to bestow him on you I have nothing better wherewith to present you but with him in this Holy Feast I do and what higher Tokens can I give of the unbounded Love I bear you He gives us present injoyment of many invaluable Graces For the Lords Supper is a Treasury of Blessings conveying to all those who worthily partake of it the Pardon of their Sins and Spiritual Assistances and Heavenly Improvements and growth in all Virtues and strength against all Temptations as I shall shew under the next Head And lastly He gives us the surest Pledges of future Glory For when he offers us his own Son we may be sure he will not stick at any thing else since he has nothing that is in any comparable Degree so precious and dear to him as he is This Gift is a Faithful Earnest and certain Pledge of every thing else which he can give us For he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things says St. Paul Rom. 8.32 Thus in the Blessed Sacrament are we vouchsafed the greatest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from Almighty God And what man now will refuse all these when he is invited to them Who can turn his back upon that Ordinance wherein God calls him that he may give Honour to him and shew by the highest Tokens how he Loves him and confer upon him present Graces and give him Pledges of future Glories and assure him what Regard he has of him and how happy he intends to make him Common Ingenuity and Good manners nay every mans own private Interest and Self-advantage oblige him most readily to embrace and not to sleight or so much as slowly to accept of such offers So that if any Person really believes that all this Honour is shewn this Love expressed these Graces given or these Glories assured to him in the Communion he must needs think himself highly obliged to come to it and never cast about to seek shifts and make excuses or express a backward and unwilling mind when he has an Invitation and an Opportunity so to do And thus we see that not only our Lords express Command for it but also the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by and of those employments which are imply'd in it are a strong and an indispensable Obligation on all grown Christians who are capable of it to frequent the Holy Sacrament For therein they are call'd by their Saviour Christ publickly to profess his Religion and their Communion with him and thankfully to remember him and to confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and to receive Vouchsafements of highest Honour and Tokens of greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which are things that no Christian man ought to stick at or decline but with all forwardness to close with as often as he has an Opportunity and sit occasion for them And thus it appears now much all the Disciples of Christ who are grown up to it and understand it for no Duty obliges an incapable Subject are bound to frequent this holy Sacrament It is their Duty to come to the Communion as it is to come to Church to be Chast Sober Humble Just or to perform any other Precept of their Religion For they have their Saviour Christs express Command for it who by injoining it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shews their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did the neglect of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and of those Employments which are to be exercised at it most straightly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him which are things that every Ingenuous man will and every Good man ought to do and no man when he is call'd to it can honestly decline that professes himself a Christian Thus is it a necessary Duty in every man to come to the Sacrament as it is to come to Church or to other parts of Worship And when once we are of Age for it and have a fit opportunity and occasion offer'd we are in strict Duty ingaged and by a bond of many Cords as we have seen obliged so to do 1 st I say we are bound to it when once we are of Age for it The Duty of this Holy Sacrament lies in such things as suppose a competent Understanding and due Knowledge of Religion in those who must discharge them For therein we are to remember Christ both what Commands he has left with us and what he has done and suffered for us and this we cannot do till first we have learnt them We must ingage to be at Peace to do Justice and shew kindness to all our Brethren and this supposes that we know first what Offices of Love and Acts of Justice are due to them We must consent to the Terms of the New Covenant and this implies that first we should understand them In Baptism indeed we enter'd into it before we had any knowledge of it but that was because God who deals with us after the most favourable manner of Men who allow grown Persons to bear the Parts and federally to undertake for Infants in things conducing to their Advantage admitted our Sponsors that knew it very well to stand as our Representatives and in way of Proxies to Covenant and undertake for us But the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is to be our own Act and an express assenting in our own Persons to what they undertook and this cannot be done till we are come to years and are able of our selves to judge of it Till we are grown up then to the Age of Competent knowledge in Spiritual Affairs we are not capable of discharging aright the Duty of this Sacrament And till we are so we are not obliged to it since no Duty obliges an incapable Subject
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
was a Covenant-Rite and the Bread Christs Body to the same intent the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2. From its being a Feast or Sacrifice for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we partake of it 3. From its conveying the particular Blessings of the New Covenant which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 3 End is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others This Chapter summ'd up Page 5. CHAP. II. Of the Worthiness of Communicating in the Sacrament To Communicate Worthily is to do it with such Tempers and Behaviours as are worthy of it and becoming Things which are meant by it The First End was to remember Christ both first As our Lord and Master which calls for Honour and Reverence in our selves and a care to maintain his Honour among others For mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience 2. As our most kind Friend and Benefactor which calls for Love and an hearty Affection for him For Joy and Gladness in what we receive from him For Thankfulness for all his Kindnesses particularly in Dying for us And as this Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins the Remembrance of it calls for a deep sense of our own unworthiness An utter Abhorrence of our Sins which caused his Sufferings A Resignation of our selves to his Vse as thereby we are become his own Purchase The Second End was to confirm the New Covenant with God which his Blood procured This calls for Sincerity and Faithfulness A Third End was to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians This calls for Peace and Charity to all Persons and particularly for Alms to the Necessitous A Summary Repetition of these Qualifications A Belief of these Things which carries us on to these Tempers and Performances is the Faith that makes us Worthy Communicants page 48 CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not at all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion Service page 87 CHAP. IV. Worthy Receiving not extraordinary difficult and of unworthiness to Communicate To silence the Complaint of extraordinary difficulty in coming worthily to this Sacrament three things noted 1. All the particulars of worthy Receiving are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required to fit us for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2. They are all necessary Qualifications of an acceptable Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more is required to it than to a worthy discharge of all other Acts of Religion 3. However they may be commended yet they are not necessarily required in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion The only unworthiness which can put us by this Ordinance is Impenitence if Repentance will go down with any man nothing else need stick with him This Point of Worthy Communicating summ'd up pag. 100 PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which reatly recommend and enforce it viz. It is such an Instance as best shews our peculiar Reverence and Love to him the whole yoke of Jewish Ceremonies is taken away and only it and Baptism two cheap and easie Rites imposed in stead of them it was his last Command he gave it the Night before he suffered in St. Paul's Commission to Preach the Gospel it was particularly specified without greatest Danger to our selves it cannot be neglected as appears from our Saviours Words Joh. 6.53 which are shewn to speak of it and from the Danger of Neglecting the Jewish Passover which answered to it 2. From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it viz. Because therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of greatest Love and enjoyment of present Graces and pledges of future Glory from him all which no Good man ought and no Ingenuous man will decline when he is call'd to them This Duty obliges those only who are of Age for it and them too only at such times as they have an Opportunity and a fit Occasion offered An Objection against its being a Duty from 1 Cor. 11.25 answered The Neglect of it is a great Sin This God may excuse in those good Souls who through Ignorance or Error are held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it think themselves unworthy to come to it whilst in the honesty of their Hearts they thus mistake it But he will not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and impenitent to receive it Page 126 CHAP. II. Of the Benefits of Communicating The Sacrament is full of Blessings which make it not only our Duty but our Priviledge In the general it is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them powerful and so is the likeliest way to attain all Mercies In particular 1. It seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2. It encreases and Confirms in us all Graces Those are ordinarily such as we bring along with us It confers Grace 1. By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it both exercises and excites in us 2. By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us Since on all these accounts it is so excellent a Means of Grace and New Life 't is the best Rule any Person can observe who would go on in the Work of Repentance All these Motives to Communicate both from Duty and Interest summ'd up Page 167 PART III. Of the Hindrances that keep Men from the Communion CHAP. I. Two Hindrances from Communicating One most general Hindrance that keeps men from the Sacrament is a Fear of their being Vnworthy and Vnfit to receive it This Answer'd by shewing 1. The Partiality of it because they are not so scrupulous about Neglecting as about Vnworthy Receiving though there be the same Cause for it 2. That every true Penitent is worthy of it Yea he that has only fully purposed Amendment though he has not had time to perform it 3. Impenitenee which unfits them for it is no Excuse for the Neglect of it 4.
are carried on by a sinful Management As they are when they make us transgress any of those Duties towards our Adversaries which oblige us towards all Persons To avoid all these in Suing is an hard Point So we must be slow in coming to it and very circumspect when we are forced upon it The Answer to this Hindrance summ'd up Page 304 CHAP. V. Of Three other Hindrances A Seventh Hindrance is because others are not in Charity with them so that they are afraid they want that Peace which is required to it As for other mens uncharitableness it is their sin and so unfits them but not being ours it unfits not us for Receiving If that ought to exclude any from the Sacrament it had excluded Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians since none had ever such implacable Enemies as they had Care to be taken that their Enmity be not continued through our Fault so that if we have given just occasion we must endeavour a Reconciliation and if we gave none be careful not to hate them again An Eighth Hindrance is because 't is a Presumption in us to come to it and therefore an Humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it But 1. 'T is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden 2. 'T is a very great Presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble man refuse the Communion it will also carry him to renounce the whole Christian Profession A Ninth Hindrance is because many good People are seldom or never seen at it so that they have good Company and may be good too if they abstain from it But 1. In inquiring after our own Duty we are not to ask whether others practise it but whether Christ has any where enjoyn'd it 2. If any Good People keep from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness so that therein they are not to be imitated 3. Though they might be acceptably Good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better informed which will not be forgiven but upon their Amendment of it Page 362 CHAP. VI. Of Two more Hindrances A Tenth Hindrance is because others who are unworthy of it are admitted to join in it But 1. They ought not to be forward in judging others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from joining in it For if it be a sufficient Hindrance it had equally hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession but 't is plainly of no Force for either of them since one man shall not bear anothers but every man his own burden 3. If still any are really offended at the Communion of the Wicked upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denied the Sacrament An Eleventh Hindrance is the Gesture of Kneeling which is required to it When any are absent upon this account there is no excuse from it Three things insisted on to prevent their being hindred by it 1. Kneeling is no unsuitable Posture in receiving so that if we were left at Liberty we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it 2. It is appointed by our Governours whom God Commands us to obey in all lawful Things so that every Good man ought to observe it But if it neither had Authority to injoyn nor Reason to recommend it but another Posture might be better used Yet 3. Since it may lawfully though not so well be used too for the Sacraments sake which is not otherwise to be had we should at least comply with it No Hindrance to this Complyance because the Gesture of Kneeling is different from what our Saviour used For so is sitting too and therefore they and we are equally concerned to answer it The Posture he used was no part of the Institution so that the Institution is not broken when the Posture is altered Neither it nor any other has any Command of God for it so that none is necessary but all are still indifferent When a Posture different from that at the first Institution was introâ—uced in Sacraments our Saviour himself and they too have submitted to it Again no hindrance to it from the fear of worshiping the Bread or its being a Popish Rite A conclusion of this point Page 381 CHAP. VII Of some other Hindrances An Account of some other Hindrances One abstains because the day before he was at a Feast Another because his Child is sick or he himself is lighty indisposed A third because his Wife or Husband cannot come along with him to joyn in it A fourth because he has a Visit to make or a Friend come in who in all civility must be attended A fifth because of a Showr of Rain or a sharp Air abroad so that he must endure a piercing Blast or wet his Foot to go out to it These are no Excuse from it but still Men are bound to Communicate Some Devout Meditations and Prayers to help them in a Worthy Discharge of it After they have received they must be careful to make good those holy Vows and Promises which they made to God in the Holy Sacrament Page 421 Heads of Self-Examination for the use of those who would find out what Sins they have to Repent of either before a Sacrament or at any other Times Page 465 A Prayer before the Sacrament Page 474 A Prayer and Thanksgiving after the Sacrament Page 478 A Morning Prayer for a Family Page 484 An Evening Prayer for a Family Page 487 AN HELP AND EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating The INTRODUCTION IN this matter of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper there are two great Faults which are every where incurr'd and which all that Love their Saviour or their own Souls ought most carefully to avoid and they are a Refusal or Neglect and an unworthy Vsage or Prophanation of it both which are most offensive to Almighty God and to our dear Lord. For our Blessed Saviour has appointed it and expresly commanded us to come to it and shew'd us by manifest Tokens that he lays a particular weight upon it so that we are greatly undutiful and disobedient if we keep back from it And he has appointed it for sacred Ends and solemn Purposes which call for a very Reverent and Devout Carriage so that we prophane it if we come carelesly and behave our selves unworthily when we approach thereto It is a most necessary part of our Religion and therefore not to be passed over and let alone through Negligence and
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
Duty is requir'd in us at this Feast but if our Hearts go along with it it puts in act and makes a place for it It exercises our humble sense of our own unworthiness in the Prayer before Consecration in these words We do not presume to come to this thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in our own Righteousness but in thy manifold and great Mercies We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table And so again in the Prayer after receiving in these Though we be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer up unto thee any Sacrifice yet humbly we beseech thee accept this our bounden Duty and Service not weighing our Merits but pardoning our Offences through Jesus Christ our Lord. It exercises our hatred and abhorrence of our Sins which caused Christs Sufferings in the Confession of Repentance in these The remembrance of our mis-doings is grievous unto us the burden of them is intolerable And it exercises our Love and Reverence and Honour to Christ either in words that express it or in things that imply it being real proofs and effects of it in every thing that is done through the whole Service If every Receiver therefore that has these Tempers doth but go along heartily and affectionately with the Churches Prayers and joyn with the Minister and the Congregation in the Communion Service he acts them over as he ought and doth Honour to his Saviour and is a worthy Communicant He shews all those qualifications which God has required and receives as a worthy Guest if he can do nothing more than go along and strike in heartily at every part of the Publick Worship Which I speak not for the ease of those who either by their own invention or the help of Books can set their own Minds on work and employ their own Thoughts in meditating and acting over all these Tempers whilst the Minister is distributing the Sacrament I speak it not I say for the ease of these Persons as if beside what they do in the Churches Prayers they should not moreover do what they can otherwise But for the sake of others who have not these abilities that they may not be discouraged and to let them know that if they are good men and have these Tempers there is exercise of them sufficient in the Publick Prayers were there nothing else from the help of Books or their own invention to make them worthy Communicants And thus we see wherein lies the worthiness of receiving and what Virtues are fit for him to exercise who would be a welcome Guest at the Holy Communion When he remembers the Death of Christ and confirms the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World by eating Bread and drinking Wine according to Christs appointment he must exercise himself in joyful Praise and affectionate Thanks and Resignation of his whole man both Soul and Body to Christs Service and in Repentance of all his Sins making God faithful Promises of New Obedience and in Charity towards all Persons all which he may express in joyning heartily with the Churches Prayers besides what he doth whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating in his own Meditations And if he believes these things and is carryed on by such belief to these Performances he is welcome to the Table of his Lord and may justly esteem himself a worthy Partaker of this Blessed Sacrament CHAP. IV. Worthy Receiving not extraordinary difficult and of unworthiness to Communicate The Contents To silence the Complaint of extraordinary difficulty in coming worthily to this Sacrament three things noted 1. All the particulars of worthy Receiving are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required to fit us for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2. They are all necessary Qualifications of an acceptable Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more is required to it than to a worthy discharge of all other Acts of Religion 3. However they may be commended yet are they not necessarily required in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion The only unworthiness which can put us by this Ordinance is Impenitence if Repentance will â—o down with any man nothing else need stick with him This Point of Worthy Communicating summ'd up HAving hitherto shewn wherein lies the worthiness of receiving and what those Qualifications are which fit us for this Holy Feast I shall now only note some things that may silence all good mens Complaints about the hardship of it and shew plainly who are unworthy to join in it and what they must do to fit and prepare themselves for it and so conclude this Point 1 st I shall Note some things that may reconcile all good minds to this Feast and silence their Complaints of the hardship and extraordinary difficulty of coming worthily to partake in it And this had need to be done and may prove of great use when once it is because one chief thing which causes even good People to come so seldome is the apprehended difficulty and extraordinary solemnity of the worthy receiving Now to satisfy all good Souls in this point and to remove these hard thoughâ—s of it I would suggest to them these three things 1st That all these Tempers which are required to a worthy Communion are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required of us to sit our selves for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2 ly That they are all required to a worthy Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more Duties are required to our worthiness in it than to our worthiness in all other Acts of Religion 3 ly That however they may be commended yet are they not necessarily required as some have imagined in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion 1 st I say all the Tempers which I have mentioned as necessary to a worthy Communion are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required of us to sit our selves for a worthy receiving than is required to sit us to Dye or to go to Heaven They are all necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man It is necessarily required of every good Man who would serve God and be accepted with him that he honour his Lord and Master Jesus Christ and be careful to obey him that he be affectionately sensible of all the kindnesses he has done particularly in dying for him and most heartily thank him for them that he be humbled under the sense of his own sins and utterly abhor them and resign up himself both Soul and Body to his Saviours use who by his own hearts blood has bought him that having first Believed in Christ he
sincerely consent and enter into the New Covenant performing and promising that Repentance Good endeavours and Obedience which are required by it in expectation of that Forgiveness Grace and Happiness which are proposed in it and lastly that he should lay aside all envy and malicious Thoughts and forgive Injuries repair Wrongs be at Peace and live in Charity with all the world All these are Duties indispensably required by the Gospel of Christ as appears by the places referr'd to in the Margine they are no indifferent things but absolutely necessary in every Christian who would secure his Peace with God and be sure at last to go to Heaven And they as we have seen are the very things which the Worthiness of Communicating consists of So so that to be personally worthy for the Communion is nothing more than to be an acceptably Good and Religious man To have all those Virtues which constitute a Saint and are necessary parts of that Obedience and Holy Living which must get us all an Interest in Christ and secure our Title to Salvation And therefore if any man is contented with those Duties which God exacts of him to make him a good Man he has no cause to complain of those which are necessary to a worthy Receiving And if he doth repine at them and refrain from the Lords Table because he will not be at the pains to acquire them 't is plain that 't is not the hardship of the Sacrament but of an Holy Life that he is disturbed at and the same difficulties that drive him from the Communion if he understand himself must drive him also out of his Religion and the way to Heaven 2ly These Duties that are required to a Worthy Receiving are required also to every Worthy Prayer Vow and Thanksgiving so that no more Duties are required to our worthiness in it than to our worthiness in all other Acts â—f Religion For unless a man Repents of all his Sins and is in Love and Charity with all his Neighbours and Believes in Christ and all his Promises and is ready and resolv'd to obey all his Commandments and in one word unless he is a Good man which fits him for a worthy receiving he is not more worthy to say his Prayers to give Thanks to make Vows to God or seal Covenants than he is to join in the Holy Communion He is not more worthy to say his Prayers for to the acceptance of them all the same things are required of him If I regard Iniquity in my heart says the Psalmist i. e. if I do not Repent of it and turn away from it the Lord will not hear me Psal. 66.18 And if men would pray as they ought says St. Paul and as they may hope to be heard they must have both Faith Peace and Innocence to recommend their Petitions or lift â—p â—â—ly hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 If you forgive nâ—t men their Trespasseâ— says our Saviour neither will your Heaâ—â—â—ly Father forgive your Trespasses So that when ye pray say forgive us our 〈◊〉 as we forgive our Debtors Mat. 6.12 â—â— God says the same of an ill mans 〈◊〉 that he doth of an ill mans 〈◊〉 namely that he is most unworthy in 〈◊〉 and shall receive a Curse instead of a â—lâ—ssing For as the Vnworthy i. e. as hâ—s been shewn the Wicked Receiver the Worthiness required being only that of a good man eats and drinkâ— his own Damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 So is it said of the Vnworthy i. e. of the wicked Petitioner too that he who turns away his Ear from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an Abomination Prov. 28.9 and 15.8 Thus is every man that is Vnworthy to receive the Sacrament Vnworthy also to pray to God the same things being required to both of them an Impenitent ill man being utterly unfit for both but a truly Penitent Good Man being such as he accounts worthy and most affectionately invites to them Nay he is not only unworthy to pray to God but also whilst that impenitence lasts to give him Thanks to make Vows to Covenant with him or to have any Entercourse and Communication in any other actions of Religion If he tells God he is Thankful for his Mercies whilst in the constant course of his Life he disobeys him his Actions plainly give the Lye to his Words and proclaim him a most Vngrateful Person If he makes him Vows and Promises and Covenants to Repent of all his Sins whilst he still lives Impenitent and goes on in them he only speaks him fair intending no such thing and therefore doth nothing else but abuse and provoke him He doth nothing that Honours God as it should so long as he is an ungodly man nor must hope in any Services or Religious Performances to be own'd and accepted by him For God will have nothing to do with ill men in any way whilst they continue impenitent in their sins Christ has purchased no Reconciliation for such nor will he till they change that course have any Friendship for or take any Complacence in them He will hear the Prayers and accept the Thanks and trust the Promises and Engagement of those only who are fully resolv'd to amend their Lives and become Good men so that if any man persists impenitent which unfits him for receiving he is also unfit for every thing else and unworthy to perform any other Actions of Religion As for this business of worthy Communicating then there is no more cause of Complaint against it for the difficulty and hardship of it than there is against all Religion The same Duties that are required to a worthy Receiving are no less required to make any of us a Good man to confer a Right to Heaven to a worthy Prayer Promise or Thanksgiving So that if any Man will not come to the Sacrament because he is wicked and will not be at the pains to attain those Vertues which are necessary to a worthy Communion if he understand himself he must for the same reason keep back from Prayer and Praises and all pretences to Religion For unless he will labour after these Duties and perform them he is unmeet to come to God and is very unworthy in all of them And therefore so long as he is unfit for the Sacrament he is unfit for every thing else and if he resolves to continue so may as well resolve to renounce his Baptism and the whole Christian Profession And as these Tempers which are required to a worthy Communion are no more than is required in every Good man in every worthy Prayer Praise or other act of Religion So is it to be observed 3 ly That however they may be commended yet are they not necessarily required as some have imagined in more intense and transporting Degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion That which has deterr'd good People from the Sacrament more than any thing besides is
Christian Worship For then not only they whose Virtues were most high and perfect but all the Faithful were call'd upon to Communicate and they who were judg'd fit to meet at the Prayers and other Services were thought worthy to meet at the Lords Table too and since they fitted them for it in those Days it cannot be thought but that they must needs fit us in ours also As for those then who have been wont to think more hardly of the Sacrament than of other parts of Worship and how frequent soever they were in them to come but seldome unto it by reason of the apprehended difficulty in a worthy partaking of it If they duly consider these three things they will see cause to change their mind and forbear to complain any more against it For the Virtues that are required of us in a worthy Communion are all necessary parts of Duty and of a Good Man and are as much required to a worthy Prayer Vow Thanksgiving and every other act of Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense and transporting Degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion So that no Good man has any cause at all to repine at it or abstain from it it lies hard upon and can be blamed by none but those who for the same Reason must blame every other Ordinance and part of Divine Service which requires as much of a worthy Worshipper as this and who at the same Rate as they cast off it must renounce their Christianity and throw aside all Religion too And thus having noted some things that may help to reconcile all Good minds to this Blessed Sacrament and silence the Complaints of hardship in a worthy receiving it I shall proceed now 2 ly To shew plainly who are unworthy of it and what they must do to fit and prepare themselves for it and so conclude this Point Now these in one word are all that are impenitent that have committed any Damning Fault and are not fully set and purposed to amend it For all the Virtues of worthy Receiving as we have seen are necessary parts of Duty and of a Good man so that if any Person would Repent of all his breaches of them and take care thenceforward to endow his Soul with them he would be worthy to be entertained at this Feast and fit to be bidden welcome Besides if Repentance and forsaking all his Sins will go down with him there is no man who pretends to Religion but may perform every thing else which is required to this Communion For there would be no great difficulty in paying Christ Honour and Reveverence and following him with Love and Thankfulness and resigning our selves up to his use and abhorring of our Sins if Repentance and Reformation were not annexed to them men could Love Christ heartily and Thank him freely and Honour him abundantly and resign themselves up to him wholly and Believe in him chearfully if he would not peremptorily require them to amend their ways and forsake their sins which are the things they place their chiefest Pleasure and Delight in So that if any man will not fit himself for Receiving it is not for the difficulty of other Duties as if he could not brook them but only for the difficulty of Repentance so that Impenitence is truly at the bottom He will not satisfie those who have suffered by him or forgive those who have injured him or be at Peace and Charity with all Men or renounce that Injustice Lasciviousness Drunkenness or other known sin which in confirming the New Covenant he must promise God he will depart from It is because his Heart sticks to some of these or some other such like Transgressions and will not go off from them that he is an unfit and unworthy man whereas were it not for this he could do all things else that are required of him He therefore that is unworthy to Communicate and unfit to receive the Sacrament is plainly one that is impenitent that is guilty of some Damning Sin and is not resolv'd to leave but intends still to continue in it He is either a careless man that lives at large in a constant course of Sensuality and Worldliness being wholly given to heap up Wealth or aim at Honour or follow Pleasure without Conviction or making any pretence to serious Religion Or if he seems to look towards God and is careful in many things to please him he serves him not in all points as he ought but allows himself in some known Sin continuing unreclaimed in common Swearing Drunkenness Vncleanness Malice Contentiousness Fraud Oppression Slander Censoriousness Evil-speaking or some other Damning Crime which he will not be at the pains to leave for Christs sake or for any thing that he either has or would do for him Now if any of those who read this Treatise are such as these and I put the matter to their own Consciences I confess they are not worthy to come to the Sacrament till they turn away from such a known Fault and Repent of it and would sin against this Holy Feast and their own Souls if they should do it But then I must tell them withall that as they are not fit to come to this Ordinance so whilst they continue in that Estate neither are they fit to come to any other or to any thing else that looks towards God and their own Eternal Happiness For so long as they thus espouse any Number or any one Sin against God and daily repeat it when they have a Temptation to it notwithstanding their own Hearts are sensible he has forbid it or at least would have been sensible of it unless they had been willfully blinded or by long use harden'd in it So long I say as they are thus Impenitent in any known Sin they are not only unfit to come to the Communion but also as unfit to Dye or to go to Heaven to Pray to God to utter Praise to make Vows or to joyn in any other actions of Religion For an Impenitent man whilst he continues such is Gods Profest Enemy and is welcome to him at no time but when he Repents so that till that is done he is acceptable in no Service which he pays him This then is the danger of their State who lye Impenitent in many or in few known Sins they are unworthy indeed to receive the Communion but they are equally unworthy to joyn in Prayers to give Thanks or make Vows or dye in Peace or hope for Happiness or do any thing else that shews them to be Christians And if any mans Conscience tells him this is his State his way is not to think there is no harm if he doth but abstain from the Communion for as I say he is as unworthy in his Prayers and Praises and every thing else that belongs to Religion but forthwith to Repent and amend that Fault which shuts him out from the Sacrament and every thing else that looks towards Heaven
that so he may be a worthy and welcome Guest in it and all of them This Repentance will restore him to the Favour of God and gain him acceptance with him and then he is fit for this and for every other part of Gods Worship and may worthily joyn in them And by this it appears who is unworthy of this Feast and what he must do to fit and prepare himself for it Every man that is Impenitent is an Unworthy Communicant but if he will Repent and Amend his ways he will find no difficulty in other Duties which make up a Believers worthiness but may then be a worthy and welcome Guest whensoever he has a mind to come to it And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed namely to shew wherein lies the worthiness of Eating and Drinking at this Feast which I have stayed the longer upon because both the irreverent approach of some men to it and the scrupulous abstaining of others from it do both take rise from this head so that it well deserves to be carefully Explained and clearly Stated And the Result of all that I have said upon this Point is this When we come to Eat Bread and Drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance that Christ dyed for us and in Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us and in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Neighbours we must be careful devoutly to Exercise and Act over these Tempers We must remember our Dying Lord with Honour and Love and Joy and Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and humble Sense of our own unworthiness and Detestation of our Sins which caused his Sufferings We must confirm the New Covenant which his Death purchased in consenting heartily to the Terms of it Repenting of all our Sins and Faithfully promising that intire Obedience which is required in it and then Believing that for Christs sake we shall be saved by it And we must Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World in laying aside all Envy and Hatred and forgiving those that have injured us and making just amends to those who have been wronged by us and giving Alms as our Ability and our Brethrens necessity requires and so being in Peace and Perfect Charity with all Persons If we are able to grasp so many particulars in our minds and to act them all over duly and as we ought at this Exercise it may be fit to Solemnize this Feast in all these instances of Virtue But if either our minds would be lost and burdened or our Devotions enfeebled by the Number of these particulars 't will yet be fit at least to express our selves Joyfully and affectionately Thankful for his kindness especially in Dying for us and Resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and Repent of all our Sins making him Faithful Promises that we will amend all our Faults particularly those which oftest win upon us and shew our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all Persons All these whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating they who have Books to suggest Thoughts or are able to supply them out of their own minds may exercise by themselves And they who cannot as also they who can may exercise them in joyning fervently with the Churches Prayers all these Duties as we have seen being so well led on and exemplified in the Communion Service Wherein because there will be some interruption whilst others are Communicating that that time may not lye idle upon their hands I think it very adviseable for them to joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the offering of the Bread and Wine to their Brethren as they will be sure to do when it comes to their own turn if their Devout Zeal is not otherwise taken up by the Psalm which at their Pastors Discretion is wont to be Sung at that time for the employment of those who have done Receiving These Virtues being in us and at the time of Receiving being thus exercised by us both in our own private or at least in our Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers make a worthy Communion And this no man who pretends to Religion ought to Complain of or think an hard Imposition For all these Duties which are necessary to a worthy Communion are as necessary to make every one of us a Good man or fit to Dye or to go to Heaven they are as necessary to a worthy Prayer Thanksgiving Vow or any other Act of true Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense Degrees and transporting Measures in this than in other parts of Worship and Devotion These things then are necessary to a worthy Receiving and no Good man can complain that they are so since they are equally necessary to all acceptable Goodness to all comfortable Hopes and to every other Ordinance to all the parts of Worship and Religion and to Gods being pleased with us in every thing that is either the Duty or Priviledge of a Christian. And as the Presence and Exercise of these Virtues makes us worthy of the Communion so doth the absence of them but especially of Repentance of all our known Sins which is the thing if any that will be wanting and which is the cause why others are Impenitence as we saw being at the bottom of all Unworthiness make us unworthy and most unwelcome If we continue Impenitent in many or in any one known Sin we are indeed unworthy to Communicate but then withall we are as unworthy to be thought Good men to go to Heaven to say our Prayers to make Vows or to have any Dealings with God in any other Actions of Religion And the way for any Wise man in that Case is not to take up with abstaining from the Communion for he ought as much to abstain from Prayer and Praise and every other Office of a Christian God being pleased with him in none of them but forthwith to Repent and Abandon such ill Course that so he may be a welcome Guest and worthy to partake of them And thus having endeavoured to give some help to all those who desire worthily to Communicate by shewing what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the worthiness of doing it I shall proceed now in the third Place to exhort and press men on to it by shewing them how much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make them seek to it of themselves were it not commanded of which in the next Part. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating The Contents To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which greatly recommend and
begin to make excuses For has not he done enough for us to deserve to be thought of Do not all the inexpressible Favours he has gain'd and all the exquisite Pains he underwent for our sakes most justly challenge to be held in remembrance He left unutterable Glories and submitted to all sorts of Earthly Calamities and took unwearied Pains and shewed Invincible Patience and laid down at last his own Life to save our Souls and must all this be forgotten now 't is done and quite buried in silence What man of any Ingenuity that has been happy in such a Friend can be averse to remember him What man that has been blessed in such a Saviour can ever decline the Thoughts of him Unless we will shew our selves grossly stupid or intolerably proud and both ways Monsters of Ingratitude we must needs be ready to Celebrate the memory of such a Person when we are called to do that Honour to him and none that would be thought a man much more a Christian must ever refuse to remember his Saviour Christ and give him Thanks when in the Sacrament he is call'd to it in Christ's own Name and by his special invitation 3 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Sacrament we confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God In this Feast as has been shewn we assure him that we will Repent of every sin as ever we hope that he will forgive us and will endeavour with his Grace after every Virtue as ever we expect that he should assist us and obey every one of his Commandments as ever we look that he should Crown us with Eternal Happiness and believe that for Christs sake we shall have this Pardon Grace and Eternal Life upon these Terms and not otherwise for all these Duties we give him our Word and Promise and on that Condition for all these Blessings he gives us his Seal and Assurance back again And what man is there who pretends to the Name of a Christian who will refuse to do this when he has an Authentick Summons nay even a Friendly Invitation will he not Repent that he may be forgiven nor endeavour after such Graces as he wants that Gods Spirit may help him to them nor obey all his Saviours Laws that he may be happy in Heaven nor believe that Christ has purchased these Benefits for us at Gods hands upon these Terms but that without performing them we shall never have them If he will not do all this why doth he make any pretence to Religion If he is unresolv'd and suspends about any of these Particulars why doth he profess himself a Christian For these things are the very substance of Christianity and the Life and Soul of all Religion No man can belong to Christ without them and when he was Baptized and came to him he solemnly undertook and ingaged for them And therefore if any man will refuse to make God his engagement of this Faith Repentance and Obedience when he is call'd to Promise and Profess them he revolts from his Baptismal Vow and if he persists in that mind may as well renounce his Profession and turn his back on the whole Christian Religion 4 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Supper we confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren this being one end as I have shewn of this meeting to profess our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all men And who now that owns himself a Christian can seek shifts and shun this when God calls him when his Saviour that dyed to make God Friends with him asks him to be Friends with all the World can he refuse him When he invites him to be at Peace with all his Members and to embrace them all as Brethren can he fly from him If he shun this he may as well shun every thing else and quit all claim to his Religion For by this says our Saviour shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another Joh. 13.35 And unless ye forgive men their Trespasses says he again neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours Mat. 6.15 And he that says he Loves God and yet hates his Brother saith St. John is a Lyar. 1 Joh. 4.20 And if it be possible saith St. Paul and as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men Rom. 12.18 Love and Peace and mutual Friendship and Beneficence are the great Duties which Christs Law prescribes and which all his Followers must be forward at all times to make profession of And therefore if any man turns away from declaring them when God calls him to them he turns his back of the most Signal Duty of his Religion and will not come to that whereby above all things else he should declare himself a Christian. 5 ly In Feasting with God at the Holy Sacrament we are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glory from him and these no man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them He vouchsafes us the greatest Honour For he calls us to his own Table and tells us he is most glad to see us there and that the oftner we come the welcomer shall we be to his Supper he invites us as his own Guests and thereby seeks our Company and Acquaintance and treats us as his Friends and Confidents which Honour is so high that greater cannot be shewed us He gives us the surest Tokens of highest Love For he calls us to Feast upon the Body and Blood of his own Son i. e. upon those Blessings which the breaking of his Body and shedding of his Blood procured for men and shews us plainly that he is still of the same mind and is glad that for our sakes he parted with him For his inviting us to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ in this Holy Supper imports as much as if he should say to us Lo here my dear and only Son whom I gave to shed his own hearts Blood a Ransome for your Souls When I did it your sins were most provoking and render'd you utterly undeserving of it and since you have received it you have not been affected as you ought but have shewed your selves most unthankful for it but yet all this doth not make me Repent of what I have done or grudge you the Benefit of him I am come here freely to present you with him and invite you and exhort you nay intreat you to accept him Eat his Body and drink his Blood i. e. those Benefits and that Expiation which was purchased by it I freely give them without grudging nay I shall take it extreamly ill if you refuse them For I would by all means have you receive the advantage of him I gave him once for you and now again I give him to you I am still of the same mind to part with my own dear Son for your sakes and
how nearly you are concerned as you tender your dear Saviours Honour or the safety of your own most precious Souls to amend it You have offended God in not coming to the Communion as you would offend him in not coming to Church in not saying your Prayers in not giving Thanks for Mercies in not being humble honest and upright in your dealings or in omitting any other Duties So that you must not think all is well with you when you keep away as if you had done nothing If the true Cause why you abstain'd was your well meant mistake about it and your not knowing after all the search you had opportunity to make that every Good man who Repents of all his Sins is worthy and fit for it God will wink at your Ignorance whilst it lasted but that will be no excuse to you now you are better informed so that now you will be Guilty of a Damning Offence if you still neglect it after you are told of it But if you have absented hitherto out of a careless Spirit which would not attend the times or be at the pains to come to it or because you have an Impenitent Heart which will not promise that Amendment and New Life that is to be undertaken for and ingaged in it Then has your Absenting been your Damning Sin which has provoked God against you as all other Acts of Disobedience and Irreligion If this is your Case you must look upon your selves all this while to have been in a great Fault which God will not forgive till you Repent and amend it For God will forgive you this Sin of neglecting the Sacrament upon the same condition whereon he will forgive all others namely when you forsake it and turn away from it and instead of absenting learn to frequent it So that if you would keep a Good Conscience towards God and dye in Peace and have no unrepented sins to answer for at the last Judgment Every one of you that has sinfully sleighted this Sacrament hitherto must come to it henceforward and according to your Saviour Christs Commandment readily partake in it when you are called thereto CHAP. II. Of the Benefits of Communicating The Contents The Sacrament is full of Blessings which make it not only our Duty but our Priviledge In the General it is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them powerful and so is the likeliest way to attain all Mercies In particular 1. It Seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2. It encreases and Confirms in us all Graces Those are ordinarily such as we bring along with us It confers Grace 1. By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it both exercises and excites in us 2. By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us Since on all these accounts it is so excellent a means of Grace and New Life 't is the best Rule any Person can observe who would go on in the Work of Repentance All these Motives to Communicate both from Duty and Interest summ'd up HAving shewn in the former Chapter how much it is every Christians Duty to frequent the Holy Sacrament who is of Age to come to it and how greatly they sin against God who neglect it both from the obliging Nature of the thing and Christs express Commandment I proceed now in this 4 ly To shew what great inducements we have to it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make us press to it of our sâ—lveâ— were it not Commanded The Holy Sacrament has Blessings enow within it self to recommend it to our choice if God had not interposed his Authority and laid that weight upon it which he has It is fully stored with Benefits which make it not only a strict Duty but an high Priviledge to come to it as the Christian Church has always thought whose great Penalty lay in a Separation or Exclusion from it It is not only a matter of Honour to God but also of highest Advantage to our selves so that in all Reason we ought to seek it and heartily thank God that we may be admitted to it out of a care of our own Happiness and pure Self-interest Of these Benefits I have mentioned some already such as its being a vouchsafement of highest Honour to us and a token of Gods greatest Love for us and a certain pledge of our Future Glories of all which I have Discoursed in the last Chapter But besides them it is full of many other singular Blessings and present Graces which I shall now treat of in this And those which I shall take notice of are these 1 st In the General It is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them Powerful with God so that 't is the likeliest way to obtain all Mercies 2 ly In Particular 1 st It Seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2 ly It encreases and confirms in us all our Graces 1 st In the General It is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them Powerful with God so that 't is the likeliest way to obtain all Mercies And this it doth by being a Commemoration unto him of the death of Christ which is the only Argument that prevails with him to bestow them on us It is the common way of all men when they sue for kindnesses from others and think they have not Interest enough themselves to use such Intercessions and suggest such things as have most Power with them and are likeliest to incline them to grant their Desires And as it is thus in our Requests to men so is it in our Prayers to God too We set those Considerations before his Eyes and suggest those things to his Remembrance which are fittest to move his Pity and to make him favourable towards us Thus the Holy men in the Old Testament in their Prayers are frequently putting God in mind of his Covenant and Promise and making mention of his Servant David or Abraham or Isaac or Israel for whom they knew he had an especial kindness and with their Prayers they used to joyn Sacrifice hoping to be the easier heard when they came with their Atonement in their Hands and that the Life of the Beast being offer'd up in Commutation and accepted instead of theirs God would be the easier appeased and more inclined to hear their Supplications Upon which account that their Prayers might have a Powerful Argument to recommend them going along with them they were careful to offer them up at the hour of Sacrifice as appears from the Prayer of Ezra and of David at the Evening Sacrifice Now that which Powerfully intercedes with God for us and which was shadowed out by all the Jewish Sacrifices is our Saviours Death For it was his Blood that merited so highly at Gods hands as
that lead them to it but at last happen to forget themselves and break it in some Instance yet doth not that null their former Repentance or make their Case desperate thereupon but they have still the benefit of Repentance afterwards and by amending what they have done amiss may be perfectly râ—stored and made whole again For God will pardon us upon our Repentance not only Once or a Second time but as often as there is occasion So that if after we have promised in the Sacrament that we will never more be guilty of any particular sin we yield to it at length and are a-new overcome let us but Repent of that Breach and fully resolve against it a second time and then we are made whole as we were in our former station As for this Hindrance then whereby some are kept back from the Sacrament viz. Their promising therein concerning every Fault that they will no more commit it which promise they dâ—â—e not make because they are afraid they shall not keep it it need not stick with them nor ought to hinder any man that pretends to Religion For let them promise this Amendment and keep it and then the Doubt is answered Or if after they have kept it for some time they happen to fail upon some occasion let them Repent of that Breach and make new Promises and Resolutions and then they are whole again And all this has nothing in it that can be avoided or ought to be feared but is all necessary and desirable to be done for it is their Duty thus to promise and their Duty to perform and their great Priviledge that if they fail in any instance afterwards upon repeating their Repentance they shall receive a Pardon It is what every man must do not only to be a worthy Communicant but to be a Christian. For the same things are promised in Prayer and in Holy Baptism so that if any man draw back from them and sticks to promise them he must not pray to God nor pretend to Religion nor were he to chuse again be baptized into the Christian Profession 4. A Fourth thing which keeps back several from the Sacrament Is the great difficulty they apprehend to be in a worthy Receiving of it and their want of time and leisure to prepare for it They fancy it is a very hard thing for any man worthily to Communicate and since 't is hard in must needs require much time and application to prepare themselves for it and as for their parts they have little leisure from their business and are not made to master Difficulties so that they must be content and hope they shall be excused if they abstain from it This objection many are ready to make against coming to the Communion But every Christian will be much ashamed of it and slow to urge it a second time when once he considers that it lies not more against it than against an Hâ—ly Life and all Religion For all the particulars of worthy Communicating as I have shewn are equally parts of indispensable Duty and a good man God has required no more Virtues in us at the time of Receiving than he requires at all other times to render us acceptable Christians to fit us to say our Prayers or to give us any hopes of Eternal Happiness So that if any man says the work of the Sacrament is over-hard and therefore he is not willing or wants time to fit himself for Receiving he may as well say he is not willing or wants time to be a Christian or to go to Heaven and upon that Plea may with equal Reason bid adieu to all Religion But to answer this more particularly I must observe to them 1. That if it did really require all this time and pains to prepare for it yet would that be no sufficient Reason or Excuse for any of us to Neglect it 2. That to all true Penitents it is not so difficult nor requires so much time as is imagined so that they have not so much as this Discouragement to make them backward in it 3. That all even the poorest and most employed have time sufficient if they will use it to that end and that of those who have less leisure and abilities so as that they cannot fit themselves in great Degrees God expects the less preparation and accepts it at their hands 1. I say If it did really require all this time and pains to prepare for it which is supposed yet would that be no sufficient Reason or Excuse for any of us to neglâ—ct it For when God bids us do a thing can any man think it a good excuse to say I would if it were not troublesome or long a doing Must we perform those things only at his Command which are easie and soon over but neglect all others which imploy more care and pains and require to be attended longer How we may like such Masters I will not say but I am sure God will entertain no such Servants as will pick and chuse with his Commands and obey them no further than their own ease and occasions will suffer them No he expects we should do him Service though it be with difficulty and loss to our own selves And this in all Reason he may very well require of us because we our selves who can plead no such Deserts nor make any such Recompences as he propose do all look for it from our Servants in any business they are to do for us For if we set them to any work we shall think it a very odd Answer if they tell us they would do it for us but that they are unwilling to be at so much pains or to spare so much time as it requires Although a worthy Communicating then would require much time and pains to prepare for it yet would not that be a just excuse for any Person to Neglect it For since God Commands it nay Commands it urgently and lays a great weight upon it we are bound in all Duty to perform it though it cost us both time and pains so to do But 2. To all true Penitents it is not so difficult nor requires so much time as is imagined so that they have not so much as this Discouragement to make them backward in it The Difficulty of worthy Receiving lies not in giving Christ Thanks or believing the Scripture and all its Promises as I have shewn but only in Repenting of all our Sins And this indeed has more difficulty in it and requires more time to ill men who are held Captives by them but not very much to good who are already set free and have broke off from them 1. I say Repentance of all their Sins and amendment of their Lives has more difficulty in it and requires more time to ill men For they have many Lusts to pare off which are very dear to them and many things to set straight which cannot all be done upon the sudden When they come to
for Revenge not for Repair of Damages And this they always are when they are commenced either against insolvent Persons or upon such words and actions against others for which besides Costs no Damages that are valuable are like to be allowed us They are not Reparative but Vindictive when they are commenced against insolvent Persons When we sue a poor man who cannot pay what he ows or recompence what he has wrongfully done to us it is not that our own Sore may be heal'd but only that his Smart may be wrought by it For the Law doth not make him Coin Money that has it not but only forces him to pay it who has it but will not part with it To put a Beggar in Prison and run him out at Law to the utmost is not the way to put Money in his Pocket so that when we have to do with such it is only Revenge upon him and not the Compensation of our own Loss which can be sought by it If we go to right our selves by Law then upon an insolvent man we go only to return the hurt which he has done and to be even with him And this is a great instance of an hard Heart and a spiteful Spirit and is quite contrary to that Brotherly-kindness Compassion and Forgiveness which how unworthy soever he may be of it yet so long as the misery of his case requires it God has injoyn'd us to use towards him It is exactly to deal with him as the wicked man did with his insolvent Brother in the Parable which provoked God to return the same Rigour upon his own head again For when he ought his Lord ten thousand Talents he freely forgave him that great Debt because he was not able to pay it But when his Fellow-Servant who ought him only an hundred Pence could not tender down that small sâ—mm when he demanded it he shew'd nothing of that Compassion towards this poor man which God had shewn to him but laid hands on him and cast him into Prison till payment should be made But when the Fellow-Servants told this to their Lord he resolves to deal with him in his own way and strictly exacts that Debt which otherwise he intended freely to have acquitted delivering him as he had done his Brother to the Tormentors till all should be discharged And so likewise shall my Heavenly Father do to you says our Saviour if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses Mat. 18. v. 24. to c. 19. But if they are commenced against responsible Persons they are not Reparative but Vindictive still if they are upon such Words or Actions for which besides Costs no Damages that are valuable are like to be allowed us A great number of Suits are for abusive Words or a Box on the Ear or some other trivial matters which leave no Permanent ill effects but if our Passions may be with-held from estimating them pass off without making us the worse or doing us any Prejudice And in all these since there is no Damage sticks to us there is no need of any Reparations so that if we begin Suits it is not to indemniâ—ie our selves but to be vexations and afflict others who have afflicted us wherein consists the very Nature of Revenge And this is always unlawful and most expresly forbidden to all us Christians To the Jews indeed it was allowed in the Old Testament For they were permitted to return ill for ill and to demand an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth when thereby their own lost Member was not restored but only their Adversaries sent after it and bating the Pleasure of Revenge they reaped no other Benefit by it Mat. 5.38 But this is most strictly forbidden to all us Christians in the New For we are taught to recompence to no man Evil for Evil but to overcome Evil with Good Rom. 12.17 20 21 to forgive those that Trespass against us i. e. not to return their injurious or hard usage as ever we expect forgiveness of our own Trespasses at Gods hands Mat. 6.12 14 15. And particularly in opposition to this going to Law for Revenge our Saviour forbids us Judicially to resist the Evil man as has been shewn i. e. in course of Law to return the Evil on him as by Virtue of that Rule An Eye for an Eye c. the Jews did but in stead of that by the Phrase of turning one Cheek to him who has struck the other requires that we patiently submit and sit down under it Mat. 5.38 39 40. This then is the first thing which God requires to the Lawfulness of all Judicial Tryals they must never be Vindictive but Reparative and we must not Sue another in order to his Smart and Prejudice but only to heal or secure our own selves either by holding the Goods which he clâ—ims or repairing the Loss which he has 〈◊〉 us 2. Suits for Reparation of Losses are unlawful when the Reparations are only of small things which cannot countervail the evil and hazard of a Suit but ought to exercise our Patience and Forgiveness and so be quietly put up without Recourse to it In the Course of secular Wisdom indeed which looks only to secure the Concerns of this World when men are Rich or Potent and have Wealth or Interest enough to go through with it the smallest Affronts or infringement of their just Power and Priviledge are often-times esteemed a sufficient occasion of a Law-Suit For thereby they think they stop the first Breach in their own Right which if it be suffered to be once made as it is in the Breach of a Water-Bank or a fortified Wall 't is after that a much easier thing to widen it they cheek an incroaching 〈◊〉 in the bud before it has got Heart or Ground enough to make a greater Contest and they shew the World they are not of a yielding Temper that will be wrong'd or baffled and thereby strike an awe which will keep all others from attempting them and purchase their own quiet Upon these or such like secular Maxims when nothing but the interest of this World guides them they many times conclude the sleightest wrongs are not to be put up and therefore when in any trivial thing their Right is invaded betake themselves to course of Law for Maintenance and Vindication of it But in Religion the Case is altered For that seeks not only what is fit to secure our selves and maintain our worldly Rights but what is fit to maintain an Vniversal innocence and to shew Charity towards others It s main work lies in lessening the Love of this World and making us easie to part with any injoyment of this Life when it is inconsistent with any Duty and indangers our Passage to a better And therefore although secular wisdom would perhaps sometimes advise us yet will true Religion altogether forbid us to go to Law for trivial Losses For a Suit at Law as I have noted will
our Suit then is either upon an unwarrantable Ground or sinful in the way of management so long as this sin lasts and is unamended we are unworthy to Communicate But then that is not all for so we are also to Dye to Pray or to have any Spiritual Peace or Comfort And this is a state which no wise man will persist in for one moment but whensoever he lays it to Heart forthwith Repent and get out of it and when once that is done this Hindrance is removed and he may be welcome to it But if it is innocent in both these Respects and none of these sins adhere to it if there is a weighty Loss to be repaired or a weighty Right to be got by it and we are in all Points Just Charitable and Peaceable in looking after it or when we fall in any instance do in that as in all other slips of our dayly Converse watch better the next time and immediately Repent of it then has a Suit no offence to God nor any hurt at all in it and so unfits us not for any good thing and then surely not for the Blessed Sacrament When this is our Case a Tryal at Law depending need no more hinder us from Communicating than from any other business so that if there is nothing else to discourage us we may safely come to the Lords Table and expect to be kindly entertain'd by him when we do CHAP. V. Of three other Hindrances The Contents A Seventh Hindrance is because others are not in Charity with them so that they are afraid they want that Peace which is required to it As for other mens uncharitableness it is their sin and so unfits them but not being ours it unfits not us for Receiving If that ought to exclude any from the Sacrament it had excluded Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians since none had ever such implacable Enemies as they had Care to be taken that their Enmity be not continued through our Fault so that if we have given just occasion we must endeavour a Reconciliation and if we gave none be careful not to hate them again An Eighth Hindrance is because 't is a Presumption in us to come to it and therefore an Humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it But 1. 'T is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden 2. 'T is a very great Presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble man refuse the Communion it will also carry him to renounce the whole Christian Profession A Ninth Hindrance is because many good People are seldom or never seen at it so that they have good Company and may be good too if they abstain from it But 1. In inquiring after our own Duty we are not to ask whether others practise it but whether Christ has any where enjoyn'd it 2. If any Good People keep from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness so that therein they are not to be imitated 3. Though they might be acceptably Good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better informed which will not be forgiven but upon their Amendment of it A Seventh Hindrance which keeps back several Persons from the Holy Sacrament is because although they be with others yet others are not in Charity with them and therefore they are afraid they want that Peace which is required to it Now if this ought to hinder them from the Communion it ought equally to be their hindrance from Prayers and all Devotion since there is the same necessity as I have noted of Peace and Reconcilation with our Brethren in all of them But if this be really their Case it need not hinder them For if other men will hate us do what we can that is our unhappiness indeed whilst we suffer under it but it is not our Fault nor renders us ever the worse in the Eyes of Almighty God since we have done nothing to deserve nor is it in our Power to help it God commands us to Love our Enemies so that if we hate them we sin and are justly kept back by our own uncharitableness but he no where Commands us to make our Enemies Love us so that if after all they will still bear Enmity towards us that is only their own Sin and therefore whatever it do with them ought not in any Reason to be our hindrance And indeed if it ought it would much more have hindred our Saviour Christ and his Apostles from Communicating than now it can any other Persons because none of those who stick at this Impediment have any Enemies so bitter and implacable as they found theirs For the Jews hated him so far as to seek his Life and at last in most barbarous sort obtain'd their Purpose And he tells his Disciples that the time was coming when everyone that kill'd them would think that therein he approved himself a Friend of Religion and did God good Service Joh. 16.2 And this they all found by sad Experience being accounted as St. Paul says the very filth of the World and the off-scouring of all things i. e. Nuisances as necessary to be swept away as Dirt out of the Streets 1 Cor. 4.13 and accordingly being Persecuted in every place till they had laid down their Lives for Christs sake and the Gospels Thus were they reputed as Publick Enemies of all Countries and hated of all men as the vilest Miscreants that breath'd Infection wheresoever they came and were the common Pest of all Places And therefore if this be a sufficient Hindrance from the Communion that others hate us it should always have hindred and utterly Excommunicated our Saviour Christ and his Apostles and all the Christians of the first Times who being always implacably hated and most spitefully Persecuted upon this account ought always to have abstain'd and not to have receiv'd at all As for others being out of Charity with us therefore that ought not to be our hindrance But then we must take care that we be in Charity with them and that their Hatred to us be not continued through any Offence or Fault of ours else shall we be kept back through our own Vncharitableness So that if we gave just Cause for their Wrathful Indignation by confessing our Fault and repairing the Wrong we must indeavour a Reconciliation or if we gave none we must still be careful to love them though they will not be perswaded to love us and not harbour any Enmity or Hatred towards them again If we have given just Cause I say for their wrathful Indignation through any Injuries or Offences we have offered them by confessing our Fault and repairing the wrong we must indeavour a Reconciliation When we have done any
thou throw back a Soul that would hang it self upon thee wilt thou disdain an Heart that is desirous after thee and would fain be no longer it s own but thine that thou mightest use it as it may best serve and honour thee O Blessed Jesu do not reject it for it is the Purchase of thy Blood Let not all that be thrown away which thou hast already done for it for want of thy further Care and Conduct of it Accept me Good Lord who here unfeignedly devote my self unto thee that both my Soul and Body and all I have may be employed as thou seest fit to order me I am nothing I have nothing and I desire nothing but to be with thee to be filled with thy Grace and obey thee perfectly that so I may have nothing of my self but do all things thro' Christ dwelling in me And when we thus Resign our selves to our Saviour's Use we must heartily repent of all our Sins faithfully promising never more to yield to them but to amend them all thenceforwards To Repent particularly of all our Sins we must first discover them by taking some Catalogue of Christian Duties and examining our own Hearts at every one Whether we have consented to transgress them And where we find we have there we must bemoan our selves and fully resolve That if God will be pleased to pardon what is past we will never yield to do the like again And what Man will not thus stedfastly resolve to leave all his Sins that has the patience to consider what will be the End of his Continuance in them For by that we shall infinitely offend our Saviour Christ who gave his own Life for ours and whom therefore we are bound to please above all Persons we shall certainly lose the Joys of Heaven and Eternal Happiness a Loss which the whole World put together cannot recompence we shall unavoidably be dâ—â—med to Hell-fire and Eternal Torments which is the utmost heighth of Misery that can possibly befal us This will infalâ—ibly be the Effect of our Perseverance in any Sins we find our selves guilty of And now let us ask our own Souls Whether we love them so well that we will â—ndure all this rather than forâ—go them Shall I prize my Sin to that degree as for its sake to act despite to my dearest Lord who died for me Must it be dearer to me than his Love that I should dishonour and offend him whensoever it bids me Is this the Return I make to my truâ—st dearest Friend to side with his professed Enemy Is this my Thankfulness for all his Kindness to stick to a Lust that aims at nothing but my Destruction rather than to him who gave his own Life to save mine Thou lovest it dearly O my Soul but canst thou value it at such a Rate as to part with Everlasting Life for it Hadst thou rather have it than enjoy the Face of God and be for ever Happy Art thou content for the short and unsatisfying Pleasures it affords to lose all the Joys and Glories of a Blessed Eternity Wilt thou die sooner than be divorced from it and accompany it even into the Flames of Hell and the midst of Eternal Torment God forbid will every May say whose Heart is thus particularly posed that ever I should be so desperately mad and unaccountably wicked I cannot despite so dear a Lord or throw away the Eternal Joys of the Heavenly State or endure the Smart of Hell and the insupportable Load of Everlasting Torment No Man can bear it and I stand amazed to think of it And therefore since this will be the Effect of my wicked ways I am resolved from this Moment to renounce them and by the help of God will never return to them any more Thus let the Drunkard think with himself on his Cups the Sâ—â—earer on his Oaths the unjust Man on his unlawful Gain the Contentious on his Quarrels the unclean Person on his Fornication and forbidden Pleasures the Revengeful Man on his spiteful Carriage the Slanderer and Evil-speaker on his reproachful Words Back-bitings and Defamations and every other Sinner on his particular Sins and when they seriously consider that this Saviour must be lost this Happiness of Heaven forfeited and this eternal Anguish and Extremity of Pain endured if they persist in it they will instantly resolve to forsake it and never yield to be guilty of it again O Blessed Lamb of God who hast redeem'd me with thy Blood will every Contrite Heart then cry out I am utterly ashamed to look thee in the Face considering all the cruel Usage I have brought upon thee I scarce know how to think of Feasting on thy precious Blood now I am most earnestly invited to it since mine own Sins have shed it I am alas a most polluted Creature who have daily offended in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty My Pride and contempt of God and Sensual Lusts and Covetous Desires and uncharitable Practices have cried aloud for Vengeance on me and that Cry would not be silenced unless thou my dearest Saviour wouldst die in stead of me Of all these Offences I am guilty and the horrour of that Guilt would fright me from thee were it not that thou freely callest me to accept of Mercy I come Lord in obedience to thy Word and with an humble and a penitent Heart most earnestly entreat thee to have pity on me I am sensible of these and all my Errours and utterly ashamed that ever I committed them I am weary of them and fully purposed by thy Graâ—e to become a New Man or else I durst not ask to be forgiven My Heart shall never more joyn with them nor will I ever hereafter yield to live in such ungrateful and wicked ways again They nail'd thy tender Hands and Feet to the accursed Tree and thrust the Spear into thy Side and can I then endure to see or any longer side with them They made God who is the Author of all I have and hope to enjoy my utter Enemy and shall I then be still a Friend to them They would bring me to eternal Destruction both of Body and Soul and whilst I consider this is it possible I should have any more to do with them No Blessed Lord I hate them and am utterly resolved from this time forth for ever to abandon them They have been the Shame of my Life and are now the Sorrow of my Heart as alas when thou enduredst such Anguish for them on the Cross once they were of thine I loath my self by reason of them and will never consent any more to live in them and with an humble and a contrite Heart beseech my Heavenly Father that thro' the Merits of thy Blood I may be forgiven And wilt not thou O God who sentest to seek after me whilst I was an open Rebel now meet me graciously as thou didst the Prodigal Son when I return again to my
thing whereat they are displeased if they have no Reason for it we must seek to inform them better and rectifie their mistakes about it but if they have we must give them all proper satisfaction and make a just amends for it If we have given them just Offence by Affronts or contumelious Carriage we must acknowledge our Fault and promise to do so no more and ask Forgivegiveness and if we have injuriously prejudiced them in their Estates Good Names or Business we must as far as in us lies repair the loss which they have sustain'd by us And this God expects from us before he will accept our Offerings or be pleas'd with us in any Ordinance When thou bringest thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. But if they hate us when we gave no Cause for it nor have in any wise deserv'd it of them yet must we still be careful to Love them though they will not be perswaded to Love us and not harbour any Enmity or Hatred towards them again We must Love them I say not with that Degree of Love indeed wherewith we embrace our particular Friends and those who have better deserved of us but with that which we owe in common to all Persons We must have so much affection for them as will restrain us both from doing and speaking Evil of them and make us exercise all that Justice and shew that kindness towards them in all Conversation which is due to the promiscuous multitude of other men For all these Instances of general Charity are due to our very Enemies as I have already shâ—wn so that when they are unmoveable in their Hatred and persist in their malicious ways yet must not that provoke us into any spiteful Returns or chase us into any hard Speeches or injurious or unkind Carriage towards them again And thus it appears what is to be thought of this Hindrance viz. the implacableness of some ill Neighbours and their unconquerable Enmity against us For when 't is our hard hap to fall among such Persons we must still Love them and be at Peace with them in our own minds though we never gave them any just Cause to be angred and if we did by confessing of our Fault and repairing of the Wrong which makes the Breach we must indeavour after a Reconcilement But if after all they are obstinate and unmoveable in their hatred that is their own Fault which may justly hinder them but ought not to detain us from the Holy Sacrament For although God requires a worthy Receiver to Love his Enemies yet he no where requires him to make his Enemies Love him and if no Person could Communicate worthily whilst he has an unreconciled Enemy our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles and all the first and best Christians had been most unworthy and could never have received at all An Eighth hindrance which holds back several Persons from coming to this Feast notwithstanding it is so much both their Duty and their Priviledge as I have shewn to join in it is because it loâ—ks like an high Presumption in us to Feast on the Body and Blood of our Sovereign Lord and to eat at the same Table with Almighty God and therefore an humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it I have already considered that unworthiness which respects the manner of receiving and answered those who urge that they are unworthy to Communicate meaning thereby that they want that height of Virtuous and Devout Tempers which they apprehend God has required to it But this unworthiness is not from the want of such due Dispositions or from the Indecency in the unsuitable Receiving but from the inaccessible height and greatness of the thing which they think is so far above us that fit or unfit no Person is worthy of it but that 't is boldness and presumption in any one to touch things so surpassing high and excellent But to satisfie these Persons who think it a piece of Arrogance and Presumption to come to this Holy Sacrament when their Lord not only Requests but Commands it I shall suggest to them these three things 1. It is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden But 2. It is a very great boldness and presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession 1. I say It is no Presumption to coâ—e to this Feast when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden If we should intrude of our own accord and come uninvited we might be too bold indeed and very rudely Arrogant But when we are particularly sent to and call'd to come especially if there be as in this Case there is great earnestness and importunity in the Invitation it is the part of an humble man to comply with it and he is not Guilty of the least shew of Arrogance and Ill-breeding in so doing There is Civility shewn sometimes in accepting as well as in offering kindnesses and it is Good manners to receive what God would have us yea indeed to accept any thing from the hands of our Betters So that in all Civility and inoffensive Carriage we were bound to come had we nothing more than a Friendly Invitation But besides that God has expresly injoyn'd as I have observ'd and peremptorily required it of us So that now we must approach to it not only out of Civility and Respect but also out of Obedience to his Commandment And true Humility is no hindrance but the greatest furtherance in the World to such a Service it being not the part of a Presumptuous but of a truly humble man to do what he is bidden and to please those whom he is bound in Duty to obey It is no Presumption then to come to the Sacrament when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden but 2. It is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone He is no proud man who accepts a kindness when 't is offer'd and he is earnestly invited to it but he may shew Pride and Haughtiness enough who slights and despises it And he is no bold man that doth what he is Commanded but he shews Boldness and presumes indeed that dare venture to Transgress it There are no men so bold and Presumptions with God as they who will act what he forbids and refuse to do what he injoyns them So that it is truly an high Presumption to stay away when he has expresly charged us both upon our Duty and our Love for him to joyn in the Communion 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be
sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion since his whole Religion is made up of high Characters and honourable Priviledges it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession What thinks he of Holy Baptism wherein he was made not only a Servant but a Child of God not only a Friend but a Brother and Joint-heir with Christ and an Inheritor not of a small Estate but of a Kingdome and that no cheap or fading one neither but of the Kingdom of Heaven What thinks he of the happiness of another Life wherein God will fill us with unutterable Joys and adorn us with Crowns and Scepters and take us as our Saviour says into the same Throne with himself What thinks he of his Redemption being purchased at so dear a rate which could not be obtain'd unless Jesus Christ Gods only Son would come down from Heaven and be made man and pay down his own Life for it Are not all these as superlatively high things and as much above us as Feasting with God in the Communion is Is it not as great a Presumption in us to become Gods Sons and to inherit Kingdoms and to hope for Crowns and Thrones and Scepters as it is to sit down with him as his Guests and to eat and drink in his own Presence Is it not as high Arrogance to admit that Christ should dye for us as it is to come and remember his Death and to accept those Benefits which are thereby convey'd to us All these things are infinitely above us and we could not have had the Face to have asked any of them if God had referr'd it to our own choice and bid us name what we would for our own selves But yet since in his unbounded Love and Kindness he has freely offered them we must have the good manners in all forward Thankfulness and Humility to accept and not out of a shâ—w of Modesty and unreasonable Self-abasement refuse them When God calls us then to Feast with him in the Holy Sacrament and to feed upon the Body and Blood of our dear Lord we must not hold back because there is so eminent a Priviledge and high an Honour in it For we receive no greater Favour or higher Honour therein than in being made Gods Children as we were in Holy Baptism than in Christs Incarnation Death and Suffering than in the offers of Crowns and Thrones and the other Glorious Priviledges of our Religion So that if the Fear of receiving too much honour from God ought to put us by the Communion it ought as much to the full to puâ— us by our Baptism and the whole Christian Profession As for those then who are hindred from the Sacrament by the fear of being too Bold and Presumptuous with God in coming to a Feast which has such height of Priviledge and Honour in it they are hindred without any just Ground and kept back by what they ought not For it is no Presumption but the part of humble men to come when they are call'd and to do what they are bidden but it is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone and if the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to keep back humble Souls from this Feast it must also keep them back from Baptism wherein the same Honours are conferr'd which are in it and carry them in the same guise of Modesty to refuse Christs dying for them and all the hopes of Heaven and in a word their Christianity and whole Religion too A Ninth Plea whereby several Persons are wont to excuse their not coming to the Sacrament is because many Good People are seldom or never seen at it and therefore they may be good too and have good Company if they keep away from it Now as for those who urgâ— this in excuse I would desire them to consider that when they are inquiring after their own Duty in any matter it is no right way to ask whether others Practise it but whether their Lord has any where Commanded it For mens Practice is not always fully answerable to their own Duty and so is a very false Rule whereby to judge of ours All Persons have their Faults and though no Good man can continue in any willful ones yet will even they be subject to several Ignorant slips and unadvised miscarriages But when at any time they either willfully break any Commandment or ignorantly mistake it that is no warranty for us to do so likewise So that if we would truly understand whether we are bound to Communicate our way is not to inquire whether others do it but whether our Lord has any where injoyn'd it for if he has we are certainly obliged to it whether others observe it or no. But in more Particular Answer to this Plea I must tell them 1 st That if any good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their goodness but their blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated 2 ly That although they might be acceptably good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better inform'd which will not be forgiven but upon their amendment of it 1. I say If any Good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness but their Blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated For we have Gods express Command to come and that we cannot slight without being disobâ—dient and guilty of a plain Transgression We are call'd therein to shew our selves thankfully mindful of our Blessed Saviours Death and of all that he has done and this Call we cannot deny without proclaiming our selves most shamefully unthankful towards him We are summon'd in to profess Repentance and Amendment of all our sins and this we cannot honestly decline if really we are resolv'd to leave them We are invited to declare our selves at Peace with all the Members of our Lord and reconciled to all the Christian World and this Invitation no man can fairly refuse who in very deed is in Charity and an hearty Friend to them Gods Law peremptorily injoyns and the things therein imply'd straitly oblige us to partake of the Sacrament when an opportunity is offer'd so that every man who makes Conscience of his Duty and regards Obedience to his Lord must be careful to join in it And it is the Greatest means of a good Life and Obligation to Amendment that can be prescribed so that every one who has a just care of his own Soul and is earnestly desirous of Virtuous Improvements will seek to be admitted to it A Good mans Duty binds him and the care of his own Soul ingages him to Communicate so that there is neither Virtue nor Prudence shewn in staying away nor is it any part of Goodness to