of his service. 'The son of man hath not where to lay his head? Let us therefore imitate Him; and passing by the beauty of pillars and marbles, let us seek for mansions in heaven above; and trampling upon all worldly pride, and the love of riches, let us take to ourselves lofty souls, and mind the things that are on high." "When you come to the holy table and the sacred mysteries," says he in another place,1 "do it with fear and reverence, with a pure conscience, with fasting and prayer. Consider what a sacrifice you partake of, what a table you approach unto. Consider, that thou, who art but dust and ashes, receivest the body and blood of Christ. God calls thee to his own table, and sets before thee his Son: where the angelical powers stand about with fear and trembling, and the cherubims cover their faces, and the seraphims cry with reverence, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts! Let us therefore come with the greatest reverence also, and give thanks, and fall down and confess our sins, and with tears bewail our offences, and offer up fervent prayers to God. And so purifying ourselves in quietness and decent order, let us come as to an heavenly King; and receiving the holy and immaculate sacrifice, let us kiss and embrace it with our mouths and eyes, and therewith warm our souls; that we come not together to judgment and condemnation, but to create in us sobriety of mind, and charity and virtue, and reconcile ourselves to God, and obtain a lasting peace, and whatever other blessings arise from thence; that we may both sanctify ourselves and edify our neighbours." And as they thus taught men, with what veneration and serious deportment they ought to behave themselves at the Lord's table; so they endeavoured to make lasting impressions of virtue upon men's minds by this argument, shewing them what obligations of holiness and purity, the reception of the body and blood of Christ laid upon every member of the body, and every faculty of the soul. It was an oblation of their bodies and souls to God; it was an oath, or bond and covenant to do no evil, but to exercise themselves in all Chrys. Hom. xxxi. de Nativ. Christi. tom. v. p. 479. manner of virtue, as Pliny1 represents it from the mouths of some Christians. Therefore Chrysostom elegantly represents it as an obligation laid upon every member of the body, the hands, the eyes, the lips and tongue, the heart and soul especially, to abstain from all pollution and impurity of sin. "Thou fastest before thou dost communicate, that thou mayest appear worthy and dost thou destroy all after communicating, when thou oughtest to be more temperate? I do not enjoin thee to fast, but to abstain from luxury and all the evil effects of it, immoderate laughter, disorderly words, pernicious jesting, foolish and vain discourse, and whatever a Christian ought not to speak, who has been entertained at Christ's table, and touched his flesh with his tongue: whoever thou art therefore, purify thy hands, thy lips and thy tongue, which have been the gates at which Christ entered into thee. When thou sittest down to a common table, remember that spiritual table, and call to mind that supper of the Lord. Consider what words thy mouth hath spoken, words worthy of such a table, what things thy mouth hath touched and tasted, what meat it has fed upon. Dost thou think it no harm with that mouth to speak evil of and revile thy brother? How canst thou call him brother? If he is not thy brother, how couldst thou say, Our Father?' for that implies more persons than one. Consider with whom thou stoodest in the time of the holy mysteries; with cherubims, with seraphims. But the cherubims use no reviling. Their mouth is filled with one office, glorifying and praising God. How then canst thou say with them, Holy! Holy! Holy!' who usest thy mouth to reviling? Tell me, if there were a royal vessel, always filled with royal dainties, and set apart only for this use; and one of the servants should use it to put dung in; would he dare after that to put it, thus filled with dung, among the other vessels appointed for royal use? No, certainly. Yet this is the very case of railing and reviling. You say at the holy table, Our Father,' and then immediately add, which art in heaven.' This Plin. lib. x. ep. 97. 2 Chrys. Hom. xxvii. in 1 Gor. p. 567. word raises you up, and gives wings to your soul, and shews that you have a Father in heaven. Therefore do nothing, speak nothing of earthly things. He hath placed you in the order of spirits above, and appointed you a station in that choir. Why then do you draw yourself downward? You stand by the royal throne, and do you revile your brother? How are you not afraid, lest the king should take it as an affront offered to himself? If a servant beats or reviles another in our presence, who are but his fellow-servants, though he does it justly, we rebuke him for it. And dare you stand before the royal throne, and revile your brother? See you not these holy vessels? Are they not always appropriated to one peculiar use? Dares any one put them to any other? But you are more holy than these vessels, yea, much more holy. Why then do you pollute and defile yourself? You stand in heaven, and do you still use railing? You converse with angels, and do you yet revile? You are admitted to the Lord's holy kiss, and do you yet revile? God hath honoured and adorned your mouth so many ways, by angelical hymns, by food, not angelical, but super-angelical, by his own kisses, and by his own embraces, and do you after all these revile? Do not, I beseech you. Let that which is the cause of so many evils, be far from the soul of a Christian." With what force and eloquence does this holy writer here shew us the obligation, which the reception of the eucharist lays upon men to abstain from evil-speaking? But it equally lays a restraint upon all the other members of the body, and operations of the soul, as well as the tongue. Which Chrysostom excellently deduces after this manner in another place. "Be grateful to thy benefactor by an excellent conversation; consider the greatness of the sacrifice, and let that engage thee to adorn every member of thy body. Consider what thou takest in thy hand, and never after endure to strike any man: do not disgrace that hand by the sin of fighting and quarrelling, which has been honoured with the reception of so great a gift. Consider what thou takest in thy hand, and keep thy hand free from all rapines 1 Chrys. Hom. xxi. ad Pop. Antioch, tom. i. p. 266. and injustice. Think again, how thou not only receivest it in thy hand, but puttest it to thy mouth, and keep thy tongue pure from all filthy and contumelious speech, from blasphemy and perjury, and all words of the like nature. For it is a most pernicious thing, that the tongue, which ministers in such tremendous mysteries, and is dyed with the purple of such precious blood, and made a golden sword, should be put to the vile practice of railing and reviling, and scurrilous and abusive language. Regard with veneration the honour wherewith God has honoured it; and do not debase it to such mean offices of sin. Consider again, that after thy hand and thy tongue, thy heart receives that tremendous mystery: then never devise any fraud or deceit against thy neighbour, but keep thy mind pure from all malicious designs. After the same manner guard thy eyes and thy ears. For is it not most absurd, after that mystical hymn, that was brought from heaven by the cherubims, to defile thy ears with the songs of harlots, and effeminate music? And what punishment can be too great for thee, if thou sufferest those eyes, which have seen the unspeakable and venerable mysteries, to wander gazing after harlots, and committest adultery in thy mind?" Tertullian, among many other arguments which he uses against a Christian's going to be a spectator at the Roman games, uses this as one, taken from the same topic: "What an absurdity is it :1 for a man to go from the church of God into the church of the devil? Out of heaven, as the saying is, into the mire? First to lift up his hands in prayer to the Lord, and then to toss those very hands to weariness in the praise of a stageplayer? To make that mouth, which was used to say Amen! at the holy eucharist, give testimony to a gladiator? To cry out, World without End! to others besides Christ his God?" By such familiar arguments drawn from the nature of the sacrament, and the inconsistency of all vicious ac Tertul. de Spectac. cap. xxv. Quale est de ecclesiâ Dei in diaboli ecclesiam tendere? De cœlo, ut aiunt, in cœnum? Illas manus quas ad Dominum extuleris, postmodùm histrionem laudando fatigare? Ex ore quo Amen in sanctum protuleris, gladiatori testimonium reddere? Eis alwvaç alii omnino dicere nisi Deo Christo? See more such arguments in Cyprian. Ep. xxxvi. al. xxxviii. p. 125. VOL. V. 2 G tions with the design, and circumstances, and whole tendency of it, did the Ancients endeavour to possess men's minds with the sense of their duty, and their great obligation to persevere in holiness, and glorify God both in body and spirit all their days. Which as it was but their reasonable service, so it was the only way to make this holy sacrament effectual to their salvation, and useful in their present state, by keeping up a perpetual and flaming love for Christ, which qualified them for a frequent reception, and almost daily repetition of it; which is the last thing to be considered in this whole inquiry. CHAP. IX. Of frequent Communion, and the Times of celebrating it in the Ancient Church. SECT. 1.-All Persons, except Penitents under Censure, anciently obliged to receive the Communion every Lord's Day, by the Canons of the Church. It has been shewn before, in speaking against private and solitary masses, that though it be now the custom in the Church of Rome for the priest to receive the eucharist without any other communicants, either clergy or laity, how many soever be present at the action, yet there was no such custom ever heard of in the ancient Church. And though in most other Churches this corruption be reformed, yet there remains a great defect still uncorrected, which is the want or neglect of frequent communion. I shall make no further inquiry into the causes of this neglect, whether it proceed from a general decay of Christian piety, or from a want of strict discipline in the Church, but only observe that it is a great declension from the zeal and fervour of the primitive ages. For then it is certain it was both the rule and practice for all in general, both clergy and laity, to receive the communion every Lord's day, except such as were |