The crucified Jesus, or, A full account of the nature, end, design and benefits of the sacrament of the Lords Supper with necessary directions, prayers, praises and meditations to be used by persons who come to the Holy Communion / by Anthony Horneck ...

CHAP. VI. (Book 6)

Of Receiving the Lord's Supper Fasting, and how far it is Necessary. (Book 6)

The CONTENTS.

It is a thing not absolutely necessary, to receive the Lord's Supper fasting; Several Reasons to prove the Assertion. Yet, to receive it Fasting, is a thing very conventent, be∣cause it quickens Devotion, and is an Act agreeable to the mortifying Prospect of Christ's Death, and warranted by the Practice of the Universal Church. Total Abstinence from Food, that Morning we receive, may be prejudicial to some Constitutions, which must therefore be indulged to eat something at Home. Cautions and Rules to be obser∣ved in Eating before we Receive. The Decay of Fasting among Christians of this Age, an Argument of the Decay of Christianity. To Fasting, before we Receive, must be joined afterward Abstinence from Sin. The Prayer.

I. THat it is not absolutely necessary to eat the Lord's Supper Fasting, will appear from the following Arguments.

1. Neither Eating, nor Abstinence do in themselves commend us unto God, for neither if we Eat, are we the worse, neither if we Eat not, are we the worse, saith St. Paul, 1 Cor. 8. 8. It's not the Belly God regards so much as the Heart, and the Frame of the Soul he ever

respects more than the Bowels; The Pharisee, that lays the stress of his Religion upon an empty Stomach, mi∣stakes the Nature of God as much as the Pythagorean, who fancies God will be pleased with his chusing one sort of Food before another; Neither the former's ab∣staining from Swines-Flesh, nor the other's Aversion from Beans, is an Offering acceptable to him, especially where they stand single, and have no other Virtues to bear them company. God being a Spirit, loves to converse with Spiritual Natures, and such are our Souls; and an humble and broken Spirit prevails more with him than all outward Ceremonies whatsoever. The Jews, Es. 58. 3. were as much out, when they cryed, Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? as those, Luk. 13. 26. that said to Christ, Have not we eaten and drunk in thy presence? One Act of sincere Contrition, is a more pleasing Spe∣ctacle to God, than a thousand external Formalities; and doing his Will, a more acceptable Sacrifice than a rueful Face, Fasting hath no intrinsick Virtue, the Gra∣cious Aspect God vouchsafes it, is upon the account of something within, that looks very lovely in his Eyes, and that is a Conscience sprinkled from dead Works.

2. Christ's Example is a convincing Argument, that to receive it Fasting is not absolutely necessary. Not only St. Matthew, Matth. 26. 26. but the other Evange∣lists assure us, that while Christ and his Disciples were eating the Passover, or as soon as they had eaten it, he took Bread, and Blessed it, and brake, and gave it to his Disciples, and said, take, eat, &c. Had it been a sin to do so, we may rationally suppose, the first Author of this Sacrament would have given no encouragement to it by his Example; and though it's true, that may be sometimes lawful in a Prince, which may be an Error in the Subject; yet our Great Master laid aside that Piece of State, and appeared in the Form of a Servant, and be∣came obedient to that Law, he would have his Follow∣ers live up to; He did not prescribe one thing, and do another, but like a watchful General, put his Hand to

that Plough, at which he would have others labour; and it's evident enough, that while he and the Disciples were eating, or as soon as they had eated the Passover (and consequently they were not fasting) he bid them Eat and Drink of the Sacramental Bread and Wine, which ac∣cordingly they did, and we may be confident he would not have led them into an Error.

3. The Apostles afterward we see, were indifferent, whether they gave it to Men fasting, or to Persons, who had been at a Meal just before, so they were but studious, of a pure and spotless Conversation, and so much ap∣pears from what we read, Act. 2. 46. After they came from the Temple, i.e. after they came from the Com∣mon Prayer in the Temple, which was at Nine of the Clock in the Morning, and at Three in the Afternoon they break Bread from House to House, and giving it in the Afternoon, as well as in the Morning, we may just∣ly conclude they laid no stress upon Peoples receiving it fasting. However, it's plain that the Corinthian Christi∣ans, by St. Pauls Allowance and Approbation, administred and received it after their Love-Feasts; and while they observed the Rules of Decency, Sobriety, and Tempe∣rance, and Charity, and Seriousness in those Agapae, or Feasts of Charity, the Apostle found no fault with their Communicating after them; but when they became luxurious, and grew exorbitant, and made provision for the Flesh more than the Spirit, he justly changed his Discourse, and turned his former Gentleness into sharp Reproofs, and Apostolical Reprehensions; and he had reason, for these Doings would have soon brought this weighty Ordinance into Contempt, and made Men ab∣hor the Offerings of the Lord.

II. Notwithstanding all this, to receive it Fasting, is a thing very convenient.

1. Because it quickens Devotion. That we are not to come to the Table of our Lord with an indifferency of

Mind, or looseness of Fancy, or carelesness of Affections, none can be ignorant: The sublimest Mystery requires the sublimest Thoughts, and a Mind as clear from gross and carnal Apprehensions, as Mortality will let us; but this is not to be done without Fasting, Meat and Drink filling the Brain with Fumes, and as you have seen a Cloud coming before the Sun, intercepting, and darken∣ing the brighter Rays of that noble Planet; so the greasie Steams and Vapours, which feeding before, sends up to the nobler Parts, must needs, in some measure at least, obscure the Understanding, the Sun in this Microcosm, and hinder it from spreading and dispersing its kindly Beams and Influences; and this was the Opinion, not only of the Primitive Believers, but of the Pythagoreans also, and other Philosophers, whose Great Maxim was, That the purest Thoughts flow from an empty Stom••ch, or Self-denial in Meat and Drink. That the ancient Chri∣stians fasted so often, the reason certainly was, to give Wings to their Devotion, and to make their Prayers fly the faster, and with greater Alacrity to Heaven. This way they found was most proper to plant a Spiritual Temper in their Souls, and when they would mount up with greater Chearfulness above the Clouds, they gave themselves to Fasting and Prayer. And indeed, in some Constitutions at least, the Soul never acts more like it self, than when the Body gives it no Divertise∣ment by Eating and Drinking for a time. The more the Body is fed, the leaner grows the Soul, and the leaner the Body is kept, the fatter grows the Soul; all which is evidence enough, That to receive the Holy Commu∣nion Fasting, is the way to receive it with the quickest, and therefore most sutable Devotion.

2. To receive it fasting, is an Act most agreeable to the mortifying Prospect of Christ's Death and Passion. What? Look upon so dismal an Object with a full Stomach, or a pampered Body, which is enough to tempt us to say with St. Thomas in another case, Let us go, that we may dye with him, John 11. 16. He that comes to this Sa∣crament, comes to dye with Christ, i. e. to dye to Sin,

and sure no sober Man will think Eating and Drinking to be a proper Preparative for so serious a Death: How absurd is it not to have all things suitable in a great So∣lemnity? In the Communion we come to behold a Fasting Saviour, fasting and abstaining, not only from Common Food that Day he suffered, but fasting from a Sense of the charming Love of God, and from the Comforts and Communications of the Divine Nature, which by a Miracle withdrew its Shine and Splendor, and left him in the Dark; a severer Fast, than if those Three and Thirty Years he lived in the World, he had eaten nothing, and can we behold this dreadful Fast, and not appear fasting before the Altar? Besides, do People make a Meal when they are going to a Feast? A greater Banquet we cannot go to, than that which the King of Heaven hath prepared; and shall we fill our Bellies be∣fore we appear here, and dull our Appetite to the richer Food?

3. To receive the Lord's Supper Fasting, hath been the Practice of the Christian Church for many hundred Years; for when sad Experience taught the Fathers how unfit the preceding Love-Feasts made the Generality for Re∣ceiving Christ in this Ordinance, they thought them∣selves obliged, not only to separate those Love-Feasts from the Supper of the Lord, but to make strict Orders for the Celebrating of it in the Morning, and to charge all Persons to receive it with an empty Stomach; while the heat of Persecution lasted, they were forced to re∣ceive it very early before Day, that they might not meet with Affronts or Disturbances from the Heathens, if if they had known of the time of their Meetings; but what Persecution made necessary at first, was made so afterwards by a Law; I mean by a Law Eccle∣siastical, and therefore the Third Council of Carthage decrees expresly, That the Sacrament of the Altar should be taken and received by none, but such as are Fasting: A thing so religiously observed, especially by the Eastern Churches, that when some of St. Chrysostom's Enemies had

informed against him, that he had given the Holy Communion to Persons, who he knew had eaten at Home, before they came to Church; he falls a protest∣ing and wishing, If he had done such a thing, that his Name may be blotted out of the Catalogue of Bishops; nay, That Christ may exclude him from his Everlast∣ing Kingdom. In St. Austin's time, it was become an universal practice to take and receive it Fasting: And though in Egypt not a few kept to the old Custom of re∣ceiving it after their common Suppers; yet the Disor∣ders, lrreverence, and Intemperance they fell into by that means, hath been defensative sufficient to wise Men from following them in that preposterous way of Re∣ceiving; so that we may truly say, that this Commu∣nicating with an empty Stomach, hath been the Pra∣ctice of most Christian Churches ever since the Apostles days; and this was part of their Rules and Canons; and what hath been so punctually observed by most Churches of the World, ought certainly to weigh much with him that believes the Church to be the Ground and Pillar of Truth, as it is called, 1 Tim. 3. 16.

III. However, since it is possible, that some, by total Abstinence from common Food that Morning they are to receive, may make themselves unfit to receive with due Devotion, their Stomachs not being able to bear Emptiness, such must be allowed to eat something be∣fore they Receive, whether they be Ministers of the Word, who must take pains, and spend their Spirits on such days, and sometimes are none of the strongest, or other Persons of a weak and sickly Constitution: But in this case, the following Rules must necessarily be ob∣served.

1. That we eat no more than what just serves to support Nature against Fainting: Not only the Law of Self-pre∣servation, but of Religion too, bids us keep our Bodies serviceable to our Souls. If these Tabernacles of Clay be out of order, the Soul, which, in this Valley of

Tears at least, works by the Organs of the Body, must needs languish too; and the Pen, which is the Body, being spoiled or cracked, or weakened, the Scribe, which is the Soul, cannot write so fair as otherwise it would do. But then there is a great difference betwixt keeping the Body from fainting, and pampering of it. He that before the Sacrament eats to Satiety, cannot be supposed to bring very lively Thoughts, or a profound Sense of the great Mystery with him to the Holy Table; so that the quantity of Food that's taken before, must be such as leaves the Soul in a good Posture and Temper to be affected, and touched with the Solemnity and Greatness of the Ordinance.

2. The Food we take before, must be of the courser sort, that the Mind may be preserved in a mortified Frame. God, Es. 58. 3. finds fault with the Jews for allowing themselves in Pleasures while they fasted, to shew how unsuitable Carnal Recreations, though at other times lawful, are on such Humiliation Days. This may just∣ly be applied to Eating before Men come to the Holy Sacrament: Pleasant Meat is unsuitable: To find pleasure in Eating and Drinking before, spoils the Pleasure the Soul should take in this Ordinance. Christ, before he did eat of the Eucharist, did eat, 'tis true, but it was Unleavened Bread and bitter Herbs, which I reckon was as much as Fasting; for such Food cannot be sup∣posed to be very palatable: And before the Love-Feasts, that preceded the Sacrament, were corrupted, the Christians did eat so moderately, that they seemed to feed rather upon Discipline, than the Meat that was set before them, as Tertullian words it.

3. Even that small quantity of courser Food, must be taken with pious Reflections, and Contemplations of the far nobler Food, which, within a few Minutes after, we are like to be partakers of. Serpents, they say, whatever injuries are offered them, still their great care is to preserve their heads: If it be our duty to be wise as Serpents, it must

be our care too to guard our Heads, our Minds I mean, especially where necessity forces us to eat, before we come to the Lord's Table, that the serious frame be not overthrown, and that it may appear, it is not delight in eating, but desire to be the better able to converse with God, which makes us give our Bodies such neces∣sary Refreshments as their weakness requires. And if you ask me, What Reflections are most proper in this case? I need only send you to that Guest, Luc. 14. 15. who sitting at the Table, said, Blessed is he that shall eat Bread in the Kingdom of God! So he that upon such occasions gives his Body ordinary Food, may reflect on the Table in Christ's everlasting Kingdom, where God's Glory will be the Meat, and the light of his Favour the Drink, and Angels the Musicians, and glorified Saints the Com∣pany, and the Eternal Love of God the Canopy, under which the vast Armies of Martyrs and Saints will feast, and gather everlasting strength; strength which no sickness, no illness, and no accidents can ever weaken or dissolve.

The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice.

I. WE may take notice here of the strange decay of Christianity, especially with respect to Fasting; a piece of Devotion, whereby the Primitive Believers effected very great things: And it's to be feared that the over-tenderness of Men to their Bodies in this Age, and a fancy that every thing is necessary which their Appetite craves, is no small hinderance to their eminen∣cy in Virtue and Goodness. It's granted, that Men may be very vicious, and yet great Fasters too, as one John Scot in Scotland, in the year 1539. a man of no Learning,* 1.1 and no good Qualities nei∣ther, who was able to abstain thirty or for∣ty days together from all manner of Meat and Drink; whereof the King willing to

make tryal, shut him up in a Room within the Castle of Edinburgh, suffering no creature to come at him: A little Bread and Water indeed was set before him at his first com∣ing into the room; but upon examination, it was found that he had not so much as tasted of it in the space of 32 days. And going afterwards to Rome, the like proof of his fasting was given to Pope Clement VII. and some time after, preaching against King Henry the Eighth's Divorce at London, he was shut up in Prison, where he fasted 50 days, yet continued still a dissolute man. But it is not the bare abstinence that makes a Man a Christian, but the spending a Fast religiously, and to good ends, works the Miracle of Holiness; and such were the Fasts of the Primitive Believers, who by such frequent Mortifications made their Graces tower and climb, and culminate, to the admiration of the unbelieving World; when they would conquer any Corruption, when they had a mind to arrive to any excellency in Vertue, when they wanted a signal spiritual Blessing; nay, when their Friends and Relations, or any eminent Servant of God, lay sick, they presently applied themselves to this piece of Mortifica∣tion, and found great success: And it stands to reason, that where the Soul gets thus above the Body, slights the Pleasures of the flesh, determines to converse with God, and entertains herself with the thoughts of his Greatness and her own Vileness; God, who ever loves an humble Spirit, will look down and satisfie the longing Soul, and fill the thirsty Soul with Goodness. Yet,

II. Let's not think we have discharged our duty, when we have received the Lord's Supper fasting; that will signifie but little, if after receiving we do not fast from sin. This is the acceptable Lent, and must be observed more religiously than the Mahometan doth his month Ramasan: This is the Fast which the Lord hath chosen, and except our Abstinence from Food be in order to this Fast, God regards it no more than the lowing of Oxen, or the bleating of Sheep. To fast from sin, is both a Preparative for the Lord's Supper, and must be

the consequence of it. This Fast must be the very end of our coming to the holy Table, and we eat and drink there, that we may be out of love with this dangerous Meat. Nor is this Fast from sin a thing impossible, if by sin, as we ought to do, we understand wilful and ha∣bitual sin; and the Motives to this perpetual Fast are ve∣ry cogent: He that believes that sin is the Food of De∣vils, and the Meat of Hell, and the Festival of Fallen Angels, can have no great Stomach to it. Nothing starves the Soul sooner than sin; and as pleasant as it may be to the Palate, the Soul suffers extreamly by it, and falls into Palsies and Apoplexies. It makes it not only lean, but miserable too; it shuts her out from the care and ten∣derness of a Gracious God, and, in its pernicious effects, goes beyond the Apples of Sodom; for whereas these, up∣on touching of them, fall and shatter only into Ashes, that ends in eternal Fire. The Ears must be stopt there∣fore against its Charms, the Eyes shut against its alluring Dresses; and thus we may wean our selves from any af∣fection to this forbidden fruit.

The PRAYER.

O My God! Thou art the most Charming Object, and though the sensual World will not be persuaded to believe it, yet it is because their eyes are blinded. The enlightned Soul discovers such Beauty in thee, as transcends the fairest Pictures that mortal hands can make. Thou, who art the Creator of all Excellencies, must needs be more excellent than all thy Crea∣tures. O how have I been mistaken in my choice! How gree∣dy have I been after the Meat which perisheth! To fast and abstain from that, I have thought death and misery; while I could be content to live without thee; and to be deprived of the Communications of thy Goodness, hath not so much as caused the least solicitude in my Breast. The want of thy favour hath troubled me no more than the want of things which are con∣trary to my Nature and Constitution. I see now, where my

Happiness lies, and to feed on thee, I perceive, is to feed on that which is incorruptible. O kiss me with the kisses of thy Lips, and my Soul shall leap for joy. Make sin odious to me, and make me as averse from it, 〈◊〉〈◊〉, my nature is from Poison. Let my desires be after thee alone, and let me feel, that when I enjoy thee, I have the best Meat and Drink, and that which will nourish me into everlasting Life: Let nothing satisfie me, but to live for ever; Let that be my Ambition; Let that be my Resolution; Let that be my Endeavour. My Soul hath been precious in thy sight, thou hast not yet condemn'd me with the World. Thy patience hath long waited for me, while others have been sent into Darkness, thou hast spared me, and suffered me to enjoy the Light of the Living. I will trespass upon thy Goodness no more, I feel the workings of thy Spirit in my Soul, I feel desires and propensities to Goodness, I will cherish them; O help thou me! Let those drops of Goodness in me swell into Floods, and the ri••ulets of Grace that run through my Soul, into larger streams. Let thy voice be heard in my Soul, thy convincing, thy converting, thy pardon∣ing, thy sanctifying voice. At thy Word I will let down the Net; O let me enclose a multitude of Virtues! Good∣ness hath been meat I have had an aversion from; now let it become my daily Bread. Teach me the art of Abstinence, perswade me to abstain from that, which will certainly be my ruine. Give me a Holy greediness after thy Word; let mine ears delight to hear it, and mine eyes delight to see it, and my feet delight to walk in the way of it. Lead me to the Rock that is stronger than I; let me freely-Sacrifice unto thee. Let my great endeavour be, to please my Redeemer, who hath saved my Life from the Nethermost Hell. He bids me follow him; O blessed Jesu! I will follow thee whither∣soever thou goest: Only give me alitority and readiness to make haste after thee, who art the Captain of my Salvation; To wh••m with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be Honour and Glory for ever, and ever. Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  See Archbi∣shop Spots∣wood's Hist. Book 2. p. 69.