sure, as thine own. Deserve not the heavy and dreadful burden of God's displeasure for thine evil will towards thy neighbour, so unreverently to approach to this table of the Lord. 1 Last of all, as there is here "the mystery of peace," and the sacrament of Christian society, whereby we understand what sincere love ought to be betwixt the true communicants; so here be the tokens of pureness and innocency of life, whereby we may perceive that we ought to purge our own soul from all uncleanness, iniquity, and wickedness; "lest when we receive the mystical bread (as Origen saith) we eat it in an unclean place, that is, in a soul defiled and polluted with sin." In Moses' law, the man that did eat of the sacrifice of thanksgiving, with his uncleanness upon him, should be destroyed from his people [Lev. vii. 20]. And shall we think that the wicked and sinful person shall be excusable at the table of the Lord (Luke xvii. 1; [Heb. x. 28, 29])? We both read in St. Paul, that the church of Corinth was scourged of the Lord, for misusing the Lord's supper (1 Cor. xi. 29, 30); and we may plainly see Christ's church these many years miserably vexed and oppressed, for the horrible profanation of the same. Wherefore let us all, universal and singular, behold our own manners and lives, to amend them. Yea, now at the least, let us call ourselves to an account, that it may grieve us of our former evil conversation, that we may hate sin, that we may sorrow and mourn for our offences, that we may with tears pour them out before God, that we may with sure trust desire and crave the salve of his mercy, bought and purchased with the blood of his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, to heal our deadly wounds withal. For surely, if we do not with earnest repentance cleanse the filthy stomach of our soul, it must needs come to pass, that, as wholesome meat received into a raw stomach corrupteth and marreth all, and is the cause of further sickness: shall we eat this wholesome bread, and drink this cup, to our eternal destruction. Thus we, and not other, must thoroughly examine, and not lightly look over ourselves, not other men; our own conscience, not other men's lives: which we ought to do uprightly, truly, and with just correction. "O (saith Chrysostom) let no Judas resort to this table, let no covetous person approach. If any be a disciple, let him be present. For Christ saith, With my disciples I make my passover” (Matt. xxvi. 18). Why cried the deacon in the primitive church, "If any be holy, let him draw near?" Why did they celebrate these mysteries, the choir-door being shut? Why were the public penitents and learners in religion commanded at this time to avoid? Was it not because this table received no unholy, unclean, or sinful guests? Wherefore, if servants dare not presume to an earthly master's table, whom they have offended, let us take heed. we come not with our sins unexamined into this presence of our Lord and Judge. If they be worthy blame which kiss the prince's hand with a filthy and unclean mouth, shalt thou be blameless, which with a stinking soul, full of covetousness, fornication, drunkenness, pride, full of wretched cogitations and thoughts, dost breathe out iniquity and uncleanness on the bread and cup of the Lord? Thus have you heard, how you should come reverently and decently to the table of the Epilog. Lord, having the knowledge out of his word, of the thing itself and the fruits thereof; bringing a true and constant faith, the root and well-spring of all newness of life, as well in praising God and loving our neighbour, as purging our own conscience from filthiness. So that neither the ignorance of the thing shall cause us to contemn it, nor unfaithfulness make us void of fruit, nor sin and iniquity procure us God's plagues: but shall by faith, in knowledge and amendment of life in faith, be here so united to Christ our head in his mysteries, to our comfort, that after we shall have full fruition of him indeed, to our everlasting joy and eternal life: to the which He bring us that died for us, and redeemed us, Jesus Christ the righteous; to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true and eternal God, be all praise, honour, and dominion, for ever. Amen. [A suitable Prayer after reading the foregoing Homily. WE are not worthy [O Lord] so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that 424 our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.-Communion Service. THE Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. . . . The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean, whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith. Art. xxviii. See also Arts. xxv. xxvi. and xxix. It is our duty to render most humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God our heavenly Father, for that He hath given his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that holy Sacrament, &c. &c. Exhortation when warning is given for the celebration of the WE assert that Christ in his sacraments doth exhibit himself truly present; in baptism, that we may put him on; in his supper, that we may eat him by faith and in the spirit, &c. And as St. Chrysostom writes well: "We say that the body of Christ is the carcase, and we are to be the eagles, that thereby we may learn to mount aloft, if we will approach the body of Christ; for this is the table of eagles, and not of jays."-Jewell's Apology, p. 25. THEY that would refuse the use of sacraments as if they had no need of them, I think were worthy to be condemned, not only of most high presumption, but also of unkind wickedness against God. .... M. Sayest thou then the mean to receive the body and blood of Christ standeth upon faith? S. Yea. For when we believe that Christ died to deliver us from death, and that he rose again to procure us life, we are partakers of the redemption purchased by his death, and of his life, and all other his good things. As for the prerogative of offering for sins, it pertaineth to Christ alone, as to him which is the eternal Priest.. For us there is nothing left to do, but to take the use and benefit of that eternal sacrifice bequeathed us by the Lord himself, which we chiefly do in the Lord's supper.--Nowell's Catechism, pp. 110, 118, 120.] AN HOMILY CONCERNING THE COMING DOWN OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND THE MANIFOLD GIFTS OF THE SAME. FOR WHITSUNDAY. BEFORE We come to the declaration of the great and manifold gifts of the Holy Ghost, wherewith the church of God hath been evermore replenished, it shall first be needful briefly to expound unto you, whereof this feast of Pentecost, or Whitsuntide, had his first beginning. You shall therefore understand, that the feast of Pentecost was always kept the fiftieth day after Easter; a great and solemn feast among the Jews, wherein they did celebrate the memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, and also the memorial of the publishing of the law, which was given unto them in the mount Sinai upon that day. It was first ordained and commanded to be kept holy, not by any mortal man, but by the mouth of the Lord himself, as we read in Levit. xxiii. [16] and Deut. xvi. [9]. The place appointed for the observation thereof was Jerusalem, where was great recourse of people from all parts of the world; as may well appear in the second chapter of the Acts, wherein mention is made of Parthians, Medes, Elamites, inhabiters of Mesopotamia, inhabiters of Jewry, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, and divers other such places; whereby we may also partly gather, what great and royal solemnity was commonly used in that feast. Now, as this was given in commandment to the Jews in the old law, so did our Saviour Christ, as it were, confirm the same in the time of the gospel; ordaining, after a sort, a new Pentecost for his disciples; namely, when he sent down the Holy Ghost visibly in form of cloven tongues like fire, and gave them power to speak in such sort, that every one might hear them, and also understand them in his own language (Acts ii. 1-4). Which miracle, that it might be had in perpetual remembrance, the church hath thought good to solemnize and keep holy this day, commonly called Whitsunday. And here is to be noted, that, as the law was given to the Jews in the mount Sinai, the fiftieth day after Easter; so was the preaching of the gospel, through the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, given to the apostles in the mount Sion, the fiftieth day after Easter. And hereof this feast hath his name, to be called Pentecost, even of the number of the days. For (as St. Luke writeth in the Acts of the Apostles) when fifty days were come to an end, the disciples being all together with one accord in one place, the Holy Ghost came suddenly among them, and sat upon each of them, like as it had been cloven tongues of fire. Which thing was undoubtedly done, to teach the apostles and all other men, that it is he which giveth eloquence and utterance in preaching the gospel, that it is he which openeth the mouth to declare the mighty works of God, that it is he which engendereth a burning zeal towards God's word, and giveth all men a tongue, yea a fiery tongue, so that they may boldly and cheerfully profess the truth in the face of the whole world, as Isaiah was endued with this Spirit. The Lord, saith Isaiah, gave me a learned and a skilful tongue, so that I might know to raise up them that are fallen, with the word (Isaiah 1. 4). The prophet David crieth to have this gift, saying, Open thou my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise (Ps. li. 15). For our Saviour Christ also in the Gospel saith to his disciples, It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which is within you (Matt. x. 20). All which testimonies of Holy Scripture do sufficiently declare, that the mystery in the tongues betokeneth the preaching of the gospel, and the open confession of the Christian faith, in all them that are possessed with the Holy Ghost. So that, if any man be a dumb Christian, not professing his faith openly, but cloaking and colouring himself for fear of danger in time to come, he giveth men occasion, justly and with good conscience, to doubt lest he have not the grace of the Holy Ghost within him, because he is tongue-tied and doth not speak. Thus then have ye heard the first institution of this feast of Pentecost, or Whitsuntide, as well in the old law among the Jews, as also in the time of the gospel among the Christians. Now let us consider what the Holy Ghost is, and how |