Q. How was our blessed Saviour known to Simeon and Anna? A. Simeon being a just and devout Man, waiting Luke ii. for the Consolation of Israel, which was the Ex-25, 26. pectation of the promised Messias, God was pleased to reveal to him, that he should not see Death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ; and, at this very Time, when Christ was presented in the Temple, he was, by the Guidance and Dictate of God's Spirit, brought thither. And the Prophetess Anna, Lnke ii. constantly attending the Service of the Temple, re- 37, 39. markable for Mortification and Devotion, came in at the same Instant. They both gave Thanks untó the Lord, and spake of him to all that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem; Simeon in that admirable Hymn, which our Church hath adopted into her Offices, and with which she daily nourishes the Devotion of her Children. Q. What may we learn from the Hymn we so frequently repeat? A. That though we cannot see our Saviour with our bodily Eyes, as Simeon did, yet he being daily in the Holy Scriptures presented to the Eyes of our Faith, we ought to thank God for that wonderful Salvation he hath prepared both for Jew and Gentile. That we must never think of dying in Peace, till we have embraced our Saviour with our Understandings and Affections; till we heartily believe what he revealed; and sincerely practice what he taught. That Nothing will stand us in Stead in a dying Hour, and support us when all earthly Comforts forsake us, but the Remembrance of a wellspent Life, and the Performance of those Conditions upon which Salvation is promised. Q. What doth this great Honour, bestowed upon Simeon and Anna, teach us? A Constantly and devoutly to attend the Ordinances of our Religion; not to neglect those Means God hath established for the building us up in his. holy Faith. For if we fervently persevere, God Ver. 29. will abundantly communicate his Grace and Fayour towards us. Q. What may we learn from the Observation of this Festival? A. To dedicate the Vigour of our Youth, and the Flower of our Days, to the Practice of Religion; because, as it is the properest and most necessary Season to receive the Impressions of Piety and Virtue, so it is then most acceptable to God, the Perfection of whose Nature requires that we should offer up to him the Prime of our Age, and the Excellency of our Strength. To purify ourselves both in Body and Soul; and to practise that Obedience which our Saviour and the blessed Virgin taught by their Example. To return to God whatever we receive from him, and to make an entire Sacrifice to his Majesty of what is most dear and precious to us. Not to despise, but respect the Poor, who, in their outward Circumstances, bear so great a Resemblance to the blessed Jesus, and his holy Family. To bless God that he hath manifested to us the Consolation of Israel, to give Light to us that sat in Darkness, and in the Shadow of Death, and to guide our Feet into the Way of Peace. Above all, to clothe ourselves with Humility, to be meek and lowly in Heart, that we may find Rest for our Souls. Q. Is Humility particularly a Christian Virtue ? A. The Heathen Philosophers were so little acquainted with this Virtue, that they had no Name for it; what they expressed by the Word we now use, was Meanness and Baseness of Mind, which provoked their Contempt and Anger rather than Applause: And the Jews so valued themselves upon their Privileges, that they were too apt to contemn the Rest of Mankind. Our Saviour first taught it in its greatest Perfection; and indeed his whole Life was but so many repeated Instances of Humility and wonderful Condescension for our Sakes. He began his divine Sermon upon the Mount with this Precept, he lays it as the Foundation of our spiritual Building, without which we cannot discharge our Q. Wherein consists the Humility of a Christian? A. In not thinking better of himself than he deserves, in having a just Sense of all his Weaknesses and Defects, which will create a low and mean Opinion of himself; and in condescending to the meanest Offices for the Good of his Fellow-Christians, For thus our Saviour made himself to us a Pattern of this Virtue, by taking upon him our frail Nature, and by suffering the greatest Affronts and Indignities, and Pains of this Life, in order to shew us the Way to Heaven, and thereby to open to us the Gates of everlasting Life. It restrains the immoderate Desire of Honour, by teaching us not to exalt ourselves, nor to do any Thing through Strife or Vain-Glory; it makes us rejoice in the Excellencies of our Brethren, and sincerely congratulate those Abilities that entitle them to a greater Share of Value and Esteem than we can pretend to. The difficulty of this Virtue proceeds from that Self-Love which is planted in our Natures, and, when indulged, will be too apt to deceive us in the Judgment we form concerning ourselves. Q. How is Humility the Foundation of other Christian Virtues? 'A. It makes us ready to believe what God reveals, and to pay our due Obedience to him from the Sense of our own Meanness, and his Excellency: And by removing the great Obstacle of our Faith; which is a Vanity to distinguish ourselves from the unthinking Crowd. How can we believe when we Job. v. 44. receive Honour of one another, and seek not the Honour that cometh from God only? It makes us put our Hope and Confidence in God, because, being weak and miserable of ourselves, without him we can do Nothing. It increases our Love to God, by making us sensible how unworthy we are of the least of those many Favours we receive from him. It teaches us to rejoice in the Prosperity of our Neighbour, by infusing the most favourable Opinion of his Worth. It disposes us to relieve those Wants, and compassionate those Afflictions, which we ourselves have deserved. It makes us patient under all the Troubles and Calamities of Life, because we have provoked God by our Sins. Our Prayers and our Fasts will find no Acceptance, except they proceed from an humble Mind, and our best Works will stand us in little Stead, if they are stained with Pride and Vain-Glory. Q. Wherein consists the Exercise of Humility? A. In avoiding to publish our own Praises, or to beg the Praises of others, by giving them a Handle to commend us. In not placing too much Pleasure and Satisfaction in hearing the good Things that are said of us, because they are often rather the Effect of Civility and Charity than what we deserve. In doing Nothing on purpose to draw the Eyes and good Opinion of Men, but purely to please God. In bearing the Reproaches, the Injuries, and the Affronts of bad Men with Patience and Meekness; and the Reproofs of our Friends with Thankfulness. In not contemning others, though inferior to us in some Advantages of Body or Mind, but being ready to give them that Honour and Praise they justly deserve. In pitying and compassionating the Sins and Follies of our Fellow-Christians, it being the Effect of God's Grace that we are not overcome by the same Temptations. In carrying ourselves with great Respect to our Superiors, with Courtesy and Affability to our Inferiors, and submitting to the lowest Offices for the Service of our Neighbour. In receiving from the Hands of God all Afflictions and Trials with entire Resignation and Submission, as Offenders under the Hand of Justice. Q. Wherein appears the Folly of Pride? A. In that we value ourselves very frequently upon Things that add no true Worth to us, that neither make us better nor wiser; that are in their own Nature perishable, and of which we are not Proprietors but Stewards. Or if the Things be valuable in themselves, they are God's immediate Work in us; and to be proud of them is the surest Way to lose them. Thus to overlook our Defects, hinders us from making any farther Improvement; and the being possessed with an Opinion we deserve more than we have, eats out all the Pleasure of our present Enjoyments. Besides, the proud Man misses the very End he aimed at; for, instead of Honour and Applause, he meets with Contempt and Ignominy. Q. What are the best Helps to attain Humility? A. To remember that all the Advantages we enjoy either of Body or Mind, above others, are not the Effect of our Merit, but of God's Bounty. That those whom we are apt to contemn are valuable in the Sight of God, the only Fountain of true Honour. That by having consented to Sin, we have committed the most shameful Action imaginable, the most contrary to Justice and right Reason, and to all Sort of Decency; and that as long as we are clothed with Flesh and Blood, we are still liable to the same Offences against the Majesty of Heaven and Earth. To suppress all proud and vain Thoughts when they first arise in our Minds, not to suffer them to sport in the Scene of our Imagination. To keep a constant Watch over our Words and Actions, that we may check the first Tendencies to Pride. THE PRAYERS. I. ceptance ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, I humbly be- For Acseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son with God. was this Day presented in the Temple in Substance of our Flesh, so I may be presented unto thee with a pure and clean Heart, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen, |