"secrets, must first look into his own; he must 66 pare off whatsoever is amiss, and not with"out holiness approach to the holiest of all

holies, not eat of this sacrifice with a defiled head, nor come to this feast without a nup"tial garment, nor take this remedy without just preparative. For though in the first "motions of our spiritual life, Christ comes "alone and offers his grace, and enlivens us

by his spirit, and makes us begin to live, "because he is good, not because we are, "yet this great mysterious feast, and maga"zine of grace and glorious mercies, is for "those only who are worthy; for such only "who by their co-operation with the grace of

God, are fellow-workers with God in the "laboratories of salvation.

"The wrestler that Clemens of Alexandria "tells us of, addressing himself to his con"tention, and espying the statue of Jupiter "Pisæus, prayed aloud: If all things, O

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Jupiter, are rightly prepared on my part; "if I have done all that I could do, then do "me justice, and give me the victory.' And "this is a breviate of our case. . He that "runneth in races,' saith the Apostle, he "that contends for the mastery, is tempe

**rate in all things;' and this at least must he "be that comes to find Christ in these myste"ries; he must be prepared by the rules and "method of the sanctuary: there is very "much to be done on his part, there is an heap of duties, there is a state of excellency, there are preparations solemn and "less solemn, ordinary and extraordinary, "which must be premised before we can re"ceive the mysterious blessings, which are "here not only consigned, but collated and promoted, confirmed, and perfected.

"The holy Communion, or Supper of the Lord, is the most sacred, mysterious, and "useful conjugation of secret and holy things "and duties in the Christian religion. It is "not easy to be understood, it is not lightly "to be received: it is not much opened in "the writings of the New Testament, but "still left in its mysterious nature: it is too "much untwisted and nicely handled by the "writings of the Doctors, and by them made "more mysterious; and like a doctrine of

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philosophy made intricate by explications, "and difficult by the aperture and dissolu❝tion of distinctions. So we sometimes espy "a bright cloud formed into an irregular

figure; which, it is observed by unskilful "and fantastic travellers, looks like a centaur "to some, and as a castle to others: some "tell that they saw an army with banners, "and it signifies war; but another wiser than "his fellows, says, it looks for all the world. "like a flock of sheep, and foretels plenty;

and all the while it is nothing but a shining "cloud, by its own mobility and the activity "of a wind cast into a contingent and inar"tificial shape: so it is in this great mystery "of our religion, in which some espy strange things which God intended not, and others see not what God hath plainly told.”

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Such is the language in which he introduces this subject; and he pursues it with a clearness of method and depth of learning, a richness of expression and warmth of piety, by few writers surpassed. Though he has endeavoured to set the mystery of the Sacrament in as clear a light as he was able; yet he has lapsed into some illustrations, which are unnecessary and offensive. They comprehend tales of the religious, which may possibly be untrue; and which, if authentic, prove

e Worthy Communicant, p. 3.

nothing to his purpose. But although these are no addition to the force of his reasoning, they are no detraction from it; and may with propriety be placed to the taste of the age in which he lived, and to the examples of this kind which were presented to his view in the writings of the Fathers. The mind is seldom detained by sentences of this description: they are as the cloud passing rapidly before the sun. In the next passage it is relieved from dissatisfaction, and the subject returns upon it with that combination of energy and sweetness, which the writer so eminently possessed. This is well exemplified in the succeeding section; where reducing his observations to practice, he says, "Let no man be "less confident in his holy faith and persua"sion concerning the greatest blessings and

glorious effects which God designs to every "faithful and obedient soul in the communi"cation of these divine mysteries, by reason "of any difference of judgment which is in "the several schools of Christians concerning "the effects and consequent blessings of this "sacrament. For all men speak honourable things of it, except wicked persons, and "the scorners of religion: and though .of "several persons like the beholders of a dove

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"walking in the sun, as they stand in several aspects and distances, some see red, and "others purple, and yet some perceive nothing "but green, but all allow and love the beau"ties: so do the several forms of Christians, "according as they are instructed by their "first teachers, or their own experience con"ducted by their fancy and proper principles, "look upon these glorious mysteries, some as

virtually containing the reward of obedience, "some as solemnities of thanksgiving and "records of blessings, some as the objective "increases of faith, others as the sacramental

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participations of Christ, others as the acts "and instruments of natural union; yet all "affirm some great things or other of it, and by their differences confess the immensity "and the glory.""

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He then pursues the subject through the several branches of examination, faith, charity, and repentance; resolving, in his progress, many casuistical questions of primary importance to all Christians and particularly to those who minister in holy things. And he employs the remaining chapters upon the

f Worthy Communicant, p. 64.