a commemoration of the saints, begging of God that their merits and intercession may be available with him, to grant us grace and protection; and the priest ends his petition with a prayer, that the sacrifice he then offers may prevent the damnation, and may be to the eternal salvation of those for whom it is offered. Then follows the consecration, which is done in the very words of our saviour, pronounced at the last supper, and this is the essence of the sacrifice. After consecration, the priest excuses his presumption, for daring to do so divine an action, alleging the command of Christ for it; and then prays that this sacrifice, being offered with the devotion of Abel, Abraham and Melchisedeck, may be available to the offerers, in like manner as theirs. He prays again, that this sacrifice and sacrament may profit not only those who actually eat and partake thereof, but also the dead, who cannot eat of it; and in the last place for himself, that God would vouchsafe, to grant him, though a sinner, some part among the apostles, saints, and martyrs, through the multitude of his mercies, saying, Nobis quoque peccatoribus, To us also sinners, &c. Now approaches the communion, or receiving; for which the people are prepared. 1. By that prayer, which is the common prayer of the faithful, the Lord's prayer; in which they beg for their daily bread, the holy Eucharist; as also by a prayer of the priest for them, that they may be delivered from all evil, past, present, and to come. And because those who receive this sacrament must be in peace with all the world, next follows the Agnus Dei, with a prayer for peace, that so all may receive with pure hearts. The communion being over, the whole ends with a thanksgiving; the people express their joy by singing after it, while the priest devoutly gives thanks for himself and them; in like manner as our Saviour, after his last supper, said a hymn with his disciples before he proceeded to Mount Olivet.

EXHOR.-If ever you are called to praise and glorify God, O christian, it is in this divine mystery, wherein the Son of God makes himself both priest and victim, interceding in your behalf, interposing between God's

anger and your sins, and offering himself still a sacrifice, not indeed by putting himself in a state of death again, which is impossible, but by being really present in a mystery that represents his death, and so offering himself to obtain all things for you. O what were those sacrifices of the old law, to this divine sacrifice of the new? They were but types and figures of this; this accomplishes all that they prefigured and represented of him: O how great, how many are the blessings of this divine Holocaust! To reap the benefits thereof, never fail one day to be present, when occasion offers, but particularly on days consecrated to God; no duty is more acceptable to him, or advantageous to you. Present yourself with all decency before it, and shew that you truly believe in it, by your great attention, reverence and devotion. O forget not what it is, and what it represents to you; it is the offering of the body and blood of Christ under the forms of bread and wine; it represents to you the passion and death of Christ. Join with the priest in every part of it: at the Memento's pray for your living and deceased friends. Make it a sacrifice of adoration to God, by adoring him profoundly during the offering of it. Make it a sacrifice of thanksgiving for all the blessings you have received, even for the least, from your creation to the present blessing you enjoy. Make it a sacrifice of propitiation for the sins of your life past, by begging for mercy. Make it a sacrifice of petition for all necessities of soul and body. Pray for that virtue you want most, and that you may overcome that vice you are most inclined to. O what can the Father refuse, when all this is performed through his Son Jesus Christ, in whom he is well pleased; who is our living sacrifice, as in heaven so en earth, ever living to intercede for us. Heb. vii. 25.

4.

Of the Sacrament of Penance.

WHA

HAT is penance? A. It is a sacrament by which the sins we commit after baptism are forgiven. Q. Who ordained it? A. Christ our Lord. Q. What is the matter of it? A. The sins of the peni

tent, accompanied with contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Q. What is the form of it? A. These words; I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Q. What are the effects of it? A. It remits sin, reconciles us to God, and restores or increases grace. Q. Who is the minister of it? A. The priest, to whom we confess. Q. When must we apply for it? A. As often as we fall into mortal sin.

INSTRUC. The sacrament of penance is the fourth necessary means to promote salvation, corresponding to the fourth necessity of nature; that as we have remedies when sick or wounded to cure us, and restore our health to its perfect state, so we have this sacrament to cure the diseases and wounds that sin has made in our souls. So excellent, so powerful, and acceptable with God is this sacrament, that when fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds, cannot obtain remission, a contrite and humble heart, joined to this sacrament, he will never despise.

The sacrament of penance is then the remedy God himself has ordained for sin; and as baptism is necessary to take away original sin, this is necessary to be applied to our souls, to take away the sins we commit after baptism. They were both instituted and given by the same almighty power and authority: as Christ said of one, Go teach all nations, baptizing hem, &c. Matt. ult. so of the other, Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whose sins you retain, they are retained. St. John xx. Hence it is plain, that our sins must be remitted by the sacramental absolution of the priest, and whose sins are not so forgiven, are not forgiven at all. It was necessary the church should have from God the sacrament of penance, and in it the pow er of forgiving sins, as well as the sacrament of baptism; for why have we baptism, but because being all born in original sin, we have need of a sacrament of divine institution, to deliver us out of the power of the Devil, and remit all sin and is it not plain, that after baptism, people fall into sin again, sometimes into greater sins than before? After baptism then there is as

much need as ever of a sacrament to restore us to the favour of God, and rescue us again out of the slavery of the Devil; and this can be no other than the sacrament of penance. It is in vain to allege, that after baptism, when we are come to years of discretion, we may obtain pardon of our sins without any sacrament at all, by faith, by confessing our sins to God, and by inward sorrow and contrition; for in like manner the Jews and Heathens, Quakers and others, may say, that when they are come to maturity of age and judgment, they may have remission of sins, and be saved without baptism, by faith, inward sorrow and contrition : yet our Saviour says, Unless one be re-born of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; in like manner he says, of the sacrament of penance; Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose sins ye retain, they are retained. And can any thing be plainer than that the sins of those who do not apply to the sacrament of penance, are retained? Penance then is our only refuge, the only plank to save us, after we have made a shipwreck of our conscience by sin; and it is as necessary to be applied to our souls, after any mortal sin committed, as baptism is to take away original sin. Baptism can be applied but once, but this as often as we fall into sin; we must then have recourse to it, or we are lost for ever; of which it is said, Unless you do penance, you shall all perish together. St. Luke xiii. 3, 5.

Mortal sin is the chief matter of penance, and venial sin is sufficient matter; but venial sins may be remitted without this sacrament, by acts of contrition, the Lord's prayer, &c. The form is the absolution given by the priest, I absolve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

This cannot be done by any but a priest rightly ordained and commissioned; for to them Christ left this power. Yet we must not imagine that our sins are so forgiven by the priest, as not to be forgiven by God; for though it is true, and our Saviour himself has said of the priests, Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; yet they are only ministers and instruments of

this forgiveness: it is God himself that principally forgives and absolves by their absolution; as it is God that principally baptizes; for he it is that gives the interior effect, which is grace, of all the sacraments of the new law. God gives power to priest, as kings give to judges. Judges represent the person of the king; the priest the person of Christ; Jesus must be informed, and so must priests; judges give sentence, and their sentence is ratified by the king; the priest gives sentence, and that is ratified in heaven: he that contemns the authority of the judge, contemns the authority of the king; so he that contemns the authority of priests, contemns the authority of God, who has set them in his own place, to loose or bind; so nevertheless that their sentence must be ratified by him.

So great is the virtue of this sacrament, that it remits all sin, without exception of any, to the true penitent: it restores us to the grace of God, which we had lost by sin; joins us with him in the greatest friendship; and after this reconciliation, it gives the greatest peace and tranquillity of conscience, with all spiritual delight. It raises sinners unto honour again with God; as the prodigal son was restored at his return to the same honours in his father's house as before, and had the first stole put on again, and a ring upon his finger. Nay, sometimes they rise in greater grace and favour than that from whence they fell the reason is, because in the justification of a sinner, grace is infused in proportion to the favour with which he repents: and sometimes it happens that great sinners being more struck with horror of their sins, the more sensible of the immense mercy of God to them, they return with a greater love of God, than that from whence they fell; according to that saying of our Saviour, He to whom less is forgiven, loveth less. St. Luke vii. So it happened to St. Mary Magdalen; she was raised to greater favour with Christ, by her repentance, than ever she had been in the days of her innocence before her fall and if you do as Magdalen did, he will do the same by you as he did by Magdalen.

EXHOR. Behold, O christian, in this sacrament of penance, the great mercy of God to sinners, who remains