there to trouble them with their buzing importunity It must be with a godly man at the Sacrament as it is sayd to have beene in the Temple There was abundance of flesh sacrificed in the Temple and yet they say there was never any flye seene in the Temple So should it be with us at the Sacrament not a fly to be seene or heard buzzing there The way to have it so is beforehand to drive away these flyes these buzzing thoughts by setting them aside the day before and then labour so to remove them as at last the Aegyptian flyes were removed Exod. 8. 31. He removed the swarmes of flyes there remained not one And when they are thus removed before then shall not a man be troubled with them at the Sacrament It should be a mans wisedome to deale with his lawfull and honest cares and the thoughts of his calling before he comes to the Sacrament as Nehemiah did with those Merchants before the Sabbath Nehe. 13. 19 20 21 22 23. When the gates of Ierusalem began to be darke before the Sabbath I commanded that the gates should â—e shut and charged they should not be opened till after the Sabbath and some of my servants I set at the gate c. So the merchants lodged without Ierusalem once or twice Then I testified against them and sayd unto them why lodge ye about the wall If you do so againe I will lay holde on you From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath Do so with the honest and lawfull cares of thy calling before the Sacrament Shut up the gate of thine hart against them and let it not be opened till all the duties of the Sacrament-day be ended It may be they will be hankring and hanging about for entrance but set a watch at the gate of thine heart testifie against them rebuke them threaten them let thy spirit rise against them in an holy indignation and this will be a good meanes to helpe to a gracious liberty from Cessa ab inquietudine tua non siâ— tumultus quidam in corde tuo per corruptionem volitantibus phantasmatibus compungentibus te Cimphe natae sunt in terra Aegypti de â—â—mo mascae quaedam sunt minâ—tissimae inquietissimae inordinate volitantes in oculos iâ—â—uentes non permitteâ—â—es hominem quiescâ—â—e dum aâ—â—gâ—â—tur iterum iâ—ruunt dum abactae fuerint ruâ—su redeunt sâ—câ—â— omnia vana â—hantaâ—mata coâ—dâ—â— Aug. in fragm serm de De. alog their annoyance But for want of this preparation duty how many even when they are at the Sacrament are no lesse pestered with their cares and earthly thoughts then the Aegyptians with the bitings and burrings of their flyes Those flyes miserably pestred the Aegyptians and plauged them exceedingly what ever they were a doing they were about them very unquiet flying in the eyes of them not suffering them to be quiet If they drave them away they came upon them againe if they chased them away they still returned This was a vile vexation And this is the case of many comming to the Sacrament just so are they pestered with their cares and thoughts that these flyes even corrupt the duty as the Aegyptian flyes did the Lande And all is from the neglect of its dutie What acceptance a man is like to finde in such a service judge by that Law Exodus 22. 31. Ye shall not eate any flesh that is torne of beasts in the field ye shall cast it to the Dogges Torne flesh it was neither fit for service of men nor of GOD. Not for service of man for they must not eate it Yee shall cast it to the Dogges Torne flesh must not be mans meat but Dogges meate It was not fit for the service of GOD. For if torne flesh must be cast to the Dogs it had beene an haynous thing to have offered that to GOD which was to be given to Dogges And if a man had brought a torne rent beast for Sacrifice GOD by no meanes would have accepted it Mal. 1. 13. Yee brought that which was torne should I accept this at your hands GOD then will accept no torne Sacrifices Distracted communicating it is torne flesh A man that receives the Sacrament with his head and his heart full of worldly thoughts doth as highly offend as a Iew should have done that had eaten of a torne beast which should have beene cast to the Dogges He offends as highly as he that should have sacrificed torne flesh dogges meat to GOD. When thou commest to the Sacrament and hast not first separated thy selfe from these worldly thoughts and so likewise much more from all vaine idle lustfull thoughts and hast not first discharged thy selfe beforehand of all disturbing distracting distempering thoughts this is a torne sacrifice and should God accept it at thine hands God loathes rather such torne services And thus is the first thing to be done in this sequestration of our selves this setting aside and putting away all even our honest and lawfull thoughts of our callings and therefore much more all other sinfull and foolish thoughts Abstraction of the minde from whatsoever may cause Distraction 2 The second thing to be done in this sequestring and setting our selves Sicut enim Domina volens aliquod unguentum conficere preâ—iolum suscitat famulas suas atque ad semetipsam congregat imperat aliae tenere libram aliae â—eâ—eâ—e injungit aliam jube miscere c. Ita anima quae pretiosissimum â—stud unguentum componere ac servâ—â—e dâ—siderat omnes corporis suâ—sensus ad seipsam congreget segnitiemque ipsorum ac negligentiam deturbans tota solicitudine vigilare in hoc tantum quod proposuâ— cogat intendere Chrys de compunct â—â—rd l. â— apart is to summon and call in and to collect together all the powers and faculties of the soule to attend upon the businesse now in hand As David when he was to praise God hee cals upon all that is within him to set upon the service Psal 103. 1. My soule praise thou the Lord and all that is within me blesse his holy name So when we now goe about to prepare our selves for the Sacrament call upon all that is within us all the powers of our soule to be ready to attend this businesse that now all other businesses being husht and ceased they bend all their strength to do the present worke in hand So fit we our selves for receiving as David fits himselfe for singing giving praise Psal 57. 7 8. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Awake up my glory awake Psaltery and Harpe I my selfe will awake early When he would sing and give praise to God first he hath his heart fixed or firmely prepared he doubles it my heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed The first may imply the fiâ—â—â— duty a setting apart of all other thoughts An heart taken up with worldly thoughts when a man goes about Gods
Son go work to day in my Vineyard here are neither wages promised nor anger threatned and yet hee went It was neither hope of wages nor feare of punishment that carried him but meerely a sonlike love and the dutifull affection he owed to his Father that wrought upon his heart and constrained him to goe though at first he refused it And such is true obedience unto God Love unto God is the weight that sets the wheeles on going Iohn 14. If ye love me keepe my commandements 1 Iohn 5. 3. This is the love of God that we keepe his commandements Try we our obedience by this What is it that moves to obedience If thou canst plainely say as the servant Exod. 21. 5. I love my Master I will not goe out free so I love my God I will not sweare c. I love my God therfore I will yeeld him all carefull obedience If love be the weight and the oile that makes the wheeles run thine obedience is such as it ought to bee But this discovers a great deale of false obedience Some men yeeld obedience for the love of themselves the love of their credit Such was the Pharisees obedience in their almes prayers and fastings onely to purchase credit with men Such is a civill mans obedience whose obedience is only to such commandements and onely to such branches of those commandements the breach whereof would blemish his reputation and blurre his credit in the world Some yeeld obedience and worke in the Vineyard for their penny such as doe all they doe with a conceipt of binding God to them and bringing him into their debt Some againe yeeld some obedience neither for love nor wages but for meere feare for feare either of the penall lawes of men which fence any commandement of God or for feare of a greater measure of wrath in Hell None of all these is filiall obedience rising from love These are obedient workemen obedient slaves that dread the whip but not obedient children It is love to the Father not wages from the Father that is the ground of a childes obedience The sonne of a poore man that hath not a penny to give or leave him yeelds his father obedience as cheerfully as the sonne of a rich man that lookes for a great inheritance If there were no heaven Gods children would obey him and though no hell yet would they doe their duty So powerfully doth the love of their Father constraine them 2 Secondly the end of obedience that is obedience indeed is the honour and glory of God 1 Cor. 10. Whatsoever ye doe let all be done to the glory of God Iohn 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that yee beare much fruit The maine end that true obedience propounds is the glory of him that commands When Christs people give him obedience it is the setting of the crowne upon his head what makes him more a King than obedience Cant. 3. 11. Behold King Salomon with the Crowne wherewith his mother crowned him Now this is the main end of right obedience that the Crown may be set on Christs head that it may bring him in the honour of the King the crowned King of the Church Phil. 1. 11. Filled with the fruits of righteousnes which are unto the glory and praise of God Let every man examine his owne heart what his end is in his obedience If wee have any other maine end but Gods glory it makes it obedience to our end and not to God How many yeeld that obedience they do not to set the Crowne on Christs head but to set the crown upon their owne heads So doe hypocrites that seeke their owne praise and credit or profit so doe all specially that doe any thing with a conceit of meriting at Gods hand Such obedience as hath squint respects at base and by ends is in Gods sight as base as the ends it lookes at 3 Thirdly the properties of obedience And they are these 1 First true obedience to God must bee universall And that in a three-fold respect 1 In regard of the subject or person that yeelds obedience he must do it with the strength of his whole man and all the faculties thereof Ps 119. 4. To bee kept exceedingly Psal 103. 1. All that is within me And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. 2 In regard of the object and of the commandements to be obeyed They must be all obeyed Deut. 6. 25. Psal 119. 128. The obedience to bee given to God is a filiall obedience 1 Pet. 1. 14. Now filiall obedience must be universall Col. 3. 20. Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. It is not well pleasing to God when children will obey their parents only in what they thinke good That is to yeeld obedience upon courtesie and not upon duty See what a filiall obedience the sons of Ionadab gave their father Ier. 35. 8 10. In all that he hath charged us According to all our father commanded It was but an homely businesse that Kish sent Saul about all considered Kish a man of great substance A mighty man of power 1 Sam. 9. 1. And Saul his son a choise young man and a goodly not a goodlier man amongst all the children of Israel and yet his father sends him with one of his servants to seeke the Asses And though it were but a meane service yet Saul yeelds him obedience Our obedience to God must be a child-like obedience a childe-like obedience is universall to all commandements without exceptions dispensations and reservations Here Saul failed 1 Sam. 15. 3 In regard of all time Obedience must not be for some times nor for a time Not for sometimes to bee sometimes on and sometimes off but it must be a constant setled even course of obedience that God lookes for Some men have their fits of goodnesse and have their good daies as men in an ague but are fickle and loose hearted hold not their hearts close to God and good duties Thus is that obedience which the Scripture calls walking with God Some take a turne or two with him go with him three or foure steps but that is not walking with him Walking with God implies a setled even course of obedience to him Neither must obedience be for a time but it must be continuall to our lives end Luk. 1. 75. All the dayes of our lives 2 King 17. 37. He shall observe to doe for ever more Phil. 2. 8. Christ became obedient unto death that is as Beza expounds it Vnto his dying day not onely obedient in his death but Christs obedience as it begun at his incarnation so it continued to his dying day on the crosse 2 Secondly true obedience is prompt and present ready and speedy without shucking and hucking without delayes and consults Psal 119. 60. I made hast and delayed not Mar. 1. 18. And immediately they forsooke their nets and followed him Zech. 5. 9. They
was kindled in our hearts in the use of the Sacrament It is a grosse miscarriage a shrewd faile in men who after good and faire enlargements at the Sacrament have no care to keepe their hearts in good frame by prayer meditation or good conference but as soone as they come from the Sacrament doe fall to worldly and earthly conference or vaine and idle discourse and so all on a sudden quench dash and dampe all undoe all they have been so long a doing in their preparations and performances Such abrupt chopping off and jumping off from holy duties is a dangerous quenching of the Spirit Such a quenching of the Spirit as tends much to the hardening of the heart Yron red hot put into water and suddenly quencht it makes it the harder It is a very dangerous thing to the body when it is hot and in a sweat suddenly to cole it by casting off a mans clothes or leaping into the cold water Such a thing is as much as a mans life is worth Such sudden coolings and dampings of spirituall heats got in holy duties cannot be without much danger to the soule What a poore thing is it that when at the Sacrament a man hath gotten an excellent fire kindled and flaming in his heart that an houre or two after hee should not have so much as a coale or a sparke of that fire remaining And so much for the first thing to be done after Receiving namely the examining of our selves 2 The second thing to be done followes And that is A speciall and a wondrous great care to keepe touch with GOD to expresse the power and efficacy of Gods Ordinance in making our good and keeping our vowes and covenants we have made at the Sacrament our owne hearts are very false fickle and slippery there is therefore the more neede to looke narrowly to them They never long more to breake loose then when they are fresh bound with new cords The divell also is exceeding malicious Hee is never more busie more violent to tempt and bring men to sin then when they come new from the Sacrament Hee knowes that is the way to make their sinnes out of measure sinfull Hee is exceeding desirous to goe in and goe downe after a Sacramentall sop No sooner was CHRIST Baptized Luk. 3. but Luk. 4. presently after the Sacrament received hee sets fiercely and with all his skill and strength upon him in his tentations Looke how Senacherib did with Hezekiah so doth Satan with us When Hezekiah had reformed the Church setled the worship of GOD and had put all in good order 2 Chron. 31. then Chapt. 32. 1. After these things and the establishment thereof Senacherib came with his army into the land So when a man hath beene at the Sacrament and hath renued his Covenants with GOD and stablished his resolutions of better obedience After those things the Divell will come with all his forces and seeke to make a man breake his vowes and neglect his Covenants Therefore proportionable and answerable to the loosenesse of our hearts and to the malice of Satan should our care be to keepe our covenants and our vowes and to expresse and manifest the power and vertue of Gods Ordinance in the holinesse and obedience of our lives Now should our care be to shew what benefit wee have received by the Sacrament in walking closely with GOD in the forsaking all former sinnes and performing all duties of obedience formerly neglected Elias after he was fed by GOD went in the strength of that food forty daies and fortie nights 1 King 19. 8. So should we walke in the strength of our Sacramentall foode many daies and nights and shew that indeed we have received strength by and from it by keeping our covenants with GOD of holinesse and obedience See how Wisdome speakes Prov. 9. 5 6. Shee kills her beasts she mingles her wine shee furnishes her Table shee invites her guests Come saies she eate of my bread and drinke of the drinke which I have mingled But marke what it is that shee requires of her guests after she hath fed them and feasted them at her Table Forsake the foolish and live and goe in the way of understanding Now that I have fed and feasted you at my Table live now no more as yee were wont to doe now choose new company and new courses now become new men and goe and walke in new waies It is the very thing that GOD lookes for at our hands after we have been at the Sacrament So should it be with a man after his communion with GOD in the Sacrament as it was with Iacob after his communion with GOD in Bethel Genes 29. 1. Then Iacob lift up his feet and came into the land of the people of the East Hee lift up his feet he went with strength with spirit with cheerfulnesse and Then he went that is after he had had that sweet fellowship with GOD in Bethel hee was so cheered and refreshed with that spirituall baite that in the strength and force of that he went on livelily and cheerily in his journey So when we have had fellowship with GOD in the Sacrament in the strength of that heavenly baite at the Sacrament wee should lift up our feete and goe on cheerily livelily lustily in our journey towards Heaven After Christ had beene at Iordan at the Sacrament he goes forth furnished with strength from Gods Ordinance to encounter the Divell Then Iesus returned from Iordan full of the HOLY GHOST to be tempted of the Divell Mat. 4. 1. Luk. 4. 1. Hee went from the Sacrament full of the HOLY GHOST and full of power against the filthy ghost So should wee rise from the Sacrament full of the Holy Ghost Tanquam Leones igitur ignem spirantes ab illa mensa recedamus facti diabolo terribiles caput nostrū mente revolvētes charitatem quam nobis exhibuit Chry. ad pop Hom. 61. full of power and spirituall strength and like Lyons breathing fire as Chrysostome speakes so as wee might be terrible to Satan and powerfull against our lusts and corruptions to mortifie and subdue them for this is one maine end and use of the Sacrament for which we come to eat that we may get from CHRIST in it power to mortifie our lusts and corruptions and to be enabled to walke in better obedience then wee have done Therefore that we may shew that wee have made good the end of the Sacrament wee must mortifie lusts and performe duties of obedience with more power than ever That which Paul speaks Ephes 4. 28. Let him that stole steale no more c. It must specially be remembred after the Sacrament Let him that swore sweare no more that used to lye lye no more to be drunke be drunke no more to be uncleane be uncleane no more c. This we come for to the Sacrament and this vow wee at the Sacrament It is the note of a man that shall goe
and Yours be ever more and more honble and long may Your House flourish in such and all other Honor. Experience lets us see that not only Nobles but Nobility it selfe is mortall and that not only Great Men but Great Houses dye Yet there is a way to make Honours and Houses longer lived than many times they be Davids prayer was this Let 1 Chro. 17. 24 27 the House of thy Servant be established before thee let it please thee to blesse the House of thy Servant that it may be before thee for ever for thou blessest O Lord and it shall be blessed for ever But that is not all that David did as he prayed God to blesse his House so he himselfe also blessed his House And David returned to blesse 1 Chron. 16. 43 his House Needs must his house be established when he not onely desires God to blesse it but withall he blesses it himselfe by doing what ever it might be that might bring a blessing upon his House Then doe Great Ones blesse their Houses when among other things they be like the Nobles of Israel Those Nobles had their staves which haply they bare in their hands as Ensignes of their Nobility Now they made those staves which were the Ensignes of their Honour the instruments also of common good The Princes digged the well the Nobles of the people digged it with Num 21. 18. their staves With their staves of Honour they digged a Well for the common good and publike benefit of the people That is one speciall way to keep the staffe long in a Family and long to continue the Honour Nobility Dignity and wealth of great Families when they improve their Honours and Power to honour God in being serviceable what they can to publike good It lies a black blot upon the Nobles of Tekoah that they put not their necks to the work of Neh. 3. 5. the Lord in not being forward to promote a common good which though a civill worke yet because it conduced to common good is called the worke of the Lord. As that thing blurs their Names so who knowes but it might gradually moulder bring downe and lay their Houses in the dust This is out of question that Doing worthily makes a mans name famous and his House glorious Doe thou worthily Ruth 4. 11 12. in Ephratah say those Elders blessing Boaz And be famous in Bethlehem and let thine House be like the House of Pharez That which was their blessing upon him is and shall be my prayer for you that the GOD of Heaven and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ will be pleased to make good that blessing upon your Honours Persons and hopefull posterity that with Abraham he would make you blessed and blessings that ye being heires of blessing here may be heires of blessednesse hereafter in the Kingdome of Glory Your Honours to serve You IER DIKE A Table of the Heads of this Treatise The due Order of receiving the Sacrament of the Supper and seeking God therein stands in three kindes of Duties 1 Duties Antecedent in doing such Duties as must go before the Sacrament All which come under the generall Head of preparation Preparation is twofold 1 Habituall having the soule furnished with such graces as may make a man a worthy Communicant They are these Knowledge Faith Repentance Charity Obedience 2 Actuall which stands in these things 1 Solemne sequestration of a mans selfe 2 Examination 1. of the Truth of Faith Repentance Love Obedience 2. of the Growth of Grace 3. of our Wants 3 Renewing and quickning our Habituall Graces 4 Excitation and stirring up in our selves strong desires after Christ 5 Stirring up in our selves a strong expectation of the benefits to be had in the Sacrament 6 Earnest seeking of GOD by Prayer 2 Duties concomitant In doing such Duties as accompany the action of Receiving where the generall Duty is The offering up of our selves to God in an holy and spirituall disposition in receiving the Sacrament This stands in five things 1 Solemne and serious meditation 2 An exercise of repentance standing in Godly sorrow for sin A solemne renewing of our covenants with God 3 The actuating of faith upon Sacramentall offers Sacramentall promises Sacramentall representations 4 The Duty of Thanksgiving 5 An Exercise of Love and Mercy 3 Duties subsequent In doing such Duties as must follow after Receiving And they are two 1 Examining a mans selfe how he hath sped at the Supper 1 If sped ill Then 1. finde out the cause of miscarriage and be humbled for it 2 Labour by after-paines to quicken and make the Sacrament effectuall 2 If sped well Then 1. blesse God for it 2. labour to keepe and maintaine the holy frame of heart gotten at the Sacrament 2 A speciall care to keepe our vowes and expresse the power of the Ordinance in our holinesse of life and obedience A Table of the severall Chapters of this Treatise Chapter 1. That God must be sought in a right Order as well as in a right Ordinance Chapter 2. The necessity of Preparation before the Sacrament Chapt. 3. The danger of comming to the Sacrament without preparation Chapt. 4. The necessity of knowledge in a Communicant Chapt. 5. The necessity of Faith in a worthy Receiver Chapt. 6. The necessity of Repentance in a prepared Communicant Chapt. 7. The necessity of charity and love in an orderly Cammunicant Chapt. 8. The necessity of obedience in an orderly Communicant Chapt. 9. The solemne sequestring and setting a mans selfe apart before the Sacrament Chapt. 10. Of examination Chapt. 11. The examination of faith Chapt. 12. The examination of Repentance Chapt. 13. The examination of love Chapt. 14. The examination of obedience Chapt. 15. The growth of Grace and our wants examined Chapt. 16. Habituall Graces to be quickned and renued before the receiving of the Sacrament Chapt. 17. Excitation of earnest desires after Christ and a strong expectation to receive him and his benefits Chapt. 18. God to be sought in speciall manner by prayer before the Sacrament Chapt. 19. Meditation and an exercise of Repentance at the Sacrament Chapt. 20. Faith to be actuated and exercised in the Sacrament and an exercise of thankesgiving love and mercy Chapt. 21. Subsequent duties such as must follow the Sacrament Received Errata Pag. 30. li. â— consent reade conceipt .. 84. l. 10. disposing r. despising p. 100. l. 24. Iohn r. Iob. p. 222. l. 8. is r. it p. 167. l. 5. on r. no. p. 174. l. 1. dele Lords Table p. 231. l. 2. r. a duty p. 265. l. 18. thus r. this p 283. l. 9. faith r. truth p. 288. l. 1. care r. eare p. 328. l. 24. faith r. truth p. 371. l. 17. adde only p. 427. l. 1. implyed r. imployed p. 433. l. 14. Iohn 1. Isaiah p. 443. l. 20. dele the first it p. 516. l. 1. for 16. r. is p. 529. l. 26. duely r. duty p. 532. l. 23. will r. with p.
his mouth for thy love is better than wine Communion with Christ and the expressions of his favour and love these are the things should be desired and looked after What is the receiving of bread and wine if a man meet not with expressions of Christs love if Christ kisse him not with the kisses of his mouth What may be the meanes to get Christ to kisse a man in the Sacrament That same Psal 2. Kisse the Son namely with a kisse of obedience and subjection for so kissing sometime betokned Gen. 41. 40. let us give him the kisse of obedience and subjection and he will give us the kisse of his love 〈…〉 other times so especially in the use of the Sacrament By both these things then we see how needfull it is for a Communicant to be prepared with obedience And by this also we see how many deceive themselves in their comming to the Sacrament who minde nothing lesse than an obedient walking in a godly course to fit them for the Sacrament How many that give no regard at all to Gods word that indeed slight it and obedience to it and yet would seeme to make an high account of the Sacrament Make men what account they will of the Sacrament yet if they slight the Word and obedience to it they shall finde as little comfort or benefit in the Sacrament as they give respect and obedience to the Word See how the Lord speakes Psal 50. 16 17. What hast thou to doe that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth seeing thou castest my words behind thee So God will also say what hast thou to doe to take the Seale of the covenant into thy mouth the Sacrament into thy mouth seeing thou castest my words behinde thee and refusest to CHAP. 9 yeeld obedience thereunto What Quid est autem dementius quà m Sacramentis Domini communicare verbis Domini non communicare Aug. de Bapt. cont Donat. lib. 2. cap. 55. likelihood that God will vouchsafe communion with that man in the Sacrament that regards not to have any communion with him in his word It is a madnesse to pretend a desire of communion with God in the Sacrament and to refuse communion with him in his Word for so they do that yeeld not obedience to Gods Word There is communion with God in obedience Ier. 7. 23. Obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall bee my people And therefore a refusall of communion with God in refusing obedience and respect to his Word And certainly he can have no communion with God in one Ordinance that refuses to have communion with him in another Chap. 9. Of the solemne sequestring and setting a mans selfe apart before the Sacrament THus we see how a Communicant is habitually prepared and wherin his habituall preparation stands It followes now to speake of that actuall preparation which is required in every one that would bee a worthy and a welcome guest at the Lords Table and would come after that due Order that is required for though a man have all these forenamed qualifications yet he must not here set up his rest but there is yet a further worke to be done as wee partly before saw in the fourth Chapter This actuall preparation stands in the fitting of himselfe in speciall manner for that worke and service of receiving by doing those things and performing such duties which are requisite not onely for a good Christian but for a good and profitable Communicant Knowledge Faith Repentance Charity and Obedience are required in every one that will bee a good Christian A good Christian a man must be before he can be a good Communicant but yet a good Christian is not enough in the generall there must be something in speciall done in reference to this duty Indeed some Papists thinke that actuall devotion is not necessary to the receiving of the Sacrament because as the Sacrament was of ancient given to children so now it may be given to mad-men and frantick persons who have no actuall devotion at all But it suffices that this conceit is disallowed of their owne men for to give persons without actuall devotion no more right to the Sacrament then to children and mad-men is to give them no right at all There is no question but they may come as orderly to the Sacrament as children and mad-men may doe But whosoever it is that will come orderly must have actuall devotion and actuall preparation yea though he be already habitually prepared The five wise Virgins took oile in their Vessels with their lamps Mat. 25. 4. and their lampes were burning but yet when they heare the Bridegroome was comming they presently arise and trim their lampes and so prepare to goe and meet him They prepared to meet him when they tooke their lampes and when they lighted them and when they tooke oile in their vessels all this was preparation to meet the Bridegroome but when they heare the Bridegroom was comming then they fall to a fresh preparation in trimming their lampes to make them burne brighter and cleerer So it is in this case habituall preparation is like the taking and lighting the lampes and carrying oile in the vessels actuall preparation is like the fresh trimming of them when they burnt dimly The geting of knowledge faith repentance love and obedience this is the taking and the lighting of the lampes and taking oile in the Vessels but the renewing exciting of these and the doing of other things in actuall preparation is the trimming of the lampes A Musitian hath skill and cunning on his instrument but yet if his Instrument be out of tune and his hands cold and his fingers num he will first tune his Instrument and warme and rub his hands and fingers to make them active and nimble to play on his Instrument An Artificer hath the skill of his trade and knowes the mystery of it thorowly well but yet when he goes to build a house or doe some such worke hee first grindes whets and sharpens his tooles If a Musitian shall play upon an untuned Instrument or with his benummed fingers he will make but harsh and unpleasing musick If the Carpenter though ever so expert in his faculty shall worke with blunt and gapt tooles hee will make but bungling and clouterly worke of it And though a man may have knowledge faith c. yet if he rest contented with that habituall preparation and doe not besides actually prepare and fit himselfe hee is like to meet with little comfort and content in the duty in regard of the cold and dead manner of performance he will but fumble and bungle in the worke So that besides this habituall there is an actuall preparation necessary Now this actual preparation stands in these things 1 In a solemne sequestration of a mans selfe 2 In examination 3 In renewing quickning these former graces in us 4 In raising and stirring up in our selves strong desires after Christ 5
1 Thess 4. 3. For this is the will of God even your sanctification So 1 Thes 5. 18. 1 Pet. 2. 15. The ground therefore of all obedience must be the will and Commandement that if a man bee asked a reason of his obedience why he doth this or that he may be able to say I see it is Gods will and commandement it should be done and because it is his will therefore I doe it This was the ground of Davids obedience Psal 119. 4. 5. Thou hast commanded us to keepe thy precepts diligently Oh that my wayes were directed to keepe thy Statutes His desires were exceeding strong to give God obedience in keeping his statutes and the ground of it was Thou hast commanded That onely and properly is obedience which is done Intuitu voluntatis by looking at Gods will by having a respect or an eye to Gods commandement Psal 119. 6. and doing it because it is his will Looke as it is in the case of faith so is it in the case of obedience Then a man beleeves when the ground of his faith is onely the Word of God he beleeves onely because it is the Word and will of God he should beleeve If a man beleeve such a truth because he hath good arguments and reasons for it by which he is led to beleeve it this is science but not faith Thus is it in obedience to doe things commanded upon other grounds then the commandement is not obedience Suppose a man doe the same same thing that God commands and yet know not that God commands it this is no obedience or if a man do know that it is commanded but doth it not because it is commanded neither is this obedience to God for as where there is no Law there is no transgression so where there is no knowledge of a Law there is no obedience In all true obedience there must be a knowledge of and an eye to the will of God Rom. 12. 2. Proving what is the will of God that is searching and trying and so allowing the good and acceptable will of the Lord Ephes 5. 17. Vnderstanding what the will of the Lord is Both which places imply thus much that that onely is obedience indeed which is done upon the knowledge and conscience of being Gods will To doe that which is Gods will and not to doe it because it is his will is not obedience By this may a man try his obedience If thine heart can sincerely witnesse that the ground of thy obedience and all thine actions therein is Gods will that thou seest it is his will to have it done and because it is his will thou doest it such obedience is upon the right ground But by this may the unsoundnesse of many a mans obedience be discovered Some men come duly to publike duties of Gods worship and service but what is the ground Is it the will of God or the law of Man or the talke of the World that brings them thereunto Many a man is diligent in his calling followes it close and it is a thing commanded of God so to do But if a man doe it not because God wils it but because desire of gaine carries him on or necessity of maintenance forces him thereto this is no obedience to God but obedience to his covetousnesse or obedience to his necessities which call upon him for diligence and painfulnesse 2 Second ground of obedience The grace of faith True obedience must spring and flow from faith S. Paul speakes Rom. 16. 26. Of the obedience of faith that is that obedience which in beleeving we give to God But yet in a larger sense all obedience may be called the obedience of faith because by it we give God that obedience we give him Heb. 11. 8. By faith Abraham obeyed God Faith quickens and enables to obedience so as without it wee can give God no obedience Therefore Rom. 3. 3â— Faith stablishes the Law because it is faith that helpes a man to performe all the obedience he performes to it Faith is the ground of obedience thus 1 First a man must first beleeve what the will of God is before hee will goe about to yeeld it any obedience 2 Secondly all obedience flowes from a mans laying hold on the covenant of grace In that covenant God articles with us and binds himselfe to enable to obedience Ezek. 36. 27. Now this covenant must be laid hold on for ability and strength to obedience before a man can obey God It is true in obedience to every Commandement which is spoken of the fourth Isay 56. 4. That keepe my Sabbath and take hold of my Covenant In the Covenant there is promised strength unto obedience and this covenant being taken hold on strength to obedience is given Now that which layes hold upon the covenant is faith which from the covenant fetches ability to obedience 3 Thirdly CHRIST is the principle of all spirituall life and activity Iohn 15. 5. Phil 4. 13. Christ must first dwell in a man before hee hath strength in the inner man Ephes 3. 16 17. Now all vertue to be fetcht from Christ must be drawne out of him by faith And he by faith dwels in us Ephes 3. 17. No obedience till we have Christ effectually working in us and quickning us by his spirit and no Christ but by faith By this then a man may try the truth of his obedience If it be fruit comming from a root of faith it is good fruit I beleeved therefore I spake Psal 116. So if thou canst say I beleeve therefore I pray and doe God service Iohn 9. 38. He said Lord I beleeve and he worshipped him I beleeve therefore I sanctifie the Lords-day I beleeve and therefore I doe duties of obedience then is thine obedience true fruit of Paradise because it growes upon the tree of life But if thine obedience arise from a root only of morality it is but hedge fruit 3 Third ground of obedience is the true love of God and Christ Indeed obedience must not bee upon constraint but in one sense it is by constraint yet by the constraint of Love 2 Cor. 5. 14. For the love of Christ constrains us Love hath such an active power that it constraines us to obedience not only that love which Christ beares to us but which wee beare to him Obedience to God must be filiall obedience 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient children Now the obedience of a son to his Father flowes from love The love of his Father sets him on worke to do what his father commands The good son in the Vineyard Mat. 21. When his Father bid him go work in his Vineyard he at first said I will not but afterwards he repented and went and wrought in the Vineyard Now what was it that made him obey his Father his Father promised no wages if hee would go worke nor threatned him any evill if hee did not worke but there was only a bare command Mat. 21. 28.
that is commanded me and when I have done that which is my duty to doe I must say I am an unprofitable servant then how much more must I say it that am far short of doing all that in this particular I am commanded to do and have not done that which is my duty to do I doubt therefore that I may not come to the Sacrament because I cannot finde my selfe thus prepared I were better keepe away than come unlesse I were thus prepared I have done what I possibly can do but alas how short am I of what is required Answ 1. First have recourse here to that which before was said in the last point of the second Chapter Labour and endeavour to be as exactly prepared as possibly thou canst but if thou canst not attaine to that measure and degree of preparation thou desirest yet if thy heart witnesse to thee that what is wanting in thy preparation is not from sloth idlenesse and lothnesse to take paines but it is the highest degree that with all thy paines thou art able to attaine unto I say unto thee in this case as Saul spake to David in that 1 Sam. 17. 37. Goe and the Lord be with thee Go to the Sacrament and feare not but that the Lord will be with thee 2 Secondly if indeed thou hast no faith no repentance at all wrought or renewed in thee I would in any case advise thee to forbeare for why shouldest thou destroy thy selfe as Salomon speakes in that case Eccl. 7. 16. But now deale uprightly as in Gods presence and take heed as well of bearing false witnesse against thy self as against thy neighbour It is a sin to beare false witnesse against thy selfe as well as to foredoe thy selfe and therefore make conscience of it deale sincerely therefore Darest thou confidently and upon unquestionable grounds affirme it that thou hast no faith no repentance I much feare me sayest thou that I have not That is not the point what thou fearest but what thou assuredly knowest A man may have much faith that feares hee hath none yea there may bee greatest faith where there be greatest feares Thou upon serious examination of thine owne condition not upon an ignorant selfe-love darest not for a world resolutely and peremptorily say thou hast no faith no grace no part in Christ then take heed how thou upon thy feares forbeare Gods Ordinance 3 Thirdly if thou have done thine utmost in the sincerity of thy spirit to fit thy selfe for the duty and thine heart charges thee neither with any grosse guilt in thy life nor with any slothfull formality in thy preparation though thou canst not finde thy selfe so fitted as thou wouldest yet go to the Ordinance if it be upon conscience of giving God obedience Christ commands the use of the Sacrament Doe this in remembrance of me Now though thine owne feares discourage and dis-hearten thee and when thou lookest at thy selfe thou fearest to go yet if when thou lookest at Gods commandement and in the conscience of it fearest to stay away here in this conflict of feares let this last feare get the victory and be more afraid to stay from the Sacrament in regard of Gods commandement then to come to the Sacrament in regard of thy discouragement Gods commandement sayes Go thine own discouragements sayes Goe not Give obedience rather to Gods commandement than to thine owne feares Obedience yeelded to God out of pure conscience to his commandement yeelded I say against discouragements and feares may be no whit inferiour unto nor lesse acceptable then a preparation in a more exact and excellent degree then yet thou hast Such obedience is most excellent and most acceptable for that is the most excellent obedience when there is nothing else to toll and draw us on but only Gods commandement When a man finds himselfe in such a frame of spirit as that he questions not but to meet with comfort and a good answer at the Sacrament then possibly not Gods commandement but that comfort may rather seeme to draw him to the duty But now when a man hath some discouragements in regard of the feares of the indisposition of his spirit and yet in regard of Gods commandement dares not absent himself dares not but go it is cleere that such obedience is pure obedience because there is nothing to draw him on but Gods commandement and that hee doth the duty upon this ground Because God will have him do it that he doth it more for Gods sake than his own Excellent is that Exo. 14. 15. The Lord said unto Moses speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward Forwards Why there was great danger before them they go upon a manifest danger the Sea is before them As good go backward to the Aegyptians or as good stand still and let the Aegyptians come and put them to the sword as to goe forward It is but death to stand still but death to go backward and it is no better than death to goe forward What safety can be expected by going into the Sea Well for all this speake to the children of Israel that they go forward Now to go forward because God commands it when nothing but present danger in sight was an argument of pure obedience it was not safety but conscience of obedience to Gods commandement that carried them forwards A man in the truth and sincerity of his spirit hath done his utmost in his preparation and yet his heart misgives him that he shall sin to go to the Sacrament and that he shall run himselfe upon a manifest danger speake unto such a man that he go forward because God commands him to doe him this service and his going forward in obedience being pure obedience it shall returne him at last as great comfort as if he had beene so prepared as his desire was to have beene Object I but my heart is full of feares and doubts I feare and tremble to come to Gods Ordinance in my feares Answ Yet come Feares in comming are no barre to comfort Thou mayest come in feare and yet goe away with much comfort See Mark 5. 33. The Woman fearing and trembling came and fell downe before him And what sayes Christ to her Vers 34. Daughter go in peace She comes to Christ with feare she goes away in peace she came trembling she goes away rejoycing If her feare and trembling had kept her from Christ she had missed of that sweet and comfortable answer Daughter go in peace We know not what comfort we deprive our selves of when we suffer our feares and jealousies to prevaile so farre with us as to keepe us from Christ in his Ordinances Object But my feare is that I shall not meet with Christ nor finde him in his Ordinance and therefore what should I do there Answ A man may then meet with Christ and find him when he least of all hopes to finde him Mary meets with Christ Iohn 20. 15. and supposes
he had beene the Gardiner and accordingly inquires of him as of the Gardiner Where hee had laid Christ But yet before an answer could be returned her she turned her selfe from him for when Christ speakes to her Vers 16. She turnes her selfe to him Therefore she had turned away from him as thinking it a bootlesse businesse to stand talking with him and inquiring of him about finding of Christ And just when she as hopelesse of finding Christ by him turnes her selfe from him Christ calls her by her name Mary So that a man may often finde Christ when he least hopes for it Therefore though thou hast but little hope to finde Christ at the Sacrament yet turne not from it but come to Christ in his Ordinance even then when thou least hopest for it mayest then heare so gratious a compellation from CHRIST as may make thy soule joyfully eccho backe againe Rabboni Chap. 19. Meditation and exercise of Repentance at the Sacrament CHAP. 19 A Communicant being thus fitted and prepared and being now come to the Lords Table it followes to consider what behaviour is there required of him It is not enough for a man to dresse and trime up himselfe in his handsomer apparell before he comes to a great mans table but there is a great care also to be had of that carriage and behaviour that beseemes such a mans table and person Though a man come handsome and cleanely apparel'd to a great mans Table yet hee may there carry himselfe so rudely unmannerly and uncivilly that hee may give great offence As therefore wee must have a care to get our hearts into an holy and fitting frame before we come so no lesse must our care bee to have them in a convenient frame during the time of the whole action Though a man have bestowed much paines with his heart before his comming yet if there bee not a care of due behaviour in the action all his former paines may bee lost Though the Priests had been carefull to have washed themselves and to put on their Priestly garments yet might they be guilty of irregularities at the Altar in not placing the wood or the parts of the sacrifice in due order Leviticus 1. Therefore as the Apostle speakes in the generall so it may be said in this particular 2 Iohn 8. Looke to your selves that wee loose not those things which wee have wrought c. So looke to your selves when yee have bestowed a great deale of time and paines in preparation that by a loose and carelesse carriage in the duely doing you loose not the things you have done There must bee a care therefore of the duties to be done in the Action Duties convenient There bee some duties in which the whole congregation joyne together in which we must take heed of all loosenesse and evagation of spirit especially exprest in idle gazing about have a care to hold the heart close to all those duties in which all joyne together But I meane not to insist in these There are therefore some speciall and personall duties that every one is particularly by himselfe to performe and those have a speciall care of The duty in generall to be done at the Sacrament 16. The offering up of our selves to God in an holy and spirituall disposition in receiving of the Supper This generall branches it selfe into diverse particulars And they are these 1. First solemne serious and deepe meditation A leading duty to others that follow and that which onely furthers them There must bee an heart enlarged with godly sorrow for sinne there must be compunction and contrition of spirit It is meditation that must fit for it and bring that and lay that to the hâ—â—â—â— which must bruise it Meditation gives a man Meditatio siquidem pascit scientiam scientia compunctionem compunctio devotionem Inter opera August l. 3. de Spir. anima a sight and knowledge of himselfe of his sinnes of the riches of Gods mercies in Christ and such knowledge is it which workes compunction of spirit We are to be taken up in duties of Thankesgiving and to bee more than ordinarily enlarged therein There is no such way to enlarge the heart in that duty as by meditation to heate and warme our hearts So Psalme 104. 33. 34. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God whilest I have my being my meditation of him shall bee sweete I will be glad in the Lord. There is nothing so feeds spirituall joy and so maintaines and holds up that holy flame that should be in a mans heart in the duty of thankesgiving as doth meditation That is the Oyle and the Fuell that keepes such fire burning The sweeter our meditation is the more is the heart prepared and enlarged to prayses thankesgiving and joy in the Lord. Therefore a speciall duty to bee done at the Sacrament is to take up our hearts with serious meditation And for the better raising and feeding meditation it is good when we are come to the Lords Table to doe as Solomon wishes us to doe in that case Proverbs 23. 1. When thou sittest to eate with a Ruler consider diligently what is before thee He advises it for a mans better caution if hee be a man given to his appetite that hee may not be desirous of such dainties as are set before him But in this case it is good to consider what is set before us to provoke our appetite and to stirre up in us a longing after those dainties Consider therefore what is set before thee what is done before thee Consider the Sacramentall elements the sacramentall promises and sacramentall actions Here then wee see Bread and Wine set before us and not bare bread and wine but the sacramentall Body and Blood of Christ This is my Body This is my Blood Behold then what a Feast God hath prepared for us such a feast as that Isa 25. 6. A feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined Alas how leane are our soules What hunger-starved spirits have wee But here be fat things full of marrow to feed and fat our leane soules How dead and dull are our hearts but here is wine upon the lees here is wine that goes downe sweetly that will cause the lips of those that are asleepe to speake that will refresh sweetly quicken our spirits Here wee see this Bread broken this Wine powred out Here we see Christ crucified before our eyes now we see him hanging and bleeding upon the crosse wee now see him pressed and crushed under the heavie pressure of his Fathers infinite wrath Now we see him in the Garden in his bloody sweate Now may wee behold him under the bitter conflict with his Fathers Celebrantes coÌ„monemur quasi ungulam findens â—â—minanâ— pecus â—â—vocaâ—e ad fanceâ— minuâ—atim commolere Dominicae institutionis exemplum ut
enlarged in more speciall manner to blesse God for Christs Death and the sweet comforts received in the use of the Sacrament Fifthly and lastly this holy Sacramentall disposition stands in an exercise of love and mercy In an exercise of love when wee looke upon our fellow members communicating with us we should cleave to them in CHAP. 20 one spirit as unto members of the same body 1 Cor. 10. 17. For we being many are one bread and one body for wee are all partakers of that one bread So that in partaking of that one bread we are one bread and one body Many cornes goe to the making of one loafe but yet they will not be knod into one loafe unlesse by the mixture of some moysture they bee wrought and fastned together Love exacted stirred up is that moysture that unites us many severall graines into one bread So 1 Cor. 12. 13. We drinke into one spirit that is into one soule In an exercise also of mercy and compassion to the poore members of Indigne manducant qui corpus sanguinem Christi in Sacramēto manducunt bibunt membra autem ejus Evangelio non agnoscunt Aug. cont lit Tetil l. 2. c. 55. Christ shewing mercy to them in contributing to their necessities And here specially at the Sacrament shold that ground work with us 2 Cor. 8. 9. And thus we see what the concomitant duties are and such as accompany the Action Chap. 21. Subsequent duties and such as must follow the Sacrament received CHAP. 21 VVEE are now come to the third and last sort of Duties in which the due order of receiving the Sacrament stands and they are subsequent duties such as follow after the Sacrament received There ought to be a speciall care of duties after the Sacrament as well as before and in receiving for though a man may come conveniently prepared and may in a good measure be holily conversant in the duty of receiving yet if a man be carelesse and looke not to himselfe after the duty is done he may marre all A man may come to his meate prepared with a good stommach may eate it with a good appetite and feed hungrily and heartily and yet as soone as he hath eaten may doe that which may spoile all If a man before his meate bee well out of his mouth fall to sleepe or to serious study or to violent exercise or specially if he shall after meate eate some unwholesome food or take some poyson these must needs hinder digestion and concoction these must needs make him the worse after his meat though he come to it prepared with a good appetite and fed upon it with a good stomach Physitions before they give physicke prepare the body for it and give it when the body is in a convenient disposition for it but that is not all They have also a speciall care to order and dyet a man after he hath taken his physicke For though a mans body may be well prepared before taking physicke and be well disposed in taking it yet if a man be not afterwards carefull of taking cold be not carefull what and when he eates his physicke will not kindly worke nor doe him any good Carelesnesse in dyet in taking cold afterwards may Qui pharmacum sumunt solent eo die ab omnibus abstinere quibus pharmaci vis operatio impediri potest Gualth in 1 Cor. 11. 27. dead and kill the force of the physicke so as it may not onely doe a man no good but much hurt though the physicke were very good and proper for his body and disease A great care therefore ought to be had of a due and a right ordering our selves after the Sacrament And this care thus to order our selves stands in these two things First In a mans examining himselfe after he is come from the Sacrament Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate and so let him drinke So also let a man eate and drinke and so let him examine himselfe A man is seriously and faithfully after he hath beene at the Lords Table to consider between God and his owne soule what entertainment and welcome GOD hath given him whether God hath dealt with him at this Supper as Mary delt with CHRIST at that Supper Iohn 12. 2 3. whether the LORD hath powred any precious oyntment upon him or not what comfort and increase of faith and grace he hath received what quickning what refreshment what friendship and communion with CHRIST what vertue hee hath found to flow out of Christ into his owne soule Now upon such examination a man shall finde that it hath been well with him at the Sacrament or it hath not he hath had a good day of it or no good day And accordingly as he findes so he is to proceed First then if a man have found no joy comfort enlargement no communion with nor answer from CHRIST but upon examination findes that he hath beene unfruitfull and that his heart was full of deadnesse hardenesse and dulnesse of spirit then two things are to bee done First Suspect thy selfe that some miscarriage hath beene in thee either in thy preparation to or in thy performance of the duty Labour therfore to finde out where the faile was and what it was that hindred the efficacy of the Sacrament that caused God to keep his hand close that caused him to deny to anoynt thee with fresh oyle And having found out what hindred and deaded the Sacrament judge thy selfe for that and be seriously humbled for it And this being thus done so that after our receiving we can but be sensible of our owne senselesnesse of heart in that holy duty and can mourne for it and complaine to God of it and of our selves we neede not be overmuch dismaied and cast downe because this is one fruit of the life of Christ which was undoubtedly received in the Sacrament Though thou hast not that thou wouldest have had yet thou hast that which was worth the going for Construe this very thing as a fruite of going to the Sacrament and be thankefull for that Secondly Endeavour by after paines in prayer and humiliation to quicken and awaken the efficacy of the Sacrament for this wee must know as a point of great use and comfort that Sacraments doe not alwaies worke for the present but the efficacy may come afterwards It is in this case as in that 1 Sam. 10. 1. 6 9. Samuel anoynted Saul and said The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee c. And it was so that when had turned his back to goe from Samuel God gave him another heart The Spirit of God came not upon him in the Anoynting but afterwards when hee was departed from Samuel The Actions of God are of eternall efficacy though he put forth that efficacy in such times and seasons as he sees good Though the Sacrament worke not for the present in the administration yet if wee bee after touched with a
sense of our unworthinesse and thereupon awaken our selves to quicken the Ordinance to our selves the Sacrament shall be ready afterwards to empty it selfe with blessings upon our soules and shall prove effectuall and comfortable unto thee The first Sacrament of the Supper the Disciples received it is not like they found the efficacy of it for the present for they then knew nor understood nothing of CHRISTS death neither could it sinke into their heads that he should dye but yet afterwards when they came more cleerely to understand the mysteries of Redemption and the whole doctrine of Christ no question but they reaped the benefit of that Ordinance which then they fully understood not Physicke doth not alwayes worke when it is taken but many times a good while some dayes after It is with the Sacrament as it is with the word Many a man heares the word and minds it but for the present it hath no work at all It is possible that seven yeares twenty yeares after it may worke a Sermon preached seven yeares before may prove the meanes of a mans conversion seaven yeares after wee have an example in that kinde Iohn 10. 41 42. And many resorted unto him and said Iohn did no miracle but all things that spake of this man were true and many beleeved on him there Iohn had preacht of Christ before they did not there upon beleeve in Christ when hee preacht Iohn was dead and gone but now when Christ comes amongst them they upon Iohns former Sermons preacht a great while before doe now beleeve Iohn was dead but his word was not dead that now workes when he lyes in his grave Thus also may it be with the Sacrament it doth not alwayes presently worke it may and doth work some longer time afterwards when a Communicant humbled for his unprofitablenesse in the duely endeavours by after-diligence and Humiliation to quicken and put life into it And if such a course may quicken a Sacrament some time after then why not much more on the same day What hinders but it may bee in the case of the Sacrament of the Supper as in the Sacrament of Baptisme The efficacy and force of Baptisme doth not presently appeare no not presently upon the yeeres of discretion Many an one lives vitiously in sinfull course a swearer adulterer c. but yet afterwards if God give once a man the heart to bee toucht with the sense of his owne unworthinesse and hee beginnes to bestirre himselfe to secke GOD by faith and Repentance the Lord quickens a mans Baptisme and makes it as powerfull and efficacious as if that very day administred So in this case possibly a man that hath beene at the Lords Table and hath more then once beene an unworthy receiver but yet if a man shall come once to bee humbled of that unworthinesse God will make sacraments so oft unprofitably received to become efficacious unto him For though hee were unprepared to receive yet God was not unprepared to dispense the benefit of them Therefore if wee have miscarried in our preparations and dispositions so as we have found no benefit no comfort yet here is a remedy and an help take this course by after-diligence and after-Humiliation to fetch life into that Ordinance in which thou wert dead and which was dead unto thee in the Administration It is a frequent and foule fault amongst many that so soone as the Sacrament is done and the duty ended in publike they never once looke after it more They leave the Sacramentall disposition and devotion in the Church there they shake hands with it and bring not a whit of it home with them When the Sacrament is done all is done with them and as they come to it so they goe from it without any examination at all It is never once more thought upon And thereupon no Humiliation for deadnesse hardnesse and indisposition in the duty and no care to make up that by after diligence wherein they were wanting in the present performance 2 Secondly If upon this examination we finde that we were refreshed had our hearts enlarged had vertue from and communion with Christ and that GOD was very good to us then doe these two things 1 First Blesse God with all thy soule for his mercy shewed unto thee acknowledge with all thankefulnesse Gods gracious dealing with thee in the communication and manifestation of himselfe to thee in his Ordinance 2 Secondly Be carefull and watchfull to keepe up and maintaine that holy and gracious frame of heart in thee which thou acquirest in and bringest from the Sacrament with thee A man when he findes enlargement and a gracious disposition of spirit in the Ordinance should be of Peters mind when in the Mount with our Saviour in his transfiguration Master It is good being here It is good to be here as long as may bee when therefore in the Sacrament wee have gotten holy affections by degrees wound up to some spirituall height have gotten them up to more than an ordinary and common pitch our care should be to keep and maintaine so long as we can what we have gotten at the Sacrament to keepe the sweete meates wee bring from this banquet It is true indeed that wee cannot hold them up in that height and pitch to which we have wrought our hearts in holy duties and in the heate of holy exercises but yet wee should endeavour it what we can and so long as is possible by after private duties of prayer meditation good conference and the like That as David prayes for the people in that case 1 Chron. 29. 18. when he saw them in a floate of good affections their hearts sweetely and graciously enlarged O Lord saies he keepe this for ever in the Imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare or stablish their heart unto thee As if he had said Lord thou seest what a good frame of heart is in them at this present oh that thou wouldest keepe and maintaine this frame of heart in them ever So when we finde a good frame of heart wrought in us at the Sacrament wee should pray and endeavour that this frame of heart might bee still upheld and continued in us See an excellent example of this after a Sacrament 2 Chron. 30. 21 22. They finde their hearts comfortably and sweetly enlarged in the use of Gods Ordinance and loath they are to let this frame of heart sinke in them faine would they keepe it up still and therefore see ver 23. what they doe And the whole assembly tooke counsell to keep other seaven dayes and they kept other seaven dayes with gladnesse This was done to keep up still this gladnesse of heart which they had in keeping the first seven daies And this by way of proportion serves to teach us what a speciall care we should have after the receiving of the Sacrament to looke wisely to our selves to keepe alive as long as may be that holy fire that