bestow upon all those who perform the conditions of the new Covenant God is not only pleased to make a Covenant with us and plainly to declare his readiness to perform his part but also gives us his seal and so does abundantly assure us of his own stedfastness and constancy For such is our weakness so great our unbelief that we need very great supports and an abundant assurance to buoy up our sinking and incredulous hearts And on the other hand so great is the meroy and condescension of our gracious God that he is ready to consider our frame and to give us the greater security assurance He does not only promise us the pardon of our sins in his New Covenant but he also gives us his seal to it besides That so by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 2.18 Thus gratiously does God deal with Mankind He gives them his Covenant and his Seal too He not only gives out his decree in the expresses of his will but he signes and seals it also that we may be assured that it is unalterable as it is said the Law of the Medes and Persians in that case was Dan. 6.8 God makes a Covenant with Noah and his sons that he will no more destroy the earth by a flood but to give them still a greater assurance he sets his bow in the cloud as a token of this Covenant between himself and them Gen. 9. And when God makes a Covenant with Abraham and with his seed he does command Circumcision as a token of this Covenant between himself and them Gen. 17.11 God does not only give us his Word but his Sacrament the token of his truth This God does because he is gracious and because our wretched unbelief is so great that we need the utmost assurance And this certainly is one great end of the Sacrament that we might have alwayes with us a sure pledge of the favour and grace of God that we might not miscarry through our unbelief that we might have a full assurance that God would pardon our sins if we do on our part perform the condition of the New Covenant Our Saviours words are plain to this purpose This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. 28.26 This Sacrament is the instrument of conveyance the Seal that gives us right and title to this great grace and mercy of God We receive in this Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ and the benefits of his Death The pardon of our sin is here made over to us God hath given us visible pledges of his readiness to forgive our sins And because we are very jealous and suspicious very unapt to believe that such wretches as we are should be received into Gods favour he hath given us this abundant assurance He receives us to his own Table gives us under the symbols of Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of his Son who died for our sins and entertains us with this food of heaven In that God hath given us his Son and given him up to death and this death he underwent for our sins we have a great assurance that with him he will give us all things and that he is ready to pardon those sins for which our Lord hath shed his blood But then this blessed Sacrament is greatly efficacious towards the obtaining of this pardon because it is the ministery of the Death of Christ by which our pardon was procured But then we must be careful that we do not think that our pardon is procured by any inherent vertue of the outward elements of Bread and Wine or that our partaking of these alone will procure this remission of sins For the pardon of sin is procured by the blood of our Saviour and we attain not to it without a lively faith and a performing the conditions of the Gospel But if we do this we have good assurance of pardon when we partake of this Sacrament which is the Ministery of the Death of Christ But then we must have a faith in Christ that is as we eat the outward Element of Bread and drink the Wine so must our Souls receive our Lord Jesus Christ They must entertain him with all his precepts and in all his offices Our hearts must receive him as our Prophet to instruct and teach us as our Lord to rule and govern us as well as our Priest to make a satisfaction for us to the Divine Justice And as we hunger and thirst for our bodily food so we must hunger after the Spiritual provisions that Christ hath made for our Souls We must earnestly breathe after righteousness and purity of heart There must be in our Souls an hunger and a thirst they must receive and feed and not our bodies only It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing John 6.63 As our mouth eats the outward element so faith must eat too And it is not a notion not an empty nothing that will feed a lively faith It conveys as real a supply to the Soul as the outward Elements do nourishment to the body The body receives the outward symbol the Soul the inward grace We eat and drink the Element but 't is the Soul that feeds on the thing signified and represented And therefore let not the sinner who lives in his sin and loves it think to obtain his pardon by partaking of this Sacrament This Sacrament will not avail such a man as this is for the death of Christ will profit him nothing if he lives in his sins and loves them and therefore this Sacrament can avail him nothing it being but the Annunciation of the Death of Christ and therefore it cannot save that sinner whom the death of his Lord does not avail It is a vain thing for such a sinner to take sanctuary here If there be not in our souls a principle of new Life it is not the outward Elements of Bread and Wine that will help us God is ready to forgive our sins and we may see it clearly in this Sacrament but while we love our sins we are uncapable of this grace of God 'T is the burdened and the ladened sinner that shall find this favour 'T is he that hates his sin and strives against it These are those whom Christ came to seek and save 'T is not the outward work will save us if there be not in us the grace of God There is no pardon in the Gospel for the obdurate and impenitent sinner and therefore we may not look for it in any of the exterior offices of Religion And therefore let no man deceive himself in this matter He that comes in his sins out of hopes of a pardon will be so far deceived that instead of obtaining a pardon for his former guilt he will contract
his Corinthians of the danger of unworthy receiving 1 Cor. 11.27 presently puts them upon examining themselves and then upon eating this Bread and drinking this cup ver 28. We may die by a famine as well as by a surfet by not partaking at all as well as by partaking amiss He in the parable that came to the Marriage-feast without the Wedding-garment was cast into outer darkness Matth. 22.13 But then for those that were invited and would not come at all the Lord said that none of those men should taste of his Supper Luke 14.24 He that comes unworthily runs into a great danger and so does he that does not come at all There is but one way of escaping the danger and that is by calling in Gods help and a diligent preparing and fitting our selves Which we have great reason to do now 3. Because we do at this time make a very solemn approach to God We are going to his Table to be his guests to eat and drink with him And certainly we had need prepare our selves most diligently did we but rightly consider this When we go to the Table of a great man we do trim and spruce up our selves It will well become us to come hither with clean hearts when we consider that God hath an all-seeing eye and that he cannot endure to behold iniquity God will be sanctified by us or upon us It is no trifling and small matter that we are now about We make a very near approach unto God and had need therefore purge our hearts of our uncleanness lest God make a breach upon us We had need prepare to meet the Lord and sanctifie him in our hearts Let us not dare to trifle in a matter of so great weight nor to go about to mock God and impose upon him before whom all things are naked and open Nor let us by any means dare to serve God at all adventures and do such a work as this is negligently and deceitfully If we do God will be very far from accepting us or our service Wherefore draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded Jam. 4.8 Here is before us life and death let us quit our selves like men girding up the Joyns of our mind and imploring the aid of Heaven that our Souls may live No less than the life of our precious Souls is concerned in this matter As we do order this affair we may either live or die Now certainly these things that have been named above will be sufficient to awaken us and provoke us to diligence if they be but believed and considered throughly Having shewed the necessity of preparing our selves I come now to shew how this must be done And first I shall shew what preparations we are to make before we do partake Secondly what behaviour will become us when we do receive Thirdly what we must do after we have received CHAP. IV. I Shall now shew what preparations we are to make in order to our worthy receiving of this Sacrament And here I might premise that in general and holy life is a very good preparative to this service Were our whole life a life of Religion we should be always in a good readiness for this service That which fits us to die fits us to receive this Sacrament of the Lords Supper And certainly and holy life is the best preparative for death and therefore it must needs be very useful and necessary to our worthy partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ He that is fit to receive the Sacrament is fit to die and he that is fit to die is fit to receive the Sacrament one and the same preparation serves for both And if an holy life be a good preparative to death it must be so for the blessed Sacrament also But then though an holy life make a man habitually prepared for death yet there are for all that several things advisable to the dying man upon his sick-bed in order to his actual preparation for his departure hence And so it is in this Sacrament though an holy life be a good preparative yet it is but an habitual one and it is requisite that he that leads an holy life should notwithstanding that make an actual preparation before he make his approach to this holy Table And what we are to do in order to that I shall now shew 1. It is very requisite we should set some time apart for this work that we should sequester selves from our worldly affairs and business and be at leisure to attend upon the great concernment of our Souls But when we are alone we must be greatly careful that our worldly thoughts do not thrust in upon us and divert or distract us We must do as Abraham did when he sacrificed and the fowls came down upon his Sacrifice he drove them away Gen. 15.11 We must send away our worldly thoughts and cares at this time that they may not disturb and hinder us but that we may altogether attend upon that more weighty concern which we are about If we do not this we may when we are alone be as much in the World as we are at any other time And therefore we shall do well not only to set some time apart from our worldly occasions but when we have done that we must obstinately resolve that no worldly thought shall get entrance into our hearts at that time We shall be sure to be sollicited by our vain thoughts then but we must call in the aid of God and use our utmost diligence to keep them out We must empty our selves of these buyers and sellers we must overturn their Tables of exchange and with a great zeal whip these thieves out of Gods Temple This perhaps we may think a matter of some difficulty but there is nothing greatly difficult to him that is resolved nothing can be so to him that humbly and fervently implores the grace and aid of God Besides it is for the life of our Souls that we do this And if we loved our Souls as well as we do our Estates or Bodies and I might say our sins we should not find any difficulty in this matter For for the sake of these things we can spend many days and not complain and therefore have no reason to think much of spending now and then a day in consulting the interest of our immortal Souls And sure I am there are no portions of our time better spent than those we spend in the diligent service of God and about the securing the eternal interest of our Souls We shall one day wish that some of those hours which now we carelesly spend in doing nothing or in doing amiss which we spend in impertinent visits or in riot and drunkenness had been spent in our Closets in fervent prayer to Almighty God and in caring for our pretious Souls If ever we would have our Souls do well we must
so not vouchsafing to eat together hath been also taken for an argument of estrangedness and a great difference Thus we read that the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians Gen. 43.32 And the Apostle when he would have the sincere Christian not so much as to countenance the debaucht and lewd Professor of Religion he will not permit him so much as to eat with him 1 Cor. 5.11 By what hath been said it does appear that eating and drinking together hath been a mark of kindness and hath been used when Covenants and Agreements have been made between men Now when we partake of the Lords Supper we have fellowship with God himself 1 Cor. 10.20 21. We eat at his Table and do become his guests But because we can have no fellowship with him when we walk in darkness 1 Joh. 1.6 therefore we cannot partake aright of this Supper of our Lord unless we put away the evil of our doings unless we put on the Wedding-Garment and renew that Covenant which we did once make with God and which we have so greatly broken 2. That this Sacrament was ordained for a renewal of our Covenant with God appears from the words of our Saviour when he did first institute and appoint it When he gave his Disciples the Cup he adds This is my blood of the New Testament or Covenant as that word signifies which is shed for many for the remission of sins Mat. 26.28 For the better understanding of which words we may remember that it was an antient custom in the World Tacit. Annal. l. 12. when men entered into Covenant with one another that they did it by shedding of Blood they did slay a beast and pour out its Blood and thus they did ferire faeduâ— strike a Covenant with one another In token I suppose that he that should fail of performing his part of the Covenant which they entered into should perish as the beast did which was slain before them Nor was this a custom among the Gentiles only but also a custom that God made use of among the Jews his own people For so we read that when God gave his Law to that people and that Law had been read in the audience of the people and the people had promised obedience to that Law that they entered into Covenant by blood For it is added that 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 Exod. 24.8 This was the blood of that Covenant which God made with that people To these words our Saviour may be thought to allude when he was ready to lay down his Life and shed his Blood for our Remission he gives his Disciples the Cup and tells them This is my Blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins That blood which Moses sprinkled was the blood of beasts but this is the blood of Jesus that was the blood of a Covenant but of the old but this is the blood of the new and better Covenant That was shed for the Jews only but this is shed for many for Jew and Gentile for all that believe The blood of the Law of Moses did not expiate for all sins but this blood is shed for the Remission of sins yea of those sins which could not be remitted by the Laws of Moses For by Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Act. 13.39 So that as the Blood which Moses sprinkled was the blood of that Covenant which the Jews entered into so is the blood of Jesus which he shed for us the blood of the New Covenant and he that drinks of this blood renews his Covenant and doth most solemnly take upon himself the observation of the Lawes of Christ When Moses had read the Law to the people and they had promised Obedience then does he sprinkle them with the blood of the Covenant and by that federal rite they are received into Covenant with God And so when our Blessed Saviour had taught his Disciples the will of his Heavenly Father and was ready to shed his blood for our remission he ordains this Sacrament of his blood which when we do partake of as we should lays a strict obligation upon us to obedience of the Laws of God which are made known to us in the Gospel When we drink of this Cup we renew our Covenant with God and do most solemnly bind our selves to a faithful and sincere Obedience we do as it were take a Sacramental Oath of Allegiance and if we be treacherous and false we are perjured persons and make our selves guilty of the blood of Jesus II. Another end of this Sacrament is that we should remember the love of our Lord Jesus Christ in laying down his life for us This do in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 The Jewish Passover was appointed for a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt Exod. 12.14 And this Christian Passover was instituted for a memorial but of a greater deliverance than from the bondage of Egypt of our Redemption from sin and death So great a mercy as the deliverance out of Egypt might not be forgotten much less may this Redemption which our Lord hath wrought And as the Passover was commanded that they might not forget their freedom from Egypt so is this Sacrament appointed that we might never forget a greater freedom which our Lord hath purchased for us from the tyranny of sin and the bitterness of death There was a mercy in that deliverance but in this a miracle of mercy God in that shewed his love to his people but in this there are all the dimensions of love here 's breadth and length and depth and height here 's a love which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.18 19. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 But our Saviours love hath out-stript this and exceeded it greatly for he died for his enemies And God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 Our Books tell us many stories of the great love that one friend hath shewed another Lucian Toxarseu de Amicitia but none of them tell us of such a kindness to enemies as what our Saviour shewed in his Death Here 's a love that out-strips not only all the Laws but all the examples of friendship nay a love that surpasses the love of Women Our Saviour became poor that we might be rich he died that we might live he became a son of man that we might be made the sons of God and left his
glory that he might shew us the way to it And by his sufferings and death hath become the Author of Eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Indeed God wrought many deliverances for his people the Jews by the hands of his servants Moses and Joshuah and the Judges and Kings of Israel but all these together did not work so great a deliverance as our Blessed Saviour did when he made his soul an offering for sin when he despised the Cross and the shame of it and wrought an Eternal Redemption for us They delivered Gods People from their ill Neighbours our Saviour hath delivered us from our sins and from the evil men our selves They delivered them from Tyrants he hath delivered us from the power of the devil and from an eternal slavery They saved their bodies from slavery and bondage Our Saviour saves our souls from sin and death They fought for their people our Saviour suffered and dyed They delivered them for a time our Saviour for ever They saved the Jews but our Lord is the Saviour of mankind Jacob in his last words to his sons tells them what shall befal them in the last dayes and when he comes to Dan he tells him â—e shall be a serpent by the way an Adder in the path that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward Gen. 49.17 This the Jews understand to be foretold of that great deliverance which Sampson of this Tribe of Dan should be an instrument of who wrought a great deliverance of his people from the Philistines V. Targ. Hierosol Jonath in locum But then Jacob presently adds in the next words I have waited for thy salvation O Lord v. 18. The meaning of which words according to the same Jews is this as if Jacob when he had foreseen the deliverances which should be wrought by Gideon and Sampson had said thus I do not expect the deliverance of Gideon and Sampson which will be but a temporal deliverance but thy salvation O Lord is that which I expect for thine is an eternal salvation They were indeed deliverers of Gods people but none of them could do that which our Saviour does who saves his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 And blâ—sseth us in turning away every one of us from our iniquities Acts 3.26 So great a salvation hath our Saviour wrought for us so great a love hath he shewed in laying down his life for us that it ought never to be forgotten as long as the World endures And that it might never be forgotten our Saviour hath appointed the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be a standing memorial of his great love in dying for us Do this says he in remembrance of me We are indeed ready to receive mercies and also very ready to forget that they are bestowed upon us And therefore God hath taken this care that we might never forget them He did so with the Jews who were a very unthankful people and very prone to forget him that had done so many kindnesses for them Lest that people should forget their Creator God appointed the Sabbath-day to be observed in memory of the Creation of the World Exod. 20.11 When he brought the Israelites out of Egypt he ordains the Passe-over in memory of that deliverance Exod. 12. And besides that he obliges them severely to observe that feast and frequently by his servants puts them in mind of that deliverance and over and above appoints the Sabbath-day also which was at first commanded upon another score as a weekly remembrancer of that great deliverance Deut. 5.15 But he that delivered them out of Egypt did also carry them through the Wilderness and in memory of that mercy in redeeming them from the travels and pilgrimage of the desert he appoints an Anniversary feast viz. the feast of Tabernacles Lev. 23.43 Other Festivals there were and divers memorials of the mercies of God shewed to that people and to their fathers They who were so apt to forget Gods mercies were provided with such services as should put them fairly in mind of them God hath done thus mercifully with us also He hath not only given his Son to die for us than which there cannot be a greater mercy but he hath ordained this Sacrament as a perpetual memorial of so great a love And as among the Jews those services which God required were very proper remembrancers and monitors of the mercies they had received so it is in the case that is before us Their Sabbath which did succeed their six days labour put them in mind of Gods creating the World and ceasing from those works Their Pass-over brought to their mind the mercies of God in their Redemption from Egypt Their feast of Tabernacles plainly shewed them the estate of their Fathers in the Wilderness And so the Sacrament of the Lords Supper does after a lively manner represent unto us the Death of our Blessed Saviour He died indeed a great while since and at a place far remote from us there could be but few that were eye-witnesses of what was then and there done but few in proportion with those that would be concerned in his death And therefore God out of his great mercy to us hath ordained this service that what we could not see done at first we might see repeated in the Sacrament afterwards Here we have Christ crucifyed represented to us The Bread and Wine put us in mind of his Body and Blood And when we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured forth we are taught to remember the Passion of our Lord how his body was broken and bruised and his blood was shed for us God would have us lift up our hearts from these symbols and signs to that which is signified and represented by them And if we do so we may by our Faith see Christ crucified before our eyes And that which was done so long ago and so far off will be anew represented unto us The Apostle tells his Galatians that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth and crucified among them Gal. 3.1 Yet certain it is that Jesus Christ was crucifyed at Jerusalem a place very far remote from the Country of the Galatians But yet he that was crucified at Jerusalem may well be said to have been evidently set forth before the eyes of the Galatians Vers Syriac and crucified among them also i. e. Jesus Christ crucified was as it were painted and most lively represented unto them They did not see him indeed hanging on the Cross at Jerusalem but yet by the preaching of the Gospel and celebration of this Sacrament they might behold Christ crucified and that which was done at so great a distance would by these means become as if it had been done before their eyes But it is not a bare historical remembrance that will serve our turn neither It is no hard thing to be able to remember the history of the passion of our
Blessed Saviour But our remembrance of it must be 1. Affectionate and vigorous as we remember the death of a dear friend that died and died in our quarrel and defence who at once shed his blood for us and for the truth How passionately can we rehearse the praises and preserve the memory of such an one as this 'T was thus with our dearest Lord he fell a Sacrifice at once for the testimony of the truth and for the sake of our precious Souls He died that he might rescue us from eternal misery and death And this we must remember when we do remember the death of our Blessed Lord. 2. With all thankfulness to God for so unspeakable a mercy Let us awaken our Psaltery and Harp all our powers and faculties and all that is within us to praise his holy name Let us have our hymn of praise Matth. 26.30 'T is an heavenly feast we are going to and who goes to a feast with a sad countenance or heart Let us be filled with the spirit Speaking to our selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Ephes 5.18 19. We are Gods guests at this time and God loves we should be chearful and rejoyce He would have the Jews so in their Festivals Deut. 16.11 14. And certainly we have more reason to be so than they God having provided some better thing for us Heb. 11.40 This Sacrament is an Eucharist or service of praise and as such was observed by the first Christians Who breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favour with all the people Act. 2.46 47. 3. It must be such a remembrance as works in us a detestation against our sins which put our Blessed Saviour to death Coâ—â—â—â—ve you saw him hang upon the Cross and saw the nails pierce his hands and feet that you heard him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And that you saw the blood he sweat and the thorns he wore That you saw the Sun darkened the Dead arise and the rocky Earth rend in pieces certainly if your hearts were not more hard than the rocks you would relent especially when you consider that all this was for your sins and that he died that you might live 'T was thy Covetousness that betrayed him Thy Iust that made him bleed Thy unbelief and wickedness that loaded Him with the Cross that crowned Him with thorns that nailed his hands and pierced his side and filled his Soul with horror and amazement This should work in us a great indignation against our Sins as that which crucified our dearest Lord. Should a tender Mother lose a Child by a knife or some other instrument that is but the occasion of its death Surely she would not endure to see that instrument in her sight If we loved our Saviour we should hate our sins which made him bleed and bow his head Since 't is a most certain truth that he that commits sin does more displease i. e. does that which is more against the mind and will of Christ than Judas that betrayed him and those that hanged him upon his Cross And therefore as you pity your Saviour add not to his sorrows as you have any compassion to Him add not to the bitterness of his Soul Bring not with you instruments of crâ—â—lty when you pretend to remember his love â—e shewed in his death But think thâ—◠〈◊〉 that if God did not spare his Son that 〈◊〉 might not go unpunished that he will mucâ— less spare you who go on in your sins and love them III. Another great end of this Sacrament is that Christians might by it be united together in the strictest bond of love and charity It is indeed a feast of love and that which does not only joyn us to God but firmly cements us also to one another This indeed is the great Commandement of our Blessed Saviour that we should love one another as He hath loved us John 15.12 Nay he hath made this the mark by which his followers shall be known from the rest of the World By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another Joh. 13.35 And in the early days of Christianity the Heathen World took notice how the Christians loved one another Nay the Holy Scriptures tell us that in the beginning of Christianity The multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul Act. 4.32 And they shewed their love to one another by making all things common that there might be no lack and wants among them Acts 2.44 45. But then 't is added when it was that they loved one another thus greatly viz. While they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart verse 46. Whiles there were frequent Communions in the Church of God there did remain a fervent Charity among Christians But when they were but seldome celebrated Charity also grew cold For indeed this Sacrament was appointed for the keeping up a fervent charity among the followers of Jesus And very plain methinks are the words of the Apostle to this purpose We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread 1 Cor. 10.17 i. e. We that partake of this Heavenly feast are by that made one we are of one kind and 〈◊〉 just as Bread and Wine though they be made up of several grains and grapes yet are made up together into one similar body all whose parts are homogeneous and of the same sort or kind so we that are Christians tho as men we differ from one another and have our several affections and designs distinct from each other yet for all this by the death of our Saviour and by the participation of the Sacrament of our Lords Supper we are made one we are reconciled to the same designs and interests acted by the same Spirit and by this Sacrament united into one Spiritual body However we are other wise divided it is the intention of this Sacrament to make us One. And therefore the Ancients called the Eucharist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a Collection or gathering together into one those who were otherwise divided The partaking of this Feast makes the partakers of one mind and heart where they do receive it worthily What is said of Pilate and Herod when our Saviour was about to suffer That they were the same day made friends together who before had been at enmity between themselves Luke 23.12 The same is true of all true Christians that do aright partake of this Sacrament of the death of Christ they are now united and reconciled and made of one heart and mind And this seems to be the great design of the Eucharist to unite Christians together in the closest bond of unity and
love When the Passe-over was commanded among the Jews they were most severely commanded to put away leaven when they kept that Feast when we keep this Feast we must be sure to lay aside all malice and hatred to that sense the Apostle expounds that passage to us Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. He that bears malice in his heart must stand away and not partake of these holy mysteries Such a man will not be welcome to this Table of the Lord. If we like Cain hate our brother God will have no respect unto our offering Gen. 4.5 God is pleased to see us at unity with one another and till then our sacrifice is an abomination unto the Lord. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Matth. 5.23 24. God is willing to stay for his offering till we are reconciled to one another And as we ought alwayes to have our hearts clear from the malice and bitterness which we are too apt to bear against our brother so especially when we keep this Feast we ought to see to it that we be purged from the leaven For we do now keep in memory the death of Christ And certainly Christ in his death gave a great proof of his love to Mankind and a great example also of forgiveness of enemies And methinks we should be ashamed to remember the death of Christ who died for sinners and prayed for his enemies when we retain our hatred and ill-will against our brother For if we did but rightly consider it we shall find the death of Christ a very effectual means to destroy out of our hearts all malice and ill-will and hatred to one another Well may we forgive one another when Christ forgave his greatest enemies and prayed for his Crucifiers Father for give them for they know not what they do We may well contain our selves and be quiet when we are reproached and falsly accused when our Saviour Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth yet when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Methinks when Christ hath shewn such a love to us it should be no hard matter for us to love one another When Christ hath paid so great a debt for us we should not readily pull our brother by the throat for every trespass If we did but reflect upon the death of Christ as we ought to do it would kill and destroy that malice and hatred which lodges in our hearts We should not find it so hard a matter to forgive our enemy to do good against evil and to pray for our persecuters and slanderers if we did as we ought to do keep in mind the death of our dear Lord and Saviour But then they that eat of the same bread and drink of the same cup that partake together at the Table of their Lord must needs think themselves obliged to love one another For if eating and drinking together have been thought an argument of kindness and friendship certainly then the partaking together of these divine mysteries must needs call for the sincerest amity and the most fervent charity amongst those that do partake Those that seed at the same Table that retain to the same Lord that wear the same badg and livery that shews to whom they do belong and live by the same Laws and must therefore hope for the same reward these men sure must needs think themselves obliged to love one another Their partaking together of these mysteries is a sure pledge of that mutual kindness which is between them When the Psalmist would describe the greatest profession of friendship and intimacy between himself and his professed friends he does it in these words We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in Company Psal 55.14 We profess our selves Children of the same houshold and family when we do partake together of this holy Feast We declare that we are members of the same body when we eat of the same Bread and drink of the same Cup which is that provision that heavenly aliment which our Lord hath provided for his Church And therefore we ought to be concerned for one another as members of the same body are We ought to care for the good and benefit each of other and to shew by our lives and actions that we do believe these things to be true We ought indeed to be in perfect charity with all men as we have opportunity to do good unto all men too but more especially are we obliged to do good unto the houshold of Faith The ancient Christians surely understood this very well They shewed a great kindness to those who did communicate with them When they received this holy Sacrament they saluted one another with an holy kiss in token of that mutual love and kindness that was betwixt them And as they had their kiss of love so after the Celebration of this Sacrament they had their feast of love where they did eat together in common in testimony of the mutual kindness which was between them And again they had their labour of love also i. e. They made collections for those that were poor among them or in distress they were not only at peace with one another but they had also a very great compassion for all those that were afflicted But alass we are not what they were that which was to them the bond of unity and love we have made a bone of contention and quarrel We dispute now we do not live we are full of questions and void of charity We are not willing to be so good as those Primitive Christians though we desire to seem as wise as they We are greatly declined from that love and unity that then obtained And we are not willing to be restored to that zeal and fervour which was to be seen in them And now we are run into two great extreams for either we receive this Sacrament with the leaven of malice in our hearts and when we are unprepared for it and then this holy Table becomes our snare Or else we will not receive it at all lest we should be obliged severely to be that which we are not willing to become IV. Another great end of this Sacrament is that we might have a full assurance of Gods readiness to bestow upon us a pardon of our sins and the great mercies of the Gospel which God hath declared himself ready to
cleanse his heart He that believes it as he ought endeavours to be holy as God is holy Again the Gospel tells us that we must not swear at all Matth. 5.34 Nay more than that that we shall give an account at the day of judgement for every idle word we speak Matth. 12.36 Now certain it is that there are many who swear in their ordinary conversation and others also who forswear themselves and whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness And who can think that such men as these are do believe the Gospel as they should do He believes aright who does practise those precepts which he professes the belief of He that does not that is an unbeliever He may profess that he knows God but in works he denies him Tit. 1.16 and they that do so the Apostle reckons among the unbelieving ver 15. Our Saviour tells us that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life i. e. he that obeyeth the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he presently adds he that believeth not the Son or he that obeyeth not the Son as those words may well be rendred shall not see life Joh. 3.36 And when the Apostle tells us that God sware to some that they should not enter into his rest he adds that it was to them who believed not so we render the words but they might be rendred to them who obeyed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then he presently infers we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3.18 19. To believe on the name of Christ is to receive him Joh. 1.12 But if we receive him as we should we must receive him and acknowledge him in all his Offices as our Prophet Priest and King That is we must believe the truth of his Doctrine as he is our great Prophet and that Teacher who came from God and then we must obey his Precepts as he is our Lord and our King as well as expect pardon from him as he is our Priest and our Atonement We must receive him as he is offered to us in the Gospel and not only confidently expect our pardon from him but we must receive him as God hath sent him and God hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Act. 3.26 Now that it is such a Faith in Christ as I have been speaking of which the Scriptures require of us in order to our eternal Salvation will appear 1. If we consider the great end of the manifestation of Jesus Christ or the great purpose for which he was sent into the World Now we must not think that Christ came into the world and did and suffered those great things which we read of him only to procure our pardon and indemnity we must not think that the only end of all this was that we might be delivered from the evil effects and bad consequents of our sins he would be certainly a welcome Saviour to the worst of mankind upon this score For provided we may enjoy our sins we are content that he should suffer for them We are very willing that he should bear the blame provided we may but have the liberty to commit the fault Though we love our sins well yet are we not fond of the sorrows which they bring with them We are willing enough that Christ should pay our scores and well pleased to live in our sins and take it kindly that Christ would die for them But certain it is that Christ appeared and suffered for us too that he might deliver us from the power and dominion as well as from the guilt of our sins He did not die for sin that we might live in it He never came to discharge us from our duty we think unworthily of our Saviour and of our Religion if we think thus He came to plant the divine life in our hearts to make us better and more like unto God Let the holy Scriptures speak in this matter His name is called Jesus because he should save his people from their sins Matth. 1.21 It is ridiculous to say that by sins is meant no more than the punishment of them Nor can we think that Christ came into the world for no other end He would then have taken away the effect and left the cause remaining This would be to remove the less evil and to let the greater continue as if a Physician should only project how to remove or abate the symptom and take no care to suppress the disease and remove the morbifick matter which is the cause of it Certainly we think meanly of our Saviours design if we think this was all his business in the World He came to save us from our sins and they are a greater evil sure than the effects of them This is a nobler conquest than to deliver us from death And this sure was the great purpose of our blessed Saviour When God promised the Messias no less blessing was contained in that promise than this that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life Luk. 1.74 75. The Apostle certainly understood the great end for which Christ appeared He tells us that for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 And that this was one great end why our Lord laid down his life no man can deny that gives any credit to the Holy Scriptures There we are told that he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Again it is said that he gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil World Gal. 1.4 And that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 He dyed for his Church indeed but then he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be Holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The same Apostle tells his Colossians that Christ hath reconciled them in the body of his flesh through death to present them holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight Col. 1.21 22. Besides what hath been said we are from the death of Christ exhorted to an Holy Life 1 Pet. 4.1 2. Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Which certainly we could not so effectually have been had our Saviour only dyed for our Indemnity and to procure our pardon But since he dyed for sin that we might not live in it well may we from his death be exhorted to an Holy Life and Conversation Which if we do not lead we do then frustrate and make void the
we are in misery or want we shall be glad of our Neighbours compassion and relief and when we love him as our selves we shall as readily afford him ours We shall be very ready to preserve our Neighbours credit to put a fair interpretation upon his actions to relieve his wants to bewail his misery to farther the Eternal welfare of his Soul if we do love him as our selves And indeed it will not avail us that we do pretend to love our Neighbour if we do not help him and do him good If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily Food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be you warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the Body what doth it profit Jam. 2.15 â—6 Certainly we are devoid of love to Our Neighbour if we do him not good as we have an opportunity Whose hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his Bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 Joh. 3.17 If we love our Neighbour we shall most readily do him good and we shall always stand ready to do good offices to all with whom we shall converse And Secondly we must forgive the evil which our Neighbour does to us This we must also heartily do before we can worthily partake of this Holy Sacrament And I shall shew 1. what it is to forgive and 2. what great reason we have to do it when we partake of this Sacrament First what it is to forgive or what kind of forgiveness the Gospel requires of us and of this I shall speak 1. Negatively 2. Positively Negatively 1. Forgiveness implyes more than a bare profession of kindness This is a very common thing and may well be supposed to take place amongst those that yet remain very great enemies It is common to make great protestations of an hearty reconcilement Our Saviour requires that we forgive one another from our hearts Mat. 18.35 2. Forgiveness implyes more than a bare abstaining from making spiteful returns There may be a secret malice where there is no visible injury done We are obliged to love our enemy 't is not enough that we do him no harm 3. Forgiveness implyes more than doing kindnesses to our Brother It does indeed require a readiness to do this but yet the doing kindnesses to our enemy is no certain argument that we have forgiven him We may be bountiful and liberal and yet devoid of Charity 1 Cor. 13.1 We may give and yet not forgive And perhaps we may do our enemy a kindness out of pride and vain-glory or else we triumph over his misery and rejoyce that he who was before the object of our envy is now become the object of our pity Positively 1. He that forgives a right does it universally That is he forgives every man and every Trespass and at every time We easily forgive little offenders and the smaller faults of our Neighbour But the sincere Christian does more than this he forgives not only a professed enemy but a treacherous and false friend not only him that despises him but the most curseing Shimei that reproaches him to the face His Charity beareth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 2. He is so far from taking revenge that his mind is free from all the intention of it The leaven of malice is quite purged out of his heart he is so far from watching an opportunity of mischief that he desires it not And so far from doing evil that such is his Charity he thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 3. He does heartily pity his Enemy and pray for him And in this is a follower of the Precept and of the example of his Blessed Saviour Mat. 5.44 Luke 23.34 He does not only not requite his enemies with evil but he returns him good As for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my Soul with fasting and my Prayer returned into mine own bosom I behaved my self as though he had been my Friend or Brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother Psal 35.13 14. 4. He does not only forgive but forget He is most willing to let the remembrance of the injuries he hath received pass away And as a proof of this he is most ready to do his enemy a kindness and that out of no other design at all but a sense of his duty and a real Love which he finds in himself towards him He does not do it out of ostentation nor with a purpose to upbraid him with ingratitude or enhance his guilt but meerly because he loves him and desires his welfare with no less sincerity than he does his own And still as a farther demonstration that he forgets the injury received he is most ready to restore his enemy to the same degree of Love which he had before he did the wrong He is willing to admit him to the same kindness which he enjoyed before aye and to the same trust and confidence also upon his Repentance or the probable indications of it In one word he does not retain any thing of malice or ill-will but on the other hand finds in himself a most sincere love and good will and by all his actions does shew the great sincerity of it No less than such a forgiveness does the Gospel require no less does the true Christian find in himself And certainly it cannot be any thing short of this For we must forgive as we desire God to forgive And sure I am we desire from Heaven no less than such a forgiveness and must therefore think our selves obliged to do no otherwise by our Brother than we would that God should do by us For in this matter that is the Rule we are to go by we are to imitate God to forgive our offending Brother Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us Eph. 4.32 Secondly I come to shew what great reason we have to forgive our brother when we come to this Sacrament Now that I shall shew in the following Severals 1. Because in this Sacrament we keep in remembrance the death of Christ This was one great end of its Institution and this does strongly oblige us to forgive our brother Whether we consider the death of Christ 1. In it self as obliging us to put away all our sins for which he dyed It is but reason we should put away our sins which put our Lord to death And if he dyed for sin then ought we by no means to live in it If we do we crucifie our Lord afresh and are more cruel to him than Judas or Pontius Pilate We make his pains of no effect and shew our selves void of all pity to our bleeding Saviour They were our sins that put him to his shame and to his sorrow and if we retain them we do but trample upon his precious blood we are very wretched Creatures if we maintain his enemies and add to
his sorrowes He did not dye for sins that we might live in them but that we might dye to them His Death is a very forcible argument against the life of our lusts and a great motive to obedience We little regard our dying Lord if we at once remember his Death and break his Lawes 2. Again our Lord at his Death gave us a very great example of forgiveness of enemies and therefore when we remember his death we have very great reason to forgive our offending brother Our blessed Lord met with great enemies and such as had the greatest reason to be his friends He that eat of his bread lift up his heel against him He was betrayed by his own Disciple delivered to death by him that pronounced him innocent scourged and mocked by a rude and heady multitude He is numbred among Transgressors who had committed no sin He was hanged on the Tree who had never tasted the forbidden Fruit. He was put to death by those whom he came to seek and to save He had done them many kindnesses whilst he was among them He healed their sick fed their hungry restored their blind dispossessed their Daemoniacks and raised their dead He offended none of their Laws He paid Caesar his Tribute took care the Priest should have his Offering observed their customs went to their Festivals and was so far from profaning their Temple that he shewed a great zeal for defending it from common uses There could be nothing said against his Doctrine nothing against his Life His enemies that bare witness against him could not agree and it was infinitely plain that he was innocent And yet his Countrymen thirst after his blood and prefer a Murderer before him They want patience when our Lord wanted none They cry out Crucifie him crucifie him And what does our Lord do he cryes out too but not for Vengeance but for Mercy Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luk. 23.34 Certainly then we should be ashamed to remember these things with malice in our hearts well may we forgive our enemies when our Lord hath forgiven his We must not dare to remember the Death of Christ and to remember our Neighbours unkindness together We may not think of revenge when our Lord shewed so much mercy We cannot rightly remember Christs Death when we do not imitate his example He taught us what we should do by what he did himself We shall look very unlike our Lord if we retain our malice and ill-will 3. If we consider that Christs Death was not only for sins but also for our sins we shall still find a greater obligation upon us to forgive one another God gave his Son to dye than which there cannot be a greater miracle of Love and if God so loved us we also ought to love one another 1 Joh. 4.11 It was for us our Saviour laid down his life and who are we Had we deserved this love were we his friends that he was at this pains and cost No surely but we were sinners and enemies and yet he laid down his life for us Rom. 5.8 10. If then Christ dyed for his enemies we ought to forgive ours and then especially we are obliged to do it when we pretend to remember the Death of Christ How can we now pull our brother by the throat for a few pence when our Lord hath forgiven us so many Talents We are very ungrateful for our Lords kindness if we are unkind to one another Did we but consider Gods mercies to us we should think our selves obliged to be merciful to one another And methinks it should be easie for us to forgive our Neighbour if we did but consider how very much we need Gods forgiveness and how far we are from deserving it If our Lords eye have been so good to us why should ours be evil to one another what miserable wretches should we be if Gods mercies to us had not been greater than ours is to one another He hath forgiven us our great scores let us not retain then our grudges to our brother For shame then let us purge out this leaven of malice when we keep this Feast Let us shew our selves kind to each other when we do remember the kindness of our Blessed Saviour Besides our brothers offences against us are small in respect to ours against God We offend against an infinite Majesty we transgress the Eternal Laws of Reason How coldly do we pray to him for the greatest Blessings How insensible are we of his many mercies How very stupid and incorrigible under his severest judgments How void of the love of him who hath loved us so much If he should mark iniquities how should we be able to stand We are not able to answer for one of a thousand But yet we hope for Mercy upon our Repentance and our Faith We expect pardon from God for all these amisses And had we not this hope we should be of all men the most miserable We have then very great reason to be reconciled to our brother when we stand in so great need that God should be reconciled unto us and when we hope for the pardon of our sins from God which we do from Christs death and at this time when we do commemorate it we have a sufficient motive to forgive our brother Especially our Saviour having said If you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will aso forgive you But if ye forgive not men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. 2. Another great end of this Sacrament is that Christians may be knit together in the strictest bond of Love and Charity It is as I shewed you before a Feast of Love It was designed to bring us together and to make us all of one heart And a very effectual instrument it is were it rightly understood and used to that end and purpose It would soon make us one again It would bring together those who now are separated from one another When Communions were frequent in the Church Christians loved one another and kept together But when they became more seldom selemnized then the feuds among the professors of Christianity grew also For indeed this Sacrament was intended to maintain us in Love and Charity And therefore if we do not heartily forgive our brother we do destroy also this end of its Institution It is very indecent to see men at odds that eat and drink at the same common Table But it is a great wickedness to come to this Holy Table with malice and ill-will to our brother in our hearts We must not keep this feast of love with the leaven of malice VVe cannot partake of this Sacrament but we must profess a kindness to our brother and if we mean it not we are like Judas that gave his Master good words when he was ready to betray him and shall be miserable as he was into whom the Devil and the morsel entered at
few men so stupid but something or other does awaken them to a sense of things and yet these men remain very bad and sensless still We call that man a lunatick or mad-man who yet hath many lucid intervals when he can use his reason And him we judg a Fool or Natural as we call them who is generally so in all his words and actions tho sometimes he may speak good sense and make very smart replies upon us A Fever retains its name though it do sometimes intermit and be not one continual paroxysm There must be a great change in the blood before it be quite removed 'T is so in the case that is before us there must not only be an intermission of our sins and sinful affections but an extinction of them before we can be said to be new Creatures And that we are which we are most generally in the course of our conversations 4. It is therefore adviseable that before we do Communicate we make som experiments upon our selves Let us try how we can resist a temptation and how we can overcome it Let us inure our selves by degrees to overcome our inordinate affections Suppose that we are given to some excess of anger or intemperance or the like Let us try our selves sometime before how we can master our selves And it will not be hard to do it if we do it gradually and alwayes call in to our assistance the Divine aid If we be given to anger and impatience let us try first how we can bear the evils and disappointments of a day which it will be no hard matter to do Then let us take out a greater time and use our selves by degrees to bear the yoke If we find that we get the mastery then may we expect a very great aid by communicating as well as a great encouragement to communicate frequently The Jews we commanded to keep the day of expiation Joina c. 8. Miâ—hm 4. cum notis Bartenor then they were to afflict their Souls and thought themselves obliged to fast but yet they tell us that they did not with-hold meat and drink from little Children all at once but they did by degrees wont them to the observation of that solemnity so that the child that was wont to eat at the fourth hour received his meat at the fifth or sixth according to his strength and thus they did use them for a year or two before they took upon them the observation of this and the other precepts And this course we shall do well to take with our Souls Who may do well by degrees to wont them to obedience and not to venture upon Communicating whereby we are most solemnly obliged to obey all the precepts of Christ before we have had some proof of our obedience 5. It is also very adviseable that at this time we do more particularly design the destroying that lust which does most constantly annoy us and easily beset us We have our peculiar lusts and follies to which we are addicted Some sins there are that are frequent temptations to us and do greatly molest and trouble us It will be wisdom at this time to set our selves mainly against that sin Where we are weakest we shall do well to set the strongest guard and watch Our bodies are not more naturally prone to their peculiar distempers than our Souls are to their particular follies And certainly if we can destroy these fiercer enemies we shall not need fear the other assailants And therefore let us especially set our selves against those lusts that do very often solicite and importune us For as it is great wisdom to consider where we are weak and easily overcome so is it no less wisdom to raise up all our force and strength to defend our selves against those spiritual enemies which do most easily prevail upon us 6. Let us endeavour to put our selves into such a preparation as we would be found in when we are to die For certainly we are not fit to Communicate if we are not fit to dye The same preparation is required for a Communion which is for our death And many devout persons have very wisely at once disposed themselves for the receiving this Sacrament and their dissolution also v. Calvin Epist 99. Now certain it is that though we trifle in our lives yet we become serious when we come to die Then we do recollect our selves and very severely examine our own Consciences Then we pray very earnestly give very earnest attention to Gods word and very seriously heed what we are about And did we as verily believe that we should forthwith resign up our Souls unto God we should be very careful to put them in a readiness for so great a change It will well become us at this time to consider in what condition we would be found when our Lord calls us hence and then to endeavour to our utmost that we may with no less diligence dispose our selves for this service than if we were presently to give up the ghost Thus if we do we shall not trifle in our preparations but shall most carefully examine our hearts and most earnestly call in the Divine aid and assistance CHAP. XI I Proceed now to shew how we are to behave our selves when we do Communicate And of that I shall speak in the following Severals 1. First of all we are to take care that our hearts be lifted up to the Lord as we are exhorted by the man of God Let us not suffer our thoughts to remain upon low and earthly things Forget your worldly concerns and interests Remember what an holy and solemn service you are about Attend now upon this very thing When your worldly and trifling thoughts would thrust in upon you presently repell and beat them back Tell them you are employed about greater matters that they must stand off now while you worship your Lord that your Souls are the houses of prayer and not a den of such thieves Suffer not these busie intruders to have any entrance or countenance from you By no means yield to any of their importunities Your Souls must ascend up to Heaven now and forget all earthly things Your otherwise lawful thoughts you must now account profane They must by no means come near when you are thus employed We must do now as was done at the giving of the Law bounds were set that nothing might approach the Mount under the severest penalty Exod. 19. We must do so now we make this solemn approach unto God we must be greatly careful that no evil or earthly thought draw nigh and if they do we must severely chastise them and beat them back And as then 't was forbidden to suffer either man or beast to touch that Mount so we must here beware not only of our beastly and carnal thoughts but also of all other thoughts though at another time not unbecoming man-kind which would disturb our devotion and draw us aside from the contemplation of what we
pilgrimage towards Heaven This repast will give us new strength and vigor And we greatly need that our strength should be renewed This is a blessed opportunity of renewing our Covenant with God and reconciling our selves to one another and dressing up our disordered Souls for another World This puts us upon exciting all our Graces and strengthening all our good purposes and intentions This awakens our repentance inflames our charity augments our hope confirms our faith and puts us into a condition that makes us more fit to live and more prepared to dye We are like Clocks and Watches that frequently stand in need of winding up and setting right Or else like trees that are apt to be pulled back by suckers and burdened with luxuriant branches This blessed Sacrament puts us upon amending all our amisses it puts us upon cutting off and paring away our excrescencies and superfluities How glad should we be then of such an excellent opportunity that does oblige us upon pain of death to become new creatures and we are offered strength and grace to be so Who need perswade the hungry man to eat or the thirsty to drink If we understand our needs they will put us forward When our Souls grow disordered we should be glad of an opportunity of setting them right When our sins grow upon us and our Charity grows cold we should be glad of an occasion to renew our Repentance and enflame our Charity Here 's a blessed occasion that puts us upon all this This calls upon us to break off our wont of sin to kindle our dying charity to forget our quarrels and contentions and to put our selves in a posture for a better life than this Here is a great grace offered and conferred to them that come prepared So that we see what great necessity lies upon us to do this We have a plain and peremptory command to do it a great reason also to enforce the Precept and after all this our own interest and advantage does loudly require it of us So plain a Precept we may not neglect without open rebellion against our Lord. Nor can we resist the reason of it without being guilty of great ingratitude And after this if we are not perswaded to it by our own interest we are false to our own souls Methinks any of these are strong enough And it will be very strange if all of them together should not draw us If the command of Christ and the sense of his dear love and our own interest besides will not draw us certainly our hearts are very hard 4. To what hath been said I add this that the Jew was most strictly obliged to keep the Passover and he that did neglect it was liable to the severest penalty And we have therefore great reason to think the neglecter of this Precept of our Lords makes himself obnoxious to the wrath of God by reason of this neglect For the Passover we know that every Israelite was obliged to keep it Exod. 12.47 And because it might happen that some of them might be by reason of their legal defilement unfit or else by reason of some journey from home unable to keep it in that place where it was commanded to be kept therefore it was provided in the Law that the second Moneth should be observed and in it the second Passover kept for the sake of such men as these that were unavoidably hindred from keeping it in the first moneth But this Passover was only substituted in the case above-named For every Israelite was obliged to keep the first Passover if he were clean and not in a journey and made himself greatly obnoxious if he did not Thus we read the man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover even the same Soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season That man shall bear his sin Numb 9.13 And in case he were in a journey or unclean yet did not this excuse him he was however obliged to keep the Passover unto the Lord v. 10. And that he might do so the second Passover was instituted Numb 9. The Israelites were severely obliged to keep the Passover and to keep it aright He that did not keep that Feast was to be cut off from Gods people and he that eat leavened bread during that Feast was likewise liable to the same penalty Exod. 12.15 So that it was commanded to be kept and to be kept as was appointed upon pain of the greatest curse The Israelite was tyed up very strait he must keep this Feast and he must keep it without leaven and according to all its ordinances and constitutions There was danger if he did not keep it as he should and danger if he did not keep it at all If he either keep it not or kept it amiss he rendred himself liable to the curse of the Law and that none of the smaller neither but he was liable to be cut off from among his people for it And though I shall not now examine the different opinions about what is meant by that expression of being cut off from their people yet I shall tell you that it does import a very great severity And therefore we find it annexed to such sins as the Law of Moses allowed no expiation for There was no Sacrifice admitted to make atonement for that offence to which this excision did belong The sin of ignorance might be expiated by a Sacrifice but there was no atoning such a sin as hath this penalty annexed to it The Soul that sinned presumptuously was to be cut off from among his people Numb 15. 28 30. Such a man was reserved to the punishment of God though he were exempt from the sword of the Magistrate It is said of him that would not obey the Messiah that God will require it of him Deut. 18.17 But when St. Peter cites this passage he expresseth it in other words viz. that such a man shall be destroyed from among the people Act. 3.23 Or cut off from the people for he uses the same Greek word by which this cutting off is expressed by the Septuagint Numb 15.30 By which it appears to be a very hainous offence which is thus denounced against and an offence of that nature that God reserves the punishment of it to himself and which he allowed no expiation for under the Law of Moses Thus it was with the Passover Every Jew was bound to keep it or else must be liable for his neglect to the greatest curse And this curse was unavoidable too for God took upon himself the execution of it who would not let him escape that might otherwise have avoided the severity of the Magistrate Can we then imagine that we shall escape if we neglect to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup Let us not deceive ourselves we shall not escape God will require it of us Certainly the Passover
that he refused to wash and be clean according to the advice which the man of God gave him And his servants spake wisely to him when they said My father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much rather then when he saith to thee wash and be clean 2 King 5.13 If there be any thing hard and difficult which our Saviour hath commanded for he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden is light yet sure I am this is not So far is it from being impossible that it is indeed not difficult to him that is a sincere and diligent Disciple of our Lord and Saviour What hath been said makes it evident that that worthiness which is required in the Communicant does not imply merit or desert but only such a fitness and sincere and holy disposition of Soul as God does require and will accept And we may be worthy partakers of this Table when we are very sensible of our own demerits And indeed to think meanly of our selves does very much dispose us to receive the benefits of this Sacrament And therefore when we say we are not worthy and make this excuse our meaning must be that we are not fit and prepared for this Holy Table Now if this be all we have to say that we are not fit and prepared and therefore we do not approach to this Table we shall find that this is no just excuse For if it were we might with the same case excuse our selves from the practice of the other Laws of Christ Whereas we are commanded to give to the poor we might by the same reason excuse our obedience and say that we cannot do that because we are not charitable and besides that we cannot give alms as we ought because we are proud and love to be seen of men and to receive their praise and therefore rather than do it amiss we will not do it all Thus may we excuse our selves from works of mercy from acts of piety and the services of Religion We may by this method excuse our selves from serving God and doing good to our Neighbour We are not willing our servants should do by us as we do by God We expect they should do as we bid them nor shall it serve their turns to say that they are not disposed to do what we command We justly look that they be ready to obey us and that they do not indulge themselves in their sloth and contumacy We may be ashamed to serve God at that rate which we should not accept from our servants The Jew might easily have avoided the Passover if this slender excuse would have served his turn But God commands him to keep it and he must take care to do it as he ought If he fail in either of them he is liable to be cut off from among his people There was no such excuse to be admitted Again when you say you are not fit let me ask you whether or no you have done all you possibly can to fit your selves I wish you would put this question home to your Consciences and deal sincerely in it Have you laboured greatly to fit your selves have you to that purpose set aside some time in order to the examining of your Consciences Have you earnestly prayed to God for his aid and assistance Have you done it frequently Have you advised with your spiritual guides about this weighty matter Have you used as great a care as men are wont to use in clearing their title to their Estates and worldly Possessions Do you do as much for your Souls as you do for your Bodies and Estates You are not fit to receive the Sacrament you say but have you laboured greatly that you might be fit Have you done all you can possibly do And after all this is it the grief of your heart that you are not fit and do you continue to labour that ye may Consider whether it be thus or no with you Do not dare to mock God nor think that you shall be able to deceive him Have a care how you dissemble with the God of Heaven and Earth If you are not fit nor yet striving to become so you are indeed in a very miserable condition He that commands you to partake of this Table commands you to be fit to do it also We are not only required to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup but in order to that to examine our selves If we neglect to fit our selves that will not excuse us from neglecting the receiving of this Sacrament unless we think one fault will excuse another Again we shall do well to consider what it is that renders us unfit Have we not some secret sin which we are not willing to part with We know the danger to be great if we bring with us a love to our sins then indeed we eat and drink our own Death Let us then cast our eyes inward and see what that sin is which we are so fond of I doubt not but men may many times easily find where the true reason lies which renders them unfit Perhaps we are not willing to forgive our Enemy or else we are not ready to make restitution to our neighbour whom we have injured or we live a prophane and ungodly life and are not reconciled to the ways of piety and holiness It may be that we are not willing to part with our sensual and worldly lusts and we are afraid of being too severely and strictly bound up to a life of Religion and Mortification This is much to be suspected for certainly if we loved our Religion and hated our sins we should be very glad of any opportunity that would engage us more strictly to do well and to depart from evil Sure I am that to him that is truly good and labours sincerely to be better the tydings of this Sacrament is welcome news He does gladly embrace this blessed opportunity of becoming good For the truth of what I say I dare appeal to the Conscience of devout and religious persons And therefore it is much to be feared that the cause which makes us unfit is this because we love our sins more than we love our God And if it be thus I would wish such people to consider How unfit they are to dye For in this case that which makes them unfit to receive this Sacrament renders them unfit to dye also Now his condition is very dismally dangerous who dares to live in that state of things in which he would be afraid to dye We may indeed refuse to Communicate when we have an opportunity offered us but we shall not be able to put by the stroke of death When God calls us out of this World and how soon we may be called we cannot tell we must go not only whether we be willing but also whether we be fit to go out or not we shall not find that any of our excuses will be
then taken And methinks we should be perswaded to fit our selves for death it being so much our interest to be prepared for it And though we cannot be perswaded to receive the Sacrament yet sure we cannot but judge it our duty and our interest also to make our selves fit for it He that is fit to dye is fit to receive also and who would not labour hard to be fit to die that knows his time here cannot be long but may be exceeding short Be not then so cruel to your own souls as to be unprepared for death this makes you liable to not only a great sorrow but an everlasting sorrow also Before I leave this matter I would know of him that makes this excuse that he is not fit whether he speak as he think Do you really judge your selves unfit For it is possible that a man may make this excuse and yet have a great opinion of himself and judge better of himself than other men who do receive this Sacrament and do it as they should And therefore let me put it to thy Conscience dost thou really judg thy self to be unfit If thou doest then tell me what effect this hath upon thee Art thou greatly humbled under this condition Dost thou strive whatever thou canst to prepare thy self Is it that which you greatly labour for Are you willing to take as much pains in the case as you do for your bodies or estates If you do not strive to become better when do you think you shall be fit Put these things home to your Consciences And I doubt not but that if you be sincere and do not dissemble with God you may be fitted and prepared for this service Object 2. Secondly there are others excuse themselves from this service upon a prudential account as they esteem it And thus it is they understand by the Apostle that they eat and drink damnation to themselves if they do it unworthily and therefore they conclude it the safer course not to receive it at all By this means they think they avoid the danger of unworthy receiving and take the most secure course in not receiving at all This I fear is the ground that too many rest upon who do forbear to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. In answer to this pretence I shall not need to say much especially if what hath been said before be duly considered But yet something I shall say to it And Answ First I must tell you that though this may be thought a safe and prudential course yet it is far from being so For what prudence is it to run from one extream to another and to neglect the mean which we ought to aim at We shall not need to forbear nor yet to receive unworthily Why do we not prepare our selves and receive as we ought Shall we call it a prudential course to run away from the Laws of Christ Or shall he be thought a wise man that runs from one danger into another that is as great This is as if a Man should flee from a Lion and a Bear should meet him or a Serpent bite him that I may use the words of the Prophet Amos 5.19 'T is like the prudence of the sinner in other things He is apt to run into extreams Thus he does frequently do When he should possess himself of a well-grounded hope he either presumes or else despairs when he should be patient he is stupid and senseless or else he is querulous and murmuring When he should do good with his riches and relieve the poor he either profusely spends them upon his lusts or else is penurious and covetous And when he should hear the word of God and keep it he either will not hear it or will not keep it And as he shews great folly in all these things so he does in the case before us For whereas he is required to receive this Sacrament worthily he instead of that either receives it amiss or else will not receive at all Which is so far from being prudently done that it is indeed an argument of great folly and he that takes such a course is far from being safe He that does thus runs indeed from a great mischief but he runs into another There is a rock on each hand that he may split upon he dies if he eat unworthily and so he does if he carelesly neglect to eat at all He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself There 's death there but then we are told by truth it self Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Joh. 6.53 There 's a death that meets us also We may meet with death from a surfeit and so we may from a famine and too long an abstinence He were a very ridiculous man who because he is forbidden meat by his Physician in a Paroxysm of his Fever or under the operation of a Purgative Medicine should thereupon resolve to eat no more By this means he will not only starve his disease but starve himself also Besides at this rate we might avoid the other precepts of Religion as well as this The Jew might have eluded Gods commands that obliged him to obedience under this pretext that he feared he should not do what God required aright There is danger in hearing Gods Word carelesly shall we therefore chuse not to hear it all We may displease God in our prayers if we pray not as we should shall we therefore fore not pray at all We may give alms amiss shall we therefore shut our bowels upon the poor We may keep a fast for evil ends shall we therefore keep none at all There are some that come to Church and do it from an ill principle and do thereby increase their condemnation shall we therefore stay at home Some preach Christ out of ill will shall I not therefore preach any more Sure whatever we may judg here is little prudence shewn For all this while it ought to be considered that we do not contract our guilt by receiving but by receiving unworthily And therefore if we shewed our selves wise we should do it by making our selves fit for this service and not by forbearing it altogether If we took this course we should avoid all the danger and not only that but greatly advantage our own Souls Whereas now we run our selves upon a great curfe If we come and are unfit we are accursed and so we are if we do not come at all I shall end that which I had to say to this pretence with the words of a late Writer Mr. Daniel Rogers Treat of the Sacraments part 2. pag. 211. who was well known not long since in these parts And his words upon this occasion are these If scanty coming be a sin what a fearful premunire then run they into that refuse at all to come And presently afterwards he denounces terror to all profane Esau's
least spark of goodness you will find it shine and glow and spread it self to your infinite joy and contentment of heart Among all the various degrees and conditions of Christian people there will none be found that come hither with sincere affection to do this in remembrance of their Saviour but may go away rejoycing loaded with many Divine benefits Heads of Self-Examination by which we may be directed to find out what sins we are particularly to repent of either before the Sacrament or at any other time which we set apart for Repentance and Humiliation of our selves Wherein are laid before us the several duties we owe to God our Neighbour and our Selves To God FAith or belief of his Word A well grounded Hope in his Mercy Love and Fear of Him above all Trust in him Submission to Him Honour to His Holy Name Word Appointments Thankfulness Worship Repentance To our Neighbour in General Justice which requires a doing by him in all respects as we would be done by and forbids all injury whether it be by drawing him into Sin endangering his Life depriving him of his Peace invading his Bed his Goods or good Name and forbids all Envy and Malice and Covetous desires of what belongs to Him and Charity by which we wish well to him and are disposed to assist and help him In Particular To our Superiors Reverence and hearty Obdience and Submission to our Equals unfained Friendship and Kindness To our Inferiors Gentleness Mercy and a great care of their Souls To our Selves Humility Meekness Consideration Content Diligence and Watchfulness over our Selves Chastity or purity of Heart and Life Temperance in Eating and Drinking Moderation in our Sleep or Rest and Recreations and in our Garb and Expences Hy these Heads we may examine our selves And we must particularly confess wherein we have failed and we must not onl confess the sin but the circumstances of aggravation with which it was attended Of which see the first chapter of this Book And as we must confess with shame and sorrow so we must come to the Sacrament with express resolutions to forsake these sins for the time to come A Prayer before the Sacrament O Most Glorious and for ever Blessed Lord God Thou art and there is none like unto thee in Heaven or in Earth thy Wisdom is infinite thy Power irresistible and thou art of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity with approbation It is of thy unspeakable Mercy that I am not long ago consumed I blush and am ashamed when I lift up my eyes unto thy Divine Majesty I do in all humble reverence prostrate my self before thee and implore thy gracious favour in the name and Mediation of Jesus Christ the Righteous who ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him I do acknowledge thy many mercies towards me I received my being and my breath from thee I have ever since I came into being been sustained by thee Thou hast preserved mine eyes from tears my feet from falling and my Soul from death My Life and Health my Liberty and all the comforts of my life are intirely owing to thy gracious goodness and bounty But above all thou art to be acknowledged for thine inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and hope of Glory Thou hast given thy Son to dye for me revealed thy gentle and holy Laws to direct and guide me promised thy Spirit to assist me propounded Eternal Life to encourage my endeavours I have been received into thy Church by Baptism and promised and professed obedience to thy holy Laws But notwithstanding all these obligations to sincere and universal obedience I have many wayes offended against thy Divine Majesty I have not honoured thee as my Creator nor loved thee as my Father nor obeyed thee as my Soveraign Lord and Master And whereas I have been very sensible of the kindness shewed my by my fellow Creatures I have had but very little sense of the innumerable and underserved favours which thou hast heaped upon me from time to time I have sinned against thee in thought word and deed I have sinned greatly and deserve the death which by my wickedness I have pursued I am guilty after the clearest light and knowledge Here make a particular confession of sin after the most indearing mercies and favours after the most solemn Vows and promises of obedience and the most awakening Judgments I have sinned under sufficient means of Grace and after many experiences of the evil of departing from thee I have contemned and despised thy divine Majesty and suffered my self by an easie and small temptation to be drawn away from thee the fountain of my Life and Happiness and the great lover of Souls O Lord look down from heaven with an eye of pity and compassion upon me a wretched sinner I am less then the least of thy mercies and am vile in my own eyes I beg thy pardon and forgiveness for Christ his sake who came into the World to seek and save that which was lost In a deep sense of the wickedness of my former life and the hainous nature of my offences I approach unto thy Divine Majesty with full purpose of amendment of Life I trust in thy mercy O Lord through Christ Jesus and do with all possible thankfulness keep in memory his precious death And being very sensible how much I stand in need of thy mercy and forgiveness of all my sins and the circumstances of aggravation which have attended them I do declare that I do forgive all my Enemies and that I come before thee with sincere and universal Charity to all mankind Search me O Lord and try my heart and lead me into the way Everlasting I am coming to thy Holy Table to renew the Covenant with thee which I have broken I am unworthy of the Crumbs which fall from thence But most gracious Lord look upon me in Christ Jesus Help me that I may attend upon thee without distraction Work in me all those holy and heavenly dispositions which may render me fit for this service Grant that I may come before thee with lowly thoughts of my self and the most raised apprehensions of thy love in Christ Jesus strengthen my weak Faith perfect my Repentance confirm my resolutions of amendment and enlarge my Charity grant that I may receive Christ Jesus my Lord and that I may walk in him That I may partake of the benefits of his death and of the fruits of his intercession at thy right hand I most humbly beseech thee not only to pardon all my past sins and to speak peace to my Soul but that thou wouldest renew my nature and write thy laws upon my heart Englighten my dark mind rectifie my crooked will sanctifie my depraved affections and purifie all the thoughts and intentions of my Heart and grant that for the time to come I may forsake
every evil way and purifie my self as thou art pure Keep me O Lord for the time to come from every thing that is hurtful to me and displeasing to thee From the excesses both of care and fear from snares and great perplexities from carnal desires and brutish inclinations from covetousness and hatred from envy and pride from vanity and dissimulation murmuring and discontent And make me stedfast in justice and charity in humility and meekness in purity of heart and heavenly mindedness and sincere devotion And to these Holy ends vouch safe me the presence of thy Spirit and power of thy grace and endue me with heavenly Wisdom and all this I beg for the sake and in the Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Father which art c. Ejaculations to be used at the Lords Supper THE Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life At the Receiving of the Bread THou hast said O Blessed Jesus I am the living Bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word in which thou hast caused me to trust Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I am thine O Lord I devote my self to thee O save thy Servant who trusteth in thee I have enclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God At the Receiving of the Cup. O Blessed Saviour let thy Blood purge my Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood I will not henceforth live unto my self but unto him who dyed for me and rose again Blessed be the Lord my God who only doeth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen After Receiving BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thine own hands I intreat thy favour with my whole heart Be merciful unto me according to thy word I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Prayer after the Receiving the Sacrament BLessed be thy glorious name O Lord for all thy unspeakable mercies to me and to all the World I adore and magnifie thee for thy great goodness in giving thy Son to dye for me and making me partaker of his most pretious Body and Blood O Lord what is man that thou thus regardest him And what am I a vile and wretched sinner that thou shouldst be thus favourable to me Thou hast been pleased to admit me to renew that Covenant with thee which I had broken and to give me assurance of thy readiness to pardon so vile and great a sinner as I have been I have received the pledges of thy love and been admitted to thy holy Table I have there devoted my self again unto thee my Soul and Body all my powers and faculties I have vowed obedience to thee and after the most solemn manner consecrated my self to thy service Thou art a God that knowest the heart and art not to be mocked I tremble when I consider thy infinite power wisdom and holiness Let these thoughts beget in my Soul a great fear of thy Holy name a great care to do thy will Grant I may not for the future turn the grace of thee my God into wantonness and that I may not receive the Grace of God in vain There is nothing hid from thee Thou knowest my weakness and infirmities and the temptations with which I am assaulted and to which I have too often yielded I am surrounded with snares and my spiritual Enemies are powerful and active O Lord help thy Servant and grant that I may both resist and vanquish them by the aid of thy Holy Spirit Keep the possession of my Soul which I have unfeignedly surrendred up unto thee Unite my heart O Lord to fear thy name and grant that I may spend the remainder of my time in obedience to thee and in acts of Charity to my brethren Create a clean heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Forsake me not O Lord if thou leave me I perish Guide me by thy Counsel and at last receive me to thy glory I do greatly desire the Salvation of mankind and humbly commend to thee this Church and Kingdom the Kings Majesty and all our Superiors in Church and State humbly intreating thee to direct and guide them all into those holy wayes that are pleasing to thee and beneficial to those who are under their charge and influence And work in the minds of all Christians an unfeigned Charity a peaceable temper patience and exemplary meekness and all the other fruits of thy Holy Spirit And grant me thy heavenly grace that I may so use things temporal that I may not miss of thy Eternal Bliss for the sake of Jesus Christ my onely Mediator and Advocate Amen A Morning Prayer for a Family O Almighty and Eternal Lord God the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ look down from Heaven with pity and compassion upon thy servants who humbly cast ourselves down before thee in a great sense of thy mercies and our own misery There is an infinite distance between Thy Glorious
the true Penitent forbears his sin because he finds in his Soul an antipathy against it and not only because it is forbidden Such a Repentance as this must we find in our Souls before we can be fit to partake of these holy Mysteries And well it will become us to be greatly humbled for our sins and to abhor them when we do commemorate the death of our Lord and Saviour For he died for sin and endured the shame and sorrow of the Cross that he might no longer abide in us And if we come with our sins to this holy Table we do crucifie our Lord afresh we do trample upon his precious blood and count it a common and unholy thing 5. To what hath been said this must be added that when by our sin we have not only offended God but also injured and wronged our neighbour we are strictly and indispensably obliged to make him restitution as well as to beg the forgiveness of God We can expect no pardon from God if we do not make amends to our neighbour whom we have wronged If the wicked restore the pledge and give again that he had robbed c he shall surely live and not die Ezek. 33.15 But then if he do not this or sincerely resolve to do it assoon as he is able to do it he shall surely die and not live And his partaking of this holy Table shall be so far from saving him from the anger of God that it will encrease his guilt and add to his sin Let no man think that God will hear him if he do not make his brother amends for the wrong he hath done him Herodot Clio. We have a story in our Books of one Halyattes that his Soldiers did set on fire the Corn of the Milesians and that the fire by the violence of the wind caught hold of the Temple of Minerva and burnt it down It happened sometime after this that Halyattes falls sick and sends to the Oracle to know what would be the success of his disease but the Messengers were told by the Oracle that they must not expect any answer till the Temple which they had burnt were first repaired Most certain it is that we shall have no return of our prayers from Heaven when we confess and beg the pardon of our sin unless we do first make restitution where we have wronged our brother It cannot be thought we have repented if we do not restore There is no sacrifice will expiate our crime if we do not also make restitution Under the Law of Moses he that had wronged his brother was obliged indeed to bring a sacrifice for his atonement but then at the same time he was obliged to make a full restitution to his neighbour whom he had wrong'd and to add also a fifth part to the principal before he could be forgiven Levit. 6. He that wronged his neighbour was by that Law sometimes liable to restore double v. Maimon Hal. Shevuoth c. 8. Exod. 22.4.9 Sometimes times four and five fold ver 1. where the Trespasser was convicted But then where the offender became penitent and confessed his sin v. L' empereur in Bava Kam C. 7. S. 1. yet in this case he was obliged to make restitution to add a fifth part v. Jomd c. 8. Mishn 9. Shulchan Aruch H. Jom Kippu and to bring his offering Numb 5.7 His Repentance nor his offering would not serve his turn unless he also made amends to his neighbour whom he had wronged Nay the day of expiation as the Jews teach us would not avail to take away the guilt which we contracted by doing wrong to our brother And we must remember that we are obliged to make restitution not only where we have done an open and forcible injury As the robber and thief and violent oppressor are bound to restore what they have wrong'd their brother of by their violent injustice But we are also obliged to restore what we have by any means unjustly got the possession of And there are more ways than one by which we may become guilty of injustice He that overreaches and out-wits his brother in a bargain he that in his trading deals fraudulently and insincerely he that hides and conceals from his neighbour his just rights and dues such men as these are obliged to make restitution as well as open the robber and the thief There are indeed very many things which the Laws of the Land do not take notice of which yet we are obliged to in the Court of Conscience And we are before we do receive this Sacrament very severely to examine our own Consciences Whether in our dealings with men we have done as we would be done by and have not detained and with-held our neighbours due from him Indeed we are come to that pass that we are not afraid of doing an unjust action if we can but do it cautelously and slily Nay we are ready to rejoyce when we have cunningly circumvented our brother and men look upon it as but a little fault if any at all when they do craftily circumvent even him that attends upon holy things But certain it is whoever does wrong his brother and him that Ministers at Gods Altar he deceives himself most and must never look for pardon from God till he have repented of his sin and made restitution for the wrong he hath done And what hath been said hitherto of the necessity of making restitution must not only be understood of the wrong we have done to our neighbour as to his goods and estate but of all other wrongs whatsoever And particularly of that wrong we have done to his name and credit We ought to judge the best of all men and to make the most charitable construction of all the actions of our neighbour And therefore if we have done otherwise we are obliged to Repentance and to restitution for the wrong which we have done If we have openly slandered our brother or more closely and slily undermined his credit and good name we are obliged in this case to make as far as we are able a reparation That is we are obliged to unsay what we have said and by our words do him honour as we have endeavoured before to do him a discredit In a word we are bound to make him such an amends as we are able or such as may satisfie him to whom we have done the wrong And when we have done this we must humble our selves greatly in the sight of God for this sin and be very careful that we sin no more Thus must we cleanse and purge our Souls before we dare to come to this holy Table We must purge out our old leaven that we may be a new lump Otherwise we shall meet with death there where we might else have found Life And we ought therefore to be very careful and solicitous lest we should by our remisness and hypocrisie expose our selves to the greatest curse As we love our
Souls then we must not only find out our sin but we must put it away also and before we presume to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup we must find in our Souls such a repentance as is never to be repented of CHAP. VII BUT as we must come to this Sacrament with a sincere and hearty Repentance for our past sins so we must also come with full purposes and resolutions of Amendment of Life for the time to come Now because our Resolution like our Repentance is many times weak and insignificant it will therefore well become us to examine these purposes and resolutions of newness of life which we so frequently pretend when we make our approaches to this holy Table For it is very evident that there are very many men that give good words and make fair promises of Amendment of Life upon the bed of sickness or at the approach of this Sacrament who yet are so far from making their words good that they do sometimes run into a greater excess of folly and wickedness than they were guilty of before We shall therefore do well to try our purposes and resolutions and narrowly to examine them whether they be such as are like to hold or not and to that purpose we may consider the following Severals 1. We have little reason to give credit to rash and sudden purposes of Amendment of Life The sinner does now and then resolve vehemently against his sin but it is when he hath newly surfeited upon his folly and defiled himself with his sin then indeed he is sick of it for a while and resolves to lay it aside Or perhaps some great and amazing affliction falls upon him and this brings his sin to remembrance and he suddenly resolves he will put away his sin and lead a new life but when this tempest of sorrow is over and his appetite returns anew upon him he does easily embrace his folly again and is as much the child of Satan as he was before Such a man is troubled at the mischief which his folly hath betray'd him to and is sick of his sin for a while because he hath tasted of the bitterness which did attend it But when he hath forgotten the trouble and the pain his sin hath put him to then he returns to it again There are those in the world that do frequently resolve against their sins and yet do as constantly commit those very sins which they so passionately resolve against and that because it was not their sins which gave them so much trouble but the evil effects and consequents which did follow upon them For when their sin courts them and smiles upon them when it follows them officiously and pleads for a reconcilement they readily yield themselves up to their slavery again 2. We have little reason to trust to that resolution which we have formerly found so very ineffectual If we find that we have often resolved as much as now we do against our sins and yet that for all that when the solemnity hath been over we have forfeited our good promises we have very little reason to trust our selves That man who hath been often a partaker of this Sacrament and hath as often made his resolves to become better and as often broken them hath no reason to believe himself nor to communicate again till he find a change in himself For it is to be suspected that such a man's resolutions of Amendment are but formal and of course and that he is only over-awed with the greatness of the approaching Solemnity and not truly out of love with his sins which he pretends at this time a defiance to The best evidence of the sincerity of our Resolutions is this that we do as we have resolved Unless we do this there can be nothing more insignificant than our Resolutions are And sure it is in every thing else we judge thus Not he that resolves but he that fights couragiously gets the victory Our resolving does not alone set forward any work 't is the putting our Resolutions into practice which does avail us 3. He that resolves as he ought to do must resolve not only upon the end but also upon the means which lead to it We are forward to resolve for Heaven at large but consider not of the way and means which will bring us thither We are generally willing to be happy but yet we do readily excuse our selves from the difficulties and severities of an holy life He that resolves to be temperate must also resolve to avoid his evil Company that drew him to that excess to pass by the door where he is wont to be drawn in He that resolves to be chast must also resolve to decline the house of a whorish Woman and to set a watch upon himself that he be not ensnared with her enticements He that resolves against his sin must resolve also against every thing which leads him to it and he will shew himself sincere in his Resolutions by his use of such means as would gain his end There is nothing more ridiculous than our Resolution if we resolve upon the end and not upon the means also which lead unto it We think so in other things we do not think we shall ever be rich by a resolving only to be so We must be provident and frugal as well as resolute before we can attain our end 'T is not Resolution makes a man learned unless he add endeavours to his Resolution We may resolve what we will but we shall be never the nearer to our end unless we use the means as well as resolve upon the end We never heard of any man that gained his end by resolving upon it unless he used means for the accomplishing his intention Resolution does us no good when it is alone It sets us forward greatly when we use proper means but unless we do that we are not at all advanced by it 4. He that resolves as he should do places before his eyes the difficulties and inconveniences which he is like to meet with in his way Like a wise builder he does forecast his charge before he begin his work or like a prudent Commander he does well consider his number and strength before he fall upon the army of his adversaries Luk. 14.28 He that resolves to part with his sin must resolve to be for ever deaf to its allurements for the time to come to subdue all his affections to it to bid it an eternal farewell And he may do well to think before-hand what difficulties and labours this will expose him to He will do well to think that he cannot do it unless he be always upon his watch and denying the cravings of the sensual life He must be content to cross his own impetuous desires to displease his companions and familiars to be houted and laughed at as fool and coward He must resolve to persevere in an holy life although he displease his greatest friends although