preferr'd before the lesser and Mercy many times comes to be a greater Duty than Sacrifice Ordinarily a Duty of God's Worship we have resolved upon ought to be preferr'd before a Duty of Civility and a customary visit is not to dash or hinder our intended Devotion God must first be pleas'd and then Man in things lawful and convenient yet Charity is of so great a value in the sight of God that many times he bids us prefer that before Devotion When my Neighbors House is on fire I am bound to run and endeavour to quench that though the hour is come that I use to enter into my Closet to pray to my Father in secret and my sick Neighbor wanting my help and assistance I may justly prefer a charitable Visit before my accustomed Suplications Nor is this all the Order that is to be observ'd in Duties The business of our calling must be begun with Prayer and concluded with Thanksgiving and he that when first he awakes in the Morning lets his first Thoughts be of God and when he is up and dress'd applies himself to singing of a Psalm or to meditating in the Law of God by reading a Chapter in the Bible with attention then kneels down to Prayer either by himself or with his Family and afterwards goes to his lawful employment and in the midst of that imployment forgets not that God sees and hears him but runs up often with his Thoughts to Heaven takes notice of God's Providences and before he goes into company arms himself with Holy Ejaculations against Sin and Infection and at night reviews what he hath been doing in the day-time such a person acts orderly and draws a Blessing down upon the work of his hands not to mention the Peace he thereby procures to his Mind and Conscience 2. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew that after the Jewish Oeconomy another and much nobler Dispensation was to follow a Dispensation not of Shadows and Types and Images but of Truth of Reality and Accomplishment a Dispensation not requiring Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks but such as press'd Spiritual Sacrifices and Oblations a Dispensation not of Bondage and Slavery but of Freedom and Liberty a Dispensation which should be large and diffussve not confining its Priviledges and Influences to a single Nation but spread them abroad to the comfort of all the Inhabitants of the World None drank of the Cup of the Passover but persons circumcised but the Cup Christ takes here all Nations both circumcised and uncircumcised were permitted to participate of all Penitents what Kindred People Tongue or Nation soever they were of 3. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew there was greater Virtue and Excellency in this last than there was in the first After me comes a Man saith the Baptist John 1. 30. that is preferr'd before me for he was before me So it may be said of the Paschal Cup after that came a Cup which was far more Excellent and Glorious and Beneficial than the other Christ came after Moses after the Law after the Prophets yet went beyond them all in Light in Knowledge in Virtue in Goodness and in bringing glad Tidings And so the Passover tho' it was before the Lord's Supper yet doth this Supper of the Lord transcend the other by many degrees and both represents and confers sublimer Mercies than the roasted Lamb could do for here the Blessed Trinity manifests it self in greater charms than it did in the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in which St. John saw the Heavens open and the Holy Ghost descending on the Son of God in the shape of a Dove and the Father compleating the stupendious Scene with an Acclamation This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased For in this Sacrament the Holy Ghost falls on the Souls of sincere Believers as Rain on the Mowen Grass and as the Showers that water the Earth The everlasting Father not only tells us which is the Beloved Son but by setting his Sons death before us shews that he loved us in a manner better than his Son in giving that Son to dye for us than which nothing can be more kind nothing more surprizing the Son himself invites us and offers to wash us from our sins with his own Blood and assures us That being sprinkled with his Blood we are fafe and secure against all the Curses of the Law and the Thunders of Mount Sina These things were Mysteries and Paradoxes in the Passover but this Sacrament which came after it opens the door and lets us in to see this Glorious Representation and consequently is a Richer Greater Holier Sublimer and more Heavenly Ordinance than the Passover The Preeeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. AMong the Heathen Poets there is much talk of Circe's Cup which transform'd Men into Brutes and Swine a Fable whereby they represented how sensual pleasure transform'd Men into Creatures void of Reason and Discretion But the Cup we speak of hath contrary effects and Fire and Water are not more opposite than the operations of these two For this Sacramental Cup transforms Brutes into Men again and changes Beasts into the Image of the Son of God Sinner make but a trial of it thou I mean that hast not had so much understanding as the Swallow and the Turtle and the Crane for they know their appointed times whereas thou hast not known the time of thy return thou that hast rusht into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle thou that hast wallowed in the Mire with the Swine and acted like a Creature made of Earth and Dung. Take courage prepare thy self for drinking of this Cup purifie thy Soul for profane Hands must not touch it confess thine iniquity make War with thy Lusts Fight with thy carnal Desires and drink of this Cup and thou wilt find how thy Reason will clear up how thy Understanding will be enlighten'd how thy beastly Qualities will die The Blood in this Cup hath such Virtue in it that it will transform thee by the renewing of the Mind and make thee prove what is the Holy Perfect and acceptable Will of God It 's true the bare drinking will not do it but drinking it with Contrition with contemplation of the Person whose Blood is in the Cup with consideration of the Cause viz. the Sins that spilt it with thankfulness for the infinite Mercy of him that thus freely parted with it and with resolutions to love him that did not think his own Blood too dear to let it flow for the good of his enemies Petrus de Natalibus tells us of a Woman who having labour'd many years under very great infirmities of Body was brought exceeding weak but drinking one day accidentally out of the Cup that a Holy Man Scion by Name did use to drink of she was restored to perfect health Though we cannot promise that this Sacramental Cup will work such a Miracle of the Diseases of the Body
none but general Gifts so even these upon his Abuse and misemploying of them are gradually removed as Men take meat and victuals away from insolent Beggars that throw their Gift upon a Dunghil and as a charitable Pension is withdrawn when we find that the Party which enjoy'd it spends it in Ale-houses and Taverns or in Play 2. By a gradual permitting the Devil to exercise his Power and Jurisdiction upon them God doth not very frequently suffer the Enemy to fly upon the Offender with all his force or to ruin him at once but he lengthens his Chain by degrees to see whether the Sinner will yet give himself leave to think and attempt to be freed from that intolerable Yoak and Slavery but that tenderness and patience of Almighty God becoming fruitless and ineffectual the Judge gives the Executioner greater liberty to darken his Mind to pervert his Will and to sear his Conscience Time was when but one Devil was permitted to Tyrannize over him but if instead of being angry and displeas'd at that single foe the unworthy Communicant embraces and makes him his friend then that Devil takes with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first saith Christ Matth. 12. 45. Nor is there any thing of injustice in these proceedings of God For 1. It is nothing but Lex Talionis a just Retaliation a Rule whereby God ordinarily governs himself in the execution of his Judgements Hâ—s 6. 4. He tells Judah and Ephraim Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it passes away The Judgment therefore is made proportionable Hos. 13. 3. Therefore they shall be as the Morning Cloud and as the early Dew that passes away so here the Sin is spiritual the Judgment is so too The unworthy Receiver wrongs his own Soul and in his Soul the marks of God's Wrath appear 2. God in this case doth no more than what we our selves do and think our selves very reasonable and just for doing so A Father reduces his spend-thrift Son to a smaller Allowance and the ground that will not bear any thing after a world of Toil we Dung and Dig and Manure no more In this manner and for Reasons â—ike these God withdraws his Holy Spirit from the unworthy Receiver 3. As the Devil is God's Minister of Justice his Jaylor and Hangman so he may justly make use of him to judge and lash the unworthy Receiver the rather because he wilfully hearkens to the base suggestions of his sworn Enemy and who finds fault with a Prince or Magistrate for sending an Executioner to behead or hang those that have committed Treason or conspired against their lawful Sovereign 4. That God doth gradually send this Spiritual Judgment upon unworthy Receivers this speaks his Goodness Compassion and Patience and shews how loth he is to give up Ephraim how loth he is to deliver up Israel to the rage of the Enemy how loth he is to make them as Admah and to set them as Zeboim so that there is Charity mingled with the Justice and in the midst of his Anger he remembers Mercy IV. And this will give us occasion to enquire which of these two Judgments is greater the Temporal or the Spiritual And here if we consider the mischief done by them we must conclude and assert that the Spiritual is greater For 1. Pain and sickness of Body may yet bring a Man or drive a Man to a true Repentance and a sight of the Errors of his ways as we proved in the foregoing Chapter but this Spiritual Weakness makes the way and passage to Repentance more difficult and the more any thing doth hinder a Man from Repentance the more dangerous it is Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death supposes that the faculties which should be chiefly employed in the product of Repentance are out of order and violated such as the Understanding the Will and the Affections Bodily Sickness very often puts these into a new fermentation and a strong desire after Spiritual Things But when the very Tools whereby the Soul is to work are blunt and their edge rebated or are become rusty and useless the work is very likely to be left undone If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness saith our Saviour Matth. 5. 23. 2. The Spiritual Judgment is the more dangerous because it is less perceiv'd and taken notice of than Bodily sickness If a Man feel the smart and pain of his Wounds and Sores they oblige him to seek out for a Physician for Remedy for Counsel and Advice and so we find it is for the most part with all Diseases of the Body which cause anguish and grief and great inconvenience and disorder in the Body yet among these various distempers some there are where the poison creeps along in the secret parts and Men perceive it not till it seizes upon the Vitals invades the very Heart and tolls the Bell for Death and these we count the most dangerous Of this nature is Spiritual sickness and weakness It leaves the Body in the same temper it found it in causes no prickings in the Back no stitches in the side no disturbance in the Head It lets Men eat and drink and sleep and walk and do their business and as to the outward Man they feel no inconvenience which makes them think that they have nothing of a distemper about them that all is safe and they ail nothing For this Spiritual sickness cannot be perceiv'd without Thinking and Self-examination which being neglected Men feel it not whence it comes to pass that it spreads insensibly in the dark while Men are asleep and by degrees corrupts the Soul till all its goodness be consumed and consequently this Spiritual Judgment is greater than the Corporal 3. The Spiritual Judgment is a sign of God's greater anger too and though it will not enter into the thoughts of a sensual Man that it is so or that any thing can be a sign of God's Anger but what relates to losses and disappointments and crosses in the outward Man and in the World yet enlighten'd Souls have ever look'd upon Spiritual sickness and Death as a sign of God's heavier wrath and indignation because in this case God doth as it were let Men alone leaves them to themselves and his not punishing of them with Bodily troubles looks like an aversion from their Persons and so much we may guess from what we read Hos. 4. 14 17. The Preceding Considerations reduced into farther Practice I IF Christ and his Apostles press Eating and Drinking worthily at this Table it is because they would have our Souls be in perfect health and they are then in perfect health when they rejoyce in the Lord always Thomas Aquinas upon that saying Cant. 1. 13. A bundle of Myrrhe is my well-beloved unto me observes that as Myrrhe preserves Bodies from
or equivocation declare themselves willing ready and resolved to perform the things agreed upon God what he promises and Man what he engages to do For God consider'd as the Father Everlasting promises here to treat us as his Children to be tender of our Spiritual and Eternal Welfare to seek our good and turn all things to our good to pass by the Unkindnesses and Indignities we have offer'd to him to forgive and throw them into the depth of the Sea to impute them no more to count us innocent to justifie us here and like a Father to provide an Eternal Inheritance for us i. e. to glorifie us for ever The Son of God consider'd not only as the Eternal Wisdom of the Father but as Mediator and Redeemer of the World promises to be our Intercessor and Advocate with his Righteousness to cover our Infirmities with his Wounds to cherish our Souls to answer all the Arguments and Objections of the Devil against us and to be our Friend our Brother our Shepherd â—nd our New and Living Way to his Father's Bosom The Holy Ghost doth promise to enlighten us to be our Guide in the dark to comfort us in all our Tribulations to teach us how to pray to assure us of God's love to fill us with joy in believing to increase our Graces to strengthen us in all Difficulties to support us in our Spiritual Dangers to arm us with Arguments against Temptations and to give us a Right to a future happy Resurrection This is the mighty promise God makes to poor Sinners in the Sacrament On the other side we that come to the Table of our Lord and do not intend to come in vain do solemnly promise particularly to the Eternal Father that we will own that relation with joy and walk as his Children not fashioning our selves according to our former Lusts in our ignorance but be holy as he that hath call'd us is holy that we will no longer live like Rebels and Prodigals under the Name of Children but make good that Glorious Title by our Lives shine as Lights in the World and endeavour to be spotless and blameless and by our Lives and Actions and good Works glorifie our Father which is in Heaven We promise here to God the Son and the Great Redeemer that we will not only accept of his purchas'd Blessings but submit to his Scepter too and that he shall be not only our Saviour but our Sovereign King and Master also to whom we will think our selves obliged to submit in all things that he shall say unto us in his Gospel that his Life shall be the pattern of ours and his Example and Command shall do more with us than our Gain or Appetite or Interest that we will be loyal to him who redeem'd our Lives from Destruction and will act as Spiritnal Subjects in his Spiritual Kingdom We promise also to God the Holy Ghost That we will not only expect his Benefit and Comforts but be guided by his Motions That we will not reâ—â—st his Checks and Reproofs but hearken to them whenever our Hearts do smite us That we will not prefer the Dictates of a Lying Devil before his Lively Oracles nor joyn with the Motions of our Fâ—esh against his Intreaties and Obtestations That we will make much of his gracious Visits and take heed we do not by our Sins and Follies defile the Temple of the Holy Ghost That we will cherish his kinder Influences and take care that the Grace and Talent he confers upon us be not buried in the Earth or laid up useless in a Napkin And this is a Scheme of the solemn Covenant a Believer a Receiver a Communicant enters into with the Holy Trinity in this Tremendous Sacrament a Covenant that ought to be more sacred than the Leagues of Princes and more religiously observed than the Treaties and Engagements of the dearest Friends VI. This Covenant we enter into first of all in our Baptism when our Age is Tender our Desires Innocent and our Souls like soft Wax fit for any Impression and consequently fit for the Impress of the Divine Image and though that Age be not capable of entering actually into a Covenant with the Lord of Heaven and Earth yet it 's enough that our Parents and Friends who have Power over us do then make this Covenant with God for us dedicate us to his Service appoint us Candidates of Holiness and consecrate us early to the performance of the Conditions required in this Covenant a Charity just and a genuine effect of Paternal Care which as it loves the Child should share in their Temporal Enjoyments so it cannot but desire it should participate of the Blessings of this Covenant And since these Blessings are not to be had without the Obligation of Faith Repentance and Obedience though the Child cannot actually exercise these Virtues yet being offer'd to God upon these Conditions the Parents do not only shew their good Will to have the Child enrol'd in the Book of Life but lay the strongest Obligations on the Child to stand to the Terms of the Covenant when it comes to display the Glory of its Rational Faculties and therefore may expect an actual Conveyance of the Spiritual Blessings of this Covenant to the Child by the secret Operations of the Holy Ghost which Blessings the Child hath a Right to till enticed by Lust and the Vanity of the World it grows proud rebellious and shakes of the conduct of its Guide viz. The Spirit of the Holy Jesus For God knows the World and the Devil watch the first rising of the Sun I mean the first Appearances of Reason and seek to obscure and darken them by Mists of Sensuality into which Pit the Young Man that was in his Infancy dedicated to God too often falls and there lies and sleeps and many times awakes not till Death summons him to the dreadful Bar of Heaven Where it is so that the Covenant we enter'd into in the Morning of our Days is forgotten slighted and polluted with Filthiness and superfluity of Naughtiness what can we think but that the intended Blessings of the Covenant cease and die and are withdrawn from the degenerate Creature and the Promises of God being our Father our Saviour and our Comforter are null'd at least the performance of them suspended till the Apostate comes to himself again This early perfidiousness too common and too general discovers the absolute necessity of renewing this Covenant when we are able to understand the greatness and importance of the Contract and to enter into that Bond in our own Persons especially in the Supper of the Lord and there solemnly to engage our Souls to the performance of the Conditions required on our side upon which what God hath graciously promis'd will effectually be perform'd again an offer not to be slighted for it is an argument of infinite Patience and Goodness that God will give the Backslider leave to enter into the broken Covenant and
will upon that return let the still streams of his Promises flow in and Water his Soul again so that if this opportunity be neglected we know not the Treasures of Wrath we heap up against our selves for it looks like resolution to die and to be miserable VII That God consents to this Covenant unfeignedly we need not doubt and that what he promises he intends to fulfil we may be confident of since we have his Word for it and his Nature is such that he cannot lye The great danger lies on our side who are very mutable Creatures and apt either to equivocate in our consent or to consent only by halves or to forget the Terms we have consented to It 's fit therefore I should explain the Nature of that consent we give or are to give in this Covenant especially at the Table of our Lord where the Sacred Cup fill'd with the Blood of Christ at once represents Gods willingness to enter into a Covenant with us and invites us to accept of the Offer and our Drinking of it shews we actually consent to all the Terms of this Covenant Therefore to prevent Hypocrisie in this consent I must tell you that this consent must be 1. Deliberate and the effect of Consultation Sometimes a melancholy Humour seizes upon our Spirits and not knowing how to ease our selves we try whether Religion will not qualifie our trouble and then we are consenting to this Covenant though we cannot tell why or how whence it comes to pass that if Religion doth not presently cure our Melancholy we grow weary and throw it off again Most Men have sometimes a Religious Fit upon them and when either something hath cross'd their designs or a disaster hath put them into discontent they are during that Paroxysm resolv'd to consent But as it was a sudden Motion without a good Foundation so it soon withers and comes to nothing It's necessary therefore we should take pains to understand what this Covenant means what consent God requires how reasonable and just that consent is what a priviledge it is that God will admit us into such a Compact what the things are he requires on our part and how necessary it is he should require such at our Hands and after we have counted the cost and seen and thought and consulted what this unfeigned consent will stand us in and weigh'd both the Advantages and Inconveniencies then in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ freely and chearfully to agree to the Conditions requir'd in this Covenant this is a consent which in imitation of the great Planet of the Day is like to go on to a perfect Day 2. This consent must be hearty the intent strong and the desire vigorous to perform the Conditions of this Covenant such a consent as he gives that for a considerable Reward promises to do what we put him upon He fully designs it he knows nothing that should hinder him his Heart his Mind his Affections are bent upon the doing of it for the Reward presses upon his Understanding and the greatness of that gives force and resolution to his Will and Desire Here must be used no underhand dealings God is not to be put off with Complements The Young Man that said I go Sir but went not Math. 21. 28. stands branded for a Hypocrite A full purpose of Heart is requisite in this case as serious a purpose as Men have when under great hopes or fears which are most likely to make their purpose invincible To consent to walk as Sons of God to embrace the Lord Jesus as our King to prefer the Motions of Gods Spirit before the Suggestions of the Flesh I say to consent to all this and not to intend very seriously to act accordingly is to impose upon God at least to act as if we would do so and to slight his Omniscience or to carry our selves as if he did not know our down-sitting and our up-rising or did not understand our Thoughts afar off which is impious 3. This consent ought to be impartial and entire even to all the parts of the Conditions express'd or understood in this Covenant Here must be no accepting of Christ by halves but our Affections must embrace him both as a Ruler and a Friend To accept of the Sweets of his Sufferings and to refuse his Yoak to rejoyce in his Mercies and to reject his Law or to be willing to submit to some of his Laws and to take liberty as to others is to divide Christ and to part his Offices or to hold both with Christ and with the Devil A King had as good have no Subjects as disobedient Subjects and to what purpose had all that costly Method of the Son of God to purchase a People to himself been if the intent had not been to make them subject to his Will and Power That there might be no dispute about this point the Apostle hath left it upon record Heb. 5. 9. That he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him And there needs no great Logick to infer from hence That no Man hath a Right or Title to Salvation till he actually and sincerely obeys him and obeys him in all that he requires For he that obeys partially doth not obey in a Scripture sense We our selves do not much affect Servants that are only for what they can get and care not how little Work they do and God to be sure hath no Reason to look upon those as true Confederates that consent only to be made happy by the Death of Christ but are loath to die to the Vanities of this World or to admit his Kingdom and Empire into their Souls So that he that truly consents to this Covenant must consent not only to enjoy the Comforts of a Saviour but that Christ shall be Master of his Will Desires and Affections that these shall be at his Beck move by his Order and be manag'd according to his Direction 4. This consent must not only respect our future Seriousness and Conscientiousness but express our present Designs and Inclinations As in Marriage so in this Covenant it must be a present consent that ratifies the Contract and as in the former I take thee for my Wedded Wife and I take thee for my Wedded Husband makes the Matrimonial Compact valid so in this present agreeing to the Terms propos'd and required makes a Man a welcome Confederate and unites and knits him to that God who enters into solemn Engagements in this Covenant to discharge the Offices of a kind Husband to us And O God the Father of Heaven I do here most humbly offer and tender unto thee my filial Affection O God the Son Redeemer of the World I am content to be thy Loyal Sabject and to be governed and ruled by thy Holy Laws O God the Holy Ghost preceeding from the Father and the Son I take thee for my Guide and my Counsellor by whose advice I mean to steer my course
singular Mercy A Prince may send two Persons one whom he hates another whom he loves to Prison with very different Intents the one with an Intent to have him executed according to Law the other to preserve him from the Rage of his Enemies And the same may be said of Sickness which we see lights indifferently upon Good and Bad. 2. Though Sicknesses and Untimely Death are govern'd by Second Causes by Colds and Heats by hard Labour and Straining by excessive Passion and Grief and Joy by tedious Journeys and dangerous Voyages by Fevers in the Blood and Contrariety of pugnant Humours by Winds and Storms by Fire and Water by a Pestilential Breath and going to infected Places c. yet he that sits at the Stern of the great Vessel must not be supposed to look on carelesly or to be nothing but a Spectator of the Conspiration of the Second Causes These Second Causes are constantly govern'd by a Power supream and by his Order and Influence they move He directs and bids them concur to produce such Effects and while they seem to act by Chance and in the dark he himself hath pregnant Reasons why he causes such a Concourse of inferior Causes and these Reasons he hath thought fit to reveal in his Word where we are to seek them So that though an unworthy Receiver may get his Sickness and Death by Quarrelling by Gluttony by Drunkenness and Intemperance by being wounded and bruised by rude and insolent Men yet Providence is not asleep all this while and though he doth not command or approve the Sins which are the Occasion or the immediate Causes of the ensuing Sickness yet he wisely permits them resolves not to hinder them from producing such Effects for Reasons his Eternal and infinite Wisdom hath pitched upon so that they may very well be intended as Punishments and Judgments even while they are the natural Effects of Second Causes And God in punishing the unworthy Receiver with Sickness and untimely Death lays Righteousness to the Line and Justice to the Plummet there being nothing more just than that he should fall sick that hath been sick of God's Service and he come to an untimely Death that hath disregarded the Death of Christ Jesus and counted it an unworthy thing And what if some unworthy Receivers live as long as other Men and perhaps to a very great Age yet that doth not make the Apostle's Words less true nor is it any Security to the Offenders that therefore they shall go scot-free The Threatnings of God that concern this present Life if they are not executed in this Life shew however what the Sinner hath deserved and not being executed here if that which should have been inflicted here is added to the Punishment hereafter he hath no great reason to brag of his escaping here Sometimes the Sinner bethinks himself and repents and turns from his Errour and by that means escapes the sad Effects of his Threatning for all Threatnings have this implicite Condition included In case the Offender doth not make his Peace with God Add to all this That if the Threatnings of God be executed upon some Persons guilty of the Sin to which the Threatning is made it is enough to vindicate the Veracity of God And if any Sinner of the same Size and Degree do escape still the Threatning shews what they may expect if they turn not The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THE Wise Man's Advice surely is very reasonahle Eccles. 7. 14. In the Day of Adversity consider Times of Affliction are considering Times Affliction is sent on purpose to teach and to instruct us 'T is intended to put us in mind of the Sins we have forgotten or been wilfully ignorant of the Sins of our Childhood the Sins of our Youth the Sins of our riper Age and the various Neglects and Defects of our holy Services And therefore in the Old Testament the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jasar which stands for Affliction imports not only Correction and Chastisement but Instruction too It is an excellent School-master and he that submits to its Teachings will become wiser than a Multitude of Books will make him Therefore my Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Heb. 12. 5. Consider who it is that sends the Rod and what the Design of the unwelcome Messenger is Consider how much thou needest it and how justly thou hast deserved it Consider how it is intended for thy Good and how thou shouldest have forgotten why thou camest into the World but for this Remembrancer Consider how little Reason thou hast to take it ill when the dearest Servants of God have passed through this Fire and how without it thou wouldst have continued a Stranger to thy self Consider its Mercy that he will call home the straying Sheep and will not let thee wander in the Wilderness of Sin And that when he strikes his Intent only is to beat the Dust out of thy Clothes not to hurt the better part This Consideration will go near to produce that excellent Temper in thee which David speaks of Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a Child that is weaned of his Mother My Soul is even as a weaned Child Psal. 131. 2. II. Let not him that is weak in Faith yet loves the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity makes Conscience of his Laws and would not willingly offend him to gain the World let him not be frighted when Sickness or any outward Disaster and sad Accident befals him as if that were a certain Argument that therefore he hath received unworthily The Enemy may suggest such a Thought but Christian explode it as boldly as it comes They are other Reasons that make thy Heavenly Father lay his chastening Hand upon thee His Design is to make thee entirely conformable to his own Son to that Son who for the Glory set before him endured the Cross. He was made perfect through Suffering so would God make thee perfect through Affliction If a Person be never so holy yet if he hath not passed through the Furnace of Affliction he wants Perfection Afflictions gave the Son of God as he was Man a Title to his Father's Kingdom and they are Items to thee that thou shalt reign with Christ for ever These Troubles that encompass thee are to make thy future Joys the greater and thy Crown more bright and shining Fear not that thou hast received unworthily while thy Conscience bears witness that thine Eyes thy Heart thy Affections were toward him in the holy Sacrament and are so still If thy Treasure and thy Heart was in Heaven then and thou still endeavourest to preserve that Frame thy Eating and Drinking hath done thee good and thou hast been refreshed by it and the Lines did fall to thee in pleasant places These present Afflictions are thy Security that God loves thee and as they tell thee that thou hast no continuing City here so
Villanies and Abuses And dost not thou remember something like this in thy self O my Soul When thou hast engaged in a Sin that hath been heinous and dreadful hath not that Sin wanted Support from other Sins And hath it not forced thee to call in other Follies to maintain it How hast thou defended thy Theft or Uncleanness with a Lye and that Lye with another Lye and the second Lye with an Imprecation and that Imprecation with a constant Asseveration of the same Falshood How hath one ill Word brought in another And how hath the Neglect of Charity provoked thee at last to Malice and Injuriousness 66. And as soon as it was Day the Elders of the People and the Chief Priests and the Scribes came together and led him into their Council WHat Haste do these Men make to ruin their immortal Souls For fear they should not dye their Souls with a Guilt deep enough they get up early And do not these Men's Proceedings put thee in mind O my Soul of the Haste thou hast made to Everlasting Destruction How early hast thou got up to offend thy God! How often hast thou begun the Day with vain and sinful Thoughts How often hath the first Word thou hast spoken in the Morning been an ill Name or an angry Expression How often hast thou made it thy first Contrivance in the Morning how to be revenged on such a Person and as soon as it hath been Day hast gone and executed thy premeditated Malice And hast not thou done so as to other Sins How early in a Morning have thy Lusts ingrossed thy Thoughts as if thy first Thoughts and Actions had been the Devil's Due and that God were to have his Leavings 67. Saying Art thou the Christ Tell us And he said unto them If I tell you you will not believe AND hath not this been thy Temper O my Soul How often hath God told thee that thou art in danger and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hath he assured thee that thou canst have no Share no Benefit in Christ's Merits except thou repentest and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hast thou been told that Christ died that thou mightest die to Sin and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hath the Spirit of God endeavoured to convince thee that except thou dost examine thy self whether thou art in the Faith or no thou canst not be sure of Salvation and yet thou wouldst not believe him Oh how often hath it been proclaimed in thine Ears that thou canst not love God except thou prefer his Will before thy Gain or Pleasure and yet thou wouldst not believe And whom couldst thou blame if God should condemn thee as an Unbeliever who hast resisted the known Truths of his most holy Oracles 68. And if I also ask you you will not answer me nor let me go THus hast thou dealt with thy Conscience O my Soul Thou hast neither permitted it to censure thy Actions nor suffer'd it to ask thee any Question When thou hast done something amiss and it hath checked thee how hast thou dashed its Reprehensions When it hath condemned thy Pride and Censoriousness how hast thou bid it meddle with its own Business How often would it have asked thee which way thou hopest to be saved and thou hast turned away from the Motion How often hath it been ready to demand of thee whether the Courses thou takest are agreeable to the Rules of the Gospel and thou hast presently diverted the Suggestion Nay how often hath it actually expostulated with thee why no Warning no Threatning could prevail with thee and thou hast put it off like Felix to come and discourse with thee another Day when thou art more at leisure 69. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the Right Hand of the Power of God O My Soul Thou hast been in a manner as confident of thy sitting at the Right Hand of God as Christ himself yet without any solid Ground Oh how ready hast thou been to apply the Promises of the Gospel without regarding whether thou didst fulfil the required Conditions How often hast thou flatter'd thy self that thou shalt see God in Glory when at the same time thou hast lived in Sins which exclude Men from the Kingdom of Heaven See through what Sufferings the Son of God enters into his Glory And canst thou think thou shalt reign with him except thou suffer with him Before he took possession of his Kingdom he fought his Way through all Opposition And canst thou hope to be conformable to him in Bliss except thou art content to be conformable to him in his Work and Labour of Love 70. Then said they all Art thou then the Son of God And he said unto them Ye say that I am THis Question which the Priests and Elders among the Jews put captiously to our Master the Lord Jesus I have reason O my Soul to put to thee in good earnest Art thou a Child of God or not If thou art what mean the Vanities thou doatest upon What means that Fondness of the World that fills the Chanels of thy Heart What means thy Averseness from imitating the Primitive Saints in their Self-denials If thou art a Child of God why wilt not thou be governed by the Spirit of God Why hath thy sensual Appetite so much power over thee And why art thou so loth to be holy as thy Father in Heaven is holy If the Actions of a Child of God are no part of thy Life how dwells thy Heavenly Father's Nature in thee And when all the Children of God must strive to have the same Mind in them which was in the Son of God how comes thy Mind to be so carnal and so wedded to Things below 71. And they said What need we any farther Witness For we our selves have heard it of his own Mouth VVHat these Men say maliciously of Christ God may too truly say of thee O my Soul What need is there of any farther Witness when thine own Mouth bears witness against thee Wert thou to appear before the great Tribunal at this Instant how justly might God condemn thee by thine own Confessions How justly might he say to thee Thou didst confess that Heaven is not to be got with a Wish Why then wouldst not thou bestow more Care and Pains about it Thou didst confess that thou canst do any thing in the World for Profit sake sit up at Night work hard go tedious Journeys put thy self to a great deal of Trouble for a Sum of Money Why then wouldst not thou bestir thy self for far greater Profit even an Eternity of Joy and Glory Thou didst confess that he that would not work deserved not to eat And how then canst thou expect to enjoy the Bread of Life even my Everlasting Kingdom when thou didst not care for working and couldst do more for Twenty or Forty Shillings than for the Everlasting Riches The XXIII Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel Paraphrased
in us we shall be desirous to dye to the World and have great inclinations to suffer with him and this is not to be done but by bridling both Soul and Body through a severe Mortification IV. In inflicting Judgments upon our selves the Word of God must be our guide He that should use all the Mortifications he meets with in Ecclesiastical History especially in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries after Christ might run himself into great Errors and Inconveniencies The Scripture is ever the safest Rule which when Men have forsaken and thought to do more than is commanded or recommended by Examples in that Book they have been often lest exposed to great Temptations He that follows an Example of Penitential rigor recorded in Scripture though some imprudence may mingle with the imitation yet it is an error of the Right Hand There have been excesses of Devotion in all Ages and even good Men have sometimes run beyond the bounds prescribed them by Almighty God into superstition especially in things relating to voluntary affliction of the Body and from hence have grown those abuses in Popery where Penances have swallow'd the measures of substantial Piety and Men's inflicting of Judgment upon themselves hath been a means to make them neglect Faith Judgment and Mercy This shews the necessity of keeping close to the Rule of Scripture which besides the Precepts hath thought fit to Record such Examles as are sufficient to instruct us both in the nature of Repentance and the Rigors that in some cases are to bear it company It 's certain that in some persons strong habits of Sin will not be dissolved or broke but by Corrosives and violent Remedies and where a Man sees that the corruption which cleaves to him baffles all softer Applications he must needs save himself from being undone by lancing the wound Maimonides the learned Jew in his Rules of Ethicks gives this advice to his Disciples that would arrive to any considerable degree in virtue He saith he that hath been guilty of one extreme i. e. He that finds an habit of a certain sin in himself to become good must at first at least run into the opposite extreme of the Virtue which is its contrary till he be qualified to walk in the middle way without danger i. e. He that finds himself very cholerick and passionate to arrive to an habit of meekness must at first run into an excess of meekness and be patient and silent and contented even under injuries and actions that in some measure deserve his anger and continue thus for some time till his Soul be quieted like a weaned Child and then he may abate of that excess and use his meekness with greater discretion so he that hath been proud to mortifie that ill habit or extreme must apply himself to the other and be humble even to contempt and reproach so long till his stubborn affection be subdued and then he may use his humility with greater moderation We see by this that Jews as well as Christians are sensible that without a rigor and severe Discipline there is no arriving to any height of Goodness and Religion yet as this inflicting Judgments upon our selves is a thing of great use in the weighty Work of true Repentance and in the support of a serious Life so care must be taken that all opinion of Merit be laid aside in the practice of it for if such a Worm get into the Timber of the Sanctuary it soon rots it nor must we think that after we have exercised such Acts of Justice upon our selves for the Sins we have committed we may upon the credit of it take fresh liberty to offend God The design of it is to mortifie our Appetite to Sin an therefore must not prove fewel of that Fire To this must be added Discretion and Moderation in the management of these Acts of Justice and as by inflicting upon our selves the Discipline of Fasting and Humiliation before the Holy Sacrament not a few Christians find much Comfort if their Bodies be able to bear it so in times of Sickness or bodily Weakness this inflicting of Judgment on our selves becomes useless and unnecessary for in these cases God inflicts Judgments and therefore we need not All we have to do at such times is to kiss the Rod and to bear God's gentle Corrections as things we have both deserv'd and are intended for the renewing of our inward Man Our English Histories tell us of two Men in the time of Popery one who upon his Death-bed when the Priest came to him with the Holy Sacrament would be dragg'd like a Traitor out of his Bed to the place where the Priesthood and another who hearing the Bishop was come to Administer the Sacament to him would needs crawl out of his Bed half naked with an Halter about his Neck to receive it But as I know not what Motives or Impulses they might have for these Actions so I am loth to judge whether they did ill or not The PRAYER MY Lord and my God! my Shepherd my Master my Helper and the Lifter up of my Head my Light my Way my Wisdom my Righteousness my Sanctification my Redemption O how I could be revenged on those Madnesses Follies Vanities I have been guilty of I do not only confess them unto thee O thou searcher of all Hearts but I could even bruise and wound and tear my self for being so basely and so monstrously ungrateful to the best of Masters if that were a Sacrifice pleasing unto thee How stupid how sensless have I been How averse from that which is my greatest interest Ah! how like a blind Creature have I groped in the dark and thought my self secure and safe while I have stood upon the brink of destruction How bold and daring have I been and what pains have I taken for Pleasures and Recreations which besides the unreasonableness and transitoriness and inconstancy of them could not be expiated neither O dearest Saviour but by thy Blood and Death O how heavy how dreadful must my Sins be that require so costly a satisfaction O Eternal Father To see what thou hast done for my Salvation To see how for my sake thy Son thine only Son is in a manner left destitute without Help without Assistance without Comfort what can I think but that in some respect thou didst love me more than him That I might rejoyce he must be sorrowful to a Prodigy that I might be healed he must be wounded that I may be cleansed he must spill his precious Blood O how faithful art thou to forlorn Man Thou hast piomised to restore him and behold Thou givest the richest Treasure of Heaven to effect it Ah! how can I see my dear Redeemer weep and not weep my self He grieves not for his own Sins but for mine he bewails not his own faults but my Transgressions he never sinn'd but I am he that hath offended thee a thousand times I beseech thee accept of the
afford matter of comfort to think at such times that the same Jesus who was crucified will ere long appear in Glory with all his mighty Angels to give those that have followed him in the Regeneration full possession of the purchas'd Glory However at the best the Celebration of this Feast at night was but a circumstantial thing and therefore the Church is not obliged to keep to it circumstantial things depending much upon conveniency or inconveniency which vary in several Ages and this was the reason that though standing at the eating of the Passover was a commanded circumstance Exod. 12. 11. yet the Jewish Church in after Ages varied from it even by Christs own Approbation and turned that posture into leaning as I shall have occasion to shew more largely in the Chapter about Kneeling at the Communion The Church therefore sins not in Celebrating this Feast at any other time especially in a circumstance barely related not commanded Yet as I said before because this Spiritual Feast kept up in all Churches is still in imitation of Christs Supper and that Supper is religiously remembred in it and the same essential things together with the scope drift and design of all are still preserved it is not unfitly called the Lords Supper still so that if any man seems to be contentious about the name We have no such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 12. 16. IV. Yet this is no Argument but that it may also lawfully be called and expressed by other Names and this we find the Christian Churches have done from time to time Tertullian was the first that called it a Sacrament taking the Name from the Oaths the Roman Soldiers took that they would be true and faithful to their Emperor and the rather because we vow Allegiance and Fidelity in this Ordinance to the great Master that died for us Others have call'd it an Oblation because we offer up our humble Prayers and Supplications to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our Souls and Bodies too when we remember this Beneficial Death Sometimes it hath been call'd a Sacrifice because it is not only a commemoration of the wonderful Sacrifice of Christs Death but we chearfully offer up the Sacrifice of our Praises for this inestimable Mercy The name of Communion occurs frequently in the Writings of the Ancients because all sincere Christians are hereby tyed in a bond of mutual Love participate of the same Bread are Fellow-members of the Mystical Body of Christ and have Communion with Christ their Head and enjoy all the same Benefits of his Death and sufferings The word Eucharist is used as often as any other because Thanksgiving and Magnifying the Goodness Mercy and Charity of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are a great part of the Service here The name Mass which they of the Roman Persuasion and even the Lutheran Churches make use of as it was not known in the Church for the first Four hundred years after Christ so the Original of it was this When the Lords Supper was to be celebrated after Sermon the Deacon or some other Officer of the Church called to the People that did not or were not to receive in these words Ite missa est Depart the Congregation is dismissed In time that which was only a Preliminary circumstance of the Lords Supper was applied to the whole Office and the Service was called Missa or Mass a word which the Romanists make a great stir with and turn into a perfect Charm and a monstrous Sacrifice to the great disparagement of Christs Sufferings and the Benefits that accrue thereby to true Believers Some of their Writers make it a Hebrew word and fetch it from the Old Testament others derive it from the Greek others from the Northern Language and though it expresses less then any of those Names we mentioned before yet hath this swallowed up all the rest and the more superstitious in the Roman Church are almost afraid to call it by any other Name and the Mass is that which both young and Old both learned and unlearned among them have most frequently in their Mouths though few of the Vulgar know what it means I omit here many other Names appropriated by Writers to this Mystery such as Collect Oeconomy Liturgy Dominical Agenda Anaphora Synaxis c. partly because I intend no Critical History and partly because by the names I have already spoken of this Sacrament is usually known in the Western Churches That we do so often call it a Mystery is because the things discovered and imitated here do altogether depend upon Divine Revelation and are such as Flesh and Blood understand not and the Secrets of which none but a Person enlightned by the Spirit of God apprehends to any purpose and which transcend all the Arcana or hidden points of Heathen Divinity V. The name of the Lords Supper puts us in mind that this Holy Feast differs from Common Suppers 1. In that Common Suppers are for the support of Nature this for the support of Grace and Goodness in our Souls The former are intended for the strengthning of the Body this for the corroboration of our Faith and Hope and Love Our Common Supper represents to us the Ordinary Providence of God which opens its hand and fills the desire of every living thing This Gods extraordinary dispensation which shews at what cost and charges we are made the Children of God and fitted for everlasting habitations The former gives us an account of the Blessings of Gods Left this of the favours of his Right Hand The former bids us look into the nether this into the upper Springs of the Divine Clemency 2. In our Common Suppers our Spirits may unbend and our Minds and Tongues take liberty of thinking and speaking of things relating to our necessary Employments in the World in this our thoughts must rise mount up with Wings as Eagles pierce the Clouds and fix on the Riches of Divine Love retire from the World view God and his glorious Attributes and unite with that excellent object improve themselves into Contemplaâ—ion and adore the Mystery of Redemption In the former no other Preparation is required but what we are to bring with us to common affairs and businesses i. e. Gravity and Sobriety but in this the Heart must be prepared the Soul chafed the Affections warmed prayers offered Ejaculations press into Gods presence and Self-examination dispose the Soul for the visits of the Holy Ghost that it may be a worthy Guest at so great a Table and the rather because God is in a special manner present here for wherever Providence displays its brighter beams of Love there God is eminently present that makes Heaven what it is because there the Divine Goodness shines most gloriously In this Sacrament are set before us more then ordinary Characters of Gods Love the Angels of Heaven saith St. Chrysostom stand round about the Altar and while the Minister
of the Ordinance is praising him that lives for ever and ever fall down at the same time rejoycing at the blessings and the Manna which falls down from Heaven on the Children of Men so that here we may cry out as the Patriarch did of Bethel How dreadful is this place The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THIS Sacarament being a Feast prepared by the Greatest Prince for his Servants those Servants must needs be inexcusable that refuse to give their attendance here I do not deny but their may be just excuses and lawful causes of our absence such as Sickness Weakness Faintness and Distempers Pains Aches and some sudden Accidents and Disasters which will not suffer us to fix our thoughts on so reverend an ordinance but these hapning against our Wills and importing no wilful neglect God bears with us under such circumstances but to act as if we did not hear our Master call and to suffer the World to put a stop to our coming to be so enamoured with our Profits and sensual Satisfactions as not to think our selves concerned in the Duty to refuse approaching because we are loath to be at the pains of searching our Hears and trying our ways to neglect coming because we are loath to sequester our Thoughts from sublunary Objects and to part with our Sins to absent our selves because we relish the enjoyments of this life before this Celestial Food this is to slight what God esteems and to spurn at the greatest Mercy this is to thrust away Salvation as if it were worth nothing and to â—ndervalue the pains God takes to bring us to himself and what God must think of such Scorners I need not tell you for your selves may guess except you believe God to be a Stone or Stock how he must resent it and one would think it should cause some sad thoughts within you if you believe what he saith 1 Sam. 2. 30 They that love me I will Honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed II. When the Church invites us to this Feast we must suppose that our Lord himself makes an Address to us as it is in Matth. 22. 4. Behold I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready come ye to the Marriage This Holy Ordinance is the Marriage Feast which declares our being joyned to the Son of God the King immortal invisible blessed for evermore Hearken therefore O daughter and consider forget also thine own People and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him This Feast requires suitable Garments not Tyrian Purple not Persian Silks not that outward adorning with broider'd hair or gold or pearl or costly array but the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price A Garment of Sackcloath is a more glorious sight in the eyes of him who is the Master of This Feast then all the bravery of the tinckling Ornaments of the Daughters of Sion and a Contrite Heart invites his gracious aspect and this the Primitive believers were so sensible of that before their coming to this Feast they humbled their Souls with Fasting and as course and uncomely as this Garb appears to sensual Men yet He that is the lofty and Holy one who inhabits Eternity hath declared his liking and approbation of it For to that man will I look that is of an humble a and contrite Spirit and trembles at my word Es. 66. 2. Es. 57. 15. We read of a Garment of Praise too Es. 61. 3. a Garment which the Angels of Light are adorned and deckt withal a Garb so pleasing that the Eternal Father smiles on them and it smells sweeter than that of Esau God like old Isaac takes notice of it and blesses them St. Paul understood this and wore it constantly Hence it is that we find him so liberal in praising the Cross of Christ with this he seems always transported and he seldom talks of Christ without Raptures an object upon which he though he could never say enough Being rapt up into the Third Heaven he had heard the melodious voices of the four and twenty Elders and the new Song they sung to the Lamb that was slain Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Rev. 5. 9. and he could not have a better Pattern And now that we speak of Garments that make us welcome Guests at this Table we must not forget the Garment or Ornament of good Works which St. Paul takes notice of 1 Tim. 2. 10. These are the Shining Robes our Souls must be ambitious of these adorn our Profession charm spectators attract followers and are apt to make People in love with goodness and what is more change us into the same Image with the Author and Finisher of our Faith whose province and imployment was going about and doing good as we are told Act 10. 38. and consequently this cannot but be a proper Ornament to appear in at this Banquet And of this nature is the white Garment we read of Eccles. 9. 8. or the Garment of Innocence and Purity whereby we hate the Garment spotted by the flesh and keep Consciences void of offence toward God and toward Man In these Garbs we may boldly shew our selves at the Table of our Lord and expect the same welcome that the Spouse received in the Canticles Cant. 4. 10 11. How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouseâ— how much better is thy love than Wine and the smell of all thine Ointments than all Spices Thy Lips O my Spouse drop as the Honey-comb Honey and Milk are under thy Tongue and the smell of thy Garments is like the smell of Lebanon The PRAYER O Holy and merciful Saviour merciful beyond example who treatest me as thy Child hast prepared a Table for me and made my Cup run over Be thou my Shepherd let me want no Grace no Mercy no Assistance that 's necessary for me in the prosecuting of mine Eternal Happiness Dress me with thy Robes adorn me with the Ensigns of thy Favour Let me rejoyce at the Supper thou hast prepared for me Teach me to entertain thy Call with gladness Let me see clearly what thou hast prepared for them that love thee Thou knowest my stubborn and lazy Heart rouze it from its slumber melt it by the fire of thy love breath upon these dry Bones and they shall live Let me not with Esau prefer a morsel of Bread eaten in secret before my Birth-right to Eternal Glory Let me consider thy Condescension in inviting such a Wretch to sup with thee Let not the evil examples I see before me be any temptation to me Uphold me by thy right hand Let me dread thine anger and count it a greater disgrace to be
not Jon. 11. 49. 50. But St. John is fuller in the explication of this Good when he asserts that his death is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World 1 Jon. 2. 2. Many things are by Men pretended to be done for the Publick Good but what they call Publick is either for the Good of a Family or Corporation or Parish or City or a certain Territory or a Kingdom But the Death of Christ spreads its Virtues infinitely wider not confining its Benefits to a Province or a part of the World but the whole Race of Mankind was concern'd in the Favour so that nothing was ever done so truly for the Publick Good as Christ's Suffering and Dying and whoever remembers it in publick testifies his esteem and value of it not only by his inward sense and admiration of it but by the very place in which he doth remember it The Truth is Christ was crucified publickly in the face of the Sun and before huge multitudes both of Jews and Proselytes who were come to give their attendance at the Passover Both Jews and Gentiles beheld the spectacle and Men of all sorts and conditions crouded to see so dreadful a shew which was an Item that the remembrance of it should be in the most publick place the Church the rather because this publick remembrance doth best promote Christ's Glory as multitudes joyning together in Confessions and Praises must necessarily advance it more than the Hallelujahs of two or three in private IV. Private Communions or Communions in places which were neither Churches nor publick Oratories owe their first rise to the Churches persecutions For when Nero and his successors in the Roman Empire began to defile the Faith with Blood and to be a Christian and a Malefactor were made convertible Terms the Christians were forced to serve God as they could and therefore celebrated the Communion in any place to which they were driven in the common Storm in Mines in Ships in Stables in Prisons in Caves and Dens of the Earth and where two or three Christians had the convenience of getting a Bishop or Minister to consecrate the Elements they chearfully remember'd their Crucify'd Lord and Master as Dionisius of Alexandria tells us in Eusebius And this soon occasion'd another Custom which was to send part of the Consecrated Bread and Wine to Peoples Houses and Cottages in the Country Justin Martyr is very express in this point And hence it came to pass that the Christians kept the Consecrated Elements by them to make use of them when either sickness seiz'd them or they found death approaching and upon this account the Sacrament was called the Viaticum or provision for a Man's Journy into another World as we learn from Gregory the Great And because the Holy Bread thus kept for use was sometimes too big for the sick or dying Person to swallow they crumbled the Bread into the Consecrated Wine and gave it the sick Person in a Spoon as we see in the example of Serapian in Eusebius a thing which in process of time was thought so necessary for all dying Christians that in some places where Superstition thrust out true Devotion in case a Person dyed before he had received the Communion they would thrust and force the crums of Bread mingled with Holy Wine into the Mouths of Persons already departed against which profanation the Fathers thought themselves obliged to Enact very severe Canons which was done accordingly in the Councils of Carthage Antisiodorum and Constantinople and Julius Bishop of Rome forbad putting the Crums of Consecrated Bread in Wine a practice which in all probability came first from sending the Consecrated Elements to Persons absent from the Publick who either could not or durst not appear in the publick Oratories a thing that Origen either foresaw or knew would be abused which makes him inveigh against such presumption So that as Persecution first brought in private Communions so when those Persecutions ceased the Church still obliged her Members to receive the Communion in publick according to the first institution It is therefore wisely ordered by our Church that People shall be exhorted in time of their health to receive the Eucharist in publick that they may not be disquieted for the omission of it when Diseases or Distempers do suddainly seize upon them at which times as the Senses and Faculties are weak so Men cannot receive these Mysteries with that Vigor Zeal and Love that is required in the right use of the Ordinance And indeed where People neglect receiving in publick not thinking of their Duty till death put them in mind of it we can promise them but little comfort He that hath often appeared at the Lord's Table in publick and concludes the scene of his life with this remembrance may reap more than ordinary satisfaction from it because he perfects that in private which he so often comfortably made use of in publick but he whose Eyes were never open to see the necessity of it till his dying groans remove his blindness as he hath despised the Church of God and neglected the time of his Visitation so his Comforts can neither be so great nor so solid as his who hath frequently strengthen'd his Soul in publick with this Cordial when the powers of the Soul are shaken with a violent sickness and the Limbs are weak the Spirits faint and the Thoughts diverted by uneasiness and pain Alas How can the Soul fix on the Cross of Christ What Sense what touches of his Love can it have or what guesses can it make at its Spiritual growth and advancement in Holiness And though according to the old Proverb It 's better late than never yet it 's to be fear'd such Men come so very late that if they were to be pictur'd they might justly be drawn as the Cardinal drew Salomon hanging betwixt Heaven and Hell it being very doubtful which of these two would fall to their share So that upon a review of the whole tho' private Communions cannot be said to be altogether unlawful especially in times of persecution nor inconvenient to persons who have frequently attended this Ordinance in publick when they were able so in times of Peace and Liberty and Tranquility for Men and Women to continue strangers to publick Receiving and to satisfie themselves with a private Communion upon a Death bed is a thing so inexcusable that we cannot but with all possible earnestness discourage it as a thing that 's dishonour to the Church they live in a disgrace to the Religion they profess an impediment to their comfort a remora to their joy an affront to their Saviour and an uncertain cherisher of their hopes of Salvation The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. WHat a mercy is it that we have Publick Churches and Oratories to go to without lett or hindrance that we have no Tyrants nor Foreign Enemies no Rods no
yet still these Spirits as bright as they were were Creatures and as Creatures mutable and as mutable subject to falling and falling might expect Mercy and Compassion from an All-merciful Master yet in the great Work of Redemption no Regard is had to them but to Man only and he alone with his Race and Posterity is put in a Possibility of being saved and pardon'd a Mercy fit to be remembred in this Sacrament but not to be remembred without Thanksgiving and Praises 4. For the Opportunity we have of remembring Christ's Death in the holy Sacrament That we have Liberty to meet in the House of God to behold his Power and Glory to speak of his Love and Compassion and to come to his Table and to come of often and so freely without Disturbance or Molestation without Fear of Danger from the Tabernacles of Edom or from the Ishmaelites from Moab or the Hagarens Though these are Things which seem to be no great matter to an Eye that looks on Things superficially yet to a Person that knows how in the Greek Church the holy Sacrament is consecrated but once a Year how in Heathenish Countries where Ministers of the Word are scarce this Ordinance is used but seldom and how great an Hindrance to Goodness the celebrating it but rarely is how apt the Inward Man in such Cases is to faint and languish and grow sick for want of it will think himself obliged to open his Heart and Mouth in Praises at this holy Table and adore the Divine Bounty which hath given him Will and Strength and Opportunity to come to this comfortable Ordinance 5. For feeling our Hearts affected with the Mystery of Reconciliation or finding in our selves those happy Qualifications which make us worthy Receivers at this Table To feel in our Hearts a lively Faith a Faith which with Moses sees him that is invisible a Faith that overcomes the World a Faith that purifies the Heart a Faith that with Abraham moves us to sacrifice and offer that to God which is most dear to us a Faith that makes us patient under Reproaches and Injuries a Faith that is fruitful in good Works To find in our selves an Hope that makes not ashamed an Hope that makes us wait for the Kingdom of God as the Husbandman waits for the Fruit of the Earth an Hope that upholds our Hearts in Afflictions an Hope that makes us look upon that within the Vail into the Sanctuary of Heaven and counts the Troubles of this present Life not worthy to be compared with the Glory which ere long shall be revealed in us To find in our selves an holy Charity which believes the best of our Neighbours and thinks no Evil except there be very great Cause for it a Charity which suppresses Revenge and Malice and not only suppresses it for the present but labours to destroy it too a Charity which moves us to Kindness and Compassion not only verbal but actual a Charity which makes us tender-hearted forgiving one another and forbearing one another To find all this in some measure must needs fill our Hearts with strong Desires and Endeavours to be thankful VII This Praise and Thanksgiving cannot but be essential to this holy Sacrament not a mere Ornamental Thing without which the blessed Effects may be perceived and felt For 1. Is it possible to behold God's bleeding Love and not cry Praise the Lord O Jerusalem Praise thy God O Zion Is it possible to see the surprizing Humiliation of the Son of God and not to say Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Is it possible to see God offer himself for his Enemies and not to sâ—ng Lord what is Man that thou so regardest him and the Sons and Daughters of Men that thou hast such Respect to them Is it possible to see Innocence nailed to the fatal Cross not for any Sins of its own but for our Transgressions and not to break forth into Admiration with St. John Behold what manner of Love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Sons of God The Heart must be of Stone that can survey these Wonders and be silent or dumb to joyful Praises 2. What Comfort or Consolation can be supposed to flow into the Soul without it Praise is the Gate of Mercy The Soul that praises the Divine Love much will have a greater Sense of his Love and feel the Power of it and feel how it melts the Heart supples the Spirit softens the Inward Man and makes it fit for the Impress of the Image of the Son of God As the Jews say of the Spirit of Prophesse That it rests on valiant and chearful Men so it may be said of the Divine Love Where the Soul is much and often engaged in Praises of it there it loves to dwell there it is ready to build Tabernacles and take up its Residence The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. EVen the meanest Capacities from hence learn the Way to arrive to holy Thoughts viz. by making the most ordinary Blessings Occasions of Praise and Thanksgiving Nothing is more common than Bread yet for this the Son of Man gave Thanks and in doing so bid us imitate his Practice when the like familiar Mercies come before us or present themselves to our View About the Time of the Council at Constance two Cardinals as they were travelling upon the Road not far from the City saw a poor Shepherd weeping and thinking that some sad Accident might have befallen him either his Dog lost or some of his Sheep stolen had the Curiosity to ask him the Reason of his Tears who answer'd I am looking here upon a Toad and cannot but weep to think what an ungrateful Beast I have been to my God to whom I never before in all my Life gave Thanks that he â—e did not make me so homely and so odious a Creature The Truth is you and I can hardly walk the Street but we meet with Men either ragged or lame or maim'd or blind or dumb or some other way deform'd and extreamly miserable Can we look on such Objects and not think with our selves what a Favour and Mercy it was in our great and gracious God not to plunge us into that wretched State but to give us Necessaries and Conveniencies a right Shape and Soundness of Limbs c. These 't is true are but very ordinary Blessings yet if we consider how many Thousands want them and that God who can do all Things and whose Hand is to be seen in all Things might as easily have reduced us to such a miserable Condition as he hath done others and that it is nothing but his Infinite Goodness and Wisdom that hath made this Distinction this cannot but quicken our Understandings And if so none of us can complain that we have no Faculty of furnishing our Minds with holy Thoughts To this purpose certainly was our Reason given us that we might
look on such Mercies with spiritual Reflections and Praises and these Praises are holy Thoughts Nay the Task is very easie and there is nothing lies more in our power than by taking a View of such Blessings to think This God hath done this is part of his Charity this is a Character of his Bounty What am I and what is my Father's House that God hath brought me thus far And as it is easie so it is profitable too for this will fill our Minds with humble Thoughts and teach us to have a low Opinion of our selves it being impossible to think our selves very unworthy of God's Favours and not to despise our selves II. I told you in the first Chapter of this Discourse that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper among the Ancients was frequently called the Eucharist Here we see the Reason of it for as the Word Eucharist imports Praise so Thanksgiving is one of the principal Actions and Offices in this Sacrament The Church of Rome will have it called a Sacrifice because in the Primitive Church it went by that Name We deny it not but then they meant by it a Sacrifice of Praise and this Sacrifice we exhort every one of you to offer when you remember your Great Master's Funeral Give Thanks for that Death when you are preparing your selves for this spiritual Feast Give Thanks when you feed at this holy Table Give Thanks when you depart from that Banqueting-house Give Thanks unto the Lamb that was slain bless him for his Wounds bless him for his Cross bless him for his Bloody Sweat bless him for all his Sighs and Groans bless him for his Merits for through these your Souls must triumph over Hell and Sin and Devils But then take heed of praising him at Church and affronting him at home These Praises must be uniform and equal and constant not that you are obliged in all Places to speak of his Glory whatever Business you have or that you must do nothing but sing Psalms to him where-ever you are but your upright and Christian Behaviour in all Places is a Glorification of his Mercy For you are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2. 9. The PRAYER O Thou who inhabitest the Praises of Israel our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and they were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Praise waits for thee in Sion Thou deservest my devoutest Praises my most hearty Thanks my loudest Celebrations Can I think of what thou hast done for me and be loath to praise thee What should I do but praise thee All that I see within me or about me is Mercy my Meat my Drink my Clothes are Mercies But Oh! what a Mercy is that Spiritual Food thou settest before me at thy Table Oh let my Mouth be filled with thy Praise all the Day long I am sensible not only of the Necessity but the Comeliness of it too It sets a Lustre on my Soul it is an Ornament to my better Part it makes me glorious in thy Sight Oh teach me the Art of praising thee Let me but love thee and I cannot but praise thee My Love will dictate Words and suggest Meditations and I shall speak of all thy wondrous Works Let this be my greatest Delight my greatest Joy my greatest Pleasure that I may praise thee at last with all the Saints and Angels to Eternal Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. IX Of Breaking the Bread and the Mysteries of it The CONTENTS The Action of Breaking Bread borowed from the Jews used by Christ to put us in mind of his Crucifixion Of the broken State of Mankind Of his going to break down the Partition Wall betwixt the Jews and Gentiles Of the Communion of the Body of Christ Of our Coming to his Table with Broken Contrite Hearts Of his Readiness to comfort the Bruised and Broken Spirit Of the Vertue and Power of his Death in breaking the Force of God's Wrath against us Of the Miracle that was to happen at his Death in the Earth and Rocks c. And of the strange Divisions that would rise about this Sacrament The Action of Breaking the Holy-Bread doth not interfere with the Canon in the Rule of the Passover that not a Bone of the Lamb should be broken The Church of Rome is to blame for not Breaking the Bread Christ as well as the Disciples received the Communion Reflections to be made by Christians when they see the Bread broken The Prayer I. AMong the Jews as no Man durst eat Bread without consecrating it by Thanksgiving so no Man gave Thanks for the Bread but he broke part of it did eat of it and gave of it to the rest that were with him at the Table and the Master of the House if present was usually the Person that did all this gave Thanks and dealt the Bread about To this End the Loaves among the Jews were made with divers Cuts or Incisions that when they were brought to Table they might be broken with greater Ease by the Head of the Family and distributed to those that did eat with him Among the ancient Romans it was otherwise for though they had Cuts and Divisions upon their Loaves yet those Cuts were but four in all in the Shape of a Cross to the End that when they came to reach it to their Guests they might easily break it into four Parts Which was the Reason why they called the Portion that fell to one Man's Share Quadra or the fourth Part of a Loaf If Christ imitated any Custom in Breaking of Bread 't is most probable he followed that of the Jews from whose manner of living he used not to vary if their Actions and Customs had nothing of Sin in them shewing thereby how loath we should be Quieta movere to change or alter Things in a Church or Nation which through a long Succession of Time have been received provided there be nothing of Immodesty Superstition or Indecency or Irregularity in it The Unleaven'd Cakes of the Jews they use at this Day in the Celebration of their Passover are in all probability Relicks of that ancient Way among their Country-men of ordering their Loaves and making them with many Cuts and Divisions in them whereby the Master of the House took occasion to break off a just and convenient Piece for each Member of his Family But though Christ in breaking the Sacramental Bread might borrow that Right and Action from the Jews yet we must not suppofe that therefore he had no farther Design in it but rather sanctified it into a Mystery as he did the Washing of the Feet received among the Jews Joh. 13. 14 15. II. As Breaking the Sacramental Bread was an Action design'd to represent several Things of great Importance so
serious Reflections on his Death and Agonies and the Bitterness of his Passion It being spoken to our Souls not to our Bodies to take and eat this Body the Soul hath no other Way to feed upon it but by a pathetick Consideration of the Particulars of that Death and the End and Design of God in it and the Comforts and the Benefits that thereby redound to Mankind and such a Consideration as affects our Souls touches them to the quick and puts them on serious Enquiries into our wretched State and makes them break forth into Flames of Love so that though Christ's Body was crucified above Sixteen Hundred Years agone yet a pious Soul can eat it at this Day swallow the Charity which appears in it with her Thoughts consider who it is that is so wonderfully concerned for her Safety look upon him whom her Sins have pierced and take a View of that Man of Sorrows who was bruised for her Iniquities and wounded for her Transgressions and admire the Miracles that are to be seen in all this 2. To eat Christ's Body is to apply the Benefits of his Death and Passion to our Souls and to rejoyce in them as our greatest Treasure As he that eats with his Bodily Organs applies the Food he takes with his Hands to his Mouth and Body and converts it into Blood and Substance so the pious Soul is pleased with this Spiritual Meat is refreshed by it and applies the Benefits of that crucified Body to her self and with the Thoughts of Peace and Pardon and Salvation which are the Blessings that drop from that Tree arms her self against the Assaults of the Devil and the Terrours of Death and believing without wavering that those Mercies were purchased for her in particular and that she hath a Right and Title to them stands up in the evil Day and in the midst of Temptations boldly cries with the Apostle Who is he that condemns It is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. 3. To make this crucified Body a Persuasive and Motive to Holiness and Obedience To conclude from thence that if he gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity then we must not frustrate his Expectation nor cling to that Iniquity which he came to free us from And if he died to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous for good Works then we must not defile our selves after that nor wallow in the Mire any more with the Swine but cleanse our Minds from carnal covetous and lustful Thoughts our Wills from Perversenes and Stubbornness our Affections from Fondness of this present World and our Hands from Uncleanness His zealous Love to us must make us zealous for his Glory to him we must consecrate our selves and to be holy as he is holy must be the Business of our Lives and so to love him as to keep his Commandments must henceforward be looked upon as our bounden Duty He truly eats this crucified Body upon whom this Crucifixion hath that Power as to crucifie in him his known Lusts and Passions and to engage him to purifie himself from all Filthiness both of Soul and Body The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. IN all Writings both Ancient and Modern about this holy Sacrament there are various Rhetorical Expressions used which we must not understand literally but as Flowers strowed upon the Herse of our Blessed Redeemer and as Ornaments of Speech to represent the Greatness of the Mystery There is nothing more common among the Fathers than to call the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper the Body and Blood of Christ and the Cup the Vessel in which Christ's Blood is contained And many times Christ is said to stand at the Altar and all the holy Angels waiting at the Table that Christ offers his Body to be bruised by the People's Teeth and dyes them red with his Blood that the Elements are changed and become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus and that after Prayer and Thanksgiving they are no more what they were before and a Thousand such Expressions besides From which the Church of Rome presently infers that they believed a Transubstantiation or a Conversion of the Elements into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood than which nothing can be more absurd For if a Man compare these Saying of the Ancients with other Passages in their Writings it plainly appears that they meant no more than that the Elements are representative of all this and that the Expressions they use are nothing but Rhetorical Flourishes to raise the People's Affections and to render their Devotions brisk lively servent affectionate and vigorous We do the same at this Day when we tell you that you come to feast with Christ that in this Sacrament he is crucified before you Eyes that you may see his Blood run down that you hear him groan under the Burthen of your Sins that you see here his Body hanging on the Cross that you are to stand under the Tree and catch the precious Gore as Balsam for your Souls All which is true in a spiritual Sense and we do it to make you more attentive and set this Passion out in such lively Characters that your Souls may be touch'd and enliven'd and as Things represented in brighter Colours strike the Senses more so we speak of these Things as if they were visible and perceptible to the outward Eyes that your Souls may more chearfully feed on the Kernel that lies in those Shells and with greater Life embrace the glorious Benefits which come to you by that precious Sacrifice II. By the same Way that Man was lost by the same Way he must recover He was undone by eating He must be made whole again by eating By eating he died By eating he must come to Life again That Day thou eatest of this Tree thou shalt surely die saith God And the same saith God of this holy Sacrament That Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely live The Fruit in Paradise became a Savour of Death unto Death unto him The holy Bread in this Sacrament becomes a Savour of Life unto Life unto him That Eating brought him into Slavery This gives him a Title to the glorious Liberty of God's Children In eating that Fruit he thought to be like God and made himself worse than the Beasts that perish By eating of this Bread he is enabled to become like unto the Son of God by being changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory That Eating made him sick This is Health to his Navel and Maerrow to his Bones Prov. 3. 8. That brought the Plague This delivers from it That filled him with Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores This makes his Flesh come again like unto the Flesh of a little Child In a Word By eating God's Favour was forfeited By eating it is regained Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King for the Lord takes pleasure in his People he will
beautifie the Meek with Salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their Beds let them praise the Name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven III. See here how rich a Meal God the Father prepares for our Souls even the crucified Body of his Son Shall we look upon that Celestial Food with dull and careless Thoughts Can we behold this costly Bread and forbear crying out Lord for ever give us that Bread Christian if thou meanest to be saved by the crucified Body of thy Lord thou must needs eat of it Not only thy Mouth must eat the Sacramental Bread and chew it but thy Soul must ascend and employ her self in eating of the crucified Body represented by that Bread Thy Soul thy Mind thy Will thy Affections must have the greatest Share in eating at this Table Thy Body hath little to do here that is only the Chariot that brings thy Soul to this Banquet Thy Soul not being engaged and busie here in Thinking Admiration Resolution Love and Joy the Cringes and Bowings of thy Body will be insignificant The End of our common Eating is Assimilation and in our ordinary Meals we therefore eat Food agreeable to our Bodies that it may be united to our Substance mingle with our Blood and become one with our Bodies So here our Souls must feed on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus that we may become one with him All Creatures may be said to be one with Christ as he is God as he is their Creator in which respect he fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence and is not far from every one of us and in him we live and breath and have our Being Nay in a more particular manner every Professor of Christianity may be said to be one with him as he professes the same Religion which Christ taught his Disciples But this is not the Union aimed at in this Sacrament nor can the Union which respects our Profession only give any great Comfort to a Christian. The Union designed by this Sacrament is effected by the Spirit of Christ Jesus and the Soul that unfeignedly see◠here on the crucified Body of her Master gets the same Spirit that dwelt in her crucified Lord which produces the same Graces in her that shined in that great Shepherd of Souls and the same Mind the same Temper the same Disposition in substance at least though not in the same Degree is effected and produced in her by this Spirit as we see Rem 8. 11. Phil. 2. 5. And this is that Union every true Communicant is to aim at and from hence flows a Communion with Christ in all his Privileges and Glories whereby the Soul is raised up together with Christ and made to sit together with him in Heavenly Places though not by way of actual Enjoyment as yet but by getting a Right and Title to those Privileges as the Apostle informs us Ephes. 2. 6. By feeding on this crucified Body the Soul is nourished and gathers Strength against her spiritual Enemies becomes bold in Temptations resolute in Dangers couragious in spiritual Enterprizes The Soul that comes to feed on this crucified Body and comes not with this Intent comes in vain comes only to stare upon the Cross but not to be refreshed by it The Soul that after the Sacrament yields wilfully to the same Temptations it did before is ensnared by the same sinful Pleasure that ruin'd it before is led Captive by the same Lusts that intangled her before certainly feeds not on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus because the Contemplation of that Crucifixion works no suitable Effects which if it did the Soul would unfeignedly destroy the Body of Sin according to the Apostle's Rule Rom. 6. 6. and offer up her Body a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God as it is said Rom. 12. 1. Make the Body obedient to Reason and Sense to Faith and the Flesh to the Spirit and it would keep under the Body and bring it into Subjection as St. Paul did 1 Cor. 9. 27. i. e. it would deny the Body those Satisfactions which are manifest Hindrances to the Things of the Spirit it would force it to Temperance to Hardships to Industry and Laboriousness in God's Service it would strive and take care that the Body might become a Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 what the Soul doth in this Ordinance would leave such a Sense upon us as would not only enable but constrain us to glorifie God both in Body and Soul as the Scripture requires 1 Cor. 6. 20. These are the blessed Effects of eating the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus And the Soul that feeds on that Body will find these happy Consequences it will not go away empty from this Meal and though for the present it doth not see all these Effects yet there is that Impression made on her by this Eating that these Effects will afterward discover themselves in her Life and Conversation The PRAYER O My God! What Care dost thou take of my immortal Soul that it may not starve Thou hast made large Provision for my Body in the Earth in the Air and in the Water The Earth brings forth Herbs and Roots and Cattel to feed it The Air affords Fowl and Feather'd Creatures to nourish it The Water provides Fish for it But none of all these can satisfie my Soul that must have a spiritual Diet and rather than it shall want thou hast given thine own Son to be her Food O mysterious Love Can I after tbis have low and mean Thoughts of thy Goodness O sweetest Jesu if my Soul feeds not on thee if must die and be separated from thy glorious Presence for ever If it feeds on thee it is made for ever Oh! be thou my most beloved and most delightful Food Thy crucified Body alone can keep my Soul from fainting Thy Death must yield me Life Thy Sufferings must give me Joy Thy Agonies must afford me Comfort Thy Torments must work mine Ease Thy Nails and Thorns must be my Bed of Roses Nothing else can give my Soul Rest. When the Snares of Death and Hell encompass me I will lay hold on these Horns of the Altar here I shall be safe safer than in the Arms of Angels Thou that diedst for me livest for ever to intercede for me and having such an Advocate I may come boldly to the Throne of Grace O let me not survey this glorious Provision made for my Soul with carnal Eyes O let me ponder seriously not with flying and transient but with steady and fixed Thoughts how thou hast favoured how thou hast loved how thou hast dignified this miserable Soul of mine that I may rejoyce in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XII Of remembring Christ in this Sacrament or doing what we do here in remembrance of him The CONTENTS The Death of Christ Jesus the principal thing to be
And from hence flows the joyful Exclamation of the Apostle Gal. 2. 20. Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the Life I now live I live by Faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me For this Faith enlightens the Soul gives it clear Apprehensions of Christ's Love makes her active and lively and teaches her to overcome the World 1 John 5. 4. 4. This Remembrance is making Approaches to Heaven and Eternal Happiness Every fresh Remembrance is another Step to Paradise What an Encouragement is this to come to the holy Sacrament Every time we thus remember the Death of Christ we get nearer to the Throne on which the victorious Son of God sits triumphing over Hell and Devils For the oftner he is remembred thus the more our Souls are elevated and become more spiritual in their Aspirations and the farther we proceed in Grace the nearer we come to Glory Heaven in Scripture is compared to an Hill and is the Mount where God is seen Every time we come to the Table of our Lord and remember him thus we climb higher and mount up with Wings as Eagles till at last we reach the Top where there is a perfect Calm no Air no Wind no Tempest no infectious Breath to disturb the Conquerors IV. But though the Death of Christ be the chief Object of our Remembrance at this holy Table yet that is no Argument but that we may lawfully remember some other Things relating to his Person or Greatness or Holiness particularly 1. His Divine Life before he was Incarnate A Life which no mortal Tongue can describe A Life in the Explication of which the blessed Cheruhims themselves must fall short A Life known to none but to him who knows all who hath Life in himself and is the Life and the Father of the Spirits of all Flesh. How truly might he say to the Jews Joh. 8. 58. Before Abraham was I am He was indeed from all Eternity lived in the Bosom of the Everlasting Father and his Life was most pure some holy most peaceable most pleasant most glorious A Life of infinite Content of infinite Satisfaction of infinite Joy and of infinite Love A Life spent in Eternal Love of the great Fountain of Divinity the express Image of which he was A Life employed in kind Thoughts to poor Mortals and in Divine Contrivances how their Misery might be retriv'd their Bands loosen'd their Dangers overcome their Enemies vanquished and their Souls advanced to Celestial Mansions A Life undisturbed by the Noise of Wars unacquainted with Tumults free from all Annoyances unmolested by the Disorders of a giddy and confused World A Life of Eternal Calmness which no Waves no Billows no Wind no Storms no Tempests could discompose A Life of perfect Serenity and immense Sweetness A Life employed in the Eternal and Incomprehensible Enjoyment of his own Perfections and which the inspired King gives us a very lofty Description of Prov. 1. This life Christ lived before he was pleased to visit this benighted World with his healing Beams and it concerns us to remember this Life that from that Consideration his Humiliation in coming to dwell among us may appear in livelier Colours 2. To this may be added His laborious Life here on Earth after he was Incarnate A Life despicable from his Infancy contemptible from his Cradle A Life of Poverty a Life of great Misery of Distress and a Thousand Inconveniencies A Life he lived to let us know that the meanest and most miserable outward Condition is no Lett or Impediment to our being beloved and esteemed in Heaven A Life he lived to shew with what Patience and Courage we are to bear the Troubles that a merciful God lays or sends upon us A Life he lived to declare to his Disciples that through many Afflictions they are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and are not to promise themselves great Ease and Rest here but are to look for a Recompence in the Resurrection of the Just A Life employed in doing good to shew that we are not to be idle here but to busie our selves in that Work which will give the greatest Satisfaction even working out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling A Life he lived for our sakes to facilitate our Access to Pardon and the Throne of Mercy A Life he lived to make our Lives comfortable and the Remembrance of this Life must needs inhaunce our Esteem of his unparallell'd Goodness who could and would deny himself both in the Glory of his Divinity and the Comforts of this present Life for our Good and the Welfare of our Souls The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. CHrist's Example makes it lawful to set up Monuments of Mercies and to preserve the Memory of any signal Deliverance or Providence either by External Symbols or by keeping Anniversaries and Days of Devotion Indeed this was a very ancient Practice countenanced by God and warranted by his Approbation It was from hence that Moses preserved a Pot of Manna to put After-Generations in mind how God had fed his People in the Wilderness And Moses said This is the thing which the Lord commandeth Fill an Omer of it to be kept for your Generations that they may see the Bread wherewith I have fed you in the Wilderness when I brought you forth out of the Land of Egypt Exod. 16. 32. It was from hence that Aaron's Rod budding blossoming and bearing Fruit was kept in the Ark to tell Posterity how miraculously the Priestood was established in the Line of Aaron and for a Token against the Rebels as the Holy Ghost speaks Numb 17. 10. It was from hence that Joshua commanded Twelve Stones to be taken out of the River Jordan That this says he may be a Sign among you that when your Children ask their Fathers in time to come saying What mean you by these Stones Then ye shall answer them That the Waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan And these Stones shall be for a Memorial unto the Children of Israel for ever Josh. 4. 6 7. In imitation of these Precedents the Jewish Church afterward of their own Accord unanimously agreed to keep an Anniversary to remember their Deliverance from the Rage of Haman Esth. 9. 17. Both Eusebius and Sozomen tells us of a Statue which the Woman who was cured by our Saviour of her Bloody Issue erected to his Honour at Caesarea which lasted a considerable time till Julian the Apostate pulled it down and erected his own in the room of it After such Examples who can think it unlawful for a private Christian to keep either a Fast or a Day of Thanksgiving when either some signal Affliction hath befallen him or some remarkable Mercy hath happen'd to him and to spend that Day in Exercises of Devotion whereby he may either work his Soul into greater Detestation of
yet surely it will transform a Soul sick to death into a lively and healthful constitution though with the Woman in the Gospel she hath lain under her distemper a considerable time II. Among the Scythyans as Herodotus tells us there was a custom for the Princes of the Country to meet once a year at a certain Feast where a Cup was set upon the Table a Cup of Honour which none durst presume to drink of but such as had signaliz'd their Valour in Battel and kill'd more or less of their publick Enemies Though this Sacramental Cup is too High too Sacred and too Lofty a thing to be compared with Cups used at the Feast of Barbarians yet I may take occasion from hence to tell you that this Holy Cup is fit for none to drink of but such as have either shewn or are at least resolved to shew their Valour against their Spiritual Enemies Christian if thou hast fought with the Old Serpent encountred the Hellish Dragon wrestled with Powers and Principalities exprest thy Courage against Temptations defied Goliah the Lion and the Bear the World the Devil and the Flesh or art resolv'd to be a Champion for thy God and fight the Battels of the Lord Thou art that valiant Man that may drink of this Cup Thy God will give thee leave to drink of it with other Hero's with the greatest Worthies with Men of whom the World was not worthy with Men whose Faith hath advanced them above the Stars and who are to shine as the Sun in the Firmament in their Father's Kingdom Let no despairing Thoughts no suggestion of the Devil no slavish Fear no pretence of Unworthiness discourage thee from touching this Cup or drinking of it It 's mingled for thee for thee it is prepared The King expects thee at this Feast thou art called to this Banquet Thus shall it be done to the Man whom the King of Heaven intends to Honour What If thou hast not slain thy Thousands with Saul nor thy Ten thousands with David What if thou hast not brought thy Two hundred Foreskins of the Philistins to thy Lord and Master thou dost a greater act in conquering thy Thoughts thy Desires thy Passions thy Appetite thy vain Imaginations than if thou hadst laid Countries waste ruin'd Kingdoms or bound their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron Such Honour have all all his Saints III. Hear this thou fainting Soul that groanest under the burthen of thy Sins goest heavy laden with Sorrow and like Rachel wilt not be comforted Behold thy Lord and Master touched with the feeling of thy infirmities and afflicted in all thy afflictions who waits to be Gracious and loves to converse more with a weeping Publican than with a jovial Herod he reaches forth a Cup to thee a Cup of Joy a Cup of Gladness a Cup of Comfort It is this Sacramental Cup. Drink of it thou thirsty Soul Why shouldst thou fear This Cup is design'd for labouring Souls they that have born the heat and burthen of the day are to taste of it It is design'd to recreate design'd to refresh desing'd to revive design'd to support their Spirits Dost thou believe this Christian Dare to believe it Take thy Saviours word for it and triumph in the Promise The Mercy may be too big for thee to ask but not too big for him to grant Thou hast a Master to deal withal who gives like himself like a King like a Prince whose Stores are inexhaustible Let no Senacharib deceive thee regard not what such a Rabshakeh says Hearken not to the frightful Stories of thine enemies who rejoyce to see thee discourag'd are glad to see thee forbear drinking of this Cup and think it their interest to keep thee from that which may and will give thee everlasting health I have read of a precious Stone of considerable value that dropt no Man knew how into the Holy Cup while the Priest was administring the Sacrament There needs no precious Stone to drop into this Cup to make it of greater value That which is in it is of greater worth than Ten thousand Worlds It represents that which neither Pearls nor Rubies nor Diamonds can counter-balance The Papists boast much of the Gifts of their Popes how Sylvester gave three Golden Cups to be used in the celebration of the Eucharist How John the Second gave a Cup of Gold weighing Twenty pound How Gregory the Second and Leo the Third presented their respective Churches with Cups all beset with precious Stones What if thou canst bring no such Presents to God thou bringest a better when thou bringest a Spirit a Heart a Soul lamenting and mourning because thou hast departed from him contented thy self with a form of Godliness and under the profession of Religion hast denied him in thy actions A Heart toucht with the sense of the unreasonableness odiousness and loathsomness of all this and finding a relish in the things of God and of Salvation qualifies a Man more for comfortable drinking of this Cup than if with the Wise Man he had offer'd Gold and Myrrh and Frankincense to Christ Jesus Is not this the Cup whereby my Lord divineth saith Joseph's Steward Gen. 44. 5. Christian by drinking of this Sacramental Cup thou may'st divine thy future happiness guess at what will become of thee hereafter make conjectures of thy Glory and conclude that thou shalt feel the comfort of drinking the Cordials of a Blessed Eternity The PRAYER O Jesu Great Fountain of all Goodness who didst drink of the bitter Cup which my Sins had mingled I am sensible there was no sorrow like thy sorrow which was done unto thee and wherewith the Lord afflicted thee in the day of his fierce anger How was thy Spirit disturb'd How sore amaz'd was thy Soul How dismay'd thy Mind To such an exceeding heighth of Grief and Sorrow did the Sense of the incumbent load of my sins and the prospect of calamities hanging over my head together with the reflexion on my wretched condition skrew up thy Affections innumerable evils encompass'd thee thou sawest the wrath of God flaming out against my Sin and trembledst Thou stoodst before the mouth of Hell which I had deserv'd and wast astonish'd Thou with thine own Heart Blood didst quench the wrath of Heaven O how am I obliged to adore thy Love O everlasting Father What Charity was it not to spare thine own Son but to deliver him up for us all What pity and compassion was it O thou Eternal Son of God thus to pour forth thy Blood What Affection what tenderness to my Soul O thou Eternal Spirit hast thou express'd in inspiring my Blessed Redeemer with Charity more than Human and in supporting him to undergo all pressures with invincible patience If I forget thy Love sweet Jesu let my right hand forget her cunning What an encouragement is here to believe thy Word which I see so punctually accomplish'd The antient Prophets foretold that Christ should
Such present Declarations of our consent admit us to the Blessings of this Covenant so that he who enters into this Covenant and is not willing presently and without delay to discharge the Conditions of it uses Tergiversations and equivocates with God and though a Man may intend that some time hereafter when he is freer from Business more clear in the World hath fewer Divertisements and is more at leasure he will not fail to perform all that is required of his part yet that will not satisfie nor answer the design of this Agreement for who knows what he shall do hereafter The present time is only in our Power and he that is not presently resolv'd is not likely considering the Temptations he may meet withal to do any great matters for God or for his Soul hereafter 5. This content must be absolute or which is all one without Reserves Secret Conditions have no place here And that Man is not fit for the Kingdom of God that desires first to bury his Father or to take his leave of his Friends and Relations and then to follow Christ Luke 9. 59. To consent to this Covenant and to reserve any one darling Sin to consent to the performance of the Conditions with exception of a single Lust which our Place Calling or present Circumstances will not let us part withal is a sign the Heart is not upright with God and a Man that hath not that high esteem of God's Grace and Favour he ought to have The Soul must come naked to the Cross of Jesus Here must be no Bargainings with a Tremendous Majesty no Proviso's as Pharaoh made with the Children of Israel when he was to let them go He was content the elder People should march and sacrifice to their God but the little Ones he would have staid God must not be told in this Covenant Lord If thou wilt let me enjoy this piece of Pride or give me leave to vindicate my Honour by avenging my self If thou wilt let me comply with such a sinful Mans humour wilt let me flatter him or dissemble with him for my Profit and Interest or if I thrive and prosper in my Trade Profession aud Imployment if I may enjoy temporal Felicity and live as happily as my Neighbours I freely consent to all the rest that thy Power and greatness expects at my Hands For this is to contradict the design of this Covenant which is to make us entirely his And that no Man may stroak himself with a Fancy that he never made and never intends such formal exceptions in his consent I must add that where a person doth actually reserve such things whether he doth formally and expresly except them or no the case is the same and is as much as if such formal exceptions had been made in our entring into this Covenant whatever our lot or fortune may be in the World whatever inconveniencies may happen in the strict observance of this contract those must be overlook'd for the greater benefits offer'd us on God's part in this Covenant VIII But here a question will arise If this Covenant be broken after it is thus ratified or establish'd in the Lord's Supper whether and how it may be renew'd To give a satisfactory answer to this point I shall lay down what is fit to be said to it in these following particulars 1. By Breaking this Covenant I mean to make it null not only on our side but also on God's part so that we can have no assurance no hope no rational confidence that God loves us any longer as his Confederates as his Friends and Children or with a love of complacency or that he is our reconciled Father or that we are dear to him and Heirs of Heaven or that the Promises of the Gospel belong to us in a word so to make it void as to put our selves in the same condition we were in before ever we had any thoughts of giving our selves up to Almighty God in a formal Covenant so as to become objects of God's Wrath and Indignation to whom is reserv'd the blackness of darkness for ever This being premised 2. Every thing that clouds or darkens the comforts arising from a sense of our being in Covenant with God cannot must not presently be interpreted a total breach of it There are many sincere Christian Israelites indeed in whom there is no considerable guile who either through weakness of understanding or through some bodily distemper seizing on their nobler parts or for want of consulting with some conscientious Divine or through vehement assaults of the Devil may not feel the streams of consolation which formerly used to flow into their Souls from the chearful apprehensions they had of their being united to God by a solemn Covenant who yet still go on to fulfil the conditions of this Holy Contract and are exceeding cautious of offending or acting against the Laws of it and most certainly the Mists and Fogs which obscure and dull the brightness of their comforts are no arguments of their having made void this Covenant or that God's Paternal affection to their Souls is gone For though they may even complain with Zion that the Lord hath forsaken them and their God hath forgotten them yet still they are Children of Light in the midst of Darkness and were but the noise of temptation over or the distemper which discomposes them abated they would soon hear God speaking to them in the Language of a Father Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have Compassion on the Fruit of hâ—r Womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have engraven thee on the Palms of my Hands Es. 49. 15. 3. No unallowed of Miscarriages I mean Miscarriages against the settled bent and resolutions of our Souls can be said to null this Covenant For God promising in this Covenant to be a tender and gracious Father to us in Christ Jesus we must needs suppose that as a Father pities his own Children so the Lord takes pity on them that fear him as we read Ps. 103. 13. Therefore as a Father who hath an obedient Son if he hear him speak a rash word or see him do an imprudent act he was never guilty of before and perceives him blushing as soon as he hath done it which shews the Error was not in his Nature or the effect of an evil Habit but caused by some accident or before he was aware and consequently doth not thereupon presently cast him off or turn him out of Doors or withdraw the affections and inclinations of a Father from him so neither doth God from his dear Confederates if sometimes by surprize they are overtaken in a fault upon which their Hearts immediately smite them and they take shame to themselves for this shews that it was not temper but temptation that caused this fall and that it was against the bent and settled inclinations of their Souls 4. Neither do blasphemous Suggestions null
this sacred Covenant By these I mean not wilful Blasphemies or reviling of God the effects of Malice Hatred and Enmity against God of aversion from Goodness and inveterate Wickedness in the Soul for these are Characters of a Mans being in Covenant with the Devil and at Agreement with Hell But by Blasphemous Suggestions are understood here sudden Representations of things horrid monstrous and unnatural to our Minds which savour of Blasphemy come in unforeseen and unlook'd for and look indeed like our own Thoughts but are not but in good truth are Injections of the Devil who shoots and darts such dismal things into our Understandings or Imaginations contrary to our Will Desire Liking and Approbation Of these tedious and troublesome Guests not a few Persons do complain who with great seriousness apply themselves to the real practice of Godliness The Enemy of Souls being no longer able to sooth them up in carnal security and finding them weary of the Yoak of Sin betakes himself to this Stratagem and tries by such Suggestions and Assaults to drive them to despair for they are things dreadful and such as both Nature and Grace and Conscience tremble at and very strange effects they have in many Christians that are ignorant of these devices They make them rise from Prayer assault them at the very Altar disturb their warmest Devotions and many times tempt them to Self-Murther and the Patient frequently thinks that a Hell is begun in his Bosom that he is possess'd and hath a Legion with him They come in like Lightning and cause such confusion in the Thoughts that the tempted Christian thinks none so miserable as himself These Suggestions while they are resisted detested opposed slighted abhorr'd and protested against do not null this Covenant because they are things we cannot help nor doth it lie in our power to hinder the Devil from trying Experiments and Conclusions upon us All we have to do is not to consent or not to yield to them and thereby we establish the Covenant Nor 5. Doth want of such a degree either of joy or sorrow null this comfortable Covenant There are many sincere Believers who either because they cannot weep so much for their Offences as David and Peter and Mary Magdalen or cannot raise their Affections to that pitch of Life and Joy and Briskness that other Constitutions can in things Devotional and Spiritual are apt to conclude they have no share in the Comforts of this Covenant And the Argument they commonly make use of to prove the inference is because did God love them as his Children he would give them the same spiritual Blessings he gives to others But this consequence is weak for though God doth promise and give to all Children Grace and his Holy Spirit and inclines their Hearts to his Testimonies and whoever are of the number of true Children of God we may confidently affirm they have the Love of God shed abroad in their Souls yet God hath no where promis'd that all his Children shall have the same degrees of Grace much less the same degrees of Joy and Sorrow For as there is one Glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars and one Star differs from another Star in Glory to use the Apostles expression 1 Cor. 15. 41. so also is it in the Resurrection of the Soul from the Death of Sin all are made partakers of the Grace of God but all have not the same degrees of Grace and the degrees of spiritual Joy and Sorrow differ too 1. Because God hereby encourages and would encourage the Industry of his Children Greater degrees of Grace are rewards of the industrious and the laborious have these baits laid before them God Crowns the pains of his fervent Lovers with these Laurels and the harder a Soul works in the Lord's Vineyard the higher they are advanced in this spiritual Kingdom as we may guess from the Parable of the Talents Matth. 25 20 21. And of this the very Heathens were sensible when they made it a standing Maxim That the Gods sold all their Gifts for Labour and Industry Not to mention that some Vessels are more capacious and will hold more than others and the larger the Soul is the more it will contain 2. That all have not the same degrees of Joy and Sorrow the reason is because God gives not to all his Children Constitutions alike upon which the external expressions of Joy and Sorrow do very much depend If Grace meets with a moist constitution or affectionate Temper it makes the Eyes flow in stronger currents and fills those Chanels with larger streams of Tears which a more even Temper is not capable of So if it mingle with a sanguine and chearful complexion the Joys in spiritual things must necessarily rise higher than in Persons of a heavy or Melancholy constitution Grace doth not alter the constitution but directs it It gives not a new habit of Body but disposes the habit it finds to exhert and vent it self in matters of Religion suitably to its Nature Should all arrive to the same degrees of Joy and Sorrow God must be at the charge of a Miracle every day for he would be obliged to alter the several constitutions which as he doth not think fit to do so neither is it reasonable Men should expect it and from hence it 's evident that a Believer may sincerely fulfil the conditions of this Covenant and yet want the same degrees of Joy and Sorrow he sees in others and consequently this want doth not null the Covenant 6. All Sins allow'd of do certainly null this Covenant whether they be great or small By Sins allow'd of I mean not only Sins committed deliberately against knowledge and the dictates of Conscience but Sins also we live or go on in without remorse or a rational care to be rid of them and that such Sins as seem inconsiderable in the Eyes of the World these as well as those of a larger size if allow'd of do null this Covenant is manifest partly from hence because they put the Soul into a State of enmity against God which enmity destroys the relation between Father and Child for to be wilful in doing that which I know or may easily know will displease my Father is pure rebellion not the error of a Child a spot of a Leopard not that of a Son of God partly hecause these little Sins dandled and allowed of are expresly said to exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven or which is all one to make a Man least in the Kingdom of Heaven which Kingdom is the great Blessing promis'd in this Covenant for so we read Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so either by word or by his Example he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven And the reason why even Sins which People make nothing of such as calling their Neighbours Rogue and Fool without
and Feet and Gestures and Behaviour thy Reason Memory and Passion should all be at his beck move by his prescription act according to his appointment be seasoned with his Grace and conducted by his Wisdom If thou art content that all shall go rather than his Favour if his Love or a share in it be dearer to thee than the dearest of all outward enjoyments be of good cheer it 's a good sign and thou mayst rationally infer that thou art in Covenant with thy Lord and hast a right to all the priviledges that are annex'd to it for thy encouragement V. And here we may justly reflect what a mercy it is to be in Covenant with God a mercy indeed which no Tongue can express nay no Apollos neither as eloquent as he was can describe no Tertullus no Cicero no Demosthenes represent according to its worth a mercy which no Man knows save he who receives it a mercy weich fills the Tongues of departed Saints with praises a mercy which unhappy Souls that groan among Devils would give Millions for if they had them a mercy which sweetens all Conditions makes Sickness easie and Iron Chains sit soft mitigates pain and tempers grief and anguish A mercy which made the penitent Publican stand confounded amaz'd the humble Magdalen caused St. Paul to go chearfully through Stripes and Imprisonment and encouraged the Believers of old to defie death and torments He that is in Covenant with God enjoys all that Son of God enjoys though not as yet in fruition and possession yet in title and reversion God the Father carries him on his Wings as the Eagle doth her young the Eternal Son of God is his faithful Friend The Holy Spirit of God speaks to him in the still voice of peace and comfort He that is in this Covenant is safe in the midst of Spears and Arrows safe when he goes through the Water safe when he passes through the Fire safe when the Waves do roar safe when Hell gapes upon him safe in a Storm safe at Sea safe on the Shore safe in his Life safe in his Death God is concern'd for him in all his afflictions He is afflicted The Lord Jesus is touch'd with his infirmities and the Spirit of God makes intercessions for him with groans that cannot be utter'd In a word there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus to them that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. The PRAYER O God! whose pity is infinite whose compassion knows no bounds How shall I extol thy Humiliation How shall I admire thy condescension to this poor Worm Will God the Great the omnipotent God look upon such an one as I Wilt thou enter into a Covenant with this lump of Clay wilt thou tye and oblige thy self to do me good The Favour is wonderful I could not have thought it possible but that thou hast most graciously revealed it to me I believe Lord help my unbelief Behold I am Servant the Son the Daughter of thine Handmaid Be it unto me according unto thy Word I accept of thy offer I count my self happy that I may be admitted into Covenant with thee I renounce the Devil and all his Works Thou shalt be my Master my Father my Guide my Director my King and my God my Master to command me my Father to counsel me my Guide to lead me my Director to conduct me my King to rule me my God to dispose of me as thou pleasest I will know no Will but thy Will By the Blood of the Covenant unite my Will to thy Will Grant me to desire what thou delightest in desiring to search after it searching to know it and knowing it to fulfil it Make me O Lord for thou alone canst do it make me Obedient without contradiction Holy without defection Chast without corruption Patient without murmuring Humble without dissimulation Chearful without licentiousness Sorrowful without dejection Grave without affectation nimble in Religion without lightness Fearful without despair Upright without Hypocrisie and fruitful in good Works without presumption Give me a watchful Heart a Heart not easily drawn away by vain imaginations a Heart unbroken by afflictions unaffected with the vanities of the World that may not swell with prosperity nor sink in adversity Grant me understanding to know thee diligence to seek thee wisdom to find thee a readiness to please thee perseverance to wait for thee and confidence at last to embrace thee O Holy and Eternal Spirit I depend upon thy assistance Make me faithful to my God faithful to my Neighbour faithful to mine own Soul faithful in my Calling faithful in the discharge of my Duty faithful in my Promises faithful in my Conversation faithful in my Love faithful in my Obedience faithful in thy House faithful in mine own faithful unto Death that I may obtain a Crown of Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. XV. Of frequent receiving the Holy Communion and the necessity of it The ONTENTS Frequent coming to the Lord's Table the Practise of the Primitive Christians Receiving every Lord's Day an universal observance Different Customs in different Churches Decay of a good life the cause of Communicating seldom The necessity of frequent Communicating shewn in four particulars as the Eucharist is a great preservative against Sin an engagement to emulate Christ's Virtues a Motive to Charity and the frequent coming a thing very pleasing to God Inquiry made how often a conscientious Christian is bound to Communicate The measures of that Obligation to be taken partly from the Orders of the Church we live in and partly from the fervency of our love to Christ. An Objection drawn from the danger of contempt and disesteem of the Ordinance if we come often answered Arguments to prove that lawful business in the World is no just impediment of Communicating frequently An Expostulation pressing frequent Receiving The frequent Communicant an Object of Divine Mercy The Prayer I. THough the Example of the Primitive Believers is not properly a Law yet we may have leave to infer so much from it that being well acquainted with the Will of Christ and his Apostles in those Practises especially which were universal we ought not without very urgent reasons to depart from that Pattern and if this Rule hold frequent communicating at the Lords Table will become if not absolutely necessary yet highly useful and expedient since it was the practise of the best of Men in the best of Ages and of this the Acts of the Holy Apostles give us a very large account particularly Ch. 2. 42. 46. which place being generally understood of the Eucharist it must follow that the Believers did daily participate of it But this seems to have been a custom peculiar to the Church of Jerusalem for though St. â—yprian St. Chrysostom and St. Austin speak of some places in their time where the daily Sacrifice was celebrated yet even in the Apostles days we find other Churches did
or suffer my self to be enticed by it Every Man's Sin is a personal thing except in case of Scandal and the Offender only shall feel the Smart of it He that is free from the other's Offence shall be freed also from the Penalty due to the Offence and then what hurt do I receive by an ill Man's communicating in my Company I may eat with a Leprous with a diseased with a Gouty Man at a common Table and yet not participate of his Distemper And why should I share in his Guilt at the Lord's Table when I both abhor it and keep my self from the Infection The Soul that sins shall die is God's standing Rule Ezek. 18. 20. The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the Iniquity of the Son the Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him If therefore I approach with a practical Faith and another with Unbelief or which is all one with a Faith without Works shall his Unbelief make the Faith of God of no effect Rom. 3. 3. 2. What Hurt did the Guests receive at the Wedding-Feast Matth. 22. 11 12. by eating with the Man who had no Wedding-Garment Were they rejected by the Master of the Feast because they feasted in his Company No All that came adorn'd with a suitable Temper and in whose Spirit there was no Guile received the Caresses of the King and none but the profane Wretch felt the Thunder of the Prince's Anger of him alone 't is said Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into Outer Darkness there shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth As he was singular in his Sin so he was singular in his Punishment His coming unprepared did not divest others of their Garments nor did his Misery reach those that sate down with him Their own Faith saved them while the other's Infidelity condemned him The Master doth not so much as frown upon the rest doth not so much as give them an angry Word nor doth he expostulate with them why they would bear him Company They charitably believed he was a good Man because he was invited with them and their Charity made their own Sacrifice acceptable while the other's was Abomination to the Lord. 3. If I see another Man whom I know to be or to have been a notorious Sinner kneel down by me at this holy Table he must not therefore be an Object of my Scorn but of my Pity and Compassion I can make an excellent Use of seeing him in my Company for I can pray for him and beg of God that he would over-awe his Spirit with a Sense of the Death of Christ and strike him into Repentance and Humiliation I can intreat my Heavenly Father to give him a Sight of the Errours of his Ways and Resolutions never to profane that Cross again on which the great Redeemer of the World suffered I can pray that his Sight of the Bleeding Jesus may work upon his Soul and fill his Heart with holy Compunctions and his Eyes with Tears I can pray that after this Communion he may take heed and sin no more that the Solemnity may leavâ— such a Fear upon his Spirit that he may dread to offend God more than putting his Hand in the Fire And where I do so I do at once exercise my Pity and raise mine own Devotion I imitate Christ on the Cross praying for his Murtherers and with him become a Sollicitor for those that have derided and spit upon him And this sure cannot make me an unworthy Receiver 4. Who hath given me a Key to other Men's Hearts whereby I can judge at the Receiving of the Eucharist that my Neighbour receives unworthily How do I know but that he who was vicious a Week ago may become a Penitent that Day Or Who assures me that he who did cast God's Laws behind him Yesterday may not this Day cry out O wretched Man that I am Who bids me trouble my Head about another's Receiving when I have enough to do with mine own Heart And while I give my self liberty to judge another is it not a very great Sign that I am not very sensible of mine own Vileness If I am truly concern'd about mine own spiritual Welfare I shall not be at leisure to dive into other Men's Lives and Consciences My own Sins will be Burthen enough to me that I shall not need to concern my self about another's Business If I give my self to Censoriousness at such times I lose my Charity and Humility And if the Rule be to esteem others better than our selves I do not very heartily obey that Precept while I suffer my Mind to dwell upon other Men's Faults and Errours Christianity bids me to have humble Thoughts of my self and if I think that all that receive with me may be for ought I know better than my self I assuredly prepare for God's Favour who ever gives Grace to the Humble 5. If Judas the Traytor was present at this Sacrament as well as the other Apostles and his being present did not make the rest unworthy Receivers why should I think that a wicked Man's coming with me to this Table should make me one That Judas was present at this Sacrament we have the concurrent Testimony of three Evangelists for they all confess that Jesus sate down with the Twelve to the Eating of the Passover and while they were eating Jesus administred the holy Sacrament to them So St. Matth. 26. 26. As they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body So St. Mark 14. 22. And as they did eat Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to them and said Take eat this is my Body Nay St. Luke is more express 22. 19 20 21. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body c. But behold the Hand of him which betrays me is with me on the Table c. St. John indeed tells us that Judas having received the Sop in the Passover he went immediately out Joh. 13. 30. But since the Evangelist mentions nothing of the Sacrament his Silence about Judas's being present at the Sacrament can be no Argument and his Words may justly be construed thus Having received the Sop in the Passover and stay'd till the Sacrament was administred to him and the rest of the Disciples he immediately went out For the Sacrament being administred by Christ while they were eating the Passover by the Sop St. John must needs be supposed to understand both the Passover and that which was without Delay subjoyned to it i. e. the Sacrament And whereas it is objected that the Sacrament could not have been conveniently administred if the Traytor had been present that is a Supposition which contradicts the Matter of Fact recorded by the Evangelists And who
you to destruction both of Body and Soul But though this be a kind of general Excommunication yet except the particular Persons be taken notice of and branded by the Church a private Chrstian must judge charitably of those that come and if he do so their Impiety cannot hinder him from being a worthy Partaker of the Sacrament I have been the longer upon this Point because I have known it to be a great Scruple that hath hinder'd many from coming to the Lord's Table being possessed with Fear that if they should meet with such Persons there they should eat and drink unworthily 12. Eating and Drinking at this Table with some scruples upon the Mind doth not necessarily make a Man an unworthy Receiver By a scrupulous Conscience I do not mean an erroneous nor a doubtful Conscience the former being when a Person thinks that his Duty which is directly against the Word and Will of God as it was with the Jews Joh. 16. 2. The other when a Person doubts whether such and such Actions be lawful or unlawful as it was with those Christians Rom. 14. 23. But a scrupulous Conscience proceeds from fear and fear caus'd by slight and weak Arguments whereby a Person is satisfied that such a Thing or Action is his Duty but Melancholy or the Devil or Converse with scrupulous Persons inject some Thoughts which makes a Person fluctuate or waver in his performance For example a Man conscious of his own wants knows that coming to the Lord's Table is his Duty and accordingly he comes yet comes with fears in his Mind fears caus'd either by what he hath read or by what he hath heard or by what he hath seen in others fears that suggest to him that he should not have come because he hath not every thing that he observes in other good Christians Now I say that eating and drinking with such scruples upon his Mind doth not make him an unworthy Receiver 1. Because notwithstanding these scruples he may be sincere in his Faith and Love he may sincerely desire and be sincerely willing to keep himself unspotted from the World and to embrace the Wisdom which is from above first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated He may for all this deliberately chuse Holiness as the better part and his Faith may be carried out to embrace Christ as his Mediator and Governor and he may actuate his Love so that he shall be afraid of the appearances of Evil and if it be thus with him notwithstanding his little scruple he may be and will certainly be a welcome Guest at this Holy Table for God judges of us by the sincerity of our Hearts not by every little accidental fear that may surprize us and to discompose a timorous Mind And therefore 2. Such scruples may lawfully be rejected opposed and banish'd out of our Minds without danger Nay they ought to be resisted and a Christian in this case is obliged not to harbour them and to be resolute in stopping his Ears against them especially where he finds so good a foundation in himself as I mentioned in the foregoing Paragraph To give regard to them is the way to multiply them and to ruminate upon them is to let in or to open the Door to greater perplexities Nor is this to act against Conscience but according to the true Rules of Conscience for a Scruple is a needless Fear and without just ground which Fear can bring no obligation upon the Party thus assaulted And it is observed by experience where Persons use a kind of Violence to expel such Scruples they strengthen their Faith and their Conscience fit themselves for greater Duties and become more expedient in their Journey to the City of the living God 13. Want of great Knowledge doth not make a Man an unworthy Receiver It 's confessed that some knowledge is necessary in order to a worthy Receiving for this is Eternal Life that they know thee the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh. 17. 3. But the knowledge requisite lies within a small compass and he that knows no more than the six Fundamental Principles laid down by St. Paul Heb. 6. 1 2. knows enough in order to a comfortable Communion Those Principles are 1. Repentance from dead Works That Repentance from our known Sins is absolutely necessary 2. Faith towards God That God must be believ'd according to the Revelations he hath vouchsafed to Mankind in his Word and that the things contain'd in that Book are infallibly true 3. The Doctrine of Baptism That we are Baptiz'd in the Name of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and thereby have given our selves up to his Service 4. Laying on of hands That the Holy Ghost whereof that laying on of hands in Confirmation is an external Sign is certainly dispensed and bestowed in some measure on all those that are Baptiz'd whereby they are enabled to fight against Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil 5. Resurrection of the Dead That there shall be a Resurrection of Men's Bodies wherein they shall be reunited to their Souls and appear before God's dreadful Tribunal to give an account of their Lives and Actions 6. Eternal Judgment That in the last Day the controversie of Men's Happiness or Unhappiness shall be decided and Men shall be either sent into Eternal Life or into Eternal Fire He that knows there Six Principles and believes them and is resolv'd to act accordingly hath knowledge enough to fit him for a worthy participation of this Ordinance for these are sufficient Motives to remember the Death of the Son of God with holy Resolutions to follow him that we may be partakers of his everlasting Bliss But that a Man must needs be a competent Scholar and understand the whole Mystery of Godliness and be able to give an account of the nicer Points of Divinity and to answer the harder Questions about the manner and nature of those Things which God hath revealed This is not necessary Ignorance of the abstruser Problems of Theology doth not make a Man an unworthy Receiver For 1. So much Knowledge is only necessary as serves to make us Practical Christians and a small stock of Knowledge will do that and he that knows that Mankind was lost by Adam's â—all and stands in need of a Saviour to reconcile them to God and that Christ Jesus the Son of God who being in the Form of God assumed our Nature and died for us is that Saviour who is both able and willing to reconcile us to an offended God upon the reasonable terms of turning from a sensual and sinful Life and making his Life and Precepts the Rule of our Conversation whereupon we shall be pardoned and obtain Eternal Life He that knows these few particulars and how easily are they learned and imbibed knows enough to make him a Practical Christian if he will but act according to these Principles and this unfeigned willingness makes him a worthy
Industry of the Husband-man The End must ever be procured by the Means and they only betray their Folly and Simplicity that talk of adding to their Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Godliness and to Godliness Patience that have not escaped the Pollutions of the World through Lust 2 Pet. 1. 4 5. This is to invert the Method of Grace and to expect that a Tree should begin to grow at the Top before it hath a Root or that Bread should be baked before the Oven be heated These Pollutions must first be removed and the Ground being cleared of the Rubbish you may go and superstruct the intended Edifice 4. To eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink without sincere Resolutions of Obedience This is consequent to the former Article for Obedience is a necessary Concomitant of Repentance and when the Repentance ends not in Obedience the Repentance is a Cheat. A Man may by some Reasons and Arguments be prevail'd with to part with Sins that are of the bigger sort when he thinks of coming to this Sacrament but except he at the same time seriously resolves to obey Christ in every thing he commands him and particularly in things which are levell'd against his Worldly Interest and is heartily willing to endeavour after those Vertues which are the proper Characteristicks of his Disciples he certainly deceives his own Soul To shake Hands with scandalous Sins and to think that now the Work is done without an holy Readiness to venture on those Graces which render'd the Apostles and the Primitive Believers what they were i. e. amiable in the Sight of God such as Humility Meekness Overcoming the Evil with Good c. In a Word to lop the most luxuriant Branches of the evil Tree and not to take care that it may bring forth good Fruit is to do the Work by halves and the Way to eat and drink unworthily For 1. Such Persons continue in Rebellion against God What is Rebellion but not to obey when we know his Will and have all possible Opportunities to know it If God will have me do a thing and I pass it by as if I heard him not and when it is often inculcated and pressed upon me in Sermons and my Memory refreshed with the Duty and yet still I look upon it as needless or a thing which doth not concern me what is this but Obstinacy And I need not tell you that Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 22. Thus Samuel tells Saul upon his Disobedience to the Command of God of extirpating the Amalekites 'T is probable Saul had his Excuses and thought God might not mean it in that rigid Sense that the Prophet's Words imported or that if he executed part of the Order it would be sufficient But these are not things that avail much with God notwithstanding all this the Prophet calls his Neglect Rebellion I know and am sensible that a very worthy Communicant may sometimes ignorantly neglect a Duty and yet preserve an Interest in God's Love because as soon as he comes to know his Errour he doth not encourage it in himself but reforms it But this differs very much from Disobedience to things peremptorily commanded and which every Day that we hear or read the Word are represented to us as necessary Here not to resolve to do those things is opposing our Wills to God's Will and though we do not do it openly yet in effect we do it and whereas God thinks such a Vertue necessary to Salvation we will not think it so and notwithstanding his assuring us that without such Accomplishments we cannot inherit Eternal Life we fancy we may And what is this but crossing the Will of God And how much does this want of Rebellion and thinking our selves wiser than God And surely these are not very good Qualities to dispose a Man to eat and drink worthily at this holy Table 2. Such Persons discover their Desires to be their own still their own Masters their own Governors and at their own dispose contrary to the express Assertion of the Holy Ghost That they who pretend an Interest in Christ's Blood are their own no more And the Reason is exceeding strong for saith he ye are bought with a Price 1 Cor. 6. 19. 20. He that redeems a Slave out of Turkish Captivity redeems him with this Intent That for the future he shall not do his own Will but his Master 's that hath ransom'd him The same we must think of the Son of God who we may suppose would never have freed us from the Devil's Yoak by a voluntary Death to give us leave to do what we list but that we might be at his beck and act like Persons that have in a manner nothing to do with our selves but are to mind only what our Master who bought us would have us do Now he that comes to this Sacrament without sincere Resolutions to obey Christ in those commanded Virtues which may cross or go against his Interest discovers his Regret at the Mystery of Redemption dislikes Christ's redeeming him for this End that he might not be his own betrays his Wishes and could have been contented that he had redeemed him upon softer and more favourable Terms and in a manner declares and expresses his Desire that he would be his own still after that wonderful Price that was paid for him which though unthinking Men do take no notice of yet he that searcheth the inward parts of the Belly doth and cannot look upon such a Person as a worthy Receiver 5. To eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink without a Speculative Esteem of Christ Jesus Where Men are not satisfied or not persuaded that his Love deserves sacrificing all to his Interest and in case Times of Trouble and Persecution should come are unresolved to hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Lands and Houses even Life it self for Christ and with this Irresoluteness come to this holy Sacrament they certainly want that which must make them worthy Receivers For 1. He hath expresly told us that he that loves Father or Mother more than him is not worthy of him Matth. 10. 37. And if such a Person be not worthy of him how can be worthily receive him in the Sacrament Not to be worthy of him is to have no part in the Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and reserved in Heaven for his faithful Servants It is to have no Share in his Intercession no Right to his Comforts no Right to the Act of Indemnity he hath published for the Benefit of those who adhere to him in all Dangers no Right to his Promises no Right to the Privileges he communicates to those that continue with him in his Temptations no Right to the exceeding Greatness of his Power towards them that believe And how can Christ dwell in such a Person that looks upon the Pelf of this World and his outward Accommodations as greater
assert God's just Anger against Sin and keep off the fatal blow from Man at once defend God'ds Right and establish Man's Felicity and thereby put the poor miserable Worm in a capacity of becoming Heir to the Riches of God who was an Heir of the Treasures of Wrath and a companion of Blessed Spirits who had deserv'd to howl with Apostate Spirits a Child of Light who was a Son of Darkness and a Servant of Righteousness who was a Slave of Sin I say the Holy Ghost supposes that he that seriously believes all this will think nothing too good for God will not stand out against so great a Mercy will fight no more against so great and so good a Master but will submit to him be ready to run at his Commands give himself up to the Will of so great a Benefactor and will be hearty and sincere in serving him Now the unworthy Receiver being so far from doing this so far from turning to God with all his heart and with all his mind that he refuses the Dominion of God will be a Slave to his Sin still and had rather obey the Devil than this most bountiful Master who hath done so much for him by doing so denies that Christ's Body and Blood was sacrific'd for him for if he believ'd it he could not do as he doth and tho' he may protest by all that 's Good and Sacred that he believes it yet Words and Compliments will not absolve him and if talking were believing no Man that professes Christianity would ever be damn'd What doth a Malefactor's pleading at the Bar that he is not guilty signifie when the Evidences are strong and the Matter of Fact is prov'd against him Belief that doth not touch the Heart or renew the Mind or spiritualize the Affections is mere Infidelity and where this Belief is not to be found the Sinner is accused of denying the Mercy he pretends to believe And to this purpose saith the Apostle They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him Tit. 1. 16. So that the unworthy Receiver i. e. He that receives and yet will not reform whatever his Profession may be in his Actions he denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him and therefore makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 2. He Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of jesting with the Body and Blood of Christ As the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis speak He plays with the most tremendous things for in coming he seems to confess that by the Death of the Son of God his miserable Soul was redeem'd and a Pardon purchas'd for him and the Heavens made to bow to him and the good Will of God procur'd to save him for ever and yet he doth not think all this worth forsaking a sinful Lust or shaking a pleasing Dalilah from his Bosom and what is this but playing with the Body and Blood of Christ Should a Man make a very curious Harangue in commendation of his Neighbour compare him with Salomon for Wisdom with David for Sincerity with Jonathan for Faithfulness with Josiah for Piety for Generosity with Moses for Chastity with Joseph for Patience with Job with St. Paul for Courage with St. Peter for Zeal with Absolom for Beauty with Zacheus for Charity with Abraham for Hospitality nay with Angels for clearness of Understanding and for Purity of Life with Seraphim And when he hath done abuse and reproach him or do that which he cannot but know must be offensive and irksome or prejudicial to him gives the Spectator just occasion to think that all that flanting Panegyric was only a jocular thing design'd rather as an essay of Wit than as any real affection to the Virtues of the commended Party The unworthy Receiver doth in effect the same for his coming to this Sament is a tacit Commendation of Christ's Crucified Body and Blood whereby he seems to applaud the wonderful Works that Christ hath done for him and to proclaim to all the standers by what an Obligation that Death is to mortifie the body of Sin and to be true and faithful to him that did not count his Life dear to do him good and yet having no real purpose within whatever external Declaration he may make to become a new Man but after he hath been at this Table when temptations assault him temptations to his former sins yields to them as easily as ever plainly declares he was in jest when he seem'd to magnifie this Munificence of his Saviour and from hence it must follow that he is guilty of playing with the Body and Blood of Christ. 3 He that Eats and Drinks unworthily seems to wish that Christ may dye again and upon that account is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord for in that Christ's Death is not efficacious to pull down the strong holds of Sin in him or rather in that he will not let that death prevail with him to the mortifying of his sinful Lusts he seems to wish for an iteration of that Death which may be more powerful and have a greater influence upon the destruction of his Sin It is a Declaration as it were that the Death of Christ as the case stands doth no good upon him and therefore since the Death of the Son of God must be the means to break the power of Sin in him he stands in need of another death of that Saviour which may do greater miracles upon his Soul or sinful Temper Christ's Death indeed must break the reigning power of Sin but then a Person in whom this effect is to be wrought must apply that Death think upon it warm his Heart with the Consideration of it ruminate upon the Motives of it and upon the greatness of his own Sin that occasioned it and upon the vast Advantages that flow from that Death and be restless with God to make it effectual to his Soul For to think that this Death will do the work without our Labour or Industry or pondering the weight and moment of it is to imagine that God will deal with us as with Brutes that have no understanding As Christ died once in the end of the World so his Death spreads his Virtue to all Penitents from the beginning to the end of the World But wherever it works a serious Reformation it must be improv'd by Faith and Thoughts and Prayer and Contemplation and should Christ dye a thousand times if these means be neglected his dying so often would signifie little to the inconsiderate Spectator This is the monstrous Fancy of some Men that they hope the Mysteries of Religion will or must change their Hearts without any trouble of their own which Conceit must needs make them contemptible in the sight of an All-wise God who sees them neglect the Powers and Faculties he hath given them The unworthy Receiver therefore finding no good by this Death of the Lord Jesus for it makes no alteration in his
Life for the better looks as it were for a new Sacrifice for Sin and since he will not be purged from his known Sins by the Blood of Jesus which hath been already spilt if he hath any hopes of being purified from his Sin in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness seems to desire a more effectual Death of that great Mediator which may against his Will drag him away from his sinful courses and thereby would have Christ suffer and be kill'd again and consequently makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 4. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily kills the Lord Jesus You will say This is impossible Christ being in Heaven and incapable of any such Act of Violence No more could Saul if you understand it according to the Letter persecute him after he was glorified yet the voice that came to him in his way to Damascus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. â— 4. The same may be said of an unworthy Receiver he cannot strictly speaking kill the Lord Jesus yet being unwilling to venture upon a change of Life under all the Abjurations of a bleeding Redeemer that stubborness is Death to Christ as God said to the Jews Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorssh Heart So may the Saviour of the World cry to the Communicant that comes to remember his Death and will not die to his known Sins Thou piercest thou woundest thou killest me by thy obstinate and refractory temper as we say of a tender Father that the ill course his disobedient Son takes is death to him because it is as grievous to him as if one should attempt to take away his Life The unworthy Receiver by being loth to conform to the Rules of the Gospel in his Practices even while he beholds as it were Christ Crucified for his Sins does an Act so unworthy so disrespectful so injurious that it is as much as if he made attempts upon his Life nay he kills the preventing Grace Christ affords him and slays the good motions whereby Christ lives in him Christ is said to be in us as we are Christians and the unworthy Receiver being desirous and willing to maintain and keep his darling Sins doth thereby drive Christ out of his Heart and kill him in his own Soul for Christ and Love to a sinful Life are inconsistent and incompatible things These destroy his Life in the Soul and therefore in this Sense also the unworthy Receiver makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 5. He that eats and drinks unworthily consents to the Murther the Jews were guilty of when they killed the Lord of Life and approves of that barbarous and inhumane Act and therefore is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He is supposed to consent to that Murther that is not sorry for if And how can he be sorry for it that is not sorry for his Sins which were the principal Cause of it The unworthy Receiver being supposed to be one that doth not heartily shake hands with a sinful Life and is loth so to renounce his known Sins as to tear them from his Heart we cannot imagine that he is heartily sorry for them for his Sorrow hath not those Effects which Godly Sorrow is said to have 2 Cor. 7. 11. For this same thing when ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation against Sin Yea what Fear i. e. of offending God! Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge The Tree is known by its Fruits And if Sorrow for Sin must be discovered by such Effects and these Effects appear not in the Communicant as he cannot be thought to eat and drink worthily so in not being sorry for his Sins he doth not appear sorry for the Murther the Jews committed upon the Body of our Saviour his Sins being the Cause of that Murther And doth not this look like Consent or Approbation of that Murther You will say How can any Man be sorry for Christ's Death when that Death is our greatest Comfort and what Consolations the pious Soul feels it feels by virtue of that Death Shall a Man be sorry for that which God had ordain'd appointed and design'd for the Relief and Redress of our Misery If Christ had not died we had been ever wretched and unhappy and must have looked for no Friendship from above and therefore to charge Men with being guilty of his Death because they are not sorry for it seems to be both against Scripture and Reason Is any Man sorry for a Treasure he finds in the Field Or sorry for an Estate that falls to him by the Decease of a Relation Or sorry for an Act of Oblivion which a gracious Prince imparts to Offenders whereof himself is the Principal But to this the Answer is very easie for the Benefit of Christ's Death and the Mercy God intended Mankind by it must be carefully distinguished from the Instrumental Causes whereby Christ was brought to his Death which were partly our Sins and the barbarous Cruelty of the Jews The Benefit that came by the Death of Christ a Christian most certainly ought not to be sorry for but hath reason to rejoyce in Day and Night But that he was so inhumanely murther'd by the Jews and that our Sins were such abominable things in the Sight of God that to expiate them God was moved to give up his own Son to the lawless Rage of those cruel Enemies this requires our Grief and Sorrow That the Jews did commit a very heinous Sin in crucifying Christ is evident from St. Peter's Discourse or Sermon to the Murtherers Act. 3. 17 18 19. For though God hath decreed that Death as an Expedient to reconcile Man to himself and decreed not to hinder the Jews in pursuing their wicked Designs and Purposes but to make that Death an Antidote against Everlasting Death yet that doth not excuse the Jews from the Guilt of Sin in killing of him whose Cruelty God was resolved to turn to the Good of all true Penitents and sincere Believers nor a Christian from an hearty Sorrow that his Sins were the deserving Cause of it So that a Christian may at once rejoyce in Christ's Death and be sorry for it rejoyce in the unspeakable Mercies procured by it and be sorry that those stubborn Wretches did with that Cruelty dispatch him or rather that his Sins did arm those desperate Sinners to put the Lord of Life to death for the Jews could have had no power to murther him but that the Sins of Mankind crying aloud for Vengeance enabled them and gave them Strength and ministred Occasion to do it So that he that is not heartily sorry for his Sins is not heartily sorry that the Jews did murther him and therefore the unworthy Receiver not being heartily sorry for the Sins he hath lived in consents to that Murther of the Jews and upon
that Account makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Our Church therefore in her Confession before the Sacrament obliges all those that come to receive to say We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our Mis-doings Now he that is heartily sorry for his known Sins will watch and strive against them and take heed he doth not through Carelesness rush into them again which the unworthy Receiver not being from the Heart resolved to do involves himself in that Guilt we speak of The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. HEre I cannot but take notice of the great Errour of the First Council of Toledo celebrated about the Year 400. after Christ which made a Canon that he who had no Wife but instead of a Wife a Concubine ought not to be kept or debarred from the holy Communion provided that he content himself with one Concubine and add no more 'T is evident that such a Conjunction is Filthiness and Uncleanness condemned by the Apostle Gal. 5. 19. Marriage it is not and Carnal Copulations without it are mere Fornications as we see Heb. 13. 4. And therefore such Persons if admitted to the Communion could not but eat and drink unworthily Nor doth it mend the matter that Leo I. Pope of Rome approved of that Canon for that only shews that Popes are as fallible as other Men nay more subject to mistake as they are very jealous of their Riches and Grandeur and Temporal Interest Bellarmine to excuse this Fault alledges that by Concubine in that Canon was meant nothing but a lawful Wife only married and taken without a Portion or publick Solemnity But this Conjecture must be false because both in the Civil and Canon-Laws Concubines are Persons distinguished from lawful Wives and but a better Name for Whores And as that Concil did very ill to admit such Persons that were known to live in such Sins to the Sacrament so they did as ill to prohibit Ministers Widows if they married again or took a second Husband the use of the Communion as if an honst Marriage were more scandalous than Fornication And though a Bishop or Pastor of the Church is ordered by the Apostle 1 Tim. 3. 2. to be the Husband of one Wife yet how doth it follow from thence that his Widow when he dies must never marry again II. There is a great difference betwixt Receiving unworthily and being unworthy to receive Every Man that thinks himself unworthy to receive these Mysteries is not therefore an unworthy Receiver Alas If we go to the Worthiness of the Person that comes to this Table Who of us can be said to be worthy to come before so holy so jealous so great a God Or Who of us is worthy of that incomprehensible and diffusive Love represented to us in this Ordinance If we reflect on the marvellous Purity of the Divineâ—Nature Who of us can be thought worthy to approach it The best of us have reason to cry out at the sight of that Tremendous Holiness Unclean Unclean There are few of us who have not reason to complain to use the Words of Thomas de Kempis that they are yet so carnal so worldly so unmortified in their Passions so full of disorderly Motions of the Flesh so unwatchful over their outward Senses so often entangled with vain Thoughts and Fancies so vehemently inclined to external Comforts so negligent of the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit so prone to immoderate Laughter and Immodesty so indisposed to Tears and Compunction so strongly inclined to the Ease and Pleasures of the Flesh so dull to Strictness and an holy Zeal so curious to hear News and to see gaudy Sights so slack to embrace what is humble and low so covetous of Abundance so niggardly in giving to pious Uses so close in keeping what Providence hath bestowed upon them so inconsiderate in speaking so unbridled to Silence so loose in Manners so covetous after Gain so greedy after the Meat which perishes so deaf to the Word of God so apt to sit still so slow to labour so watchful to idle Tales so drowsie in God's Service so hasty to make an end of their Prayers so inconstant in Attention so cold in Devotion so undevout in the holy Communion so quickly discomposed so seldom wholly gathered into themselves so suddenly provoked to Anger so ready to take Displeasure at their Neighbour's Actions so prone to judge so severe in Reprehension so jolly in Prosperity so impatient in Adversity so often purposing much Good and yet performing little There are very few of us who have not reason to deplore such Defects as these and then Who can be worthy to feast with the King Invisible Immortal Blessed for evermore But it is God that makes us worthy He will not count us unworthy if we strive against these Errours if we labour to conquer them if we will not be Friends with them if we proclaim War against them if we are resolved whatever we venture to be rid of them if we will not hug them in our Bosoms if we will open the Everlasting Doors and let the King of Glory come in if we will hate what he hates and love what he loves and will continue our Hostility against those Lusts which interfere with his just Right and Prerogative He will not go to the utmost rigour with us He will deal gently with us liker a Father than a Judge To let us go on in our Offences without Remorse or a serious Care to please him he cannot and such is his Holiness that he must not He considers our Frame that we are Dust and therefore will not take advantage of every accidental Miscarriage But he considers withal that he hath given us his Gospel and Everlasting Motives and his Holy Spirit whereby we may certainly master the Corruptions we find stirring in us though not immediately yet by degrees if we are but willing and labour and wrestle and are active and do not suffer our selves to be overcome by Laziness and the Satisfactions of this present World And upon these Terms he is willing to count us worthy Receivers O Sweetness incomparable O Condescention ineffable beyond all that Kings and Princes express to their Subjects What Christian that is acquainted with this Frame this Spirit this humble and tractable Temper this Resolution and this Willingness and that feels these Characters in his Soul can after all this forbear coming upon a pretence of being unworthy Coming to this holy Table with such Purposes with such Designs with such Qualifications let him be confident that his Father his Saviour his Redeemer will bid him welcome This spiritual Frame Christian will make thee worthy Thou comest not to this Sacrament to give God any thing but to receive a Blessing from him Thou comest not hither to contribute any thing to his Happiness but to open thy Mouth wide that he may fill it Thou comest not hither to proclaim thy
some farther Prospect than this present Life and that he uses the Word not only to terrifie the unworthy Receiver with Sickness and Weakness of the Body and a Spiritual and Temporal Judgment but at the same time bids him take heed that in case any of the former doth not for Reasons best known to Providence light upon him or in case the Thoughts of the former do not work upon him and transform him into a better Man he doth not run himself into Hell-Fire and Eternal Misery It is plainly to tell him that since the Word includes both Judgments Temporal and Eternal he hath no reason to flatter himself that it will be only a Temporal judgment but may justly fear he shall in our God's Everlasting Indignation And therefore our Church retains both Significations of the Word in her Exhortation before the Sacrament So is the Danger great if we Receive the same unworthily for then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour we Eat and Drink our own Damnation not considering the Lord's Body we kindle God's Wrath against us we provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death II. How an unworthy Communicant eats and drinks Damnation to himself is the next thing we are to explain And this he doth this following Way 1. He makes himself obnoxious to the fierce Anger of the Judge that is to decide the Controversie of his Life and Death to all Eternity and this Judge is the Son of God Christ Jesus who hath protested that Not every one who saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven and therefore will say unto them in the last Day I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And there is nothing more certain than that the unworthy Receiver is resolved not to do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven whose Will is that Men should honour the Son as they do the Father Joh. 5. 23. i. e. believe in him as they do in the Father and come to this Sacrament like Persons redeemed from their vain Conversation resolved to war against the Lusts of the Flesh like Soldiers of the Cross and to remember the Death of the Son of God here with that Respect and Devotion they owe to God resolved to live and die with him like Persons who have listed themselves under his Colours with an Intent to fight against his Enemies and to take heed they do not dishonour the Son of God by an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the Living God This is the Will of God and since Christ the Judge of the World is the Person appointed to examine whether this Will of God hath been obeyed the unworthy Receiver dying in Impenitence and coming before him and it appearing that he hath nothing less than the Will of God professed indeed that he would do it pretended Service and Obedience to him and yet done his own Will though exhorted and moved to do the Will of God by numberless Arguments Arguments big with the greatest Charms what can his Obstinacy cause but Anger in the Judge Anger implacable since he would continue dead and unconcerned under the lively Oracles of Heaven and under the most lively Representations of the Love of God The Effect of which Anger is the Sentence of Everlasting Condemnation Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire c. Matth. 25. 41. And for this Reason the Psalmist calls to all Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the right Way when his Anger shall be kindled but a little Psal 2. 11. 2. He puts himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Sinners are in to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever And that State and Condition is Wilful Disobedience to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Consequence of this State is St. Paul explains 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power And that this is the unworthy Receiver's Condition is manifest from hence because he knows not God i. e. he will not know him nor obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He might know that God is an holy God and hath called him to Holiness and is not to be put off with blind lame and slovenly Devotion and yet he will not nor doth he obey the Gospel which obliges him by virtue of the Grace of God appearing to all Men to renounce Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. This Ungodliness and these Worldly Lusts he retains and cherishes and makes much of notwithstanding his coming to the Lord's Table and so putting himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Men are no wonder if he makes himself liable to the same Damnation 3. He makes himself fit Company for the Damned and the Sufferers in Hell Those that are in that miserable State did as he doth and he doth as they did They suffer'd the Profits and Pleasures of the World to justle out a serious Sense of Religion so doth the unworthy Receiver They had a Form of Godliness and denied the Power thereof so doth he They some of them at least came to this Sacrament with unmortified Lusts with unsubdued Passions of Anger and Pride and with ungovernable Desires after the World and had no real Intent to become Proselytes of Righteousness so doth he They did not think that the holy Sacrament was such an Inforcive to a Change of Life as Divines talked of so doth he They made no great matter of this Ordinance but thought it expedient to comply with the Custom of the Country and the Usages of the Church they lived in and that was all and so doth he They made nothing of promising and breaking their solemn Promises to God no more doth he And being like them in Manners no wonder if he be like them in Torments too Being their Companion in their Sins 't is just he should be a Companion with them in their Misery Having been their Associate in Hypocrisie 't is fit he should have his Portion with Hypocrites III. But here the Sinner I know will be apt to clamour and say What Justice can there be in it that God for eating a Piece of Bread and for drinking a few Drops of Wine irreverently and unworthily without observing some Punctilio's and Nicer Rules of Divinity should inflict Eternal Damnation upon a poor Creature To which I answer 1. Every supreme and absolute Law-giver hath liberty to set what Penalties he thinks fit upon the Breaches of his Law If he will appoint a Punishment that is very dreadful for a certain
sometimes hast thou been from this exercise O my Soul when thou hast gone into dangerous company how loth hast thou been to arm thy self with Prayer When thou hast been in trouble how little hast thou thought of this Sovereign Remedy or if thou hast made use of it how cold how faint how superficial have been thy Supplications How often hast thou had greater confidence in the arm of Flesh than in the strength of God! Prayer hath chased away Armies turned to flight the Host of Aliens stopt the mouth of Lions quenched the flames of Fire made the Sun stand still and the shadow go back ten Degrees hath shut and opened Heaven and yet how slender how weak how indifferent hath thy Love been to this Spiritual Engine which hath conquered the Fort above and even forced the Almighty into Pity and Compassion 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a Stones-cast and kneeled down and prayed OUR Saviour when he means to pray most earnestly retires from all company yet how irksome hath retirement been to thee O my Soul What a burden hath it seemed and how glad hast thou been when company or Business have call'd thee away from that Penance and given thee a diversion How much more pleasing have crouds and mulitudes of business and people been to thee than privacy In serious retirements thou mightest have seen the brighter goings of God and had larger experience of his Power and Goodness but thou hast been afraid of meeting thy God in private and by that means deprived thy self of the gracious influences which he imparts to them that love his company Behold thy Redeemer bows his knees and kneels on the cold ground to offer up his Supplications to his Father How strangely hast thou consulted thine ease in Prayer How afraid hast thou been to kneel if thou hast had no Cushion How loth to put thy flesh to any trouble in God's Service Did the Son of God prostrate himself upon the Grass or Earth he stood upon and art thou afraid of hurting thy self in Prayer if thou hast not the accommodations of Softness and Luxury 42. Saying Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done AN excellent Example and with the Example a Command to resign our Will to God's Will even in the greatest Troubles and Calamities And dost thou observe this O my Soul Art thou content with the Will and Pleasure of God when he lays affliction upon thy Loins Dost thou say freely and without murmuring It is the Lord let him do what seems good to him O how hast thou repin'd sometimes How impatient hast thou been under thy chain How unwilling to submit to the hand of God! How forced hath been thy Humiliation Where hath been thy belief of God's Wisdom and Goodness If thou believest God to be infinitely Wise and consequently that what he sends on thee is most wisely order'd why dost thou murmur If thou believest him to be infinitely good and therefore intending all that happens to thee for thy good why dost thou think the ways of the Lord are not equal 43. And there appeared to him an Angel from Heaven strongth'ning him IF this Blessed Minister of Heaven did comfort him with Words we must suppose he humbly besought him to look upon the Glory set before him and reflect on the vast good that would arrive to all Mankind by his Passion and that he encouraged him to go on with the great work of Redemption O my Soul And hath not thy God sent an Angel to thee a Minister of his Word in thy Afflictions and encouraged thee by the hopes of Eternal Glory to bear up and to be undaunted under all the Waves and Billows that went over thee Nay hath not thy God himself suggested to thy mind what benefit thy Affliction would yield what peaceable fruits of Righteousness what hatred of Sin what love to Holiness and what Humility it would produce And yet none of these have been able to keep thee from sinking How sensual is thy Mind How earthy are thy Affections What Polishing what Refining do they want yet And yet if Affliction which is the Furnace that must purifie the Gold will not do it what can be supposed to do it 44. And being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling down to the ground SEE O my Soul how thy Sin presses the Son of God! see how great the horror of it is that it forced him into Agonies and these Agonies vent themselves in a Bloody Sweat He saw the Wrath of God that flaming Sword which hung over thee the revenging Arm that God shook against thee He saw the Hell thou hadst deserved the Torments thou hast merited the Agonies thou hadst involv'd thy self in He saw thy Sins in their full latitude and extent what encroachments they had made on the Divine Nature what affronts they had offer'd to the great Majesty of Heaven being very sensible of the infinite purity of God he saw the dreadfulness the monstrousness of thy Transgressions which had made War with that Divine Purity He saw the Fire and Brimstone the everlasting Furnace the burning Lake that was design'd to be thy Recompence He saw it and trembled He saw it and stagger'd He felt it being infinitely compassionate and feeling it laboured to shake it off and to get from under it and as he struggles with the Load his Sacred Body breaks forth in a strange kind of Sweat Didst thou ever consider O my Soul what thy Sins did cost Hadst thou considered it how couldst thou have been so merry so blithe so jocular in the Commission 45. And when he rose up from Prayer and was come to his Disciples he found them sleeping for Sorrow STrange Sleep should oppress People when they have Death before them Yet why wonderest thou O my Soul when thou hast slept securely at the very Gates of Hell in the Suburbs of Destruction How hast thou even shorted in Sin when the Messengers of God have cried out Fire Everlasting Fire over thy Head How quiet hast thou been how secure how jolly when the Fiends have been about thee as the Philistines about Sampson How hast thou played and laughed and smiled when the Eternal Wrath of God hath been ready to seize on thee How was it that thou wert not afraid How was it that thou didst not give a Start in the midst of thy Slumber What if thou hadst awaked in Hell 46. And said unto them Why sleep ye Rise and pray that ye enter not into Temptation INdeed Sleepiness and Idleness is the Devil's Opportunity to persuade us into Sin Had the Disciples prayed instead of sleeping 't is possible they would not have fled when they saw Danger nigh And hath not the Devil prevailed with thee by Idleness O my Soul When thou hast with David taken thy Rest and Ease hath not Satan brought a
To delight in filthy Sights and looking upon Objects which raise evil Thoughts in us Matth. 5. 29. 47. To try Experiments in Lust and to act our Lewdness over in our Minds again Ephes. 4. 19. 48. To go into Company where we are sure to be tempted and persuaded to that which is evil Matth. 5. 30. 49. Drunkenness or Drinking and Tippling to the Disorder of our Reason 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Ephes. 5. 16 18. 50. To flatter our Neighbours and to have their Persons in Admiration because of Advantage Jude 1. 16. 51. To lye unto our Neighbours and to speak that to them which we know is not true Ephes 4. 25. 52. To dissemble with God and with our Neighbours and give them fair Words while we hate them in our Hearts Rom. 12. 9. 53. To bid our Servants or Friends or others to tell Lyes for us Heb. 3. 13. 54. To follow a Multitude to do evil and to do ill things because they are done commonly Ephes. 5. 11. 55. To be greedy and covetous after the Things of this World to the Neglect of our Souls and Spiritual Welfare Ephes. 5. 3. 56. To delay our Repentance and to drive off our Seriousness from time to time Heb. 3. 15. 57. To do Wrong to our Neighbours and particularly to a poor Man or Stranger or to an Enemy Ephes. 4. 32. 58. To glory in bad Actions Philip. 3. 19. 59. To aim at the Praise and Applause of Men in good Actions Matth. 6. 1 2. 60. To mis-spend our Time by Idleness and Laziness and Gaming and immoderate Recreations Ephes. 5. 15 16. 61. Gluttony and Intemperance in Eating or eating more than Nature requires 2 Pet. 1. 6. 62. To delight in gaudy Cloathing and Fondness of imitating of every Fashion 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. 63. To render Evil for Evil aâ—d Reviling for Reviling 1 Pet. 2. 23. 64. To be ashamed of the Gospel and of Religion or of Religious Duties or of doing the Will of God Mark 8. 38. 65. To be weary of Well-doing or of any commanded Religious Duty and to give over our Seriousness Gal. 6. 9. 66. To be uncharitable and to harden our Hearts and Bowels against the Distressed and Needy 1 John 3. 17. 67. To scandalize others or to give Offence by Actions either needless or sinful Matth. 18. 6 7. 68. To follow an unlawful Profession that necessitates us unto Sin Matth. 18. 8. 69. To entice and encourage and draw others into Sin by our ill Example or Sollicitation Rom. 1. 22. 70. To comply with other Men in their Sins because they urge or press us to it 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. 71. To be proud haughty self-conceited and to entertain an high Opinion of our selves Parts Abilities and Accomplishments and to despise others Luke 14. 10 11. 72. To neglect the Service of God for every Trifle and every little Business that would draw us from it Luke 2. 49 and 10. 41 42. 73. To use needless Asseverations in common Discourses anâ— in trivial Matters such as I vow I protest I swear c. Matth. 5. 37. 74. To reveal our Neighbour's Secrets which they in love communicate to us Philip. 2. 4. Matth. 7. 12. 75. To rejoyce in our Neighbour's Fall or Misfortune or Misery Rom. 12. 15. 76. To be careless negligent slovenly or superficial in any part of God's Service Rom. 12. 11. 77. To presume upon God's Goodness or to sin and go on in Sin because God is merciful and patient Rom. 2. 4 5. 78. To despair of God's Mercy or to think that he either cannot or will not pardon upon our sincere Repentance Matth. 12. 31. 79. To fancy that a customary Faith without suitable Works will save us Jam. 2. 26. 80. To be morose surly ill-natur'd and give rough and imperious Language to our Neighbours 1 Pet. 3. 8. 81. To let our Neighbours and Friends go on in their Sins without reproving them Ephes. 5. 11. 82. to set our Hearts and Affections upon the Riches and Comforts of this Life Mark 10. 24. Col. 3. 1 2. 83. To mourn and take on under any Cross and Loss like Men without Hope 1 Thes. 4. 13. 2 Cor. 7. 10. 84. To be careless and neglectful of a faithful Discharge of the Duties of our several Callings and Relations As 1. For Husbands to be churlish bitter and unkind to their Wives Col. 3. 19. 2. For Wives to be froward talkative brawling and injurious to their Husbands Goods and Name 1 Pet. 3. 1 4. 3. For Magistrates to suffer Injustice Oppression Murther Irreligiousness Atheism and Profaneness to go unpunished Rom. 13. 3. 4. For Subjects to raise ill Reports of their Magistrates and mis-conster their Actions to the Disturbance of the Government 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. 5. For 〈◊〉 to shew their Children bad Examples to indulge them in their Sins or to suffer them to do what they list without Correction Ephes. 6. 4. 6. For Children to be disobedient to their Parents lawful Commands or to deny them Maintenance when they are in want and the Children able to relieve and assist them Ephes. 6. 1 2. 7. For Masters to keep back the Hire or Wages of their Servants and to suffer them to neglect God's Service and the Concerns of their own Souls Col. 4 1. 8. For Servants to grumble or mumur at their Masters lawful Commands or chiding of them to answer again to be unfaithful to disparage their Masters and Mistresses and to discover to others what their Superiors would have kept secret Tit. 2. 9 10. 85. To neglect or defer our Baptism in case we were never baptized before and to forbear bringing our Children to be baptized Matth. 28. 19. 86. Not to come to the Lord's Supper after we come to Years of Understanding and Discretion Matth 26. 26 27. 87. To eat and drink unworthily at the Lord's Table 1 Cor. 11. 29. 88. To neglect thinking of good things Philip. 4. 8. 89. Idolatry Witchcraft Seditions Schisms Heresies Gal. 5. 20. 90. Whispering to our Neighbour's prejudice Back-biting Despightfulness Boasting Inventing of evil Thinge Covenant-breaking and being without Natural Affections and delighting in other Men's Sins Rom. 1. 29 30 31 32. 91. To do Evil that Good may come of it Rom. 3. 8. If any Sins are left out in this Catalogue they are such as may be referred to those which are mention'd And though some that are mention'd as distinct Sins may very well go for one yet the Reason why a distinct Number is allowed them is merely because Vulgar Capacities might thereby get a clearer Knowledge and Apprehnsion of them A Catalogue of DUTIES Commanded in the Gospel 1. TO believe that God is One in Three and Three in One and that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are that one God 1 Joh. 5. 7. Joh. 10. 30. 2. To believe that the Son of God was incarnate and came into this World by his Holy Life and Death to save Men from their Sins Joh. 3.
been guilty of before that Age were committed out of Ignorance so the Examination is more easily performed and as their Age and Religion advances so they will know more Their early Self-Examination makes way for early Gravity and helps to ripen their Understandings and is the only Way to prevent their falling into the Vices of the Age and if any thing next to the Grace of God can be a Charm against Infection from a debauch'd and irreligious World this is most likely to be it I mean this Self-Examination joyned with the holy Sacrament for which it is intended as a proper Preparative III. It is not enough that another Person hath examined us or doth examine us but we our selves must take pains in it Ministers and Parents and Friends by examining of us may be able to give us very good Directions and excellent Instructions how we are to order our Conversation but to all this must be added our own Labour and Diligence to see whether we observe those Directions whether they are acceptable to us how we relish them and whether we intend to act accordingly Up then Christian and try thy Ways Be not afraid of Labour Labour and Food saith Philo have the same Vertue for as upon Food a Man's whole Life depends so upon Labour also depends all that a Man can call good Therefore as they that will prolong Life do not neglect their Food so he that desires any real or solid Good must not be afraid of Labour As Meat is very troublesome and burthensome to a weak Stomach that hath but little Natural Heat so to him that hath but little Love to Christ this Labour of Self-Examination will be burthensome But Christian as thou hast the greatest reason to love the Lord Jesus so if thou lovest him to any purpose both this and other Labours will appear very easie for Love will make them so See therefore and enquire how Concerns stand betwixt God and thine own Soul Shall thy Reason lie useless Shall that excellent Faculty be employed in searching into the Accounts of thy Shop and not into the State of thy better Part Is it not worth knowing whether thou art of God or a Child of the Devil And whether thou hadst rather grovel in the Dust like a Muck-worm or elevate thy thy Soul and fix it upon Objects which Angels desire to pry into Hath God given thee Power to examine thy self and wilt thou neglect that Power Though thou canst not Read nor Write yet thou canst think and think whether thy Life be according to the Holy Rules which are observed by other conscientious Christians Through this examination thou mayst come to see what God hath done for thy Soul and if he hath planted there an abhorrency of that which is evil and a strong affection to that which is good how joyfully mayst thou come to this Holy Table and expect that God will pour Water upon him that is Thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground and that thou shalt spring up as among the Grass and as the Willows by the Water-courses Isai. 44. 3. 3. He that comes to be acquainted with himself at the same time comes to be acquainted with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. This is true Policy and as he is the greatest Politician in Temporals that sees afar off and considers the events of things and upon what causes they depend and gives counsel accordingly so he is the greast Politician in Spirituals that studies himself acquaints himself with his own heart for such a person looks further than his present profit and sensible how this self-acquaintance will be valued one day counsels himself to be expert in that Wisdom For it is certain that in the last day not the great Scholarship of Men not their improving of Arts and Sciences not their skill in various Languages not their Ability to Discourse well not their volubility of Tongue not their Rhetorical and Eloquent Speaking not their profound Philosophy nor their Diving into the secrets of Nature will be much admired These things did well for this World and might be serviceable to various Sorts and Degrees of Men But if Persons with all these Accomplishments about them overlook'd their own Hearts cherished Weeds and Vices there and would take no notice of them their Parts and Learning will not stand them in great stead in that Day of Retribution The poor Christian that ransack'd his Soul often turned over the Leaves of his Conscience that spiritual Book on purpose to see his own Spots and Stains and wash himself clean out of an holy Emulation of the Purity of the Lord Jesus he will be counted at last the most prudent Man that had the quickest Eye and a Sight sharper than an Eagle for as this gives him a Title to all that Christ hath purchased and the rich Blessings laid up for him in this holy Sacrament so in the last Day it gives him full Possession of all the Trophies of Christ's Victory The PRAYER O God! Thou seest the secret Recesses of my Soul Though I may hide my self from my self yet I cannot hide my self from thee whose Sight is not darkned by the Night nor stopped by an Object intervening nor hindred by Walls of Brass nor weaken'd with the greatness of the Distance O Lord Thou hast commanded me to examine my self and to search into the Sins and Errours of my Life What Foes I have and how many there be that rise against me that would swallow up my Soul and devour it that I may secure my self against their Rage by taking Sanctuary at the Death of my ever blessed Redeemer the Lord Jesus O Lord I am very apt to do thy Work negligently I am apt to do it by halves and superficially and without any regard to its weight and moment Thou that knowest my Dulness my Backwardness and my Hypocrisie deliver me I beseech thee from my self and make me Partaker of that Light whereby thou meanest to discover the Sins of Men in the last Day when they come to appear before thy Tribunal By that Light they will see every Deformity every Enormity every Exorbitance of their Outward and Inward Man That will discover to them what they have long ago forgotten and manifest to them what for many Years they have not thought of That will shew them every Errour of their Lives to their Confusion and Amazement That will make them see their Faults so evidently and so distinctly that they will not be able to deny them but be forced to render themselves Prisoners to thy Justice That will undeceive them in their fond Opinions of their Sins and pull away the Varnish they have put upon them and make them appear in their native Hue and Blackness Oh vouchsafe me that Light in some measure now that I may not deceive mine own Soul Make me Partaker withal of the Zeal of thy Justice and of that Hatred thou bearest against Sin that I may hate my Sins as
Oblation of thy dear Son and blot out all my Transgressions Accept of that incomparable Sacrifice and forget the Injuries I have offered thee I should be afraid of being sent away empty from thy Throne my Sins are so many and so great but that I know thy Sons Merits are greater than my Sins If my Sins and his Goodness my Transgressions and the Merits of his bitter Passion were laid in a Ballance together these would weigh for heavier than mine Offences What Crime so great that such a Sorrow such Affliction such Obedience such Humility such invincible Patience and what is more than all this such infinite Love cannot expiate What Iniquity can there be in the World above which the Death of Christ doth not preponderate O Heavenly Father I have nothing of mine own to offer thee But I offer thee my Saviour my Redeemer thine only Son with all possible Devotion and Gratitude Accept of his unspeakable Grief and Anguish known only to him and to thy self for my Sins and that Grief I should have and do not feel Accept of his bloody Sweat and Tears for want of my Tears Accept of his most fervent Prayers for my dulness and deadness in Prayer Accept of all that ever he did and suffer'd for my great and multiplied Transgressions I accuse my self for my Carnality I condemn my self for my backwardness to serve thee I am willing to inflict Judgments upon my self for my innumerable Follies yet even these Services will look dull and weak and imperfect except thou art pleased to look upon them through the Merits of thy dear Son O blessed Jesu who can comprehend thy Charity O pour into my Heart true Contrition soften my harden'd Heart into true Compunction give to mine Eyes abundance of Tears that I may bewail the many Indignities I have offered to thee Deal not with me after my Sins Let thy bitter Passion step in betwixt thy Father's Anger and my miserable Soul And whatever mine Iniquities have deserv'd let thy Death atone for them and let thy Blood wash them away O thou who hast overcome the World and the Prince thereof overcome all my rebellious and inordinate Affections Let nothing separate betwixt thy Love and me Remove and conquer that Disagreebleness that is betwixt my Nature and thy Holiness and as thou wast obedient to thy Father even to the Death of the Cross so make my Soul obedient to thee in all thing O let me see and feel that there is nothing so vile so abject so unworthy as I am and in this sense let me admire thy Love that it may appear great and wonderful to me and dash all those Excuses and Delays I have pretended too long to cloak my unwillingness to please thee What can melt my heart if thy Love cannot melt it O melt it by that Fire and purge away all my Dross and all my Tin that being purified by thee I may enjoy the Comforts of that Purity for ever Amen Amen CHAP. XXV Of Self-Resignation the Fourth Preparatory Duty in order to a Worthy Receiving of this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS What Self-Resignation is and wherein it consists What makes it necessary Upon what Account it comes to be a Duty preparatory for the Holy Sacrament God likens himself to a Potter and why Our Perfection proved to consist in this Self-Resignation 1. WHat this Self-Resignation is and wherein it consists is no hard matter to guess 'T is in short to resign our Will to God's Will not only in being ready to do what God will have us do but in being contented to suffer whatever he shall think fit to lay upon us 'T is St. Anselm's Observation That God alone who is the Creator of all things can will and do what he pleases having no Will superior to his own to which he ought to submit But when Man will do his own Will he robs Almighty God in some measure of his Crown for as the Crown is only the Privilege and Prerogative of a King so to do what he pleases is God's only Property And as a Subject that should fly at the Crown of his Prince and take it off his Head would commit Treason and do his Sovereign the greatest Injury so a Man that will have his own Will attributes that to himself which is a Privilege appertaining only to Divinity it self And indeed this Self-Resignation is nothing but an Effect of sincere and cordial Love Love being the Bond that ties and unites the Person loving to him that is loved as Hatred dissolves and unties that Bond. This Love consists chiefly in the Will and if it be right it must necessarily oblige him that loves God to will what he wills and take his Pleasure and Will for his Rule whereby he governs his own Desires and Affections II. That which makes this Self-Resignation to the Will of God very necessary are these important Points 1. Hereby the Glory of God is signally advanced It is the most excellent Sacrifice we can offer to Almighty God The Glory of God consists in having his Will fulfilled And since we are both created and redeemed to advance God's Glory we commit a very great Errour in having a different Will from God's Will for we deprive him of the Honour due to him and which we are obliged to advance not only by our Obedience but by our Troubles and Dangers too And if it be such an Advancement of God's Glory to do what he will have us do and to follow him where he leads it can be no less Glory to our selves to have the Honour to fulfil his Will in all things That God who is far above us so infinitely exalted above our frail Natures should make use of such poor miserable Creatures to glorifie him and employ in the compassing of his admirable Designs such vile Worms when he might make use of far better is no small Dignity and Advancement If a King were to give Battel to a fierce and numerous Enemy and should quit or lay by a bright and Two-edged Sword and take a rusty Dagger with no Point or Edge to fight the opposite Army as it would be a Mark of his greater Courage so the Victory he gains by that means would be more renowned and glorious We are in the Hand of God no otherwise than obtuse and blunt Daggers are and that by such contemptible means he will compass his Glory is not only the Way to promote his own Honour but ours too When the Disciples of Socrates had all made their Masters very noble Presents Aeschines who was very poor came to him and told him Sir I have nothing to give you that is worthy of you and therefore take the only thing I have to give that is my self Socrates was extreamly pleased with this Offer And Seneca adds that by this Present Aeschines exceeded all the rich Gifts not only of Alcibiades whose Gifts were equal to his generous Mind but all the Presents of the rest A Man can
give nothing to God that is more pleasing to him than his Will and in giving him his Will he gives him all his Content his Love his Honour his Health and his Wealth for he leaves all these to his Disposal 2. Nothing comes to pass without God's Providence Our Sicknesses Poverty Exile Losses Crosses Troubles Accidents which foolish Men are apt to ascribe to Chance are all govern'd by his Almighty Hand and sent by his Order So that not to conform our Wills to his Will in these Cases is a tacit Denial of his Providence Nay though the Afflictions and Miseries which may befal us may be inflicted by wicked Instruments the Devil and evil Men yet as God hath no Hand in their Sins so he hath certainly an Hand in the Affliction And this is one great Design of the Holy Ghost in Scripture to direct us how to refer all things even the most displeasing and the most disagreeable to Flesh and Blood to God's Providence Job therefore though the Chaldeans and the Devil were the External Instruments whereby his Calamities were sent upon him yet he acknowledges God in all and in his Confession ascribes his Losses not to the Devil not to the Chaldeans but to God The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1. 21. It was therefore a very wise Answer which Lupus the Bishop of Troy gave to Attila the King of the Huns who with an Army of Five Hundred Thousand Men had burnt and destroyed and laid waste abundance of Countries Coming at last before Troy the Bishop and his Clergy in their Robes went out to meet him and as they came into his Presence the Bishop craved Leave to ask him who he was Attila with a fierce and stern Countenance told him I am the Scourge of God Are you so saith the Bishop Who then is able to resist you And since you are so pray come and beat and scourge us as you think fit and as God shall permit you An Answer which Attila was so well pleased with that he spared the Town and passed through it without doing the Inhabitants the least hurt This good Man saw the Providence of God in it and conformed his Will to God's Will and thereby teaches us that this Self-Resignation is the Way to see an happy Issue of our Afflictions 3. As nothing comes to pass without a special Providence so whatsoever befals us is governed by infinite Wisdom and comes upon us wise and holy Ends though for the present we cannot see to the Bottom of them and that is a very great Motive to this Self-Resignation As the whole World is governed by the Inflnice Wisdom of God so Man in a particular manner and more especially those that fear him and whether God commands us any thing or will have us suffer any thing it is still for the noblest Ends even his Glory and our own Eternal Salvation And to say the Truth a Man can give no better no greater Demonstration of his Wisdom then in denying his own Judgment and Will and submitting them to the Wisdom of God For take the greatest and most exact Wisdom that is in man or ever hath been even the Wisdom of Solomon if it be compared with the Wisdom of God it is mere Darkness and Ignorance so that to resign our selves to the Wisdom and Will of God in all things must be the greatest Wisdom If a Man that is born blind should restise to take a wise Guide with him and particularly his own Father who entirely loves him a prudent Man and who knows the Way perfectly all would take him for a Mad-man and blind in Soul as well as Body And how are we better than such a Man if we are afraid to follow our Heavenly Father even then when he leads us over Rocks and Precipices For we have reason to trust the hand that guides us whatever Reasons offer themselves to our minds to the contrary nor can we be deceiv'd in our Trust for he that guides us is infinitely Wise. The Wisdom of God is to be seen in inequalities as much as in any thing A Body would not be beautiful if all the parts were of an equal bigness some parts standing out and others being depressed some being big and others little make up the Beauty of the whole as in the Fabrick of the Earth Mountains and Hills and Dales Rocks and fruitful Fields being mingled one with another make the Fabrick more stately than otherwise it would be the same may be said of our Lives which being chequered with Adversity and Prosperity with Light and Darkness with good Report and evil Report declare at once their Beauty and God's Wisdom so that we may confidently affirm That the Sovereign Reason which is God can do nothing contrary to Reason in things that concern us even then when sometimes they seen to be contrary so that this makes Self-resignation a necessary Duty III. But here a Question will arise Why this Duty of Self-resignation is to be exercised and practised particularly before we receive the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and how comes this to be a Preparative for this Ordinance and the Worthy Receiving of it To which I must answer as follows 1. This is to imitate our Blessed Saviour who before he went to dye resigned his Will to his Holy Father's Will Luke 22. 42. Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done And what more proper than before we remember this Death to use the same Self-resignation To imitate him in all his Actions except the Miraculous is our Duty and Glory We cannot imitate a better Pattern nay the desin of the Gospel is to plant in us a conformity to his Temper and to oblige us to tread in his steps If we do no not it 's as much as our Lives are worth and he will not own us for his Disciples The very name Christian imports so much and as a Pythagorean is one that believes and lives as Pythagoras lived so a Christian is he that believes and lives as Christ did live and therefore learn of me Matth. 11. 26. contains the whole Duty of a Christian. Of this the late famous Antonette Baurignon if it be true what is said in the History of her Life had very early apprehensions for when she was but a Girl of four years of Age having heard of her Parents and Friends what Christ had taught and how he lived and that by him we must enter into Eternal Life she was exceedingly desirous to go into that Country where Men lived as Christ had taught them and as he lived Her Friends telling her that she lived in a Christian Country and that all that were about her were Christians she shook her Head professing that she could not believe them for those she saw lived not as Christ had taught them or as he lived but rather directly contrary For Christ
love thee feel XI O Saviour Gentle as the Spirit that in the shape of a Dove lighted on thy Sacred Head Teach me that Meekness which look'd so amiable in thy Life Expel the evil Spirits of Wrath Anger and Pride and Envy out of my Soul Speak the word and these Winds and Waves will obey thee Let thy gentleness make me great When I shall have overcome my wrathful and proud Inclinations and O! let the Sacrament I am going to help me in the Conquest then shall I be great and glorious in thy sight XII Great Shepherd of my Soul whose Wounds are full of Sweetness full of Mercy full of Charity Let thy Wounds prove the most powerful Remedies to rid me of my Corruptions When any impure Thoughts rise in me let thinking of thy Wounds crush them when sluggishness in Religion assaults me let thy Wounds and the remembrance of them make me vigilant in thy service and when in the Holy Sacrament I think of thy Wounds let all my vain imaginations expire XIII Great Friend of my immortal Soul Such a friend is not to be found in all the World as thou hast been to me for thou hast laid down thy Life for me O let me make much of thy friendship and cherish it by being meek and humble and merciful and patient as thou wert that thou mayest be my Friend when I dye and after Death receive me to thy self O confirm and seal thy Friendship to my Soul in the Blessed Sacrament and let the same Spirit move in me which raised thee from the dead XIV O Thou who hast wash'd me from my Sins with thine own Blood chuse I beseech thee my Heart for thy Dwelling place adorn and replenish it with thy Gifts and Graces make me to loath all transitory things make me poor in Spirit cure in me the itch of Self-love throw down all pride and eagerness after the Riches of this World and make the Holy Sacrament I am going to a mean to adore thee in Spirit and in Truth and to persevere in Goodness to the end XV. Great Comforter of all weary and laden Souls Circumcise my Heart from all evil Thoughts and Words and Actions and Comunicate thy self unto me that I may never be separated from thee or ever be deprived of thy Comfort Draw my Soul after thee in the Holy Sacrament and let that Blessed Ordinance powerfully stir up my Heart to love thee XVI O Thou who art the door of thy Sheepfold By thee let me have access to thy Father's Love And as in the Holy Sacrament thou openest thy Bosom to me so let me run and seek shelter there Chain me to thy self by Bands of Love and let no Temptation defile me O keep me that I may never cowardly faint at any adversity XVII Thou who hast endured contradictions of Sinners against thy self Be thou ever in my mind and teach me to bear Calumnies and Reproaches with great tranquility of Mind Let me refer all difficulties to thee and with silence expect thy Grace and Comfort and let the Blessed Sacrament so influence my Soul that I may fear none but thee XVIII Great Captain of my Salvation I am going to learn to fight the good fight in the Blessed Sacrament of thy Love Let thy great example there encourage me to fight against all Ambition and Ostentation against Censoriousness and Uncharitableness against all Intemperance and Gluttony against all proud and covetous Thoughts against Guile and Hypocrisie against discontentedness and misitrinst of thy Providence Against such Enemies give me grace to fight over these let me triumph that having striven lawfully I may at last be admitted to the Glorious sight of thy Sweet Self and be charm'd with thy Love for ever CHAP. XXVII Of the proper Acts of Devotion when we come to the Holy Table The CONTENTS Private Acts of Devotion must be forborn while the Congregation joyns in common Addresses to Almighty God General Acts of Devotion relating to the wonderful Love of Christ and our Love to him Particular Acts of Devotion at the Consecration and Receiving of the holy Symbols I. THE following Acts are fittest to be used before the Prayers of the Church usual at the Communion do begin or before the Minister of the Ordinance comes to us with the sacred Symbols and while others are Communicating II. While the Minister of the Ordinance is engaged in the Prayers of the Church these Ejaculations must be forborn our Duty during the publick Devotions being to joyn with the Congregation in their common Addresses to God These Acts of Devotion are either General or Particular The General I call those which respect the Love of the Lord Jesus The Particular those which are to be exercised at the Consecration and Receiving of the Consecrated Bread and Wine General Acts of Devotion at the Lord's Table I. GReat Saviour of the World Thou art infinitely amiable worthy to be loved by all to whose Ears the joyful Message of thy Love doth come I rejoyce in the Knowledge of thy Love I count my self happy that I am born under the Shadow of thy Gospel in which thy wonderful Love to the Children of Men is manifested I desire no other Knowledge 'T is enough that I know thou hast loved me beyond Example I desire to count all things Dross and Dung for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ. II. O my Jesus I am not worthy to love thee Yet because thou biddest me love thee and hast told me that my Soul was created on purpose to love thee I chearfully resign my Love and Affection to thee I desire to love thee I wish for nothing more than that I may passionately love thee Whom have I in Heaven to love but thee And there is none on Earth that I desire to love more than thy self For thou art altogether lovely and thy Love surpasses all the Love of Friends and the dearest Relations I have III. O my blessed Redeemer I desire to love thee with all my Heart and with all my Strength Thou gavest me this Heart and this Strength And on whom can I bestow it better than on thee the Author of it Oh that all that is within me might be turned into Desires and Inclinations and Sighs and Languishings and Breathings after thee For I cannot express what thou hast done for me What thou hast done for me is beyond all the Kindness that the greatest Men ever did or can do for the meanest and poorest Creatures IV. Great Advocate of my Soul Thou seest my Desire to love thee Make it strong and powerful Take a Coal from the Altar and give it Fire that nothing may hinder the Flame from mounting up that nothing may weaken this Desire nothing may break it nothing may tire it nothing may mingle with it that is unclean or contrary to thy Love V. Great Object of my Desires Make me a Martyr of thy Love Make me willing even to die for love of thee Raise a