the names of the sons of God, who by doing worthy things have endeared communions and societies of mankind. In all the sacrifices of the ancients they were hugely kind to one another; they invited their friends to partake the sacrifice, and called them to a portion of the pardon, that they might eat of that mercy and that forgiveness which they expected from their God. Then they sent portions to the absent, then they renewed leagues, and re-established peace, and made marriages, and joined families, and united hearts, and knitted interests by a thread and chain of mutual acts of kindness and endearment: and so should we, when we come to this holy sacrifice; we must keep our hearts entire to God, and divide them amongst our brethren; and heartily love all them who feed upon the same Christ, who live by the same faith, who are entertained by the same hope, and are confederate by the laws, and the events and the causes, by the acts and emanation of the same charity. But this thing is plain; no discourse here is useful, but an exhortation; all that can be said is this; that it is decent and it is useful, and it is necessary that we be very kind and very charitable to all the members of Christ; with whom we are joined by the ligatures of the same body, and supported by the strength of the same nourishment, and blessed by influences from the same divine head, the Lord Jesus Christ. SECTION III. OF SPEAKING GOOD OF OUR NEIGHBOURS. If it be not in our hands to do well, it must be in our hearts; and the contrary must never be upon our tongues; we are sure we can speak well, or we can abstain from speaking ill. If it be otherwise with us, we cannot be welcome here; we shall not worthily communicate. God opens His mouth and His heart and His bowels, His bosom and His treasures to us in this holy sacrament, and calls to us to draw water as from a riverh; and can we come to drink of the pleasant streams that we may have only moisture enough to talk much and long against the honour of our brother or our sister? can it be imagined that Christ, who never spake an ill word, should take thee into His arms, and feast thee at His table, and dwell in thy heart, and lodge thee in His bosom, who makest thyself all one with the devil, whose office and work it is to be an accuser of the brethren? No, Christ never will feast serpents at His table, persons who have stings instead of tongues, and venom in all the moisture of their mouth, and reproach is all their language. Η Αρύετε ὡς ἐκ Νείλου. [Αρύσασθε ὡς Νείλου, καὶ ἐμοῦ, inquit Vespasianus ad Ægyptios.-Philostr. vit. Apollon.Tyan., lib. v. cap. 10. p. 235.] Inter epulas, ubi bene precari mos crat.-Livius, lib. xxxix. [p. 119 supra.] We should easily consent that he that killed a man yesterday, and is likely to kill another to-morrow, were not this day worthy to communicate: now some persons had rather lose their lives than lose their honour; what then think we of their preparation to the holy communion, that make nothing of murdering their brother's or their sister's fame? that either invent evil stories falsely and maliciously, or believing them easily, report them quickly, and aggravate them spitefully, and scatter them diligently? He that delights to report evil things of me, that will not endure so much as to have me well spoken of, hath certainly but little kindness to me: he would very hardly die for me, or lay out great sums of money for me, that will not afford me the cheapest charity of a good word. The Jews have a saying, that "it were better that a man were put into a flame of fire, than he should publicly disgrace his neighbour."-But in this there are two great considerations that declare the unworthiness of it ; 1. They who readily speak reproachfully of others, destroy all the love and combinations of charity in the world; they ruin the excellency and peculiar privilege of mankind, whose nature it is to delight in society, and whose needs and nature make it necessary. Now slander and reproach and speaking evil one of another, poisons love and brings in hatred, and corrupts friendship, and tempts the biggest virtue by anger to pass unto revenge. For an evil tongue is a perpetual storm; it is a daily temptation, and no virtue can without a miracle withstand its temptation. "If you strike a lamprey but once with a rod," saith the Greek proverb", "you make him gentle, but if often you provoke him." A single injury is entertained by christian patience like a stone into a pocket of wool; it rests soft in the embraces of a meek spirit, which delights to see itself overcome a wrong by a worthy sufferance; but he that loves to do injury by talk, does it in all companies, and takes all occasions, and brings it in by violence, and urges it rudely, till patience being weary goes away, and is waited upon by Charity, which never forsakes or goes away from patience. A wound with the tongue is like a bruise, it cannot be cured in four and twenty hours.' 2. No man sins singly in such instances as these. Some men commit one murder and never do another; some men are surprised * Καὶ μύραινα πληγεῖσα νάρθηκι εἰσάπαξ ἡσυχάζει· εἰ δὲ πλεονάκις, εἰς θυμὸν άTTETαl. [Ælian. de natura animalium, lib. i. cap. 37.] and fall into uncleanness or drunkenness, but repent of it speedily and never again return to folly: but an evil and an uncharitable tongue is an accursed principlem; it is in its very nature and original equal to an evil habit, and it enters without temptation, and dwells in every part of our conversation, and injures every man, and every woman: and is like the evil spirit that was in love with Tobias his wife; if you drive him from Nineve, he will run to the utmost parts of Egypt; there also unless an angel bind him, he will do all the mischief in the world, for there is not in the world a worse devil than a devilish tongue". But I am not now to speak of it as it is injurious to our neighbour, but as it is an hindrance to our worthy communicating. The mouth that speaketh lies,' or stings his neighbour, or boasteth proud things,' is not fit to drink the blood of the sacrificed lamb. Christ enters not into those lips from whence slander and evil talkings do proceed: and the tongue that loves to dispraise his brother, cannot worthily celebrate the praises and talk of the glorious things of God: and let no man deceive himself, an injurious talker is an habitual sinner; and he that does not learn the discipline of the tongue, can never have the charity of Christ, or the blessings of the peaceful sacrament P. Persons that slander or disgrace their brother are bound to make restitution; it is as if they had stolen a jewel, they must give it back again, or not come hither. But they that will neither do nor speak well of others are very far from charity, and they that are so ought to be as far from the sacrament, or they will not be very far from condemnation. But a good man will be as careful of the reputation as of the life of his brother; and to be apt to speak well of all men is a sign of a charitable and a good man;' and that goes a great way in our preparation to a worthy communion. m Sed miserere tui, rabido nec perditus ore Sit placidus licet et lambat digitosque manusque, n Cede Hyrcana tigris, Erymanthi bellua cede, • Nefas enim est per os quo profertur nomen illud sanctissimum, quicquam turpe progredi. [Philo, de decem oraculis; tom. ii. p. 196, ed. Mangey.] P De Catone dixit Plutarchus, [in vit. Caton. maj., § 25 fin.-tom. ii. p. 602.] Mensam inprimis putabat esse amicitiæ conciliandæ aptam, ac frequens illic laudatio egregiorum virorum introducebatur, frequens etiam malorum et improborum oblivio, nec vituperationi eorum vel commendationi permittebat in convivium suum Cato accessum : SECTION IV. FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES A NECESSARY PART OF PREPARATION THIS duty is expressed not only as obligatory to us, but as relative to the holy sacrament, in the words of our blessed Saviour, "When thou bringest thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift and go, be first reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer." This precept was indeed instanced in the levitical sacrifices and Jewish altars; but because as S. Irenæus observes, 'the precepts of Christ, however expressed, relate to Moses' law less principally, and chiefly design an evangelical duty; therefore he refers these words to the celebration of the christian eucharistical sacrifice and oblation; concerning which he hath these excellent words", "From the beginning God respected Abel's offering because he offered in righteousness and singleness of heart but God regarded not the sacrifice of Cain, because he had a heart divided from his brother, full of zeal and malice, and therefore God who knoweth all secrets thus reproves him, If thou doest rightly offer, but not rightly divide, be quiet, God will not be appeased with thy sacrifice. For if any one in outward appearance offers a clean, a right, and a pure sacrifice, but in his soul does not truly apportion his communion to his neighbour,.. he hath sinned within, and by his external sacrifice does not bring God unto him, neither will the oblation profit him at all, unless the malice that he hath conceived within does cease, but that sin will make him every day more and more a murderer"." In pursuance of this, S. Cyril tells that the ancient Christians were wont before the communion to kiss each other, as a symbol of reconciled minds and forgotten injuries; and in confirmation of this practice brings the preceptive words of our Lord now cited. And our blessed Savioury himself adds a parallel to the first precept, which gives light and explication to it, "When you stand praying, if you have any thing against any man, forgive him, that your Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses;" and so Christ taught us to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." Let us consider what we do, and consider what we say. Do we desire to be forgiven no otherwise? do not we exact every little ignorance and grow warm at every mistake? and are not we angry at an unavoidable chance? would we 9 [Matt. v. 23, 24.] See this discoursed and proved, Rule of Conscience, book ii. chap. 3. rule 15. s Iren., lib. iv. cap. 34. [al. 18. p. 250.] [Nonne si recte offeras, recte autem have God do so to us, and forgive us in no other manner than as we do, that is, turn His anger into every shape, and smite us in every part? Or would we have God pardon us only for little things, for a rash word, or an idle hour spent less severely? If we do so to our brother, it is a great matter, but if he reviles us to our head, if he blasphemes, and dishonours us, if he rob us, if he smite us on the face, what then? We rob God of His honour, His priests of their reverence, His houses of their beauty, His churches of their maintenance : we talk vile things of His holy name, we despise religion, we oppose His honour, and care not for His service. It is certain we do not usually forgive things of this nature to our brother; what then will become of our prayer? and what will be the effect of our communion? And yet it is certain there is nothing in the world easier than to forgive an injury; it costs us nothing after it is once suffered; and if our passions and foolish principles would give us leave to understand it, the precise duty of forgiveness is a perfect negative: it is a letting things alone as they are, and making no more evils in the world, in which already there was one too many, even that which thou didst suffer. And indeed that forgiveness is the best which is the most perfect negative; that is, "in malice be children;" whose petty quarrels though they be fierce as a sudden spark, yet they are as innocent as the softest part of their own flesh, and as soon out as that sudden spark, and forgotten perfectly as their first dream: and that's true forgiveness and without this we can never pray with just and perfect confidence and expectationsa. S. Peter gives this precept in a considerable instance, "Give honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, that your prayers be not hindered;" that is, consider that they are weak and tender, easily moved and soon disordered; their understanding is less and their passions more; and if it happens to be so, bear their burdens, comply with their innocent passions, pity their infirmities, supply the breaches made by their indiscretions, take no notice of little inconveniences: counsel sweetly, reprove tenderly, strike no fires and enkindle no flames; that is, do all that you can for peace, without peevish quarrels and little commencements of a domestic war: for if you give way to any thing of this nature, it will hinder your prayers; for how shall the husband and the wife pray together if they be angry at each other? For without love and without peace it is to no purpose to pray. The devotion of a man that is not in actual peace and kindness with his wife, is like a hot dead coal; it will burn his fingers that touches it, but it is wholly useless; but he that lives in peace with her, in love and prudent conduct, his devotion is a flaming fire; it kindles all that is round about it, it warms and shines, it is beauteous in itself and it is useful to others; it is fit for the house, and fit 2 [1 Cor. xiv. 20.] a Ignoramus.. sine pace communionem.-S. Hieron., epist. lxii. ad Theo philum. [tom. ii. part. 2. col. 335.] [1 Pet. iii. 7.] |