Imatges de pàgina
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them, what shall become of me? The stars fell from heaven and what can I presume, who am but dust and ashes? They whose life hath seemed holy, are fallen into an evil portion; and, after they have eaten the bread of angels, they have been delighted with carob-nuts, with husks and draff of swine.

III.

There is no holiness, O God, if thou withdrawest thy hand; no wisdom profits, if thy government does cease. No courage can abide, no chastity can remain pure; no watchfulness keep us safe, unless thou dost continue to strengthen us, to purify us, to make us stand. When thou leavest us, we drown and perish; when thy grace and mercy visits us, we are lifted up and stand upright. We are unstable, and unsecure, unless we be confirmed by thee: but we seek to thee for thy help; and yet depart from the ways of thy commandments.

IV.

O how meanly and contemptibly do I deserve to be thought of! how little and inconsiderable is the good which I do! and how vast, how innumerable, how intolerable, are the evils which I have done! I submit, O God, I submit to the abysses of thy righteous and unsearchable judgment; for I have been searching for a little, some little, good in me; but I find nothing. Much indeed of good I have received; but I have abused it: thou hast given me thy grace; but I have turned it into wantonness; thou hast enabled me to serve thee; but I have served myself; but never but when I was thy enemy: so that, in me,' that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.'

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V.

I am a deep abyss, O God, of folly and calamity; I have been searching my heart, and can find no good thing; I have been searching, and I cannot find out all the evil. Thou didst create in me a hope of glory, but I have lost my confidence: and men have sometimes spoken good things of me, but I know not where they are: and who shall raise me up, when I fall down before thy face in thy eternal judgment?

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VI.

I will no more desire, I will no more suffer, I will no more

seek, I will no more be moved by, the praises of men; for behold, they speak, but they know nothing: thou art silent, but thou knowest all things, and I increase the number of my sins. What shall I do, O thou preserver of men! I will lay my face in the dust, and confess myself to be nothing.

VII.

Pity my shame, O God; bind up my wounds; lift me up from the dust; raise me up from this nothing; and make me something; what thou wilt, what thou wilt delight in. Take away the partition wall, the hindrance, the sin that so easily besets me; and bring me unto Jesus, to my sweetest Saviour Jesus; unite me unto him; and then, although in myself I am nothing, yet in him I shall be what I ought to be, and what thou canst not choose but love. Amen, Amen.

A Prayer for holy and fervent Desires of Religion, and particularly of the blessed Sacrament.

O MOST blessed, most glorious Lord and Saviour Jesus; thou that waterest the furrows of the earth, and refreshest her weariness, and makest it very plenteous, behold, O God, my desert, and unfruitful soul; I have already a parched ground, give me a land of rivers of waters; my soul is dry, but not thirsty; it hath no water, nor it desires none; I have been like a dead man to all the desires of heaven. I am earnest and concerned in the things of the world; but very indifferent, or rather not well enduring the severities and excellencies of religion. I have not been greedy of thy word, or longed for thy sacraments. The worst of thy followers came running after thee for loaves, though they cared not for the miracle; but thou offerest me loaves and miracles together, and I have cared for neither. Thou offerest me thyself, and all thy infinite sweetnesses; I have needed even the compulsion of laws to drive me to thee; and then indeed I lost the sweetness of thy presence, and reaped no fruit. These things, O God, are not well; they are infinitely amiss. But thou that providest meat, thou also givest appetite; for the desire and the meat, the necessity and the relief, are all from thee.

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II.

Be pleased, therefore, O my dearest Lord, to create in thy servant a great hunger and thirst after the things of thy kingdom and the righteousness of it, all thy holy graces, and all the holy ministries of grace; that I may long for the bread of heaven, thirst after the fountain of salvation, and, as the hart panteth after the brooks of water, so my soul may desire thee, O Lord. O kindle such a holy flame in my soul, that it may consume all that is before me; that it may be meat and drink to me to do thy will.

III.

Grant, O blessed Jesus, that I may omit no opportunity of serving thee, of conversing with thee, of receiving thee; let me not rest in the least and lowest measures of necessity, but pass on to the excellencies of love, and the transportations of an excellent religion, that there may remain in me no appetite for any thing but what thou lovest; that I may have no satisfaction but in a holy conscience, no pleasure but in religion, no joy but in God; and, with sincerity and zeal, heartiness and ingenuity, I may follow after righteousness, and the things that belong unto my peace, until I shall arrive in the land of eternal peace and praises, where thou livest and reignest for ever, world without end. Amen.

CHAPTER III.

OF FAITH, AS IT IS A NECESSARY DISPOSITION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT..

EXAMINATION of ourselves is an inquiry, whether we have those dispositions, which are necessary to a worthy communion. Our next inquiry is after the dispositions themselves, what they ought to be, and what they ought to effect; that we may really be that, which we desire to be found, when we are examined. I have yet only described the ways of examining; now I am to set down those things, whereby we can be approved, and, without which, we can never approach to these divine mysteries with worthiness, or depart with joy. These are three; 1. Faith, 2. Charity, 3. Repentance.

SECTION I.

Of Catechumens, or unbaptized Persons.

THE blessed sacrament, before him that hath no faith, is like messes of meat set upon the graves of the dead*; they smell not that nidour, which quickens the hungry belly; they feel not the warmth, and taste not the juice; for these are provided for them that are alive, and the dead have no portion in them. This is the first great line of introduction, and necessary to be examined: we have the rule from the apostles; "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves. Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" As if he had said, ' Ye are reprobates; and Jesus Christ shall never dwell in you, except by faith; without this, you can never receive him; and, therefore, examine strictly yourselves concerning your faith.'

But the necessity of this preparation by faith hath a double sense, and a proportionable necessity. 1. It means, that no unbaptized person can come to the holy communion. 2. It means that those that are baptized, have an actual and an operative faith, properly relative to these divine mysteries, and really effective of all the works of faith. Of this we have the most ancient and indubitable records of the primi tive church: for in the apology, which Justin Martyr® made for the Christians, he gives this account of the manner of dispensing the holy eucharist: "it is lawful for none to participate of this eucharistical bread and wine, but to him who believes those things to be true which are taught by us, and to him that is washed in the laver of regeneration, which is to the remission of sins, and who lives as Christ hath com

b2 Cor. xiii. 5.

* Te sine dulce nihil, Domine,

Nec juvat ore quid appetere,
Pocula ni prius atque cibos,
Christe, tuus favor imbuerit,
Omnes sanctificante fide.

Prudentius, hymno 3. ante cibum.

• Οὐδενὶ δούλῳ μετασχεῖν ἔξόν ἐστι ἢ τῷ πιστεύοντι ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὰ δεδιδαγμένα ὑφ' ἡμῶν, καὶ λουσαμένῳ ὑπὲς ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ εἰς ἀναγεννήσεως λουτρὸν, καὶ οὕτως βιοῦντι ὡς ὁ Χριστὸς παρέδωκεν,

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manded."—" Shut the profane and the unhallowed people out of doors," so Orpheus sang. None comes to this holy feast but they whose sins are cleansed in baptism, who are sanctified in those holy waters of regeneration, who have obedient souls, ears attentive to the sermons of the Gospel, and hearts open to the words of Christ. These are they who see; by a brighter light, and walk in the warmth of a more refreshing sun; they live in a better air, and are irradiated with a purer beam, the glories of the Sun of Righteousness; and they only are to eat the precious food of the sacrificed Lamb: for, by baptism, we are admitted to the spiritual, life; and, by the holy communion, we nourish and preserve it.

But although baptism be always necessary, yet alone it is not a sufficient qualification to the holy communion, but there must be an actual faith also in every communicant. Neither faith alone, nor baptism alone, can suffice; but it must be the actual faith of baptized persons, which disposes us to this sacred feast; for the church gives the communion neither to catechumens, nor to infants, nor to madmen, nor to natural fools.

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Catechumens not admitted to the Holy Communion.

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Of this, besides the testimony of Justin Martyr, St. Cyril of Alexandria gives this full account: "We refuse to give the sacraments to catechumens, although they already know the truth, and, with a loud voice, confess the faith of Christ; because they are not yet enriched with the Holy Ghost, who dwells in them, who are consummated and perfected by baptism. But when they have been baptized, because it is believed, that the Holy Ghost does dwell within them, they are not prohibited from the contact and communion of the body of Christ. And, therefore, to them, who come to the mystical benediction, the ministers of the mystery cry with a loud voice, Sancta sanctis,' Let holy things be given to sanctified persons,' signifying, that the contact and sanctification of Christ's body does agree with them only, who, in

4 Θύρας δ ̓ ἐπίθεσθε βεβήλοις.

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Solis fervor alit, ventosaque pabula libat.

Idyl. 1. Claud. Gesner, vol. II. p. 635.

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