies the food which gives Life and Salvation the nourishment which endears a man to his God which recovers those that languish which recals those who are in error which raises them that are fallen and secures to the dying penitent the rights of Immortality and by way of eminency it is called the Sacrament the blessed and holy Sacrament when we eat of it we feed on the fatness of the Lord's Body and when we drink of it we taste the immortal Blood of our dying Saviour If Manna were Angels food this is the Bread of God and what an honour is it to receive my Saviour If Joseph's Tomb tho but a little and narrow place when it entertain'd the Body of our crucified Lord was by that means made more venerable and august than the Palace of Kings and became more glorious by containing the Son of God than by being the residence of the Angels who there took up their station how much more excellent is my injoyment when I give my dear Saviour a lodging in my heart and my bosom becomes an habitation for the Lord of Life With trembling therefore will I approach the Altar of God I will admire the Mystery and contemplate the circumstances of his Passion in which every word that he spoke was a Sermon for his Cross was his Pulpit and Mount Calvary the House of Prayer for there he prayed for his enemies and from thence he preached patience and submission to his Friends and I will remember his last actions for tho in all his discourses he spake so as never Man spake like him yet he never entertain'd the world with so eloquent and convincing a Sermon as when he went dumb before his persecutors and opened not his mouth when he carried his Cross silently and bore the marks of his adversaries cruelty without murmuring I will remember this my greatest and best Friend I will remember his last words and dying injunctions and I will communicate with him in the benefits of his Passion till his second appearance to judgment when the just shall eat of the Tree of Life in a better Paradise at that time all Signs shall cease all distant methods of conversation shall expire for in Heaven there are no Sacraments so that at the dawning of the day which the Lord himself shall enlighten when no other beams shall be needful but those of the Sun of Righteousness to make it glorious for ever then all Types and symbolical emblems shall be accomplisht then I shall be united to my Jesus and personally enjoy that immediate communion of which these Mysteries are but shadows and remote representations The Collect. BLessed Lord who bast so graciously invited me to partake of the merits of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ conveyed to me in the blessed Sacrament grant that I may receive it to the remission of my past sins and to the preservation of my Soul against future temptations to the correcting of the deformities of my mind and the rooting out all evil customs out of my heart to the inlightening of my understanding to the strengthening of my faith and that I may be able to give a good account at the dreadful seat of thy judicature help me to spend this day and every day in thy fear and in the offices of holy Religion let thy Mercy pardon me thy Angels guard me and thy Goodness lead me to repentance that I may live and dye thine for Jesus Christ's sake our only Mediator and Advocate Amen The Anthem PETER Mourning IN a cold dark and melancholly night To gloomy shades which did augment the sright Where dismal horrors and confusion dwell And ghastly sights that made the place like Hell The trembling Peter tends and with swoln eyes Deeply laments his fear and cowardise Wretch that I am thus to deny my Lord Fit to be scorn'd by men by God abhorr'd Disconsolate and sad where shall I fly T'escapte the lightnings of my Master's eye That glance that passionate and killing look When Jesus turn'd his head me thunder strook Sufficient was the warning which was given By the infallible Oracle of Heaven Peter said my wise Master boast no more The rich in brags are in performance poor In vain thou promisest with me to dye Thou e're
the morning break wilt me deny With execrations and with perjury Weak was th' attempt and impotent the hand That did my resolutions countermand While an impertinent Girl me kept in awe Who singly durst before the rabble draw How easily when the criminal does begin Does time engage him to grow bold in Sin Till what at first is but a single lye At the next act commences blasphemy Of all my Master's sufferings tho accurst Ill treated and contemn'd this was the worst Of only twelve Disciples one betray'd him Ten more deserted him and I deny'd him Leaving the Innocent to dye alone VVhile we deserv'd the crucifixion Thus down the stream I went and on had swom Forgetting Jesus and his Martyrdom Had not my dearest Saviour lookt about When the shrill voice advis'd me to go out The Cock that calls the early Lark to sing Mattens to th' praise of the eternal King All cheerfulness does from my Soul expel As if his voice had been my Passing-bell Had I a full swoln River in each eye I 'd mourn till I had wept the Fountains dry Can man be unconcern'd when God must dye Ingratitude is here a Prodigy But to assist thee were but to affront The Martyr Jesus does no seconds want Conquer by suffering and when thou art gone Carryed by brightest Angels to thy Throne Poor Peter arm'd with courage will defy The next temptation and thy Martyr dye Inverted on his Cross that there may be An humble difference betwixt him and thee GOOD-FRYDAY ON this day was the greatest act of Villany and injustice committed that ever the Sun beheld for on this day was the Son of God Crucified and therefore it is called the Paschal Solemnity of the Crucifixion the great and holy Preparation the day of the most holy Passion and the day on which our blessed Saviour suffered but this day also was the happiest time that ever mankind could enjoy or long for because our Redeemers sufferings were the cause of our freedom from Sin and Death and Hell and therefore we call it Good-Friday of old the Great Friday because it was the day on which the World received all that was good all that God could bestow or the World want in a dying Saviour who by his once offering of himself put an end to the numerous diverse and ineffectual Sacrifices required by the old Law On this day of the Week Adam was created cloathed with the Image of God and constituted the Lord of the World and on this day too sadly he fell and was driven out of Paradise but on this day also the same Adam and all his Children were redeemed and the sorrow for the Fall was out done by the joy of the Restoration and yet because the Sins of men were the only cause of our blessed Masters sufferings who knew no sin himself therefore ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 907. this day was indispensably made a day of Fasting through the whole Christian Church * Aug. cont Epist Fund c. 8. the Manichees being for this among many other their wicked practises condemn'd that they observed the day of the Martyrdom as they called it of their Master Manes but neglected the observation of Good-Friday and tho all the Lent was properly a Fast before Easter yet this day and the Saturday that followed it were called the ‖ Tert. â—d Vx l. 2. Cypr. Ep. 53. v. Chrys to 5. p. 940. solemn days before Easter i.e. the more eminent times of Fasting upon which days as our Saviour was Crucified and Buried so his Apostles who were then his Church were covered with sorrow and hid themselves for fear of Persecution and for this Reason it is called by the Germans Still-Friday and by the Saxons Long-Friday because the Fast was extended beyond the usual hour And as our Master lay three days in the Grave so did the Church think fit to Fast three days till the time of his Resurrection for if the Sun then lost its light and the Rocks were rent was there not greater reason that the Church of Christ his Spouse and his mystical Body should be concern'd at his Crucifixion And tho the blessed Eucharist were usually given on every day through the rest of the year yet on Good-Friday and the Great Saturday it was probably omitted From ⸫ De brat c. 14. Tertullian it is plain that they omitted the Kiss of Peace and Charity which was always given at the Sacrament and * Capit. Lothar l. 4. tit 46. l. 7. tit 371. in after Ages the celebration of the Eucharist was expresly forbidden And now in the Romish ‡ Durand Rat. l. 6. c. 72 77. Church they ring no Bells but knock with a Wooden Mallet on a Table-board to give notice of the hours of Prayer they omit several parts of the office particularly the Doxology and the Salutation The Lord be with you they read the Lesson of the New-Testament in a faint low voice and the Priest who reads the History of the Passion does it barefoot their Altars are hid for then there is no Sacrament celebrated and the Lights are put out to represent the obscurity of the night in which our blessed Saviour was apprehended and the wondrous darkness that attended his Crucifixion from whence the time is called Tenebrae or the days of darkness and in the Greek Church they by an Image represent our blessed Saviour's sufferings and his taking down from the Cross on this day also did the ‖ Constit Apost l. 5. c. 12 14. Primitive Church as does the Church of England pray for all Jews and Infidels c. in imitation of our dear Redeemer who wept over Jerusalem because they knew not the day of their Visitation and on the Cross prayed for his enemies The observation of the day was very * Orig. Cont. Cels l. 4. Ancient and I believe Apostolical By ‡ Eas Vit. Const l. 4. c. 18. p. 534. Constantine the Great it was commanded to be observed with as much respect as the Lord's-day The ⸫ Aug. Ep. 118. Fathers call this day the Saturday following and Easter day the Most holy three days of our Saviour's Crucifixion continuance in the Grave and Resurrection and sometimes the ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 940. Passover And in the †Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 6 7. Western Church on Good-Friday the Holy Priests were obliged to Preach to the people the Mysteries of Christ's sufferings all people except Children old and sick persons being bound under the penalty of being kept from the Lord's Table at Easter to tarry at Church and to Fast till the Priest toward evening with a loud voice did pronounce the publick Absolution that by such a testimony of their true repentance for their sins and by the assistance of the Priestly Absolution the people might be the better fitted to keep the Feast of Easter and to eat the Christian Passover * Theod. Lect. lib. 2. Collect. On this day
the Bishop in person if present was obliged to Catechise those who were Candidates for Baptism and on this day was the Nicene Creed solemnly recited in defiance to all Hereticks which Creed till the time of Timotheus Patriarch of Constantinople was never used as a part of the Eastern Liturgy but on this one day only in the year In which Church also according to an Ancient Constitution ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 563 Pallad vid. Chrys p. 82. they were wont on Good-Friday to celebrate all the holy Offices in some particular Church and that commonly in some Oratory erected over the Grave of some eminent Martyr without the Walls of the City because our blessed Saviour suffered without the Gates In some of the Churches ⸫ Sozom. l. 7. c. 19. p. 100. of Palestine they used to read the Apocryphal Book called the Revelation of St. Peter but in other Churches of the East they read out of the Old-Testament the History of Job the liveliest Type of Christ's Sufferings and Triumphs and out of the New in the * Rupert de Divin offic l. 6. c. 6. Western Churches the Gospel of St. John because St. John was an eye-witness of our blessed Master's Sufferings but in the African ‡ Aug. Ser. 141. de temp Church they read St. Matthew's Gospel Thus did the good men of old spend this day calling themselves to an account for their offences and humbling themselves in the sight of God and is it not even in this Age very requisite that every Christian should call himself to an account for those sins which brought the Son of God to so much shame and torture and should mourn and fast and pray earnestly for that forgiveness which was purchas'd thereby I take it therefore for granted that on this day it is requisite to use more than ordinary severity because on this day our Plessed Saviour was murther'd and to this purpose besides the usual Prayers reading and Meditations which are parts of the preparation for other days on Good-Friday it will be necessary to subjoin some acts of the deepest Humiliation and Sorrow for sin To which purpose every good man ought strictly to examine himself of which sort of Examen I have subjoined a Specimen after which the use of the Penitential Psalms is very proper particularly Ps 38. or 51. with this Caution That I understand by my Enemies not my worldly adversaries for they are my Brethren and them I must bless and pray for but the Devil and my own Lusts and by blood-guiltiness c. my new crucifying my Saviour my murthering of my own Soul and being accessary to the destruction of what ever good and vertuous thoughts the Spirit of God hath put in my mind To which Penitentials the 22d Ps will very fitly be added because it is an intire Prophecy of the sufferings of the Son of God and cannot but raise in me a deep sense of his Sorrows and the cause of them when I remember they are some of the last words which our Blessed Saviour spoke before his Death when we are infallibly assured that he begun and probably convinc'd that he went through the whole Psalm The most proper posture to repeat these Psalms in is Kneeling or prostration because they are solemn and humble acknowledgments of my hainous Offences which have undone my self and Crucified my Redeemer The Examen I Am this day to examine my self and to adjust the Accounts between God and my own Soul it is easie to be another mans flatterer but it is natural to be my own and therefore I am resolved impartially to state my affairs and to rejoice or mourn proportionable to the condition in which I find my self And tho the enquiry be terrible and affrighting yet I had rather pass this private scrutiny than have my Offences exposed to the view of Men and Angels It is the greatest of happiness to be innocent and never to offend but the next instance of Felicity is to be penitent I am conscious to my self that I have been a Criminal but I am resolved not to continue in my Crimes I will call my Transgressions to remembrance that God may blot them out of his Memory and I will judg my self in this World that I may escape in the day of the Lord To this End therefore that I may put my self into a capacity to obtain God's Pardon for my sins whose number is unaccountable whose burthen is intolerable and whose remembrance is very grievous to me and that I may not approach the tremendous Feast without the Wedding Garment I thus interrogate my self with all severity and exactness ' Say O my Soul art thou in God's Favour or hast thou merited thy Saviours Frowns What Proficiency hast thou made in thy Christian Calling since thy last accounting with thy Master VVhat Temptations hast thou conquer'd What Passions mortified What holy Opportunities improved What Virtues gotten or increased How conformable hast thou been to Jesus and what progress hast thou made in the way to Heaven If I find any of these beautiful Lineaments in my mind I will rejoice with joy unspeakable and be exceeding glad as men rejoice when they divide the spoil But if I have been an Apostate from my vows and broken the Covenant of my Youth If I have prostituted my Soul to Satan defacing the Image of God and defiling his Holy Temple let my heart within me mourn and refuse to be comforted let it make lamentation as one that is grieved for his only Son and is in bitterness for his First-born let my head be waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I may weep day and night over my sin and my shame that I may wash my bed and water my Couch with my tears because it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God For who can dwell with everlasting burnings and a consuming Fire Now to help forward and make easie this work that I may diligently inspect all my offences with all their aggravating circumstances since my last renewal of my vows on the day of my last solemn Humiliation a memorial of all my actions in Writing is very useful that what is there recorded may be a help to my Memory which is most apt to forget my offences Upon the inspection of which the most regular Examination will be made according to the method of our Church Catechism wherein are included the Principles and fundamentals of Faith and Manners which I have engaged to observe and from which if I have swerv'd I cannot without a true Repentance expect God's Pardon and Mercy Now the Catechism being an Explanation of the Doctrine of Repentance Faith Obedience Prayer and of the due receiving of the Holy Sacraments the Examination must be proportionate and the inquiries strict What wandrings from the rule of Repentance What sins against the Creed Commandments Lords Prayer or the Sacraments have I been guilty of since my last Account An
my death Good Lord deliver me From sins of Ignorance and sins of Malice from impatience under reproof and the eagerness of an angry Mind from sensual and polluted Fancies from the Spectres of the Night and unbecoming Dreams Good Lord deliver me From being ingaged in the pursuits of a proud and perverse Generation and from the World that lies in wickedness Good Lord deliver me From disbelief of the Mysteries of Religion and walking contrary to my Profession from calling God Father and yet cbeying the Devil and from praying to him with my Lips when my Heart is far from him Good Lord deliver me From a fondness for secular Wisdom and Learning and the neglect of the Word from hearkening to the Suggestions of Satan and slighting the Counsels of the blessed Spirit from vain and inconsiderate Talk and rash Resolutions Good Lord deliver me From Atheism and Impiety from worshipping any thing in my mind or practices in Opposition to my Maker and from all Hypocrisie and Superstition Good Lord deliver me From taking thy Name in Vain by Oaths or Blasphemy by idle and rash Talk and Curses and from slighting thy Temple and Service thy Day and Ordinances Good Lord deliver me From disobedience to my Superiors and neglect of my Parents from Envy Hatred and Malice from evil Speaking and Slandering Clamor and Reviling and from Blood and Murther and all Revenge Good Lord deliver me From unchast and wanton Thoughts from leud and intemperate Discourses from a lustful Eye and all sort of carnal Pollutions Good Lord deliver me From pride and vain Glory from lying and false Witness from Slandering and Perjury from Covetousness and Ambition and from being discontented at my present Condition from all evil Thoughts and a vain Conversation Good Lord deliver me From having my Portion in this Life and an uninterrupted Felicity from Anger and Provocations to Uncharitableness from nauseating the means of Salvation and from a hardned Heart Good Lord deliver me From a polluted mind and a love of Dissention from forsaking thy Interest to maintain my own and from following a multitude to do evil Good Lord deliver me From neglecting thy Holy Table and slighting the invitation of my Saviour from a want of due preparation and from eating and drinking damnation to my self Good Lord deliver me From the snare of a slanderous tongue and the lips that speak lies from the malice of hypocrites from the rage and fury of Zealots and from the cunning and power of Satan Good Lord deliver me From the follies of my youth and the sins of my riper years from the sins which I have committed my self and those which I have encouraged others to commit from the defilements of my Body and the pollutions of my Soul Good Lord deliver me From my secret and open sins from what I have done to please my self and what I have done to please others from the sins which I remember and those which I have forgotten Good Lord deliver me From those sins * Here the penitent may reckon the particular sins he hath committed to which temper and inclination use and custome and evil company have addicted me Good Lord deliver me From the evil both of vice and punishment from the lashes of Conscience and a distracted mind and from a sudden painful and unexpected death from a place on the left hand and a portion among the Goats from the chains of darkness and the bottomless pit Good Lord deliver me By thy unspeakable generation as God and thy wonderful birth as Man by thy circumcision and acceptance of the adorations of the wise men the first fruits of the Gentiles Good Lord deliver me By thy wisdom in baffling the Scribes and Pharisees by thy humility in stooping to a mean condition and by thy obedience to thy Parents Good Lord deliver me By thy Baptisme forty days Fast and victory over the Devil in the Wilderness by thy surprizing but useful Miracles by thy plain but convincing Discourses and by thy winning and exemplary Conversation Good Lord deliver me By the wonderful and mysterious representation of thy bloody passion in the blessed Eucharist and by thy unexpressible love to thy Church by thy bitter Agony thy wondrous Sweat and fervent Prayers in the Garden Good Lord deliver me By the variety of thy sufferings which are recorded and by thy unknown pangs and tortures which we cannot describe and by thy strong crying and tears when thou prayedst for thine enemies Good Lord deliver me By thy mercy to dye for us thy power to rise again and thy compassion to intercede for us and to be our Advocate and by whatever else is dear to thee and of use to the world Good Lord deliver me In the days of my prosperity and in the times of suffering in the troubles of my mind and the weakness of my body in the hour of my death and in the terrible day of thy coming to judgement Good Lord deliver me Jesu Master thou Son of David have mercy on me That it may please thee to illuminate thy Holy Church with the spirit of truth amity and concord that all that are called Christians may be united in one holy Faith and may retain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to bless and defend our gracious Soveraign from all his enemies separately and conjunctly that his days may be many his Reign prosperous and his end everlasting Life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That the Royal Family may be happy in thy service the Clergy honoured with thy protection the Nobility guided by thy Holy Spirit the Gentry Firm and Loyal and the Commons of the Realm humble and obedient I beseech thee c. That all men may be saved Hereticks made Converts to Truth Schismaticks to Peace Rebels to Loyalty and Jews Mahometans and Infidels become Disciples to the Son of God I beseech thee c. That Widows may be protected and Orphans provided for the sick healed the opprest defended the naked cloathed the hungry fed the ignorant instructed the refractory reclaimed and that all Prisoners and whoever is appointed to dye may taste of thy Fatherly pity I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to succour and ease all that labour under the weight of an evil and disturbed Conscience and to give the rewards of Martyrdome to those who suffer for a good one I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to pardon and amend all mine enemies and teach me not only to forgive but to forget injuries I beseech thee c. That it may please thee to give me and all thy Servants true quiet and liberty and protection from sin and wickedness all the days of our lives I beseech thee c. That an Angel of Peace a faithful guide may be the Guardian both of my Soul and Body I beseech thee c.
Sinner gives the Angels joy how much more eminent must the exultations needs be when the whole World is rescued from the tyranny of the Devil At this news doubtless the Angels and the Arch-angels leapt for joy the Cherubim and Seraphim kept a Festival and the Son of God himself was infinitely pleased that our Redemption was compleated Nay the dull Earth it self rejoices for the ‖ Ambr. de myst Pasch c. 2. Chrys to 5. p. 585. Christian Passover is the beginning of the year to us vvhen Flovvers and Fruits do bud and blossom vvhen the Clouds and cold of Winter are driven avvay and the Spring introduces the vvarm Sun to emblem to us that vve also should be merry and joyful that vve should be no longer barren but bring forth fruits vvorthy of our Saviour's Resurrection that only the beams of the Sun of Righteousness gives true life and heat and that vve must not date our happiness from the day of our natural birth but of our Regeneration This * Chrys to 5. p. 587. is the beloved and saving Festival the foundation of our Peace the end of our Differences the destruction of Death the ruine of the Devil this day men were admitted to the Society and Anthems of Angels for this day was a period put to the tyranny of Satan the bonds of Death were loosed and the powers of Hell routed and now the Church was able to say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Now that this day might be duly observed the o Leo M. Ep. 64. ad Martian Aug. Holy Fathers of the venerable Nicene Council in pursuance of an ancient custom took care that the Patriarch of Alexandria which City was famous for its University especially the Study of Astronomy the Sky being perpetually clear and the Country fit for such observations should in his Circular Letters commonly called Paschal Epistles which ‡ Cassian 10.2 were at first sent about Christmas afterwards sooner ‖ Conc. Carthag 4.7 by the one and twentieth of August every year give an account to all other Christian Churches on what day Easter fell upon the receipt of which Letters * Conc. Aurel. 4. 1. Braccar 2. 9. the Bishop of every Church was obliged to give notice of the Festival to his Clergy and every Priest in his Parish Church as the Bishops and Metropolitans were bound to do in their Cathedrals on Christmas-day after the reading of the Gospel was to inform the people that no one might plead ignorance of the holy time and when the day came the persons who had been baptized the night before were cloathed in white garments which for eight days after they were obliged to wear and with many Torches brought into the Church to take their place among the Fideles or compleat Christians and hence perhaps Baptisme was called Illumination and hence doubtless the Festival was called ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 939. Theophan orat 26. p. 187. the Splendor of the Virgin Torch-light and the day of White Garments the newly baptized being obliged to be at Church every day of the Paschal Week to learn their duties for which end through the Octaves of Easter were read ‖ Chrys to 5. p. 586. every day and every day there was a Sermon and a Sacrament For in truth every day was as it were a Sunday but of most especial observance were the Munday and Tuesday of the Week as they are in our Church from whence the Feast is sometimes called * Nyss 〈…〉 de Pasc◠〈◊〉 del D. 22 〈◊〉 the Three days Solemnity and at this time at Christmas the Epiphany and other greater Festivals the Clergy on pain of Excommunication were bound to be present on their Cures The new-made Christians ‡ Microlog c. 56. Honor. 3. 137. alii were also particularly bound to come that day Twelvemonth on which they had been baptized to the Church and to bring with them their Sponsors and to celebrate the day of their Regeneration their spiritual birth-day and to offer to God their oblations for that great favour and blessing And by a ‖ Synod Exon. an 1287. Canon of one of our old Synods every person was obliged to make an oblation to his Church four times a year whereof Easter was one and to this day it is not only a collar-Collar-day at Court but an Offeringday and a houshold-Houshold-day too when the Bezant is given by the Lord Steward or some other White-staff Officer and this is done in imitation of an ancient Custome for the great Constantine on Easter-day studying to imitate the Charity and Compassion of our Holy Saviour distributed many large alms and gave rich gifts to all the people and to all the Provinces of the Empire And as our Princes imitate the ancient Christian Emperors in their Charity so they imitated them in their Pity Anciently at this time Malefactors were pardoned and by the Laws of the Confessor Easter and eight days after were exempted from Executions In * Smyth ub sup p. 44. the Greek Church at three afternoon of the Saturday devout people go to Church most of whom continue there all night Toward break of day they sing the Hymn Glory in the highest after which the Patriarch begins and is followed by the Quire singing this excellent Hymn Christ is risen from the dead having by his death trampled on death and given life to them that were in their graves which they repeat Twelve times together And if on Easter morning or within three days after a ‡ Ryc Present State of the Gr. Ch. p. 140. Greek meets any of his acquaintance he salutes him with these comfortable words Christ is risen to which the other answers He is risen indeed and then they kiss three times once on the Mouth and once on each Cheek and so depart which custom is also observed among * Olear l. 2. p. 53. the Muscovites and no person of whatever sex condition or quality soever he be dares refuse this Ceremony At ‖ Sozom. li. 7. c. 19. p. 734. Rome the Hallelujah was anciently never sung but on Easter-day it being a usual Asseveration among the Romans So may I live to hear and sing the Hallelujah at Easter and on this day at * Id. p. 735. Constantinople the Patriarchs read the Gospel in which Church probably ‡ Chrys to 5. p. 587. the Hundred and sixth Psalm as we reckon it was a part of the Service as in our own Church the Paschal Homily of Abbot Aelfrick was by a Synod commanded to be read to the people before the celebration of the Holy Communion To all which Observations we may subjoin St. Austin's Mystical Remark That the Fathers ordain'd that Easter should not be kept till the Lord's day after the Full-moon because the Moon is then return'd to her conjunction with the Sun to intimate to us that Man who was in a state of opposition and enmity to God
before Christ's Passion is by his Resurrection put into a state of favour and a capacity to return and to be reconciled to his maker And God grant that his whole Church may be reconciled to their Saviour and to each other that they may duly keep the Feast and live in love and unity here till they all triumph together in Heaven Amen The Epistle Philip. 3.8 YEA doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead The Gospel Luke 24.13 BEhold two of them went the same day to a Village called Emmaus and while they communed together Jesus drew near and went with them but their eyes were holden that they should not know him and he said unto them What manner of communications are these which ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad They said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth whom the chief Priests and our Rulers have delivered to be condemned to death and have crucified Then said Jesus unto them Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory And beginning at Moses and at the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself And he was known to them in breaking of bread The MEDITATION AMong all our Blessed Saviour's unhappinesses the incapacities of his Disciples understandings was not the least by reason of which tho their Master was the Wisdom of the Father and endowed with the Holy-Ghost without measure which enabled him to speak not only vvith the greatest authority but vvith the greatest veracity and plainness yet they vvere alvvays unvvilling to give entire credit to his sayings Some of them they could not understand and others they vvould not believe So vvhen he discoursed of the great mystery of the Sacrament and averred that no Man could have life in him except he did eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood many of his follovvers apprehended that he vvould oblige them to turn Canibals and so vvent back and vvalked no more vvith him Among vvhom St. Mark himself say the Ancients vvas disgusted and left that holy Society and had not St. Peter opportunely reclaimed him the Church had lost that Evangelist Nor was St. Peter himself free from this crime for vvhen our blessed Saviour gave the Twelve an account of his sufferings and that the redemption of the World was to be accomplish'd by his Crucifixion he whose mind was possest with other notions of the Kingdom of the Messiah was scandalized at the declaration and rebuked his Lord not knovving that our Saviour's Cross vvas to be his Throne and by his Agonies only he was to merit Crovvns and earn Triumphs Nor could all that their infallible Guide could say to inform them better drive out this notion out of the heads of the rest of the Apostles no not vvhen they savv him crucified dead and buried and could not but remember that he promised to rise again the Third day The Women more officious than vvise had brought Spices to embalm him as if the Lamb of God had fallen like a common Sacrifice as if the Lord of Hosts had been captivated by the Grave his Povvers baffled and his Promises cancel'd And tho the empty Sepulchre the sight of the Grave-cloaths orderly laid up and the testimony of the Angel vvere undeniable proofs that Jesus was not there but was risen yet their admiration was stronger than their Faith and the Disciples of both sexes were surprised they hardly believed their eyes for as yet they knew not the Scriptures that he must rise from the dead and wondred at all that was come to pass In the head of those devout female proselites was Mary Magdalene who tho once an Angel of darkness had now the purity and zeal of one of the Seraphim she was all ardor and resolution she was the first who went to the Sepulchre on the day of the Resurrection she was earlier up than the beloved Disciple who lay in his Master's bosome and for that reason should have afforded his Master a place in his own heart in his memory and in his love and she had more courage than Peter tho a man of extraordinary fervor she dreaded not the guards nor the shadows of the night that had not yet given place to day but hastens her steps to the venerable Tomb and when she beheld the empty Sepulchre how deep is her concern at the loss of her Saviour She wept bitterly as if she would have softned the Rock and made the most insensible and obdurate parts of the Creation mourn with her the death of her best Friend And tho these were sad disappointments and the sight had affrighted all that followed her yet there she still continues she was the last who return'd from that awful Garden nor did she at length miss of her expectations for they who sow in tears shall reap in joy The Angels first confirm her hopes and immediately after the Lord of the Angels gave her a view of his sacred Person Remember O my Soul the first appearance of our Saviour after his Resurrection was to the most sinful Magdalene nor do thou despair but that thou maist also be admitted to a share in his favour but remember also that this honour was vouchsafed to the penitent Magdalene to Magdalene transported with the ardors of Divine Love that had destroyed all the heats of Lust If thou longest therefore to be blest with such priviledges rise early and begin betime to serve thy Maker weep over thy follies that have deprived thee of the company of thy Saviour and these methods will recall thy departed Redeemer and thy sins which are many shall be forgiven because thou hast loved much To Mary Magdalene among the softer Sex was the first appearance vouchsafed and among the men the next was to St. Peter the first a Woman of the loosest manners and most profligate conversation the second a Man of strong boastings and a weak faith who when he promised to dye with his Master denied him thus the worst of sinners had the preference in this discovery and why should I doubt but that there is mercy also for me and my Saviour hath the same compassion for my Soul as he had for Mary Magdalen's or St. Peter's Magdalene was our Saviour's first Apostle after his Resurrection she had a commission to instruct St. Peter himself and the beloved Virgin too and to tell them their
* Buxtorf Synag Jud. c. 13. Jew who could not possibly go up to Jerusalem at the Passover had the allowance to kill a Lamb at Home and to call upon the Name of the Lord praising him for the deliverance out of Egypt § 4. But if by any means he can go to Church he chuses to be there some time before the Holy Offices begin that he may the better compose himself recollect his Thoughts and review his Vows for he who wilfully slips the opportunity of being at the beginning of the Prayers is in the way to lose all the advantages of his coming thither for he who does not confess heartily cannot communicate worthily Early therefore the good man goes to Church and he takes care to come fasting that nothing may enter into his mouth before the Body of God for for this cause the Ancients transferr'd their Love-feasts from being eaten before the Sacrament to be eaten after it not only to prevent excess but to do Honour to this Heavenly Food by preserring it to all our temporal necessaries And yet the good man is not so scrupulous to believe that if while he washes his mouth a drop of water casually trickle down his Throat that that breaks his Fast and disables him to communicate that day § 5. The spare time before the service begins is spent in holy reflections and renewed vows of obedience such as these In the name of Jesus who loved me and was crucified for me I renounce my self and all my own desires that I may love my Saviour and do him service May his Cross and Passiion save me may his Grace keep and direct me in the paths of Peace world without end Be glad and rejoice O my soul and give Honour to the Lord God Omnipotent for the Marriage of the Lamb is come Blessed are all they who are called to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb These are the true sayings of God Nothing in this world can be comparable to it nothing but the vision of God above it To which is subjoined this Meditation § 6 I am come into the Temple of God to receive his Injunctions and to partake of his Blessings I entertain the tidings with Joy and the Exultations of a glad heart this is the day which the Lord hath made I will tejoice and be glad in it this is the Lords day and this his Habitation where it pleaseth him to dwell O how amiable are thy dwellings O thou Lord of Hosts Here the Angels wait and worship and if they veil their faces being ravished at the Transporting and Majestick Sight how cold and negligent am I in my preparations to entertain the lover of Souls my comforter in this world and my bliss in that which is to come the guide of those vvho travel to Zion and the revvard of vvhoever attains to the Heavenly country Had I the Meekness of Moses and the Patience of Job the Zeal of Elijah and the Purities of the Man after Gods ovvn heart yet vvere I not meet to approach Gods Holy Table Could the Seraphim transfer to me their ardours or the bright Angels cloath me with their innocency yet it would be infinite Condescention in my God to admit me Lord What then shall I do If I come I am afraid of presumption but if I refuse to come I slight thy invitation I contemn thy Ordinances and affront thy Goodness I break thy Commandments and throw off my subjection I will therefore come tho I bring not with me the intire preparation which the Sanctuary requires for he who despiseth thy Table is as guilty in thy sight as he who eats and drinks unworthily Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof and yet thon biddest thy self to be my Guest and intreatest to be admitted into my Bosom the greatest Prince condescends to visit his meanest subject and the Holiest God to dwell with the most sinful Wretch Lord I have sinned and done exceeding wickedly And can my God look savourably on such an abominable Transgressor as I am Can thy Mercy incline thee to take the Childrens Bread and to give it to such a Dog I acknowledg I am an Intruder but Mary Magdalene whom thou lovedst and to whom thon forgavest much when she made her first Addresses to thee O Blessed Jesu came unbidden to the house of a supercilious Pharisee when the Meat was on the Table and without taking notice of any body else laid hold of thee whom she earnestly sought at thy feet she throws her self and washes them with her penitential Tears she was ashamed of her sins but not of her approaches to her Saviour and so am I Oh! how am I grieved that I am yet so far from the power of Godliness so intangled with the love of vanity so fond of the world and so negligent of Heaven so prodigal of my time and such a niggard of my Charity so vain in my imagination so inconsiderate in my discourses so indevotional in the most solemn acts of Religion but so intent to things of no moment so concern'd about my daily Bread but so careless of getting the Bread of Angels so inclinable to be angry with others while I want that indignation that becomes me against my own transgressions May the good Lord be merciful to me and to every one who prepareth his heart to seek the Lord God the God of our Fathers altho he be not cleansed according to the Purification of the Sanctuary § 7. After this it is taken for granted that the good Man who is Gods Minister and the Peoples Priest is come to Church and hath begun the Divine Service at which the devout Christian earnestly attends praying with all fervency o Receiving the Absolution with all Contrition and Humility praising God with all heartiness repeating the Creed with his utmost vigour because it is a confirmation of the truth of his profession and tho he takes all occasions when there is any pause as frequently there is in the Celebration of the Eucharist to put up his own private Prayers to God yet he never dares suffer them to interfere with the publick worship for ¶ 1 Cor. 14.26 when the Apostle reproves the men of Corinth that at their solemn Meetings every man had his Psalm and every one his Doctrine i.e. one was preaching while another was praying and a third singing and tells them that this could not edifie he looks upon that reproof as a lesson of advice and duty to the whole Church and a general Rule of demeanour in the House of God § 8. When the devout Christian observes the Holy Man of God for such is every Priest or such he ought to be standing at the Altar he looks on him with Reverence because he ministers in Holy Things and represents Jesus consecrating at the first Institution And for him thus he prays Lord let thy Priests be cloath'd with righteousness and let thy Saints sing with joyfulness Hosannah
for Confirmation or have I slighted the Prayers and Benediction of God's Priest Have I wholly forsaken Satan or rather am I not still under his power by being a slave to the habits of folly and disobedience Have I ever at any time used Charms or Amulets or consulted Witches or Conjurers Am I not yet in love with the pomps and vanities of the World a great frequenter of sports to the hindrance of Religious Duties and do I delight in profane and lascivious representations and are not my Lusts yet unmortified and have I not derogated from the honour of the Captain of our Salvation by cowardise and negligence Eucharist Have I not profan'd the holy Supper of the Lord by not acquainting my self with the nature of the Mystery and the necessity of preparation or by coming to it without Faith and Repentance without an universal charity and a thorow reconciliation to God and my enemies without examination without a due sorrow and amendment of Life Have I not often received that Sacrament without those ardors of devotion which I am obliged to or without that bodily reverence which the most Sacred and Heavenly Mysteries require Have I not made rash promises when I have received and never minded them afterwards Have I not suffered the House to lye idle when it hath been so swept and garnish'd to encourage Satan to take with him seven other Spirits worse than himself and to come and dwell in my Soul till its later estate be more deplorable than its first To which I subjoyn Lord be merciful to me a sinner and so strengthen me by thy Grace that I may perform my Vows and keep the robes of my Baptism unspotted and tho I have approach'd thy Table without the Wedding Garment yet cast me not into outer darkness whence there is no deliverance Now these and all other Transgressions are either heightned or lessened by their circumstances the Examinant therefore ought to consider 1. The Time when he offended Was it on the Lord's day Here additions and alterations may be made by the devout penitent according to his own state or any other publick Festival on a publick Fasting day or the days of my own private humiliation during the hours of Prayer either at the Temple or in my Closet either at or immediately before or after the receipt of the holy Sacrament and have I often committed one and the same sin for these circumstances argue a perverse frame of mind and that it is not infirmity but wilfulness that makes the offender 2. The place where the sin was committed Was it in the Church at the holy Table or in my Closet or in any publick place where the offence became scandalous incouraging the vicious and offending my weaker brethren 3. The state and condition of the Offender Am I not in Holy Orders one of God's Priests that Minister at his Altar have I not more knowledge and a better acquaintance with my duty hath not God afforded me more convictions greater light and frequenter opportunities of doing good was the sin committed when I was under some affliction of mind body or estate or after some sudden deliverance out of some severe judgement on me for my former failings hath not God by his holy Spirit laid many hinderances in my way to ruine and have I not overcome all difficulties and often been my own tempter have I not continued to be wicked after many checks of Conscience and many solemn Vows to the contrary after the experience of much mercy many deliverances and great tenderness compassion and long-suffering in my Saviour towards me 4. The persons injured Are not my sins committed against my God my Master my Saviour my best and only Friend have I rob'd the House of God of its ho nour or revenue have I ground the face of the Poor or rob'd the Fatherless and Widows have I given evil counsel to the ignorant or those that cannot discern the fallacy have I been unjust to my Children or Relatives who are nearest to me and as it were parts of my self Among all which sins I must particularly mourn over and detest those to which I have been most inclined by natural temper or custome and resolve to avoid all provocations and temptations and whatever hath or may promote such evil habits and to practice the contrary virtues To which I subjoyn Lord I have caused thy Name to be blasphemed among the enemies of Religion and Piety but be thou pleased to pity and pardon me the greatest of sinners and give me thy Grace that I may do so no more Besides all which I am bound to reflect on my many secret sins and forgotten offences and to subjoin Lord who can understand how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults and keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over my Soul so shall I be innocent from the great offence The Collect. ALmighty Lord and everlasting God Grant I most humbly beseech thee to thy distressed Servant Pardon and Peace and vouchsafe to direct sanctify and govern both my heart and body in the ways of thy Laws and in the works of thy Commandments that through thy most mighty protection both here and ever I may be preserv'd in body and soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen To this I add the 38 Psalm or the 51. or some other penitential and after that the 22 Psalm Then follows the Litany much agreeable to the former method LORD let thy Ear be attentive to the Prayer of thy Servant who desires to fear thy name O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him the Father of Mercies have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O God the Son the Redeemer of the World and the lover of Souls have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O God the Holy Spirit of Peace and Love the giver of every Grace and every good Gift have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O Holy Powerful and Compassionate Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon me the most miserable of sinners O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world grant me thy Peace Lord hear Lord forgive hearken O Lord and do and defer not for thine own sake O Lord our God From polluting the robes of my Baptisme and making new leagues with Satan from a feigned sorrow and an outside repentance Good Lord deliver me From sin and shame from the paths of folly and destruction from great boasting and little performance and from a vain and empty frame of mind from stoath and idleness and the neglect of my best concerns Good Lord deliver me From Self-Love and love of the World from being busy about nothing and slighting the thoughts of Eternity from deferring my repentance and putting off my accounts to the day of
of it to dine with him treating them with all affability and humble carriage relieving their bodily wants and instructing their minds and by this means earning their Prayers And this he does over and above what he hath given at the Offertory where he hath liberally according to his ability offered unto God and the Poor remembring that a thinking Heathen never came in sight of an Altar tho but occasionally but he tendred something thereon if it were but a little Salt or a handful of Flower and thought himself also obliged to provide for the indigent as for his brethren § 23. At his return he does not think fit to go immediately to his own dinner but retires to his Closet * Scalig. de Emendat temp l. 6. the Jews were obliged that night on which they did eat the Passover to taste nothing after it for the whole night that the relish of the Paschal Lamb might continue in their mouths a long time and the reason holds good in the Christian Church for our Blessed Saviour after he had eaten of this Supper resolved never to eat more till he had accomplish'd our redemption for says he I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine till I drink it new in my Father's kingdom In the Closet the good man recollects the proceedings of the day and in his thoughts acts over again the solemnities of that glorious triumph for he dares not spend any part of this day but in holy Offices in Meditations and Prayers in acts of Faith and Love of Piety and Charity in Reading and Conference and in all other exercises that may serve to increase his virtues both in number and degree especially in holy praises and solemn thansgivings to God for all his benefits § 24. And after this manner he expresses himself I am thine and nothing shall separate thee from my love on the Cross every member of thy body every faculty of thy soul had its sufferings and its agonies for my sins and should I reserve any thing from thee No my most obliging Saviour I make an intire oblation of my self to thee a whole burnt-offering sacrificed in the flames of holy love and this I do with all my might and power nothing could atone for my sins but thy sufferings nor can any thing testify my gratitude but the devoting of my self to thy service Thou hast redeemed me thou God of Truth and I will be thy servant for ever My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour For I have found him whom my soul loveth Jesus the Messiah of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits I will receive the Cup of Salvation and will praise the name of the Lord. I will go into thy House with my offerings and will pay my Vows which I promis'd with my lips when I was in trouble § 25. To which he subjoins Lord my single praises make but an insignificant and low sound they are the poorest of recompences and the most disproportioned to thy Majesty and thy Merits I therefore call in the assistances of Angels and of the whole host of Heaven of Sun Moon and Stars of the Earth and Sea and all that is therein to joyn with me in the magnifying of my Redeemer Let all the World worship thee sing of thee and bless thy name let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord for great is the Glory of the Lord and let all the Earth be filled with the knowledg of his Glory for his Name alone is excellent and his Glory above Heaven and Earth Amen Amen Glory be to the Father c. Then follows the Trisagios Holy God Holy and Powerful Holy and Immortal have mercy upon us § 26. After which he thus expresses himself How unwillingly have I left the place where my blest Saviour dwells and how well pleased should I be could I live and communicate with him always How amiable is that Palace where my dear Friend fixes his residence And how do I long to be treated continually at the Supper of the Lamb Oh that I could dye this very moment if it were but pleasing in the sight of my Heavenly Father and pass immediately from this antepast of joys to the intire entertainment of that Glorious Feast And would my Redeemer affist me how readily would I be this moment his Martyr How acceptable would a Prison or the Rack the Flames or a Sword be to me so I could by any means embrace an opportunity to let my beloved Jesus know how dear he is to me how much I value him and how ready I am to offer him my Blood who hath shed his own Blood for me upon the Cross and sed me with it at his Table And if that be an Honour that I am not worthy of and perhaps not capable of yet O Lord let me always be thy Martyr in resolution and since there is so much happiness in communicating with thee let me never leave the World so suddenly but that I may have the assistance of a good Priest to give me in thy name Absolution and to strengthen me in the agonies of death with the blessed Sacrament § 27. After which Meditation the worthy Communicant uses this Prayer taken out of the * Ps 8. c. 14.15 Constitutions commonly called the Apostles How ready and willing is my soul which hath been cherish'd and fed with the most Precious Body and Blood of my Saviour to offer him the thanks which I can pay tho neither what he deserves nor what I ought since he hath vouchsaf'd me the honour to partake of his holy Mysteries Grant holy Jesu that it may be for my Health not for my Ruin for my Happiness not for my Condemnation for the Security of my Soul and Body for the increase of Piety for the remission of Sins and for the introducing me into thy Palace for thy Name is called upon me and into thy Family I am adopted among thy faithful Servants Strengthen me and them by thy Holy Spirit inlighten our ignorance and supply all our defects and confirm us in the resolutions of a holy Life rescue and defend us from Satan and all our enemies ghostly and bodily sanctifie and protect help and keep us in our going out and in our coming in and at last assemble us in thy Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Worship now and for ever Amen To which he adds this other Collect. ALmighty God who hast united the Christian World in one common Brotherhood by the Holy Sacrament that we being many might be one body because we are all partakers of that one Bread let me be partaker this day of the Prayers of all that this day have communicated whereover thy Church be dispers'd over the face of the whole earth and let my Petitions be available in
thy sight for all mankind especially for the houshold of faith through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen May the Blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be with me and remain with me now and for evermore Amen § 28. And because the blessings of an Easter are very valuable and deserve extraordinary returns the good Christian thinks fit after the Evening Service at Church is over to return again to his Closet to converse with his holy Saviour and to exercise those acts of Love of Faith of Contrition and Hope and other Graces which for want of leisure or other conveniences could not so well be performed in the House of God to which he subjoins this or the like Meditation The MEDITATION § 30. I Am now return'd from that happy place that is preferable to Paradise where I have been treated with a Feast of fat Things and Wine well refined and what does my Lord require of me in point of Gratitude for these his inestimable benefits but to do Justice to love Mercy and to walk humbly with my God For every thing in this Sacrament obliges me to holiness of Life the Institutor of it was the undefiled High Priest of our Profession who did bear all sins but committed none the end of its Celebration is to show forth his Death which when we receive unworthily we act over again we new crucifie the Lord of Life who hath bought us and bring on our selves the most horrid and affrighting guilt that we can incur the preparation is nothing less than a strict examination of our Consciences than strong Prayers and Cries ardent resolutions of being better and a constant course of pious and charitable Actions This Sacrament actually enters us into Covenant with God and what agreement can there be between Light and Darkness It is an Emblem of our holy Profession which calls us to an exemplary Conversation it is a bond of Christian Communion and obliges to Charity 't is a representation of our Saviour's Crucifixion and so calls to the practice of Patience Forgiveness and Holy Resolution and it is a solemn Sacrifice of Praise and so obliges to practical Gratitude How wide are thy Wounds O my dying Saviour and how sorrowful thy Countenance Oh thy bitter Agony Oh thy shameful Cross And all occasioned by my sins and shall I continue in the same Transgressions out of despite to my Saviour Lord let me never be in any capacity to do so any more for how shall I dare to eat with thee and to lift up my heel against thee In this Sacrament I renew the Vow which I made in my Baptism and have so often shamefully broken and thereby forfeited the blessings which were promis'd me upon the performance of my duty Now this Covenant as on Gods part it entitles me to his Protection and his love to the Merits of his Son and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit so on my part it engages me to accept of that Son of his in all his Offices obliging me to receive him as my Sovereign and to obey his Commands and to depend upon him to receive him as my High Priest and to believe that his Sacrifice of himself if I repent and amend shall cleanse me from all sin but if I continue in my disobedience shall avail me nothing and to give my self up to his Instruction as a Prophet learning from him all the particulars of the Divine Will that are necessary to make me wise to Salvation and perfect unto every good Work But how often have I broken that Covenant rebell'd against this my Sovereign made my self unworthy of the blessing of this my High Priest and cast all his Laws behind my back Before my Repentance my bosom was a Den of Thieves and a Cage of unclean Birds but now it is cleansed and I am become a new Creature now know I that I am the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in me but if any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple I am There is a particular Veneration paid to the places where Princes usually entertain themselves and every House where any of the Blood-Royal of Persia is born is afterward converted to a Sanctuary and whereever any of their Princes lodges in a Journey the place is reputed for the future sacred and ought not the place where my God takes up his Habitation to be for the same reason separate from profane and common uses And if some of the School-Doctors who assert Transubstantiation tell us that as soon as the consecrated Host grows mouldy the Body of God retires from it and it is again changed into its old substance of bread can I think that God will pitch his Tents in a polluted Soul infected with the Leprosie of Vice I do therefore resolve and it shall from henceforward be the employment of my time and my strength so to live in thy fear and to thy service that I may dye in thy favour and rest in thy Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. § 31. At the end of this Meditation this Collect is fitly subjoined BLessed and most bountiful Saviour as thou hast honoured me and made me happy this day so vouchsafe me the same measures of Grace the same ardors of Mind and the same holy opportunities all the days of my Life fix my thoughts upon the things of Heaven strengthen and inflame my love to my dying Saviour increase and support my Faith confirm and secure my Hopes and give me frequent occasions to exercise all the other Virtues of my Christian Calling and as thou hast filled my soul with the most ravishing and transporting pleasures so make me for ever careful that I neither quench thy Blessed Spirit nor stifle its Motions but that I may improve all the seasons of Mercy and all the tendries of Grace to the best ends and purposes to the advancement of thy Glory and my own Salvation through thy Merits and Mediation who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen § 32. After this the devout man is all Rapture and all Joy and cannot forbear praising God afresh for all his spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in this or the like Hymn O God my heart is ready my heart is ready I will sing and give praise with the best Member that I have I will give thanks unto thee O Lord among the people and I will sing praises unto thee among the Nations For thy mercy is greater than the Heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the Clouds Through God shall we do great acts and it is he that shall tread down our enemies Truly God is loving unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart Oh how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts my soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoice in