His holy laws and doctrine; He cured every disease and every infirmity, He did signs and wonders among the people. He slept and eat and drank, who feeds all the living with food, and fills them with His blessing. He declared Thy name to them who knew it not, He enlightened our ignorances, He enkindled godliness, and fulfilled Thy will, and finished all that which Thou gavest Him to do. "All this when He had done He was taken by the hands of wicked men, by the treachery of false priests and an ungodly people, He suffered many things of them, and by Thy permission suffered all shame and reproach. He was delivered to Pilate the president; who judged Him that is the judge of the quick and dead, and condemned Him who is the Saviour of all others. He who is impassible was crucified, and He died who is of an immortal nature, and they buried Him by whom others are made alive; that by His death and passion He might free them for whom He came, and might dissolve the bands of the devil, and deliver men from all his crafty malices. "But then He rose again from the dead; He conversed with His disciples forty days together, and then was received up into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of God His Father. "We therefore being mindful of these things which He did and suffered for us, give thanks to Thee, almighty God, not as much as we should, but as much as we can: and here fulfil His ordinance,” and believe all that He said, and know and confess that He hath given us His body to be the food and His blood to be the drink of our souls, that in Him we live and move and have our being; that by Him we are taught, by His strength enabled, by His graces prevented, by His spirit conducted, by His death pardoned, by His resurrection justified, and by His intercession defended from all our enemies and set forward in the way of holiness and life eternal. "O grant that we and all Thy servants who by faith and sacramental participation communicate with the Lord Jesus, may obtain remission of our sins, and be confirmed in piety, and may be delivered from the power and illusions of the devil, and being filled with Thy spirit may become worthy members of Christ and at last may inherit eternal life; thorough' the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen." 1 [sic ed.] CHAPTER IV. OF CHARITY PREPARATORY TO THE HOLY SACRAMENT. SECTION I. THE second great instrument of preparation to the blessed sacrament is charity for though this be involved in faith, as`in its cause and moral principle; yet we are to consider it in the proper effects also of it; in its exercise and operations relative to the mysteries. For they that speak distinctly, and give proprieties of employment to the two sacraments by that which is most signal and eminent in them both respectively, call baptism the sacrament of faith, and the eucharist the sacrament of charity; that is, faith in baptism enters upon the work of a good life, and in the holy eucharist it is actually productive of that charity which at first was designed and undertaken. For charity is that fire from heaven, which unless it does enkindle the sacrifice, God will never accept it for an atonement. This God declared to us by His laws given to the sons of Israel and Aaron. The sacrifice that was God's portion was to be eaten and consumed by Himself, and therefore to be devoured by the holy fire that came down from heaven; and this was imitated by the Persians, who worshipped the fire, and thought what the fire devoured their God had plainly eaten. So Maximus Tyrius m tells of them, that bringing their sacrifices, they were wont to say, "O fire our lord, eat this meat" and Pindar in his Olympia's" tells of the Rhodians that when they brought a sacrifice to Jupiter, and had by chance forgotten to bring their fire, he accepting of their good intentions, and pitying their forgetfulness, rained down upon them a golden shower from a yellow cloud; that is, a shower of fire came and consumed their sacrifice. Now this is the great emblem of charity: the flame consumes the feaster's sacrifice, and makes it a divine nutriment; our charity, it purifies the oblation, and makes their prayers accepted. (Solinus, cap. v. p. 49. ed. Bipont. 1794.) and with Taylor's application of them to the Christian sacrament.-Nec longe inde collis Vulcanius, in quo qui divinæ rei operantur ligna vitea super aras struunt, nec ignis apponitur in hanc congeriem; cum prosicias intulerunt, si adest deus, si sacrum probatur, sarmenta licet viridia sponte concipiunt, et nullo inflagrante halitu, ab ipso numine fit accendium. Ibi epulantes adludit flamma, quæ flexuosis excessibus vagabunda, quem contigerit non adurit; nec aliud est quam imago nuntia perfecti rite voti.] The tables of the Lord, like the Delian altars, must not be defiled with blood and death, with anger and revenge, with wrath and indignation: and this is to be in all senses of duty and ministration. 'an unbloody sacrifice'.' The blood of the cross was the last that was to have been shed. The laws can shed more, but nothing else. For by remembering and representing the effusion of blood, not by shedding it, our expiation is now perfected and complete: but nothing hinders it more than the spirit of war and death; not only by the emissions of the hand or the apertures of a wound, but by the murder of the tongue, and the cruelties of the heart, or by an unpeaceable disposition. pos It was love that first made societies, and love that must continue our communions: and God who made all things by His power, does preserve them by His love; and by union and society of parts every creature is preserved. When a little water is spilt from a full vessel and falls into its enemy dust, it curls itself into a drop and so stands equally armed in every point of the circle, dividing the forces of the enemy, that by that little union it may stand as long as it can; but if it be dissolved into flatness it is changed into the nature and session of the dusts. War is one of God's greatest plagues: and therefore when God in this holy sacrament pours forth the greatest effusion of His love, peace in all capacities, and in all dimensions, and to all purposes, He will not endure that they should come to these love feasts who are unkind to their brethren, quarrelsome with their neighbours, implacable to their enemies, apt to contentions, hard to be reconciled, soon angry, scarcely appeased. These are dogs, and must not come within the holy place, where God who is the congregating father",' and Christ the great minister of peace, and the holy Spirit of love, are present in mysterious symbols and most gracious communications. For although it be true that God loves us first, yet He will not continue to love us, or proceed in the methods of His kindness, unless we become like unto Him and love. For by our love and charity He will pardon us, and He will comfort us, and He will judge us, and He will save us and it can never be well with us till love that governs heaven itself be the prince of all our actions and our passions. By this we know we are translated from death to • Φόνῳ καὶ θανάτῳ μὴ μιανθέντα. 9 Μή τις κατά τινος, diaconi solebant enunciare in synaxi. [Const. apostol., lib. ii. cap. 54.] ['Avaluaктos Ovola.-S. Cyril. Alex., declar. anathemat. xi. tom. vi. p. 156, et De adorat. in spir. et verit., lib. ii. p. 57. -See Suicer, Ovoía.] Scelera dissident. [Virtutes.. esse debebunt, ubi consensus atque unitas erit: dissident vitia.] Seneca [de vit. beat. cap. viii.] Facinus.. sævum atque atrox: in ter pocula atque epulas, ubi libare diis dapes, ubi bene precari mos esset, ad spectaculum scorti procacis in sinu consulis recubantis, mactatam humanam victimam esse, et cruore mensam respersam. Sic Valerius Antiates [leg. Antias] apud Livium, lib. xxxix. [cap. 43.] u Zvvaywyds Tarnp.-Dionys. Areop. [Cœlest. hierarch., cap. i. p. 2.] Cum nostros animos amor, quo cœlum regitur, regit. Boeth., consol. philos. [vid. lib. ii. metr. 8 fin.-p. 1006.] life, by our love unto our brethren,'-that's the testimonial of our comfort. I was hungry and ye fed Me; I was hungry and ye fed Me not,'-these are the tables of our final judgment. If ye love Me keep My commandments,'-that's the measure of our obedience. 'In that ye have done kindness to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto Me,'-that is the installing of the saints in their thrones of glory. If thou bringest a gift to the altar leave it there; go and be reconciled to thy brother,'-that's the great instrument of our being accepted. No man can love God and hate his brother,'that's the rule of our examination in this particular. "This is a new commandment, that ye love one another,'-there's the great precept of the gospel. This is an old commandment, that ye love one another, there is the very law of nature. And to sum up all, 'Love is the fulfilling of the law,'-that's the excellency and perfection of a man; and there is the expectation of all reward, and the doing all our duty, and the sanctification of every action, and the Spirit of life: it is the heart, and the fire, and the salt of every sacrifice; it is the crown of every communion. And all this mysterious excellency is perfectly represented by that divine exhortation made by S. Pauly, "Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened: for even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of MALICE and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Now concerning this grace, if we will enquire after it in order to a worthy receiving the holy communion, we must enquire after the effects and offices of charity: and by the good we do or are ready to do, take an account of ourselves in this particular. The offices and general duties are three ;— Doing good,-Speaking good;-and Forgiving evil. SECTION II. OF DOING GOOD TO OUR NEIGHBOURS. He that loves me does me good: for until love be beneficial, it is not my good, but his fancy and pleasure that delights in me. I do not examine this duty by our alms alone; for although they are an excellent instrument of life ("for alms deliver from death," said the angel to old Tobit") yet there are some who are bountiful to the poor, and yet not charitable to their neighbour. You can best tell whether you have charity to your brother by your willingness to oblige him, and do him real benefit, and keeping him from all harm we can. Do you do good to all you can? will you willingly give friendly counsel? do you readily excuse your neighbour's faults? do you rejoice when [Tobit xii. 9.] y [1 Cor. v. 7, 8.] he is made glad? do you delight in his honour and prosperity? do you stop his entry into folly and shame? do not you laugh at his miscarriages? do you stand ready in mind to do all good offices to all you can converse with? For nothing makes societies so fair and lasting, as the mutual endearment of each other by good offices; and never any man did a good turn to his brother, but one time or other himself did eat the fruit of it. The good man in the Greek epigram" that found a dead man's scull unburied, in kindness digging a grave for it, opened the enclosures of a treasure. And we read in the annals of France, that when Gontran king of Burgundy was sleeping by the murmurs of a little brook, his servant espied a lizard coming from his master's head, and essaying to pass the water; but seeming troubled because it could not, he laid his sword over the brook and made an iron bridge for the little beast, who passing entered into the earth and speedily returned back to the king and disturbed him (as it is supposed) into a dream, in which he saw an iron bridge which landed him at the foot of the mountain, where if he did dig he should find a great heap of gold. The servant expounded his master's dream; and shewed him the iron bridge; and they digged where the lizard had entered; where they found indeed a treasure; and that the servant's piety was rewarded upon his lord's head, and procured wealtha to one and honour to the other. There is in human nature a strange kind of nobleness and love to return and exchange good offices, but because there are some dogs who bite your hand when you reach them bread, God by the ministry of His little creatures tells, that if we will not, yet He will certainly recompense every act of piety and charity we do to one another. This the Egyptians did well signify in one of the new names of their constellations. For when the wife of Ptolomæus Euergetes had vowed her hair to the temple upon condition her husband might return in safety, and she did consecrate the beauty of her head to the ornaments of religion; Comonus the astronomer told her that the gods had placed her hair among the stars; and to this day they call one knot of stars by the name of Berenice's hair. For every such worthiness like this will have an immortal name in some record, and it shall be written above the stars, and set by e infestabant loca timor, ne vota perficeret obstitissent; in basilica quæ Cabilonensi adjacet civitati (cujus condendæ ipse auctor extiterat) super sepulchrum sancti Marcelli poni jussit. Quod quamdiu tumulum sancti martyris durando venustavit, nullum in tota Gallia opus quod ei æquipararetur potuit inveniri.] [Hygin., poet, astron., lib. ii. cap. 24 -Cf. Catull., carm. lxv.] f [Sic Billius; rectius, 'Conon.'] Ille capillos Billii antholog. [f. 79 b. 8vo. Paris. 1575.] |