Church upon Ash-Wednesday, were received again into the Church; partly, because there was this day an holy Communion, in memory of our Lord's institution of the same this day; and the Epistle, 1 Cor. xi. 17, is fitted to that purpose; fit therefore it was that penitents should be reconciled this day (upon which this Sacrament was instituted for the remission of sins) to receive the holy Communion. Partly, because this day our Lord was apprehended and bound, whose binding wrought our deliverance and freedom.

The form of reconciling penitents was in short this. The bishop goes out of the doors of the church, where the penitents lie prostrate upon the earth, and thrice in the name of CHRIST he calls them, "Come, come, come ye children, hearken to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord:" then after he hath prayed for them, and admonished them, he reconciles them, and brings them into the Church. The penitents thus received, trim their heads and beards, and laying off their penitential weeds, they reclothe themselves in handsome apparel. The church doors were wont to be set all open this day; to signify that penitent sinners coming from north or south, or any quarter of the world, shall be received to mercy and the Church's favour.

O

GOOD FRIDAY.

THIS day holy Church keeps a most strict fast;

a

was for us, even the cause of all our good, and ground of all our joy; and so in respect of the effect of it, Christ's Passion may be a Gospel for a feast; and so it is upon Palm Sunday. But if we consider that our sins were the cause of His sufferings, and that it was we that crowned His head with thorns, nailed His hands and feet, and gored His side with a spear; so His Passion, considered in the cause of it, is matter of the greatest sorrow, and in this respect we keep it a fast.

The Gospel is taken out of St. John xix. 1, rather than out of any other Evangelist; because he was present at the Passion, and stood by the cross when others fled; and therefore the Passion being represented as it were before our eyes this day, his testimony is read who saw it himself; and from whose example we may learn not to be ashamed nor afraid of the cross of Christ.

This day holy Church prays expressly for all Jews, Turks, and Infidels, enemies of the cross of Christ; for this day Christ both prayed and died for His enemies; and as He expressed the height of His love this day, by dying for them, so does the Church her height of charity in praying for them.

The antiquity of this holy day appears by Eusebius, who there tells us, "That it was an holy day in his time, and long before. That day of our Saviour's Passion we are wont to celebrate, not only with fastings and watchings, but also with attentive hearing and reading of the holy Scriptures." e

SATURDAY.

HIS day the Gospel, St. Matt. xxvii. 57, treats of Christ's body lying in the grave: the Epistle, 1 St. Peter iii. 17, of His soul's descent into hell.f

OF THE COLLECTS FROM SEPTUAGESIMA TO EASTER.

TH

HOUGH the Church be always militant while she is upon earth; yet at this time (" the time when kings go out to battle "g) she is more than ordinary militant, going out to fight against her

e Euseb. Hist. lib. II. ch. xvii. p. 57. B.

f Till the Scotch Liturgy was compiled, there was no particular Collect for this day; those for Good Friday, I suppose, were repeated.-See Wheatly on the place. g a Sam. xi. I.

avowed enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, making it her special business to get the mastery over them, so far, that they may not be able to prevail over her the year following. Now because (as St. Paul saith,h) “ Every one that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things;" therefore at this time especially, when she is seeking the mastery over her enemies, holy Church does more than ordinary addict herself to temperance, fasting, and other works of penance and mortification; and accordingly she suits her readings, not aiming to fit them to each particular day, (this is to be expected only upon privileged days, the subject matter of whose solemnity is more particularly recorded in Holy Scripture,) but to the season in general, and the Church's design at this time, commending to us fasting, repentance, alms, charity, and patience in undergoing such voluntary afflictions. And the Collects are suitable also to the readings and the time, praying earnestly for those graces and virtues before mentioned, which are especially requisite to this her holy undertaking. And because she knows her own weakness, and her enemies both craft and strength, who will then be most active and busy to hurt when we thus set ourselves to fight against them, therefore does she earnestly and frequently also in divers Collects pray for God's protection and defence from those enemies, for His strength

h 1 Cor. ix. 25.

K

and assistance whereby she may overcome them. "That he would stretch forth the right hand of His Majesty, and by His power defend us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls, which of ourselves have no power to help ourselves." And in such prayers as these the Church continues, lifting up her hands (as Moses did his against the Amalekites) all the time of this spiritual conflict.

EASTER.

THIS is the highest of all feasts, says Epiphanius1

THIS

upon the day. This day Christ opened to us the door of life, being the first fruits of those that rose from the dead; whose resurrection was our life, for He rose again "for our justification." k

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Instead of the usual invitatory, “O come let us sing unto the Lord," holy Church uses special hymns or anthems1 concerning Christ's resurrection, "Christ rising again from the dead," &c. and, "Christ is risen," &c. set down before the Collect on Easter-day. Having kept company with the Apostles and first believers, in standing by the cross weeping upon Good Friday, and kept a fast

i In Resur. Christi, vol. ii. p. 276.

11 Cor. v. 7. Rom. vi. 9. 1 Cor. xv. 20.

k Rom. iv. 25.