CHAP. XII. That he who intends to Communicate ought with great Diligence to prepare himself for Chrift. I The VOICE of the BELOVED. Am a lover of purity, and the giver of all holiness. A pure heart is what I feek, and that is the place of my rest. Prepare me a large upper room furnished, and I will come and eat the paffover at thy houfe with my Difciples. If thou defire that I fhould come unto thee, and make my abode with thee, purge out thy old leaven, and cleanfe the habitation of thy heart. Shut out all the world; banish all fin, and still all the tumults of thy paffions: Sit as a sparrow alone upon the boufe-top, and think over thy tranfgreffions in the bitterness of thy foul. For every Lover prepareth the best and faireft room for his best Beloved, and by his care and diligence to receive him, expreffes the greatness of his love and affection for him. St Luke xxii, b I Cor. v. 7. II. Yet II. Yet know withal, that thou art not able to make fufficient preparation from the merit or worth of any action of thine, tho' thou shouldeft employ a whole year in preparing, and have nothing elfe in thy thoughts. But it is entirely owing to my grace and mercy, that thou art permitted to approach my Table; in the fame manner as if a beggar were invited to dinner to a rich Man, who has nothing else to return for his favours, but to humble himself, and to give him thanks. Do thy part, and dò it with all the diligence thou canft; come not for fashion's fake, nor upon compulfi on; but with fear, and reverence, and love, receive the Body of thy beloved Lord GOD, vouchfafing to come unto thee. I am he that have called thee: I have commanded it to be done: I will fupply and make up what is wanting in thee: Come, and receive me. III. When I give thee the grace of devotion, render thanks to thy GOD: Not because thou art worthy, but because I had compaffion on thee. If thou haft it not, but rather findest thy felf dry and cold, be inftant in Prayer, figh, and knock: And defift not, till thou art vouchfafed a crumb at leaft or drop of life-preferving Grace. Thou standest ftandeft in need of me, I ftand not in need of thee. Nor comeft thou to fanctify me, But I come to fanctify, and to better thee. Thou comeft to be fanctified by me, and to be made one with me, to receive fresh fupplies of spiritual strength, and to be inflamed a-new to an amendment of life. Do not neglect this Grace; but prepare thy heart with all diligence, and bring in thy Beloved unto thee. IV. But thou oughteft not only to prepare thy felf for devotion before the communion, but carefully alfo to preferve thy felf therein, after thou haft received the Sacrament. Nor is there lefs neceffity of care and watchfulnefs, after, than of devout preparation, before. For a ftrict guard, afterwards, is the best preparation again, in order to receive greater degrees of Grace. For nothing indifpofes a Man more, than immediately to give himself a loose to outward comforts. Beware of much talk, keep in thy closet, and enjoy thy GOD. For thou haft one, whom the whole world cannot rob thee of. I am he, whom thou oughtest to give thy felf wholly unto; fo as to live ever hereafter not in thy felf, but in me, without all care and follicitude, and in a moft profound rest and tranquillity of mind.. CHAP. CHAP. XIII. That the devout Soul ought, with all its Powers, to defire Union with Chrift in the Sacrament. I. The VOICE of the DISCIPLE. "L ORD, who will grant me this blessed privilege, that I may find thee only, and open my whole heart unto thee, and enjoy thee, even as my Soul defireth: And that from henceforward no perfon may either defpife or regard me, no created thing affect me, no eye obferve me, but that thou alone mayft talk to me, and I to thee, even as the beloved Soul is wont to converfe with her Beloved, and friend to eat and drink with friend. This is my Prayer, this my defire, that I may be made entirely one with thee, and that I may withdraw my heart from all created things, and learn more and more to taste and relish heavenly and eternal things, by the frequency of holy Communion. Ah Lord GOD, when fhall I be wholly united with, and fwallowed up in thee, even to a perfect and entire oblivion and forgetfulness of my felf? Ee Thou Thou in me, and I in thee', and thus may we continue one for ever. II. Verily thou art my Beloved, my chofen, the chiefest among ten thousand, in whom my Soul is well pleafed to make her abode all the days of her life. Verily thou art the peace of my Soul: In thee is found the fovereign peace, and the true repofe; out of thee, nothing but labour and forrow, and endless mifery. Verily thou art a GOD that hideft thy felf; and thou haft no intercourfe with the wicked; but thy fecret is with the humble and fimple. O how fweet is thy Spirit, O Lord, who, to demonftrate the tenderness of thy affec tion to thy Children, vouchfafeft to refrefh them with the most delicious bread, that came down from Heaven! Verily there is no nation fo great, which hath GOD fo nigh unto them, as thou, our GOD, art unto all thy faithful ones; unto whom, for their daily confolation, and for the lifting up of their hearts to Heaven, thou giveft thy felf to be fed upon, and enjoyed. III. For what other nation is fo illuftrious as the Christian People? Or what crea John xix. b Cantic. iv. 9, 10. c Ifai. xlv. 15. Prov. iii. 32. f Deut. iv. 7. ture |