CHAP. II. Alh-Wednesday, or the kit Day of W HY doth the Faft of forty Days, called A. Because the four Days of this Week complete the forty Days, it being never the Custom of the Church to faft on Sundays, whereon we commemorate fo great a Bleffing as our Saviour's Refurrection; the fix Sundays in Lent being deducted, and these four Days being added, make the Number entire. Q. Why is the first Day of Lent called AfhWednesday? A. From the Cuftom that prevailed in the ancient Church, for Penitents at this Time to exprefs their Humiliation by lying in Sackcloth and Afhes: by the Coarfenefs of Sackcloth they ranked themselves, as it were, among Men of the meanest and loweft Condition; by Afhes, and fometimes Earth caft upon their Heads, they made themselves lower than the loweft of the Creatures of God, and put themselves in mind of their Mortality, which would reduce them to Duft and Ashes. Q. What was the Difcipline of the Primitive Church at the Beginning of Lent? A. That fuch Perfons as ftood convicted of notorious Crimes were put to open Penance. For according to the ancient Difcipline, thofe who after Baptifm fell into any great and notorious Sins, if they were Penitents, were adGg 4 mitted 455 But mitted to Penance, and to the Prayers of the Church for their Reconciliation with God. if they were refractory Sinners, or their Crimes of a deep Dye, they were excommunicated, and not admitted to Reconciliation with the Church, but alter a long and tedious Course of Penance, after the moft publick Teftimonies of Sorrow and Repentance, and the greatest Signs of Humiliation that can be imagined. For TerDe Pænit tullian tells us, They lay in Sackcloth and Afbes, they disfigured their Bodies with a neglected Uncleanness, and djeled their Minds with Grief; they used no other Food but what was neceffary to keep up Life, and frequently nourished their Prayers with rigorous Fafting; they groaned, they wept to the Lord their God Day and Night; they fell down at the Feet of the Prefbyters, they kneeled to the Friends of God, and begged of all their Fellow Chriftians to pray for them. Thefe Severities they willingly fubmitted to, as Tokens of their Sorrow, and Evidences of their Reformation, and thought themfelves happy upon any Terms to be admitted to the Peace of God, and the Church. Cypr. E pift. 17 18. Edit. Oxon. Q. How were Penitents re-admitted into the Church? A. When they had finifhed the Time prefcribed for the undergoing thefe Severities, if their Repentance upon Examination was found to be real, they were re-admitted into the Church by the Impofition of the Hands of the Clergy, the Party to be abfolved kneeling before the Bishop, or in his Abfence, before the Prefbyter, who laying his Hand upon his Head, folemnly bleffed and abfolved him; whereupon he was received with univerfal Joy, and reftored to a Participa tion of the holy Sacrament, and to all other Acts of Church Communion. Q. What Method hath the Church of England taken to fupply the Want of ancient Difcipline at this Time? 23. 2Cor.2.6. A. Till our Spiritual Fathers can be fo happy Mat. 16. as to fucceed in difcharging thofe Obligations 19. they lye under of reftoring to the Church that ch.18.17. Difcipline the hath a Right to; being founded John 20. upon the exprefs Laws of Chrift and his Apo- 1 Cor. 5. fles, fufficiently explained to us by the Prac- 3, 4, 5. tice of the Primitive and Apoftolical Church, ver. 12,13. very useful to recover thofe that have erred ch.12.10. from the Truth and Piety, and abfolutely ne- 13. 2. 10. ceffary to preferve Religion in its greatest Pu- Tit. 3. 9. rity; till, I fay, this bleffed Time fhall come, 1 Tim. 6. which good Men with for, and bad Men fear, 3, and 5. the Church of England, to fupply this Want, fets before her Members the Curfes due to all Sin, and puts them in Mind of God's dreadful Tribunal, where the Impenitent shall be most certainly condemned; thereby endeavouring to bring every Man to judge and condemn himfelf, that he may truly repent of his paft Follies, and carefully avoid thofe Sins, for the Time to come, which draw upon Men the Judgments of God. Q. But is not faying Amen to thofe Sentences of God's Law, a Curfing of ourselves, and is it not a wicked as well as a foolish Thing? A. This pious Office hath indeed been so traduced; but I believe it hath not been confidered, that God himself commanded this manner of anfwering. And tho' fome Circumstances in reciting thefe Curfes among the Jews might be ceremonial, yet the main of the Duty, and the End Deut. II. 29. for ch. 27. for which it was prescribed, was truly moral, tending to the Honour of God and his Laws, and the promoting of true Piety. And the laying Amen does not here fignify wifhing, but affirming and declaring the Truth of what God hath revealed; and thus Amen is often in the Gospel Tranflation Verily, and Jefus, who is the Truth, Mat v.18. is called Amen; fo that Amen is no more than a Mark iii. Declaration, that he whom God bleffeth is bleffed, Luke iv. and he whom God curfeth is curfed: And thefe Curfes are like our Saviour's Woes in the Gospel, not Procurers of Evil, but compaffionate Predictions of it, in order to prevent it. 28. 24. Rev. iii. 14. Q. But bath not Chrift taken away the Curfe of the Law, being made a Curfe for us? A. It is true that our Saviour, by Virtue of his Sacrifice, made Satisfaction for Sin, and bore that Curse which belonged to us; and thereby acquitted and cleared all thofe that believe in him from the Guilt of thofe Sins, for which there was no Way of Expiation provided by the Law of Mofes; that is, of prefumptuous Sins, for which there was no Sacrifice, but the Man was to be cut off. But ftill this Redemption that was purchased for us, was upon the Condition of Repentance; fo that impenitent Sinners are still the Objects of God's Wrath; and tho' Pardon and Forgiveness of Sins was procured for us by the Death of Christ, yet Repentance is neceffary to qualify us to receive the Benefit of it. It being certain ftill, that Sinners, while they remain fuch, are really accurfed; and to convince them of this, and make them own it, is the trueft Bleffing the Church can procure for them. Q. What Ufe does the Church make of fetting the Curfes of God's Law before us? A. To A. To prefs all Chriftians to a true and fincere Repentance from the Confideration of God's dreadful Wrath against all impenitent Sinners; which as is it fevere in itself, and altogether intolerable, fo is it juft in its Proceedings, and abfolutely unavoidable, when it doth come; and when Sinners are awakened by this Confideration from their dreadful Security, they are encouraged to Repentance from God's Readiness to receive true Penitents to Mercy, and from the great Benefits of it, Pardon and Peace in this Life, and eternal Happiness in the next. Q. Since Repentance is fo earnestly pressed upon us at this Time, pray wherein does it confift? A. Repentance confifts in fuch a Change of Mind, as produces the like Change in our Lives and Converfations; fo that to repent of our Sins, is to be convinced that we have done amiss; whence follows hearty Sorrow for our paft Follies, and a firm and effectual Purpose and Refolution of Mind to forfake them for the Time to come. And this Change is fo great in our Defires and Refolutions, that the Scripture calls it a new Nature, the Sincerity and Reality whereof appears in Actions fuitable to fuch new Principles. Q. What Confiderations are proper to excite in us Sorrow for our Sins? A. Who can forbear grieving, when he confiders that he is fallen under the heavy Difpleafure of Almighty God, whose infinite Patience he hath abused? that he is exposed to all thofe Miferies that are implied in an eternal Separation from the Fountain of all Happiness; that he hath foolishly neglected the most important Concern of his Life, and done what in him lies to make himfelf everlaftingly miferable; that he hath |