AN ACT OF FORGIVENESS TO BE SAID WITH ALL EARNESTNESS AND SINCERITY BEFORE EVERY COMMUNION. O God, my God, I have sinned grievously against Thee: I am Thy debtor in a vast and an eternal debt, and if Thou shouldest take the forfeiture, I shall be for ever bound in eternal prisons, even till I pay the utmost farthing: but I hope in Thy mercies that Thou wilt forgive me my ten thousand talents; and I also do in Thy presence forgive every one that hath offended me; whoever hath taken my goods privately and injuriously, or hurt my person, or contrived any evil against me whether known or unknown; whoever hath lessened my reputation, detracted from my best endeavours, or hath slandered me or reproached, reviled, or in any word or way done me injury; I do from the bottom of my soul forgive him; praying Thee also that Thou wilt never impute to him any word or thought or action done against me; but forgive him as I desire Thou wouldest also forgive me all that I have sinned against Thee, or any man in the world. Give him Thy grace, and a holy repentance for whatever he hath done amiss; grant he may do so no more: keep me from the evil tongues and injurious actions of all men, and keep all my enemies from all the expresses of Thy wrath: and let Thy grace prevail finally upon Thy servant, that I may never remember any injury to the prejudice of any man, but that I may walk towards my enemies as Christ did; who received much evil, but went about seeking to do good to every man; and if ever it shall be in my power and my opportunity to return evil, O then grant that the Spirit of love and forgiveness may triumph over all anger, and malice, and revenge; that I may be the son of God, and may love God, and prove my love to Thee by my love to my brother, and by obedience to all Thy laws, through the Son of Thy love, by whom Thou art reconciled to mankind, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus. Amen. VERS.-Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers, neither take Thou vengeance of our sins. RESP. Spare us good Lord, spare Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Amen. CHAPTER V. OF REPENTANCE PREPARATORY TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. SECTION I. WHEN Isaac and Abimelech had made a covenant of peace and mutual agreement, they would not confirm it by a sacramental oath till the next morning; that they might swear fasting, for the reverence and religious regard of the solemn oath, saith Lyra'. But Philo says they did it symbolically, to represent that purity and cleanness of soul which he that swears to God, or comes to pay his vows, ought to preserve with great religion. He that in a religious and solemn address comes to God, ought to consider whether his body be free from uncleanness and his soul from vile affections." He that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is justified let him. be justified" yet more, saith the Spirit of God; and then it follows, "He that thirsts, let him come and drink of the living waters freely and without money:" meaning, that when our affections to sin are gone, when our hearts are clean, then we may freely partake of the feast of the supper of the Lamb. For as in natural forms, the more noble they are, the more noble dispositions are required to their production: so it is in the spiritual: for when Christ is to be efformed in us, when we are to become the sons of God, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, we must be washed in water, and purified by faith, and sanctified by the Spirit, and cleansed by an excellent repentance; we must be confirmed by a holy hope, and softened by charity. So God hath ordered in the excellent fabric of human bodies. First our meat is prepared by fire, then macerated by the teeth, then digested in the stomach; where the first separation is made of the good from the bad, the wholesome juices from the more earthy parts: these being sent down to earth, the other are conveyed to the liver, where the matter is separated again, and the good is turned into blood, and the better into spirits, and thence the body is supplied with blood; and the spirits repair unto the heart and head that thence they may be sent on embassies for the ministries of the body, and for the work of understanding. So it is in the dispensation of the affairs of the soul. The ear which is the mouth of the soul, receives all meat, and the senses entertain the fuel for all passions, and all interests of virtue and vice. But the understanding makes the first separation, dividing the clean from the unclean but when the Spirit of God comes and purifies even the separate matter, making that which is morally good to be spiritual and holy, first cleansing us from the sensualities of flesh and blood, and then from spiritual iniquities that usually debauch the soul, then the holy nourishment which we receive passes into divine excellencies. But if sensuality be in the palate, and intemperance in the stomach; if lust be in the liver and anger in the heart, it corrupts the holy food, and makes that to be a savour of death which was intended for health and holy blessings. : But therefore when we have lived in the corrupted air of evil company, and have sucked in the vile juices of coloquintida and the deadly henbane, when that is within the heart which defiles the man, the soul must be purged by repentance; it must be washed by tears and purified by penitential sorrow. For he that comes to this holy feast with an unrepenting heart, is like the flies in the temple upon the day of sacrifice; the little insect is very busy about the flesh of the slain beasts, she flies to every corner of the temple, and she tastes the flesh before the portion is laid before the god but when the nidour and the delicacy hath called such an unwelcome guest, she corrupts the sacrifice, and therefore dies at the altar, or is driven away by the officious priest. So is an unworthy communicant; he comes it may be with passion and an earnest zeal, he hopes to be fed, and he hopes to be made immortal; he thinks he does a holy action, and shall receive a holy blessing: but what is his portion? 'It is a glorious thing to be feasted at the table of God; glorious to him that is invited and prepared, but not to him that is unprepared, hateful and impenitent". But it is an easy thing to say that a man must repent before he communicates; so he must before he prays, before he dies, before he goes a journey. The whole life of a man is to be a continual repentance; but if so, then what particular is that which is required before we receive the holy communion? For if it be an universal duty, of infinite extent, of unlimited comprehension; then every Christian must always be doing some of the offices of repentance: but then which are the peculiar parts and offices of this grace which have any special and immediate relation to this solemnity? For if there be none, the sermons of repentance are nothing but the general doctrine of good life, but of no special efficacy in our preparation. The answer to this will explicate the intricacy, and establish the measures, of our duty in this proper relation, in order to this ministry. с Exta prægusto deum, Moror inter aras, templa perlustro omnia.-[Phædr., lib. iv. fab. 23.] d Est gloriosus sane convictus deum, Sed illi qui invitatur, non qui invisus est.-[Phædr. ibid.] See the Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, chap. 1. and 2. SECTION II. THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE IN ORDER TO THE HOLY SACRAMENT. THE holy sacrament of the Lord's supper does not produce its intended effect upon an unprepared subject. He that gives his body to that which is against the spirit, and his spirit to the affections of the body, cannot receive the body of Christ in a spiritual mannerf. He that receives Christ, must in great truth be a servant of Christ. "It is not lawful," saith Justin Martyrs, "for any one to receive the holy eucharistical bread and to drink of the sacred calice, but to him that believes, and to him that lives according to Christ's commandment." For as S. Paul argues of the infinite undecency of fornication, because it is a making the members of Christ to become the members of an harlot; upon the same account it is infinitely impossible that any such polluted persons should become the members of Christ to the intents of blessing and the Spirit. How can Christ's body be communicated to them who are one flesh with a harlot? And so it is in all other sins; "We cannot partake of the Lord's table, and the table of devils." A wicked person and a communicant are of contrary interests, of differing relations, designed to divers ends, fitted with other dispositions; they work not by the same principles, are not weighed in the same balance, nor meted by like measures: and therefore they that come must be innocent or return to innocence; that is, they must repent, or be such persons as need no repentance: and S. Ambrose gives this account of the practice of the church in this affair, "This is the order1 of this mystery which is every where observed, that first by the pardon of our sins our souls be healed, and the wounds cured with the medicine of repentance, and then that our souls be plentifully nourished by this holy sacrament." And to this purpose he expounds the parable of the prodigal son, saying that "no man ought to come to this sacrament unless he have the wedding ring and the wedding garment;" unless he have received the seal of the Spirit, and is clothed with white garments, the righteousness and justification of the saints. And to the same purpose it is, that S. Cyprian' complains of some in his Non per id quod recte foris oblatum est sacrificium ad se ducit [al. seducit] Deum, intus habens peccatum.-Iren., 1. iv. c. 23. [leg. 34. al. 18. § 3. p. 250.] Δεινὸν ἂν εἴη εἰ πρὸς τὰ δῶρα καὶ τὰς h Non bene inæquales veniunt ad aratra Ubique mysterii ordo servatur, ut prius per remissionem peccatorum vulneribus medicina tribuatur, postea alimonia mensæ cœlestis exuberet.-Lib. vi. in Luc. c. 37. [al. 71.-tom. i. col. 1400.] Nemo huc accedere debet nisi qui signaculum justitiæ custodierit, aut rece θυσίας ἀποβλέπουσιν ἡμῶν οἱ θεοὶ, ἀλλὰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ψυχὴν, ἄν τις ὅσιος καὶ δίκαιος ὢν τυγχάνῃ.-Plato. [Alcib. ii. tom. iii. p. 123.] Just. Mart. apol. ii. [al. i. § 66. p. 83.] juvenci.—[vid. Ovid., heroid. ix. 29.] perit. [Vid.] lib. vii. c. 66. [al. § 232.— tom. i. col. 1467.] 1 Lib. iii. epist. 14. [al. ep. xvi. p. 37.] Nondum pœnitentia acta, nondum facta exomologesi, nondum manu eis ab episcopo et clero imposita, eucharistia eis datur. church, who not having repented, not being put under discipline by the bishop and the clergy, yet had the sacrament ministered to them: against whom he presses the severe words of S. Paulm, "He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself;" that is, he that repents not of his sins before he comes to the holy sacrament, comes before he is prepared, and therefore before he should: and S. Basil" hath a whole chapter on purpose to prove that it is not safe for any man that is not purged from all pollution of flesh and spirit to eat the body of the Lord;' and that is the title of the chapter. The wicked think to appease God with rivers of oil, and hecatombs of oxen, and with flocks of sheep: they think by the ceremony and the gift to make peace with God; to get pardon for their sin, and to make way for more: but they lose their labour,' says the comedy, and throw away their cost: because God accepts no breakers of their vows; He loves no man's sacrifice, that does not truly love His service. 'What if you empty all the Mævanian valleys, and drive the fat lambs in flocks unto the altars? what if you sacrifice a herd of white bulls from Clitumnus? One sacrifice of a troubled spirit, one offering of a broken heart is a better oblation than all the wealth which the fields of the wicked can produce.' "God by the forms and rites of sacrifice teaches us how to come to the altars, whether for prayer or eucharist; we must be sure to bring no evil passion, no spiritual disease along with us," saith Philo'. The sacrament of the Lord's supper is the christian sacrifice, and though the Lamb of God is represented in a pure oblation, yet we must bring something of our own our lusts must be crucified, our passions brought in fetters, bound in chains, and laid down at the foot of the throne of God. We must use our sins as the ass's first colt was to be used among the [1 Cor. xi. 28.] Lib. ii. de bapt. c. 3. [tom. ii. p. 654.] • Quid juvat hoc, templis nostros immittere mores, P Atque hoc scelesti in animum inducunt suum, Et operam et sumptum perduunt; id eo fit Quia nihil ei acceptum est a perjuris supplicii. [Plaut. prolog. in Rud., lin. 23.] qua nunc tibi pauper acerra • Βούλεται αὐτοὺς ἀναδιδάξαι, διὰ συμβόλων, ὅποτε προέρχοιντο εἰς βωμοὺς, ἢ εὐξόμενοι, ἢ εὐχαριστήσοντες, μηδὲν ἀρ δώστημα ἢ πάθος ἐπιφέρεσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ. Philo. [p. 65 supra.] Quin horres, vererisque talia committere, et altaria frequentare? Quomodo immaculata sacrorum mysteria audes at Statius. [sylv. i. 4. 127.] tingere? Hortor itaque te .. ut vel committere hujusmodi desinas, vel a venerandis altaris sacrificiis abstineas, ne quando ignem de caelo capiti accersens tuo, turpe meritas pœnas, ut optasti, luas. -Sic Zosimum presbyterum arguit S. Isidorus Pelusiota, lib. v. ep. 12. [p. 556.] |