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
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
it makes us more unmoveable and settled in it if with Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours it fills us with a greater abundance of it It augments all the Virtues of a Good man which he brings to it making him more perfect in them and strong in Spirit to persevere and go through with them But these Effects it has not upon an ill man nor produces this increase of Virtue in those who bring nothing of it along with them So that 't is no disparagement to the Virtue of this Sacrament if wicked Men find themselves wicked still and not at all amended by their Receipt of it since it was not ordained for their Improvement It was not meant to give Grace to those that are Graceless or to give Repentance to Impenitent Persons but to carry them through in their Repentance who have fully set upon it and to enable them to lead a New Life who are resolved to do it and to strengthen them to amend a Fault who are wholly bent to strive against it and to confer Grace on those that have it and make them more Gracious still And this the Holy Sacrament is to every worthy Communicant It conveys Grace into his Soul and makes him stand more firm and increase in every Virtue of a Christian. It is an excellent means to make him a better man and to carry him on to improve in Duty and Holy living So that every one who comes worthily will gain a great increase of Grace and Strength and be much set on in Spiritual growth by Receiving Now this it doth two ways 1 st By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us 1 st A worthy Receiving conveys Grace into our Souls and confirms and increases us in all Virtues by the Natural Efficacy and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a good Life and set it forward and therein we bind our selves by solemn Vows and Engagements to go on in it both which are most powerful to effect and improve it 1st It excites and therein we exercise several Duties that help on a good Life and set it forward All the Duties of worthy Receiving are instances of an Holy Life as we have seen and parts of a Good man but several of them are not only particular Duties in theâ—selves but withall most powerful helps to the performance of all others So that in performing and improving them we do not only discharge and grow in some Virtues but make a way for our easier Discharge and fuller growth in all others also And these are a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs wonderful kindness to us especially in Dying for us an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and intire Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins all which as they are much improved in a worthy Communion so are they most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men 1 st I say these Duties are improved in us by the Holy Communion And this they are by being both exercised and excited in us at that time They are all exercised in every Worthy Communicant at that time because in them as we have seen consists the worthiness of Receiving And the more still they are exercised the more they are improved For all Habits come by usage and Custome makes those things which at first seemed strange to become not only Easie but Natural to us So that in exercising them at the Sacrament we shall improve and add to them and go away with a greater measure of them than we brought when we came And this we shall more especially do because therein they are not only exercised but mightily excited in us also The Holy Sacrament suggests such Powerful Motives to them and presents us with such obliging Reasons for them as we cannot have any where else so that we cannot take a better way than by coming to it to improve them For therein we most solemnly and attently remember how when our sins had made us utter Enemies of God and Heirs of Destruction Christ laid down his own Life in our stead and by that Ransome redeemed us from it And this is not only the highest but in a manner the sum total of all those inducements which can ingage us to these Virtues or possess us with them For what can possibly raise so warm a Love of Christ in an ingenuous Spirit that is sensible of what is done to it as to see how infinitely he has Loved us and when we were his bitter Enemies gave his own Life in exchange for ours What can ever ingage us to so great Thankfulness as to think that a Person so far above us and that stood in no need of us and that was not sought to by us and that was even thâ—n most highly disobliged and had received the greatest Provocations from us should most frankly give his own self to do us a kindness What can so powerfully move us to resign up our selves to any one as to see that he has bestowed himself on us first to buy us off from our implacable Enemies and that for no Self-Interests or By-Ends of his own but purely for our Eternal Happiness What can work in us so hearty a Repentance and provoke us into so utter an Indignation and Abhorrence of all our Sins as to behold in our dear Lords Agonies what they deserv'd and how unmeasurably mischievous they proved and what inexpressible Tortures they brought on him when he would put himself in our place and undertake to answer for us These things are most livelily set out and powerfully suggested to us in this Blessed Sacrament one chief business whereof is solemnly to Commemorate and make mention of them and they are the most effectual means to raise in us a constant mindfulness a zealous and intense Love of him that dyed for us and an hearty Thankfulness for all his kindnesses and a sincere Repentance and utter abhorrence of all our Sins and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Use anâ— Service that can be given us And the Sacrament being thus richly furnished with the most perswasive Motives and thus vividly suggesting to us the most Powerful Reasons for all these Virtues it must needs be the best Course to improve in them and we cannot lay out our time upon them better or to more effect in any other way Thus are the Duties of a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs dying for us of an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins very much set on and improved in all worthy Receivers by the Holy Communion They will be heightned and increased by receiving because they are both exercised and by an
objective Representation of most forcible inducements to them powerfully excited in them at that time And as these Duties are all improved by the Holy Communion so are they 2ly Most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men If we were but perfect in these Virtues and they had once got the Ascendant over us and ruled in our Hearts they would have an Universal influence on all others and govern our whole Lives For if when we are tempâ—â—d to any sin our minds being familiarized to it would at that instant readily suggest to us that Christ dyed for it and that it put him to all the pain and anguish he suffered we should not endure to come near it If we have any true Love and Zeal for him we shall shew no manner of Favour or Compliance with it if we are really Thankful for what he has done for his sake we shall withstand it if we are resign'd up to his use we shall have nothing to do with it because he is against it and if we abhor it for the pains it put him to when he answer'd for it and will at last put us to also if we continue in it we shall disdainfully reject and turn away from it If we Believe and remember always as we have need that Christ died for our Sins and procured us Pardon for them upon our Repentance and Grace to get quit of them upon our best indeavours that Faith will make us Obedient and carry us on to amend them If we truly Love Christ that Love will make us do something for him and cast to please and obey him If we are Thankful for what is done we shall never despite him by any Sin which for all his Benefits were to return the greatest injuries again If we are resign'd up to his use we shall Faithfully serve him If we are heartily Penitent and abhor our Sins we shall forsake them If we have this lively Faith and Remembrance of Christs dying for us and this intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and entire Resignation of our selves to his Service and sincere Repentance and utter Abhorrence of all our Sins If we have these Virtues I say and in these prevailing measures they will carry us on to an Holy Life and make us Obedient to all Gods Commandments And therefore since this Holy Sacrament when 't is worthily received doth so much improve these Virtues in us it must needs help us on and improve us in all others and in the whole course of a good Life too Thus doth a worthy receiving by its own Natural tendency confirm and increase us in all good Living by our exercising and its exciting in us such Duties as help it on and set it forward and so doth it 2 ly By our binding our selves thereat in solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it One chief end of our meeting at this Feast and prime part of our Worthiness in partaking of it is to confirm the New Covenant as we have seen and to make God our Faithful promises that from that day we will amend all our Faults 〈◊〉 so we may attain that Pardon and Happiness which upon our true Repentance he comes to offer and assure to us And these solemn Vows and Promises are a fast hank upon us to make us leave our Sins and do all that he requires of us For every man ought and thinks himself concerned to be as good as his word and to perform what he has promised especially when 't is to one who is too Wise to be deluded and too Just and Powerful to suffer any abuses of him to pass unrevenged which all men that understand any thing believe of Almighty God When we Promise and Vow to him we know that he cannot be deceived and that he will not be mocked so that we must needs see it stands us in stead and is our highest concern to perform with him And therefore since in the Sacrament we do in the most solemn manner Vow to amend our ways and promise an Holy Life to Almighty God in Regard none that are honest will and none that are wise and serious dare be unmindful of such sacred and solemn Compacts it must needs be an excellent way to bind it fast upon our Souls and fix it in our minds and so help very much to establish and imprint it in us And thus we see how a worthy receiving conveys Grace and confirms and increases in us all Virtues by the Natural tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it powerfully excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a Good Life and set it forward and bind our selves by solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it both which are most Powerful to improve and effect it And as it thus confirms and increases in us all Graces by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites in us so does it 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it ministers and conveys to us This Sacrament doth not only confer Grace by its Natural Tendency as other means but moreover by virtue of Gods Promise and especial Bounty to the Worthy Receivers of it as it is an Instrument in his hands He tells us that he will do great things at the presence of it and be liberal in Spiritual Blessings to all that duly partake in it So that besides what they do from the Virtues themselves which are exercised thereat they may promise themselves much Spiritual Grace and Strength from his Free Gift and immediate concurrence with it For in the Sacrament he offers them all that outward Grace and Spiritual strength which Christs Death procured and therefore if they come to it worthily so as their own unworthiness is no bar against it that offer will be sure to take effect and they shall undoubtedly receive it And this is plainly intimated to us when our Saviour tells us of his Flesh that it is Bread the true use and end whereof is for support and nourishment Joh. 6.51 And when St. Paul declares that the Cup of Blessing which we Bless is the Communion or Communicating to us the Blood of Christ i. e. those Benefits his Blood procured us and that the Bread which we break is the Communion or Communicating to us the Body of Christ i. e. those Graces which the offering of his Body obtain'd for us amongst which are these Spiritual Assistances 1 Cor. 10.16 And when our Lord himself tells us that the Bread he gives us is his Body and that the Câ—p he reaches out to us is his Blood Mat. 26.26 28. By which though he mean not that they are his Body and Blood in their Natures yet the least he can mean is that they are so in their Effects so that when we receive them we receive all the Blessings of his Blood-shedding and all that Grace which his Death has purchased for all Men. And thus the
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
AN HELP and EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating OR A TREATISE Describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from It. Together with SUITABLE DEVOTIONS ADDED By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Pâ—inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Sâ—eptâ—r over against St. Dunstâ—n's Church in Fleetstreet 1683. TO THE Right Honourable SIMON Lord DIGBY BARON OF GEASHILL MY LORD THe Holy Eucharist is a Rite of the greatest Honour and Endearment that ever God vouchsafed to Men and the most Sublime and Blissful Instance of our Communion with him For therein he calls us to his own Table not to attend as Servants but to Feast with him as his Friends He treats us with the most Magnificent Fare presenting That to us for our Food which one would think were not to be eaten but adored even the most Sacred Body and Blood of his own Son in which he conveys to us all the Benefits of our Redemption And being thus apt to excite in us the highest Devotion and to enrich us with the greatest Fulness of Grace and Blessing one would expect it should be had in Reverence and most Thankfull Received by every Christian. But yet in our Days what part of Religion doth so generally suffer or is so universally neglected among Men For the greatest Numbers have either little or no Reverence at all for it or too much which makes them afraid of it they Neglect it thro' Carelesness and Causeless Scruples or Prophane it by Unworthy and Disrespectful Usage So that among all the Professors of Christianity few pay that Honour to their Lord or secure that Benefit to themselves by Receiving which he intended All should do This My Lord is the Grief and Complaint of all who have any just Honour for their Dearest Saviour and this Venerable Ordinance or any generous Compassion for the Souls of others And that by the Grace of God I may help something to redress it I have endeavoured to describe a Worthy Communicating and to set out both the Duty and Advantages of it in this Treatise that thereby I may recommend it to the Choice of all who are Wise and to the Consciences of all that are Religious In the Management whereof I have shunn'd all fruitless Disputes and nice Speculations seeking onely to get it Authority among the Loose and Reverence with the Careless and to reconcile it to the Scrupulous and to make the Duty as Clear Easie and Useful as I can to all Particularly I have designed all along to make it not onely an Honourable Remembrance of our Dear Lord but a most Solemn and Strict Engagement to a Good Life in all that use it for then I am sure they will be infinitely Happy in it And this Discourse My Noble Lord I here humbly offer to Your Lordship desiring it may stand as a Publick Testimony of the great Honour and Affection I have for those Excellencies that shine so clear in You. God has endow'd Your Great Mind with a strong Love and a steady Choice of Virtue and what I have beheld with Pleasure with a Generous and as there is Place for it an Active Compassion for those that want it You have the True Wisdom upon Deliberate and Well-studied Reasons to be Religious and the Courage in this Audacious Age when Irreligion is set up for the onely Creditable Dress to own it and study to be thought so For 't is Your Lordships Honour to think that nothing can truly make You Greater than to be an humble Worshipper and Faithful Servant of Your Holy Saviour This Noble Piety and Zeal for Goodness will endear You My Lord to Almighty God and to all Good Men. And if by these Papers I may in any wise contribute to them I shall think my self happy in having serv'd to set on the Virtuous Growth of One whom I hope God has set out in a Time that so infinitely needs it for an Illustrious Example that may give both Ornament and Support to Religion But besides this My Lord I have another End in this Dedication and that is That these Sheets may remain a Lasting Monument of my Gratitude for the Endearing Favours I have received from Your Noble Hand They were Composed for the Benefit of a Place where I am now fixed and whereto I was design'd by Your great Generosity and Nobleness when I thought of nothing less For so truly Publick was Your Lordships Spirit in the Filling of that Church that You pitch'd upon a Person whose Face You had never known and who never knew of it only because You believed he would make it his Care to promote Religion and to Benefit those Souls which You had to commit to him And this My Lord I humbly beg Your Lordships Leave to mention not for Your own but for the Publicks sake For in this degenerate Age when either Filthy Lucre or at least some other mean and sordid End have made a Merchandise and bred Corruption even in the most Sacred Trusts I think the World has need of such Examples I have nothing more to add but to beg of Almighty God That he who brings about the Noblest Ends by the Weakest and most Unlikely Instruments would make this Book effectual to his own Honour and Service and also bless Your Lordship with a Continuance and Encrease of all Virtuous Excellencies Honour and Happiness in this World till at last he shall take You to shine in his own Immortal Glory in the World to come This is the most hearty Prayer of him who very much for Your Favours but more for the true Affection and Esteem You have for the God and Saviour he serves is in all sincerity My Honoured Lord Your Lordships most Affectionate obliged Chaplain and humble Servant John Kettlewell From Your Lordships House near Coles-hill Jun. 27. 83. THE CONTENTS PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament THree ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 〈…〉 in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most Gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shewn from the same thing being done in Baptisme Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which
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
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that 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 and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
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
wherein he is to be remembred 1 Cor. 11.24 And so 't is also in St. Luke where the Words are Peremptory for the Apostles administring and so answerably for the Peoples receiving it without any intimation of the eating it self being indifferent and uncommanded which that Evangelist would not so unwarily have expressed if Christ had so intended it And our Lord shew'd us not only that he has commanded this Sacramental eating but that he has commanded it as a necessary thing when he tells his Hearers that except they thus eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man they have no Life in them Joh. 6.53 And this necessity of it is further manifested from the necessity of the Passover among the Jews which answered to it for at every Return of it they were to be cut off from Israel whosoever presumed to omit it Exod. 12.15 And if there were no express Command for it yet are the things we are call'd to in it all of that obliging Nature and such necessary Duties that without Sin they cannot be declined By all which as we have seen this Sacramental eating and drinking is evidently proved to be a plain Duty and under a peremptory Commandment When therefore in this place the Apostle says of our drinking of the Cup Do this as often as ye drink it he doth not intimate that we may do it as seldome as we please or as if it were under no Law or express Precept He uses the words as often not because 't is an Arbitrary Act and there is no Duty in it but because though it be a Duty we have not always opportunity for it and so cannot always be performing it For as has been shewn there is a Command to Communicate and that as all other Affirmative Laws binds us to it at all times when a fit occasion is offer'd When we eat and drink in the Sacrament we must remember Christ and when we have an opportunity to eat and drink in it we are obliged to it as the Jews we saw were to the Passover which answered to it who were to be cut off from Israel when at any time they omitted it So that to Communicate is no Arbitrary Act but an indispensable Duty and peremptory Command still And since it is thus necessary a Duty in every grown Christian to come to the Holy Sacrament it must needs be a great and dangerous Sin in any of us when we neglect and abstain from it We must not think it an indifferent thing but make Conscience of keeping off from the Holy Communion as we do of keeping off from Prayers of Swearing doing Wrong being Proud Incontinent or Drunken For it is expresly and straitly forbidden by God as well as they and we incur his Anger and till we repent and do so no more cannot regain his Favour when we are guilty of any of them A neglect of the Lords Table therefore is a Sin which although God may excuse in those good Souls who because of their over-high Veneration for it and Fear of their own Vnworthiness to partake in it in the honesty of their Hearts think they ought not to come to it Yet will he not excuse 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 He may excuse it I say in those Good Souls who in the honesty of their Hearts through Ignorance or Error were held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it and fear of their Vnworthiness to partake in it thought they ought not to come to it An innocent Ignorance or mistake of an honest mind may plead our excuse before God in this as well as in other Duties For in all of them Christ has such a Sense of our Infirmities as that he can have Compassion on the Ignorant and those that err or are out of the way Heb. 5.2 So that if after an upright indeavour to be rightly inform'd in it some Good Minds shall happen to mistake their Error will not be imputed It may be through the loose Discourses of some or the general Practice of the World who by being so seldom at it seem to set lightly by it they think themselves not obliged to it Or again through the extream Rigidness of the Discourses of others who require such extraordinary things to it as very few have attain'd they think themselves always unworthy and unprepared for it and that they should sin and eat their own Damnation in it But if they fall into these mistakes about it which make them abstain from it after an honest indeavour to be rightly inform'd about it their Ignorance may plead their Excuse and make their Neglect to be connived at God will not account it to them as a sin because they knew it not but were mistaken For in this as well as in all other Cases to him that knows to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 4.17 But though God may bear with this neglect of the Sacrament in Good men whilst they are thus innocently misled Yet will he 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 Impenitent to receive it He will not excuse it even in them when they are better informed Their only plea for their not doing of this Duty is that after the best search they could make they did not know they were bound to it or that with safety they could perform it and when once their Understanding is inlightned this plea is removed so that afterwards they can find no relief at all from it They abstain then when they know if they are truly Penitent they might and ought to come and that abstinence is wilful and unless they repent of it and amend it will end in their Condemnation For to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 5.17 And much less will he excuse it in others who are careless of it and too Impenitent to receive it If they are hindred from the Lords Table out of Slothfulness or are unworthy of it by Reason of their Impenitence those are not their Excuse but their own Damning Fault and they must expect to bear the punishment of it To tell God I did not come to the Sacrament because I would not Repent is to tell him I would not come and promise to be Good because I was resolved to continue Wicked and that is a very odd way of excusing it Impenitence is no excuse but a most damning Sin and therefore if we have no other cause to give why we did not come we must needs be liable to Condemnation If any of you therefore who shall peruse this Treatise have refused Gods invitation formerly and have kept back from this Feast by what I have here said you may see your Fault 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
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
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
plainly testifies and as Durandus also clearly affirms and as the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies sufficiently intimates in one Case viz. at the Coronation of the Emperours Sitting and Kneeling then are both equal as to this Point that the Papists use them but that need not make us throw them away as Popish Rites or be any Disparagement to either of them For the Papists have many harmless things and many very good as well as many bad among them They have the Scriptures which are never the less the Word of God because they read them and the Creed and the Lords Prayer which none of us will cast aside because they use them and kneel at their Prayers which yet we ought not to disclaim for fear of symbolizing with them So that both Sitting and Kneeling may be good things among us tho' both are used by them too But if by a Popish Rite they mean that it is one of the Corruptions of Popery whereby they have depraved Christianity that is a great Mistake which has no colour of Reason or Ground at all for it For Kneeling is not onely a very innocent but a very decent Posture wherein to receive Gifts and make humble Confession of our Sins and put up Prayers and Supplications to Almighty God all which we are to do in the Holy Sacrament It is probably a much more Ancient Rite and either it or some other Posture of Reverence and Adoration which is of the same account with it was used in the Communion long before Popery i. e. the Popish Errours and Corruptions which are a novel and upstart Religion had any Footing As for this Objection then against Complying with the Injunction of Kneeling in the Sacrament viz. it s being a worshipping the Bread and a Popish Rite there is really no weight in it For they cannot worship the Bread in complying with the Church since it forbids it nor do any thing that is truly and culpably Popish tho' the Papists use it as indeed they do Sitting too which yet is never the worse for it because it is no Corruption of Popery but either it or some other Posture of Adoration which is of equal Danger with it was in use in Christianity before the Popish Errours were introduced So that altho ' they cannot see Reason enough to desire it nor would receive Kneeling were another Posture allowed yet since the Sacrament is not otherwise to be had they may very safely and wisely comply with and submit to it still And thus I have considered this Impediment whereby many good Minds who are sensible of the Duty of it and are otherwise very well prepared for it are yet unhappily kept back from the Holy Sacrament And the Result of all is this That when they stay away upon this account because they will not kneel in receiving it they refrain upon a most unjustifiable Ground which will afford them no Excuse nor ought in any reason to be their Hindrance For Kneeling is really no unsuitable but a very decent Posture so that if we were left at liberty to receive how we would we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it And it is appointed us by our Governours whom God commands us to obey in all lawful things so that in regard to their having prescribed it every good Man among us ought to observe it And if neither Authority could impose nor it had any Reason from it self to recommend it but that Sitting were on all accounts much fitter to be used yet since in their own ccount it may lawfully be used too and is onely a less decent Mode but has no Sin or Offence in it if they have any earnest desire for the Sacrament which is not otherwise to be had for its sake they will at least comply with it If they rate things truly since Authority has injoyned it they will see themselves obliged to use it but however since their Saviour has laid no weight upon it but accepts a Devout Mind in any Posture tho' they had rather use another yet is there nothing to hinder their Compliance and Submission to it So that there is no just pretence for any upon this account to refrain coming to the Sacrament CHAP. VII Of some other Hindrances The Contents 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 HAving hitherto consider'd those Pleas which seem to be of most weight in hindring Men from the Sacrament and possess them either with a Scruple that they dare not or with an important Reason why they should not chuse to come to it before I dismiss this Head I shall take notice of some others which tho' of less moment may yet seem fit to be considered Men oft-times give such Reasons for their Neglect of the Sacrament as are Reasons to themselves for neglecting nothing else that is of half that moment The Vnseasonableness of the Weather the Sickness of a Child the paying a Complement to a Friend or the like is thought a sufficient Hindrance from the Communion Whereas it would not hinder them from any Business which either Friendship their own Pleasure or their Profit requires of them For how cogent soever they may account them in keeping them back from it they would not be with-hâ—ld by them from pursuing any Sport or from driving an advantageous Bargain or carrying on any End or Interest or serving their Friend in any Business or Affair of moment And can any Man now have the Face to give that for a Reason to Almighty God which he would be ashamed to offer as a Reason to any one else Can he expect to excuse the Neglect of a weighty Duty unto him by such trifling Apologies as would not excuse the Neglect of a Bargain nay of a Pastime to himself nor of a Concern of weight or perhaps of a Complement to his Companions Those Men are surely in a sad Case who are forced to seek shelter under such thin Pretences and rather than make such trifling Pleas for any Act of Disobedience it were by much their wiser course to be wholly silent and not seek to defend themselves at all When these Pleas are made then there is no Excuse in them And
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
Duty Wilt not thou my sweetest Saviour who diedst for me whilst I was thine unrelenting Foe now intercede for me when I come to serve thee O speak Peace unto my poor Heart and let me know and feel that thou forgivest me Send thy Holy Spirit to take possession of it to keep it true unto thy self that it may never more start back from thee Thou hast promised thy Grace to those that ask it and endeavour in expectation of it O! I desire it and will do what I can to be assisted by it and therefore humbly hope this Promise shall be made good unto thy Servant Whatsoever thou doest in other things deny me not this Grace O Heavenly Father for Jesus's sake who is infinitely dear to thee and who died for me Amen Thus may we Discharge the Duties of this Feast and excite and actuate in our own minds that Faith and Thankfullness and Charity and Resignation and Repentance which are to render us fit and worthy of it If any are destitute of other helps they may make use of these Meditations and Prayers to affect their own Hearts and to shew forth these Virtues of worthy Receivers They will not always find room for all these Devotions whilst the Sacrament is Administring but they may go thro' with all of them before they come for then they may allot what space they please for them and make use of such of them as the time allows when they are receiving And for a more actual adorning of their Souls with them at that time whilst the Minister himself or others before them are Receiving they may express them all in one Continued Devotion by lifting up their Hearts to God in the words following O Blessed Jesu who gavest thy self to die for my sake how near have I lain to thy kind heart when the precious Blood that streamed thence was not so dear to it I am utterly ashamed of my self that ever I should put thee to part with such a price and to endure such exceeding smart and tortures to bâ—friend me I blush to think of it and abhor my sins which brought thee to it But since my need required and thy Boundless Love would make thee undergo what thou didst in the utmost thankfulness of an humble heart I gladly accept the inestimable benefit for which I love thee most Affectionately and will serve thee most Faithfully and praise thee most joyfully evermore extolling thy boundless Goodness and glorious Excellencies and endeavouring that all others may do so too Thou hast Bought me with thy Blood and here with an unfeigned Heart I give up my Soul and Body my Goods and all I have to be employ'd in thy Service and disposed of as thy Providence shall order me Take Possession of me by thy Spirit that my Body may always be the Temple of the Holy Ghost my Soul and all its Faculties intirely Devoted to thy Behoof and Interest and all 〈◊〉 worldly Goods acquired so innoâ—â—ntly injoyed so thankfully spent so â—â—â—perately and laid out so charitablâ—â—s becomes thy Faithful Steward I 〈◊〉 not hence forward call any things my own when once my Lord has need of them I freely resign all up unto thee since thou hast paid so dear for me I have grievously offended thee by many sins particularly by c. I am perfectly asham'd of them and sorry at my heart that ever I committed them and would never do it were they to do again and faithfully promise that wittingly I will never more yield to them and humbly beg that for Christ's sake in whom thou offerest Pardon to every penitent Heart thou wouldst forgive them Thou hast purchased the Holy Spirit for all those who are ready to labour in an Holy Life and take pains with it and offerest him to all such industrious Souls in this Sacrament I desire O Lord to amend all these Sins which I have here acknowledged I am fully bent upon it and will endeavour what I can towards it and depend upon thy Grace and Aid to carry me through it Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word I am at Peace O Lord with all Persons and forgive all Offenders against me as I expect Forgiveness of my own Offences at thy Hands and am fully resolved to be kind to all the World but especially to all the Members of thy Mystical Body for thy sake that by these Returns of Charity I may in some sort answer that Infinite Love and Kindness I receive from thee Thy Blood O Blessed Jesus has procured and thou Holy Father for Christ's sake hast promised Pardon of any Sin to every one who repents of it and the Assistance of thy Spirit to every one that endeavours with it and Eternal Life to all that are entirely Obedient and callest us to receive Assurance that thou art still of the same mind and wilt make all this good in this Holy Sacrament Lord I heartily repent me of all my Sins for Christ's sake do thou pardon me I am fully resolved to shew Care and to labour in the Amendment of all my Faults let thy Grace and Holy Spirit come in to assist and enable me I am stedfastly purposed to keep thy Commandments do thou then graciously accept me for the sake of my Crucified Saviour whose Death I now most thankfully commemorate and who is here offered unto thee as our Atonement on this Table Or shorter thus O Blessed Jesus who diedst for my sake and daily still renewest thy Kindness by shewing thy self well-pleased with what thou hast done and calling me to meet thee in this joyful Commemoration of it I come at thy Command to shew my self humbly and thankfully mindful of so Infinite a Benefit Blessed yea for ever Blessed be thy Love which made thee think upon when I lay in misery nay forget thy self and throw away thy own Life to save mine I humbly adore thy marvellous Goodness which shall ever be the Joy and Praise the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels And O that I may always love thee better than I do my Life that so I may not flinch even to die for thee as thou hast done for me if ever thou shalt call me to it for thy Glory I see in this Bread that is broken and this Wine which is poured out what cruel Pains my Sins brought to my dearest Lord and how they stand guilty of his Body and Blood I come with shame and a troubled Heart to confess it I utterly abhor them for what they have done and declare since they have proved thâ—â—ruel Enemies they shall evermore be mâ—â—e and that I will never from this day admit of a Reconciliation I am here to assure thee that I will not live unto my self or them but unto thee and freely devote all I have to thy use since thou hast bought me I love all Men and will embrace them as my Brethren because they are thine and freely forgive all the World even as I
indeed they would not be made by any Men if once they were convinced how much it is both their Duty and their Interest to come to the Communion For when they are detained by such frivolous Reasons as would not either be urged or admitted in excuse for any other Business they shew onely their great Indifference to it and how they esteem it less than any other Matters and this they could not do if they held it either as a valuable Privilege or as a Point of Conscience The best way therefore to remove these Hindrances from the Sacrament is to possess Men with a Belief that God has peremptorily injoyn'd it and that 't is infinitely their own Interest and high Privilege to be admitted to it And having shew'd these very largely in the Second Part I shall refer the Reader unto that as a very likely way not onely to answer these but also to prevent all other such like Pleas against it But that such Persons as are serious in these Hindrances may not think themselves slighted besides this general Answer I shall say something to the Particulars 1. One keeps away from the Sacrament because the day before either he himself has made a Feast or has been treated by his Neighbour at a Noble Entertainment But why I pray must this excuse it For if at the Feast he was guilty of any incapacitating Fault or any ways intemperate 't is not the Feast but such Offence or Intemperance which is to be alledg'd for it But if the Entertainment was Friendly in the Design Temperate at the Table and every way harmless and charitable hurting no Man's Fame nor disturbing any Man's Quiet in the Conversation wherein was his Lord offended or his Soul unfitted by it The Primitive Christians received it as a Friendly Treat for in those days their Love-Feasts always went along with it so that an Hospitable Entertainment the day before yea or the same day doth not unfit Men to Communicate but if in all things else they are duely qualified they may worthily receive still 2. Another abstains from this Holy Feast because his Child is sick or because he has taken Cold himself or has some aking in his Head or is otherwise lightly indisposed But what if his Child is sick Doth he attend it Or is it advisable for him to be so far disturbed at it till his Mind is unfit for those Religious Tempers which he is to exercise at the Holy Sacrament Perhaps his Child fares the worse because of some Sin that he has committed and will he not then instantly repent of it and come to the Lord's Table there to have his Pardon seal'd that so this Load being taken off it might be eased by it But whether that be so or no if he has any sense of Religion either in his Childs Case or his own he will be earnestly desirous to make God his Physician and call out to him for help and that he cannot do so effectually or prevail in it so certainly at any other time as I have shewed as in the Holy Sacrament For God is never more inclined to hear us nor are we ever more likely to have our Prayers granted for any thing that he sees fit for us than when we send them up along with this Solemn Commemoration of our Saviours Death which is the only Argument that has Authority and Power with him to obtain any thing on our behalf So that if a wise man longs to have his Child recovered he cannot do a more unwise thing than either to grieve so far till he is unfitted for this Feast or when he might be fit for it to neglect it since his Prayers there would a be most probable and prudent course to obtain it And then as for his own indisposition if indeed it has brought upon him such heaviness as unfits him for any Spiritual Act or if it is in that Degree that 't is not safe for him to stir abroad with it God prefers Natural and Essential Duties before Positive Institutions and Mercy before Sacrifice so that it will be a just excuse for it But if it cannot hinder him from looking after business and going among his Neighbours or venturing out upon any appearance of doing either himself or his Friend a kindness why must it excuse him from attending upon God and doing him this Service except that be thought sufficient to excuse our attendance upon him which excuses nothing else which is a thing I presume they would be loth to own who stay away by reason of this hindrance 2. Some again refrain the Holy Sacrament because their Wife or Husband cannot bear them Company and join in it One of them is either accidentally prevented that they cannot or sinfully negligent and unprepared that they will not come to it and therefore in Complyance and for Companies sake the other also keeps away at present and defers it to another time when both together can partake of it This I think is a popular but it is a very weak excuse For the receiving the Communion is an indispensable Duty concerning which every Person must give account of themselves unto Almighty God so that one near Relation can no more talk of neglecting it for the others sake than of neglecting to say their Prayers and serve God because the other doth it not or of being irreligious to symbolize with some dear Friends and casting away their precious Souls out of Complement Nay if he had not thus injoyn'd but only Friendly invited us to Communicate yet would it be a very rude and disobliging thing to refuse his Invitation upon this account because some others who are very dear to us have not either the opportunity or good manners to accept it For if an Husband or a Wife will not receive unless the other also will consent to joyn it it is a sign they come not so much for their Lords as for each others sake so that they and not their Saviour have the Service and the Honour of it and this is an odd account for any man to give to Christ of his neglecting this Feast when he is most affectionately and earnestly invited to it When any Persons stay away from the Sacrament then because they cannot have their Bosom-Friend to joyn in it they are Guilty of a great sin since they are bound to it whether the other come or not and pass a great affront and dishonour upon their Lord so that this is far from having any excuse in it Nay instead of being a Reason why they should abstain from it the neglect of one dear Relation lays a greater obligation on the other to Communicate For when one cannot come so that there must be a defect on that part that is too much already since neither ought to be wanting in it and therefore there is the more need the other should receive not only to shew their own Duty in it but also to supply their Friends defect as well
as they can and make amends for it 4. A Fourth absents himself from this Holy Feast because that day he is to visit a Friend abroad or has a Friend accidentally come in to dine with him who must in all Civility be attended But why must our Respects to our Saviour and our other Friends be made thus to interfere so that one must needs be a Temptation to omit the other How comes it that of all the days in the month we fix upon that for visiting or entertaining of our Friends when our Blessed Lord invites us to his Table there to entertain us Or if by accident a Friend then breaks in upon us why must that detain us when Christ calls us Is it any part of his Friendship to make us disobey our Lord or to put us by embracing this high honour and most advantageous opportunity when 't is offer'd Or if he be Gods Friend too as well as ours is it not very fit that he should go also and joyn with us When to Communicate is a Duty in both of us is it any wise Reasonable that he should make us stay away and not go himself along with us But if it happen that a Friend who is unwilling to Communicate falls in to be entertained or a visit at that time would be expected Since our Saviour and they cannot be attended too which ought in Reason to be prefer'd Is there any to whom we owe more Respect and Observance than we do to Christ Jesus should we Affect the Company or Court the Conversation of any Person more than his Are there any who ought more highly to be valued by us or have better deserv'd of us or whom we should study more to make our Friend than him who has gain'd us Eternal Life and that by laying down his own Hearts Blood for the Purchase When more Honourable Persons or better Friends invite us let us turn our backs upon his Table and pay them Attendance but since he can have no Competitors in this Case where is the Justice the Honour and Respect to him when this is given as the Reason of our Absence 5. A Fifth neglects the Holy Sacrament because of a showr of Rain or a sharp Air abroad so that he must indure a piercing blast or weâ— his Foot if he goes out in it But is he thus tender of himself in any other matters aâ—d would these dreadful Scare-Crows put him by any other Concerns which frighâ— him from this Ordinance If they stood in the way of his Pleasures would he râ—frain thâ—m If they lay between hâ—m and his worldly Interests would he be discouraged by them If thâ—y met him in the way as he were going to 〈…〉 Friend a kindness would they cause him to turn baâ—k again Though they would not justâ—fie it yet when they hinder him from thâ—se and such like matters they may with more colour be pleaded in excuse of his absence from the Lords Supper But are not men much at a Loss for excuses to shift off this Duty when such as this so full of palpable Contempt and a careless Spirit must serve their turn and be thought sufficient And have not we an hard task to Conduct them on to Eternal happiness which must put them upon Fighting and Striving and giving all Diligence and denying themselveâ— and taking up the Cross and plucking out right Eyes and cutting off right Hands c. when they stumble thus at Straws and are beat back by the force of every Feather which is blown in their Faces and such trilles as these can discourage their going on in the most weighty Duties and make them recoyl again upon our Hands As for all these Excuses then which careless men who make no Conscience of the Sacrament give for their Absence from it they will not stand them in any stead nay they are such as no wise man dare own when once they are examined They shew nothing else but the dis-regard men have of Christ their unaffectâ—dness with all that he has done and sufferâ—d their absolute indifference to have it remembred and their utter Contempt of this Duty which he has commanded them They are a good Evidence of their own careless undutiful and irreverent mind and manifest how little they set by their Blessed Lord so that the urging of them is a ready way to give more offence but not to make any excuse at all And thus I have done with all those Pleas which are wont I think most generally to keep men from the Communion and would be most apt to hinder those things which I have said about the Duty and Advantage of it in the second part from having their due effect upon them Among these there are some perhaps may seem to be little objections but little as they are they are an hindrance to some minds and since it is not below them to stop at them I am far from thinking it too trivial and low a thing for me to answer them And upon the whole matter it appears that to Communicate is a great Duty and a great benefit and that none of those Pleas which are ordinarily urged for it can in any just sort excuse their neglect of it For neither their unworthiness to partake in it nor the danger of Damnation threatned to every unworthy Communicant nor the Fear of breaking that promise of New Life which is made in it nor the apprehended Difficulty and want of leisure to prepare for it nor their being unbettered and unimproved by it nor the wanâ— of that Charity which is to be profess'd at it nor the having some Enemies after all their Endeavours for Reconciliation unreconciled nor the seeming presumption of joyning in it nor the Customary Absence of many good People from it nor the Admittance of Vnworthy Receivers to it nor the Imposition of Kneeling at it neither these I say nor any other Impediment whereby Men are apt to excuse it to their own Minds can justifie and bear them out in absenting themselves when they are invited No ill Man can be excused and no good Man need to be hâ—ndred by them so that every Man as he tenders our Blessed Lord's Command and his own Souls-Interest must be careful reverently and devoutly to partake in this Holy Feast when he has an Opportunity and is called so to do And now I have gone thro' all those Particulars which I proposed at first and which I thought most proper to be insisted on to ingage Men to a Worthy Reception of the Holy Sacrament I have shewn what is the meaning of Eating and Drinking in this Feast and wherein lies the Worthiness of doing it and what strict Obligatiâ—ns us we have to it and how great Benefits we are like to receive by it and answered thâ—se Pleas which are most generally given â—ut to excuse the Neglect of it and this with all honest Minds who are desirous and free to hear and will have the patience to consider may