Convivium Caeleste A plain and familiar DISCOURSE Concerning the LORDS SUPPER SHEWING At once the nature of that Sacrament as also the right way of preparing our selves for the receiving of it In which are also considered those Exceptions which men usually bring to excuse their not partaking of it The Second Edition with some Additions By RICHARD KIDDER Rector of St. Martin Outwich London LONDON Printed by John Richardson for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1684. The Epistle Dedicatory To my Ever Honoured and very Good Lady the Lady Dawes of Putney Madam THere are many Books already extant upon the Argument which the following Discourse treats of And those also so very good in themselves and so very happy in their Authors that I cannot think that this which follows will ever deserve a name amongst them For as it was at first drawn up for those whose needs required all plainness of speech so it now adventures abroad in the very same dress in which it was at first composed and delivered And therefore I might well find great reason to dispute with my self whether or not I should adventure this Discourse abroad But whatever demur these things might make yet sure I am I did not doubt to whom I ought to address it when I was once resolved to make it publick 'T is due to you Madam whatever it is upon more scores than one And though it be unworthy of so good a name as it will now bear yet I am certain that it needs it I shall not need to recommend to your Ladiship the subject of this following Tract You are already greatly in love with that part of your duty which is here discoursed of You are firmly resolved to lead a life of Religion and to give up your self to the obedience of the Laws of your Lord and Saviour Now certainly you will find nothing a greater help to you than frequent and devout Communions are You will find great need in your pilgrimage towards Heaven of such Spiritual repasts and viands Nothing can be more welcome to a pious Soul than to meet with these happy opportunities of becoming better And they that love their Lord must needs be very forward to celebrate the memory of his death and unspeakable kindness to them The doing of this as we ought will redound greatly to our advantage We shall by this means be reconciled to God and in perfect charity to one another We shall be more fit to live and more prepared to die We shall the better support under our sorrows and be the more strong against our temptations our burden will be the lighter and yet our strength the greater We shall here receive new strength and vigor to walk in Gods ways We shall think that easie which once we thought intolerable We shall lead at once an innocent and an useful life The advantages of frequent and devout Communions are not to be expressed Here are joys which no man can rob us of Treasures more valuable than that of the Indies Every pious Soul will witness to this truth And therefore Madam I doubt not but you will the more favourably receive this treatise for the arguments sake which it discourseth of But still Madam I have farther reason upon my own account to make my acknowledgements to your Ladiship Your kindnesses to me have been very great and have laid a great obligation upon me to shew my thankfulness to you And as an unfained testimony of my gratitude I am bold to present you with this Discourse It is indeed but a small tribute of thanks which here I pay you but yet is such as I have and your Ladiship will I hope rather regard my mind than the thing it self However I shall be extreamly glad if any thing that is here offered may be of any use to your Ladiship in advancing your eternal interest and concern You have made a good beginning and a wise Choice in devoting your self to a Religious Life Continue Madam in this purpose This will turn to your account when all other things will fail you There was never greater need of regular and exemplary piety than now Religion is now become the scoff and derision of profane and foolish men It is not now the mode to be severely Pious Pure Religion and undefiled is very rarely to be found It is infinitely sad to think that so excellent a Religion as ours is should be almost every where either misunderstood or spoken against Your Constancy now will be more rewardable than at other times You will now see cause to shew a great regard to the Laws of your dearest Lord when they are so commonly trampled upon Count it your honour to be truly good And dare to own your Saviour before men and he will confess you before his Heavenly Father We are concerned to refute the Atheists and to defend the excellent Religion which our Lord hath left us against gain-sayers But there is not a more effectual way of doing this than by an exemplary and pious life This does more than our most subtile and nervous reasoning a great example of Piety does more good than a learned Pen. This is the most likely way to prevail against those that oppose themselves Our enemies mouths are stop'd if we take this course These Arguments are unanswerable and will convert more to the Faith than our Reasons are like to do Now Madam you can thus defend your Religion against contentious men This is the way to restore us to what we should be I have great reason to believe that your Ladiship will be a great example of real piety That you will strongly pursue every vertuous and good thing But yet Madam you will pardon me that I put you in mind to persevere and to abound in every good thing This proceeds not from any distrust but from a great and sincere desire of your happiness That the Almighty would keep your Ladiship from every evil thing and bless you with all the blessings of this and a better Life is the most hearty prayer of Madam Your Ladiships most humble Servant Richard Kidder The PREFACE HOW plain a Precept we have to partake of our Lords Supper and how much it would be for our advantage to do it I shall not need to represent to the Reader in this place That is done in the following Discourse And all that I shall here trouble the Reader with is First that he would be pleased to understand that this Discourse was by the Author designed for the use of those men who stand in need of the most plain and easie directions And therefore it is accordingly fitted for such men who have not either the leisure or the other advantages of perusing the more large and elaborate Discourses upon this Subject Secondly that the Authors lot is fallen among those who do very rarely partake of this Sacrament and that therefore he does the more insist upon
are about We had need use our utmost care that we may attend upon God without distraction else will our hearts before we are aware slide into vain or impertinent entertainments And when they are once let loose we shall not so very easily recollect them and bring them back They will soon run into the ends of the earth and if we be not watchful and resolute they will leave nothing but our bodies for so great a service as this Our hearts are treacherous and our thoughts are like the servant of the Prophet who secretly run after the Syrian for a talent of Silver and two changes of raiment without the leave of his master and if we call them not in they 'l contract a more dismal leprosie than that servant did We cannot let them gad abroad without a great loss at such a time as this We may be assured they will fare as Dinah did they will return defiled home And therefore let us be sure to set a strict watch upon our selves lest our spiritual enemies steal away our hearts at such a time as this Let us lift them up to God and there let them be kept whiles we worship his holy name 2. When you approach to the Table of the Lord endeavour to raise up your heart to the greatest thankfulness to Almighty God for his undeserved love to thee O consider how gracious thy Lord is unto thee a wretched sinner That he should not only give thee his Son to die but also give thee his flesh to eat Not only receive thee to pardon but also entertain thee at his own Table as his guest and friend Say within thy self Lord what am I that thou shouldest not only shew me pity but do me so great a favour to receive me as thy friend What a love is this that thou art pleased to shew to my Soul when there are so many that have not heard of these thy mercies so many that have foregone them I may well wonder that thy mercy lets me live that I have bread to eat or thy air to breathe in and yet thou art pleased to give me Angels food and to feed me with bread from Heaven I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies but then this miracle of love may well overwhelm me Who has ever heard of such a love of so great a condescension Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy name Let me never forget so great a mercy never be ungrateful after such a condescension of Heaven What shall I render unto the Lord for such an unspeakable love as this that he should spread me a Table and fill my Cup who am unworthy of the crumbs that fall from his Table Oh the height and depth the length and breadth of this love which passeth knowledge It well becomes us thus to raise up our hearts to all thankfulness to God when we do approach to this Feast For we do here commemorate the greatest mercy that was ever shewed to Mankind And it requires of us the greatest praise and thanksgiving This is a service of praise and therefore it is called the Eucharist And certainly if we think our selves obliged to commemorate our Benefactors and Friends which we frequently do we must think our selves much more obliged with all thankfulness to remember the love of our dearest Lord who dyed that we might live 3. VVhen we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out let us meditate at once upon the Passion of our Lord and the hainous nature of our sins that put him to that pain Think you saw your dearest Saviour hang upon the Cross that you were eye-witnesses of the shame and sorrow that he underwent O think you saw the blood that he shed running down his Body that you saw the Spear and the Nails that pierced his Hands his Feet and Side Call to mind the Agony that he was in the sorrowes that he underwent Have some pity and regard to thy bleeding Lord pass not by but see and behold that there is no sorrow like to his sorrow Thy heart is very hard sure if thou dost not now relent Thou art very devoid of pity if thou hast no compassion for thy bleeding Lord. But then remember what it was that brought upon him all this sorrow and shame that thou seest him in Not any fault of his own but thy sins were the cause of it They nailed him to his Cross they pierced his Side they Crowned him with Thorns and gave him Gall and Vinegar to drink they did him the despight and the affronts which he endured They were the Judas the Pilate the false Witnesses the chief Priests that contrived and accomplished his sorrowes 'T was thy Covetousness that betraid him thy unbelief and wickedness that brought him to his Cross and caused him to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Raise up then a great indignation against thy sins as thou hast any love or pity for thy dying Lord. Say thus to thine own heart Shall I not be ashamed of those sins which put my Lord to so much shame shall I not mourn for those sins which put him to so much pain may not they well break my heart which have so deeply wounded and pierced my blessed Saviour If he dyed for sin well may I be ashamed to live in it If my sins made him cry out and bow the head how shall I then give them any entertainment Well may they be heavy on me which were so great a burden to my Lord. How have I made a sport of that vile wretch as I am which made my Saviour sweat drops of blood Did my Saviour suffer such pains that he might destroy sin and have not I harboured it I have taken part with the most implacable enemies of my dying Lord. Alass I have not considered the sorrowes of my Saviour but like a vile wretch I have Crucified him afresh I have trampled on his Blood and done him open despight and shame Methinks I see him hang on the Cross and methinks I hear him cry out to me and bid me see whether there were ever such a sorrow and also that I should not be ungrateful to forget his love What an hard heart have I had that have had no more regard to him Oh that mine eyes were a fountain of tears that I might mourn for my sins that have Crucified my Lord. Sure my heart is very hard if I do not mourn now for mine iniquities when I behold my bleeding and dying Saviour I have tears for other things have I none for my sins none for my Lord I have sometimes wept when I have thought of a dying Friend Have I no tears for my dying Saviour who dies that I may live O my God smite this rocky heart of mine that I may weep when I look upon him whom I have Crucified Look upon me my Lord as thou didst once upon thy Disciple who denied thee
every evil way and purifie my self as thou art pure Keep me O Lord for the time to come from every thing that is hurtful to me and displeasing to thee From the excesses both of care and fear from snares and great perplexities from carnal desires and brutish inclinations from covetousness and hatred from envy and pride from vanity and dissimulation murmuring and discontent And make me stedfast in justice and charity in humility and meekness in purity of heart and heavenly mindedness and sincere devotion And to these Holy ends vouch safe me the presence of thy Spirit and power of thy grace and endue me with heavenly Wisdom and all this I beg for the sake and in the Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Father which art c. Ejaculations to be used at the Lords Supper THE Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life At the Receiving of the Bread THou hast said O Blessed Jesus I am the living Bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word in which thou hast caused me to trust Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I am thine O Lord I devote my self to thee O save thy Servant who trusteth in thee I have enclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God At the Receiving of the Cup. O Blessed Saviour let thy Blood purge my Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood I will not henceforth live unto my self but unto him who dyed for me and rose again Blessed be the Lord my God who only doeth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen After Receiving BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thine own hands I intreat thy favour with my whole heart Be merciful unto me according to thy word I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Prayer after the Receiving the Sacrament BLessed be thy glorious name O Lord for all thy unspeakable mercies to me and to all the World I adore and magnifie thee for thy great goodness in giving thy Son to dye for me and making me partaker of his most pretious Body and Blood O Lord what is man that thou thus regardest him And what am I a vile and wretched sinner that thou shouldst be thus favourable to me Thou hast been pleased to admit me to renew that Covenant with thee which I had broken and to give me assurance of thy readiness to pardon so vile and great a sinner as I have been I have received the pledges of thy love and been admitted to thy holy Table I have there devoted my self again unto thee my Soul and Body all my powers and faculties I have vowed obedience to thee and after the most solemn manner consecrated my self to thy service Thou art a God that knowest the heart and art not to be mocked I tremble when I consider thy infinite power wisdom and holiness Let these thoughts beget in my Soul a great fear of thy Holy name a great care to do thy will Grant I may not for the future turn the grace of thee my God into wantonness and that I may not receive the Grace of God in vain There is nothing hid from thee Thou knowest my weakness and infirmities and the temptations with which I am assaulted and to which I have too often yielded I am surrounded with snares and my spiritual Enemies are powerful and active O Lord help thy Servant and grant that I may both resist and vanquish them by the aid of thy Holy Spirit Keep the possession of my Soul which I have unfeignedly surrendred up unto thee Unite my heart O Lord to fear thy name and grant that I may spend the remainder of my time in obedience to thee and in acts of Charity to my brethren Create a clean heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Forsake me not O Lord if thou leave me I perish Guide me by thy Counsel and at last receive me to thy glory I do greatly desire the Salvation of mankind and humbly commend to thee this Church and Kingdom the Kings Majesty and all our Superiors in Church and State humbly intreating thee to direct and guide them all into those holy wayes that are pleasing to thee and beneficial to those who are under their charge and influence And work in the minds of all Christians an unfeigned Charity a peaceable temper patience and exemplary meekness and all the other fruits of thy Holy Spirit And grant me thy heavenly grace that I may so use things temporal that I may not miss of thy Eternal Bliss for the sake of Jesus Christ my onely Mediator and Advocate Amen A Morning Prayer for a Family O Almighty and Eternal Lord God the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ look down from Heaven with pity and compassion upon thy servants who humbly cast ourselves down before thee in a great sense of thy mercies and our own misery There is an infinite distance between Thy Glorious
Majesty and us thy Creatures the work of thy hands Between thy infinite power and our weakness thy Wisdom and our Folly thy Eternal Being and our Mortal Frame But Lord we have set our selves at a greater distance from thee by our sin and wickedness We do humbly acknowledge the corruption of our nature and the many rebellions of our lives We have sinned against Heaven and before thee in thought word and deed We have been prophane Contemners of thy Majesty and of thy Holy Laws We have also sinned against our Brother and our own Souls by omitting what we ought to have done and committing what we ought not We have rebelled against light despised thy Mercies and thy Judgments broken our own vows and promises neglected thy means of grace and opportunities of becoming better Our iniquities are multiplyed and our sins are very great We confess them O Lord with shame and with sorrow with detestation and loathing We are vile in our own eyes as we have rendred our selves vile in thine We pray thee to be merciful unto us in the free pardon of our sins for the sake of thy Dear Son and our alone Saviour Jesus Christ who came not to call the righteous but sinners to Repentance And we pray thee to renew our natures and to write thy Laws upon our hearts Help us to live righteously soberly and Godly in this present World Make us humble and meek patient and contented and work in us all the graces of thy Holy Spirit Preserve in us a sense of our dependance upon thee and of our great Obligations to thee Help us that we may love thee with all our heart and that we may universally obey and cheerfully submit to thy holy will Save and defend us from all sin and danger from malice and ill will from covetousness and sensuality from pride and vanity and from all the deceits of the world the crafts of the Devil and lusts of the Flesh Direct us O Lord in all our difficulties supply our wants support us under our troubles enable us against our temptations prosper our honest endeavours and above all things purifie and cleanse our thoughts Prepare us for death and judgment and let the thoughts thereof awaken us to a great care and study to approve our selves unto thee in well doing Bless thy whole Church these Kingdoms to which we belong And bless with thy choicest Blessings our Sovereign Lord the King Defend him against all his enemies Let his dayes be many and his Reign prosperous Bless him in his Royal Relations in his Counsellors and his Counsels Bless all the Governours and Teachers of thy Church grant them such a measure of thy Grace and Divine Wisdom that they may by their Doctrine and by their examples gain many souls unto thee Help all that are in trouble sorrow need sickness or any other adversity Give them patience under their troubles a sanctified use of them and in thy good time a deliverance from them Be merciful to our Friends and forgive our Enemies and accept or our humble acknowledgment for thy preservations of us this last night and for all thy mercies to us And we pray thee to take us into thy protection this day and to keep us in perfect peace and all we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ who hath taught us to say Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a Family MOst gratious and merciful Lord God from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift and our most merciful Father in Jesus Christ we offer up to thy Divine Majesty our unfeigned Praise and Thanksgiving for all thy mercies towards us Thou didst make us at first and hast ever since sustained the work of thine own hands Thou hast given us thy Son to dye for us and hast admitted us into thy Church and given us assurance of pardon upon our Repentance and sincere obedience of thy holy precepts Thou art pleased to lengthen out to us the time of Repentance and to move us to it by thy word and by thy Spirit by thy mercies and thy judgments Out of a deep sense of thy mercies and our own unworthiness we appear before thee at this time We are ashamed of our vile ingratitude We have sinned O Lord and done very wickedly Be merciful unto us O Lord and pardon us for Jesus Christ his sake Instruct us O Lord in all the particulars of our duty and give us true wisdom who hast promised to give wisdom and upbraidest not Be with us under every Tryal and temptation and suffer us not to be tempted above what we shall be able Take care we pray thee of our affairs and more and more direct us into thy truth Defend us against all our Enemies but especially against our spiritual ones Suffer us not to be drawn away from thee by the blandishments of the world by carnal desires the cunning of the Devil or the deceitfulness of sin Work in us thy good will and pleasure and discharge our minds of all things that are displeasing to thee of all ill will and discontent wrath and bitterness pride and vain conceits of our selves and render us charitable holy pure in heart patient and Heavenly minded Be with us at the hour of death dispose us for it and deliver us from the slavish fear of it and make us all willing and fit to dye when ever thou shalt call us hence Bless O Lord all the race of Mankind let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy Son Christ as the waters cover the Sea Be gracious to thy whole Church and especially to that part of it planted in these Kingdoms Bless the Kings Majesty and let his Crown flourish upon his Head and let no weapon formed against him prosper Bless all his Relations and teach his Senators wisdom And bless all that are to govern and teach thy Church make them successful in their labours and grant they may consider the account they must one day give Pity the sick and weak the poor and needy the Widowes and Fatherless and all that mourn or are broken in heart Be merciful unto them according to their several necessities Bless our Friends and grant us Grace to forgive our enemies as heartily as we do desire forgiveness of thee our Heavenly Father We pray thee to defend us this night from every thing that is evil and do more for us than we can ask or think for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words we continue to Pray Our Father c. FINIS
thanks to God that he is pleased to make that our duty which is so much our interest and for our advantage He obliges us to renew our Covenant with himself which it is our greatest interest to do He obliges us to that which tends to our own happiness and welfare and without which we could not but be miserable He will have us remember the death of our Saviour and his love he shewed us He will have us partake of a Sacrament that does not only bring us nearer to himself but also unites us faster in the bond of love to one another He would that we should partake of these Mysteries which are the seal of his Covenant and give us great assurance of his readiness to pardon our sins That is in one word God would have us be happy and he does oblige us to be so 'T is our advantage that he designs in all this His love is without any interest but that of ours Who would not enter into Covenant with so good a God who would not remember the love of so dear a Lord Who would not be knit fast to his brother in closest bond of love Who would not have assurance of the pardon of his sins These are the greatest blessings that we are capable of receiving the greatest that Heaven can bestow upon us What can be more desireable than to be at peace with God and at unity among our selves What more reasonable or more to be wished for than that we should remember the love of our Saviour and receive a good assurance of the pardon of our sins And this is the design as you have heard of this blessed Sacrament It is appointed for such blessed purposes as these How suspicious or shy soever we be of it this is the errand it comes about It hath a design to make us more holy and more happy than we were This is all the plot which it hath upon us God hath not only been pleased to give us his Son to die for our ransom but he gives him again in this Sacrament for our food and nourishment O the unspeakableness of Gods kindness to us Methinks every man should break forth into his praises methinks he should say Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfieth thy mouth with good things Psal 103.2 3 4 5. Methinks our mouth should be filled with praise and thanksgiving to God for these his kindnesses to our Souls 4. Hence we may learn what great reason we have to embrace so blessed an opportunity of becoming better Great are the benefits which would redound to us from â— frequent and a devout Communion And certainly this service must needs be welcome to that Soul that is weary of his sins and heartily and earnestly desires to be rid of them For it lays a most severe obligation upon us to search our hearts and amend our ways and set things straight between God and our own Souls This service obligeth us to that which every pious Soul would chuse of it self It binds us to be faithful servants of God to be hearty lovers of our brother to be grateful acknowledgers of the love of Christ and diligent seekers after the pardon of our sins Who would not welcome such a blessed opportunity that loves his God and is weary of his sins Who is it that desires to lead a new life that would not be glad of so excellent a service 'T is to be feared we are too much wedded to our sins when we refuse this service which would divorce them from us 'T is much to be feared we have no great sense of the love of our dying Saviour when we will not upon his command Do this in remembrance of him Or that our sins are no burden to us when we despise the evidence of our pardon If we did but worthily partake of this Sacrament we should be more fit to live and more prepar'd to die We should be more fervent in our services to God and more sincere in our love to our brother the love of Christ would constrain us to obedience and his Commandements would not be grievous to us This would put an end to our unnatural differences and quarrels it would restore love and charity it would deliver us from our slavish and dreadful fear of death In a word it would change this Earth into a kind of Heaven and him that is now a cold professor of Religion it would make this Sinner become a Saint and a zealous doer of the will of God Such a mighty change would a frequent and a worthy participation of these mysteries introduce into the world It would bring back the primitive spirit into the hearts of Christians when Communions were frequent and devout then did every holy and good thing obtain And were they again restored the Devils Kingdom which hath now gotten ground would not only shake but fall to the ground This would overturn his strong-holds as the barly-cake of Gideon did the Tents of the men of Midian And therefore no wonder that he labours so greatly by his instruments to prevent this which would subvert his Kingdom And this is so effectually done that now the professors of Christianity either partake amiss or not at all This is the case of many I wish I could not say of the most of Christians Nay and those that do not receive at all are grown witty too they think they can defend themselves from being guilty of a default I shall not here examine what they have to say for themselves but yet this I shall say that the command of our Saviour for our Communicating is so plain and the reason of it so great that nothing can discharge us from it but either the impossibility of doing it for want of opportunity which we cannot plead or a countermand from him that gave us the law which we must never expect Nothing else can discharge us not our common excuses not our mistaken and scrupulous Consciences which cannot evacuate the Law of God for hereafter we shall be judged not according to what we ween or are of opinion in the case but by a more sure and unerring rule the VVord of God I conclude this particular only adding that if we diminish or take from the Word of God and deny that to be our duty which the Word of God requires we have too much reason to fear that God will take away our part out of the book of life Rev. 22.19 CHAP. III. I Shall now proceed to shew how we may become worthy partakers of this Sacrament of our Lords Supper which was ordained for such great ends and conveys so great a blessing to all those that partake of it as they ought For there is something to be done by us before we can be prepared for so great a
his Corinthians of the danger of unworthy receiving 1 Cor. 11.27 presently puts them upon examining themselves and then upon eating this Bread and drinking this cup ver 28. We may die by a famine as well as by a surfet by not partaking at all as well as by partaking amiss He in the parable that came to the Marriage-feast without the Wedding-garment was cast into outer darkness Matth. 22.13 But then for those that were invited and would not come at all the Lord said that none of those men should taste of his Supper Luke 14.24 He that comes unworthily runs into a great danger and so does he that does not come at all There is but one way of escaping the danger and that is by calling in Gods help and a diligent preparing and fitting our selves Which we have great reason to do now 3. Because we do at this time make a very solemn approach to God We are going to his Table to be his guests to eat and drink with him And certainly we had need prepare our selves most diligently did we but rightly consider this When we go to the Table of a great man we do trim and spruce up our selves It will well become us to come hither with clean hearts when we consider that God hath an all-seeing eye and that he cannot endure to behold iniquity God will be sanctified by us or upon us It is no trifling and small matter that we are now about We make a very near approach unto God and had need therefore purge our hearts of our uncleanness lest God make a breach upon us We had need prepare to meet the Lord and sanctifie him in our hearts Let us not dare to trifle in a matter of so great weight nor to go about to mock God and impose upon him before whom all things are naked and open Nor let us by any means dare to serve God at all adventures and do such a work as this is negligently and deceitfully If we do God will be very far from accepting us or our service Wherefore draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded Jam. 4.8 Here is before us life and death let us quit our selves like men girding up the Joyns of our mind and imploring the aid of Heaven that our Souls may live No less than the life of our precious Souls is concerned in this matter As we do order this affair we may either live or die Now certainly these things that have been named above will be sufficient to awaken us and provoke us to diligence if they be but believed and considered throughly Having shewed the necessity of preparing our selves I come now to shew how this must be done And first I shall shew what preparations we are to make before we do partake Secondly what behaviour will become us when we do receive Thirdly what we must do after we have received CHAP. IV. I Shall now shew what preparations we are to make in order to our worthy receiving of this Sacrament And here I might premise that in general and holy life is a very good preparative to this service Were our whole life a life of Religion we should be always in a good readiness for this service That which fits us to die fits us to receive this Sacrament of the Lords Supper And certainly and holy life is the best preparative for death and therefore it must needs be very useful and necessary to our worthy partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ He that is fit to receive the Sacrament is fit to die and he that is fit to die is fit to receive the Sacrament one and the same preparation serves for both And if an holy life be a good preparative to death it must be so for the blessed Sacrament also But then though an holy life make a man habitually prepared for death yet there are for all that several things advisable to the dying man upon his sick-bed in order to his actual preparation for his departure hence And so it is in this Sacrament though an holy life be a good preparative yet it is but an habitual one and it is requisite that he that leads an holy life should notwithstanding that make an actual preparation before he make his approach to this holy Table And what we are to do in order to that I shall now shew 1. It is very requisite we should set some time apart for this work that we should sequester selves from our worldly affairs and business and be at leisure to attend upon the great concernment of our Souls But when we are alone we must be greatly careful that our worldly thoughts do not thrust in upon us and divert or distract us We must do as Abraham did when he sacrificed and the fowls came down upon his Sacrifice he drove them away Gen. 15.11 We must send away our worldly thoughts and cares at this time that they may not disturb and hinder us but that we may altogether attend upon that more weighty concern which we are about If we do not this we may when we are alone be as much in the World as we are at any other time And therefore we shall do well not only to set some time apart from our worldly occasions but when we have done that we must obstinately resolve that no worldly thought shall get entrance into our hearts at that time We shall be sure to be sollicited by our vain thoughts then but we must call in the aid of God and use our utmost diligence to keep them out We must empty our selves of these buyers and sellers we must overturn their Tables of exchange and with a great zeal whip these thieves out of Gods Temple This perhaps we may think a matter of some difficulty but there is nothing greatly difficult to him that is resolved nothing can be so to him that humbly and fervently implores the grace and aid of God Besides it is for the life of our Souls that we do this And if we loved our Souls as well as we do our Estates or Bodies and I might say our sins we should not find any difficulty in this matter For for the sake of these things we can spend many days and not complain and therefore have no reason to think much of spending now and then a day in consulting the interest of our immortal Souls And sure I am there are no portions of our time better spent than those we spend in the diligent service of God and about the securing the eternal interest of our Souls We shall one day wish that some of those hours which now we carelesly spend in doing nothing or in doing amiss which we spend in impertinent visits or in riot and drunkenness had been spent in our Closets in fervent prayer to Almighty God and in caring for our pretious Souls If ever we would have our Souls do well we must
is also very wicked that stops his ears and will give no heed to what he does command him The one rebells against the light and the other shuts it out The one will not admit the truth when the other will not obey it but detains it in unrighteousness There are no men so deplorably blind as they that will not see 'T is to be feared there is too much of this abroad in the World Men are afraid of the light and therefore they run away from it And are therefore like the old Turk we read of who being conscious that by his Law he ought not to drink any Wine was yet resolved to drink it and so he did but before he drank he gave some great shouts which he did as he said to give his Conscience warning that it might stand away Busbequii Legat. Turc Ep. 1. and not behold his wickedness nor be guilty of it Certainly too many men take this course or else they could never do what now they do They dismiss their Consciences when they would interpose And find out ways either to keep them from speaking or else from being heard But whoever hath used these arts hath contracted a great guilt 3. Another great aggravation of our guilt is that we have sinned after Vows of better obedience And there is something of this to be found in every sin we commit for it is committed against our Baptismal Vow when we did most solemnly devote our selves to the service of God in opposition to the Devil the World and the Flesh And many of us have made the same Vow again upon a bed of sickness in times of danger or when we did partake of the Supper of our Lord. And to relapse after all this does greatly increase our guilt We are very wretched sinners if we break these bands asunder and cast away these cords from us 4. But still our sins are again the greater when they are committed and continued in after the singular and eminent mercies of God towards us which lead us to Repentance Rom. 2.4 For now we add the greatest ingratitude to our other guilt and do by that fill up the measure of our iniquity And there is no man living but may easily find this aggravation in his sins For certain it is however we complain of our miseries and needs we are encompassed about with the mercies of Heaven And there is no man living so miserable or wretched but if he would but consider and reflect would easily find this to be a truth Certainly the hopes that we still have of Heaven and the means of grace are most unspeakable mercies But besides if we look back we may find many other singular mercies of God towards us which do upbraid us for our great unthankfulness He hath many times kept our Souls from death our eyes from tears and our feet from falling He hath long waited for our return who might long ago have placed us among the dead and damned which is a plain demonstration that God hath been greatly kind unto us and so far from desiring our death that he shewed himself when we did chuse the paths that lead to death desirous that we should turn and live 5. That our sins are committed under the means of grace is still a farther aggravation of our guilt The Gospel hath provided us sufficient help and assistance to do the will of God If we do amiss it is because we will not use the means which God hath offered us that we might become better There is a sufficient aid at hand if we will make use of it The Gospel does not only require our obedience but also enables us to obey If we do but humbly beg the holy Spirit of God and do it but as earnestly as the hungry child will beg bread of his Father we shall as certainly receive this heavenly aid Luk. 11.13 This Spirit will help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 And if he dwell in our hearts we shall find him that is in us greater than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 Now certainly we are very fond of our sins if we will not do our utmost to get rid of them The way is easie and plain before us we may be better if we will not make light of the aid and assistance of Heaven Our freedom from sin is purchased by our Lord and offered us in the Gospel if we accept it not upon such easie terms we deserve to be slaves for ever 'T will be but just we should be used as the servant under the Law who might have his liberty and refused it he was made a publick shame for his great folly in refusing to go free when his freedom was offered him For that is thought to be the meaning of what followed upon his refusal for his Master carried him away to the Judges and at the gate of the house or court of Justice he bored through his ear with an awl and he was at once marked and condemned to be a servant for ever Exod. 21.6 It is no little aggravation of our crime that we do amiss when we have such advantages of being and doing better 6. That we continue in our sins notwithstanding the very severe afflictions which God hath sent upon us to wean us from them is another consideration that does heighten our guilt Nay we many times commit our sin when Gods hand is striking us we little regard the discipline of Heaven when his judgements are upon us yet we will not learn Righteousness There is a mark set upon Ahaz for this In the time of his distress did he yet trespass more against the Lord. This is that King Ahaz 2 Chron. 28.22 This was a most hainous impiety and that which very greatly increased his crimes 7. Again another thing which adds a weight to our guilt is this when we relapse frequently into those very sins which we have formerly confessed to God and begged his pardon for When we do confess and sin again and keep in this black circle of the Devil In this we do mock Almighty God and may well be ashamed to lift up our eyes to Heaven if we well consider it In our dealings with one another we esteem that man void of all ingenuity that begs our pardon that he hath offended us and yet holds on to do us the same despites and injuries How horribly disingenuous are we then when we daily put affronts these upon God himself when we do often confess but never forsake our sins 8. Another aggravation of our guilt is when we continue in those sins which we have no temptation to commit and might most easily avoid Such are generally the sins of the tongue there is no natural desire that is gratified by swearing or by evil speaking and slandering one another These are indeed most hainous offences against Almighty God and their guilt is the greater because there is nothing of temptation to commit them and they are most easily avoided
once VVe shall find Death here if we do not cleanse our hearts from malice and ill-will More might be said to shew what reason we have to forgive our brother before we partake of this Sacrament but I shall say no more only adding the words of our Saviour Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Mat. 5.23 24. CHAP. X. I Should now proceed to shew how we are to behave our selves when we do Communicate when we have first examined the state and condition of our Souls But yet before I do proceed to that because we may stand in need of some farther supplies before we do actually Communicate I shall not omit to add something for our assistance that way 1. Perhaps a man after the perusal of what hath been said before may not be able to determine whether he be fit to receive or not And in case he doubt of himself it may be asked what he is to do in that case If he proceed under his doubt he may involve himself in a farther perplexity and if he do not receive he may fear that he neglects his duty towards God in letting slip so excellent an opportunity of becoming better and omitting so great a precept of the Gospel In this case then it is very adviseable that he should make use of a Spiritual guide for his farther direction This will be his safest course certainly and well it would be if this course were taken more frequently than it is It might prevent many of those miscarriages which men now fall into It is of great advantage to the Souls of men not to conceal their doubts and scruples The hiding of them tends to their great trouble if not many times to their eternal ruin God hath provided us with the Ministers of his Word to conduct and guide us in the way to Heaven This is the great end for which they are sent and we ought accordingly to make use of them We do very readily consult the Physician and the Lawyer where our Lives or Estates are in any danger And certainly were our Souls as precious to us as our Bodies and our Wealth we should as readily take advice for them as we do for these Our way to Heaven would not be so perplexed would we use the means which the mercy of God hath provided for us Now certain it is that God gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes 4.11 12. If we love our Souls we shall do well to shew our utmost care of them which we cannot be said to do if we suffer our doubts to remain and do not use those appointments which God hath so plentifully furnished us withal 2. We must be careful that when we examine our selves we take accounts of our selves for those amisses which are not punishable by any Laws of men We are not to absolve and acquit our selves because the severest Laws of Men cannot censure us We do greatly amiss when yet the best Laws of Men cannot punish us for doing so We ought to consider how we spend our time to examine whether we spend it either idly or unprofitably We are also to enquire how we spend our Estates whether in works of mercy and necessity or upon vain and gawdy things We are to remember that we must hereafter account for every talent which we have received of our Lord and though we may so live that the best Laws of men cannot condemn us nor yet the best men justly censure us yet however we may be liable to a greater and more impartial Judg. We are at such a time to examine and search into all the secrets of our hearts We must indeed be favourable in our judgement of others but it becomes us very severely to judge our selves And we must not only abstain from evil but from all appearance of it not only from things that are in themselves evil but that are of evil report Such things as these are frequenting of Taverns very gawdy and fantastick attire great merriments and jollities costly feasts and entertainments spending beyond our income and revenue as well as above our rank Spending great portions of our time in Drollery and mirth setting off our beauty with artifice and curiosity an extraordinary niceness in our dress and a great forwardness in following the mode and fashion Such things as these are must come under our Examination for it is very much to be feared that in them we do transgress and that our hearts may go astray from God Indeed we are by no means to condemn one another we may not too hastily judge our brother in this case but yet it will well become us to examine our own hearts and to be very jealous and suspitious of our selves 3. In making a Judgement of our selves we ought not only to consider what we are when we are drest up for the Solemnity but what we are in our ordinary conversation There are few men so profane but they will put on a demure countenance and a fair outside when they are going to the Table of the Lord But we are not to measure our selves by that but to consider what we are at other times The best way to judg of our selves is to do it by what we are in our ordinary conversation There is a Mechanical Religion and that is when our devotion is raised by the ringing of a Bell the return of a Solemnity or else the menaces of death but when these things are over we return to our old wonts and are but what we were before When a Sacrament draws nigh we look like Saints we abstain from our grosser sins we put up some cold prayers to God we are for a day or two before very reserved and sober and we fast it may be upon the vespers of the Festival and carry our selves very reverently when we do communicate But yet all this while our hearts are not changed and our lives are the same or worse than they were before And therefore we are not to judge of our selves by such fits and pangs of devotion but by the general course and tenour of our lives Were we to chuse the picture of a friend or wife that I may use a Simile of one of our Divines upon this argument if we would have a true picture we would have it drawn as she uses to look in the ordinary management of her huswifery not as she looked when she was dressed up with all the advantages and tricks of Art We must do so by our selves let us if we would take a just estimate reflect what we ordinarily are The worst of men at some times seem to be very good There are but
pilgrimage towards Heaven This repast will give us new strength and vigor And we greatly need that our strength should be renewed This is a blessed opportunity of renewing our Covenant with God and reconciling our selves to one another and dressing up our disordered Souls for another World This puts us upon exciting all our Graces and strengthening all our good purposes and intentions This awakens our repentance inflames our charity augments our hope confirms our faith and puts us into a condition that makes us more fit to live and more prepared to dye We are like Clocks and Watches that frequently stand in need of winding up and setting right Or else like trees that are apt to be pulled back by suckers and burdened with luxuriant branches This blessed Sacrament puts us upon amending all our amisses it puts us upon cutting off and paring away our excrescencies and superfluities How glad should we be then of such an excellent opportunity that does oblige us upon pain of death to become new creatures and we are offered strength and grace to be so Who need perswade the hungry man to eat or the thirsty to drink If we understand our needs they will put us forward When our Souls grow disordered we should be glad of an opportunity of setting them right When our sins grow upon us and our Charity grows cold we should be glad of an occasion to renew our Repentance and enflame our Charity Here 's a blessed occasion that puts us upon all this This calls upon us to break off our wont of sin to kindle our dying charity to forget our quarrels and contentions and to put our selves in a posture for a better life than this Here is a great grace offered and conferred to them that come prepared So that we see what great necessity lies upon us to do this We have a plain and peremptory command to do it a great reason also to enforce the Precept and after all this our own interest and advantage does loudly require it of us So plain a Precept we may not neglect without open rebellion against our Lord. Nor can we resist the reason of it without being guilty of great ingratitude And after this if we are not perswaded to it by our own interest we are false to our own souls Methinks any of these are strong enough And it will be very strange if all of them together should not draw us If the command of Christ and the sense of his dear love and our own interest besides will not draw us certainly our hearts are very hard 4. To what hath been said I add this that the Jew was most strictly obliged to keep the Passover and he that did neglect it was liable to the severest penalty And we have therefore great reason to think the neglecter of this Precept of our Lords makes himself obnoxious to the wrath of God by reason of this neglect For the Passover we know that every Israelite was obliged to keep it Exod. 12.47 And because it might happen that some of them might be by reason of their legal defilement unfit or else by reason of some journey from home unable to keep it in that place where it was commanded to be kept therefore it was provided in the Law that the second Moneth should be observed and in it the second Passover kept for the sake of such men as these that were unavoidably hindred from keeping it in the first moneth But this Passover was only substituted in the case above-named For every Israelite was obliged to keep the first Passover if he were clean and not in a journey and made himself greatly obnoxious if he did not Thus we read the man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover even the same Soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season That man shall bear his sin Numb 9.13 And in case he were in a journey or unclean yet did not this excuse him he was however obliged to keep the Passover unto the Lord v. 10. And that he might do so the second Passover was instituted Numb 9. The Israelites were severely obliged to keep the Passover and to keep it aright He that did not keep that Feast was to be cut off from Gods people and he that eat leavened bread during that Feast was likewise liable to the same penalty Exod. 12.15 So that it was commanded to be kept and to be kept as was appointed upon pain of the greatest curse The Israelite was tyed up very strait he must keep this Feast and he must keep it without leaven and according to all its ordinances and constitutions There was danger if he did not keep it as he should and danger if he did not keep it at all If he either keep it not or kept it amiss he rendred himself liable to the curse of the Law and that none of the smaller neither but he was liable to be cut off from among his people for it And though I shall not now examine the different opinions about what is meant by that expression of being cut off from their people yet I shall tell you that it does import a very great severity And therefore we find it annexed to such sins as the Law of Moses allowed no expiation for There was no Sacrifice admitted to make atonement for that offence to which this excision did belong The sin of ignorance might be expiated by a Sacrifice but there was no atoning such a sin as hath this penalty annexed to it The Soul that sinned presumptuously was to be cut off from among his people Numb 15. 28 30. Such a man was reserved to the punishment of God though he were exempt from the sword of the Magistrate It is said of him that would not obey the Messiah that God will require it of him Deut. 18.17 But when St. Peter cites this passage he expresseth it in other words viz. that such a man shall be destroyed from among the people Act. 3.23 Or cut off from the people for he uses the same Greek word by which this cutting off is expressed by the Septuagint Numb 15.30 By which it appears to be a very hainous offence which is thus denounced against and an offence of that nature that God reserves the punishment of it to himself and which he allowed no expiation for under the Law of Moses Thus it was with the Passover Every Jew was bound to keep it or else must be liable for his neglect to the greatest curse And this curse was unavoidable too for God took upon himself the execution of it who would not let him escape that might otherwise have avoided the severity of the Magistrate Can we then imagine that we shall escape if we neglect to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup Let us not deceive ourselves we shall not escape God will require it of us Certainly the Passover
one says well that they who never repent till they dye If we love our Lord greatly and have upon our minds a great sense of his kindness we shall be glad to pay him our acknowledgments of Praise and Thanksgiving But if we do this as seldom as we can it is a sign that we do it rather out of fear than love that we do it rather because 't is the custom of the Country than because it was the command of our dearest Lord. For it is most certain that if we loved our Saviour much we should delight to remember him frequently It is so I am sure in all things else which we love We take a pleasure in remembring our dearest Friends and Relatives we frequently mention those things which have given us a pleasure or profit But doubtless we might be perswaded to do this frequently if we were once wrought upon to do it an all and as we should For the very same reason that moves the devout Soul to do it once will also move him to do it frequently And that we who profess Christianity should not do it at all that we should dare to omit so plain a precept is to me one of the strangest and most unaccountable things Indeed where men have no mind to do their duty they are apt to cavil and dispute and make excuses Thus do those men do who had rather dispute wittily than live well We please our selves with little arguments and great prejudices and are not only content to neglect our duty but which is much worse we go about to justifie our neglect Thus do we slide from one error to another But all this while we do but deceive our selves and others God is not mocked We shall be judged hereafter by the unerring Law of God It is not our mistaken Conscience that shall absolve us if Gods Law condemn us We shall be judged by what is written and not by what we ween and think in the case This consideration if it had but its due weight with us would be of great moment to move us to the most diligent and impartial search after truth And then certainly we should not be so easily prevailed upon by weak arguments and by the carnal and sensual delights of this world to neglect so plain and excellent a duty Whereas now we have some little Objections against our duty or else we have our Farms and Merchandize or Yokes of Oxen that hinder us from doing it I shall end all with the words of a late pious and learned Writer upon this occasion By this time I hope you see that it is good for you to draw near to God at his Holy Table if you have any desire to be good Christians or any savour of spiritual pleasures You must wholâ—â— cast away all remembrance of your duty and be lost to all sence of rational satisfaction or else be strongly inclined considering what hath been said to take the pains to prepare your selves or rather to keep your selves in a constant Preparation for frequent Communion there with our Blessed Saviour An innocent holy and useful life cannot but commend it self to you if it be but on this score that you may be entertained with such a comfort as to know the love of God in Christ to you and be fit to be feasted continually with such delightful pledges of it How is it possible for any considerate persons to despise or neglect such means of their contentment The Table of the Lord methinks should be more acceptable to them than a Stage and they should run more greedily to this Divine Feast than they do to the Theatres He should have more guests and a greater croud to attend upon him than those so much frequented places For what do they see represented there but some of the follies of Mankind the passions and misfortunes of a miserable Lover the wiles and subtle contrivances of some ingenious person or such like things some of which never were But here is represented the great wisdom of Almighty God the manifold wisdom of our Creator into which the Angels desired to look and of which they are gladsom Spectators The incomparable kindness of our Blessed Saviour that ardent love which offered him up to God upon the Cross and which he still continues now that he is in the Heavens as we see by these remembrances which he hath left us of it The rare method of our Salvation The wonderful way which Heaven hath contrived to bring lost Souls again thither the glorious conquest which the Saviour of the World hath made over Sin the Grave and Hell all which we here behold his Captives and our selves the prize which he desires to win by all his labours Do not men then extreamly betray their infidelity is it not plain that Christian piety lies languishing and dying when such numbers will spend a great deal of time to prepare and dress themselves to be seen in the Theater and we cannot prevail in some places with any considerable company to meet us at this glorious representation which we make at the Table of the Lord They that will be at the pains to go to the former every day content themselves nay think it a great trouble to put their Souls into a posture to come to this holy place once in a whole year And God knows how many there are that will not put themselves to that pains neither who rarely appear before God at this Holy Solemnity and whose faces are scarce ever seen in the presence of our Saviour O shameful ingratitude which you that read these things if you are believers can never endure I think to be guilty of If you give any credit to this History of the love of God in Christ Jesus recorded in the Gospel you will spend some time sure to dispose your selves to make frequent acknowledgments to him by receiving these holy Mysteries You will be ashamed that so much time should be consumed in triming up your selves to see and to be seen in other places and little or none that you may come before God and behold the great things that he hath done for your Souls For the love of God consider at what charge he hath furnished this Table for you how often he hath invited you to it how desirous he is that you would shew him so much love as not to refuse him your company there Think how ill he must needs take it if you will not accept of his singular kindness nay that you your selves will not be pleased when you reflect and consider of how much joy you have deprived your Souls by denying him so much of your duty For there is no compare between all the jollities in the world and this one single pleasure of giving hearty thanks to God for his unspeakable mercy to us in Christ Jesus Do but come and see Satisfie your selves by waiting on him at his Table with such thoughts as become his presence If you have the