The Practice of Piety, Treatise · Part 24
A sweet Soliloquy to be said betwixt the consecration and receiving of the Sacrament.
IS it true indeed,1 King. 8. 27. that God will dwell on earth? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens are not able to contain thee: how much more unable i… the soul of …uch a sinful Caitiff as I am, to receive thee?
But seeing it is thy blessed pleasure to come thus to†Rev. 3. 20. sup with me, and tobJoh. 14. 23 dwell in me: I cannot for joy but burst out and say, What is man that thou art so mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him? What favour soever thou vouchsafest me in the abundance of thy Grace, I will freely confess what I am, in the wretchedness of my Nature: I am, in a word, a carnal Creature; whose very soul isbRom. 7. 14. sold under sin, a wretched man, compassed about withcverse 24. a body of Death: Yet Lord, seeing thou dMat. 9. 13.callest, here I come; and seeing thou callest sinners,Mat. 11. 28. I have thrust my self in among the rest; and seeing thou callest all with their heaviest loads, I see no reason why I should stay behind. O Lord, I am sick, and whither should I go, but unto thee the Physician of my Soul? Thou hast cured many, but never didst thou meet with a more miserable Patient; for I am more leprous than Gehazi, more unclean than Magdalen, more blind in Soul than Bartimeus was in Body; for I have lived all this while, and never seen the true light of thy Word: my soul runs with a greater flux of sin, than was the Hemorrhoise Issue of blood; Mephibosheth was not more lame to go, than my Soul is to walk after thee in love; Jeroboam's Arm was not more withered to strike the Prophet, than my Hand is maimed to relieve the Poor. Cure me, O Lord, and thou shalt do as great a work as in curing them all. And though I have all their Sins and Sores; yet, Lord, so abundant is thy grace, so great is thy skill, that if thou wilt, thou canst with a word, forgive the one, and heal the other: and why should I doubt of thy good will; when to save me, will cost thee now but one loving smile; who didst shew thy self so willing to redeem me though it should cost thee all thy heart-blood: and now offerest so graciously unto me the assured pledge of my Redemption, by thy blood? Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my merit,2 Sam. 7. 18. that thou hast bought me with so dear a price? It is merely thy mercy; and I, Gen. 32. 10.O Lord, am not worthy the least of all thy mercies: much less to be partaker of this holy Sacrament, the greatest pledge of the greatest mercy, that ever thou didst bestow upon those sons of men whom thou lovest. How might I in respect of mine own unworthiness, cry out for fear at the sight of thy holy Sacrament, 1 Sam. 5. 7.as the Philistines did, when they saw the Ark of God come into the Assembly? Wo now unto me a sinner; but that thy Angel doth comfort me, as he did the woman:Mat. 28. 5. Fear thou not for I know that thou seekest Jesus which was crucified. It is thou indeed that my soul seeketh after. And here thou offerest thy self unto me in thy blessed Sacrament. If therefore Elizabeth thought her self so much honoured at thy presence in the Womb of thy blessed Mother, Luk. 1. 43, 44.that the babe sprang in her belly for joy; how should my soul leap within me for joy, now that thou comest by the holy Sacrament, to dwell in my heart for ever? Oh what an honour is this, not that the Mother of my Lord, but my Lord himself, should come thus to visit me! Indeed, Lord, I confess with the faithful*Matth. 8. 8. Centurion, that I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: and that if thou didst but speak the word only, my soul should be saved: yet seeing it hath pleased the riches of thy grace, for the better strengthning of my weakness, to seal thy mercy unto me, by thy visible sign, as well as by thy visible word; in all thankful humility my soul speaks unto thee with the blessed Virgin: aLuke 1. 38Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word. bRev. 3. 20.Knock thou, Lord, by thy Word and Sacraments at the door of my heart; and I will, like thecLuk. 18. 13. Publican, with both my fists, knock at my breast, as fast as I can, that thou mayest enter in: and if the door will not open fast enough, break it open, O Lord, by thine Almighty Power, and then enter in, and dwell there for ever, that I may have cause with Zaccheus, to acknowledge, thatdLuk. 19. 9. this day salvation is come into mine house. And cast out of me whatsoever shall be offensive unto thee; for I resign the whole Possession of my heart unto thy sacred Majesty, intreating, that I may not live henceforth, but that thou mayst live in me, speak … me, walk in me: and so govern me by thy Spirit, that nothing may be pleasing unto me, but that which is acceptable unto thee. That finishing my course in the life of grace, I may afterwards live with thee for ever in the Kingdom of Glory. Grant this, O Lord Jesus, for the merits of thy death and blood shedding. Amen.
When the Minister bringeth towards thee the bread thus blessed and broken; and offering it unto thee, bids thee, Take, eat, &c. then meditate that Christ himself cometh unto thee, and both offereth and giveth indeed unto thy faith, his very Body and Blood, with all the merits of his death and passion, to feed thy Soul unto eternal life: as surely as the Minister offereth and giveth the outward signs, that feed thy Body unto this temporal life. The Bread of the Lord is given by the Minister, but the Bread which is the Lord, is given by Christ himself.
When thou takest the Bread at the Ministers hand to eat it,Sacramentum requi…it sacram ment…m. then rouze up thy Soul to apprehend Christ by faith; and to apply his merits to heal thy miseries. Embrace him as sweetly with thy faith in the Sacrament, as ever Simeon hugged him with his arms in his swadling clouts.
As thou eatest the Bread, imagine that thou seest Christ hanging upon t… Cross, and by his unspeakable tormen… fully satisfying God's Justice for thy sins, and strive to be as verily partaker of the spiritual grace, as of the Elemental signs. For, the truth is not absent from the sign; neither doth Christ deceive, when he saith, This is my Body: but he giveth himself indeed to every Soul that spiritually receives him by Faith. For as ours is the same Supper which Christ administ…red: so is the same Christ verily present at his own Supper; not by any Papal *Christ calls it his Body, not the sign of his Body; because this Sacrament was instituted not only to signifie, but also to communicate the spiritual graces that they represent: and by the signs to draw our minds to the graces signified. So Euthymius in Matth. 19. Non dixit Dominus, Haec sunt signa corporis mei, sed, Hoc est corpus meum. Oportet ergo non ad naturam …orum quae proposita sunt aspicere, sed ad ipsorum virtutem & gratiam. Non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis, & bibituti illum sanguinem quem fusuri sunt qui me crucisigent. Sacramentum aliquid vobis commendat; spiritualiter intelle…tum vivificabit vos. August. in Psal. 98. speaking in the person of Christ. The Disciples did not eat Christ corporally and substantially in the first Institution; no more do we in reiteration of the same Supper.Transubstantiation, but by a Sacramental Participiation, whereby he doth truly feed the faithful unto eternal life: not by coming down out of Heaven unto thee, but by lifting thee up from the Earth unto him. According to that old saying, Sursum corda; lift up your hearts: And, where the carcase is, thither will the Eagles resort, Matth. 24.
When thou seest the Wine brought unto thee apart from the Bread, then remember that the Blood of Jesus Christ was as verily separated from his Body upon the Cross, for the remission of thy sins: And that this is the seal of the new Covenant, which God hath made to forgive all the sins of all penitent sinners that believe in the merits of his blood shedding. For the Wine is not a Sacrament of Christ's Blood contained in his Veins, but as it was shed out of his Body upon the cross for the remission of the sins of all that believe in him.Mat. 26. 28.
As thou drinkest the Wine and pourest it out of the Cup into thy Stomach, meditate and believe, that by the merits of that Blood, which Christ shed upon the Cross, all thy sins are as verily forgiven, as thou hast now drunk this Sacramental Wine, and hast it in thy stomach. And in the instant of drinking, settle thy meditation upon Christ, as he hanged upon the Cross; as if like Mary and John, thou didst see him nailed, and his Blood running down his blessed side, out of that gastly wound, which the Spear made in his innocent heart: wishing thy mouth closed to his side, that thou mightest receive that precious Blood before it fell to the dusty Earth. And yet the actual drinking of that real Blood with thy mouth, would be nothing so†If remission of sins and eternal life had been appropriated to the drinking of the real Blood, doubtless John & Mary would have made means to have drunk it: But J…hn ascri…es the vertue to believing that it was s…ed. effectual, as this Sacramental drinking of that blood spiritually by Faith.
For one of the Souldiers might have drunk that, and been still a reprobate: but whosoever drinketh it spiritually by Faith in the Sacrament, shall surely have the Remission of his sins, and life everlasting.
As thou feelest the Sacramental Wine which thou hast drunk, warming thy cold stomach; so endeavour to feel the Holy Ghost cherishing thy Soul in the joyful assurance of the forgiveness of all thy sins, by the merit of the blood of Christ. And to this end God giveth every faithful Soul, together with the Sacramental Blood, the Holy Ghost to drink. *1. Cor. 12, 13.We are all made to drink into one Spirit. And so lift up thy mind from the contemplation of Christ, as he was crucified upon the Cross, to consider how he now†…. sits in glory at the right hand of his Father, making*Heb. 7. 25. Heb. 9. 24. intercession for thee, by presenting to his Father the unvaluable merits of his death, which he once suffered for thee, to appease his Justice for the sins which thou dost daily commit against him.
After thou hast eaten and drunk both the Bread and Wine, labour that as those Sacramental Signs do turn to the nourishment of thy body, and by the digestion of heat become one with thy substance: so by the operation of Faith, and the Holy Ghost, thou maist become one with Christ, and Christ with thee: and so maist feel thy Communion with Christ confirmed and1 Cor. 10 17. … est pa…is comm… ni notione Sacramenti, non autem necessa…iò …nus …umero. increased daily more and more. That as it is impossible to separate the Bread and Wine digested into the blood and substance of thy body: so it may be more impossible to part Christ from thy Soul, or thy Soul from Christ.
Lastly, As the Bread of the Sacrament, though confected of many Grains, yet makes but one Bread: so must thou remember, that though all the faithful are many; yet are they all but one mystical Body, whereof Christ is Head. And therefore thou must love every Christian as thy self, and a member of thy body.
Thus far of the duties to be done at the receiving of the holy Sacrament, called Meditation.