A39680:42
Sacramental meditations upon divers select places of scripture
Sacramental meditations upon divers select places of scripture wherein believers are assisted in preparing their hearts, and exciting their affections and graces, when they draw nigh to God in that most awful and solemn ordinance of the Lords Supper / by Jo. Flavel ...
London: printed for Jacob Sampson, 1679
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And as this disposition and temper of spirit is due to every act and part of Gods Worship, so (to accommodate this general to our particular occasion) it is especially due to this great and solemn Ordinance of the Lords Supper.
It is the Observation of the Casuists, that Sacramentum & mortis articulus aequiparantur, the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, and the very point of death require equal seriousness; a mans spirit should be as deeply solemn and composed at the Lords Table, as upon a Dead-bed: We should go to that Ordinance, as if we were then going into another world.
The Primitive Christians used to sit up whole Nights in Meditation and Prayer, before their participation of the Lords Supper; and these Nights were called Vigiliae, their Watches. Such was the Reverence the Saints had for this Ordinance (which they usually call d mysterium tremendum, a tremendous 1Mystery) that they would not give sleep to their eyes, or slumber to their eye-lids, when so great and solemn a day drew near.
The Primitive Christians used to sit up whole Nights in Meditation and Prayer, before their participation of the Lords Supper; and these Nights were call'd Vigiliae, their Watches. Such was the Reverence the Saints had for this Ordinance (which they usually call d mysterium tremendum, a tremendous 1Mystery) that they would not give sleep to their eyes, or slumber to their eye-lids, when so great and solemn a day drew near.
- 1Chrysost. lib. 3. de Sacerdot.