further hurt is felt from it. People, therefore, would do well to be very certain of the reality of this motive before they give way to it, lest what appears a just cause to them may prove a very insufficient one before God, and bring upon them the guilt, besides depriving their souls of all the benefits of this holy exercise.

Q. 43. Is the fear of being ridiculed or laughed at by others, a sufficient excuse for eating forbidden meat on days of fasting or abstinence?

A. The Scripture says, "There is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and grace," Ecclus. iv. 25. When a person is ashamed to do an evil action contrary to his duty, and therefore abstains from doing it, that is a shame which brings glory and grace;" but when a man is ashamed of doing his duty for fear of being laughed at, and ridiculed by others, and therefore acts contrary to his duty, that is "a shame which bringeth sin," and therefore can never be an excuse. Of this last shame our Saviour says, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels," Mark viii. 38. Now, there is no part of the words of Christ, that is, of his doctrine, which he more inculcates, than obedience to his Church; and, therefore, to be ashamed of obeying her, for fear of the laughter of men, is a crime for which Christ will be ashamed of us at the last day. Besides, experience itself shews, that, when a person transgresses this command of the Church, by eating flesh on forbidden days, for fear of being laughed at, and in weak compliance with those of another religion, it, for the most part, exposes him the more to their laughter aud contempt; for they look upon him as a person of no

conscience, who acts contrary to his profession and principles; whereas, when one stands firm to his duty on such occasions, though they may joke with him for a little on that account, yet in their heart, and when they speak seriously, they esteem and regard him the more.

Q. 44. But what answer should be given to "It those who say, in the words of our Saviour, is not that which goeth into the mouth that defiles a man," and that flesh is as good upon Fridays and Saturdays as on any other day, and is as much the creature of God?

A. Ask those who say this, If eating the forbidden fruit defiled our first parents? Or if the Jews would have been defiled, if they had eaten leavened bread on forbidden days? Ask them what Almighty God means, when, after forbidding his people to eat several kinds of creatures, he concludes, "Do not defile your soul, nor touch ought thereof?" Levit. xi. 43. Ask them, if the first Christians would have been defiled, if they had eaten blood, or things strangled, after the prohibition of the apostles? Ask, If all these forbidden meats were not as good in themselves as any others, and as much the creatures of God? But those who make this objection, only shew their own gross ignorance; for the sin of eating flesh on forbidden days does not consist in supposing any evil to be in the meat itself at those times more than at any other, but in disobedience to the command of God and his Church, and in preferring our own unbridled appetite, or the fear of the world, and what men will say, to the will of the most High God, and to the obedience which we owe to his commands.

SECTION III.

OF THE THIRD AND FOURTH COMMANDS OF THE CHURCH.

Q. 45. What is the third command of the Church?

A. To confess our sins, at least once a year, to our own pastor.

Q. 46. What is the fourth command of the Church?

A. To receive the Holy Communion, at least once a year, and that about Easter.

Q. 47. What is the end and design of these two commands?

A. To direct us as to the time when we are obliged to obey the general command, given by our Lord himself, of approaching the sacraments of confession and communion?

Q. 48. Has Jesus Christ given a general command for all to approach the sacrament of confession?

A. He has; for as he has instituted the sacrament of confession as the ordinary means by which our sins are to be forgiven, and we restored to the favour of God, it follows of course, that he obliges all to receive this sacrament, otherwise their sins will not be forgiven. And, though it be true, that, when a person cannot possibly get an occasion of receiving it, a perfect contrition or repentance for sin arising from a perfect love of God, and accompanied with an earnest desire of receiving the sacrament itself, is sufficient to cancel the guilt of sin, without actually receiving the sacrament; yet this perfect contrition is so difficult to be had, and so seldom to be met with, and one is so apt to be deceived who thinks he has it, that the command of approaching the sacrament obliges

all, without exception, whether one thinks he has a perfect contrition or not; the receiving it, when it can be had, being a condition expressly required, without which there is no forgiveness.

Q. 49. Has Jesus Christ given a general command for all to receive the holy communion?

A. He has: For he expressly says in the gospel, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you,' Jo. vi. 54; consequently, all those who are come to the years of discretion, and capable of discerning what they here receive, are commanded to receive these divine mysteries, under pain of eternal death, if they neglect it.

Q. 50. How often are we obliged to obey these divine commands of receiving the Sacraments of confession and communion?

A. This our Lord has not determined himself,' because different circumstances make it necessary to follow a different practice; and, therefore, no general rule could be laid down to answer all times. But this he left to be done by his Church, which could vary her rules for practice as the circumstances might require. Accordingly, we find, that in the primitive ages, the rule was to receive the holy communion every day; afterwards it came to be every Sunday; in process of time, as the fervour of charity began to wax cold, it became more seldom: and at last, the Church, in the general council of Lateran, made a decree, by which she obliges all her children, who are capable of it,' to receive these holy sacraments of confession and communion at least once in the year, and that the communion be about Easter time, in memory of the great Paschal salemnity. So that, by the third and fourth commands, the Church only fixed the particular time at which the general command laid upon us by Jesus Christ obliges us to its observance,

Q. 51. Would it be a grievous sin to neglect our Easter duties?

A. Most certainly it would be a grievous mortal sin to omit them through negligence, and without a just cause; because it would be a breach of the general command laid on us all by Jesus Christ, and also of the command of his Church, which obliges us to put that general command of Jesus Christ in execution about Easter time.

Q. 52. What if a person be not properly prepared to go about these duties at Easter time?

A. It is always in his power, with the help of God's grace, and the assistance of his pastor, to prepare himself for them; and, therefore, the same command that obliges him to perform them, obliges him also to prepare himself for them; so that his neglecting to prepare himself is itself a sin, and a continuing in a state of sin.

Q. 53. But what if a person endeavours to prepare himself, but cannot get it properly done in time?

A. He must then follow the advice of his pastor, who has power to defer his communion till he be properly prepared; and, provided he be 'truly sincere in his endeavours, this delay will be no fault in him.

Q. 54. What is the fifth command of the Church? A. To pay tithes to our Pastors.

Q. 55. What is the end and design of this command?

A. It is to direct the Christian people in discharging the obligation they lie under of supplying