can judge so well of the Convenience and Inconvenience of Things as Christ himself If Christ thought it convenient to give it him who shall say it was not so Nor could the Disciples be much surprized at it when they had so often heard their Master say that the Tâ—râ—s and Wheat must grow together until the Harvest and that the Kingdom of Heaven or the Church-Militant was like a Net containing good Fish and bad And though the Words Christ used in this Sacrament This is my Body which is given for you and This is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you for the Remission of Sins cannot be directly applied to Judas yet since these Blessings are promised conditionally in other places of Scripture they might belong to Judas conditionally in case he repented or brought forth Fruits meet for Repentance as they belong'd to the other Disciples absolutely because their Hearts were sincere and without Hypocrisie Nor is it strange that Christ should say in the presence of Judas I will not drink henceforth of the Fruit of the Vine until the Day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom For there is nothing more common in the Writings of the Apostles when they address themselves to a whole Church than to apply to them in general the Promises of the Gospel though true Believers only have a Right in them We remember without ceasing your Work of Faith and Labour of Love and Patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sight of God and our Father Knowing Brethren Beloved your Election of God and ye became Followers of us and of the Lord c. saith St. Paul to the whole Church of the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 1. 3 4 6. in which we may suppose there were divers Hypocrites to whom these Elogies could not properly belong And therefore when Christ spake these Words to the Disciples Judas being present it was enough that they belonged to the major part of them and those that were qualified for that Mercy might appropriate it to themselves It is confessed that Christ Matth. 7. 6. saith Give not that which is holy unto Dogs But it is evident from the Connexion of the Words that that Saying is to be understood of Reproof or Fraternal Correction which is to be superseded where Men are incorrigible and Mockers of Religion and after several Admonitions instead of being better become worse and scorn the Truth of the Gospel a Precept of the same Import with that of Solomon Prov. 9. 8. Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee If it were to be understood of publick Ordinances it might be applied to the Preaching of the Word as well as to the Sacrament and it would follow that wicked Men were to be banished from the one as well as the other which is absurd and contrary to the practice of the holy Apostles And what if Christ calls Judas a Devil Joh. 6. 70. Devils 't is true are incapable of Receiving this Sacrament yet we must not think that he calls him so upon any other Account but his Hellish Qualities For which Reason he says of all other wicked Men that they are of their Father the Devil Joh. 8. 44. Nay in his Reproof to Peter who was against his Suffering he calls him Satan or Devil because to be against his Suffering was to joyn with the Devil who of all things dreaded that Death as the Ruine of his Empire So that Judas was still a Man though a wicked Man yet not so wicked but that he was still capable of Repentance and in giving him this Sacrament he declared him so And though he received nothing but the external Elements yet in being admitted to the external Symbols he had an Item given him that if he had come with unfeigned Faith and Repentance he should have received the Promise too And that Christ offered him these Symbols was to tell his Followers how it would be with their Congregations in time to come and how Wolves as well as Sheep would present themselves at this Table But it is usually pleaded that if it be granted that Judas was present at this Sacrament yet still he had a good Out-side he was far from being a scandalous Sinner so that the Congregation could not be offended But this Argument is of no weight at all for whether he were a scandalous Sinner or no as long as Christ had declared him a Devil and a Traytor it was as much as if he had been a scandalous Sinner and the Disciples might be as confident of it as if they had seen him run into Excess of Riot So that Judas being present at the Sacrament and his Presence not interfering with the worthy Receiving of the other Disciples it follows that another Man receiving unworthily cannot make us that come with suitable Vertues unworthy Receivers And yet after all this I would not be understood as if scandalous Sinners were not to be separated from this holy Table by those whose Office it is to forbid and hinder them For tho' Christ suffered Judas to be present thereby prophetically to fore-tell how in future Ages notwithstanding all the Care that should be taken Hypocrites and Sinners would mingle with the Good and Sincere in this Sacrament yet this contradicts not the Commission he gave to the Apostles to do all things decently and in order of which orderly part this is one great Rule 1 Cor. 5. 11. If any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such an one no not to eat 'T is confessed that this is to be understood of common Meals However the Consequence is very easie if we are not to eat with such at common Tables we are to forbear eating with them at the Lord's Table But then 't is fit withal that the Church should excommunicate such Persons first that there may be a Mark set upon them whereby we may know them to be so and avoid their Company If the Church either by reason of the Multitude of such Sinners or for want of sufficient Information cannot or through Neglect doth not a private Christian is not therefore to be scandalized at such Persons when they come to the Sacrament nor think himself therefore an unworthy Communicant because such are present there being no publick Mark set upon them whereby he is authorized not to eat with them The Church indeed doth as good as formally excommunicate all such when in her Admonition or Exhortation before the Sacrament She declares Therefore if any of you be a Blasphemer of God an Hinderer or Slanderer of his Word an Adulterer or be in Malice or Envy or any other grievous Crime repent you of your Sins or else come not to this holy Table lest after the Taking of this holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he enter'd into Judas and fill you full of all Iniquities and bring
hast thou had of thine own Worth And how hast thou undervalued the Man or Woman that have had to no other Crime but Poverty Thou hast thought thy Inferiors scarce worth talking to How unlike thy Redeemer is this Pride and Haughtiness Were Grace an Inhabitant of thy Heart what low Thoughts wouldst thou have of thy self How readily wouldst thou converse even with the meanest Saint How wouldst thou learn to esteem Men more for their Holiness than for their Riches And how lovely would a Creature that hath the Image of God upon him look in thine Eyes Far more lovely than the greatest Monarch or Lady that have nothing to recommend them but their outward Splendor 15. And he said unto them With Desire I have desired to eat this Passover before I suffer HOW doth God long for our Happiness How fervent are his Desires to do us good Yet how little have these Longings prevailed with thee O my Soul Notwithstanding all these Desires of God to make thee happy how hast thou longed after the muddy Waters of Sensual Pleasures Nay longed to be for ever miserable when in despight of his Intreaties not to neglect so great Salvation thou hast longed for the stolen Waters of sinful Delights coveted Death and been enamoured with Destruction How hath God intreated thee to close with him upon his own Terms and how hast thou grieved him with thy Refusal How hath the Almighty beseeched thee by his Ambassadors to be reconciled to him and yet thou hast stood out and baffled the Stratagems of Mercy 16. For I say unto you I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God CHrist rejoyces that the Shadows are at an end and that the Substance or Antitype is approaching for as the Passover was a Sign of the Jews Deliverance from Egyptian Bondage so that Deliverance was a Shadow or Emblem of our Deliverance from Sin here and our Exemption from all Misery and Trouble in Heaven which was now to be effected by the Death of Christ. But O my Soul how hast thou hunted after Shadows and left the Substance unregarded What are the Glories of this World but mere Shews Yet how fond art thou of them and how strangely hast thou been enamoured with them These Shadows intimate that there are more substantial Glories in the Everlasting Mansions yet these thou passest by and the other thou art delighted with See how thou dotest on those painted Coronets those Butter-flies those Airy Nothings while with the Cock in the Fable thou tramplest on the Pearl even on the Pearl of Price to purchase which the Spiritual Merchant in the Gospel sold all he had 17. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves HOW thankful is our Great Mediator for every Mercy he received from his Everlasting Father Yet how ungrateful hast thou been O my Soul to thy mighty Benefactor What Mercies hast thou received at his Hands and what strange Returns hast thou made for them Thy God hath been kind to thee and thou hast been base and unworthy How hast thou fed on his Blessings and ascribed them to thy Wisdom and Industry How hast thou lived upon his Charity and spurned at his Laws Foolish Creature Dost thou thus reward the Lord thy God Thou shouldest not eat a bit but send some Thanksgiving-Ejaculations to Heaven yet thou contentest thy self with a careless Grace and never thinkest more afterward of God How little dost thou mind the Providences that are sent upon thee And while thou considerest not the Operations of God's Hands how canst thou be thankful 18. For I say unto you I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine until the Kingdom of God shall come INdeed Heaven hath the best and choicest Wine even the Wine of Angels This Wine is the ravishing Love of God This transports the Understanding and wraps up the Intellect in Extasies of Joy and Comfort A brutish Man knows not this neither doth a Fool understand it And hath not this been thy Case O my Soul How weary hast thou been of thinking of this Banquet How soon have thy Spirits tired with meditating of that Love How ready hast thou been to think of the World and the last Night's Revel and how backward to reflect on this richer Entertainment What a Weariness hath it been to thee to survey these Glories to walk about that Jerusalem and to behold the Towers and Bulwarks of it 19. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me HEre begins the happy Institution of the holy Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood and the great Command to remember the Death of Jesus and together with that an Item of the greatest Love that can be shewn to poor Mortals Yet how backward O my Soul hast thou been sometimes to come to this holy Sacrament Thou should'st have longed for an Opportunity to remember this Death with the People of God What is this Bread but an Emblem of the Communion of Saints and a Representation of thy Communion with the Great Head the Lord Jesus Yet how little Delight hast thou taken in this Ordinance How often hast thou come out of Formality only How little have thine Affections been moved with that stupendous Love Either Sin or Malice to thy Neighbour or some Worldly Trouble hath made thee stay away The Thoughts of this Love should have thrown down all thy Strong Holds of Iniquity and left thee in a calm holy spiritual Temper But how hast thou preferred thy little Concerns in the World before this Feast And what Hazards hast thou run of being doomed to a Spiritual Famine as those Guests against whom the Master of the Feast protested that they should never taste of his Supper 20. Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying this Cup is the New Testament of my Blood which is shed for you AT how dear a rate was the remission of our sins purchased The Blood of the Son of God was the Price Greater Love hath no Man shewn than that he lay down his life for his Friends but here is one that laid it down for his Enemies that they may be pardoned How hast thou looked upon this pardon O my Soul sometimes without standing amazed at the height and breadth and depth and length of the love of God! How cold hast thou been in thy desires after this precious Blood Thou should'st have stood under the Cross waiting for the drops that trickled down But the familiarity of the joyful news of it alas hath too often wrought in thee a dis-esteem of it Nay how light hast thou made of this remission and by making so light of it thou hast profan'd it too when thou hast sinned because God is willing to pardon sinners and hast made that pardoning Blood an encouragement to indulge thy self in thy carnal
his Heart for if that be as it should be it is indifferent what Matter the Cup is made of in the Administration of this Ordinance As to the Figure Form or Shape of the Cup Christ made use of Tradition saith It was a Cup with two Handles holding a Quart of Wine 'T is true the Jews in their Passover made use of such a Measure which was therefore called Robiit or a Fourth Part and Christ might possibly accommodate himself to that Custom the rather because it was a Cup that all the Disciples drank of according to Christ's Order Drink ye all of it yet this is still conjectural only and therefore the Christian Churches are in this Case left to their Prudence and Discretion Tertullian tells us and he lived about the Beginning of the Third Century that in his Days there was engraven on the sacred Chalice the Figure of a Shepherd carrying a Lamb upon his Shoulders an Emblem either of the Parable Luk. 15. 4 5. or of the Son of God who walked through the Wilderness of this World to seek those which were lost and having found them brought them back to the Fold again and to his Father's House But see how soon an innocent Custom draws on more dangerous Practices In process of time the holy Cup in the Sacrament began to be adorned with various Images and Inscriptions Such was the Cup which Remigius Archbishop of Rhemes who died in the Year 535. bequeathed to his Church with this Inscription Out of this Cup the People drink Life and Happiness through the Blood of Christ Jesus As Superstition afterward increased instead of Silver Cups the People made use of the Monks invented little Silver Pipes through which the People were to suck the holy Wine out of the Cup the Priest made use of which is the Reason why in the Rules of the Carthusian Monks this among the rest was one That they shall have nothing of Silver in their Colleges save only a Silver Chalice and Silver Pipes through which the Lay-men are to suck the Blood of Christ. These Things are hinted here to shew how necessary it is to keep up to the Primitive Institution of this Sacrament for if once Men presume to deviate from that Simplicity they know not where to stop and they will be tempted to hancker after new Devices and Inventions every Day III. That Christ gave the Cup to his Disciples as well as the Bread is evident from the Institution And the Reasons were these 1. To shew that this part of the Sacrament is of the same worth and value with the other and that we are to esteem the sacred Cup as highly as we do the Bread for as the former represented his broken Body so this his spilt and flowing Blood Nay if there be any Preeminence in the one above the other it must be ascribed to the Cup or the Blood of Christ represented by the Wine in the Cup for upon the Blood of the Son of God the weight of Redemption lies according to what the Apostle tells us Heb. 9. 11 12. But Christ being become an High-Priest of good Things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands that is not of this Building neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he enter'd in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us And Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission as it is Vers. 22. And this shews how miserably the poor People are deluded in the Modern Church of Rome in that they are denied the Cup in this Ordinance for hereby they are deprived of that which should afford them the greatest Comfort and assure them of the Remission of their Sins For if the great Stress of Redemption must be laid on the Blood of Christ and they are deprived of that part of the Sacrament which properly and immediately represents his Blood which was shed for the Remission of their Sins it must necessarily follow that they are intolerably cheated And what Assurance can they have from this Sacrament that their Sins are or will be pardoned when they receive not that which must assure them of it So that the Laity in that Church are left in a most uncomfortable Condition Nor will it avail much to say that the People believe that they receive the Blood in the Bread for it is not Fancy or Imagination that will do any good here Christ certainly did not think so which made him appoint a distinct Symbol for his Blood and but that they are not to believe their own Senses in that Church their Eyes and Tongues might convince them that they do not remember the shedding of Christ's Blood for the Remission of their Sins by drinking of the Wine designed for that purpose For 2. Christ in giving the Cup to his Disciples as well as the Bread intimated thereby that those who received the one should receive the other also This hath been the Sense of the Christian Church for many Hundred Years after Christ The Greek from the Apostles Days to this Hour hath inferred and doth infer so much and even the Latin Church for above a Thousand Years was of the same Opinion 'T is true in the Church of Rome the Priest drinks of the consecrated Cup as well as eats the consecrated Wafer But what have the poor Sheep the Lay-men done that they must be excluded from the Cup The Apostles 't is granted were Priests but they received not the holy Sacrament as Priests but as Believers Christ at that time was the Priest that administred the holy Symbols to them and Children can tell that according to this way of arguing the People ought not to receive the holy Bread because the Apostles were Priests when they received it However to do even an Enemy right the Church of Rome is ingenuous enough in their maintaining of this Sacrilege for the Council of Constance expresly tells us That though Christ gave the Sacrament to his Disciples in both kinds and though in the Primitive Church this Sacrament was received by the Faithful in both Kinds yet notwithstanding all this the Fathers of that Council think it fit to abrogate that Custom and threaten the Priest with Excommunication that shall offer to give the consecrated Wine or Cup to the Common People And I confess this is plain Dealing but in the worst Sense as Men do justifie their Sins and boast of their Iniquities And with what Conscience any Person can be of that Church that doth assert and defend and obliges her Members to comply with such manifest contrariety to the Doctrine of Christ I know not This I know that Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel is a commanded Duty and they are excluded from Christ's Favour and Friendship that will not keep his Words and all pretences of Love are rejected as Pageantry where obedience to his Commands is not the product of that Love and consequently
Life for the better looks as it were for a new Sacrifice for Sin and since he will not be purged from his known Sins by the Blood of Jesus which hath been already spilt if he hath any hopes of being purified from his Sin in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness seems to desire a more effectual Death of that great Mediator which may against his Will drag him away from his sinful courses and thereby would have Christ suffer and be kill'd again and consequently makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 4. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily kills the Lord Jesus You will say This is impossible Christ being in Heaven and incapable of any such Act of Violence No more could Saul if you understand it according to the Letter persecute him after he was glorified yet the voice that came to him in his way to Damascus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. â— 4. The same may be said of an unworthy Receiver he cannot strictly speaking kill the Lord Jesus yet being unwilling to venture upon a change of Life under all the Abjurations of a bleeding Redeemer that stubborness is Death to Christ as God said to the Jews Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorssh Heart So may the Saviour of the World cry to the Communicant that comes to remember his Death and will not die to his known Sins Thou piercest thou woundest thou killest me by thy obstinate and refractory temper as we say of a tender Father that the ill course his disobedient Son takes is death to him because it is as grievous to him as if one should attempt to take away his Life The unworthy Receiver by being loth to conform to the Rules of the Gospel in his Practices even while he beholds as it were Christ Crucified for his Sins does an Act so unworthy so disrespectful so injurious that it is as much as if he made attempts upon his Life nay he kills the preventing Grace Christ affords him and slays the good motions whereby Christ lives in him Christ is said to be in us as we are Christians and the unworthy Receiver being desirous and willing to maintain and keep his darling Sins doth thereby drive Christ out of his Heart and kill him in his own Soul for Christ and Love to a sinful Life are inconsistent and incompatible things These destroy his Life in the Soul and therefore in this Sense also the unworthy Receiver makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 5. He that eats and drinks unworthily consents to the Murther the Jews were guilty of when they killed the Lord of Life and approves of that barbarous and inhumane Act and therefore is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He is supposed to consent to that Murther that is not sorry for if And how can he be sorry for it that is not sorry for his Sins which were the principal Cause of it The unworthy Receiver being supposed to be one that doth not heartily shake hands with a sinful Life and is loth so to renounce his known Sins as to tear them from his Heart we cannot imagine that he is heartily sorry for them for his Sorrow hath not those Effects which Godly Sorrow is said to have 2 Cor. 7. 11. For this same thing when ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation against Sin Yea what Fear i. e. of offending God! Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge The Tree is known by its Fruits And if Sorrow for Sin must be discovered by such Effects and these Effects appear not in the Communicant as he cannot be thought to eat and drink worthily so in not being sorry for his Sins he doth not appear sorry for the Murther the Jews committed upon the Body of our Saviour his Sins being the Cause of that Murther And doth not this look like Consent or Approbation of that Murther You will say How can any Man be sorry for Christ's Death when that Death is our greatest Comfort and what Consolations the pious Soul feels it feels by virtue of that Death Shall a Man be sorry for that which God had ordain'd appointed and design'd for the Relief and Redress of our Misery If Christ had not died we had been ever wretched and unhappy and must have looked for no Friendship from above and therefore to charge Men with being guilty of his Death because they are not sorry for it seems to be both against Scripture and Reason Is any Man sorry for a Treasure he finds in the Field Or sorry for an Estate that falls to him by the Decease of a Relation Or sorry for an Act of Oblivion which a gracious Prince imparts to Offenders whereof himself is the Principal But to this the Answer is very easie for the Benefit of Christ's Death and the Mercy God intended Mankind by it must be carefully distinguished from the Instrumental Causes whereby Christ was brought to his Death which were partly our Sins and the barbarous Cruelty of the Jews The Benefit that came by the Death of Christ a Christian most certainly ought not to be sorry for but hath reason to rejoyce in Day and Night But that he was so inhumanely murther'd by the Jews and that our Sins were such abominable things in the Sight of God that to expiate them God was moved to give up his own Son to the lawless Rage of those cruel Enemies this requires our Grief and Sorrow That the Jews did commit a very heinous Sin in crucifying Christ is evident from St. Peter's Discourse or Sermon to the Murtherers Act. 3. 17 18 19. For though God hath decreed that Death as an Expedient to reconcile Man to himself and decreed not to hinder the Jews in pursuing their wicked Designs and Purposes but to make that Death an Antidote against Everlasting Death yet that doth not excuse the Jews from the Guilt of Sin in killing of him whose Cruelty God was resolved to turn to the Good of all true Penitents and sincere Believers nor a Christian from an hearty Sorrow that his Sins were the deserving Cause of it So that a Christian may at once rejoyce in Christ's Death and be sorry for it rejoyce in the unspeakable Mercies procured by it and be sorry that those stubborn Wretches did with that Cruelty dispatch him or rather that his Sins did arm those desperate Sinners to put the Lord of Life to death for the Jews could have had no power to murther him but that the Sins of Mankind crying aloud for Vengeance enabled them and gave them Strength and ministred Occasion to do it So that he that is not heartily sorry for his Sins is not heartily sorry that the Jews did murther him and therefore the unworthy Receiver not being heartily sorry for the Sins he hath lived in consents to that Murther of the Jews and upon
Sacrament the Son of God doth not only offer to reconcile thee to thy God but shews thee the way too how it shall be effected to thy Content and Satisfaction Here he offers to enrol thy Name among the Friends of God but it is impossible to make thee God's Friend while thou maintainest thy Enmity against him To leave thy Sins and to come to this Sacrament are one and the same thing these two are inseparable to divide them is to divide Light from Fire which implies Impossibility Oh think therefore Till I come to this Ordinance God will be my Foe and should I be snatch'd away while God is so who will plead for me when I come to appear before God I will arise therefore and go to my Father c. IV. As squeamish as some Sinners are there are others that dare come and receive unworthily and be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and be no more concern'd than if they had committed any trivial or indifferent Action Such are they who are the same after they have received as they were before vitious before and vitious after revengeful lascivious unclean malicious proud Boasters intemperate Back-biters implacable unmerciful before and after too nor doth the threatning that they make themselves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus fright or discompose them Lord How stupid a thing is Sin How hard how insensible doth it make the Heart What Venom doth it shed upon the Soul Who would imagine that Men could be so perverse Men that live under the Gospel too as to be guilty of murthering Christ Murthering of Christ You will say Who can murther him now he is in Glory What Bug-bears are these to fright poor silly ignorant People with So easily do Men slide from Hypocrisie into Prophaneness and from Prophaneness into the Scorner's Chair But What if Christ be in Heaven and out of the reach of thy Baseness and Malice If Christ interpret thy Continuance in known Sins after thou hast been viewing his Death and Crucifixion in this Sacrament as murthering of him how great how heinous and of how deep a Dye must thy Sins be What Guilt what Loads what Mountains of Wrath must we suppose dost thou lay and pull down on thy Shoulders Who can tell so well the venomous Influences and Tendencies of thy Sins as he that perfectly understands the poysonous nature of it If he saith that it amounts to murthering of him Will thy laughing at the Conceit excuse thy Folly when his Anger shall be kindled Need he value thy Flouts and Jeers that hath Flames and Vengeance at command to lash thee into better Manners It is impossible he should be mistaken in his Verdict of things And wilt thou say he doth not speak what is true Art thou wiser than he Or dost thou see farther into things than he Must his Wisdom be modell'd by thy shallow Reason Or shall a Creature dispute the Oracle of its Creator If he sees and knows that thy wilful Impenitence runs so high as to make an Attempt upon his Life again wilt not thou believe him or darest thou charge him with a Lye The Holy Ghost speaking by St. Paul protests so much And wilt thou add sinning against the Holy Ghost to all thy Offences Believe it Sinner 't is Death to the Lord of Life to see a Creature for whom he took such pains wallow still in those Sins after Receiving which he was supposed to abjure in Receiving 'T is Death to him to see thee more tender of keeping thy Word with a Man that must die than with him that lives for ever 'T is Death to him to see thee wilful in breaking that solemn Promise thou madest under his Cross and didst seal with drinking of his Blood Thou dost in this Sacrament make a Covenant with him and oblige thy self as thou hopest to have a share in his Merits that thou wilt be guided and governed by him who to the Astonishment of Men and Angels died for thee and there cannot be a more sacred Tye and to see thee violate that Oath and break through that Vow into Damnation into that Damnation from which he came to rescue thee this is Death to him and a new Attempt upon his Life and if thou darest be so barbarous so inhumane as to do so Heaven and Earth will be Witnesses against thee and that very Blood which thou prophanest will be a Witness against thee and all the Saints that see thee prophane that Blood will be Witnesses against thee and it is enough to make the Lord repent that ever he died for such a Wretch O then play not with these Mysteries for it will be hard for thee to kick against the Pricks But V. Let the worthy Receiver rejoyce in the midst of all these Terrours These Thunder-bolts do not reach him These Threatnings do not concern him He is safe under all these Storms They will not fall on him to crush him These Hail-stones will not bruise his Head This Weight will not sink him He can pass through all these Messengers of Death and fear no Evil Even he who sees greater Comfort in a crucified Saviour than in this gaudy World and can admire the Mercies purchased by his Death while others stand gazing on stately Buildings and sumptuous Palaces Even he who makes Conscience of performing what he promises to a glorious God and feels Desires in his Breast to be more and more conformable to the holy Life and Example of Christ Jesus and to whom no Interest is so dear as that of a crucified Saviour who loves as he loves without Hypocrisie or Dissimulation Let such a Soul be glad in the Lord and believe that God will command his Loving-kindness in the Day-time and in the Night will cover him with the Shadow of his Wings Let him not be disquieted nor think God hath forgotten him when his Soul is bowed down to the Dust and his Belly cleaves unto the Earth Christ the Son of God will certainly manifest himself unto him be present with him pour Grace into his Heart and Comfort into his Soul give himself to him be his Hiding-place compass him about with the Songs of Deliverance and say unto him I will instruct thee and teach thee in the Way which thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine Eye Such a Person receives Christ indeed receives him with all his Blessings and with all the Spoils he recovered of the Enemy He receives him with all the Wealth he hath fought for and purchased with his Bâ—ood He receives him with all the precious things he hath laboured for in the Sweat of his Brows He receives â—im laden and abounding with glorious Promises which shall by degrees be all fulfilled in him for they belong to him they are his Right they are his Portion Christ will make him worthy to receive them He shall ask and his Master will give He shall seek and find too He shall knock and
THE Crucified Jesus OR A full ACCOUNT OF THE Nature End Design and Benefits OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER With Necessary DIRECTIONS PRAYERS Praises and Meditations To be used by Persons who come to the HOLY COMMUNION By ANTHONY HORNECK D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties The Third Edition Corrected and Amended In the SAVOY Printed for Samuel Lowndes over-against Exeter-Change in the Strand 1695. ΑΓÎΩΣΤΩ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΗ TO THE Unknown Benefactor SIR THE following Discourse being the substance of several Sermons Preach'd at your desire and incouragement before the Monthly Sacraments though I am ignorant who you are and what part of the City or Country you live in yet I thought it my Duty to let the Publick know that there is such a Man in the World who is desirous to do good and loves not to be known This Treatise you have a proper Title too not only as one whose Hearts desire is to see the Church of England flourish but as a Benefactor too and to have Dedicated it to any other Person had been injurious to your Character You were sensible how backward the generality are to come to the Holy Communion how much ground the Church and Christianity it self loses by this stupid negligence of it's pretended Votaries and how not a few absent themselves for want of understanding the true nature and design of this Blessed Sacrament and therefore justly thought that if by a previous Monthly Sermon Mens Hearts were warm'd into consideration of the Use and Necessity of this Ordinance the Mists which hitherto have clouded their Vnderstandings would be dispell'd and they become acquainted with their Duâ—y which was the cause of your exciting me to this Publick Service Your Judgment hath not fail'd you for since these Religious Exercises have been among us abundance of Persons who before look'd upon their coming to the Holy Table either as indifferent or unnecessary or unseasonable have through the Blessing of God bethought themselves considered the Obligations that the mighty Work of Redemption lays upon them and conscientiously applyed themselves to the frequent Use of this Universal Medicine And all I can tell you for your incouragement is this That as we owe the beginning and progress of these Monthly Sermons to your Zeal and Influence so you will have a share both in the good that 's done by them and in the Rewards of those who are thereby brought to a serious sense of the wonderful Love of God in Christ Jesus It was a publick good you design'd by your munificence and that which makes the Pious Work the greater is that you do not care your left hand should know what your right hand doth The Almighty hath enrich'd your Heart with the Noblest Charity even with that to the Souls of Men an Emplâ—yment which God himself disdains not to travel in and what are all the Angels of Heaven but Ministring Spirits sent forth to be helpful unto those that shall be Heirs of Salvation Nothing is more pleasing to God than to be instrumental in bringing many Sons unto Glory and though you are no publick Orator yet you help towards Mens Conversion and in employing others to rouze them from their Spiritual slumber your Self have a hand in their Reformation And by that means Preach though you be not in Orders yet without offence to the Law and at the same time observe the Canons of the Church and win Souls without being engaged in the Sacred Function Some Criticks think that S. Paul in his Address to the Athenians doth not find fault with but commends them for Erecting an Altar To the unknown God and if so I hope none will blame me for raising this Monument To an unknown Benefactor Good Works are the sweetest Incense that can be laid upon God's Altar and though some that have concealed their Names have been discover'd by the Charitable Deeds done by them yet yours are so order'd that though for some time you have thus generously employ'd part of your means to advance this publick Good yet still you are a stranger to me and in that happier than the Roman Senator who hiding himself in the time of Proscription his Perfumes betrayed him May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath already touch'd your Heart with a sense of his Glory enrich you with all Spiritual Blessings and make you to abound more and more in Faith in Love and in all Goodness May that Great Shepherd of Souls enlighten your Understanding with greater brightness raise your Soul above this transitory World teach you to despise the things that are seen and fill you with earnest longings after those which are not seen that after having serv'd your Generation here your Immortal part may be admitted to the Enjoyment and Embraces of the Holy Trinity the Festivals of Seraphim to Mount Sion to the City of the Living God to the innumerable Company of Angels to the general Assembly of the First-born which are written in Heaven to the Spirits of Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament whose Blood speaks better things than that of Abel So wishes SIR Your Affectionate Friend And Servant ANTH. HORNECK THE PREFACE THE vast number of Books about the Sacrament of the Eucharist as it shews the richness of the Subject so it discovers the Zeal and Industry of good Men to uphold the power of Religion in these perilous times as they are call'd by the Apostle of the Gentiles And indeed if we consider the influence this Ordinance hath yet on Men who have not altogether sold themselves to do Evil and are not gone so far as to make a mock of Religion it is no small motive to busie our selves in recommending and pressing the frequent use of it I look upon it as a special Providence of God that in this Iron Age wherein Men have made a shift to baffle all the Rules of Discipline they have yet some Reverence for this Ordinance insomuch that if we can oblige them to make use of it we may entertain great hopes of their future sobriety and seriousness The generality shun it because they are loth to shake hands with their looser lives and they are sensible that the use of this Ordinance and a disorderly Conversation are things inconsistent and incompatible and therefore could we perswade them to come we might promise our selves a rich and plentiful Harvest there being nothing more likely than the fruitfulness of that Ground which is water'd with the Blood of Jesus What I publish here is in order to make good my promise in a lesser Piece call'd The Fire of the Altar and when a Man hath once either rashly or premeditately made himself a Debtor to the Publick I think it is Justice and good Manners if he be able to discharge the Obligation I do not hereby discourage the Reader from perusing other Mens Labours He 'll possibly think there is no danger but desire only to
of the Ordinance is praising him that lives for ever and ever fall down at the same time rejoycing at the blessings and the Manna which falls down from Heaven on the Children of Men so that here we may cry out as the Patriarch did of Bethel How dreadful is this place The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THIS Sacarament being a Feast prepared by the Greatest Prince for his Servants those Servants must needs be inexcusable that refuse to give their attendance here I do not deny but their may be just excuses and lawful causes of our absence such as Sickness Weakness Faintness and Distempers Pains Aches and some sudden Accidents and Disasters which will not suffer us to fix our thoughts on so reverend an ordinance but these hapning against our Wills and importing no wilful neglect God bears with us under such circumstances but to act as if we did not hear our Master call and to suffer the World to put a stop to our coming to be so enamoured with our Profits and sensual Satisfactions as not to think our selves concerned in the Duty to refuse approaching because we are loath to be at the pains of searching our Hears and trying our ways to neglect coming because we are loath to sequester our Thoughts from sublunary Objects and to part with our Sins to absent our selves because we relish the enjoyments of this life before this Celestial Food this is to slight what God esteems and to spurn at the greatest Mercy this is to thrust away Salvation as if it were worth nothing and to â—ndervalue the pains God takes to bring us to himself and what God must think of such Scorners I need not tell you for your selves may guess except you believe God to be a Stone or Stock how he must resent it and one would think it should cause some sad thoughts within you if you believe what he saith 1 Sam. 2. 30 They that love me I will Honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed II. When the Church invites us to this Feast we must suppose that our Lord himself makes an Address to us as it is in Matth. 22. 4. Behold I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready come ye to the Marriage This Holy Ordinance is the Marriage Feast which declares our being joyned to the Son of God the King immortal invisible blessed for evermore Hearken therefore O daughter and consider forget also thine own People and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him This Feast requires suitable Garments not Tyrian Purple not Persian Silks not that outward adorning with broider'd hair or gold or pearl or costly array but the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price A Garment of Sackcloath is a more glorious sight in the eyes of him who is the Master of This Feast then all the bravery of the tinckling Ornaments of the Daughters of Sion and a Contrite Heart invites his gracious aspect and this the Primitive believers were so sensible of that before their coming to this Feast they humbled their Souls with Fasting and as course and uncomely as this Garb appears to sensual Men yet He that is the lofty and Holy one who inhabits Eternity hath declared his liking and approbation of it For to that man will I look that is of an humble a and contrite Spirit and trembles at my word Es. 66. 2. Es. 57. 15. We read of a Garment of Praise too Es. 61. 3. a Garment which the Angels of Light are adorned and deckt withal a Garb so pleasing that the Eternal Father smiles on them and it smells sweeter than that of Esau God like old Isaac takes notice of it and blesses them St. Paul understood this and wore it constantly Hence it is that we find him so liberal in praising the Cross of Christ with this he seems always transported and he seldom talks of Christ without Raptures an object upon which he though he could never say enough Being rapt up into the Third Heaven he had heard the melodious voices of the four and twenty Elders and the new Song they sung to the Lamb that was slain Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Rev. 5. 9. and he could not have a better Pattern And now that we speak of Garments that make us welcome Guests at this Table we must not forget the Garment or Ornament of good Works which St. Paul takes notice of 1 Tim. 2. 10. These are the Shining Robes our Souls must be ambitious of these adorn our Profession charm spectators attract followers and are apt to make People in love with goodness and what is more change us into the same Image with the Author and Finisher of our Faith whose province and imployment was going about and doing good as we are told Act 10. 38. and consequently this cannot but be a proper Ornament to appear in at this Banquet And of this nature is the white Garment we read of Eccles. 9. 8. or the Garment of Innocence and Purity whereby we hate the Garment spotted by the flesh and keep Consciences void of offence toward God and toward Man In these Garbs we may boldly shew our selves at the Table of our Lord and expect the same welcome that the Spouse received in the Canticles Cant. 4. 10 11. How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouseâ— how much better is thy love than Wine and the smell of all thine Ointments than all Spices Thy Lips O my Spouse drop as the Honey-comb Honey and Milk are under thy Tongue and the smell of thy Garments is like the smell of Lebanon The PRAYER O Holy and merciful Saviour merciful beyond example who treatest me as thy Child hast prepared a Table for me and made my Cup run over Be thou my Shepherd let me want no Grace no Mercy no Assistance that 's necessary for me in the prosecuting of mine Eternal Happiness Dress me with thy Robes adorn me with the Ensigns of thy Favour Let me rejoyce at the Supper thou hast prepared for me Teach me to entertain thy Call with gladness Let me see clearly what thou hast prepared for them that love thee Thou knowest my stubborn and lazy Heart rouze it from its slumber melt it by the fire of thy love breath upon these dry Bones and they shall live Let me not with Esau prefer a morsel of Bread eaten in secret before my Birth-right to Eternal Glory Let me consider thy Condescension in inviting such a Wretch to sup with thee Let not the evil examples I see before me be any temptation to me Uphold me by thy right hand Let me dread thine anger and count it a greater disgrace to be
ruder than the rest having his Ear cut off by his miraculous touch is restored to his former soundness Herod seeks to kill him and at the same time he purges his Country from Devils and Diseases This sure could not be done but with an intent to shew us an example and except we do as he did how can we be said to be his followees It 's from this great Example that the Apostle infers a Duty Rom. 12. 21. Be not overcome with evil but overcome the evil with good and we all know who it was that told us that in vain we call our selves Children of God except we do good to them that hate us Matth. 5. 44 45. The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. VVe see here in what a different shape Sin appears from what it did before if the nature tendency and design of it be rightly considered That which before seem'd but a little Cloud or Twilight upon such a prospect will appear Egyptian Darkness Who of us makes any thing of Hypocrisie yet have we proved before that it is a betraying of the Son of God especially if it be reigning and allow'd of So it is with other sins The Jews Malach. 3. 8. thought their keeping back their Tythes and depriving the Priests and Ministers of the Lord of their due to be a trivial thing yet God speaks to them in Thunder and calls it robbing of the Almighty Will a Man rob God Yet ye have robb'd me Wherein have we robb'd thee In Tythes and Offerings So they made nothing of offering the Lame and the Blind but God calls it profanation of his Name Mal. 1. 12. A wise Man therefore and he that would not cheat himself in matters of Salvation must consider what verdict God gives of such sins as the World makes little of and in so doing will find how unsafe it is to venture on such trespasses and what dangerous things they are Indeed he that examines and ponders what names God gives to some sins in Scripture how he calls Covetousness Idolatry Ephes. 5. 5. Disobedience Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 23. Unbelief under the means of Grace trampling on and treading under foot the Son of God Heb. 10. 29. Living in a known sin being of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. Sensuality Enmity to the Cross of Christ Phil. 3. 18. Apostacy Crucifying of Christ afresh Heb. 6. 6. Love of the World Adultery c. Jam. 4. 4 must needs have other apprehensions of such sins than the duller or more vitious sort of Mankind hath and until we do so it 's a sign we have no mind to be sincere Converts till we look upon our Sins through the Glass of Scripture till we give our Sins those Names which He that cannot err doth give them till we begin to call them what they are indeed and our hearts are concern'd and troubled about that which such names import our Repentance is but lame and partial and we obstruct our way to mercy and forgiveness and prepare for being miserable in the midst of flattering hopes and expectations II As we do abhor and detest the Treason of Judas so let 's take heed we become not guilty of it our selves We are not in a capacity of acting that very Treason that the ill-natured Disciple did because Christ is not now on Earth and the circumstances of Time and Place and Government do differ yet how that Treason may be acted over again by a behaviour and conversation agreeable to that of Judas hath been already shew'd and whatever we do let 's not fall into the snare into which that unhappy Man did fall His end his despair the terrors of his mind the torments of his conscience the contempt and scorn of God and Men he rusht into are sufficient discouragements from that Hypocrisie which drove him on to those Precipices To maintain invincible Loyalty to our Great Master is not only our Duty but our Interest To promote whatever makes for his Honour and Glory is that which becomes us not only as we are his Subjects but as we are redeemed with his Blood So great a Mercy ought to crush every rebellious thought in our Minds Never had people a more gracious King a King which doth not only divide his Estate among his Subjects but is resolved to advance them to the highest Dignities they are capable of And what if sometimes he doth afflict us That doth not speak him a Tyrant but a Father or Physician rather who lets us Blood to prevent Diseases and launces our Wounds that they may not fester and kill us If he lays Burthens upon us it is not to oppress our Souls but our Sins and if he make us go through the Fire it is not that the Flame may consume us but that the Smoke may kill the Caterpillars and Locusts that eat the wholsom Herbs of our Graces It is not that he delights in our Groans but that he is desirous of our Welfare and when he scourges us it is necessity and our own good that puts him upon using that method not a fondness to exercise his Power and Authority The PRAYER O Blessed JESUS When I look upon thee and behold thy Beauty and Glory I wonder how I have been able to conspire against thee with thine Enemies How have I been led away by false appearances and listned to false rumours which sinful Men have spread abroad concerning thee Thou hast been represented to me as an Enemy to my mirth and ease and plenty and temporal advantages and I have believed it and run blindly with the multitude to crucifie thee I see how against Reason Conscience Interest and a thousand Obligations I have acted O forget the Injuries I have offered thee O remember no more the Treasons I have been guilty of Never never will I wittingly or wilfully betray thee again Let all Guile and Hypocrisie and Double-dealings be put away from me Make me an Israelite indeed Let sincerity and integrity ever preserve me Make me willing to forego all interests so I may but have an interest in the love of Complaency Let all enmity all dissention all hostility betwixt us cease I agree not only to a Truce but to an Eternal Peace I know Lord the danger of breaking the Peace lies on my side who am naturally treacherous fickle and inconstant but thy Grace can cure that inconstancy Lord stretch forth thy mighty Arm and hold me up that I may never depart from thee may always love to be with thee always delight in thy presence always rejoice in thy love and always seek thy honour and glory Amen Amen CHAP. III. Of the Place where the Lord's Supper is to be eaten the Church and of Private Communion The CONTENTS The Publick Church the fittest Place to receive the Lord's Supper in This proved from the Practice of the Apostles and the succeeding Christians The same proved from Reason and the end for which Christ died Private Communions first began in times of
not been for such forcible means or straits and necessities so that the Minister of the Ordinance may thank their Office more than their Religion that he sees them in that holy place And most certainly this is not Eating the Lord's Supper for nothing is properly an act of Religion but what is a free-will-offering and flows from an internal love of the Duty And what is here said of accidental Employments is too true of standing Offices of the Church A Minister or Clergyman may come to the Lord's Supper and yet not eat the Lord's Supper he may celebrate it as a Minister and yet not eat it as a sincere Christian he may eat it because his Office obliges him to administer it and yet not eat it with that sense which becomes a sincere believer And it is so with lesser Officers about a Church Custom may carry them a great way and for some years they may never fail to come to this Table and yet may not eat as they ought for they may do it upon the account of their Office only and because it is expected of them but the sense of the end and of the love of God may be wanting which defect makes it a very lame offering 3 Such Men however come and to this they are led by a fancy they are willing to entertain that other Men who come receive it with no greater sense or seriousness than they They consider not whether this will be a good Plea another day but it gives present satisfaction and this makes them espouse it Not to mention that it is great rashness and presumption in them to judge of other Mens hearts the secrets of which they are for the most part ignorant of and if other men should be no better than they yet that would be no excuse Men being to live by Precepts not by every Example that is before them yet thus Men love to delude themselves and by that means precipitate themselves into unspeakable Dangers For III. This not eating as they ought strangely hardens them in Sin If the Cross of Christ cannot open their eyes or make them sensible of their Errors few things can be supposed able to do it to their comfort If the Blood of the Covenant cannot supple their hearts other things must be believed to be ineffectual because God looks upon this as the most potent remedy to effect it nor is this to be understood only of scandalous sins but all such offences which Christ hath peremptorily forbid though the world takes no great notice of them such as are aversion from holy Thougts and Discourses and neglect of those Gospel Graces the Apostle presses upon such as would not be Christians in vain And hence it is that where Men do not eat the Lord's Supper aright our Exhortations to those nobler Duties of Religion are lost upon them and all the severe threatnings we rehearse and mention to rouze them from their Spiritual slumber are spoke into the wind and they continue strangers to that Spiritual frame which the Apostle calls Rom. 8. 5. minding the things of the Spirit By a Spiritual frame of the heart I mean a God-like Temper which is pleased with any thing that makes for the Glory of God and as Fire converts all things into its own substance spiritualizeth Objects or makes a spiritual use of them and is truly enamoured with the severer Precepts of the Gospel and looks upon them as perfective of our natures and consequently thinks no Commandment grievous Hence it is that such Men who are strangers to this frame their Religion turns into mere Formality and Hypocrisie and however it may look in their own eyes in the sight of God it goes for no more than Paint and Varnish mere Glow-worm light that shines but warms not glitters but gives no Heat blazes but doth not touch the Heart and like rotten Wood seems bright but hath nothing of Fire in it and this must necessarily cause very false Applications of Gospel Promises which at last produces such Self-deceptions that when they come to appear before the Bar of God's Justice they 'll not only wonder at the Cheats they have put upon themselves but tear their hair and smite their breasts and be ready to kill themselves to think how they have murthered their own Souls with kindness and by fair Words and Speeches enticed them into ruin IV. From what we have said it will easily appear what eating of the Lord's Supper doth import eating it I mean in a Scripture Sense 1. To eat it with a relish of the Benefits of Christ's Death and Passion even in our common Meals we find a great difference betwixt eating and relishing betwixt eating with and without an Appetite betwixt tasting the juice and delicacy of the Meat and fancying it to be no better than Chaulk or Ashes He that eats the Lord's Supper aright his Soul must eat as well as his outward Organs and as Christ saith John 6. 63. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life so the Soul that eats as it should do the benefits of Christ's Death they must be Life and Spirit to her a perfect Cordial true Elixir real Sweetness comfortable Balm and sweeter than Honey to the Palate These Benefits are Pardon and Peace and reconciliation to God and Salvation and the Soul must be affected with them prize them value them practically above the Riches of the World and count all things dross and dung for the excellency of them and be willing to part rather with Father and Mother and Lands and Houses than with the Comforts of them and that is to relish and then the Soul eats indeed whereas a person that either thinks not of these Benefits or if he thinks of them hath no actual value for them so as to feel in himself how highly he esteems them and what a mighty veneration he hath for them though he may be said to eat yet he doth not relish them and therefore doth not eat aright 2. It is to eat with secret longings to be conformable to Christ Jesus in his Humility and Charity or as the Apostle expresses it to have the same mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus Phil. 2. 5. And this in another place is called hungring and thirsting after righteousness Matth. 5. 6. and was represented of old by the secret longings of the Spouse Cant. 1. 3. Draw me after thee and I will run Where there is no such longing to conform to Christ in these Virtues a Man doth not properly eat the Lord's Supper like a healthy man for he digests not the Food doth not turn into good Juice it doth not nourish him he doth not thrive upon it I call it longing for the desire after these Graces which were so eminent in Christ must be strong and vehement ardent and grounded upon the Beauty Loveliness and Amiableness of them such a longing as David expressed for the Lord's House and his
would to God it might be as surprizing to see one Christian fall out with the other 5. He broke the Bread to hint to us with what Hearts we ought to come to the Table of our Lord and to the Altar of the Cross even with humble broken contrite Hearts Such Hearts we might get if it were not for our Pride It was therefore prohibited in the Old Law to use Leaven in God's Sacrifices and Offerings Leaven was the Emblem of Pride which makes us unfit to appear before the humble Jesus I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me saith God Ezech. 9. 6. This was literally fulfilled in Christ And shall not we share in the Depth of that Sorrow Shall we see him bow his Head under the Weight of our Offences and shall not the Burthen appear heavy and insupportable to our Spirits Shall we see the innocent Lamb weep for our Stubbornness and be unconcerned at the Spectacle 6. He broke the Bread to let us see how ready he is to comfort the Contrite and Broken Heart Christian as great as the Agonies were thy Sins did put him to as great as the Torments were he felt upon thy Account as bitter as the Death was he suffered and tasted for thee yet if thy Soul relents and if that which made him die becomes loathsome and abominable in thy Sight if a deep Sense of thy Unworthiness fills the Chanels of thy Heart if the Fountain of thy Head runs with Water if thine Eyes gush out in Tears if the Weight of thy Sins presses thy Soul into an holy Self-abhorrency if his Passion can fright thy Sins into a languishing Condition abate their Courage and break their sturdy Necks and his broken Body proves a Motive strong enough and obliges thee to break loose from the Government of Hell behold those very Wounds thou madest shall be thy Balsam and the Blood thy Sinns did spill shall turn into Oyl to supple thy broken Bones with that precious Liquor thy Soul shall be washed and that which was his Death shall be thy Life and Antidote with that Offering of himself once made he will expiate thy Filth and perfume thy Services render them acceptable to God give thee a Right to Heaven comfort thee in all thy Tribulations and call to thy Soul Be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee 7. He broke the Bread to let us know that his Death would break the Wrath of God allay his Anger pacifie his Justice and satisfie for the Affront his Holiness had suffered from the Sins of Men and make way for the Penitent's Admission to God's Bosom This is St. Bernard's Observation and the Mystery is rational for by his Death he broke the Power of him who had the Power of Death Heb. 2. 14. This was the Devil who got that Power by Man's Apostacy which provoked the Almighty's Wrath and moved him to permit the Enemy to exercise that Power over Mankind who was therefore not only the Cause of Adam's Death but of all the Deaths that followed that for which Cause Christ called him a Murtherer from the Beginning Joh. 8. 44. And the Jews stile him the Angel of Death and if any extraordinary Judgments were inflicted on Men at any time he was still the Executioner Besides all this he had Power given him to fright Men with Death either violent or natural and the dreadful Consequences of it of all which Man's Apostacy was the Cause This Power given him by the Justice and Wrath of God against the Sins of Man was broken by the Death of Jesus who thereby gave all true Believers Power and Courage to undervalue these Fears and Terrours to look upon them as Bugbears and Things to fright Slaves withal since this wonderful Death brings Life and Pardon and Salvation to their Souls and makes their own Death a Passage to the full Possession of the Joys to come 8. He broke the Bread prophetically to fore-tell what Miracles would happen at his Death how the Veil of the Temple would rend the Rocks break and the Graves burst their Bonds and open even then when Men's Hearts would be harder than Flints more impenetrable than Stones more insensible than Adamants less tractable than the Earth more rigid than the Grave and less relenting than inanimate Creatures 9. He broke the Bread Why may not we think that hereby he signified the Breaches and Divisions that through the Passions and various Interests of Men would happen in future Ages in the Church upon the Account of this Sacrament What Strife what Bitterness what Contentions hath this Ordinance occasion'd betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches and in the Western betwixt the Papists and Protestants and among the Protestants betwixt the Lutherans and those that call themselves of the Reformed Religion Upon which Account I cannot but think of the bitter Language that both Luther and his Followers have given to the Zwinglians and Calvinists that differ'd from them in Opinion about the Supper of the Lord. Nor did the Fury stop here but in many Places where any of the Zwinglians were they were turned out imprisoned harrassed expelled driven into Exile and forced away to Sea in a severe Winter in Frost and Snow when the Winds blew hard and the Weather was exceeding tempestuous and all because they would not abjure these Six Propositions 1. That these Words Take eat this is my Body and Take drink this is my Blood must not be understood literally but typically and figuratively 2. That the Elements in the Lord's Supper are only Signs and Symbols and that Christ's Body is as far removed from the Bread in the Sacrament as Heaven is from Earth 3. That Christ is present in this Sacrament by his Virtue and Power and not with his Body as the Sun with his Light and Operation assists and refreshes the Creatures of God in this lower World 4. That the Bread in the Sacrament is the Emblem and Figure of Christ's Body and signifies and represents only 5. That Christ's Body is eaten only by Faith mounting up into Heaven not with the Mouth 6. That only true Believers do properly eat Christ's Body but wicked Men who have no lively Faith receive nothing but the bare Bread and Wine Those that would not abjure these Doctrines were used like Hereticks Fanaticks and Vagabonds By their usage one would have taken them to have been guilty of Sacrilege Murther Robbery Sedition Rebellion c. but the chief Crime it seems was because having imbibed Zwinglius and Calvin's Doctrine about the Eucharist they could not conform to the Lutheran Persuasion in that Point Wonderful Barbarity which one would scarce have expected from Heathens much less from Christians and Fellow-Protestants who together with them protested against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome Into such an unseemly Behaviour do Men precipitate themselves when they let loose the Reins of their Passions instead of becoming Repairers of Breaches they make them wider and
serious Reflections on his Death and Agonies and the Bitterness of his Passion It being spoken to our Souls not to our Bodies to take and eat this Body the Soul hath no other Way to feed upon it but by a pathetick Consideration of the Particulars of that Death and the End and Design of God in it and the Comforts and the Benefits that thereby redound to Mankind and such a Consideration as affects our Souls touches them to the quick and puts them on serious Enquiries into our wretched State and makes them break forth into Flames of Love so that though Christ's Body was crucified above Sixteen Hundred Years agone yet a pious Soul can eat it at this Day swallow the Charity which appears in it with her Thoughts consider who it is that is so wonderfully concerned for her Safety look upon him whom her Sins have pierced and take a View of that Man of Sorrows who was bruised for her Iniquities and wounded for her Transgressions and admire the Miracles that are to be seen in all this 2. To eat Christ's Body is to apply the Benefits of his Death and Passion to our Souls and to rejoyce in them as our greatest Treasure As he that eats with his Bodily Organs applies the Food he takes with his Hands to his Mouth and Body and converts it into Blood and Substance so the pious Soul is pleased with this Spiritual Meat is refreshed by it and applies the Benefits of that crucified Body to her self and with the Thoughts of Peace and Pardon and Salvation which are the Blessings that drop from that Tree arms her self against the Assaults of the Devil and the Terrours of Death and believing without wavering that those Mercies were purchased for her in particular and that she hath a Right and Title to them stands up in the evil Day and in the midst of Temptations boldly cries with the Apostle Who is he that condemns It is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. 3. To make this crucified Body a Persuasive and Motive to Holiness and Obedience To conclude from thence that if he gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity then we must not frustrate his Expectation nor cling to that Iniquity which he came to free us from And if he died to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous for good Works then we must not defile our selves after that nor wallow in the Mire any more with the Swine but cleanse our Minds from carnal covetous and lustful Thoughts our Wills from Perversenes and Stubbornness our Affections from Fondness of this present World and our Hands from Uncleanness His zealous Love to us must make us zealous for his Glory to him we must consecrate our selves and to be holy as he is holy must be the Business of our Lives and so to love him as to keep his Commandments must henceforward be looked upon as our bounden Duty He truly eats this crucified Body upon whom this Crucifixion hath that Power as to crucifie in him his known Lusts and Passions and to engage him to purifie himself from all Filthiness both of Soul and Body The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. IN all Writings both Ancient and Modern about this holy Sacrament there are various Rhetorical Expressions used which we must not understand literally but as Flowers strowed upon the Herse of our Blessed Redeemer and as Ornaments of Speech to represent the Greatness of the Mystery There is nothing more common among the Fathers than to call the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper the Body and Blood of Christ and the Cup the Vessel in which Christ's Blood is contained And many times Christ is said to stand at the Altar and all the holy Angels waiting at the Table that Christ offers his Body to be bruised by the People's Teeth and dyes them red with his Blood that the Elements are changed and become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus and that after Prayer and Thanksgiving they are no more what they were before and a Thousand such Expressions besides From which the Church of Rome presently infers that they believed a Transubstantiation or a Conversion of the Elements into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood than which nothing can be more absurd For if a Man compare these Saying of the Ancients with other Passages in their Writings it plainly appears that they meant no more than that the Elements are representative of all this and that the Expressions they use are nothing but Rhetorical Flourishes to raise the People's Affections and to render their Devotions brisk lively servent affectionate and vigorous We do the same at this Day when we tell you that you come to feast with Christ that in this Sacrament he is crucified before you Eyes that you may see his Blood run down that you hear him groan under the Burthen of your Sins that you see here his Body hanging on the Cross that you are to stand under the Tree and catch the precious Gore as Balsam for your Souls All which is true in a spiritual Sense and we do it to make you more attentive and set this Passion out in such lively Characters that your Souls may be touch'd and enliven'd and as Things represented in brighter Colours strike the Senses more so we speak of these Things as if they were visible and perceptible to the outward Eyes that your Souls may more chearfully feed on the Kernel that lies in those Shells and with greater Life embrace the glorious Benefits which come to you by that precious Sacrifice II. By the same Way that Man was lost by the same Way he must recover He was undone by eating He must be made whole again by eating By eating he died By eating he must come to Life again That Day thou eatest of this Tree thou shalt surely die saith God And the same saith God of this holy Sacrament That Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely live The Fruit in Paradise became a Savour of Death unto Death unto him The holy Bread in this Sacrament becomes a Savour of Life unto Life unto him That Eating brought him into Slavery This gives him a Title to the glorious Liberty of God's Children In eating that Fruit he thought to be like God and made himself worse than the Beasts that perish By eating of this Bread he is enabled to become like unto the Son of God by being changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory That Eating made him sick This is Health to his Navel and Maerrow to his Bones Prov. 3. 8. That brought the Plague This delivers from it That filled him with Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores This makes his Flesh come again like unto the Flesh of a little Child In a Word By eating God's Favour was forfeited By eating it is regained Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King for the Lord takes pleasure in his People he will
sensible of it and so much more grievous by how much it was Spiritual Our Bodies indeed were not laid in Iron nor with the Israelites forced to make Brick without Straw There were no Task-masters set over us to beat and would and bruise us we were not chained to Triumphal Chariots nor forced to work in Mines and Gallies but it was far worse our Souls which were the far better part of us were led Captive by the worst of Tyrants the Law we were govern'd by was the Law of Sin the Prison we were doom'd to was Eternal Darkness the Burdens which were laid upon us were intolerable and we were under the Power of an Usurper whose Smiles were Deaths whose Favours were Punishments and whose Kindnesses were Destruction and Ruin under him we labour'd and toil'd in vain and when at night after our Travel we looked for Wages we could expect nothing but Fire and Flames We read of Dracula the Transylvanian that having one day invited all the Beggars and poor Men he could light of to a splendid Dinner or Entertainment after they had filled their Bellies he set Fire to the Hall where they were and burnt them all The same Fare we must have expected of that Tyrannical Master under whose Bondage we groan'd but from this Slavery the Son of God by dying for us redeemed and rescued us A Mercy which as it deserves to be remembred above all the deliverances that ever happened to us so where can the remembrance be more proper than in the Sacrament of his Death and Passion 4. In vain is all this remembred if we do not remember to imitate this Saviour in his Self-denying Acts for therefore all this Mercy and Love and Charity is represented to us in this Sacrament that it may be an Obligation upon us to deport our selves in the World after his Example So that as he prayed for his Enemies so must we as he blessed them that cursed him so must we as he freely forgave the Men that wronged him so must we as he died for the Truth so must we as he defended it to the last without wavering so must we as he would not suffer any outward Respects to discourage him from Conscientiousness so neither must we as he before his Foes witnessed a good Confession so must we as he did Good for Evil so must we as he shewed Pity to Men in distress though they had affronted and done him an Injury so must we as he bore his Cross contentedly so must we as he despised the World so must we He that remembers not his Death so as to endeavour to be like him forgets the End of his Redemption and dishonours the Cross on which his Satisfaction was wrought For the Honour due to the Cross of Christ is not with the Church of Rome to pray to a piece of Wood called the Cross of Christ Hail Christ's Cross our only Hope in this most blessed Passion-Week Increase the Goodness of the Good and Pardon to the Guilty give but to live in the World as the Lord Jesus did who was crucified for us and by living so to adorn the Doctrine of the Cross of Christ Jesus that is to admire and reverence his Cross. III. From such a Remembrance flow more than ordinary Advantages for Things are useful according as they are managed and consequently if the Remembrance here required be used according to the Rules laid down these following Benefits will certainly ensue upon it For 1. Hereby our Love to God is kindled and renewed Love kindles Love as Fire kindles Fire and therefore God appears in this Sacrament as he did to Moses in the Bush all in Flames of Love that those Flames may warm our Breasts And O happy Soul that feels those Flames warm and heat all that is within her When Love takes possession of the Soul or rather when the Love of God represented in the Sacrament raises Love in the holy soul then the Soul becomes the Seat of Wisdom the Tabernacle of Holiness the Chamber of the Celestial Bridegroom a spiritual Heaven a Field which the Lord hath blessed a Spouse dearly beloved a Garden of Pleasure the Marriage-house a Paradise of Vertue into which the Lord descends not to find out the Malefactor and to discover his Nakedness but to betroth to himself the beloved Virgin languishing with Love waiting for her Beloved and longing for the Bridegroom 's Coming And where this Divine Love takes place there the Love of the World expires for as St. Austin speaks He cannot love that which is Eternal that doth not cease to love that which is Temporal And from this Love arise those happy Breathings O Fountain of Love Nothing is sweeter than thy Love nothing more pleasant nothing more beneficial Thy Love is not troublesome Where thy Love is there is true Pleasure It is contented with it self it knows no Bounds it watches Opportunities to vent it self it triumphs in its own Cell and captivates all the Faculties Thy Love O Lord gives Liberty drives out Fear tramples upon Humane Merits It gives Rest to the Weary Strength to the Weak Joy to the Mourners It feels no Weariness it feeds the Hungry and keeps the Faint from sinking 2. Hereby our Consciences are purged from Dead Works This as it is ascribed expresly to the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 9. 14. so it must be attributed to the true Remembrance of that Blood in this Everlasting Sacrament Such a Remembrance cleanseth the Heart purifies the Soul makes the Dross of Sin vanish and the Impurity the Mind was oppressed withal wear away Such a Remembrance like the Gift of Prophecy Jer. 20. 9. is as a burning Fire shut up in the Bones which consumes the Hay and Straw and Stubble that annoyed the House of God For the Beauty of God's Love makes Sin appear black and ugly and causes a Loathing of it Hereby Holiness is advanced and Grace begins to flourish and the Rubbish being removed the Winter of Iniquity gone the Frost in the Soul dissolved the Flowers of the glorious Spring appear This Remembrance chaseth Lust and Luxury and therefore those in whom it hath these Effects are said to wash their Robes and make them white in the Blood of the Lamb Rev. 7. 14. 3. Hereby Christ is invited to dwell in us The House being thus cleansed and swept the Noble Guest is invited to make his Abode there This Remembrance is attractive and where the Soul is thus affected with the Remembrance of Christ's Death he comes and inhabits that beautiful Palace for such a Person seems resolv'd to keep his Word And to him the Promise runs If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our Abode with him John 14. 23. A wonderful Favour this To have him dwelling in us who is the Light of the World the Light of Heaven the Light of Angels and the Sun of Righteousness
the Alphabet that we might not look upon Letters in a Book without thinking Lord be thou the First and the Last in all my Actions Let me begin with thee and end with thee Be thou my Book let me read the Characters of thy Love and rejoyce in thee for ever For this Cause he is styled a Shepherd that whenever we cast our Eye upon a Man of that Employment we may beg of Christ to feed us with his Spirit And a Lamb that whenever we see one we may intreat him to cloath us with his Innocence And a Sower that whenever we see the Husband-man throwing Seed into the Ground we may beseech him to manure the Ground of our Hearts that we may be neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he that thus remembers him in Season and out of Season will without dispute be the better able to remember him in this Sacrament And to such a Soul David's Saying may justly be applied The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance surely he shall not be moved for ever Psal. 112. 6. The PRAYER O Blessed Redeemer who didst remember me when I had forgetten thee and thoughtest of me when I did not regard thee When I lay buried in the common Mass of Corruption thou didst not disdain to think on this forlorn Creature Thou didst pity me thou sawest my Misery and it grieved thee at thy Heart Thy Bowels yearn'd over me and thou didst spread thy Mantle over me O happy Remembrance I had been lost if thou hadst not looked upon me I had been undone if thou hadst not cast thine Eye upon me yet how loth have I been to think of thee What an Aversion have I had from remembring thee How have I shifted off all serious Reflections on thy Love I have more delighted in Trifles than in thee How sweet have the Thoughts of my Corn and Wine and Oil been to me and how tedious how irksome all Contemplation of tbee When thou hast sometimes put me in mind of thy Sufferings how have I suffered Worldly Thoughts to drive thee out of my Mind How justly mightest thou turn thy Eyes away and hide thy Face from me O Sweet O Glorious Object Appear in thy Beauty appear in thy Glory to my Mind that I may be throughly convinced that nothing deserves my Thoughts so much as thy self I am resolved to remember thee with greater Delight and Constancy Help thou me Should not I remember thee who hast in a manner forgotten thy self to remember me I can remember a Temporal Deliverance and shall not the Deliverance of my Soul procured by thy Death be remembred by me I can remember a Disaster which hath some Years agone befallen me and shall not I remember the infinite Misery from which thou camest to rescue me I will think of thee in the Night-Watches I will think of thee when I lie down when I awake when I rise again In the great Ordinance of thy Supper I will in a most solemn manner think of thee Teach me to remember thee here with Joy with Pleasure with Comfort to my Soul Here let my Thoughts of thee be sweet Whenever I think on thy Cross let me remember how by thy Charity I was freed from the Curse of God Thou becamest a Curse for me Ought not this Mercy to be remembred for ever Write it in my Mind engrave it upon my Heart let this Remembrance be easie to me Chase away all Unwillingness all Backwardness to this Duty from my Soul Oh let it become natural and make this Remembrance profitable to me that my Inward Man may be renewed by it Day by Day and abound in Love and the longer I live the more conformable I may be to thee sweet Jesu to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XIII Of the other Element or Part of this holy Sacrament viz. the Wine and the Cup Christ made use of in the Institution of the Eucharist The CONTENTS Red Wine in all probability made use of by Christ in the Institution of this Sacrament As also Wine mixed with Water Too great a Stress laid upon this Mixture by the Roman and Eastern Churches The Cup Christ used in this Sacrament pretended by the Romanists to be in their Possession The Cups made use of by the Ancient Churches what Matter or Substance they were of examined On the Sacramental Cup anciently was engraven the Figure of a Shepherd and a Lamb. The Cup in process of Time changed into Silver Pipes Christ gave the Cup to the Disciples as well as the Bread for weighty Reasons to shew that the Bread and the Cup are of the same Worth and that those who receive the one should receive the other also The Abuse of the Church of Rome in denying the Cup to the Laity laid open Their Reasons and Arguments answered Why Christ made use of Wine in this Sacrament discovered in five Particulars The Reasons why he made use of a Cup and no other Vessel An Enquiry made why Christ took the Cup after he had done with the Cup in the Passover The Cup in this Sacrament contrary in its Effects to Circe's Cup among the Heathens None fit to drink of this Cup but Men of Valour and Courage This Cup very comfortable to all distressed Spirits The Prayer I. THough it be not very material to know what Wine it was Christ made use of in the Institution of this Sacrament what Colour it was of or whether it was pure and unmix'd yet we have Reason to believe that it was Red Wine and Wine mix'd with Water Red because this was the usual Wine among the Jews and therefore called The Blood of the Grape Gen. 49. 11. And when the Royal Prophet would express God's Vengeance upon the Wicked and Incorrigible by Wine he saith The Wine is red Psal. 75. 8. And this sort of Wine did best represent the Blood of Christ which was to be spilt for the Sins of the World and to make a considerable Figure in this Sacrament And to this purpose is that famous Prophecy Esay 63. 1 2 3. Who is this that comes from Edom with died Garments from Bozra Wherefore art thou red in thy Apparel and thy Garments like him that treads in the Wine-Fat Which Words as by the Consent of Interpreters they relate to Christ's Death and bearing the Burthen of God's Anger for our Transgressions so they at once express the Blood of Christ and the Colour of the Wine that was most in use among the Jews and consequently 't is very likely that Christ made use of Red Wine in this Ordinance And as it was Red so it is probable it was Wine mixed with Water this also being customary in that Country as we see Prov. 9. 2. in which our Blessed Master lived during his Abode in the World The Evangelists indeed mention no such Thing but in general only tell
a ransom for me a mercy without which I could neither have been safe nor happy and a share in which must needs be more to me than the wealth of Kings What can be more reasonable than that he should be my Master and I his Servant that he should command and I obey that he should govern and I submit that he should prescribe Laws and I act according to those Laws whatever Danger whatever Trouble whatever Inconvenience I put my self to This is the Wisdom of God or rather infused by God into the Soul and if any sort of wisdom were hinted by Christ's using Wine in this Ordinance it must be this Wisdom for this is gratitude and ingenuity and an argument that we receive not the grace of God in vain 4. Wine hath briskness and spirit in it and might not this be an Item to tell us how lively and vigorous our Love should be to Christ Jesus and how like new Wine our Love should be ready to burst the bottles at least vent it self in some such ejaculations Oh Jesu how sweet how lovely how amiable art thou how full of Beauty how full of Glory how full of Majesty in the midst of all thy pain and sorrow Thy wounds look dismal yet was never any thing more medicinal never did any thing afford greater virtue for they can cure sin they are preservatives from Hell and the surest Amulets against inffection from these the costly Balsom flows that must restore my wounded Soul Oh how I love thee Oh how I prize thee Oh how I esteem thee Thou art more to me than Father or Mother more than Lands or Houses I read of Fountains that flow'd with Oyl when thou wast born but that 's no comfort to me Thy wounds are the springs that send forth an Oyl precious and sweet and odoriferous whereby the diseases of my Heart are expell'd This is the Oyl of gladness anoint my Head with it and from thence let it run down to the skirts of my cloathing that my whole Man may be thine and my Soul and Body and all I have may participate of thy grace and compassion 5. Wine is cleansing too and might not this be an hint of the purifying quality of the Blood of the Holy Jesus Surely that Blood cleanses us from all sins it washes whiter than Snow Fullers-Earth is not to be compar'd with it Though the Sinner wash himself with Nitre and take much Soap to purifie his Soul yet that will not take away one spot still his iniquity will be mark'd before God but the Blood of Christ will make him clean so clean that God will spy no iniquity in Jacob and no perverseness in Israel so clean that no wrinkle shall appear in him one would think nothing could have been more filthy than some sinners have been yet upon their Repentance the Blood of Christ hath so purified so cleans'd so beautified their Souls that even Angels have fall'n in love with them VI. That Christ made use of a Cup in the distributition of the Wine we have already taken notice of but whether there might not be some mystery in his making use of a Cup and no other Vessel is a thing worth our consideration And. 1. The Prophets had spoken of a Cup of trembling and of a Cup of God's fury Es. 51. 17. Jerem. 25. 15 17 18. This Cup the Jewish Nation was to drink of their Commonwealth and Policy was to be destroy'd and inexpressible Calamities were to light on them and the second Captivity was to be worse than the first as their Sins that caused the second were greater than those which occasioned the first Miseries so great that when Christ beheld the City he wept over it and said The days will come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Luk. 19. 41 43 44. This was the Cup of astonishment that unhappy Nation was to drink of so that his making use of a Cup was an allusion to that misery for now the time drew near and they were going to do that which would hasten their ruin viz. kill the Lord of Glory and their greatest Friend 2. Himself was to drink the Cup of the Lord's fury to atone for the Sins both of Jews and Gentiles and of this the Cup he took was an Emblem He had generously and freely undertaken to open to Mankind a way to God's Favour This way could not be made considering the Decree of God but by his Sufferings and and accordingly we find him drinking so deep of this Cup that in the Garden of Gethsemane he falls into an Agony and his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground Luk. 22. 44. That which made this Cup so bitter was the greatness of the sins of Mankind and the dreadful wrath of God they had deserv'd particularly the monstrous sins of the Jewish Nation to whom the first offers of Grace were made and the unspeakable temporal calamities which were to come upon them for their perfidiousness and contempt of the greatest mercies and their total desolation and destruction for their hardness and wilful stupidity These as they were represented to his Mind in a lively manner so it caused prodigious Grief in his Soul insomuch that he profess'd his Soul was sorrowful unto death This was a Cup the most loathsome that ever mortal did take and therefore he calls it by that name Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Luke 22. 42. He takes therefore a Cup here that his Followers in future ages might think of the Cup he had drunk of with so much terror and consternation A Cup he took to let us see that the Cup he took in this Sacrament was the true Cup of Salvation we find mention made of a Cup of Salvation and of a Cup of Consolation Psal. 116. 13. and Jer. 16. 7. But the Cup in this Sacrament is of a far greater virtue The Cup of Salvation among the Jews was either the Cup of Wine they made use of in the Passover or the Cup they drank of at Festivals or Feasts when they rejoyced with their Friends after some signal Mercy and Deliverance The Cup of Consolation was properly that which they gave to Mourners at Funerals especially where People took on excessively for the death of their near Relations or were ready to sink with Grief But the Cup in this Sacrament is a Cup of Salvation and Consolation in a sublimer Sense By the Blood of Christ Mankind was made capable of inheriting Life and Eternal Salvation which is beyond being saved from Egypt from the Midianites from the Assyrians and from the Chaldeans so that he that drinks of this Blood contain'd in the Sacramental
preferr'd before the lesser and Mercy many times comes to be a greater Duty than Sacrifice Ordinarily a Duty of God's Worship we have resolved upon ought to be preferr'd before a Duty of Civility and a customary visit is not to dash or hinder our intended Devotion God must first be pleas'd and then Man in things lawful and convenient yet Charity is of so great a value in the sight of God that many times he bids us prefer that before Devotion When my Neighbors House is on fire I am bound to run and endeavour to quench that though the hour is come that I use to enter into my Closet to pray to my Father in secret and my sick Neighbor wanting my help and assistance I may justly prefer a charitable Visit before my accustomed Suplications Nor is this all the Order that is to be observ'd in Duties The business of our calling must be begun with Prayer and concluded with Thanksgiving and he that when first he awakes in the Morning lets his first Thoughts be of God and when he is up and dress'd applies himself to singing of a Psalm or to meditating in the Law of God by reading a Chapter in the Bible with attention then kneels down to Prayer either by himself or with his Family and afterwards goes to his lawful employment and in the midst of that imployment forgets not that God sees and hears him but runs up often with his Thoughts to Heaven takes notice of God's Providences and before he goes into company arms himself with Holy Ejaculations against Sin and Infection and at night reviews what he hath been doing in the day-time such a person acts orderly and draws a Blessing down upon the work of his hands not to mention the Peace he thereby procures to his Mind and Conscience 2. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew that after the Jewish Oeconomy another and much nobler Dispensation was to follow a Dispensation not of Shadows and Types and Images but of Truth of Reality and Accomplishment a Dispensation not requiring Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks but such as press'd Spiritual Sacrifices and Oblations a Dispensation not of Bondage and Slavery but of Freedom and Liberty a Dispensation which should be large and diffussve not confining its Priviledges and Influences to a single Nation but spread them abroad to the comfort of all the Inhabitants of the World None drank of the Cup of the Passover but persons circumcised but the Cup Christ takes here all Nations both circumcised and uncircumcised were permitted to participate of all Penitents what Kindred People Tongue or Nation soever they were of 3. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew there was greater Virtue and Excellency in this last than there was in the first After me comes a Man saith the Baptist John 1. 30. that is preferr'd before me for he was before me So it may be said of the Paschal Cup after that came a Cup which was far more Excellent and Glorious and Beneficial than the other Christ came after Moses after the Law after the Prophets yet went beyond them all in Light in Knowledge in Virtue in Goodness and in bringing glad Tidings And so the Passover tho' it was before the Lord's Supper yet doth this Supper of the Lord transcend the other by many degrees and both represents and confers sublimer Mercies than the roasted Lamb could do for here the Blessed Trinity manifests it self in greater charms than it did in the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in which St. John saw the Heavens open and the Holy Ghost descending on the Son of God in the shape of a Dove and the Father compleating the stupendious Scene with an Acclamation This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased For in this Sacrament the Holy Ghost falls on the Souls of sincere Believers as Rain on the Mowen Grass and as the Showers that water the Earth The everlasting Father not only tells us which is the Beloved Son but by setting his Sons death before us shews that he loved us in a manner better than his Son in giving that Son to dye for us than which nothing can be more kind nothing more surprizing the Son himself invites us and offers to wash us from our sins with his own Blood and assures us That being sprinkled with his Blood we are fafe and secure against all the Curses of the Law and the Thunders of Mount Sina These things were Mysteries and Paradoxes in the Passover but this Sacrament which came after it opens the door and lets us in to see this Glorious Representation and consequently is a Richer Greater Holier Sublimer and more Heavenly Ordinance than the Passover The Preeeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. AMong the Heathen Poets there is much talk of Circe's Cup which transform'd Men into Brutes and Swine a Fable whereby they represented how sensual pleasure transform'd Men into Creatures void of Reason and Discretion But the Cup we speak of hath contrary effects and Fire and Water are not more opposite than the operations of these two For this Sacramental Cup transforms Brutes into Men again and changes Beasts into the Image of the Son of God Sinner make but a trial of it thou I mean that hast not had so much understanding as the Swallow and the Turtle and the Crane for they know their appointed times whereas thou hast not known the time of thy return thou that hast rusht into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle thou that hast wallowed in the Mire with the Swine and acted like a Creature made of Earth and Dung. Take courage prepare thy self for drinking of this Cup purifie thy Soul for profane Hands must not touch it confess thine iniquity make War with thy Lusts Fight with thy carnal Desires and drink of this Cup and thou wilt find how thy Reason will clear up how thy Understanding will be enlighten'd how thy beastly Qualities will die The Blood in this Cup hath such Virtue in it that it will transform thee by the renewing of the Mind and make thee prove what is the Holy Perfect and acceptable Will of God It 's true the bare drinking will not do it but drinking it with Contrition with contemplation of the Person whose Blood is in the Cup with consideration of the Cause viz. the Sins that spilt it with thankfulness for the infinite Mercy of him that thus freely parted with it and with resolutions to love him that did not think his own Blood too dear to let it flow for the good of his enemies Petrus de Natalibus tells us of a Woman who having labour'd many years under very great infirmities of Body was brought exceeding weak but drinking one day accidentally out of the Cup that a Holy Man Scion by Name did use to drink of she was restored to perfect health Though we cannot promise that this Sacramental Cup will work such a Miracle of the Diseases of the Body
suffer and so it came to pass Let me for ever believe thy promises In all Dangers in all Troubles in all Necessities let thy Promises be for my Comfort Let me never mistrust thy Goodness after so great an instance of thy Goodness as the Gift of thy Son must be How can I despair of Mercy upon unfeigned Repentance when in this passion Mercy was drawn out to that length on purpose that it might reach the greatest Sinners O Jesu thou hast defeated all mine Enemies Thou hast evacuated all the obstacles of my Salvation Let me pretend and plead excuses no more Now let me run with patience the race which is set before me the way being open'd into the Holy of Holies encourage me to walk in it with all that wait for the Salvation of God Affect my Heart with a Religious Fear and let thy humble Passion kill my Pride Let my Sins appear more dreadful to me when I contemplate thine Agonies and let the World with all its deceitful Vanities become loathsome to me when I see how little thou didst regard it Let every thing die in me that is not agreeable to thy Life that when thou who art my Life shalt appear I may also appear with thee in Glory Amen Amen CHAP. XIV Of the Covenant represented by the Cup in this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS A seeming contradiction betwixt the Evangelists reconcil'd The Greek Word which we render Testament prov'd to signifie a Covenant too The manner of making Covenants in ancient times applied to the Covenant made in this Sacrament The difference between the Old and New Covenant discover'd In this Sacramental Covenant the parties mutually engaging one to another proved to be God and Man Under what Notions both parties are to be consider'd explain'd The nature of this Sacramental Covenant its beginning and first rudiments in our Baptism the necessity of renewing it when we come to some maturity of Understanding Our consent to it and how that consent must be qualified This Covenant if broken after a due ratification of it whether it may be renew'd What things do not break or null it What Sins they are that make it void How it may be renew'd by sincere Repentance and what kind of Repentance it must be Great presumption to enter into a Solemn Covenant with God and not to consider the wieght and importance of it The great misery and wretchedness of Men who are not actually in Covenant with God How necessary it is for persons when young to make or renew their Covenant No impossible thing to come to a rational Confidence that we are in Covenant with God The Mercies and Advantages of being God's faithful Confederates The Prayer I. CHrist in describing the Nature of this Sacramental Cup or the Wine in the Cup tells us as St. Matthew and St. Mark relate it This is my Blood of the New Testament or as St. Luke and St. Paul rehearse it This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood St. Luke being St. Paul's companion in Travel it 's like the Apostle made use of St. Luke's Commentaries which he had by him though perhaps they were not yet published to the World nor must we therefore suspect a contradiction in these different expressions for the Evangelists in their Histories do not always tye themselves to the very number and order of Words and Syllables which our Saviour spoke but many times think it sufficient to express the Sense and that the Sense is the same here though the Expression be different will easily appear to an impartial Reader though it may be said that Christ might very justly use both expressions one after another say that which St. Mark and St. Matthew mention and afterwards that which St. Luke and St Paul take notice of by way of explication and for brevitys sake one Evangelist might set down one and another the Sense being the same another II. The word which we render Testament is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which indeed in some few places of Scripture particularly Hebr. 9. 15. is us'd for the last Will and Testament of a Testator but for the most part stands for a Covenant answering to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berith and imports a compact or contract of two Parties mutually engaging to one another to do and perform what is proper convenient and fit to be done and this by the consent of all Interpreters is the chief signification intended here and that which will give Light to this Notion is the custom of the first Ages of the World For Covenants in antient times were usually made by the slaying of a Beast and shedding its Blood which was to put the Confederates in mind that if they broke the Articles agreed upon they must fear as base a death as that Beast did suffer◠and Providence would not only take notice of the violation and revenge it but by the ceremony they imprecated themselves that in case they prov'd false to their promise such a sudden violent death might seize on them Among the more barbarous sort of Mankind when in these cases they had slain the Beast they pour'd the Bloud of the Hog or Calf or Ox that was shed into a Cup and the Confederates drank of it to make the tye stronger and the execration more dreadful and consequently more forcing But the civiller sort after they had kill'd the Beast to seal the Covenant instead of Blood fill'd the Cup with Wine and the respective Parties drank of it which they thought and believ'd to be as obligatory as the other In a word hereby both parties express'd their resolution and serious intent to perform the mutual Engagements and tacitly wished Death and Judgment to themselves in case of nonperformance of the Articles And though this cannot be applied in every circumstance to the Covenant made betwixt God and Man in every particular God not being capable of imprecating himself and his Word being of greater weight and moment than all the Oaths and Execrations Man can take yet from the premises we may easily guess that Christ alludes to these practises of Mankind in saying This is my Blood of the New Testament and that in this Sacrament Men enter into a Covenant with God or rather confirm the Covenant made betwixt God and them by the Mediation of the Blood of Jesus who was the innocent Lamb slain from the foundation of the World for it is with regard to that Blood that God is not only willing to enter but actually enters into compacts and contracts with lapsed Man and as in the afore-mentioned federate Rites and Ceremonies the parties engaging to one another drank of the Blood of the slain Beast or of the Wine which was in lieu of that Blood thereby to confirm their mutual promises so they that come to this Holy Sacrament are not only admonish'd by drinking of the Cup or of the Wine in the Cup representing the Blood of Christ to enter into solemn
Engagements and Promises to be true and faithful to that God who bought them at so dear a price as the Blood and Death of his own Son but in actual drinking of it profess and declare that in case they prove false and treacherous to their great Confederate break their promise wilfully and allow themselves in it that they deserve that everlasting Death and Damnation from which that Blood was intended to deliver them and besides it is a tacit imprecation too if they be not true to their Engagements that then those Agonies and Miseries and dreadful Death the Son of God endured shall fall to their share and portion which illustrates the Apostles saying 1 Cor. 11. 29. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily Eats and Drinks Damnation to himself But of this I shall have occasion to Treat professedly in the sequel III. There is frequent mention made in Scripture of the Old and New Covenant By the Old is meant the Covenant or Compact God by the Ministry of Moses made with the Israelites as they were a Common-wealth whereof God himself was pleas'd to be the King and President This Covenant was fitted to the slavish temper of the People God had to deal withal and as God promised them temporal Felicity eating the Good of the Land a plentiful Harvest increase of their Kine and Cattle full Barns and a rich Vintage multitude of Children and protection from their temporal Enemies so it requir'd in the Consederates or Jewish People an exact compliance of their outward Man with the Precepts Laws and Statutes God appointed and gave them The New Covenant is that Contract which God makes with Mankind in Christ Jesus wherein he promises to admit sincere Believers into his special Favour and for Christ's sake to bestow upon them the riches of Grace and Glory and on our side requires renouncing all Love to a sinful Life and resignation of our Souls Spirits and Bodies to his Will and Government It 's call'd New in opposition to the Civil or Political Covenant God made with the Jewish People as they were a Nation immediately under his Jurisdiction for both the Promises and Obedience under that Dispensation were different from the Promises and Obedience of the other one promising only Temporal Blessings and requiring External Obedience the other promising Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and requiring Internal and sincere Obedience and though the New Covenant which God makes with the People under the Gospel had its beginning already in Adam's time immediately after the Fall and was again publish'd in the days of Abraham Yet notwithstanding all this it may justly be call'd New because of the clear and fuller Revelation of it when Christ the foundation of it appear'd and by his Death confirm'd all the Predictions Prophecies Types and Prefigurations of it before and under the Law of Moses for then was made a new publication of it new Witnesses were made use of and new Motives and Encouragements were given and new Sacraments as Seals of that Covenant were added And this New Covenant the Blood or Wine the Embleme of it in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper relates to and he that drinks of that Wine or Blood represented by it confirms that Covenant professes that he approves of it will stand to it and acknowledges the justness of his threatnings denounced against those who count this Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing Even the Civil and Political Covenant which God made with the People of the Jews was solemnized by Blood which is the reason of that passage Exod. 24. 7 8. And Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the audience of the People and they said All that the Lord hath said will we do And Moses took the Blood and sprinkled it on the People and said Behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words And as in their suffering themselves to be sprinkled with that Blood they declared their unfeigned assent and consent to the conditions of that Covenant and profess'd that it was just with God to inflict death and ruine upon them if they did not study to obey that Covenant so in the New Testament in this Holy Sacrament those that come to be Partakers of it are sprinkled as it were with the invaluable Blood of Christ and by that own their hearty consent to the Conditions of the New Covenant and ratifie their Obedience and God's Promises and Threatnings too which are the Sanctions of this Covenant IV. In this Covenant the Parties concern'd are God and Man yet from hence no Person is to conclude that God stood in need of this Alliance We indeed had need of it and it was our Interest that God should do so His vouchsafing to come to such a Contract speaks his Goodness and there is not a greater Argument of his Clemency and Compassion He could have been Great Glorious and Magnificent without us and what need had he of the Friendship of such miserable Creatures as we are that was All in All His Excellency and Beatitude receive no addition by this Covenant and what had it been to him if we had been left in the common mass of Corruption and Perdition What could he have lost by our Eternal Groans or what disparagement could it have been to him to let us sink into the Gulph when our Sins and Offences were the meritorious cause of it It shews his infinite Goodness and condescention that he will enter into promises and engagements with his Creatures and we are Brutes if the thoughts of his Mercy in this particular do not force our Tongues to break forth into admiration of it Our Misery and Wretchedness required such a favour and without it we must have been as great strangers to happiness as we were to power and ablility to help our selves Commisseration to our Poverty and undone Condition moved the Almighty to come to terms with us and this Covenant is our advantage and emolument God gets no profit by it and though it is a publication of his Goodness and proclaims the Wonders of his Loving-kindness yet God might have found out other ways to manifest that and it 's we that are the Gainers by this Contract V. In this Covenant God must not be considered only as an infinite most perfect and most excellent Being but more particularly under that threefold Relation of 〈◊〉 Son and Holy-Ghost Man also is not only to be looked upon as Gods Creature but as a Sinner fallen from God apostatiz'd from Righteousness and standing in need of Gods Help Assistance Grace and Reconciliation and as one who of a Child of Wrath is to be made a Child of God of an Enemy a Friend of an Heir of Hell an Heir of Heaven and Co-heir with Christ And accordingly this Sacramental Covenant is nothing else but a mutual Promise of an offended God and the offender whereby both Parties do unfeignedly and without guile or fraud
it it must stand and last as long as those assaults do last The Apostle therefore makes mention of sincere Christians that will be alive at Christ's coming to Judgment 1 Thess. 4. 17. And consequently the Church will last till then and if the Church is to last to the Worlds end the Marks of that Church must last as long It 's true Holiness of life is one Mark but that 's not all the Marks the Christ's Church must have The Sacraments are Marks too and Marks whereby it may be better known than by Holiness not but that Holiness is the principal Ornament of the Church but as those that are to joyn themselves unto the Church are generally more inquisitive after the Constitutions and Ordinances of it and the means whereby that Holiness is effected than after any thing else so this Sacrament being part of those means and therefore one of the necessary Marks it must last to the end of the World as much as the Church it self and as long as there is any probability of Mens joyning themselves to the Church and by this means Holiness of Life is signally promoted as experience sufficiently witnesses As Christians in general so the Church of Christ or the respective Societies of Christians professing Christ's Doctrine and imitation of his life are compared to a City set on a Hill and which cannot be hid Mat. 5. 14. Not that Christ's Church must always appear outwardly Magnificent and Glorious thereby to attract the Eyes of Spectators no but that the purity of Doctrine and sound Preaching of the Word and the due administration of the Holy Sacraments together with innocence of Life must make it visible and this it may be under the greatest persecution and when a severe Tempest falls upon her by these Marks she may still be known and if these are her Marks these Marks must last as long as the Church it self III. The term therefore to which this Holy Sacrament is to last even Chrst's coming to Judgment may very justly be taken into consideration in receiving of the Blessed Eucharist I hinted so much Ch. 1. Fa. 9. But must upon this occasion enlarge upon it For 1. This consideration will help to encourage us to Patience under reproaches Injuries and Mens unrighteous dealing with us It serves to quiet the Soul to think that Christ knows my Sufferings aud the Injuries that are done me and sees my Integrity and Innocence and will clear me in the last day before the whole World What need I resent such an affront when the Son of God takes notice of it and if I am patient under it will in that great day plead my Cause set the Sinners Transgression if he repents not before his Eyes and confound him not that I am to wish that confusion of the offender but my consideration that Christ will actually do it may promote my contentedness under that affliction What need I revile my Persecutors when he for whose sake I endure that persecution will sufficiently vindicate me in that day for it is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to those that trouble you saith St. Paul 2. Thes. 1. 6 7 8. This Judge will at last discover how Men were mistaken in us how unjust there Censures were what sinister Constructions they put upon our Actions how malicious their Slanders were how unjust the Punishments they inflicted on us how inhuman how contrary to Charity all their ill Lauguage was He shall bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day Psal 37. 6. and this consideration must needs be very effectual to promote Patience 2. This Consideration will help to increase our confidence and arm us against distrust and diffidence for if the powers of darkness would fright us from laying hold on Christ's Merits because he will be a very severe Judge in the last day the timerous Christian may answer thus True he will be my Judge but he hath promised to be a Father too to those that fear him He 'll be my Judge Indeed but he is a Judge of my Flesh and of my Bone and who will have regard to my infirmities He 'll be my Judge but he is my Head withal who will be tender of his Members He 'll be my Judge but he is a merciful High Priest withal who will be my Advocate and answer the Objections I cannot confute I will cling to his Precepts I will not wickedly depart form him I will express my Love to him in Holy Obedience I will dread his Judgments and make his Mercy a motive to Purification I will not give place to the Devil I will fight against his Temptations I will stand upon my watch I will not lie asleep in the Bed of Sin I will get up if I chance to fall I will rise again when I am overtaken in a fault I will accuse my self and beg his pardon I will endeavour to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith I am called with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering I will not take part against him with his Enemies This is the work I have resolved upon according to this Rule I will walk and such a Soul I know this Gracious Judge will not cast away nor condemn what inadvertencies I may run into I will not justifie but strive against them and I doubt not but his Cross will cover them while my Heart is sincere and my Soul is ever toward him This Judge will absolve me he will deal favourably with me as with a person whom he hath redeemed I will look upon the Promises and apply them He hath promised that he will not take away his kindness utterly from such as love him while I live I will love him and I question not but as severe as he is to the obstinate and untractable he will visit me with everlasting kindness The Preceding Considerations improved and reduced to Practise I. O Let us admire the Goodness of God and his marvellous care of our everlasting welfare He sees how slippery our Natures are how fickle how mutable how changeable how apt to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them and therefore he ties us in Bonds in Covenants and in Sacraments of of Virtue whereof the Lord's Supper is the strongest the greatest and most Sacred and therefore the best defensative and guard against the encroachments of Temptations insomuch that he who can break through this Mound and will not be kept in by Arguments drawn from the Death of Christ but in despight of the Blood of the Covenant he hath drunk and sealed his Promise with will plunge himself into known sins that Man's case is desperate that Man is truly resolved to be miserable and will die though the Lord Jesus call to him from the Cross Live in thy Blood live He that can Swear and Vow to God in this Sacrament vow upon the Body and Blood of Christ that he 'll be Drunk no more and Swear no more
Ordinance in thy Church and ordained it as a means whereby thy loving Members may come in the unity of the Faith unto a perfect Man It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful witness in Heaven Give me O give me perseverance in the use of it O Jesu Thou art the promised Seed the promised Messiah the promised desire of all Nations Thou art the fruitful Vine and by the precious Liquor that drops from thee innumerable Souls are cherished and refreshed Thy Sacred Name is as Ointment poured out I smell the rich composition My Soul doth gather strength and life from that perfume I am the wounded Man that 's fallen among Thieves O let thy Blood heal me of my Plagues Thou hast been lifted up to the Cross that the Enemy of Mankind might be troden down O let me participate of the Virtue of that exaltation that I may trample upon his Temptations Thou hast been lifted up to draw me after Thee and to withdraw my Heart from worldly Desires and Affections O lift me up from the Earth that I may relish the comfort of thy Exaltation Thou wast lifted up that thou mightest be beheld by all O let me look upon Thee whom I have pierced by my Sins that I may mourn for them bitterly Thy Holy Arms were stretched out that thou mightest embrace all that come unto Thee I come Lord Take me into thy Arms and love me O let thy Cross be my security against all my Enemies Let thy Wounds be my refuge in the hour of Temptation Let that innocent Blood that dropt from thy Hands and Feet and Side wash away the spots and stains of my abominable Actions Henceforward my Hands and my Heart shall be lifted up in Prayer and Praise and Love and Devotion O direct me and give me grace to obey thy Directions and leave me not till I am past all danger O see me safe through the wilderness of this World that I may for ever Admire and Adore Thee in thy Everlasting Kingdom Amen CHAP. XVII Of Eating and Drinking unworthyly in this Ordinance and the Guilt the unworthy Receiver incurs thereby The CONTENTS Both good and bad Men frighted witb the thoughts of Eating and Drinking unworthily but the good without just cause Wherein unworthy Eating and Drinking doth not consist shewn in Thirteen particulars with the reasons of the assertion and wherein it doth consist The danger of unworthy Eating and Drinking proved to lie in making our selves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. How Men involve themselves in that guilt discovered A great difference betwixt Receiving unworthily and being not worthy to Receive The great imprudence and Weakness of those that are loath to depart with their Sins and therefore are unwilling to come for fear they should make themselves guilty of the Death of Christ and of Damnation The impudence and boldness of others who come to this Sacrament receive unworthily and are not concerned at their danger The Joys and Comforts which arise from Receiving worthyly The Prayer I. THough from the Premises the Reader may easily guess what is it to Eat and Drink unworthyly and though in Ch. 4. some general notions concerning it have been laid down yet since it is a point which frights not only bad Men but even some of those who are otherwise piously inclin'd from coming to the Lord's Table it will be necessary to give a distinct explication it that neither the bad may think they gain any thing by abstaining nor the good be discouraged from coming As bad Men have no sense of Spiritual things which makes them live merrily in neglect of commanded Duties so not a few of those whose hearts are tender are apt to discompose their minds with needless scruples whereby they too often deprive themselves of the comforts they might reap from God's Ordinances and besides expose themselves to strong Temptations of the Devil who takes pleasure to see good Men in confusion hoping that one time or other they may fall into his net and when they know not how to extricate themselves out of their Labyrinths will shake of the Yoak of all Religion and become his Votaries run into the the other extream and turn either careless or Prophane To prevent these and other dangers it will be convenient to discourse of this Eating and Drinking unworthily first Negatively what it is not and secondly what it is and wherein the sin consists And therefore II. To Eat and Drink unworthily is not 1. To Eat and Drink at this Table with a weak Faith By a weak Faith I mean such a belief of the truth and necessity of the things commanded in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as makes the Soul ready and willing to do the things required of her but is attended with great fears and doubts with wavering and inconstancy and this weakness proceeds not so much from want of will to submit to Christ as from want of understanding either the extent of the Grace of God or the nature of the Gospel of peace or the design of God in his Providences or the Latitude of true Christian Liberty which defect must needs cause great mistrusts of our safety danger of being scandaliz'd with little things and unsteddiness in Holy Duties as we see Rom. 14. 1 2. c. yet this weakness of Faith doth not make a Man an unworthy receiver 1. Because Christ is willing to receive such into favour and he express'd this willingness in his kind behaviour to the Man we read of Mark 9. 22. Who believed indeed but waveringly and soon after cryed out and said with Tears in his Eyes Lord I believe help thou my unbelief The Disciples of our Lord upon their first adhering to him were at the best but weak in Faith and therefore Christ calls to them so often O ye of little Faith yet he doth not therefore reject them He cherishes the very Seeds of Faith and when it is no bigger than a grain of Muster-Seed he makes much of it Though the Branches of it be but tender yet he doth not Root up the Tree or Command the Husbandman to cut it down lest it should cumber the Ground or throw it into the Fire To which purpose there is an Excellent Character given of him Esa. 40. 11. He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd and gather the Lambs with his Arms and carry them in his Bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young There are Lambs in his Flock as well as Sheep and as these two require various management so both may be confident of his tenderness All Stars do not shine alike yet even those that give not so great a brightness shall be preserved as well as the greater Luminaries Love is an acceptable present to him and though in some like fire under green Wood it burns but dimly yet he 'll quench it no more than he will the more blazing Flames But then when I say he will
importunity Not the later but the former makes the Communicant an unworthy Receiver For 1. Hereby the Holy Spirit is excluded from taking possession of our Souls a Guest the Soul hath reason to make preparation for and from whose Presence it may date its fruitfulness and happiness Serious Thoughts invite him to our House and are the best attractives of that Glorious Light These are the Bed where he sows his noble Seed and on these he moves more powerfully than he did on the Waters of the first Creation by these we caress illapses and court his kinder irradiations As God's Majesty is described Psal. 104 3. That he makes the Clouds his Chariot and walks upon the Wings of the Wind so it may be said of Holy Thoughts in this Sacrament they are the Chariot and Vehicle on which the Spirit of the Holy Jesus makes his entrance into our Soul These dispose the Soul for his Gracious Communications and put her into a capacity of being Blessed and Enlightned by him where he spies these he addresses himself to the Soul in the language of the Spiritual Bridegroom Cant. 5. 1. I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my Myrrhe with my Spice I have eaten my Hony-comb with my Hony I have drank my Wine with my Milk Eat O friends yea drink abundantly my Beloved Which are nothing but Rhetorical Expressions of the Gracious Influences the Spirit of God is willing to confer on the Soul that makes preparation for him sweeps the House of the Rubbish of vain Imaginations and by Pious Contemplation makes the Chamber ready for his Entertainment and tho' these Expressions run all in the strain of the Perfect Tense yet in Holy Writ the Perfect and the Future Tenses are used promiscuously and as the Future many times stands for the Perfect so the Perfect Tense very often stands for the Future and the future Blessings are expressed by what is past to assure us of the certainty of them and that the Soul hath no more reason to doubt of them than if it did already actually enjoy then 2. Want of serious Thoughts is a kind of prophanation of this Ordinance Profanation of Holy Things consists not only in reviling and reproaching or actual perverting them to what is ill and forbidden but also in not using of them with that decency and seriousness which ought to be the proper Concomitants of them The Jews therefore Mal. 1. 12 13. are said to profane the House of the Lord not because they turned it as their Fore-fathers into a Den of Thieves or Mansion of Idolatry but because they did not bring suitable Oblations and those they brought were brought with an unwilling Mind and they look'd upon the Service of God as tedious and wearisome and did not offer such Incense as was pure nor such Sacrifices as were whole and sound and without blemish And certainly not only he prophanes God's Name that tears it with his Oaths and Curses and Blasphemies but he also that gives it not the Honour that is due to it Profanation of the Lord's Day is not only to sit Drinking and Revelling at home or to spend it in Play and Sports and Pastimes and Rioting and Drunkenness but not to sanctifie it by publick and private Devotion and if so not to bring Holy Thoughts to this Ordinance to the Altar of God and to the Cross of Christ must be a Profanation of these Mysteries as he that puts no Oil to the Lamp extinguishes its Light as much as he that blows it out Holy Thoughts are part of that Honour and Veneration we owe to this Ordinance and as Men count it an affront not only to be beaten but not to have that respect given them which is due to their Rank and Quality so God hath for greater reason to look upon it as a profanation of this Sacrament where Men bring not with them Thoughts pertinent to the Majesty and Holiness of the wonderful Things manifested and represented here and he that profanes this Ordinance cannot be supposed to Eat and Drink worthily IV. But it is not enough to give an exact description of the Sin the danger of it is the next thing we must speak of And this St. Paul says 1 Cor. 11. 27. is making our selves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. A great guilt certainly to be counted a murtherer of the Son of God and to be reckon'd among Jews and Infidels that embru'd their hands in the Blood of the ever Blessed Jesus for so much the Apostle's words import and if the unworthy Receiver incurs this guilt he needs no other argument to discourage him from his Sin and Impiety The Charge is dreadful nor must we therefore think that it is only spoke in Terrorene to fright People as we terrifie Children with strange things not that there are such things in being but to make them desist from their unlucky Enterprize or Frowardness No God need not make use of Bugbears nor must we imagine that what he saith hath the least shadow of untruth As dreadful as this Charge is he means what he says and speaks what he thinks and unworthy Receiving is neither more nor less than making our selves guilty of the Body and Blâ—â—d of the Lord Jesus And how this is done by him that Eats and Drinks unworthily deserves consideration 1. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of denying that the Body and Blood of Christ was sacrific'd for him As they that dishonour the Christian Râ—ligion by their covetousness and unrighteousness and lewd practices are said To deny the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1. because they live as if Christ had not bought them or had not redeem'd them from Iniquity So the unworthy Receiver being loth to mortifie his known and voluntary Sins even in the act of Receiving denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him His unwillingness to reform is a tacit denial of the Mercy and a Sign that he doth not believe it heartily For the Holy Ghost supposes that he who believes it with any seriousness will be affected with it and stand amaz'd at this Act of God even at this infinite immense unsearchable and incomprehensible Love that he who needs not the society of Men or Angels and can be Etenally happy without them should yet have that value and respect for Mankind who were his Prisoners and had forfeited their Lives to his Justice were the objects of his Wrath and had justly deserv'd to be banish'd from his Gracious Presence for ever as to find out a remedy whereby they might be restored to his Favour freed from their slavish Condition and admitted to his Bosom and such a Remedy as might at once assert his Justice and declare his Mercy and in order thereunto freely generously and without compulsion part with the Eternal Son of his Bosom prepare a Body for him a Body which might be capable of Dying and fall a Sacrifice at once
assert God's just Anger against Sin and keep off the fatal blow from Man at once defend God'ds Right and establish Man's Felicity and thereby put the poor miserable Worm in a capacity of becoming Heir to the Riches of God who was an Heir of the Treasures of Wrath and a companion of Blessed Spirits who had deserv'd to howl with Apostate Spirits a Child of Light who was a Son of Darkness and a Servant of Righteousness who was a Slave of Sin I say the Holy Ghost supposes that he that seriously believes all this will think nothing too good for God will not stand out against so great a Mercy will fight no more against so great and so good a Master but will submit to him be ready to run at his Commands give himself up to the Will of so great a Benefactor and will be hearty and sincere in serving him Now the unworthy Receiver being so far from doing this so far from turning to God with all his heart and with all his mind that he refuses the Dominion of God will be a Slave to his Sin still and had rather obey the Devil than this most bountiful Master who hath done so much for him by doing so denies that Christ's Body and Blood was sacrific'd for him for if he believ'd it he could not do as he doth and tho' he may protest by all that 's Good and Sacred that he believes it yet Words and Compliments will not absolve him and if talking were believing no Man that professes Christianity would ever be damn'd What doth a Malefactor's pleading at the Bar that he is not guilty signifie when the Evidences are strong and the Matter of Fact is prov'd against him Belief that doth not touch the Heart or renew the Mind or spiritualize the Affections is mere Infidelity and where this Belief is not to be found the Sinner is accused of denying the Mercy he pretends to believe And to this purpose saith the Apostle They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him Tit. 1. 16. So that the unworthy Receiver i. e. He that receives and yet will not reform whatever his Profession may be in his Actions he denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him and therefore makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 2. He Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of jesting with the Body and Blood of Christ As the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis speak He plays with the most tremendous things for in coming he seems to confess that by the Death of the Son of God his miserable Soul was redeem'd and a Pardon purchas'd for him and the Heavens made to bow to him and the good Will of God procur'd to save him for ever and yet he doth not think all this worth forsaking a sinful Lust or shaking a pleasing Dalilah from his Bosom and what is this but playing with the Body and Blood of Christ Should a Man make a very curious Harangue in commendation of his Neighbour compare him with Salomon for Wisdom with David for Sincerity with Jonathan for Faithfulness with Josiah for Piety for Generosity with Moses for Chastity with Joseph for Patience with Job with St. Paul for Courage with St. Peter for Zeal with Absolom for Beauty with Zacheus for Charity with Abraham for Hospitality nay with Angels for clearness of Understanding and for Purity of Life with Seraphim And when he hath done abuse and reproach him or do that which he cannot but know must be offensive and irksome or prejudicial to him gives the Spectator just occasion to think that all that flanting Panegyric was only a jocular thing design'd rather as an essay of Wit than as any real affection to the Virtues of the commended Party The unworthy Receiver doth in effect the same for his coming to this Sament is a tacit Commendation of Christ's Crucified Body and Blood whereby he seems to applaud the wonderful Works that Christ hath done for him and to proclaim to all the standers by what an Obligation that Death is to mortifie the body of Sin and to be true and faithful to him that did not count his Life dear to do him good and yet having no real purpose within whatever external Declaration he may make to become a new Man but after he hath been at this Table when temptations assault him temptations to his former sins yields to them as easily as ever plainly declares he was in jest when he seem'd to magnifie this Munificence of his Saviour and from hence it must follow that he is guilty of playing with the Body and Blood of Christ. 3 He that Eats and Drinks unworthily seems to wish that Christ may dye again and upon that account is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord for in that Christ's Death is not efficacious to pull down the strong holds of Sin in him or rather in that he will not let that death prevail with him to the mortifying of his sinful Lusts he seems to wish for an iteration of that Death which may be more powerful and have a greater influence upon the destruction of his Sin It is a Declaration as it were that the Death of Christ as the case stands doth no good upon him and therefore since the Death of the Son of God must be the means to break the power of Sin in him he stands in need of another death of that Saviour which may do greater miracles upon his Soul or sinful Temper Christ's Death indeed must break the reigning power of Sin but then a Person in whom this effect is to be wrought must apply that Death think upon it warm his Heart with the Consideration of it ruminate upon the Motives of it and upon the greatness of his own Sin that occasioned it and upon the vast Advantages that flow from that Death and be restless with God to make it effectual to his Soul For to think that this Death will do the work without our Labour or Industry or pondering the weight and moment of it is to imagine that God will deal with us as with Brutes that have no understanding As Christ died once in the end of the World so his Death spreads his Virtue to all Penitents from the beginning to the end of the World But wherever it works a serious Reformation it must be improv'd by Faith and Thoughts and Prayer and Contemplation and should Christ dye a thousand times if these means be neglected his dying so often would signifie little to the inconsiderate Spectator This is the monstrous Fancy of some Men that they hope the Mysteries of Religion will or must change their Hearts without any trouble of their own which Conceit must needs make them contemptible in the sight of an All-wise God who sees them neglect the Powers and Faculties he hath given them The unworthy Receiver therefore finding no good by this Death of the Lord Jesus for it makes no alteration in his
that Account makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Our Church therefore in her Confession before the Sacrament obliges all those that come to receive to say We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our Mis-doings Now he that is heartily sorry for his known Sins will watch and strive against them and take heed he doth not through Carelesness rush into them again which the unworthy Receiver not being from the Heart resolved to do involves himself in that Guilt we speak of The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. HEre I cannot but take notice of the great Errour of the First Council of Toledo celebrated about the Year 400. after Christ which made a Canon that he who had no Wife but instead of a Wife a Concubine ought not to be kept or debarred from the holy Communion provided that he content himself with one Concubine and add no more 'T is evident that such a Conjunction is Filthiness and Uncleanness condemned by the Apostle Gal. 5. 19. Marriage it is not and Carnal Copulations without it are mere Fornications as we see Heb. 13. 4. And therefore such Persons if admitted to the Communion could not but eat and drink unworthily Nor doth it mend the matter that Leo I. Pope of Rome approved of that Canon for that only shews that Popes are as fallible as other Men nay more subject to mistake as they are very jealous of their Riches and Grandeur and Temporal Interest Bellarmine to excuse this Fault alledges that by Concubine in that Canon was meant nothing but a lawful Wife only married and taken without a Portion or publick Solemnity But this Conjecture must be false because both in the Civil and Canon-Laws Concubines are Persons distinguished from lawful Wives and but a better Name for Whores And as that Concil did very ill to admit such Persons that were known to live in such Sins to the Sacrament so they did as ill to prohibit Ministers Widows if they married again or took a second Husband the use of the Communion as if an honst Marriage were more scandalous than Fornication And though a Bishop or Pastor of the Church is ordered by the Apostle 1 Tim. 3. 2. to be the Husband of one Wife yet how doth it follow from thence that his Widow when he dies must never marry again II. There is a great difference betwixt Receiving unworthily and being unworthy to receive Every Man that thinks himself unworthy to receive these Mysteries is not therefore an unworthy Receiver Alas If we go to the Worthiness of the Person that comes to this Table Who of us can be said to be worthy to come before so holy so jealous so great a God Or Who of us is worthy of that incomprehensible and diffusive Love represented to us in this Ordinance If we reflect on the marvellous Purity of the Divineâ—Nature Who of us can be thought worthy to approach it The best of us have reason to cry out at the sight of that Tremendous Holiness Unclean Unclean There are few of us who have not reason to complain to use the Words of Thomas de Kempis that they are yet so carnal so worldly so unmortified in their Passions so full of disorderly Motions of the Flesh so unwatchful over their outward Senses so often entangled with vain Thoughts and Fancies so vehemently inclined to external Comforts so negligent of the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit so prone to immoderate Laughter and Immodesty so indisposed to Tears and Compunction so strongly inclined to the Ease and Pleasures of the Flesh so dull to Strictness and an holy Zeal so curious to hear News and to see gaudy Sights so slack to embrace what is humble and low so covetous of Abundance so niggardly in giving to pious Uses so close in keeping what Providence hath bestowed upon them so inconsiderate in speaking so unbridled to Silence so loose in Manners so covetous after Gain so greedy after the Meat which perishes so deaf to the Word of God so apt to sit still so slow to labour so watchful to idle Tales so drowsie in God's Service so hasty to make an end of their Prayers so inconstant in Attention so cold in Devotion so undevout in the holy Communion so quickly discomposed so seldom wholly gathered into themselves so suddenly provoked to Anger so ready to take Displeasure at their Neighbour's Actions so prone to judge so severe in Reprehension so jolly in Prosperity so impatient in Adversity so often purposing much Good and yet performing little There are very few of us who have not reason to deplore such Defects as these and then Who can be worthy to feast with the King Invisible Immortal Blessed for evermore But it is God that makes us worthy He will not count us unworthy if we strive against these Errours if we labour to conquer them if we will not be Friends with them if we proclaim War against them if we are resolved whatever we venture to be rid of them if we will not hug them in our Bosoms if we will open the Everlasting Doors and let the King of Glory come in if we will hate what he hates and love what he loves and will continue our Hostility against those Lusts which interfere with his just Right and Prerogative He will not go to the utmost rigour with us He will deal gently with us liker a Father than a Judge To let us go on in our Offences without Remorse or a serious Care to please him he cannot and such is his Holiness that he must not He considers our Frame that we are Dust and therefore will not take advantage of every accidental Miscarriage But he considers withal that he hath given us his Gospel and Everlasting Motives and his Holy Spirit whereby we may certainly master the Corruptions we find stirring in us though not immediately yet by degrees if we are but willing and labour and wrestle and are active and do not suffer our selves to be overcome by Laziness and the Satisfactions of this present World And upon these Terms he is willing to count us worthy Receivers O Sweetness incomparable O Condescention ineffable beyond all that Kings and Princes express to their Subjects What Christian that is acquainted with this Frame this Spirit this humble and tractable Temper this Resolution and this Willingness and that feels these Characters in his Soul can after all this forbear coming upon a pretence of being unworthy Coming to this holy Table with such Purposes with such Designs with such Qualifications let him be confident that his Father his Saviour his Redeemer will bid him welcome This spiritual Frame Christian will make thee worthy Thou comest not to this Sacrament to give God any thing but to receive a Blessing from him Thou comest not hither to contribute any thing to his Happiness but to open thy Mouth wide that he may fill it Thou comest not hither to proclaim thy
Perfections but to have thy Imperfections supplied Thou comest not hither to boast of thy Cleanness but to be washed from their Sins Thou comest not hither to glory in thy Merits but to receive an Alms at thy great Master's Hands his Grace his Love his Compassion will make thee worthy Thou comest not to give him an Account of thy Riches but as an hungry Beggar that wants Bread to feed on the hidden Manna All that is required of thee is to look upon thy Redeemer as thy greatest Friend and to use him like a Friend to make his Friendship an Enforcive to love him and so to love him as to hearken to his Counsels to be govern'd by his Directions to bid farewel to all things that will destroy that Friendship to repent of thy Unkindnesses to him and to prefer his Advice before that of Flesh and Blood to hearken to his Instructions more than to the false Suggestions of the World and so to remember that thy Sins have contributed to his Crucifixion as to punish them with Frowns and Mortifications If thou art willing to this he will supply thy Defects he will satisfie thy hungry Soul he will feed thee from his Storehouse and make thy Soul Partaker of his purchased Possession Let not thy Unworthiness discourage thee 'T is confessed thou art a poor vile Worm a Sinner a wretched Creature not worthy of the least of all his Mercies not worthy to be taken notice of not worthy of the least Glimpse of his Favour but still if he is pleased to count and esteem thee worthy it is Contempt of his Love if thou dost not accept of this gracious Offer and come and liâ—t up thine Hands towards his holy Oracle If thou wilt but look upon thy Sins as Enemies and if they do assault thee wilt vigorously oppose thy self against their Attempts and if they do surprize thee once or twice wilt renew thy Courage against them and do any thing rather than yield to them and set up this Resolution in thy Heart that the Lord shall be thy God thou shalt be worthy he will give thee Grace which shall make thee worthy His Flesh shall nourish thy Soul his Blood shall enrich the Ground of thy Heart his Presence shall give thee Life his Assistance will make thee spiritual his Spirit will enable thee to rejoyce in him that made thee make thee a worthy Conqueror worthy of the Tree of Life and worthy of that Pardon he hath purchased for thee on the Cross when in his own Body he bore thy Sins upon the Tree that thou being dead to Sin mightest live unto God III. Among the various sorts of Persons that are loth to come to this holy Sacrament those betray strange Imprudence as well as Obstinacy that are loth to part with their Sins and therefore are loth to come for fear they should eat and drink unworthily and make themselves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and eat and drink their won Damnation But O Generation of Vipers Who hath told you that this is the way to escape the Wrath to come Who hath been so wise as to inform you that this way you may flee from the Indignation of the Lord In what Scripture have you read that your not coming to this Sacrament because you are loth to prophane it by your Sins will save you from Perdition 'T is very true and you are in the right when you suppose that your Refractoriness to Reformation and Amendment makes you unworthy Receivers But can you imagine that you are ever a whit the safer for not coming Will not the Sins you live and continue in do your Work for you and make you Heirs of Damnation The wilful Neglect of this Sacrament is a damnable Sin And can you think that your not coming will make your Condition more easie and tolerable 'T is true you pretend you will not prophane it and therefore do not come You are sensible it requires Reformation and because your Circumstances will not permit you to lead better Lives you are loth to add to your Danger by eating and drinking unworthily But when your not coming to this Sacrament makes you miserable as well as your coming and receiving unworthily 't is strange that the Point of adding some Grains to the Bulk of your Misery should make you afraid of coming I will not deny but Eating and Drinking unworthily doth in some measure aggravate the Evil a Man lives in because he adds Scorn to his Impiety but as long as his Impenitence without coming and his coming unworthily do both involve him in the Danger of Damnation it is a foolish Plea to preted you dare not come for fear of aggravating your Condemnation as if Damnation were tolerable and the Degrees of it only intolerable But we see what you drive at You hope some time before you die and when you will not have those Opportunities of sinning that now you have you may receive it and save your Souls at last But to hear Men talk of what they shall do hereafter when they have not one Minute of their Lives at their Command is so ridiculous that it needs no Answer This is certain your Sins are sweet and your evil Lives make you fit to live in the World and therefore you will not come But will this Argument hold Water do you think when God shall plead with you Surely your Sins are very precious things that you dare refuse coming to this holy Ordinance for them The Scripture calls them Filth and Poyson for so they are in the Eyes of an holy God And are they dearer to you than the Love of God They are perfect Leprosie And had had you rather be full of Sores and Boyls than come hither to be made clean They crucified your Saviour And will you keep that which murther'd him They are the Disgrace and Reproach of your Souls And will you delight in your Infamy They are the things that separate betwixt a glorious God and you And will you uphold that fatal Distance and Separation They exclude you from the Kingdom of Heaven And will you be content with that Exclusion Are you wise and understanding Men And will you not open your Eyes and see your Danger What do you call Contempt of God if this be not it What do you call slighting of Incomprensible Mercy if this do not deserve that Name Can you hope for God's Pardon at last that refuse to accept of it in this Ordinance Do you believe you have Souls and that it is your Interest to secure them against Mischief And will you prefer a few airy volatile Joys before their Safety Sinner When is it that thou dost intend to reform Is it when an angry God looks thee in the Face and an evil Conscience upon thy Death-bed presages thy future Torments Is it possible that an offended God will then fly into thy Embraces whom thou didst not care for all thy Days Behold in this
of the Old Testament did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of the Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. we must conclude that since under the New Testament Expiation of Sin is not allowed of without Repentance the Fathers under the Law could have no other Apprehensions of Expiation And though they mention the Removal of the Temporal Judgment as an External Sign of the Expiation of their Sin yet the Internal Mark of it and the principal was their Repentance and while they name the one they do not exclude the other The Jews at this Day lay the Stress of Pardon upon the Removal of the Judgment whether they repent of the Sin that caused it or not â—ay they go so far as to make their Death an Expiation for all their Sins By which Rule no Jew can be damned And this comes in a great measure from their mis-understanding of that Passage Isa. 22. 14. And it was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die saith the Lord of Hosts Which Words import no more than this That God with the Death of those wicked Men will put an end to the Scandal they have given to others by their Iniquities and that by their Death God will purge the City or the Land from such Abominations but not that their Death shall be an Atonement for their Sins And therefore 2. Nothing doth properly expiate Sin but the Blood of Christ and as without shedding of Blood there is no Remission so by the shedding of Christ's Blood Men are put in a Possibility of being pardon'd But Repentance is the Preparative for the Application of that Blood Till a Man repents he hath no Title to that Blood or the Benefits of it And though God may remove the Temporal Judgment yet if it works no Repentance the Sin shall be produced against the Offender in the last Day All Temporal Judgments though they speak God's Displeasure at Sin yet they are intended withal for the Offender's Reformation And to this purpose Elihu speaks excellently well Job 33. 19 20 27. He is chasten'd also with Pain upon his Bed and the Multitude of his Bones with strong Pain so that his Life abhors Bread and his Soul dainty Meat his Flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his Bones that were not seen stick out He looks upon Men and if any say I have â—inned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he will deliver his Soul from going to the Pit and his Life shall see the Light And therefore if this Judgment which falls upon an unworthy Receiver instead of softening and melting his Heart doth but harden him there the Judgment is so far from expiating his Offence that it hastens and aggravates his Everlasting Condemnation and this very Sin will be remembred in Hell and double his Shrieks and Agonies And this is rational to believe for when God by that Temporal Judgment cannot reclaim him the last Remedy that God makes use of to bring him to a better Mind is lost his Folly is incorrigible and as that Judgment was a Talent he should have improved into Repentance so dis-regarding it and making no other use of it than Pharaoh of his Plagues and becoming more setled upon his Lees he justifies God's Proceedings against him in the last Day which though they seem â—evere to the Sufferer who is loth to feel the pain yet they are reasonable and he whom Temporal Judgments could not reclaim must know at last to his Cost there is no jesting with the Anger of an Infinite Majesty The Preceding Considerations reduced to farther Practice I. THE Apostle is in the right when he tells us Heb. 12. 29. Our God is a Consuming Fire Indeed to the Tractable and Docile who consider his Providences and take notice of his Loving-kindness who see the Vanity and Uncertainty of the World and build their Nest among the Stars of Heaven who are sensible of the Danger of walking after the Flesh and deliberately chuse to walk after the Spirit who run away from Sodom get themselves out of Babylon will not be infected by the Sins of the World and earnestly desire to be strengthen'd in the Inward Man with all Might To such he is all Kindness all Love all Mercy all Light all Compassion all Charity as we see in the Parable of the Prodigal where the Father's Acts towards the penitent Sinner are so full of Sweetness so full of Affection and Tenderness that nothing can be imagined more kind or loving or favourable But Men who undervalue the Methods of Salvation will be happy their own Way make light of that which they ought to prize above their Lives are unconcern'd about the Sins that cost the Eternal Son of God his Life will needs dream of God's Mercy while they obstruct it by their Ingratitude and hope to enter into Heaven notwithstanding their Neglect of purifying their Hearts and Lives nay can come to this Sacrament and will not be divorced from those Sins which here they profess an unfeigned Sorrow for Such Persons shall know and feel that God is Jealous and that the Lord revenges that the Lord revenges and is furious that the Lord will take Vengeance of his Adversaries and reserves Wrath for his Enemies Nah. 1. 2. He is indeed slow to Anger and doth not wllfully afflict the Children of Men but Boldness in Impenitence wakens his Vengeance and where his Patience tempts them to greater Wantonness there is no dallying with their Errours These things hast thou done saith God and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine Eyes Psal. 50. 21. II. Because it is so dangerous to eat and drink unworthily yet that ought not to discourage any Person from eating and drinking in this Sacrament Worthy Eating and Drinking here is not dangerous at all so far from being dangerous that it is a Duty and beneficial and a Key to the choicest Mercies And if it were dangerous why should it fright any Soul from coming 'T is dangerous to go to Sea Yet doth the Seaâ—man therefore forbear his Voyage 'T is dangerous to climb a Tree Yet doth the Husband-man therefore let his better Fruit drop down without getting up to gather it 'T is dangerous to fight against a numerous Enemy But is the Soldier therefore dis-hearten'd from venturing into the Battel Danger helps us to look to our Steps and if there be Difficulty in an Attempt it whets our Courage and makes us fall on with the greater Force and Earnestness So that if worthy Eating and Drinking were dangerous it were an Invitation to an ingenuous Temper to apply himself to it But in this there is no Danger What Danger can there be in
upon them that they make some attempts and use some trifling endeavours to resist but as this resistance is not an effect of an active Faith but only of slavish fear so it doth not preserve them untainted and undaunted in the hour of Temptation which is an Argument both of Spiritual Weakness and God's Judgment because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge as St. Paul speaks Rom. 28. 2. Spiritual Sickness the signs of which are as follows 1. Want of relishing the Things of God and the Mysteries of Religion By this we conclude that a Man is sick in his Body if the Bread or Wine or Apples or Meat he swallows seem to him Food or Drink different from what they appear to sound and healthy and by the same Argument we may infer that a Man's Soul is very sick when the Promises Precepts Commands Mercies Privileges and Immunities of the Gospel are insipid and unsavoury to him and his Soul finds no sweetness no agreeableness no juice no life no pleasantness no delight no pungency in them If these appear to her as common things and affect her no more than what the Great Mogol doth in the Indies or what Men talk on the Coast of Guinea If they raise no wonder no admiration no affection no appetite no strong desire in her if she can hear them read of them survey them think of them without being touch'd with the consequence and importance of them the Soul is infallibly under some great distemper and the whole Head is sick the whole Heart is sick grievously sick and the wound is dangerous and that this Spiritual sickness discovers it self too often in unworthy Receivers we need no other proof but what their known aversion gives us I mean their aversion from good Thoughts and Discourfes after they have been at the Table of the Lord. Reading the Word digesting it and endeavouring to see wondrous things in that Law and meditating of some part of it day and night is irksome to them tedious and when something savouring of Heaven and Eternity is propos'd to them they stand upon Thorns all the while nor can the goodness of God prevail with them to deny themselves in any thing they have a mind or strong inclination to a certain sign of their being sick and of God's Judgment upon their Souls 2. Another symptom of this Spiritual sickness is When a known Sin becomes habitual and the few single Acts pass into temper and come to be incorporated with nature and turn into constitution and complexion In this case the Soul may be judged very sick as sick as the Body that is troubled with the Stone or Gout and where the distemper or Morbific Matter is so dispers'd through the Mass of Blood and Joynts that tho' it admits of respite and lucid intervals sometimes yet as the Humours that feed it gather strength again so the Distemper returns And this sickness doth evidently discover it self in unworthy Receivers who were formerly but Punies and Novices in certain sins but after their unworthy Receiving harden themselves in the practice of them commence Graduates and drink them in as the Ox doth the Water and they become their Darlings their Benjamins as dear to them as their Right Eye as dear as their Foot or Hand than which there cannot be a surer sign of their being spiritually sick and lying under the weight of a spiritual Judgment 3. Spiritual Death And this also is to be known by symptoms which are these 1. When the Conscience smites no more When it gives over striving with the Sinner he is dead as that Body in which the Pulse hath left off beating So it was with the Prodigal of whom Christ expresly saith Though his natural life was sound and whole that he was dead No remorse no regret appear'd in his Soul All was still as in a Charnel-House no noise within to fright him All was turn'd into the silence of the Grave He delighted in his nastiness in his Mud and Dung and Filth and Swinish Desires nothing prick'd him nothing stung his Heart And that this Death is to be found in some unworthy Receivers is manifest from their Actions for they become stupid in their Errors and having bafâ—led their Conscience laid that inward witness to sleep and hush'd it into a fatal slumber It stirs not it moves not and they know not when they sin and when they do not To that insensibleness they bring themselves that when God calls they cannot see with their Eyes nor hear with their Ears nor understand with their Hearts 2. Another Symptom of this Spiritual Death is When the Sinner begins to look upon Religion either as a trick of Divines or Politicians or a needless thing This excludes all sense of another world the only thing whereby the Soul lives and therefore that being gone the Soul is dead and that he who hath the power of Death even the Devil hath killed and mortified all the good Seed that lay scattered in his Breast Indeed this is such a degree of Death which unworthy Receivers do not very ordinarily arrive to yet sometimes they fall even into this Gulph for what should hinder them from tumbling down so low that have lost their hold in a Crucified Saviour from whose Arms they have broke loose unwilling that he should have any thing to do with them but just to save them if he pleases The Bands of Love and Obedience are the only things that preserve the Soul from Death and the unworthy Communicant having made a shift to throw those Cords from him being loth to be tied and held by them he sinks into contempt of these things and from thence into scorning of Religion it self In all which the Judgment of God is clearly to be seen for though God doth not call by an audible Voice from Heaven that it is so nor set a mark upon the unworthy Receiver as he did on Cain whereby spectators may know that this is a sign of the Divine Judgment upon him yet it 's enough that we are told in the Word of God Woe to them when I depart from them Hos. 9. 11. III. And from hence it 's easie to guess how God inflicts this spiritual Judgment upon unworthy Receivers 1. By a gradual withdrawing his Holy Spirit from them This Spirit is called Oyl Heb. 1. 9. and Unction or Anointing 1 Joh. 2. 27. Whatever the quantity of that Oil was that was put in their Lamps as that abates so the strength of their Soul abates and from hence comes Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death The Spirit of God is the Pillar that supports the House if this Prop be removed the Inference is easie that the House will not be of any long standing There are general Gifts of the Spirit of God common to good and bad Men under the Gospel and there are some that are peculiar to those that walk after the Spirit and as in an unworthy Receiver we can suppose
sometimes hast thou been from this exercise O my Soul when thou hast gone into dangerous company how loth hast thou been to arm thy self with Prayer When thou hast been in trouble how little hast thou thought of this Sovereign Remedy or if thou hast made use of it how cold how faint how superficial have been thy Supplications How often hast thou had greater confidence in the arm of Flesh than in the strength of God! Prayer hath chased away Armies turned to flight the Host of Aliens stopt the mouth of Lions quenched the flames of Fire made the Sun stand still and the shadow go back ten Degrees hath shut and opened Heaven and yet how slender how weak how indifferent hath thy Love been to this Spiritual Engine which hath conquered the Fort above and even forced the Almighty into Pity and Compassion 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a Stones-cast and kneeled down and prayed OUR Saviour when he means to pray most earnestly retires from all company yet how irksome hath retirement been to thee O my Soul What a burden hath it seemed and how glad hast thou been when company or Business have call'd thee away from that Penance and given thee a diversion How much more pleasing have crouds and mulitudes of business and people been to thee than privacy In serious retirements thou mightest have seen the brighter goings of God and had larger experience of his Power and Goodness but thou hast been afraid of meeting thy God in private and by that means deprived thy self of the gracious influences which he imparts to them that love his company Behold thy Redeemer bows his knees and kneels on the cold ground to offer up his Supplications to his Father How strangely hast thou consulted thine ease in Prayer How afraid hast thou been to kneel if thou hast had no Cushion How loth to put thy flesh to any trouble in God's Service Did the Son of God prostrate himself upon the Grass or Earth he stood upon and art thou afraid of hurting thy self in Prayer if thou hast not the accommodations of Softness and Luxury 42. Saying Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done AN excellent Example and with the Example a Command to resign our Will to God's Will even in the greatest Troubles and Calamities And dost thou observe this O my Soul Art thou content with the Will and Pleasure of God when he lays affliction upon thy Loins Dost thou say freely and without murmuring It is the Lord let him do what seems good to him O how hast thou repin'd sometimes How impatient hast thou been under thy chain How unwilling to submit to the hand of God! How forced hath been thy Humiliation Where hath been thy belief of God's Wisdom and Goodness If thou believest God to be infinitely Wise and consequently that what he sends on thee is most wisely order'd why dost thou murmur If thou believest him to be infinitely good and therefore intending all that happens to thee for thy good why dost thou think the ways of the Lord are not equal 43. And there appeared to him an Angel from Heaven strongth'ning him IF this Blessed Minister of Heaven did comfort him with Words we must suppose he humbly besought him to look upon the Glory set before him and reflect on the vast good that would arrive to all Mankind by his Passion and that he encouraged him to go on with the great work of Redemption O my Soul And hath not thy God sent an Angel to thee a Minister of his Word in thy Afflictions and encouraged thee by the hopes of Eternal Glory to bear up and to be undaunted under all the Waves and Billows that went over thee Nay hath not thy God himself suggested to thy mind what benefit thy Affliction would yield what peaceable fruits of Righteousness what hatred of Sin what love to Holiness and what Humility it would produce And yet none of these have been able to keep thee from sinking How sensual is thy Mind How earthy are thy Affections What Polishing what Refining do they want yet And yet if Affliction which is the Furnace that must purifie the Gold will not do it what can be supposed to do it 44. And being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling down to the ground SEE O my Soul how thy Sin presses the Son of God! see how great the horror of it is that it forced him into Agonies and these Agonies vent themselves in a Bloody Sweat He saw the Wrath of God that flaming Sword which hung over thee the revenging Arm that God shook against thee He saw the Hell thou hadst deserved the Torments thou hast merited the Agonies thou hadst involv'd thy self in He saw thy Sins in their full latitude and extent what encroachments they had made on the Divine Nature what affronts they had offer'd to the great Majesty of Heaven being very sensible of the infinite purity of God he saw the dreadfulness the monstrousness of thy Transgressions which had made War with that Divine Purity He saw the Fire and Brimstone the everlasting Furnace the burning Lake that was design'd to be thy Recompence He saw it and trembled He saw it and stagger'd He felt it being infinitely compassionate and feeling it laboured to shake it off and to get from under it and as he struggles with the Load his Sacred Body breaks forth in a strange kind of Sweat Didst thou ever consider O my Soul what thy Sins did cost Hadst thou considered it how couldst thou have been so merry so blithe so jocular in the Commission 45. And when he rose up from Prayer and was come to his Disciples he found them sleeping for Sorrow STrange Sleep should oppress People when they have Death before them Yet why wonderest thou O my Soul when thou hast slept securely at the very Gates of Hell in the Suburbs of Destruction How hast thou even shorted in Sin when the Messengers of God have cried out Fire Everlasting Fire over thy Head How quiet hast thou been how secure how jolly when the Fiends have been about thee as the Philistines about Sampson How hast thou played and laughed and smiled when the Eternal Wrath of God hath been ready to seize on thee How was it that thou wert not afraid How was it that thou didst not give a Start in the midst of thy Slumber What if thou hadst awaked in Hell 46. And said unto them Why sleep ye Rise and pray that ye enter not into Temptation INdeed Sleepiness and Idleness is the Devil's Opportunity to persuade us into Sin Had the Disciples prayed instead of sleeping 't is possible they would not have fled when they saw Danger nigh And hath not the Devil prevailed with thee by Idleness O my Soul When thou hast with David taken thy Rest and Ease hath not Satan brought a
in us we shall be desirous to dye to the World and have great inclinations to suffer with him and this is not to be done but by bridling both Soul and Body through a severe Mortification IV. In inflicting Judgments upon our selves the Word of God must be our guide He that should use all the Mortifications he meets with in Ecclesiastical History especially in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries after Christ might run himself into great Errors and Inconveniencies The Scripture is ever the safest Rule which when Men have forsaken and thought to do more than is commanded or recommended by Examples in that Book they have been often lest exposed to great Temptations He that follows an Example of Penitential rigor recorded in Scripture though some imprudence may mingle with the imitation yet it is an error of the Right Hand There have been excesses of Devotion in all Ages and even good Men have sometimes run beyond the bounds prescribed them by Almighty God into superstition especially in things relating to voluntary affliction of the Body and from hence have grown those abuses in Popery where Penances have swallow'd the measures of substantial Piety and Men's inflicting of Judgment upon themselves hath been a means to make them neglect Faith Judgment and Mercy This shews the necessity of keeping close to the Rule of Scripture which besides the Precepts hath thought fit to Record such Examles as are sufficient to instruct us both in the nature of Repentance and the Rigors that in some cases are to bear it company It 's certain that in some persons strong habits of Sin will not be dissolved or broke but by Corrosives and violent Remedies and where a Man sees that the corruption which cleaves to him baffles all softer Applications he must needs save himself from being undone by lancing the wound Maimonides the learned Jew in his Rules of Ethicks gives this advice to his Disciples that would arrive to any considerable degree in virtue He saith he that hath been guilty of one extreme i. e. He that finds an habit of a certain sin in himself to become good must at first at least run into the opposite extreme of the Virtue which is its contrary till he be qualified to walk in the middle way without danger i. e. He that finds himself very cholerick and passionate to arrive to an habit of meekness must at first run into an excess of meekness and be patient and silent and contented even under injuries and actions that in some measure deserve his anger and continue thus for some time till his Soul be quieted like a weaned Child and then he may abate of that excess and use his meekness with greater discretion so he that hath been proud to mortifie that ill habit or extreme must apply himself to the other and be humble even to contempt and reproach so long till his stubborn affection be subdued and then he may use his humility with greater moderation We see by this that Jews as well as Christians are sensible that without a rigor and severe Discipline there is no arriving to any height of Goodness and Religion yet as this inflicting Judgments upon our selves is a thing of great use in the weighty Work of true Repentance and in the support of a serious Life so care must be taken that all opinion of Merit be laid aside in the practice of it for if such a Worm get into the Timber of the Sanctuary it soon rots it nor must we think that after we have exercised such Acts of Justice upon our selves for the Sins we have committed we may upon the credit of it take fresh liberty to offend God The design of it is to mortifie our Appetite to Sin an therefore must not prove fewel of that Fire To this must be added Discretion and Moderation in the management of these Acts of Justice and as by inflicting upon our selves the Discipline of Fasting and Humiliation before the Holy Sacrament not a few Christians find much Comfort if their Bodies be able to bear it so in times of Sickness or bodily Weakness this inflicting of Judgment on our selves becomes useless and unnecessary for in these cases God inflicts Judgments and therefore we need not All we have to do at such times is to kiss the Rod and to bear God's gentle Corrections as things we have both deserv'd and are intended for the renewing of our inward Man Our English Histories tell us of two Men in the time of Popery one who upon his Death-bed when the Priest came to him with the Holy Sacrament would be dragg'd like a Traitor out of his Bed to the place where the Priesthood and another who hearing the Bishop was come to Administer the Sacament to him would needs crawl out of his Bed half naked with an Halter about his Neck to receive it But as I know not what Motives or Impulses they might have for these Actions so I am loth to judge whether they did ill or not The PRAYER MY Lord and my God! my Shepherd my Master my Helper and the Lifter up of my Head my Light my Way my Wisdom my Righteousness my Sanctification my Redemption O how I could be revenged on those Madnesses Follies Vanities I have been guilty of I do not only confess them unto thee O thou searcher of all Hearts but I could even bruise and wound and tear my self for being so basely and so monstrously ungrateful to the best of Masters if that were a Sacrifice pleasing unto thee How stupid how sensless have I been How averse from that which is my greatest interest Ah! how like a blind Creature have I groped in the dark and thought my self secure and safe while I have stood upon the brink of destruction How bold and daring have I been and what pains have I taken for Pleasures and Recreations which besides the unreasonableness and transitoriness and inconstancy of them could not be expiated neither O dearest Saviour but by thy Blood and Death O how heavy how dreadful must my Sins be that require so costly a satisfaction O Eternal Father To see what thou hast done for my Salvation To see how for my sake thy Son thine only Son is in a manner left destitute without Help without Assistance without Comfort what can I think but that in some respect thou didst love me more than him That I might rejoyce he must be sorrowful to a Prodigy that I might be healed he must be wounded that I may be cleansed he must spill his precious Blood O how faithful art thou to forlorn Man Thou hast piomised to restore him and behold Thou givest the richest Treasure of Heaven to effect it Ah! how can I see my dear Redeemer weep and not weep my self He grieves not for his own Sins but for mine he bewails not his own faults but my Transgressions he never sinn'd but I am he that hath offended thee a thousand times I beseech thee accept of the
rejoyce in nothing so much as in this that I love thee XX. O my bountiful Saviour O my loving Redeemer When when shall it be that I shall love thee perfectly Here on Earth I must not hope for this Happiness but in Heaven I shall O Heaven Heaven How desirable art thou Where the Love of Jesus shall eternally reign in my Soul Where my Love shall be perfectly pure perfectly Seraphick perfectly Extatical and Eternal Ages shall not alter it At present I am in Prison encompassed with a Mortal Body and must sojourn in a wicked World Oh when will that Day that Hour that Minute that happy Time come that I shall be delivered from this Dungeon and translated to that place where Love is all in all where Love knows no End no Decay no Period where it is pure without Mixture invariable without Changes eternal without ceasing Come Lord Jesu Come quickly Particular Acts of Devotion at the Acts of Consecration and Receiving of the Consecrated Bread and Wine At the Minister's pouring out the holy Wine into the Cup. O Jesu Who can think of the flowing of thy Blood without being desirous to be washed with it Or I fancy I do at this present stand under thy Cross and see thee bleeding for my Sins Or Oh. Let thy Blood flow upon my wounded Soul that I may become a sound Member of thy Mystical Body At the Minister's laying his Hand upon the Bread O Blessed Saviour Lay thy Hand upon my Soul that all my Distempers may depart from me Or Oh lay hold on my Soul as the Angel did on Lot Save me from the Flames and let me escape into the Mount of God that I perish not At the Minister's Breaking the Bread Lord Jesu In suffering thy Body to be broken for my Sins I see the Vehemence the Strength and Fervour of thy Love Oh make me all Love all Fervour all Charity Or Oh break the united Forces of my Sins scatter them by thy mighty Arm. Gather the broken Planks of Vertue in my Soul unite them make them whole and strong and secure against the Fury of Winds and Tempests At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Body Lord Let me look off from these material Things and shew me Things invisible and Heavenly Or O Lord The Benefits of thy wounded Body my Soul longs for Oh say They shall be thy Portion At the Minister's touching the Cup. Lord Touch my Soul that it may feel the Power of thy Super-abundant Charity Or Oh! Touch me as thou didst the Blind of old that I may see the Bowels of thy Compassion and rejoyce in the glorious Sight At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Blood Lord My Soul wants Wine of another nature than is in this Cup Oh wash it and cleanse it and purifie it in thy Blood Or Lord Speak thou to my Soul and say I will be thou clean At the Receiving of the Bread Lord Let thy Death be my Life And the Bread represented by this Bread feed me into Everlasting Life Or Lord As thou hast provided Food for my Soul so give me a Taste and Relish also of this Food and a Tongue to praise thy Name for ever Or Lord As thou hast given thy Body for me so I freely offer my Soul and Body as Living Sacrifices to thy Majesty At the Receiving of the Cup. Lord Nothing is more precious than thy Blood Oh! Let it warm my Heart that it may comply with thy Will wlthout wavering Or Lord Bid me look upon thy Blood and in thy Blood upon the Reconciliation wrought by it to the Comfort and Edification of my Soul Or O Lord I am heavy laden and my Pollutions are great And as thy Blood alone can remove that Burthen so free me from those Spots and Wrinkles which make me look deformed in thy Sight CHAP. XXVIII Of the proper Acts of Devotion after we have Received The CONTENTS The Time that is left after our Personal Receiving before all have Communicated not to be spent in Gazing or Looking about Acts of Devotion to be used after Receiving and relating to the Wisdom Mercy Liberality Love Goodness Greatness and Majesty of God to our own Vileness and Unworthiness c. IT falls out so often that when we have Communicated and our Souls have been fed at this Table a considerable Space of Time remains before the united Praises and Thanksgivings of the Congregation begin again This Time be it more or less must not be spent in looking about or in sitting still or in thinking of what Objects our Fancy is pleased to offer and present to us but in holy Aspirations And that the Communicant may know how to employ himself in that Interval it may not be amiss to set down some pious and proper Ejaculations whereby he may exercise his Mind according as Time will permit I. O God! Thy Love in Christ Jesus deserves to be praised admired and magnified There is all that in it which can engage a Soul to break forth into Praises and Hallelujahs There is Beauty Wisdom Condescention Mercy Liberality Sweetness Power Greatness Majesty in it and all these in the highest Degree which would force even a dumb Man to speak of thy Glory II. I adore thee O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity for that infinite Care of my immortal Soul which I see in all thy Proceedings and Transactions and particularly in the Cross of my dearest Redeemer Here thou seemest to empty all thy Stores and pourest out thy Grace abundantly upon the Heads and Hearts of thy Servants Behold Bless ye the Lord all ye Servants of the Lord which by Night stand in the House of the Lord Lift up your Hands in the Sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made Heaven and Earth hath blessed us out of Zion III. O Charming Son of God! I alone am not able sufficiently to praise thee and therefore I wish that every Drop of the Ocean every Grain of Sand every Leaf of the Trees of the Field and every Sprig of Herbs and all the Creatures that ever were or are or shall be might be turn'd into Seraphick Tongues to praise thee IV. O Jefu When I behold thy wonderful Love how it hath bowed how it hath stooped to so mean a Creature as I am the Thoughts of it force my Soul into the humblest and deepest Prostrations Thou art Beauty I am Deformity Thou art Wisdom I am Ignorance Thou art Light I am Darkness Thou art Omnipotence I am feeble Thou art Purity I am Filth and Dung Thou art rich I am Poverty it self Thou art happy I am Misery it self Thou art Perfection I am Weakness Thou art All in All I am nothing V. O Blessed Saviour When I see how Men fall in love with a mortal and fading Beauty which to Day shines bright as the Sun to Morrow by Sickness or Death is all tarnish'd and decay'd how do I blame my self that I do not love thee better whose
and Lye and Cheat no more and yet forgets the Oath of God that is upon his Soul and dares fall to his old Sins again that Man's last Estate is worse than the first and he slights him by whom he must be saved despises him who alone can make him happy refuses that Blood which alone can cleanse him undervalues the only Champion that can secure him against the Rage of the roaring Lion loses and rejects the Prop which alone can support him against the wrath of an offended God and affronts that Friend which alone can help and comfort him in the day of Vengeance II. This Sacrament being a standing Ordinance and a notable means of Grace as much as Prayer and hearing the Word of God it must necessarily follow that Men who look for Grace and Salvation must make as great Conscience of this as of any other and if they account it a Sin to neglect Prayer and hearing the Word they must look upon it as sinful too to neglect this Ordinance If this be a means of Salvation as well as the rest he that hopes to be saved must seriously make use of this means else he can have but little hopes of arriving to the end without the means Surely this Sacrament is a means whereby you and I must come to love the Lord Jesus Christ a Duty of that consequence that he that love him not in sincerity lies under a severe threatning and is liable to a dreadful Curse 1 Cor. 16. 22. But how shall we ever love him to any purpose except we use the means whereby that Love must be raised and kindled in our Breast Doth any Man hope to thrive in the World that will not bestir himself become active in his profession and apply himself to Labour Does any Man hope ot arrive to Learning and Scholarship without Books or Reading Does any Person hope to keep himself warm in Winter that puts on no Cloaths Or was ever any so foolish as to hope to come to his Journies end if he sits still in a Tavern or Alehouse by the way If this Sacrament be a means of obtaining Happiness will that Happiness fall to our share without using the proper means If thou refusest to come to this Ordinance how can God be kind to thee how can he visit thee with the Favour he bears to his own People How can he wash thee with the Blood of the Lamb How can he make thee Blessed and a companion of Seraphim and give thee a right to the Treasury of Christ's merits when thou neglectest the means whereby these Mercies must be consigned and applied to thy Soul And therefore III. How wretched how sad must be the case of that Soul which neglects to shew forth the Lord's Death in this Ordinance when the Lord shall come to Judgment When the Son of God shall appear in all his Glory and the Sinner who neglected this Holy Sacrament shall be brought before him it will not be an ordinary fright the wretch will be in especially when the King of Glory shall accost and ask him How canst thou hope to share in my Glory that didst not think my Death worth remembring in the Congregation of my Saints How canst thou hope to participate of my Happiness that wouldst not weep at my bitter Passion How canst thou hope to be advanced to my Throne who wast ashamed to look upon me hanging on the Cross How canst thou hope to enter into thy Master's Joy that would'st not by lively representations of my suffering in the Sacrament I ordained be melted in Tears How canst thou hope for a seat in the Eternal Mansions where no defiled thing must enter that wouldst not cleanse thy self from filthiness Or how couldst thou hope to be cleansed that wouldst not make use of my Blood to wash thy self Here none can be happy that were not Holy upon Earth and how couldst thou expect to be Holy that didst neglect the means which was intended to enrich thy Soul with Holiness Such an Address of such a Majestick Person and to an offender too that knows and cannot but know that all this is true must necessarily strike the Malefactor dumb fill him with horror and make him cry out though too late O that my Head were Water c. Expostulations of displeased Princes with their Servants that have acted contrary to their Will in things of far less moment have cast them into Grief and Swoons and fatal diseases and we must needs conclude that in the case we speak of as the Person offended is greater than the most puissant Prince in the World and the neglect greater than if a Man had neglected to provide for the security of a Temporal Kingdom so the Expostulations will be more terrible and the Sinner's Heart to whom they shall be spoken in far greater consternation IV. This shews with what temper and disposition we ought to come to this Holy Table even with the same temper we would or desire to be in if within a few hours we were sure to be summoned to Judgment Were any of you to appear to Morrow Morning before the Bar of God and had you all imaginable assurance of it that by such a time you must certainly attend there would you lie or swear or dissemble or break out into a passion or pray carelesly or be backward to do good or be averse from Holy thoughts and discourses c. I trow not and as you would not appear before the Judge with an unmortified temper of Mind so neither can it be adviseable to appear before him at this Table with such a disposition As the appearing before his Judgment Seat would make you call your most serious Thoughts together and make you loath the charms the inticements and the alluring temptations and suggestions of the Flesh and of the World so your appearing at this Table requires the same inclinations for as in the day of Judgment the King will come forth and behold the persons cited into that Court to see whether they are qualified for Heaven and Happiness so in this Feast he comes to look upon the Guests and to see who comes with a worldly and carnal disposition and takes as much notice of the frame and temper of your Hearts as he will do in the last day Here thy great Master comes and takes a view of thy Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions whether they proceed from a principle of Love and Submission Happy the Soul that sits down at this Table with a sense of her duty and the greatness and goodness of the Master of the Feast for such a Soul anticipates her future bliss and feels in some measure the sweetness and comfort of the joyful Absolution which shall be pronounced upon her with greater solemnity in the last day even this Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom c. The PRAYER O Thou Eternal Wisdom who alone knowest what is best for me who hast established this