this Representation of Christ's Death in the Sacrament has a respect to others to whom we are to declare it as well as it relates like the Commemoration before-mention'd to our selves and to God We do by this proclaim unto Men and Angels the manifold Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Kindness and Condescention of our ever blessed Redeemer and in a manner preach the Gospel to every Creature while we here represent so considerable a part of it as our Saviour's Death and own that we are not asham'd of his Cross but rather Glory in it § V. We represent it also to our selves that is we do by this sacred significant and lively Action fix it more deeply in our Affections and Memories The Bread represents our Saviour's Body who is the true Bread of Life that came down from Heaven The Wine his Blood The Breaking of the Bread the Torments he endur'd on the Cross and the Wounding of his sacred Body as the pouring out of the Wine is a most lively Figure of the shedding his most precious Blood But of this more hereafter § VI. But in the last place we also represent our Saviour's Death to God the Father in the Holy Communion This we do by those Actions which he himself has appointed as means of supplicating him and obtaining his Favour Beseeching our heavenly Father who of his tender Mercy did give his only Son Jesus Christ to suffer Death upon the Cross for our Redemption that we duly receiving the Holy Mysteries according to our Lord Jesus Christ's Holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood The Priest neither makes nor offers the real natural Body of Christ in the Holy Communion but he makes his spiritual or sacramental Body and therein represents his natural Body as well as he also represents what he really suffer'd for us in the verity of that Body this he represents to God as well as to us and every devout Communicant should faithfully joyn in the Representation § VII The next thing observable in our Description of the Holy Communion is That 't was instituted by Christ in the room of the Iewish Passover This as it gives great Light into the Nature of it and the most weighty Controversies concerning it so the Matter of Fact it self is too evident to be doubted or denied and of too great moment to be lightly pass'd over As will appear if we consider the Time the Form the End of the Institution of this Sacrament compared with that of the Passover and the Expressions of Iohn the Baptist and the Apostles relating to the Communion it self or to our Saviour who ordained it The Time of its first Institution and Celebration was the Night of the Paschal Supper immediately after Supper We are told by * Buxtorf Synag cap. 13. p. 302. de Paschat celebrando Fagius in Exod. 12. learned Men that the old Iews had a very antient Tradition amongst them that the Messias should come to redeem them the very same Night in which God brought them out of Egypt the Night of the Passover whereon they also say that God vouchsafed to the old Patriarchs and holy Men most or all of those famous Blessings and Deliverances which we read of in the sacred Writings which is no obscure Indication that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to succeed the Paschal Supper § VIII The manner of their celebrating the Passover also proves the same For the Master of the House took Bread and brake it and gave it to those about him and said This is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers did eat in Egypt * Buxtorf ubi supra that is the Memorial of that Bread in the same Sense that our Saviour said This is my Body after he had taken Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to his Disciples as the Iews also call'd the Passover The Body of the Paschal Lamb. And in like manner the Cap. The Master of the Feast took it after Supper and when he had given Thanks gave it to the rest and said This is the Fruit of the Vine and the Blood of the Grape This was the third Cup which they drank at the Passover and call'd it The Cup of Blessing * Lightfoot Vol. II. p. 260. All the Company drank of it the sick as well as the healthy †Buxtorf p. 296. Thus our Savior after Supper took the Cup this third Cup and when he had given Thanks gave it to his Disciples and said Drink ye All of this for this is my Blood of the New Testament New Covenant or this Cup is the New Testament New Covenant in my Blood * St. Mat. 26. 28. St. Luk. 22. 20. As Moses said when he sprinkled all the People with Blood †Heb. 9. 20. Exod. 24. 8. This is the Blood of the Covenant which God made with you it was not only the Seal of the New Covenant but likewise the Sanction of it And 't is remarkable that our Saviour calls it the Fruit of the Vine as did the Master of the Feast at the Passover And so the Apostle calls the Sacramental Cup the Cup of Blessing § IX There 's yet another thing remarkable in the Passover which our Saviour retain'd in his Sacrament and that is the Hymn or great Hallel which the Iews always sung at this Festival and still continue to use it in that shadow of the Passover which they yet retain * Buxtorf ubi supr Patrick in 113 Psalm It consisted of six Psalms from the 113 to the 118. inclusively wherein were mentioned as their Rabbins teach 1. Their Deliverance from Egypt 2. The Division of the Red Sea 3. The Giving of the Law 4. The Resurrection from the Dead And 5. The Sorrows of the Messias †Lightfoot Vol. II. p. 354. 'T is expresly said that our Saviour and his Apostles sung a Hymn after they had eaten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they all doubtless joyn'd in it as was the Custom of their Country-men which they could not have done had it not been a Form well known unto them And what more proper than those Psalms already mentioned which shows the Lawfulness of singing in the Christian Church and of the whole Congregations joyning in it some think Iudas not being here excepted ‖ Lightfoot and that in a set Form out of the Psalms of David which have made a great part of the Liturgy of the Church for near Three Thousand Years Nor was this Sacrament ever celebrated without singing by any regular Christians St. Chrysostom on Heb. 10. says of those of his Time That in the Sacrament they did offer Thanksgiving for their Salvation by devout Hymns and Prayers to God And before him Pliny's famous Letter mentions the Christians as jointly singing Hymns to Christ And Tertullian in his Apology has left it on Record that it was
the highest Thankfulness and Love For how can a Rebel be fit for Pardon if he is not thankful when 't is offered him 'T is therefore necessary that we should so long so seriously remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us even before we come to the Solemn Sacramental Commemoration of it till our Hearts burn within us as did the two Disciples that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our Saviour and that he may make himself known unto us as he did unto them in breaking of Bread St. Luke 24. 32. But we must take care that this Remembrance have a future lasting influence on our Lives Ill Men may remember Christ's Death but it 's certain that whatever they may pretend they do it presumptuously not thankfully because it is not productive of a Holy Life It makes them nothing better but rather encourages them to go on in their Sins whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned Obedience And to make us both obedient and thankful one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what Evils Christ has saved us by his Death no less than the Power of Sin the Wrath of God and everlasting Misery And what Benefits he has obtained for us by it the Pardon of Sin the Favour of God Grace to serve him and eternal Happiness some of which are actually conveyed as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed Sacrament to every penitent faithful grateful Receiver § XV. The last thing necessary to a worthy Communicant is Charity To be in Charity with all Men. When we bring our Gift to the Altar we must be first reconciled to our Brother We must offer it and sincerely desire and endeavour it and if he refuses to be reconciled the Fault is on his side nor ought another's Crime to keep us from our Duty and Happiness This Charity must also show it self in an universal Love to Mankind wishing praying for endeavouring and as much as in us lies promoting their temporal and spiritual Welfare But especially this Holy Love is to be acted and exercised towards all Christians and particularly towards those with whom we communicate not forgetting the Poor whom we are to relieve as well at the Offering which ought not to be neglected at the Sacrament as any other way that lies in our Power The exercise of this Divine Grace is more eminently necessary when we approach to this blessed Feast because 't was one great End of its Institution it being designed to increase Christian Unity and Holy Love among the Faithful who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things who Feast and make a Covenant with each other as well as with the great Inviter and being many are hereby made one Body and one Bread 1 Cor. 10. 17. We are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither whether we heartily forgive our Enemies and are ready to render Good for Evil Whether we feel this Divine Flame in our Hearts and dearly love all those that bear the Image of the heavenly And in order to produce in us both parts of this Grace one would think we should need do no more than consider seriously how many Talents our Lord has forgiven us how much he has done and suffered for us even while we were his Enemies and that we are all Members of one Body whereof Christ is the Head § XVII And thus have we finished what relates to our Preparation for the Sacrament and those several Graces concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it Repentance attended by good Resolves Faith Thankfulness and Charity Not that we should forbear to come thither if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection but where we find any of them weak and languid we must strengthen the things that remain and be humbled for our Imperfections and endeavour earnestly after higher degrees of Grace and consider the means appointed to encrease them especially the Holy Sacrament wherein they are to be all exercised and renewed as will appear in the next Chapter And in the mean time most humbly and devoutly to fall upon our Knees and in the following or any better Forms * See the excellent Devotions added to the Whole Duty of Man or those in the Christian Sacrifice of Prayer thus address our selves to the Giver of all good things for a Supply of our Necessities A Confession when we are Preparing for the Communion ALmighty and most merciful Father who mayst for my Sins be most justly displeased with me for ever cast me off from thy presence and condemn me to Everlasting Misery I am ashamed O Lord and blush to lift up my Face unto thee for all my misdeeds are before thee and my most secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance I was shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin by Nature dead in trespasses and sins averse to Good and violently inclined to Evil ignorant of God and an Enemy to him in a lost and undone Condition and utterly unable to help and to deliver my self And I have added to this Original Sin many hainous actual Trangressions Here let the Penitent repeat those Sins whereof on the former Examination he has found himself guilty The Remembrance of all which I desire may be most grievous as their burden is most intolerable unto me for I have done all these abominations with many aggravating Circumstances which have highly encreased the Guilt of them without regard to thy tender Mercies or to thy terrible Judgments or to my own repeated Vows and Resolves of Repentance and Obedience O make me to abhor them and my self for them and to repent in Dust and Ashes I know that my sorrow for them is no satisfaction to thy offended Justice yet since thou dost require it of me to render me capable of thy Mercy work in me I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit such a true and unfeigned Remorse for them that I may entirely forsake them and come Pure and Holy to thy Heavenly Feast O God be merciful to me a Sinner who cry unto thee in an acceptable Time and in the Day of Salvation O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Father of Heaven who didst send thine Only Son out of thy Bosom to tast Death for every Man that we might not die eternally accept his Attonement accept his Intercession and be reconciled unto me thro' his Blood In my Father's House is Bread enough and to spare O let me not perish with Hunger O Son of David have mercy on me and if thou canst do any thing since thou canst do all things help me By thine Agony and bloody Sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious Death and Burial Good Lord deliver me I desire not to be saved from the Guilt of my Sins only or
Manna that Angel's Food of Ioy in Believing the pleasures of God's House and Table the Fruits of the Tree of Life the foretasts of Heaven for which he pants as the thirsty Hart does after the refreshing Streams being fully perswaded by Reason Experience and Scripture that Ioy in the Holy Ghost and Fellowship with the Father and the Son are something more than Enthusiastical Fancies that God can communicate himself to his Creatures in what measure and by what means he pleases and that his own Institutions are those means whereby he does thus communicate himself to prepar'd and holy Minds and therefore he cannot rest in the outward only but prays for the Light of God's Countenance and the Ioy of his Salvation which make up so great a part of the Happiness of Heaven and when he has thus tasted how good the Lord is he cannot but be entirely thankful for it But yet neither does he estimate his Profit in any religious Duty or the presence of God in them by these sensible Ioys only He knows our weak Nature is neither able long to bear them nor is often fit for them He expects not all Canaan while on this side Iordan tho' he cannot but be delighted with a taste sometimes of the Fruits of that happy Country He believes he has then Benefit by any Duty and particularly by this Sacrament and that then God is present with him in it when he finds that he is thereby more settled in his Faith his Hope and his Obedience more rooted and grounded in Holy Love both to God and his Christian Brother when he finds his will more submissive and entirely resigned to God's Sovereign Will and the Duties of Religion growing gradually more easie and as it were natural and delightful to him And consequently he cannot be so well satisfied of his profiting by a Sacrament immediately after he has received for he expects it not all at once as at some distance of time when the Grace he then received is as it were digested in his Mind and spreads it self thro' all the Parts and Offices of an holy Life § IV. After examining the Frame of our Minds at the past Communion we are in the next place exactly to reflect on those Holy Vows and Resolves which we have made at God's Altar whether against Passion Impurity Intemperance immoderate Love to the World neglect of Sacraments or of publick private or Family Devotion or of the Souls of those whom God's Providence has committed to our Charge or any other failure whereof we found our selves guilty in our former Preparation and Examination and which we have anew vowed against at the Communion all which Vows if we did now again solemnly renew and implore and expect the continuance of Divine Strength to perform them and consider the means to obtain and preserve it we should doubtless find great Advantage by it especially if we renewed the same in our daily Examination which must needs preserve both the sense of God's Goodness and of our own Obligations more fresh and lively on our Minds and have a good Influence on our Practice tho' at greater distance from the Communion § V. And indeed this is the main hinge of the whole matter the great means whereby we must gain advantage by the Sacrament and which if we neglect we must at least expect the loss of our Comfort if not our Souls 'T is to remember all is not over as soon as we have received No nor that Day nor Week nor indeed while we live for the Obligation is for ever We do in the Sacrament shew forth the Lord's Death Till he come We engage our selves by this Oath as well as by that at Baptism to be his faithful Soldiers and Servants to our Lives End We are not to think the Oath it self is all since 't is but a Security to our future Faith and true Allegiance 'T is not enough to Vow nay 't is better not to vow at all than to vow and not to pay tho' to do both is still better than either We cannot too often remember that those Graces which we exercise at this Ordinance must also be put in Practice thro' the whole course of our Lives and 't is the reason of its Institution that they may by degrees be reduced into holy Habits We must be inwardly better'd by the Sacrament as well as by other Duties or else indeed we are not better at all for as one well observes Religion is not a Road of Performances but a New Nature evidenced by a New Life § VI. But more especially are we to call to mind these Promises and Obligations when we find our selves again attack'd by any Temptation either to those Sins which we have formerly committed or to any others Wo to him who after he has escaped the Pollutions of the World and tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come in this Ordinance shall yet fall away again return like a Dog to his Vomit shamefully yield to the same Sin which he has before so solemnly renounced and pretended to forsake and thereby in a great measure trample under foot the Blood of the Covenant crucifie the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame I speak not of lesser unavoidable Infirmities such as wandring Thoughts the first motions of Passion or being ready to give way to the violence of Temptation tho' recovering again but what I here intend is the relapsing into any grosser Sins such as Uncleanness Injustice Drunkenness habitual Carelessness of Duty and neglect of God's Word and Sacraments and our private stated Devotions which last may justly be ranked among greater Sins as being too frequently the beginning of all the rest Not that even these are unpardonable on true Repentance but that the Aggravations of them are so exceedingly heightned by the addition of Ingratitude and Perjury An old Wound may possibly be cured at last even when 't is badly healed but then there 's a necessity of its being laid open again and the Pain will be more exquisite than it was at the first We ought therefore when attack'd by any old Temptation to oppose immediately this powerful Armor against it and whatever pleasure or profit it 's baited with by the great Deceiver with Indignation to reject it To reflect vigorously on our new Obligations to the contrary both of Promises of Interest and of Gratitude To say within our selves I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep God's righteous Judgments And ' Get thee behind me Satan the God of Peace whose I am and who has promised to help me shall bruise thee under my Feet And to this end we must be always upon our Guard we must be temperate and sober or else we can never be vigilant We must avoid ill Company the great Emissaries of Satan as we would Satan himself A great End of the Sacrament is to make us look forward and remember Christ's last coming
awful presence of that God to whom he had made them Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before my Face that I might not sin against him And Psal. 119. 106. I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Iudgments § XIV The third thing concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach this Holy Table is Whether we have a lively Faith in God's Mercy thro' Christ. Not a dead cold and unactive but a lively Faith for Faith without Works is dead and such is the ungrounded fatal Presumption of every impenitent Sinner for what is more common than for bad Men who live in direct contradiction to our Saviour's Laws in repeated Acts of Intemperance Injustice Uncleanness immoderate Love to this World and in the neglect of their Duty of Praying of God's Word and Sacrament What is more common than to hear such mistaken Wretches as these cry out that God is merciful that Christ has died and they hope to be saved tho' they bring forth no Fruits meet for Faith or Repentance They believe the Promise of the Gospel tho' they never take care to perform the Conditions of it But they forget or are willingly ignorant that it contains threatnings too and that very terrible ones against the Impenitent and Disobedient and that Christ himself has told such that he 'll say to them at the last day Depart from me I never knew you because Workers of Iniquity But the true lively Faith here required is Such a Belief of God's Word and such a Trust in his Mercy thro' his Promises by our Saviour as produces a constant and ingenuous Obedience Now if we find this Faith weak and languishing we must pray as the Disciples did Lord encrease our Faith And to that End we must consider the Promises of God unto us for the sake of his dear Son our Lord in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen ratified and certain In whom alone the Father is well pleased by the Merits of whose Obedience and Sufferings his Satisfaction his Intercession and Mediation he is reconciled to lost Mankind and offers Pardon to all that are penitent and obedient And this is all our Salvation and all our Desire the Hope of Holy Souls the Ground of their Consolation and their Triumph which are fixed so firmly upon that Rock of Ages that they can never be moved who has told us That if we believe in God we must believe also in him as the means of conveying all the Father's blessings nay as being himself as he is God the Author and Finisher of our Faith Whence it follows that he himself the second Person of the glorious Trinity may and ought to be the object of our Trust our Faith and our Adoration both in this Life and in the hour of Death as he was of blessed St. Steven's who cried out in his last Agonies Lord Jesus receive my Spirit * Act. 7. 59. And thus in our preparation for the Holy Sacrament without the reception whereof I see not how any can live comfortably or die happily we must actually advert unto deeply and seriously consider those Promises which God has made us by his Son of Grace and Pardon on our Repentance and Obedience That those who come to the Father by him he will in no wise cast out St. Iohn 6. 37. That they shall not see Death but are passed from Death unto Life St. Iohn 8. 51. 5. 24. That there is no condemnation for them which are in Christ Iesus and who those are we are immediately told who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. That all who are weary and heavy laden with the Burthen of their Sins if they come unto him he will refresh them St. Matt. 11. 28. and several others of the same nature the substance of the Gospel being promises of eternal Life to those who yield a sincere and impartial tho' not absolutely sinless and perfect obedience to the Commands of it all the threatnings thereof being only the unavoidable Consequences of wilfully rejecting it Now the very Nature of the Sacrament shows the necessity of Faith towards worthy Receiving for how can we renew our Covenant with God unless we believe he 's really willing to be reconciled to us and have a firm Faith in his Truth his Power and his Goodness And how could we have any well grounded hopes of Pardon but from the Revelation of the Gospel and by the merits of a Redeemer And to the exercise of this Grace the Church also directs us when we approach this Holy Table requiring us to have a lively and stedfast Faith in Christ our Saviour and so in the Exhortation the Sunday before the Communion that 't is requisite that those who come thither should have a full Trust in God's Mercy Not that all are required to have the same degrees of Faith for there are doubtless different measures of it as in the Resurrection one Star shall differ from another in Glory 1 Cor. 15. 43. But our Faith ought certainly to be so strong as to overcome our Infidelity to over come the World It is to be sincere and then it will not want acceptance tho' it be but as a Grain of Mustard-Seed for our gracious Lord has promised that he will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax St. Matt. 12. 20. Tho' we are always to press forward that this as well as all other Graces may still be encreased towards which nothing can more highly conduce than the frequent and devout reception of this Sacrament § XV. The 4th thing concerning which we are to examine our selves in our preparation is whether we have a thankful Remembrance of Christ's Death whereunto the Church directs us in such pathetical Expressions as were scarce ever excelled and I question whether equalled in any other Liturgy tho' not only the antient Churches but our Protestant Brethren particularly the French and the Tigurine have excellent Forms on this occasion I mean that passage wherein we are exhorted * Exhortation at the time of the celebration above all things to give most humble and hearty Thanks to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both GOD and Man who did humble himself even to the Death upon the Cross for us miserable Sinners who lay in darkness and the shadow of Death that he might make us the Children of God and exalt us to everlasting Life This we are to do above all things because this true and unfeigned Gratitude is the principal Ornament of the Wedding-Garment This seems to have been the chief and immediate End of the Institution Do this in Remembrance of me and hereby ye shew forth the Lord's Death till he come And how is it possible for any ingenuous mind to remember to reflect upon our Saviour's sufferings without the most tender Resentments
THE Pious Communicant Rightly Prepar'd OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the Blessed Sacrament Wherein the NATURE of it is Described our Obligation to frequent Communion Enforced and Directions given for due Preparation for it Behaviour at and after it and Profiting by it WITH PRAYERS and HYMNS suited to the several Parts of that Holy Office To which is added A Short DISCOURSE of BAPTISM By SAMUEL WESLEY A. M Chaplain to the most Honourable IOHN Lord Marquess of Normanby and Rector of Epworth in the Diocese of Lincoln LONDON Printed for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-luce over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCC The Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. An Heroic Poem Dedicated to Her most Sacred MAJESTY In Ten Books In Folio Each Book Illustrated by necessary Notes With Sixty Copper-Plates by the celebrated Hand of W. Faithorn The Second Edition revised and improved with the Addition of a large Map of the Holy-Land and a Table of the Principal Matters Written by the Author of this Manual on the Sacrament Printed for C. Harper PREFACE WHEN so many excellent Treatises have already appear'd on this Subject it may well be wonder'd why after all so mean a Pen should attempt so weighty an Argument since 't is almost impossible to say any thing New upon it and the mildest Question a Man must expect who now handles it would be of the same Nature with that of Iob to his Friends Who knoweth not such Iob xii 3. Things as these But one that is resolved to write a Book seldom wants an Excuse for doing it and will be ready to draw one even from the Number of those which have gone before him since this might have hinder'd others as well as him And besides there is a different Size of Writers suitable to the different Capacities of Readers and Acquaintance or Inclination or sometimes pure Accident may be the occasion of some Persons reading one Book when they would not have read another and perhaps to Profit more by it than they might by another better written on the same Subject What I have aim'd at in this Manual is to be as clear and methodical as I could both in the Description of the Nature of the Sacrament and the Occasion and Ends of its Institution and in the Directions for our Behaviour in relation to the Reception of it I have endeavour'd to give a rational and distinct View of it in all the Notions wherein Learned and Pious Men have represented it To press home the indispensible tho' much neglected Duty of frequent Communion which I am persuaded would highly conduce to a general Reformation of Manners and to repair the Decays of Christian Piety amongst us To lay down some plain Rules for our Preparation and Heads of Examination in order to our worthy Receiving with Meditations or Prayers suited to every Part of the Office and inserted in their proper Places As to the double Appendix the former relating to our Religious Societies whose Rules and Orders have been published and defended by Mr. Woodward in his late Book on that Subject and my Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Life of Dr. Horneck and for whom Her late Majesty of Blessed Memory was so much concerned while She was living their whole Design appeared to me so highly serviceable to Christianity that I could not but take this Opportunity to recommend it and shall still be of the same mind till I can see what I have here offered on that Head fairly answered And the latter which relates to Baptism will be granted not unnecessary when several I hope well-meaning Persons especially in those Parts where I live are unsatisfied about it And 't is the same which has been done before by the Right Reverend and Pious Bishop of Ely in his Aqua Genitalis after his Mensa Mystica and by others who have laboured on the same Subject Likewise I have added the Great Hallel or Paschal Hymn which was usually sung by the Iews at their Passover and by our Saviour and his Apostles at the Institution of this Sacrament Nor am I unwilling to own that I have thro' the whole wrought in any memorable Thoughts which I have met with in such Authors as have handled the same Argument having done all as plainly and compendiously as I was able To conclude if the whole or any Part of this little Book may any ways tend to promote the Glory of God or the Piety and Happiness of Mankind especially of that dear Flock over which it has pleased God to give me Charge I shall not much regret my Composing and Adventuring it abroad into the World THE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Pag. 1. Chap. I. Of the Nature of the Sacrament 3. Chap. II. Of the perpetual Obligation that lies upon Christians of riper years to communicate and even to frequent Communion 42. Chap. III. Of Examination before the Sacrament and Preparation for it 94. A Confession when we are Preparing for the Communion 128. A Collect for Perseverance 132. For Faith 134. A Thanksgiving before the Sacrament 135. A Collect for Charity 137. Chap. IV. Of our Behaviour immediately before the Communion and when we receive it 143. An Act of Penitence 163. An Act of Faith 165. An Act of Humility immediately before Receiving 167. An Act of Praise after Receiving 169. An Act of Love 170. Chap. V. Of our Behaviour after we have received and during the whole course of our Lives especially the Time betwixt different Celebrations 173. Questions for the Evening 186. Questions for the Morning 187. Short Directions for those who are really straightned for Time and cannot go thro' the larger Methods of Examination already given And a Prayer for one in Affliction and Want 187 c. Of BAPTISM 189. The Great Hallel or Pasehal Hymn c. 251. THE Worthy Communicant INTRODUCTION THE End of every Christian Duty is to make us still better and holier The height of our Perfection consists in the Imitation of God unless we know God we cannot be like him and the clearest Revelation of his Nature and of his Will is left us by his Son in his Holy Gospel The Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord is an Epitome of that Gospel * The word Sacrament is often used in the Fathers for the whole Christian Religion and a lively Representation of our Saviour's Sufferings He therefore who frequently and devoutly receives it cannot be an ill Man but must needs make a more than ordinary Progress in Virtue and Holiness For the promoting whereof I have undertaken to write this little Manual wherein I shall endeavour in the I. Chapter to give a clear and rational Account of the Nature of this Sacrament and the Occasion and Ends of its Institution As in the II. Of the perpetual Obligation which lies upon all adult Christians to communicate and even to frequent Communion In the III. Of our Examination before it and Preparation for it The
and Blood and thereby assures us of his Favour and Goodness to us and renews his Covenant with us and gives us leave to do the same with him § XXII But we confirm this Covenant by a most solemn Oath as well as a Feast in this Holy Communion for it partakes of both The very Word Sacrament originally signified that Military Oath which Soldiers took to their General to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him to obey his Commands In the Lords Supper we swear Fealty and Homage to the great King of Earth and Heaven and as well as in Baptism engage to be his faithful Servants and Soldiers to our Lives end Which Oath as all others does imply an Imprecation as did the ancient Sacrifices used at the Ratification of Leagues wherein the Beast being cut in pieces the Parties agreeing went between them wishing that their Blood might be so poured out and they themselves cut in pieces if they ever brake their Vow and Covenant To which the breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine does answer in the Communion as it may farther signifie that we resolve to be faithful even to the Death to our great Lord and Master and if there be occasion are ready to shed our Blood for him as he did for us The Commemoration whereof is indeed the main End of the Sacrament and the principal Notion wherein we are to represent it to our Minds but there are subordinate Ends and other useful Notions under which we may consider it in order to profit by it Among which is § XXIII The next thing in our Description of this Sacrament That we therein praise God for all his Goodness As much as this is included in that very ancient name of it the Eucharist which is used in the Scripture for giving of Thanks in general ‖ Eph. 5. 4. but applied to this most solemn Act of Thanksgiving in the blessed Sacrament not only by the earliest Ecclesiastical Writers but even by an ancient Version of the New Testament For the Syriac retains the Word Eucharist both in the 2d of the Acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. In both of which places what we render breaking of Bread is with them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breaking the Eucharist And a Word of the same Original is used both by the Apostle and the Evangelists in the Description of its Institution †1 Cor. 11. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke 22. 19. and where our Saviour is said to give thanks over the Bread by St. Luke and St. Paul and to bless it by St. Matthew ‖ St. Mat. 26. 26. the same thing is intended for he blest and praised God for his Gifts and by that Thanksgiving did sanctifie the Bread both derive God's Blessing upon it and set it apart to a sacred use to be the thankful Memory of his own Death till he come to Judgment And accordingly in this Sacrament the Church does render most solemn Thanks and Praise to God the Father for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of his dear Son and to Christ himself who gave his Body to be broken and his precious Blood to be shed for us as well as for all the Benefits of his Passion especially the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Life § XXIV The next thing to be taken notice of in this Sacrament is That we do therein testifie and express our unfeigned Union with all our Christian Brethren with all those that bear the Image of the Heavenly This was doubtless one great end of its Institution that thereby all the followers of our Saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble Bands and that all men might know them for his true Disciples by their Loving one another * St. Iohn 13. 35. and thus the Apostle argues The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread where he hints at the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church and of all the Members thereof one with another ‖ 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. Feasting in common has been always esteemed both a Token of Amity and Friendship and the way to increase and preserve it In the Holy Communion we may be said to renew our Covenant with one another †Pliny ad confaederandam disciplinam coetus Chrianorum as well as with God and seem yet further even to imprecate his Wrath upon our selves if we break that sacred Band. And to the same purpose were the Agapae or Love-Feasts among the Christians both in the Apostles times and a Century or two after * Vid. Tertul. Apol c. 39. p. 105. And the frequent reception of the Communion must needs render Christians more charitable and increase a holy Love among them because without this Charity they know they ought not to communicate as the too general neglect of this Sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that Grace amongst us For the partaking of this Divine Feast and the consideration of Christs wonderful Love to us in laying down his Life for us even when we were Enemies must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us and with a pure heart servently to love one another § XXV Hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the Reception of the Holy Sacrament To commemorate and represent the Sacrifice of our Saviours Death according to his Institution by eating of Bread and drinking of Wine therein renewing our Covenant with God praising him for his Goodness and testifying and exercising our Unity and Charity towards all our Christian Brethren § XXVI I proceed in the last place to that which we are to receive from God in the conscientious discharge of our Duty and devout Reception of this Holy Communion Which is contained in the last part of our Description That thereby all the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § XXVII The Sacraments are Seals of God's Covenant with us The Apostle expresly affirms it of Circumcision * Rom. 4. 11. Galat. 3. 14. as it was a Sign of the Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham and all his faithful Children that is all that should believe in God as he did In the room whereof Baptism was introduced by our Saviour as another Seal of the same Covenant and means our Initiation into it And one Sacrament being a Seal it follows by parity of Reason that the other must be so also The Holy Symbols when duly received do exhibit and convey unto us divine Virtue and assistance and all the inestimable Benefits which were purchas'd for us and reached out unto us
that Name should ever think themselves dispensed with from that Obligation since there is scarce any so ignorant as not to know that 't is the express Command of our Lord Christ Do this in remembrance of me * St. Luke 22. 19. He has the supream Authority over us and we have professed an entire Obedience unto his Laws and have vowed at Baptism to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and there is not one Command in the Gospel more express than this is Every part of the Sacrament every Notion wherein we can represent it to our Minds is an Argument for our receiving it 'T is the Remembrance of our Saviour's Death and does not that deserve to be remembred 'T is the lively Representation thereof to our Minds and do we not need this for are we not too apt to forget it 'T is done by the breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine and is this so hard a thing that God requires of us Or if our Saviour had ask'd some great â—hing should we not have done it Much more when he requires so easie a Testimony of our Gratitude and Obedience We think our first Parents very inexcusable who could not keep one Command and refrain from one Tree to please their Creator 'T was no difficult task but yet there is less difficulty in what our Saviour requires of us to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. He requires us not to abstain but to feast in order to obtain his Favour Have we not all broken our Covenant with God and ought it not to be the most welcome Tidings to us in the World that we may again renew it Have we nothing to thank him for that we are so backward to render him this Sacrifice of Praise Or is it not to him we owe our Life and Breath and Being and yet more if it be not our own faults our Redemption our Salvation and our eternal Happiness Have we no Ingenuity have we no Gratitude left or can we give God thanks in a better way than in that which he himself has appointed in the highest and most solemn Ordinance of his Holy Gospel Is Holy Friendship is Christian Unity and Love so frightful a thing that we will not so much as endure this Symbol of it Is it not a good and pleasant thing for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Is there any Amity any Endearment so close so intimate among Men as that which is professed encreased and exercised among Christians at this Holy Table Is it not a desirable a necessary thing to be at Peace to be Friends with all Mankind to forgive our Enemies to have the Love and the Prayers of all Good Men And must not all this render the Mind exceeding quiet and happy And is not this happy Temper to be very much heightened and strengthened by our coming to the Lord's Table and even by our Preparation for it as well as by our actually partaking of it § III. And if all this be not enough if it be not sufficient to have Peace on Earth or we do not much regard it are we not however desirous to be at Peace with Heaven God reaches out to us in this Holy Sacrament the Pledges of his Love and Pardon and Friendship He sends his Ministers to assure us hereof nay he sends his own Son surely we will reverence the Son as an Hostage to satisfie us of the kindness of his Intentions We entertained him not 't is true as we ought to have done The Heir was killed he was stoned he was cast out of the Vineyard by ungrateful Husbandmen well he only requires that we should remember his Death and not crucifie him anew by our Sins by our neglecting this or other Duties and is this our Kindness to our Friend that we think this too much to do for him especially when he has done so much for us Surely he left us such a Legacy as deserved that we should think on him that left it tho' 't is true the Payment thereof is conditional and among other Conditions on which we expect Life and Pardon this is not the least that we should receive this Holy Sacrament which is the very Seal of that Pardon sent down unto us from the oftended Majesty of Heaven Are we so very strong and secure so rooted and grounded in Faith and Love that we need no more assistance no more help from God's Spirit or his Institutions that we thus reject the Counsel of God and that Grace which he so freely offers us Is it a small thing to dwell in Christ and Christ in us to be one with Christ and Christ with us To be united to him To see him whom our Souls ought to love To despise the World in comparison of him To sit under his Shadow with unspeakable delight To have our Hearts pant after him and long for him and be ravished with his Perfections and assur'd of his Love and impatient to break through this Earthly Prison to shake off this importunate Clog this troublesome Companion this weary Flesh and Blood which hangs about us and groan earnestly to be delivered and cry out Oh that I had the Wings of a Dove that I might fly away and be at rest that I might rest for ever in the Bosome of my Redeemer in whose presence is fulness of Ioy and at whose Right Hand are Pleasures unexhausted Rivers of pleasure for evermore § IV. Is this worth desiring Or are these only Fancies and the fair but fading Colours of Rhetorick and Imagination Ask any very pious person who comes with Humility and Devotion to this Sacrament whether they are not as sure of all this as that they breath Whether Iesus has not been known of 'em in breaking of Bread and they have not been often fill'd at his Holy Table with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory A rational nay we may call it a divine Ioy and Satisfaction because we know its Author we know its Object Good Men speak what they know and testifie what they have seen and can almost arise to that Testimony of the Apostle concerning Christs actual Bodily presence here upon Earth * 1 St. Iohn 1. 3. That which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have Fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. § V. Well if we believe the Foretasts of Heaven worth desiring worth thirsting after our blessed Immortality our happy Resurrection worth securing the earnest thereof worth enjoying we shall think all these no contemptible Arguments or weak Motives to perswade us to the Reception of this Holy Communion We shall not easily slight our Saviour's Command or those great and inestimable Benefits we shall all partake of if we are worthily present at it §
from those heavy Punishments that are due unto them but from their Power and prevailing Influence on my Mind from all my Sins even those which have been most dear unto me and am willing to cut off my Right Hand or pluck out my Right Eye so I may but enter into the Kingdom of Heaven My Saviour came to take away the Sins of the World He has born all our Griefs he has carried our Sorrows he was wounded for our Transgressions he was grieved for our Iniquities he has excepted none out of that General Pardon which he has purchased for Mankind and offered to all those who are qualified for receiving it I present the Merits of his inestimable Sacrifice before thee O offended Majesty of Heaven I have no Merits of my own I have nothing I am nothing but vile Dust and Sin But he is worthy for whose sake I beg Mercy of thee which I most humbly implore and expect only in that way which thou hast appointed and on those Conditions which thy Son has revealed in his Holy Gospel by an unfeigned Repentance a firm Faith a sincere and an impartial Obedience O therefore take away all mine Iniquities and receive me graciously who like the Prodigal desire to return to my Father's House And since 't is thou alone who dost both put into our Minds good Desires and canst also give us Grace to perform the same assist me now and ever in those Holy Resolves which I make of new and better Obedience Vouchsafe me thy Grace to avoid all those Occasions and Temptations whereby I have been too often drawn to Evil. Let thy Blessed Spirit evermore comfort and guide me and lead me into all Truth and all Goodness Let me henceforth Evidence my unfeigned Love to my Saviour by keeping his Commandments and let that and all other Graces be excited and encreased in me at this Time in my approaches to his Holy Table Pardon the frivolous and sinful Excuses which I have too often made for my Absence from it my want of Preparation for it the Deadness and Indevotion of my Soul in receiving it and my shameful Unprofitableness by it O that I may now sit under my Saviour's shadow with great Delight and that his Fruit may be sweet unto my Taste That I may in this Sacrament receive greater Strength than ever against my Sins and be thereby nourished up unto Everlasting Life that so after this painful Life is ended I may sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven for the sake of Jesus Christ who ever lives to make Intercession for us in whose most perfect Form of Word I conclude my unworthy and imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. Collect for Perseverance O GOD of all Power and all Love who art the same yesterday to day and for ever and hast assured us in thy Holy Word that thou wilt not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Accept I beseech thee for the sake of thy Dear Son any weak beginnings of Goodness which thou mayst have wrought in me by thy Holy Spirit Despise not the Day of small things Help me to continue to the End that I may be saved And now that I have put my Hand to the Plough grant I may never look back lest I be accounted unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven My Strength O Lord I ascribe unto thee for my own Heart has often deceived me and I know that all my Strength is weakness and my Wisdom folly Assist me therefore by the mighty Aids of thy Holy Spirit and while I am to wrestle not only against Flesh and Blood but against Principalites and Powers let the strong Man be bound by a stronger than he and the God of Love bruise Satan under my Feet Let me be content to suffer shame for thy sake and never be drawn away by the Number or Greatness of bad Examples Lead me not into Temptation and let me never be so hardy and presumptuous as to rush into it Keep me always sober and vigilant temperate and humble ever upon my Guard watching and praying that the Enemy may obtain no advantage against me Accept and confirm all my Vows and Resolutions of Obedience Let me have a constant Respect unto the blessed Recompence of Reward and by patient continuance in well doing seek for and at length obtain Glory Immortality and Eternal Life thro' thy Mercies in Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen! Amen For Faith O LORD who hast said that he who has but Faith as a Grain of Mustard-seed may remove Mountains and that without Faith it is impossible to please thee Increase my Faith and let me thereby overcome the World and the Flesh and quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil Let me firmly believe all thy Promises to the Penitent and Obedient and all thy Threatnings against impenitent Sinners Let me not rest in a dead Faith a presumptuous Opinion that I shall be pardoned or saved without performing all those good Works which thou hast prepared for me to walk in Give me that Faith which worketh by Love and by an impartial Obedience to thy Commands Let me firmly believe in the Lord Jesus that I may be saved and not trust in my own Righteousness but in his Merits who is the Way the Truth and the Life Let me always hope in him for Pardon of what 's past and Grace to serve thee better for the future Let me have a lively and stedfast Faith in him when I approach to his Table that I may draw near and take the Holy Sacrament to my Comsort and that it may powerfully help me forward in the right way which leads unto Everlasting Life To the unfading Glories of that happy State where Faith shall be changed into sight where with Holy Souls who are departed this Life in the true Faith and Fear of thy Holy Name I may enjoy the End of my Faith the Salvation of my Soul and see and love thee to all Eternity thro' Jesus Amen A Thanksgiving before the Sacrament WHAT shall I render to thee O God of all Grace for the Riches of thy Goodness towards me a miserable Sinner How utterly unworthy am I even of the common Blessings of Life And yet art thou pleased out of thy infinite Mercies once more to permit me to invite me to tread thy Courts to sit at thy Table and to Feast on Angels Food O that my Heart could be fully possest with Thoughts of Gratitude and Love O let my Mouth be filled with Thanks and my Lips with Praise for those inestimable Benefits God will in very deed dwell with Man tho' the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him My Saviour will fulfil his gracious Promise and be present with his Church in his own Institutions till the End of the World I have now one happy Opportunity more offered me to renew that Covenant which I have so often broken to obtain greater Strength against my Sins and to sacrifice
To acknowledge them and to bewail our manifold Sins and Wickedness since we can by no means hide them from the Eye of Heaven and they are the truest and justest Causes of Lamentation and Sorrow Nor are we to rest in generals but here again to call to mind the greatest and most hainous Sins whereof on our former Examination we have found our selves guilty whether in Thought Word or outward Action These we are to acknowledge we have most grievously committed which may imply the hainous aggravation of them for which we must own that we have provoked most justly God's Wrath and Indignation against us that we have deserved his Anger and all the dreadful Consequences thereof in the Punishments both of this and another World § V. And having thus confest and acknowledged our Sins their number continuance extent and aggravation we are directed to proceed to the formal Act of Repentance for them to profess that we do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings and woe to him who tho' he joyns in this solemn protestation with all good Christians yet does not truly and earnestly repent of his Sins nor is heartily sorry for them which how can he be thought to be when he falls into them again on the next Temptation whereas if we do truly repent of them the Remembrance of them will be indeed grievous unto us and their Burthen intolerable We shall know how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from the Living God and be weary and heavy laden and fly to Christ to give us rest Which Repentance and abhorrence of our Sins ought to be raised to the greatest heighth at the time of Consecration when we see Christ's Sacramental Body broken and his Blood poured out for us and just at the time of receiving when we ought with an Holy Indignation to bring our Sins and nail them to the Cross of Christ to kill those Murderers as Benaiah did Ioab at the Horns of the Altar to sacrifice them there and hew them in pieces before the Lord in short to be deeply afflicted for them and to make firm Resolves to forsake them § VI. In order to which we must in the third place ask mercy for Christ's sake and pardon for all our Sins as the Church teaches us in those moving and tender Expressions Have mercy upon us Have mercy upon us most merciful Father For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive us all that is past And this we have need to pray for since without Forgiveness the past Guilt remains as well as the Punishment due for our Sins tho' we should no more commit them But both are remitted in this Sacrament to the worthy Receiver not by Virtue of our own Merits or any Preparation Examination or Repentance or even of the very Act of outward receiving but merely for Christ's sake on account of his Merits and Intercession and by the Virtue which flows from his wounded Side his spiritual Flesh and Blood inwardly received by the Faithful in this Ordinance § VII Now we are taught to conclude this Confession with praying that God would grant us that we may ever hereafter serve and please him in newness of Life without which all that 's past is in vain nor is there any that 's so perfectly renewed that he has not still need to purge out something of the old Leaven And tho' God will give such Grace to those who worthily partake of this Sacrament yet has he appointed Prayer as the means to obtain it and of our perseverance in well-doing and daily encreasing in Goodness which Prayer does virtually contain a Promise to use our own utmost endeavors to amend our Lives that Resolution of better Obedience which seems to be the very Act wherein we renew our Covenant with God and engage to fulfil our part of it which if we do faithfully perform he will never be wanting to his § VIII Thus much for Repentance The second Grace to be exercised at the Sacrament is Faith which we are to reduce into Act when the Minister declares in the Absolution That Almighty God has promised forgivenness of Sins to all them that with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn unto him further praying ' That God would have mercy upon us pardon and deliver us from all our Sins confirm and strengthen us in all Goodness and bring us to Everlasting Life Which Absolution we are humbly to receive upon our Knees as an authoritative Declaration from one commissioned by Christ himself to bind and loose and to remit and retain Sins to which we are to add a hearty and faithful Amen as being fully assured that God will perform what he has promised by his Son if we neglect not our parts in the Covenant Faith is here more eminently necessary as well with respect to all the Promises of the Gospel as to the particular Benefits of this Sacrament and the application of them to our selves For our Lord has said He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last Day The faithful Receiver eats and drinks Salvation this Sacrament shall eminently conduce unto it He is thereby united to Christ one with Christ and Christ with him and by virtue of that indissoluble union sealed in this Holy Ordinance he receives a Principle of Immortality whereby he shall be not only raised from the Death of sin in this World but at length raised from the Grave and live in endless Happiness which also seems to be the meaning of the Prayer in the very delivery of the Elements The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve the Body and Soul to Everlasting Life to which most devout Christians add their private Amen as being fully perswaded that it shall have that happy efficacy to every worthy Receiver And the same Act of Faith they are to exert when they hear the Minister read those comfortable Words which our Saviour saith by himself and his Apostles to all that truly turn unto him Come unto me all that travel and are heavy laden and I will refresh you c. To which the devout Soul will be ready to answer Draw me and we will run after thee or with St. Peter To whom should we go but to thee thou hast the Words of eternal Life And so in the rest of the Sentences applying them to himself by a particular Act of Faith and saying Lord I believe help my unbelief And this Faith will be mightily advanced by our actual advertence to Christ's spiritual presence in this Holy Ordinance more eminently graciously and peculiarly than in any other And the highest Act of it is to be exercised at the very instant of receiving § IX Devotion is in the third place highly necessary to a Worthy Communicant at the time of Celebration and in all the parts of that Holy Office By which Devotion is meant the intense abstraction or withdrawing of
the Mind from all wordly things till it acquires a contrary bent and inclination and mounts freely and vigorously towards Heaven despising and trampling all the ridiculous trifles of this perishing World and counting all things but Dung and Dross for the Knowledge for the Love of a crucified Redeemer which every very good Man experiences in some happier moments of his Life Now the way to obtain this is the vigorous acting of Faith Repentance Humility and Divine Love and the Energy and inward free motion of the Mind towards Heaven And to this the Church invites in those Words which were used on this occasion in the Primitive times The sursum corda or Life up your Hearts to which the Congregation replys We lift them up unto the Lord which we have the highest reason to do when he confers such inestimable Favours upon us and when Christ instituted this Feast as has been said principally for this Reason that we should think upon him our absent Friend give our selves a little ease and breathing from the amusements and care of Life escape from this World and fix our Hearts upon a better upon that happy place where Christ sits at the right Hand of God and whither if we are faithful to him we shall at length also arrive seeing he has prayed to his Father That all those whom he has given him may be with him where he is that they may behold his Glory St. Iohn 17. 24. § X. A fourth Grace is Humility This is indeed included in Repentance for a true Penitent must be humble But we must be more explicite in it and are directed by the Church to form a particular Act thereof immediately before the Consecration when the Priest kneeling at the Lord's Table says in the name of all that communicate We do not presume to come to this thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in our own Righteousness but only in thy manifold and great Mercies We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table And indeed one would wonder that any Christian should think he could express too great Humility either of Body or Mind when he comes before the Throne of God to receive his Pardon 'T is this most humble prostration of Soul this abasement and annihilation of our selves and utterly disclaiming our own merits which seems to be the bottom of that seraphical Divinity which has made so much noise in the World If they make it more than this 't is dangerous Enthusiasm as has appeared both in the Church of Rome and others If they rest it here as is done in some part at least of Sancta Sophia it is accountable and rational and may be of great Advantage in the course of a Christian Life especially in the Sacrament where the lower we abase our selves the higher will God raise us And this we ought particularly to exercise when we see the Minister approaching to us with the Bread or Wine and firmly to believe that we shall receive our Saviour together with them § XI But yet fifthly this ought not to hinder but rather to encrease our Thankfulness because as has been said the Sense of God's Goodness must needs be advanced by the consideration of our own unworthiness To this the Church especially directs us Above all things ye must render most humble and hearty Thanks to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And again after the Sursum Corda we are invited To give Thanks to our Lord God to which the Congregation answers 'T is meet and right so to do On which follows that solemn Act of Thanks and Praise which the Priest alone pronounces as 't is said our Saviour did in St. Luk. 22. 19. and in 1 Cor. 11. 24. He took Bread and when he had given Thanks he broke it From which Actions the whole Sacrament obtained two Names the Eucharist from giving Thanks as 't is expresly called in two or three places of the New Testament in the Syriac Version and breaking of Bread as 't is stiled in the Acts of the Apostles Now this praising God and acknowledging and adoring his infinite Goodness ought to spread it self thro' every part of the Office And even our Repentance and Humility would be so managed as to encrease our Praises But we should more especially exercise our Thankfulness when the Minister says It is meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all times * 1 Thess. 5. 16. and in all places give Thanks unto God on which follows that Seraphical Anthem repeated by Saints here below and Angels above Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels c. In which the pious Communicant joins both in Heart and Voice as well as in the particular Prefaces before it wherein we are directed to praise God either for the Birth of Christ or his Resurrection or Ascension or for his sending the Holy Ghost or else we adore the Divine Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead which Prefaces seem to have been added because the Church does not doubt but that so often at least as these greater Festivals return there will be a Communion And after we have received We entirely desire our heavenly Father mercifully to accept our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving and we most heartily thank him that he has vouchsafed to feed us who have duly received these Holy Mysteries with the spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of his dear Son and assured us thereby of his Favour and Goodness towards us And then we again break out into that Hymn of Praise to the whole Blessed Trinity part of which is the same that was sung by the Angels at the Birth of our Saviour Glory to God on High on Earth Peace Good-will toward Men. But more especially are we to have our Hearts filled with the most exalted Praises in the very Act of Receiving to which the Minister exhorts us in the delivery both of the Bread and Wine Nothing but Faith and Holy Ioy and humble Praise are then to be admitted Then when the Holy Soul is in the Mount with God and says 't is good for her to be here and if any thing of disturbance can find Entrance 't is because she must so soon return again to a sordid vexatious impertinent World when she is now already on the Wing for Heaven is advanced so far upward in that glorious Road and would so gladly fly away and be at rest in the Bosom of her Redeemer § XII The last Grace is Charity taken in the largest Sense for Love to God and to our Neighbour 1. Love to God the Soul of all Piety which quickens and enlivens every Christian Duty This is here encreased by remembring God's Love to us in sending his Son and our Saviour's Love in giving himself to die for us This Sacrament is the dearest Token of his Love and the
Church accordingly tells us That to the End we should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ in dying for us he has instituted and ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of it And the actual and lively Consideration hereof of Christ's wonderful Love towards us miserable Sinners so ungrateful so unworthy so often guilty of broken Faith and broken Vows who have loved the World and our own Lusts more than him who have grieved him who have wounded him who have crucified him by our Sins and who continue to do so for there is no Man that lives and sins not and all this to him who still loves us and still offers us Peace and Pardon and Grace and Heaven and even his own blessed Body and Blood in this heavenly Feast Shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless Love again for the rest of our Lives To give it him without exception and without reserve It must it will it cannot fail of having this happy effect if we carefully regard every part of this sacred Action and intently consider our Saviour's Death as represented therein especially while the Minister is consecrating the Elements the whole Prayer of Consecration being made up of a lively and thankful Recognition of our Saviour's sufferings and of his instituting the Sacrament in memory of them We are therefore in order to the exercising and encreasing of our Love to Christ diligently at that time to regard the Minister with our Eye and Christ with our Hearts When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then to consider with all the Agonies of our Souls and with Hearts pierced and melted with the Love of Jesus what Agonies he himself endured for us both in his Body and Mind Then to look on him whom we have pierced and mourn for him and delight in him and hate those Sins which were the cause of this and which can only divide us from his Love and especially when we actually receive Then are our Souls to be intimately united to his Divine Person Then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of Ten Thousands and fairer than all the Children of Men to adore his infinite Perfections to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them and to be wholly ravished with his Love § XIII Which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of Charity Love to our Neighbour for this cannot but be easie to us when our Minds are raised to this happy Temper The Love of Christ will subdue the Enmity of our Natures towards each other that Pride which is the cause of almost all Quarrels that bitterness of Spirit and Rancor and Malice and Revenge and Anger Those obscene Birds will all fly away before the Beams of the blessed Sun of Righteousness as did the Devils of old from their Oracles All our Hatred will be against our Sins all our Indignation our Resentments our Revenge for neither were those in vain implanted in our Minds will be turned quite another way O how happy would the World be did but the Body of Christians frequently and worthily receive the Communion I am confident nothing could sooner heal the wide Wounds of Christendom as I believe the neglect of it has been the great Original of them as well as of all our own Factions and Divisions All good Men must love one another if they often met at this Holy Table They could not they dared not there retain or nourish any pique against each other They would Love much both Christ and his Members because they so often considered that much was forgiven them And tho' this may seem a Digression yet the Truth and Consequences thereof appear so plain and so considerable that I knew not how to omit it But to return Charity is here to be actually exercised towards all Christ's Members especially towards those with whom we communicate We are to knit our Hearts most closely and intimately to them with the Bands of Holy Love Poor and Rich without exception only loving those most that love God most We are to pray for them all and not only in the Offertory but on other occasions to do them all the Good we can by faithful Counsel by tender and prudent Reproof and by all lawful and possible means promoting the welfare of their Souls and Bodies And lastly by devout Prayer to God for them as we are directed That all who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be filled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction But tho' our Charity is to begin there we are not to confine the Exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us for we are also directed by the excellent Spirit of our Church shewing it self in those Holy Confessors and Martyrs who composed her Liturgy humbly to beseech God to grant by the Merits and Death of his Son Jesus Christ and thro' Faith in his Blood that not only we but also his whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Passion Which may he grant who has so dearly purchased it for us to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Dominion now and to Eternal Ages Amen! If there be any time between the Consecration and actual Receiving the Communicant may make use of these following Devotions An Act of Penitence O Infinite offended Goodness who art a consuming Fire to the obstinate Sinner but infinite to pardon those who confess and forsake their Sins I desire earnestly to repent of all my Misdeeds I will acknowledge my Transgressions before thee and mine Iniquities will I not hide I have sinned I have sinned O Father against Heaven and before thee Against thy Mercies and thy Judgments the Thunder of thy Law and the still small Voice of thy Gospel Against the clearest Manifestations of thy wonderful Love in sending thy Son to shed his Blood as an attonement for the Sins of the whole World which precious Blood of his I have too often trampled under Foot and crucified the Son of God afresh by my repeated Iniquities Not all his bitter Agonies have been so far able to pierce my hard Heart as to make me entirely forsake my Sins which were the Cause of them Tho' he sweat Drops of Blood in the Garden tho' his Soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto Death tho' he endured the Contradiction of Sinners tho' he was mocked and buffeted and spit on and crowned with Thorns and scourged and fainted under his Cross and was nailed unto it and raised in the Air a spectacle to Men and Angels tho' he there groaned under the weight of our Guilt and of our Sins imputed unto him tho' he thirsted tho' he fainted tho' he cried out as if thou thy self couldst have forsaken him tho' he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost O! shall all this nothing move me shall my Heart be as hard as the nether Milstone
to be willing to sacrifice all to make them better That there is need of a general Reformation of Manners has not been denied even by those who have had the most need of it themselves And that the Governours both in Church and State do most earnestly desire it we can no less doubt without the highest Affront to both when they have by so many repeated Acts solemnly declared as much to the Nation That a firm Combination of good Men is the best way to bring this Design to a good Issue we may more than guess by what has been already done by such methods And for all the Objections which have been brought against those who have embarkt in this pious and generous Undertaking I believe there is no unprejudiced Person who has read the Right Reverend Bishop of Glocester's Defence of them but are fully satisfied that they have but very little weight and are there fairly answered And as it is known that the late Archbishop was a hearty Friend of them and their Design so his most Reverend Successor has given them a just and noble Commendation in his Letter to the Bishops of his Province wherein he requires them To press the Clergy of their respective Dioceses to invite their Church-wardens and other pious Persons among the Laity to ioyn with them in carrying on the Reformation of Manners after which he adds We may very reasonably expect the happy Effects of such a Concurrence from the visible Success of that noble Zeal wherewith so many about the great Cities do promote true Piety and a Reformation of Manners Thus far our most Reverend Metropolitan and since that time the same Design has been publickly espoused and recommended by several others of the highest Character And indeed if the General Reformation of Mens Manners be ever effected by the Terror of the Laws without Execution or those Laws be ever effectually executed by the straggling Endeavours of a few good Men who charge singly against such infernal Hosts of Infidelity and Lewdness if any thing considerable herein be accomplished unless by such a Combination I shall own my self happily mistaken but whether I am or no the Event will teach Posterity I shall conclude this long Letter with the remarkable words of the excellent Author of the Whole Duty of Man in his Causes of the Decay of the Christian Piety the close of the Twentieth Chapter That Scandal says he which we have brought upon our Religion as it was not contracted by the Irregularities of one or two Persons but by associated and common Crimes so neither will it be removed by a few single and private Reformations There must be Combinations and Publick Confederacies in Virtue to balance and counterpoise those of Vice or they will never recover that Honour which she acquired by the general Piety of her Professors He goes on In those Primitive Days there was such an abhorrence of all that was ill that a vicious Person was lookt upon as a kind of a Monster or Prodigy and like a putrified Member cut off as being not only dangerous but noisome to the Body But alas the Scene is so changed that the Church is now made up of such as she would then have cast out and 't is now as remarkable an Occurrent to find a Good Christian as it was then to see a Bad. I shall add no more but that it was well the Worthy Author concealed his Name when he published such disobliging Truths At least if he had been now living he would scarce have escaped the Censure of Forwardness and a Zeal not according to Knowledge SIR I am Your obliged Friend SAM WESLEY APPENDIX Of BAPTISM § I. CONCERNING which I shall briefly enquire what it is what Benefits we receive by it what are our Obligations from it whether our Saviour designed it to remain always in his Church and lastly who are the proper Subjects of it § II. First What it is and Baptism may be thus described 'T is the first Sacrament of the New Testament instituted by our Saviour in the room of Circumcision and the Iewish Baptisms to continue to the End of the World wherein by sprinkling dipping or washing with Water in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost the damning Guilt of original Sin is washt away we enter into Covenant with God are taken into the Church of Christ and made partakers of all the Privileges thereof God's Grace here and endless Bliss hereafter on our performing the Conditions of the Covenant § III. 'T is the first or initiatory Sacrament entring us into that Covenant which we renew in the Lord's Supper 'T was instituted by our Saviour who alone has Power to institute a proper Sacrament or Sign Seal Pledge and means of Grace perpetually obligatory on all Christians We know not indeed the express time of its Institution for Iesus made and baptised more Disciples than Iohn St. Iohn 4. 1. long before he enlarged the Commission of his Apostles to go and make Disciples out of all Nations by baptising them St. Matt. 28. 19. see below of the right Translation of the words But we know 't was in the room of Circumcision for as that was a Figure Sign Rom. 4. 11. and Seal of God's Covenant and means of admission into the Church so is this It seems also to have had respect to the way of admitting Proselytes among the Iews which both formerly was and still is by Baptism Lightfoot Grotius c. Ammian Epictet and perhaps also to the Lustrations or Purifications among the Heathen which Grotius thinks with great Reason were the remains of a Patriarchal Tradition in memory of the universal Flood which the Apostle also seems to intimate when he calls Baptism the Antitype to the Ark or the Deluge 1 St. Pet. 3. 20 21. § IV. The matter of this Sacrament is Water which as it has a natural Power of cleansing is in it self more fit for such a symbolical and sacramental Use. Some of the ancients have thought that God gave the first Blessing to the Waters Gen. 1. 10. because they were designed for Baptism Which is performed by Washing Dipping or Sprinkling the Person in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost That is by this Ceremony the baptised Person is obliged to believe in the Holy Trinity and to receive and obey the Gospel The Gentiles therefore were generally baptised in the Name of the whole Trinity because they did not before believe aright of any of the Three Persons Tho' the Iews and Proselytes who before did believe aright of God seem to have been sometimes baptised only in the Name of the Lord Iesus Acts 10. 42. 19. 5. § V. I said Washing Dipping or Sprinkling according to our Catechism was the manner of Baptism tho' neither of them are I think expresly determined in Scripture either by Precept or such Example as clearly proves it or by the force or meaning of the word Baptise Nay there are several
That there is such a thing as this original Guilt or Stain of our Natures see Section VI. where it is also proved that it is in it self damnable as it must certainly be if it makes us the Children of Wrath and if the Offence of the first Adam has rendred all Mankind obnoxious to Iudgment to Condemnation and to Death It is true the second Adam has found a Remedy by his own Death but the Merits thereof are only to be applied in the use of those means he has appointed the chief of which are the Sacraments All good Christians believe one Baptism for the Remission of Sins we being therein born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible 1 St. Pet. 1. 23. Baptism is the ordinary way to which God has tied us tho' he may not have tied himself Where it is not to be had indeed the Case is different but what are extraordinary Cases against a certain standing Rule That original Sin is really washt away in Baptism has been already proved and that the same has been the unanimous Opinion of the antient Churches And on that account we think we have great Reason to baptise Infants as did the Holy Fathers of old that they may thereby be made Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven § XVI A second Argument for the Lawfulness of Infant 's Baptism is because they are capable of making a Covenant and were and still are under the Evangelical Covenant and consequently have a right to Baptism which is the entring Seal there of That Infants are capable of entring into a Covenant I prove from God's own Words to the People of Israel Deut. 29. 10 11 12. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains c. with all the Men of Israel Your Little Ones your Wives and thy Stranger c. That thou shouldest enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God God would never have made a Covenant with Little Ones if they had not been capable of it 't is not said Children only but Little Ones such as Christ particularly orders his Disciples to suffer to come to him of which more below and is translated in the Greek by a word that signifies Infants or Innocents Ezek. 9. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same word that is used in those antient Constitutions ascrib'd to the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptise your Infants The Custom of Nations and common Reason of Mankind does also prove that Infants may enter into a Covenant and may be obliged by Compacts made in their Names by others and may receive Advantage by them The Apostle argues from a Man's Covenant which he says cannot be disanull'd to God's Covenant Galat. 3. 15. and surely we may follow his Example Infants may be still as they were of old in Circumcision actually obliged to perform that for the future which they cannot actually perform at the Time of their entring into such Obligation The Infants of Believers the true Children of faithful Abraham always were under the Gospel Covenant They were included in it they had a right unto it and to the Seal of it as an Heir has right to an Estate an Infant Prince to a Crown tho' there are some Solemnities required to give them Investiture and actual Possession of them The Covenant with Abraham was a Gospel Covenant The Condition the same namely Faith which the Apostle tells us was accounted unto him for Righteousness Gal. 3. 15. the inseparable Fruit of which Faith was Obedience for by Faith he left his Country and offered his Son Heb. 11. 8 17. The Benefits were the same for God promises to be his God and the God of his Seed after him Gen. 17. 8. and he can promise no more to any Creature for this includes all Blessings of this Life and a better The Mediator the same for it was in his Seed that is in Christ Gen. 22. 18. Gal. 3. 16. that all the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed on which account the Apostle says that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham Gal. 3. 8. The same Promise that was made to him the same Covenant that was made with him was made with his Children after him for so it is expresly said Gen. 17. 7. Gal. 3. 7. and upon that account it is called an Everlasting Covenant In this Covenant Children were obliged to what they knew not to the same Faith and Obedience which Abraham performed or else no Benefit by it It reaches beyond the Law for the Apostle expresly distinguishes this from it Gal. 3. 17. 'T is true there was something legal that was a sort of an appendage unto it namely a temporal Promise of Canaan to Abraham and his Posterity Gen. 17. 8. To thee and to thy Seed after thee will I give the Land of Canaan But this was but like a Codicil annexed to a Will not the chief or main part of it for neither Abraham nor the Patriarchs did actually inherit Canaan but as the Apostle argues God had prepared better Blessings for them even Spiritual and Heavenly for which cause he was not ashamed to be called their God Acts 7. 5. Heb. 11. 10 14 16. Now to Abraham and his spiritual Offspring were the Promises made in Christ and the same which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham and blessed together with him Gal. 3. 7. Rom. 4. 13. Circumcision was the Seal of that Covenant and therefore 't is it self figuratively called the Covenant Acts 7. 8. The Children of those who profess'd the true Religion were hereby admitted into the Covenant which God then made with his People and obliged to the Conditions of it as when the Law was added to the Observation of that also for he that is circumcised saith the Apostle is Debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. that is was obliged to fulfil it when he came to age as being thereby made a Member of the Iewish Church and bound to observe all its political and ceremonial Constitutions as were the Proselytes of Iustice who were circumcised whereas the Iewish Writers tell us that the Proselytes of the Gate who were admitted by Baptism only were only obliged to the seven Precepts of Noah And this St. Paul very well knew having been bred a Pharisee and well acquainted with their Traditions When therefore the old Seal of Circumcision was taken off this of Baptism was added by our Saviour in its room one positive Institution succeeding another A new Seal to Abraham's Covenant the Seals differred but the Deed was the same only that part of it struck off which was purely polical relating to the Iewish Nation and temporal Canaan only And that Baptism did really come in the room of Circumcision we may learn as well from the clear Reason of the thing as from the Apostle's Argument Col. 2. 11. 12 13. where after Circumcision he mentions Baptism as that wherein God has forgiven us our trespasses to which he adds