and preparatory prayers. For if ever it be reasonable to observe the counsel of St. Paul, that married persons by consent should abstain for a time, that they may attend to solemn religion, it is now. It was not by St. Paul, nor the after-ages of the church, called a duty so to do, but it is most reasonable that the more solemn actions of religion should be attended to without the mixture of any thing that may discompose the mind, and make it more secular or less religious.

10. In the act of receiving, exercise acts of faith with much confidence and resignation, believing it not to be common bread and wine, but holy in their use, holy in their signification, holy in their change, and holy in their effect: and believe, if thou art a worthy communicant, thou dost as verily receive Christ's body and blood to all effects and purposes of the Spirit, as thou dost receive the blessed elements into thy mouth, that thou puttest thy finger to his hand, and thy hand into his side, and thy lips to his fontinel of blood, sucking life from his heart *: and yet if thou dost communicate unworthily, thou eatest and drinkest Christ to thy danger and death, and destruction. Dispute not concerning the secret of the mystery, and the nicety of the manner of Christ's presence it is sufficient to thee that Christ shall be present to thy soul, as an instrument of grace, as a pledge of the resurrection, as the earnest of glory and immortality, and a means of many intermedial bless

* Cruci hæremus, sanguinem sugimus, et inter ipsa Redemptoris nostri Vulnera figimus linguam. Cyprian. de Coena Dom..

ings, even all such as are necessary for thee, and are in order to thy salvation. And to make all this good to thee, there is nothing necessary on thy part but a holy life, and a true belief of all the sayings of Christ; amongst which, indefinitely assent to the words of institution, and believe that Christ in the holy sacrament gives thee his body and his blood. He that believes not this is not a Christian. He that believes so much needs not to inquire further, nor to entangle his faith by disbelieving his sense.

11. Fail not at this solemnity, according to the custom of pious and devout people, to make an offering unto God for uses of religion and the poor, according to thy ability. For when Christ feasts his body, let us also feast our fellow members who have right to the same promises, and are partakers of the same sacrament, and partners of the same hope, and cared for under the same providence, and descend from the same common parents, and whose father God is, and Christ is their elder brother. If thou chancest to communicate where this holy custom is not observed publicly, supply that want by thy private charity; but offer it to God at his holy table, at least by thy private designing it there.

12. When you have received, pray and give thanks: pray for all estates of men, for they also have an interest in the body of Christ, whereof they are members: and you in conjunction with Christ (whom then you have received) are more fit to pray for them in that advantage, and in the celebration of that holy sacrifice which then is sacramentally presented to

God. Give thanks for the passion of our dearest
Lord: remember all its parts, and all the instruments

of

your redemption: and beg of God, that by a holy perseverance in well-doing, you may from shadows pass on to substances, from eating his body, to seeing his face, from the typical, sacramental, and transient, to the real, and eternal supper of the Lamb.

13. After the solemnity is done, let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith, and love, and obedience, and conformity to his life and death: as you have taken Christ into you, so put Christ on you, and conform every faculty of your soul and body to his holy image and perfection. Remember that now Christ is all one with you; and therefore when you are to do an action, consider how Christ did or would do the like, and do you imitate his example, and transcribe his copy, and understand all his commandments, and choose all that he propounded, and desire his promises, and fear his threatenings, and marry his loves and hatreds, and contract his friendship: for then you do every day communicate; especially when Christ thus dwells in you, and you in Christ, growing up towards a perfect man in Christ Jesus.

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14. Do not instantly upon your return from church return also to the world, and secular thoughts and employments; but let the remaining parts of that day be like a post-communion, or an after-office, entertaining your blessed Lord with all the caresses and sweetnesses of love and colloquies, and intercourses of duty and affection, acquainting him with all your needs, and revealing to him all your secrets, and

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opening all your infirmities: and as the affairs of your person or employment call you off, so retire again with often ejaculations and acts of entertainment to your beloved guest.

The Effects and Benefits of worthy Communicating.

When I said that the sacrifice of the cross which Christ offered for all the sins and all the needs of the world is represented to God by the minister in the sacrament, and offered up in prayer and sacramental memory, after the manner that Christ himself intercedes for us in heaven, (so far as his glorious Priesthood is imitable by his ministers on earth,) I must of necessity also mean, that all the benefits of that sacrifice are then conveyed to all that communicate worthily. But if we descend to particulars, then and there the church is nourished in her faith, srengthened in her hope, enlarged in her bowels with an increasing charity. There all the members of Christ are joined with each other, and all to Christ their head: and we again renew the covenant with God in Jesus Christ, and God seals his part, and we promise for ours, and Christ unites both, and the Holy Ghost signs both in the collation of those graces which we then pray for and exercise, and receive all at ence. There our bodies are nourished with the signs, and our souls with the mystery: our bodies receive into them the seed of an immortal nature, and our souls are joined with him who is the first fruits of the resurrection; and never can die. And if we desire any thing else and need it, here it is to be prayed for,

Prayers for all Sorts of Men and all Necessities relating to the several Parts of the Virtue of Religion.

A Prayer for the Graces of Faith, Hope, Charity.

O LORD God, of infinite mercy, of infinite excellency, who hast sent thy holy Son into the world to redeem us from an intolerable misery, and to teach us a holy religion, and to forgive us an infinite debt: give me thy holy Spirit, that my understanding and all my faculties may be so resigned to the discipline and doctrine of my Lord, that I may be prepared in mind and will to die for the testimony of Jesus, and to suffer any affliction or calamity that shall offer to hinder my duty, or tempt me to shame or sin, or apostacy, and let my faith be the parent of a good life, a strong shield to repel the fiery darts of the devil, and the author of a holy hope, of modest desires and confidence in God, and of a never-failing charity to thee my God, and to all the world; that I may never have my portion with the unbelievers, or uncharitable and desperate persons: but may be supported by the strengths of faith in all temptations, and may be refreshed with the comforts of a holy hope in all my sorrows, and may bear the burden of the Lord, and the infirmities of my neighbour, by the support of charity; that the yoke of Jesus may become easy to me, and my love may do all the miracles of grace, till from grace it swell to glory, from earth to heaven, from duty to reward, from the imperfections of a beginning and little growing love, it may arrive