himself, the seed of immortality, and the antepast of heaven; and hasten earlier out of your bed. The cock crowing that morning, is like the noise that is made of the coming of the bridegroom, and therefore go out to meet him; but rise that you may trim your lamp. When you are up, presently address yourself to do such things, as you would willingly be found doing, when the bridegroom calls, and you are to appear before him, to hear your final sentence. 2. Make a general confession of your sins, and be very much humbled in the sense and apprehension of them. Compare the state and union of all your evils, with the state and grandeur of that favour, which God intends that day to consign to you; and then think what you are, and what God is; what you have done, and what God intends to do; how ill you have deserved, and yet how graciously you are dealt with. And consider what an infinite distance there is between that state which you have deserved, and that good which you are to have; by considering how intolerable your case would have been, if God had dealt with you as you deserve, and as he hath dealt with very many, who sinned no more than you have done; and yet in what felicities you are placed by the mercies of your good God; that you are in hopes, and in the methods, and in the participations, of par don and eternal life. 3. The effect of this consideration ought to be, that you make acts of general contrition, for all your sins known and unknown. That you renew your purposes and vows of better obedience that you exercise acts of special graces; and that you give God most hearty and super-exalted thanks, with all the transports and ravishments of spirit, for so unspeakable, so unmeritable, so unrewardable a loving-kindness. i 4. Worship Jesus: love him; dedicate thyself to him: recollect what he hath done for thy soul, what glories he laid aside, with what meanness he was invested, what pains he suffered, what shame he endured, what excellencies he preached, what wisdom he taught, what life he lived, what death he died, what mysteries he hath appointed, by what ministries he conveys himself to thee, what rare arts he uses to save thee, and after all, that he intercedes for thee perpetually in heaven, presenting to his heavenly Father that great sacrifice of himself, which he finished on the cross, and commands thee to imitate in this divine and mysterious sacrament; and in the midst of these thoughts, add proportionable exercises and devotions, address thyself to the solemnities and blessings of the day. 5. Throw away, with great diligence and severity, all unholy and all earthly thoughts; and think the thoughts of heaven: for when Christ descends, he comes attended with innumerable companies of angels, who all behold and wonder, who love and worship Jesus; and in this glorious employment and society, let thy thoughts be pure, and thy mind celestial, and thy work angelical, and thy spirit full of love,— and thy heart, of wonder; thy mouth all praises, investing and encircling thy prayers, as a bright cloud is adorned with fringes and margins of light. 6. When thou seest the holy man minister, dispute no more, inquire no more, doubt no more, be divided no more; but believe, and behold with the eyes of faith and of the spirit, that thou seest Christ's body broken upon the cross, that thou seest him bleeding for thy sins, that thou feedest upon the food of elect souls, that thou puttest thy mouth to the hole of the rock that was smitten, to the wound of the side of the Lord, which being pierced, streamed forth sacraments, and life, and holiness, and pardon, and purity, and immortality, upon thee. 7. When the words of institution are pronounced, all the Christians used to say 'Amen;' giving their consent, confessing that faith, believing that word, rejoicing in that mystery which is told us, when the minister of the sacrament, in the person of Christ, says, "This is my body, this is my blood; this body was broken for you, and this blood was poured forth for you; and all this for the remission of your sins." And remember, that the guilt of eternal damnation, which we have all incurred, was a great and an intolerable evil,- and unavoidable, if such miracles of mercy had not been wrought to take it quite away: and that it was a very great love, which would work such d S. Cyprian. de cœna Dom. ' sanguinem sugimus,' &c. a glorious mercy, rather than leave us in so intolerable a condition. A greater love than this could not be; and a less love than this could not have rescued us. 8. When the holy man reacheth forth his hands upon the symbols, and prays over them, and intercedes for the sins of the people, and breaks the holy bread, and pours forth the sacred chalice, place thyself, by faith and meditation, in heaven, and see Christ doing, in his glorious manner, this very thing which thou seest ministered and imitated upon the table of the Lord; and then remember, that it is impossible thou shouldest miss of eternal blessings, which are so powerfully procured for thee by the Lord himself; unless thou wilt despise all this, and neglect so great salvation, and choosest to eat, with swine, the dirty pleasures of the earth, rather than thus to feast with saints and angels, and to eat the body of thy Lord, with a clean heart and humble affections. 9. When the consecrating and ministering hand reaches forth to thee the holy symbols, say within thy heart, as did the centurion, Lord, I am not worthy;' but entertain thy Lord as the women did the news of the resurrection, "with fear and great joy;" or, as the apostles, "with rejoicing and singleness of heart";" that is, clear, certain, and plain believing, and with exaltation and delight in the lovingkindness of the Lord. 10. But place thyself upon thy knees, in the humblest and the devoutest posture of worshippers, and think not much in the lowest manner to worship the King of men and angels, the Lord of heaven and earth, the great Lover of souls, and the Saviour of the body; Him whom all the angels of God worship; Him whom thou confessest worthy of all, and whom all the world shall adore, and before whom they shall tremble at the day of judgment. For if Christ be f Illud quæso, vir sapientissime, ipsa re approbes; quis sit iste Deus, quem vobis Christiani quasi proprium vendicatis, et in locis abditis præsertim vos videre componitis? dixit Maximus Medaurensis in epist. ad S. Augustinum, tom. ii. epist. 43. post medium. 6. Μετὰ φόβου καὶ χαρᾶς μεγάλης. Matt. xxviii. 8. h Acts, ii. 46. Atque illud etiam scire cupio, quo consilio, aut quâ mente feceris in epulo, ut Q. Arrii familiaris mei, cum togâ pullâ accumberes ? quis unquam cœnavit atratus? Cicer. in Vatin. c. 12. —Qui potui (dixit Aaron) cum tristis fuerim, offerre sacrificium? not there after a peculiar manner, whom, or whose body do we receive? But if he be present to us, not in mystery only, but in blessing also, why do we not worship? But all the Christians always did so from time immemorial. "No man eats this flesh, unless he first adores," said St. Austin'. "For the wise men, and the barbarians, did worship this body in the manger with very much fear and reverence: let us, therefore, who are citizens of heaven, at least not fall short of the barbarians. But thou seest him not in the manger, but on the altar; and thou beholdest him not in the Virgin's arms, but represented by the priest, and brought to thee in sacrifice by the Holy Spirit of God." So St. Chrysostom argues; and accordingly this reverence is practised by the churches of the east, and west, and south, by the Christians of Indiak; by all the Greeks, as appears in their answer' to the cardinal of Guise; by all the Lutheran churches; by all the world, says Erasmus"; only now of late, some have excepted themselves. But the church of England chooses to follow the person and piety of the thing itself, the example of the primitive church, and the consenting voice of Christendom. "And if it be irreverent to sit in the sight, and before the face, of him whom you ought to revere; how much more in the presence of the living God, where the angel, the president of prayer, does stand, must it needs be a most irreligious thing to sit, unless we shall upbraid to God, that our prayers to him have wearied us?" It is the argument of Tertullian".-To which many of the fathers add many other fair inducements, but I think they cannot be necessary to be produced here; because all Christians generally kneel, when they say their prayers, and when they bless God; and I suppose no man communicates, but he does both; and, therefore, needs no other inducement to persuade him to kneel: especially since Christ himself, and i In Psalm xcix. Vide etiam S. Ambros. Carnem Christi in mysteriis adoramus. De Spir, S. lib. iii. cap. 12. — S. Bernard. de cœna Domini ad Petrum presbyterum. Johannes Petrus Maffeus, Hist. Ind. Orient. lib. ii. circa med. 1 Resp. ad Quest. 6. Vide Erasm. lib. ix. epist. ad Pellicanum, cujus initium 'Evangelii vigor." " Lib. de Orat. • Ante focos olim scamnis considere longis Mos erat; et mensæ credere adesse Deos. Ovid. Fast. vi. 305. Gierig, pag. 358. St. Stephen, and the apostle St. Paul, used that posture in their devotions, that or lower; for St. Paul kneeled upon the shore; and our Lord himself fell prostrate on the earth. But to them that refuse, I shall only use the words of Scripture, which the fathers of the council of Turon applied to this particular: "Why art thou proud, O dust and ashes?" And when Christ opens his heart, and gives us all that we need or can desire; it looks like an ill return, if we shall dispute with him concerning the humility of a gesture and a cir cumstance. 11. When thou dost receive thy Lord, do thou also receive thy brother into thy heart, and into thy bowels. Thy Lord relieves thee, do thou relieve him; and never communicate, but be sure to give thy alms for one part of thy offering. St. Cyprian does, with some vehemency, upbraid some wealthy persons in his time, who came to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and neglected the corban,' or the ministering to the saints. Remember, that, by mercy to the poor, the sentence of dooms-day shall be declared; because what we do to them, we do to Christ: and who would not relieve Christ, who hath made himself poor, to make us rich? and what time is so seasonable to feed the members of Christ, as that, when he gives his body to feed us, and that, when his members are met together to confess, to celebrate, to remember, and to be joined in their Head, and to one another? In short, the church always hath used at that time to be liberal to her poor; and that being so seasonable and blessed an opportunity, and of itself also a proper act of worship and sacrifice, of religion and homage, of thankfulness and charity, it ought not to be omitted; and it can have no measure, but that of your love, and of your power, and the other accidents of your life and your religion. 12. As soon as ever you have taken the holy elements into your mouth and stomach, remember that you have taken Christ into you, after a manner indeed which you do not understand, but to all purposes of blessing and holiness, if you have taken him at all. And now consider, that he who hath given you his Son, with him will give you all things else. Therefore, represent to God, through Jesus Christ, all your needs, and the needs of your relatives: signify to him the condition of your soul; complain of your infirmities; pray |