Lent with Jeremy Taylor: preparing to receive the Holy Sacrament
The style of it is fit for closets, plain and useful; the matter is of the greatest concernment, a rule for the usage of the greatest solemnity of religion: for as the eucharist is, by the venerable fathers of the church, called 'the queen of mysteries;' so the worthy communicating in this, is the most princely conjugation of graces in the whole rosary Of Christian religion.
It is because "our manducation must be spiritual" that preparation is called for when approaching "this great mysterious feast". And this, of course, is a conviction shared across the Christian traditions: that we must approach the Mysteries with faith and repentance, in order that our sacramental feeding bears spiritual fruit. As such, Taylor's prayers before reception of the Sacrament sit easily beside the great Latin (Ambrose and Thomas) and Greek (Basil and Chrysostom) prayers of preparation before receiving "these divine Mysteries".
Yes, the eucharistic theology in The Worthy Communicant is definitively Reformed, but this only illustrates how Reformed Eucharistic theology - as Hooker had declared - shared the fundamental and essential belief that we feed upon Christ in the Holy Supper: in Taylor's words, "to be fed with thy body, and refreshed with thy purest blood, to become bone of thy bone, and flesh of thy flesh, and spirit of thy spirit". It is precisely because of this gift that we are to prepare ourselves to approach this holy Sacrament.
My purpose is not to dispute, but to persuade; not to confute any one, but to instruct those that need; not to make a noise, but to excite devotion; not to enter into curious, but material inquiries, and to gather together into a union all those several portions of truth, and differing apprehensions of mysteriousness, and various methods and rules of preparation, and seemingly opposed doctrines, by which even good men stand at distance, and are afraid of each other. For since all societies of Christians pretend to the greatest esteem of this, above all the rites or external parts and ministries of religion, it cannot be otherwise but that they will all speak honourable things of it, and suppose holy things to be in it, and great blessings, one way or other, to come by it; and it is contemptible only among the profane and the atheistical. All the innumerable differences which are in the discourses and consequent practices relating to it, proceed from some common truths, and universal notions, and mysterious or inexplicable words, and tend all to reverential thoughts, and pious treatment of these rites and holy offices: and therefore, it will not be impossible to find honey or wholesome dews upon all this variety of plants; and the differing opinions, and several understandings of this mystery, which (it may be) no human understanding can comprehend, will serve to excellent purposes of the Spirit; if, like men of differing interest, they can be reconciled in one communion, at least the ends and designs of them all can be conjoined in the design and ligatures of the same reverence, and piety, and devotion ...
And if by faith we eat the flesh of Christ, as it is confessed by all the schools of Christians, then it is certain, that when so manifestly and solemnly, according to the divine appointment, we publish this great confession of the death of Christ, we do, in all senses of spiritual blessing, eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Christ ... To eat the flesh, and to drink the blood of Christ sacramentally, is an act of faith; and every act of faith, joined with the sacrament, does grow by the nature of grace, and the measures of a blessing; and, therefore, is eating of Christ spiritually; and this reflection of acts, like circles of a glorious and eternal fire, passes on in the univocal production of its own parts, till it pass from grace to glory ..
Now this holy ministry and sacrament of this death, being according to Christ's commandment, and, in our manner, a representation of that eternal sacrifice, an imitation of Christ's intercession in heaven in virtue of that sacrifice, must be after the pattern in the Mount: it must be as that is, 'pura prece,' as Tertullian's phrase is, 'by pure prayer;' it is an intercession for the whole church, present and absent, in the virtue of that sacrifice. I need add no more, but leave it to the meditation, to the joy and admiration of all Christian people to think and to enumerate the blessings of this sacrament, which is so excellent a representation of Christ's death, by Christ's commandment; and so glorious an imitation of that intercession, which Christ makes in heaven for us all; it is all but the representation of his death, in the way of prayer and interpellation; Christ as head, and we as members; he as High Priest, and we as servants, his ministers. And, therefore, I shall stop here, and leave the rest for wonder and eucharist: we may pray here with all the solemnity and advantages imaginable; we may, with hope and comfort, use the words of David, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." We are here very likely to prevail for all blessings, for this is, by way of eminency, glory, and singularity, 'calix benedictionis,' 'the cup of blessing,' which we bless, and by which God will bless us; and for which he is to be blessed for evermore.
Devotions provided by Taylor "to be used upon the Morning of the Communion":
O therefore, blessed Saviour, who didst, for our sakes, take upon thee our passions and sensibilities, our weaknesses and our sufferings, who wert hungry after the temptation of the devil, weary and thirsty in thy discourse with the woman of Samaria, who didst weep over Lazarus, wert afflicted in the garden, whipped in the Consistory, nailed on the cross, pierced with a spear, wrapped in linen, laid in the grave, and so art become a merciful High Priest, and pitiful to our infirmities; be pleased to receive a weary sinner, an over-burdened conscience, an afflicted, polluted soul, into thy care and conduct, into thy custody and cure. I know, that a thousand years of tears and sorrow, the purity of angels, the love of saints, and the humiliation of the greatest penitent, is not sufficient to make me worthy to dwell with thee, to be united to thy infinity, to be fed with thy body, and refreshed with thy purest blood, to become bone of thy bone, and flesh of thy flesh, and spirit of thy spirit.
O Jesus, be a Jesus unto me: and let this sacrament be a savour of life, and thy holy body, the bread of life, and thy precious blood, the purifier of my sinful life. Grant I may receive these divine mysteries for the amendment of my life and the defensative against my sins; for the increase of virtue, and the perfection of my spirit; grant that I may from thee, thus sacramentally communicated, derive prevailing grace for the amendment of my life; spiritual wisdom, for the discerning the ways of peace; the spirit of love, and the spirit of purity, that in all my life I may walk worthy of thy gracious favours, which thou givest to me unworthy; that I may do all my works in holiness and right intention, that I may resist every temptation, with a never-fainting courage, and a caution never surprised, and a prudence never deceived.
Sweetest Saviour, I come to thee upon thy invitation, and thy commandment; I could not come to thee but by thee; O let me never go from thee any more, but enter into my heart; feed me with thy word; sustain me with thy Spirit; refresh me with thy comforts, and let me in this divine mystery receive thee, my dearest Saviour: and be thou my wisdom and my righteousness, my sanctification and redemption. Let me receive this holy nutriment, as the earnest of an eternal inheritance, as a defensative against all spiritual danger, for the eviction of all the powers of the enemy: as an incentive of holy love, and a strengthening of my faith for the increasing of a holy hope, and the consummation of a heavenly love; that thou being one with me, and I with thee, I may, by thee, be gracious in the eyes of thy heavenly Father, and may receive my portion among the inheritance of sons, O eternal and most gracious Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen, Amen.
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