he ascended from them into heaven in remembrance of him and his Death But to put the matter past doubt we have the practice of the Apostles after Christs Death and Ascension telling us how they understood this command and I hope we shall find none so impudent as to say they misunderstood it Now though it was always wont to be accounted profanenesse to violate the commands of Christ yet there are a sort of men in the world that would make it a piece of religion forsooth to contemn this his injunction and their disobedience to his Law must passe for a sign of their perfection But if they stand condemned by all impartiall men who not onely in name but in deed would bring more Sacraments into the Church than Christ hath done giving the same honour to and pleading for the same efficacy and necessity of their inventions as of Christs own institutions wherein the Papists are grosly guilty what doe they better who would cast forth of the Church of those Sacraments which our Lord hath ordained as if they were uselesse unnecessary things which is the doctrine of our Quakers If there was nothing else to be said in answer to the unreasonable pretences of these men is it not enough that we have a plain command of Christs to oppose to their Fancy He saith to all his followers Do this and they say Do it not which should we rather hearken to And hereby judge what spirit that is which riseth up in such flat contradiction to the voice of Christ But farther can they or any man else shew that this command is founded upon such reasons as makes it of lesse force and obligation to us than to those whom it was first given to Doe not all the grounds of this duty which were then still remain the same as I shall shew more afterward Wherefore let them either shew where Christ hath repealed the precept which he once gave or let them beware of falling under the woe denounced against such as not onely break his commands but teach others so to do And little lesse guilty than these are they who though they will grant Christs command in force yet give not obedience to it and though they will not say this Sacrament is unprofitable yet by their neglect receive no profit from it All you that have been long since at years of discretion and have had frequent opportunities to come to the Lords Table and yet have not cared to inform your selves what it is you should doe there what good you should get by it and so have taken no care to make preparations for this duty but from year to year have neglected it what think you of this course I beseech you Stay a while and reflect upon it Did you never hear of a command given by the Lord Jesus that all true Christians should meet together at this Supper and there in remembrance that his body was broken and his blood shed for them eat Bread and drink Wine set apart for that purpose Hath he given a command to this purpose or hath he not That it was spoken to the Apostles I have told you hinders not but that it belongs as well to you since if you be sincere Christians as they were you have the same cause to doe this that they had When Christ bids them deny themselves love one another and pray to the Father in his name doe not these precepts reach you and I as well as those particular persons to whom he spake them And tell me if you can why the case is not the same as to that command of his which I have even now mentioned that we should Do this receive this Sacrament of his Supper in remembrance of him He that hath commanded you to mortifie your lusts to love God above all he it is hath enjoyned you to do this and if you think he ought to be obeyed in one thing why not in all So then since you cannot but grant that such a command there is what can you say for your selves who have disobeyed it Are you not hereby guilty of contemning the Authority of the Law-giver what say you Doe you think you have herein behaved your selves as you ought Can you imagine that this your negligence and disobedience is acceptable to the Lord Jesus Or doe you not care whether it is or not I hope it is not all one with you to please or to provoke him Does not then your Conscience by this time smite you for your carelessnesse If not I doubt it is seared and sencelesse if it does then let me ask you what you intend for the time to come Will you hold on that course which you dare not justifie which your own Conscience condemns you for Dare you still persist in the breach of a known law Have you any thing to say against the law it self or against him that made it Is it not the law of Christ the Son of God your Redeemer And hath not he power to enjoyn you what he pleaseth Hath not he right to govern you upon account of his Redeeming you And are not all things delivered into his hands by the Father Yea does not the Father himself speak to you in and by him Does not he himself tell us that the words which he spoke were the Fathers that sent him John 14.10 and 24. Can you then gainsay Christs authority If not how dare you resist it Doe you indeed take him for your Lord or not Answer me one way or other If you doe not then call your selves no longer Christians for this your subjection is essentiall to your Christianity as I have before shewed If you doe then pray tell me how can this consist with wilfull violation of plain precepts Doe you take him for your Master if you will yield him no reverence nor fear Will you not be as subject to your Lord as the Centurions servants were to him to whom if he said but do this they did it Let this be the triall whether you will or not Behold Christ saith to thee in the Gospel and now in his name and with power from him I charge thee Do this come and pâ—rtake of his Supper which he hath prepared for his friends and followers Here now is a Dâ—e this wilt thou obey it or not If thou wilt not consider well whether Christ be like to reckon thee amongst his faithfull servants at last and what thou would'st think of a servant of thy own that should carry himself thus towards thee What thy usuall shifts and evasions are I shall take notice anon and give thee an answer Onely at present let me make hast to entreat thee not to mistake me and deceive thy self as if I was thus earnest and importunate with thee for nothing else but to go with thy neighbours sometimes when a Sacrament is administred and there take a bit of Bread and a sup of Wine with a little seeming reverence without any due consideration before
lay his head It 's like you think if Christ was on Earth you 'd follow him though but in the company of poor Women and Fisher-men and though the most of the World should laugh at you for so doing why know hee 'l take it as well at your hands if you will but tread in his foot-steps and adhere faithfully to his interest though it should cost you the losse of all you had and of life it self And let the death of Christ be much in your thoughts let the love of God which was herein shewn be your daily delightfull study and ever leave a sweet tincture upon your spirits that by the power of love you may be moved and carried on in the whole of your duty Let this shame and drive you from sin let this make you laborious and unwearied in his service When you are set upon by a temptation stay so long as to set a bleeding Saviour before you and think how you have much such a case now before you as the Jews once had to wit whether Christ or Barabbas should be prefer'd whether your lust should be subdued or your Lord crucified afresh If you approve of the Jews choice in this case you had best imitate them If that which would murder your soul deserve to be spared rather than he who dyed to save it then go on give Christ a stab and sin boldly Consider further how Christ by his death hath acquired a title to you so that you must glorifie him both with body and soul as being not your own but bought with a price Bought you are not out of the hands of the Father that you should now have liberty to sin against him but out of the hands of Satan that being free from sin you may become subject to God and the servants of righteousnesse How wilfully blinde are they who take the more liberty in sin from the consideration of that death which was undergone to redeem us from a vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Where 's that Man's reason and ingenuity who when he was fallen into his Masters displeasure and brought into favour again by the great industry of the Son should think he might now safely disobey his Master Though the Son pittied the servant so much that he was loth to see him perish yet he loves his Father so well that hee 'l never purchas'd an allowance for his disobedience and indeed the servants disobedience is his destruction Christ died once to save the penitent but hee 'l never die more to save those that remain willfully disobedient Consider also Christ by his death hath purchast abundant grace for the supply of all your wants and now being at the Fathers right hand hath full power to give out of this store wherefore make use of him to obtain the same Even as the Egyptians received food from Pharaoh by the hands of Joseph so must you receive all you have from the Father by his Son Jesus Let then the very life you live in the flesh be by faith in the Son of God By earnest desires vented in fervent prayers be ever deriving virtue and vigour from him your head Be as desirous and craving as you are necessitous as hungry as you are empty that the good God accoâ—ding to the riches of his grace may furnish you with all plenty of spiritual blessings til you shall come up to the measure of the stature of Christs own fulnesse Eph. 4.13 3. If you would thus grow in grace Be diligent in the use of all the means of grace which Christ hath afforded and let them be used and improved as means You must I have told you be much in earnest Prayer to God in the name of Christ for what ever you are wanting in Let not one day pass without the practice of this duty you that have Families call them together and pray with them morning and evening If you neglect this how little do you differ from those Heathens who call not upon God and upon whom he will pour out his wrath Be diligent in attending to the publick preaching of the Word and prepare your selves before-hand with a resolution to obey what shall be made known to you to be the wil of God and beg his blessing on what you hear Consider when you come home wherein you are particularly concern'd in what you have heard and accordingly follow it Setting against that sin or upon that duty that you are thereby convinc't of When you can get time spend it in reading Gods Word and good Books which may explain and enforce that Word Especially you that have not much time on the week-days spend the remainder of the Lords day after publick worship in some such good employment and waste it not in idlenesse no nor an hour at any other time Read also to and with your Family and ponder of it afterwards that it may be more profitable to you Often discourse one with another about the matters of your souls soberly and seriously that you may afford each other what help you can It would be exceeding well if when you sit with your neighbours you would be thus employed in holy savoury conference to the use of edifying rather than in idle chatting and talking of persons and things that concern you not But especially they who are of the same Family and are more neerly relaâ—ed have more opportunity and engagement hereto and should be admonâ—shing one anoâ—her daily and provoking to love and good woâ—ks For the Lord's Supper I have already directed you at large and I hope you will practise answerably and be frequent therein not ordinarily neglecting any opportunity when you are call'd to it But as I desire you not to neglect these exercises of Religion so on the other hand as earnestly I would wish you to beware of resting in them as thinking all Religion is confin'd to them and so becoming lesse carefull of your carriage as to justice temperance inward piety and all vertuous actions Methinks the wretched error of those Sects that throw off all external duties of worship and crie up themselves as above Ordinances may teach this wholsome lesson to all professing Christians to beware of resting in these things and framing to themselves a Religion out of them These I grant are parts of obedience to God for he hath commanded them and they are waies for the exercise and encrease of our graces and to be as helps to godlinesse but to think that they give any discharge from the practice of godlinesse and make amends for sins we are loath to leave for which we do as it were compound with God by these formalities making sin our pleasure and his service a pennance for it these are conceits so gross that methinks none but a Papist or one willingly ignorant should entertain them Religion is no road of performances but a new nature attended with a new life It is the subjâ—ction of the soul to the will of God expressing it self
to be faithfull and obedient Even thus hath it pleased the Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer of rebeâ—lâ—ous degenerate mankind to proclaim free and full pardon to all that will heartily repent of and turn from their wicked ways and take him for their Lord and Saviour and submit to his directions for their attainment of happinesse and withall he hath commanded all that will thus become his disciples first to be listed under him by Baptisme whereby they are visibly entred amongst the number of professing Christians and afterwards they who were baptized in infancy are to come to this Sacramental Feast and there to joyn with their fellow-believers in a personall profession of their willingness and resolution to stand to that Covenant whereinto they were engaged by Baptisme in testimony whereof they eat the Bread and drink the Wine whereby the Body and Blood of Christ is represented as I shall further shew anon Now would it not in like manner be a strange piece of folly and monstrous hypocrisie for any man to rest satisfied with his having been baptized or his receiving the Lords Supper and think himself therefore a Christian good enough without taking care to perform those promises which he then made but rather encourage himself in sin by the consideration of what he had done as if he might the more safely rebell against God because he had expresly vowed against all such rebellion Could there be a more desperate dangerous wickedness than to make such a wilfull mistake And yet I wish there be not thousands guilty of it Alas alas how few that have taken the earnest-peny and wear Christs Colours that ever think to any purpose what they are hereby bound to How many in effect renounce their Baptisme by their ungodly lives and either neglect the Lords Supper or come to it to pacifie their Consciences that they may sin the more freely rather than to strengthen and engage themselves against every sin As for Bapâ—isme I shall not insist on it though I grant that this is the leading Sacrament appointed for the testimony of our being first devoted to God which engagement we ought to call to remembrance and renew at the Lords Supper whereof according to my promise I now come to speak CHAP. II. What it is to doe this to celebrate the Communion in reremembrance of Christ. And I. That it includes the true knowledge of him AND being desirous to contribute some assistance to those that need it to bring them through Gods blessing to a conscientious performance of this great duty I observe there are two sorts of persons faulty herein either such as neglect it or that miscarry and fail in the manner of doing it Those that neglect it are either such that doe it out of meer wilfulness as the grossely vicious that will not come to this Sacrament because they think this would lay an obligation upon them to forsake those sins which they never intend to part with whatever come on 't and the stupid sensless ones that know not the worth nor see the need of this Ordinance or any other duties of Religion who live as heathenishly as if they had never heard of God and Christ and another world nor doe they care to be instructed in these points as if they were not at all concerned in them or else they are such that abstain from it out of doubting and fear not thinking themselves worthy or not knowing whether they are worthy or not Of this sort there are many excellent Christians who too much indulge to their own melancholy and despondent apprehensions and also many weaker but I hope honest well-meaning people who seem to have a great esteem for this Sacrament but having always heard what a dangerous thing it is to receive it unworthily dare not venture upon it not being well acquainted wâ—th the nature and reason of it and being doubtful whether they are fit to come or not being also I fear too languid and heartless in desiring after it or in making preparation for it and for such as these principally doe I intend my Directions By those that are guilty of miscarriage in the doing of this duty I mean such as rush upon it ignorantly and rashly not well weighing what they doe and who notwithstanding their customary attendance at the Lords Table continue their old sinfull course of life These also I hope may receive some benefit from the following Discourse together with the most profane and ignorant whilst I shall endeavour plainly to shew the intention of this Sacrament and perswade them to attend thereupon in a regular manner For since in behalf of those for whom especially I write this my great business is to shew who it is that is worthy to partake of this Ordinance and wherein this worthiness doth consist the method I will â—ake shall be this namely to shew for what purpose it was appointed by Jesus Christ and thence to discover those qualifications and graces which are required in the Communicants that they may receive it aright to those purposes for which it was appointed and after I have done this I shall lay down some arguments or motives to quicken all to come to and celebrate it in this due manner and then briefly direct those that intend to come As to the first what was the reason and end why this Sacrament was appointed I know not whence we should be better informed than by looking back to the time of its first appointment and to see what Christ tells us he did ordain it for and this we may find expresly set down Luke 22.19 when he had broke the Bread and distributed he addes This doe in remembrance of me And the same words he used also after the delivery of the Wine as appears by the Apostle S. Paul's relation who delivered unto them what he had received of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.24 25. where after the giving of the Cup is added This doe ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me and so again ver 26. saith the Apostle As often as ye eat thâ—â— Bread and drink this Cup ye doe shew the Lords Death till he come that is you publish and represent it to the world you acknowledge and commemorate it So that by this it is plain that the great end of this Sacrament to which all others may be reduced is that by the celebrating thereof we may remember Jesus Chrâ—st and especially that we may keep up the memory of that inestimable mercy to mankind his dying for us a mercy which should never be forgotten by those on earth and shall never be forgotten by those in heaven Now hence it follows that they who are in a capacity and fitness rightly to remember Christ and his Death are worthy to partake of this Sacrament which was set apart for that purpose wherefore without going any farther I shall shew what is necessarily required to contained in or immediately flows from this remembrance of Christ that
that dangerous mistake that thy belief in Christ may serve turn well enough for thy salvation without an holy life for if thou leadst not an holy life it 's most certain thou dost not truly believe in Christ. For it is not enough to prove thee such a Believer as shall be saved to trust in Christs merits and hope God will be mercifull to thee for his sake but it is also of absolute necessity that thou believe in him as Prophet and King and accept of him to teach and govern thee if ever thou hope for any saving benefit by him and therefore thou must believe his Promises and threatnings and faithfully endeavour to yield an universal obedience to his Commands and to follow his footsteps So that to say thou hast a good faith in Christ whilst thou livest an ungodly life is as flat a contradiction as to say thou art faithfull to thy Prince whilst thou risest up in arms against him and so much as an oath of Allegiance and fidelity to their Soveraign doth tye men from Rebellion so much doth saving faith bind them against wicednesse And to talk of keeping thy faith firm whilst thou livest in disobedience to thy Lord is as if a Wife should say she was carefull in keeping her Marriage-covenant whilst she liv'd in open adultery Thus much here I was willing to speak of this that thou maist be the more plainly convinc't that if thou livest in or lovest any sin and wilt not leave it though Gods Word and thy own conscience condemn thee for it that then thou art not sincerely in covenant with God Wherefore look well into thy life consider thy ways how thou behavest thy self towards God man and in all thy carriage in the World Art thou not a wilfull neglecter of thy duty to thy Maker living without a sense or acknowledgment of him in all thy wayes not so much as once in a day or perhaps in a whole week setling thy self seriously to pray to him in thy Family or Closer nor taking any pleasure in reading his word or in thinking and speaking of him to thy own and others advantage Dost thou profane the Lords day and turn thy back with contempt upon the Ordinances of God Art thou not us'd to swearing cursing and taking the holy Name of God in vain in thy common discourse Or art thou not guilty of lying cozenage injustice in thy trading and dealing with men of oppression and unmercifulnesse to the poor Dost thou not live in envy and mallice allowing thy self in railing back-biting and slandering Or dost thou not riotously abuse the good creatures of God eating and drinking to excess unfitting thy self for Gods service and studying only to please thy pallat Dost thou not pollute thy soul with wanton thoughts discourses and unclean practices Dost thou not mis-spend thy time in idlenesse and vanity carelesly wasting precious hours that should be improv'd for Gods honour by getting or doing good Dost thou not give way to thy pride in thy discourse carriage or attire lavishing money and time for the gratifying of this base lust Put such questions as these to thy soul and answer them impartially and truly And if thou livest in any of these or the like wilfull sins be assur'd thou hast been false to the Covenant which thou wast entred to in Baptism But if thy conscience can truly witnesse for thee that thou hatest every false way hast a respect to all Gods Commandments earnestly desiring and diligently endeavouring in all thy waies to approve thy self to the most righteous God longing after nothing more than that thou maist walk unblameably before him then thou maist safely conclude that thou art one of Gods Covenant-people and as such he will own thee and to thee belong the priuiledges and benefits of the Covenant and therefore the Seals of it too so that thou hast very good warrant to addresse thy self to this Sacrament whereby all the Promises of God are confirm'd to his people and whereby they professe the hearty rendring up of themselves to him By this time I hope thou seest what it is to be cordially in covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which all are engaged to by Baptism and which Covenant they renew at the Lords Supper namely to love God above all and to account his love thy chiefest happiness to accept of Jesus Christ as thy only Saviour to bring thee to this happinesse and to be willing to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost and led by him in the waies of holinesse Now if thou findst thy self strange to all this and didst never yet feel thy soul brought under the bond of this Covenant my next work is to perswade thee to it even to beseech thee deliberately seriously but yet speedily to make a firm and everlasting Covenant with God to be his upon his own terms to be absolutely devoted to him in heart and life as thou wast in Baptism Something I shall say to prevail with thee if possible for the performance of this weighty indispensable Duty But by the way take notice that all I am exhorting thee to may well be included in this one word even Believing in Jesus Christ which is that qualification I am now upon discovering the necessity of it in all Communicants And this I would have thee to observe that thou maist the better understand what I mean when I presse thee to faith in Christ as making it all one with the Covenant now mentioned For as I have before intimated He that truly believes in Christ receives him in the quality and office of a Mediatiour by him to attain to that happiness which he offers to men consents to be brought to in that way which he thinks fit to direct Now the happinesse he offers is the enjoyment of God in glory and this he hath procured for Believers by his satisfaction and intercession and fits them for it by his Spirit which cures all their distempers and raiseth them to a perfect love of God and likenesse to him and so makes them capable of full communion with him which is their blessednesse So that to receive Christ as he offers himself to us which is our faith in him not onely signifies our dependance on his merits for the pardon of sin but also includes in it our love to God above all to whom we hope to be reconciled and brought nigh by Christ and contains in it our resolution to submit to the working and guidance of the Holy Ghost who purifies the heart enables us to follow after holinesse till we are brought to the sight and fruition of God I shall attempt to make it as plain as may be by an easie comparison Suppose a King had banisht a great company of Subjects for rebelling against him into a forreign Countrey where they stay so long that they have even forgot the manners and language of their own Nation are become wild and barbarous like the people
maintained but cashier'd and punished and if you are but such kind of Christians you will acknowledge it was as good you were open Infidels Will you think it enough to prove a man your friend that he calls you so and gives you many good words and promiseth you great matters and in the mean time secretly does all he can to hurt and displease you Even thus hath Christ decided the case and told us who are his friends not they that onely speak honourably of him and pretend great esteem for him no but they who doe what he commands them John 15.14 And if you will not doe thus and yet will needs please your selves with a conceit that you are Christians notwithstanding you may easily be convinced that if your Christianity will not bring you to be listed with the friends of Christ but leaves you amongst his enemies its like to doe you very little service Wherefore he is onely the true Christian who takes Christ in all those relations in which he is represented in the Gospel and is willing to perform the duties that these relations bind him to And to such a receiving of Christ I am urging you Can you be Christians without taking Christ for your Lord And can you doe this without you are willing to be governed by him Is he a Disciple of Christ that will not learn of him and that will not believe what he speaks to be truth To give an instance or two Christ bids you learn of him to be meek and lowly and if you will not doe thus are you indeed any of his Disciples He tells you his yoke is easie and his burden light and therefore requires you to take them on you if now you think them hard and heavy and therefore reject them doe you not in effect give him the Lye He tells you he is the author of eternall salvation to those that obey him and if you refuse obedience to him and yet pretend you hope to be sav'd by him can you count this believing in him When he would redeem you from your iniquities and you will not part with them doe you take him for your Redeemer So that its evident you are not really and in Gods account Christians except you are willing to be guided by Christ to happinesse in the way which he hath revealed wherefore you must see to come up to this or be reckoned as Heathens and Infidels and accordingly dealt with and chuse you whether if indeed you find any difficulty in the choice 2. Consider seriously what a kind of design it is that Christ comes to you upon and see whether it be not most reasonable you should comply with him He offers himself to be your Saviour and what can you say why you should not close with this offer Examine what hurt there is in that work of Christ upon your souls against which you are most prejudiced He would take off your affections from earthly things that cannot satisfie them and set them on things above which will prove a durable portion He would cure the blindness bruitishnesse and deadnesse of your souls and raise you to the greatest liberty and freedome of mind and to the most reasonable excellent life whereof you are capable He would bring you out of darknesse into light from pain and grief to the most manly joys he would deliver you out of the noise and tumult of your lusts and passions and settle you in a sweet and steady peace Instead of being unserviceable to God and Man and destroyers of your selves he would make you fruitfull and usefull in your generation and your own truest friends I speak of the present effects of his operation upon your souls which would receive an unspeakable advancement by being freed from the dominion of Sin and Satan wherein Christ finds you For certainly to be thus enslaved is the greatest misery that can at present befall you as it debases and defiles you and puts you out of that order in the Creation which God placed you in Nothing in all the world can be so much disgrace to you as this for of reasonable creatures you are hereby become like bruits yea in some sense worse and instead of the image of God you bear the image of the Devil through your love of sin and enmity to holinesse And doe you think there is no hurt in all this No not in becoming ideots and fools living contrary to and below your reason nor in being like the Devil whom you cry out upon and pretend to abhorre Is it no dishonour to you to have him to be your Father whilst you doe his works Well then I hope you have nothing to say against Christ who comes to recover you to your selves to bring you into your right wits to shew you your former folly and make you ashamed of and humbled for it that you may forsake it whose design is to raise you to the priviledge and dignity of your natures by repairing Gods image upon you which you had lost bringing you to love that which is best for you to beware of what would hurt you and to be weaned from those things that will leave you and cannot make you happy And if you have nothing to object against all this much lesse can you speak against his intention to keep you from misery and make you blessed for ever if you will hearken to him of which I shall speak by it self Where then does the matter stick what can hinder you from coming to Christ who onely calls you to him to take off your load and lighten your burden and to give you ease and rest 3. Consider what Christ hath undergone in order to the making of your peace with God on condition of your acceptance of him He became poor to make you rich He became the Son of man that you might be the Sons of God he came down from heaven to raise you thither He entred into combats with the Devil that you might be enabled to conquer him He bore the worst the world could doe and overcame all its assaults that you by him might overcome the world He drank the bitter cup the dregs whereof you had otherwise been drinking eternally When the sword of justice was even ready to sheath it self in your bowels he came betwixt received it into his own He willingly gave up himself to the death that bitter cruell shameful death that your souls might live for ever He bore your sins that they might not lie on you as an heavy load to sink you into the lowest hell He was made a curse that you might escape it and obtain a blessing And after all this that he that he hath done and suffered shall he be rejected Hath he done thus much in order to your deliverance and shall all be lost as to you as if it had never been done What hath the Son of God manifest in the flesh shed his warmest hearts-blood to be as a Balsome for your
wounded souls and are you not willing it should be applied Methinks common ingenuity should tell you that such matchlesse love as this should not be so sleighted If you was taken captive by the Turks and a dear friend should venture his own life to free you thence sure you would be willing to return with him though you might have great offers to stay behind if it was for nothing else but to gratifie your friend who had ventured so hardly for you that you might not give him cause to repent of his labour And what shall the blood of Christ be as it were spilt on the ground and have no effect on thee How hard is that rock whom this will not soften I beseech thee Reader again and again to think what Christ hath gone through to deliver thy soul from the jaws of death and then think whether it be just and reasonable that he should reurn without his errand I know I have mentioned this before but I shall not stick to inculcate it â—gaiâ— and again that it may have some force some power upon thy heart And to that end before I leave this Head let me entreat thee to imagine that thou saw'st Jesus Christ now before thee all in blood and wounds calling thee to him as he did Thomas bidding thee to thrust thy hands into his side and put thy fingers into the print of the nails and suppose thou heardest him saying to thee Look here Sinner behold these tokenâ— of my love see what I have endured on thy behalf oh be not faithlesse but believing be not perverse and obstinate but willing to come to me who have felt so much pain to procure thy ease if thou dost not wilfully refuse it Cast away those sins which have used me thus trust thy self with me who have given such costly evidences of my desire to doe thee good accept me for thy Redeemer who have paid so dear a price for thee own me for thy Lord who have thus bought thee out of slavery follow me in the way I shall shew thee that I may bring thee safe into the presence of the Father whom I have reconciled to thee Suppose I say thou should'st see Christ even covered over with his own blood importuning thee thus to forsake thy sins and accept of his grace and mercy what would'st thou say what answer would'st thou give could'st thou find in thy heart to contemn him to stop thy ears to his requests and go away without regarding him or would'st thou tell him he had not done enough to engage thee to him and that thou saw'st no reason to hearken to his offers that thy sins were more sweet and precious than grace and glory and any thing he would give could possibly be Surely thou durst not And if not then let not thy heart and practice return the same answer to me who in the name and stead of Christ beseech thee that thou wilt through him be reconciled to God Even by all those wounds which Christ suffered upon the Crosse by all those pangs and dolours which he felt in his soul by his cries and groans by his tears and blood I doe as upon my knees beseech thee to give an hearty entertainment to this Lord Jesus who was thus bruised and wounded for thy sake Oh let him in thee see the travell of his soul and be satisfied No longer cherish those lusts which resist his entrance off with thosâ— barres and bolts that have lockt him out down with those strongs holds that have stood out against him let the gates of thy heart flie open and let this King of glory come in cheerfully thankfully receive him and absolutely render up thy self to him to be disposed of as he shall think fit onely begging that thou maist be taken into the number of his Redeemed ones and be enabled to perform the duties enjoyned them and be fitted to enjoy the priviledges assured to them This is that faith in Christ which I would so fain perswade and beg thee to and that by the consideration of what thy Saviour hath endured upon this account that through faith in him thou mightest be pardoned and saved 4 Consider as what bitter things Christ underwent to purchase salvation for thee if thou reject him not so what a mâ—st reasonable câ—ndition he hath appointed thee to perform that thou mightest obtain salvation by him even thy unfeigned willingnesse to accept him for thy Redeemer and thankfully to receive the benefits which he hath purchast for thee And will not this induce thee to enter into Covenant with him when the terms there of are so fair and gracious This thy hearty consent that Christ shall perform the whole work of a Saviour to thee and for thee is the chief thing required to make thee one of his members This is the great Command of the Gospel to Believe in Jesus Christ. So that thou hast nothing to say on thy own behalf if thou should'st be found at last to have neglected this duty for tell me could'st thou have desired any thing more favourable If thou hadst been enjoyned some gâ—eat thing would'st thou not have done it much more now thou art onely required to be willing to have Christ and life with him and all shall be thine wilt thou not be brought to this But still remember the offices of Christ must not be divided nor his benefits separated He must be taken for thy Lord to rule in thy heart and govern thy life as well as for thy Saviour to keep thee from misery and thou must be as willng to feel in thy soul the power of his Crosse crucifying thy lusts as to have the merit of his Crosse procure thy pardon now thou must be brought to the love of heaven above earth if thou would'st be received thither by Christ when thou leavest the earth But yet in all this it is but the consent of thy soul which is principally required in order to the attainment of the offered mercies And would'st thou have matters brought down lower yet Would'st thou be sav'd against thy will And hal'd to heaven when thy heart is against it Or would'st thou have such kind of exceptions as these put in with the conditions of thy salvation That thou maist have liberty to trample on Christs blood and yet be wash'd in it from the guilt of sin that thou maist have leave to serve the Devil and yet receive from Christ the wages he gives his faithfull servants that thou maist be allowed to love creatures more than God and yet that God should love thee with his dearest love that thou maist live without grace and yet when thou diest be received into glory Would'st thou indeed make such terms as these if it was left to thy own choice Thou could'st not sure be so foolish so basâ—ly disingenuous If not then come in and submit to those conditions that are now offered thee than which thou canst not if thou beest well in thy wits wish
for any that should be more suited to thy â—â—se and interest Hearken then to the free and affectionate invitations of Christ himself Ho! every that thirsteth let him come to me and drink and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Isa. 55.1 Joh. 7.37 Rev. 22.17 Give not Christ cause to complain over thee that thou wouldest not come to him that thou mightest have life that he would have gathered thee as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but thou wouldest not Oh what a cutting thought will this be in hell to remember at what cheap rates thou mightest have escaped that misery but wouldest not how easily how certainly thou mightest have been happy for ever but thou wouldest not The way was shewn thee and thou wast exhorted and besought again and again to walk in that way but wouldest not hearken Christ would have been thy Saviour as well others but thou wouldest have none of him being in the number of those rebellious ones who would not that he should reign over them And how utterly inexcusable wi lt thou be at the day of accounts when it shall be askt thee what reason thou hadst for thy not closing with Christ when he offered to have sav'd thee what answer canst thou then make except this may go for an answer that thou wast fully resolv'd against it What though thou hadst not wit or learning to improve for Christ nor an estate to lay out for him yet hadst thou not a will to embrace him and his tenders Couldst thou not have loved him and have given up thy self to him Could men or Devils or any thing but thy own wretched obstinacy and perversnesse have hindred this Thou who art now reading this who hast heard the Gospel again and again canst not pretend ignorance for thou hast been many times informed and once more let me assure thee that if thou art willing Christ is willing yea he is earnestly desirous of thy happinesse and had rather thou wouldest turn and live than go on and die yea he hath set himself full in the way to prevent thy damnation so that thou canst not get to hell but thou must tread him under thy feet who stands betwixt to keep thee thence If now at this very moment thou wilt comply with the design of Christ to save thee in the way he hath establish'd he will surely perform all his promises to thee But beware of deceiving thy self pretending that thou art willing to have Christ and that thy heart is wholly set on him whilst yet in thy actions and conversation thou art not subject to him for the tenour of thy life will be sure to follow the bent of thy heart If the temptations of Satan doe ordinarily prevail with thee against the commands of Christ doth not he possess thy heart who can thus put thee upon action If thou followest thy pleasures or worldly businesse to the neglect of Gods service is it not plain thou lovest the world and thy flesh more than God and holinesse Canst thou be diligent to please those whom thou hatest and to injure and provoke such as thou lovest best These are too grosse pretences to passe for currant and thy own conscience cannot but be convinced of their vanity and falshood If thou consentest that Christ alone shall be thy Saviour thou wilt depend upon him onely for thy salvation if thou art willing he should govern thee thou wilt in the course of thy life yield obedience to him If thou saist thou hast not power to be willing prethee examine what this means but that thou art absolutely unwilling and then whose fault is that Who is it I would fain know hinders thee from being willing or whom dost thou think to lay the blame on Be assured the holy God will clear himself if thou should'st lay the cause of thy damnation on him as if he did not give thee grace enough to change thy heart since thou didst not improve that measure of grace which was given thee and didst by thy wilfullnesse keep out what was farther offered to thee And thou wilt have small comfort in laying the fault on the Devil or thy wicked companions thy accusations of them will be far from acquitting thy self They shall dearly answer for what they have done but yet thou wilt still be left liable to justice yea thou wilt be found to belye the Devil himself if thou saist he was the chief cause of thy ruine for he could never have deceived and undone thee if thou hadst not been willing to hearken to him and be deluded by him Nor could thy companions have drawn thee to sin if thou hadst not first been in love with it for neither they nor the tempter whose instruments they were could thus prevail with them whose hearts were against it Neither will it excuse thy rejection of Christ to say thou never hadst sufficient reason given to draw thee to him and that thou never heardest of any such advantages to be had by him as might allure thee for thou shalt then be made to acknowledge that in the thing it self there was reason abundant reason for thy acceptance of him But if it did not prove sufficient to work upon thee why was this Was the Gospel unreasonable or wast not thou unreasonable in sleighting it Was it hid from thee If so was it not because thou didst permit the God of this world to blind thy mind and keep thee from the knowledge of the truth If thou art still in the dark is it not because thou lovest darknesse more than light Art thou not so fully bent upon the satisfaction of thy lusts that thou wilt hear of nothing that should draw thee from them Art thou not slothfull and negligent and wilt not mind things nor consider seriously of thy sin and danger of the love of Christ and thy need of him and the like subjects the meditation whereof through the blessing of God might have softened thy heart and bowed thy will to a thorough compliance with the Lord Jesus And dost thou indeed think that thy wilfull affected ignorance shall be held as a sufficient plea for the neglect of thy duty Iâ— when thou fett'st thy Servant to work in thy shop he should shut up the door and windows to keep out the sun or by night should purposely put out his Candle and then pretend he could not see to doe his work would'st thou take this for a good excuse And dost not thou doe thus who wilt not hearken to nor consider of the word without thee and putt'st out the light of thy Conscience thaâ— Candle of the Lord within thee whereby thou mightest be led to Christ had then criest thou canst not find the way to him If a Prince should send a Proclamation to Rebels promising pardon to those that would come in but threatning destruction to such as should persist if they stop their ears when it is read to them and will not enquire
word and all providences shall help forward thy happinesse All thy outward affairs thy heavenly Father who knows what thou hast need of will see to and regard at all times he will so dispose of and provide for thee as shall be most for thy advantage no affliction shall befall thee but will prove as Physick to thy soul in all estates and conditions he will be near to thee to direct and preserve thee if thou retain thy integrity so that neither men nor Devils shall prevail against thee to thy ruine And the Holy Ghost will be thine to enlighten sanctifie guide and comfort thee to assist thee in duties and to seal thee up to everlasting happinesse When thou diest the Lord Jesus will receive thy Spirit and preserve thee from the roaring Lion and the pit of destruction and vouchsafe thee the beginnings of happinesse with himself which shall be compleated and perfected at the great Resurrection day when thou shalt be raised up by his power and brought into appearance not in wrath but in mercy and shalt be publickly owned by that Christ whose person and cause thou didst here embrace and own and by him thou shalt be openly justified from all accusations of Satan or the Law and shalt be presented pure and holy into the presence of the Father and shalt be eternally blessed in the enjoyment of all those treasures of infinite love and goodnesse which God hath laid up in store for believers This is the inheritance which we come to by Christ we are made heirs of God yea coheirs with his own Son we enter upon the joy of our Lord with him we shall abide in the mansions that are in our Fathers house Then at length we shall know all the designs of Divine wisdome and love when they shall be accomplish'd in us and for us and by the fruition we shall understand what is that exceeding and eternall weight of glory for which there were made such wonderfull contrivances such solemn preparations by that God who doth all things like himself being infinitely wise and good Then shall we reach to and find those glorious things that are spoken of the City of God yea those things which it was neither lawfull nor possible for Angels or Men to utter To be short thou shalt then be advanced to the utmost possible perfection of thy nature thy soul shall be fitted for those actions and employments which are most suitable to it even the loving and praising thy Maker Saviour and Sanctifier and shalt be made capable of tasting the most ravishing satisfying sweetnesse and joy in these employments in pleasing the blessing God and in feeling thy self encompassed with the warm embraces of his dearest love And as this thy blessedness shall be infinite and unspeakable so shall the continuance of it be eternall Nor shall thy delight be once abated or interrupted through all this eternity but be ever exalted to the highest pitch it shall always flow yea overflow but never ebbe This is the joy which hath no end no measures or decay This is the glory which Christ will give his servants not as the world gives gives he unto them This he tells us is the will of him that sent him that every one that sees the Son and believes on him may have everlasting life Joh. 6.40 The water which he gives us to drink shall be in those who partake of it a well of water springing up into everlasting life And some beginnings of this divine life now there are brought into the soul whilst it is made in its measure conformable to God and is carried out after him with the strong workings of love and desire and feels the shedding abroad of his love in it self and lives in the joyfull expectations of an advancement to the abundance of life the perfection of blisse which I before mentioned And now Reader if thou believest all this which I think thou must needs except thou take the Gospel for a cheat if then thou believest it to be true I would know of thee whether the invitations Christ makes thee to come to him be not backt with sufficient motives to prevail with all that are not quite beside their wits in matters of the greatest moment By this time I hope thou seest that thy Redeemer seeks thy interest whilst he is so importunate with thee What is all for in the result but this That thou would'st make thy self blessed for ever This he commands thee this he beseeches thee to And shall such commands be disobey'd shall such requests be denied Good Lord How strange a thing is this That man a reasonable Being whose wisdome sets him above all other creatures on earth should be thus woo'd thus call'd upon and entreated to be happy and yet that he should stand dallying and deliberating whether he had best be so or not yea that he should peremptorily refuse to be so Which should I most admire in this case the distraction and base ingratitude of man or the inconceivable mercy and patience of God so long to bear with such unworthy creatures and so frequently to renew the offers of blessednesse and even presse it upon them Well then dost thou think there is any gain in godlinesse Is there enough to be had with Christ to make him and his gifts worth the accepting For that I tell thee still is all that is expected from thee be but cordially willing to take him and all his benefits together and for certain all shall be thine Thou shalt find every promise of the book of God made good to thy comfort yea thou shalt find ten thousand times more than ever thou could'st understand or conceive from the fullest promises the highest expressions that ever thou mett'st with concerning the priviledges of Believers Shall all that is said then bring thee to be one of that number or not Dost thou know where to make a better bargain for thy self If so take thy own course and make thy best on 't for be assured Jesus Christ needs not thee His glory doth not so depend on thy subjection to him that it should be lessened in case of thy disobedience Doe thou as thou wilt he knows how to secure his own interest but fain he would perswade thee to take pity on thy self and save thy own soul. If there be any in all the world that hath done more for thee than Christ or that will doe more hearken to him and spare not But before thou conclude there is any such person or thing examine matters well on both sides and then doe as thou seest meet Indeed the case is so plain that the veriest child or fool almost may know how to decide it Bethink thee well what thou art like to have from the world from thy lusts from the service of the Devil or from any thing that would keep thee from Christ. Canst thou think that the satisfying of thy senses with what they call for or pleasing thy fancy with
wrath which thou art treasuring up for thy self against the day of wrath Thou liest wholly at his mercy whom thou art daily provoking to fury In all thy ways which are so defiled the holy God beholds thee in anger and even loathes thee for thy filthinesse And he alone knows how short a while he is determined to wait on thee thy glasse is running his patience is expiring death and judgement are hasting hell is ready burning and thou canst not promise thy self a moments safety Whilst thou art sleeping or waking eating or working talking and laughing the heavy doom hangs over thy head and thou hast every day reason to expect the dreadfull vengeance of the Lord to seize upon thee nothing but meer mercy hath kept it off this while which will not always last At night when thou goest to bed it s a great hazard but thou maist awake in flames and never more see the comfortable light or when thou goest out of doors it 's a question whether thou maist not with Judas go to thy own place the infernall mansions before thou returnest home For ought I know or thou either this may be the last Book that ever thou maist read this may be the last warning that ever thou maist have Think a little whether this be a comfortable case for a man to continue in and what wise people they are that venture all upon a Repentance hereafter Moreover in all the troubles thou maist meet with in the world I know not what support what comfort can be administred to thee for there 's none to be given thee from God I am sure whilst thou art a resolved enemy to him What shift thou makest to get a little ease and relief at such a time I cannot but wonder onely the remnants of thy carnall comforts and the hopes thou hast of seeing things better its like may help thee to some false peace But alas poor man Death will shortly arrest thee Death that will strip thee of all that thy heart delighted and trusted in Death that will break the neck of all thy fond hopes and utterly frustrate thy expectations Death that will carry thee out of thiâ— beloved world into a place to which thou hast been a meer stranger not thinking of it at all or but coldly and seldome or with horrour and aversenesse this Death I say will shortly lay hold on thee and then whither wilt thou look for comfort who art a stranger to God and Jesus Christ Into whose hands wilt thou commend thy departing soul who would'st not whilst thou wast living resign thy self to the God who made thee bought thee with his Sons blood Canst thou expect Christ should now receive thee who would'st not be perswaded to receive him What receive a rebel into the kingdome of peace A filthy Swine into the communion of Saints No never expect it And if he will not receive thee who must If heaven may not hold thee what place will Thou canst easily answer these questions And when by a resurrection to condemnation thou art made with all the rest to stand in the presence of thy Judge how wilt thou then appear before him For the Lord's sake yea for thy own sake poor sinner thou that canst not be brought to like of Christ nor his holy Laws and ways not the sanctifying work of his holy Spirit put these questions as thou readest them close to thy heart What wilt thou then say to Jesus Christ for this thy contempt and dislike of his person and government Darest thou then justifie thy unbelief and impenitence when he calls thee to answer for it Or who wilt thou get to plead for thee when the onely Advocate shall condemn thee Who wilt thou make thy friend when he who alone could and would have been so is through thy own fault become thy greatest enemy Dare Angels or Saints speak a word for him against whom their Lord shall speak Or would they if they durst No they will approve his righteous sentence Will the Devil take thy part dost thou think Hath he any power there to secure his followers Why it 's he that is thy accuser and if need be would rather aggravate those faults which he drew thee to Wilt thou then hit him in the teeth with the large promises he made thee and call on him to make them good Alas he 'll but laugh at thee and scorn thee and make thee acknowledge that most justly are all they so served who would trust to the Devils delusions rather than to Gods promises Or dost thou expect relief from thy companions in torment Ah poor creatures they would rather help themselves if they could but cannot Oh then with what an heart with what a countenance wilt thou hear that last dolefull sentence Depart from me ye cursed when thou shalt look round about and see no help no hope but that down thou must lie in that burning lake which the breath of the Lord's fury like a stream of brimstone doth kindle what a posture will thy soul be in I can tremble to conceive it easier than I can expresse it And when thou hast lain some thousands of years in that place of torments what then will the workings of thy heart be when thou hast felt that tribulation and anguish which comes upon those that work evil what thoughts wilt thou have of the ways that brought thee thither what would'st thou not doe for the least dram of hope in that miserable despairing state for the least glimmering of light in that gloomy darknesse But there is none to be had no nor ever will be through a whole eternity the force of which word eternity and the meaning of Hell is now known and felt in another manner than when careless sinners could laugh at the mention of them or sleep whilst they were preacht on But what canst thou not perswade thy self that there are any such torments prepared for unbelievers If not it s to be feared thou art one of those unbelievers for whom they are prepared But if Scripture may convince thee read amongst other places 1 Thes. 1.8 9. Mat. 25.46 Joh. 3.36 and then tell me thy judgement Now indeed all this is but talk Hell 's out of sight and the most terrible words are but wind and therefore it is there is so little care in the world to make sure his favour who can save them from this misery which because it 's neither seen nor felt is sleighted and forgotten Should a King take a company of men out of prison who had committed some fault worthy of death and offer pardon to those that would be sorry for their crime and promise never to be guilty of the like but threaten Death to those that would not and withall should shew them pardons ready sealed and great hopes of money to be given to the penitent but racks and gibbets and fires ready kindled for the execution of the obstinate Doe you think this would not easily
prevail with them when they saw in good earnest what was like to betide them And if Christ would take this course and shew heaven and hell if that were possible plainly to their eye-sight it s like the most stubborn sinners would be awakened but he will not doe thus nor is there any reason he should Since we are made men to be ruled by reason why should he deal with us like bruits that must be led by their senses yet because he will not take this way with them bruitish sinners disregard him as if they needed him not But ah Sirs all you that could see no need of Christ when he was so urged and prest upon you when shortly you shall see all the world stand before him and shall behold the devouring flames into which all they must be cast who have not a part in his love then you will see what benefit comes by Christ then you will no longer count them fools that took it for their greatest businesse to get an interest in him Then if the most passionate wishes that you had been so wise would doe you any good if the loudest roarings and bitterest cries for mercy might preval you would think them all well spent but alas all will be to no purpose Cry Lord Lord with never so much noise and earnestnesse if thou wast here a worker of iniquity no other answer shalt thou obtain but Depart from me I know thee not And thou thy self shalt be forced to acknowledge that this Sentence is as just as terrible For didst not thou here hid Christ to depart from thee thou desired'st not the knowledge of his ways and is it not just he should then command thee to Depart from him as one he will not know nor own Heaven thou didst refuse since it was to be had on no other terms than submission to Christ and therefore thou must needs fall into Hell since there is no third place provided But perhaps thou wilt flatter thy self with a conceit that none of these things shall come upon thee in that as thou pretendest thou putst thy whole trust in God that he 'll save thee and reliest upon thy Saviour Jesus Christ alone to be kept by him from hell and the power of the Devil But beware I beseech thee how thou cheatest thy soul into that misery whence no trick or wile can ever fetch thee Dost thou put thy trust in God he 'll take thee to heaven when thou diest who now allowest thy self in those very sins for which he hath threatned to turn men into hell If indeed thou dost so then I hope it is some promise of his that thou bottom'st thy trust upon or else it is a vain confidence now shew me if thou canst one promise in the whole book of God that gives thee the least ground to hope for happinesse whilst thou continuest in an unregenerate naturall estate in love with thy sins take thy Bible and turn it over from one end to the other and see if thou canst find any such place but I could shew thee an hundred Texts where wrath is threatned to all unconverted sinners continuing such So that in plain English thy trust in God is no more than a wretched presumption that he will be so mercifull as to break his word to save thee and if indeed this word prove false than thy confidence will not deceive thee but if it prove true as for certain it will then woe be to thee for all this pretended trust And of the very same stamp is thy reliance on Christ whilst thou rebellest against him For tell me prethee does the Gospel say that every man who shall believe that Christ will save him shall be saved by him let his heart and life be what it will I am sure neither Christ nor his Apostles ever made known such a doctrine and if thy faith be grounded upon any other Gospel than Christ hath revealed thou art like to go seek another heaven than that he hath promised For he hath told thee plainly that without holinesse thou shalt never see the Lord that he is the author of salvation onely to those that obey him and that he takes off condemnation from none but such who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now if thou dost truly believe in Christ thou wilt set thy self to seek for happinesse in the way that he hath appointed not in one of thy own devising for else it is a sign thou dost not depend upon him for salvation but on thy own fancy or Satans delusions or whoever it is whose directions thou followest rather than Christs If thou wast in a place where two ways meet and one man should bid thee follow him in this way and another should bid thee follow him in the contrary way if thou would'st come to thy journeys end is it not plain that thou believest him whom thou followest Or if thou hadst some dangerous disease and an able Physician should tell thee that if thou would'st depend upon him by the help of God he would recover thee and should leave with thee such and such Physick to take if in the mean time thou should'st take a conceit that thou mightest be well without following his advice and some one else should direct thee to an easier and cheaper way whereupon thou throwest away his medicines dost thou then depend upon this Physician for cure Thus the Lord Jesus the great Physician of souls assures thee if thou wilt depend on and trust thy self with him or believe in him he will keep thee from that everlasting death whereof thou art in danger and to this purpose he sends his Word and Spirit to cure thee of thy ignorance and wickednesse which is the disease of thy soul he would bring thee to Repentance and thoroughly purifie and sanctifie thy heart but thou think'st this a tedious course and wilt by no means submit to it come on it what will but fanciest thou maist be saved without so much adoe and that forsooth by reliance on Christ. Is not this a very wise businesse to rely on the Physician for health and throw away the Physick that should procure it I know well enough what thou would'st have Christ shall keep thee from hell but yet by all means he must give thee liberty to live in sin that is he must let thee carry fire in thy bosome but yet he must keep thee from being burnt he must let thee drink poison but yet he must keep it from griping thy bowels But believe it Christ came not into the World for any such ends This he hath purchast That no sins great or small shall damn the man that 's truly humbled for and forsakes them and depends upon him for a pardon and is made holy in heart and life but not that he who lives and delights in sin should escape misery which is indeed a kind of impossibility For man is in bondage and sin is his fetters now
prepared for rebellious sinners should not be poured out upon thee who thus scornest and abusest thy compassionate Saviour By this time I hope thou art convinced that there is abundant reason why thou shouldest accept of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring thee to the salvation he hath prepared for his people in that way which he himself hath prescribed That thou mightest not want arguments of all sorts I have plainly told thee what 's like to come of thy obstinate refusall And now after all I again demand of thee whether thy heart be brought thus thoroughly to consent that Christ shall be thy Saviour and take his own way with thee to keep thee from misery and bring thee to true blessednesse Art thou resolved to give up thy self to him and follow his directions or not Shall all that hath been said doe nothing to encline thee thereto Dost thou think it better to be commanded to go from Christ hereafter than to come to him at his command for salvation here Canst thou bear his heaviest indignation rather than his easie yoke light burden Is there any thing in becoming Christs faithfull servant worse than being the Devils everlasting bondslave Bethink thy self whilst thou hast leisure and cease not these thoughts till thou arrivest to a true sense of the things that concern thee and at length art firmly resolved without any more baffling or dallying to bind thy self over to Christ by a firm Covenant to be wholly his never to depart from him but in all things sincerely to comply with him and be guided by him that thou maist escape the vengeance thy sins have exposed thee to and obtain that glory to which he will assuredly bring thee This is that Covenant with Christ or faith in him which I have been all this while perswading thee to wherein I told thee is contained thy Covenant with God the Father to love and honour him above all as thy Maker Ruler and End and with the Holy Ghost to be sanctified and led by him Which Covenâ—nâ— every man must be cordially entred into that he may be fit to partake of the Lords Supper whereby he doth professe to consecrate himself to the Father Son and Holy Ghost that is to be a true Christian as by his Baptisme he stands engaged And this is third qualification which is requisite to all Communicants And if I should name no more hence it may sufficiently appear who is fit to come to this Ordinance even he that being acquainted with the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ believes all that is there related to be true and is sensible of and deeply humbled for all his sins being stedfastly resolved by Gods assistance presently from this time forward to forsake them and is unfeignedly willing to receive the Lord Jesus to be his Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel that is as I shall next speak particularly he that relies upon him alone for the pardon of his sins and is willing to be sanctified by his holy Spirit that he may be made fit for an everlasting communion with God upon whom he hath placed his highest love This is the man whom Christ will bid welcome to his Table Wherefore Reader if this be a description of the state of thy soul let not Satan or thy own fearfull misgiving heart perswade thee that thou art unfit to partake of the priviledges held forth to Believers but with a chearfull boldnesse addresse thy self to this Feast which thy gracious Lord hath appointed for thy refreshment and strengthning till he take thee to himself into his heavenly Kingdome Since I have already thus farre discovered what kind of persons Communicants ought to be from the nature of this Ordinance as it is for a Remembrance of Christ and his Death which cannot be without the knowledge of him repentance for sin and believing in him I may therefore be briefer in the particulars that follow in shewing what more is included in Remembring Christ at the Sacrament since they serve but farther to illustrate and confirm what I have already mentioned concerning the qualifications of the Receivers and since I may repeat some of them in directing those that intend to Communicate CHAP. VI. IV. A right Remembring the benefits procured for us by the Death of Christ. 1. Justification HE that Remembers Christs Death as he ought cannot but Remember what were the benefits purchast by his Death for those that believe in him which benefits are held forth and represented in the Sacrament and by it conveyed and assured to the worthy Receivers and doe call for suitable dispositions and affections in them as I shall shew particularly Of these benefits I shall name three which are the principall and contain all the rest And these are Justification Sanctification and Glorification 1. The first is Justification or the pardon of sin for the difference betwixt them is so small that I shall here take no notice of it which pardon Christ hath obtained by the satisfaction he made to divine justice by his perfect obedience and grievous sufferings for the sake whereof Believers are releast from the rigour and curse of the Law received into the favour of God and preserved from those miseries which otherwise had according to their desert befaln them Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sinâ— c. Heb. 9.26 But now hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Rom. 3.23 24. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ with multitudes of the like places And the Bread and Wine set apart for the Sacrament do represent Christs Body that was given and broken for us Luk. 22.19 1. Cor. 11.24 and his Blood which was shed to procure our pardon as you may read expresly Mat. 26.27 28. And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it For this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins That is This Wine doth signifie and represent my Blood in which the new Covenant betwixt God and man is founded and establisht and by which remission of sins and all other consequent benefits of this New Testament or Covenant are purchast And those Sacramentall actions of giving and receiving the Bread and Wine to eat and drink it doe hold forth and confirm the mutuall Covenant betwixt God and man As it seals to the Covenant on mans part that he will receive Christ as he is offered and be devoted to him and to God by him I have spoken to it under the foregoing Head and to all who sincerely doe thus God hereby seals to them that he will be their God reconciled to them through his Son and that Christ with all his benefits shall be theirs
any other condition than forsaking them If bare confession and begging of mercy might serve turn or if coming to the Sacrament might serve turn and yet still they might live as they list few would go without a pardon But remember God nowhere assures pardon to any man absolutely but upon a certain condition which except we perform we cannot look for the promised mercy What this condition is I have before told you even that you should repent of and give diligence to forsake all sin and receive Christ to be your perfect Saviour upon no other terms therefore expect to have a pardon confirmed to you by the Sacrament which will no farther avail you than as it receives power and efficacy from the promise without which it is a seal to a blank paper that will warrant you to claim nothing Suppose a Landlord should make you a Lease of an House upon condition that you would own your self his Tenant yearly pay him some small quit-rent should set his seal to this Lease all this would stand you in no stead if you denied that you was his Tenant and refuse to pay the Rent he required Wherefore to know whether your hope of pardon be upon good grounds and such as will not fail you examine whether you are such kind of persons as I have before described whether you are humbled for and brought out of love with every sin and doe with firm purpose of heart cleave to the Lord Jesus To bring you thus to depend upon Christ for a pardon in a right manner and upon sure grounds the considerations I laid down under the last particular may be of use since this is one part of that faith in Christ which I there exhorted you to that was an acceptance of him in all his Offices this hath a peculiar respect to his Priestly Office and is called Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Onely to adde a word or two more for the quickning of all such who have not much laid it to heart how to get their sins pardoned as if they thought it was a thing of no great consequence Consider I beseech you whether the Incarnation Life and Death of Christ was not a matter of huge importance to the world and tell me Reader dost not think thou art as much concerned herein as any other man Hadst not thou as much need of his Death as any And therefore doth it not stand thee upon to see whether thou sharest in the benefits of it as much as it doth any man breathing And tell me farther if all this preparation in the Gospel had been made for thee onely and Christ had come down from heaven and suffered on the Crosse for thy sake alone that thou mightest be saved by him on the same terms that now thou maist and should have sent thee a message calling thee by thy particular name assuring thee of all this and beseeching thee to accept of these offers of life dost thou think all this would have convinced thee of the greatnesse of Divine love and of thy need of mercy And would it have awakened thee to make out after the same and to doe all that was required to obtain it If so why then wilt thou not now be perswaded to the same care Since the Gospel speaks to thee as particularly as if it named thee and the mercy is as great and thy need of it as much as if thou alone wast concerned in it and thou shalt never have the lesse benefit nay rather more by having others to share with thee in it but thy misery if thou misse of a pardon will be never the lesse for having many companions in the same sad case with thy self Once again let me ask thee thou who now art so insensible of thy need of a pardon that thou wilt not take pains to get it in the way thou art commanded wouldest thou be contented at any rates absolutely and expresly to part with all hopes and expectations of it If thou might'st be hired with a thousand or ten thousand pounds would'st thou for such a summe of money professe thou didst renounce all right and title to Jesus Christ and all hopes of mercy through him Or would'st thou give this under thy hand in writing to the Devil or to any man that would help thee to a great Estate what would'st thou think of those who should doe thus would'st thou not look upon them as most wretched forlorn creatures Why be it known to thee if through negligence and stupidity thou seek not out after an interest in Christ that thou maist be pardoned and saved by him thy condition will at length be found as miserable as theirs If there should be certain acres of ground in Ireland promised to any one that would go thither to possesse them he that would not take the pains to go over would have no more advantage by them than he that should formally renounce his righâ— thereto Even so by carelesnesse and sloth maist thou lose all benefit by Christ as certainly as those poor creatures that are drawn to make compacts with the Devil and sell away their souls for a thing of nought To conclude if nothing I have hitherto said will move thee consider I entreat thee whether this thy undervaluing of pardoning mercy will remain always Sins thou hast I know thou wilt acknowledge yea many and great sins such as would sink thee to the lowest hell if they be laid to thy charge Dost thou not grant this And thou canst not but know that there will at length come a day of reckoning for these thy sins and dost thou think when thou must stand before the Judge and give up thy account that thou shalt not earnestly desire a pardon then will it then seem as indifferent a thing as now it does Then I say when without it thou must be sentenced to keep company with the Devils in the midst of scorching flames for ever and ever And thou canst not sure be so ignorant as not to know that none shall have a pardon then but those who got it now that 's a day for examining and declaring what our estates are whether good or bad that we may be dealt with accordingly not a time for getting them made better if they were naught before Wherefore if thou beest not a very bruit onely to mind what 's before thee if thou hast any foresight any belief of this Judgement-day that thou art going to now rouze up thy self and with all speed and industry labour to get that pardon which within a while to thy own most lively sense will be so needfull and stand thee in so much stead And when thou art wrought to such a sight of thy misery as makes thee desire after mercy and to such a loathing of thy sins as fits thee for it then thou maist be assured that God for Christ sake will be gracious to thee and thou maist comfortably addresse thy self to the Sacrament and take
his doctrine hoping for remission of sins through his Blood giving entertainment to his Spirit and are filled and fed with those graces which he gives out that all such shall live forever And then in a secondary sense these words may be applied to the Sacrament so farre as this faith in Christ whereby grace is expected and derived from him is here particularly acted for thus he who in the Sacrament eats the flesh and drinks the blood of Christ hath eternall life that is he who comes with that fitnesse of soul as to be made partaker of the blessings and mercies hereby presented and earnestly desires that of Christs fulnesse he may receive suitable supplies of grace To the same purpose seems the Apostle to speak 1 Cor. 10.16 17. The cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the communion of th◠blood of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ For we being many members are one body As if he should have said Hereby we have a communion with Christ himself we professe our relation to and interest in him and the benefits which come by him are communicated to us who truly believe in him his Spirit is diffused and shed abroad upon us and thereby we who make up one mysticall body whereof he is the Head being united and ingrafted into him as members doe live by him being acted and upheld by that life and vigour which he gives and continues to us Since then here is spirituall food sanctifying grace held forth and communicated to souls rightly disposed this farther informs us what kind of persons Communicants ought to be The dispositions of soul particularly suited to this benefit are 1. An earnest desire after grace to be given in and 2. A resolution to improve this grace received Hither Christians are to come earnestly longing to have communion with Christ himself who is not onely the Master of the Feast but the very food whereupon the Believer lives and this communion we have by his liberall communications of the graces of his Spirit to necessitous souls This desire of grace is that which is signified by those expressions of hungring and thirsting which we so often meet with in Scripture answerable to which the spirituall things desired are represented by things to be eaten and drank as by Bread Meat Milk Water and Wine And they are her◠shadowed forth under the elements of Bread and Wine and must be hungred after by all that come 〈◊〉 this Ordinance which teacheth us that none are fit to come who have not already received such beginnings of grace as may cause them to long for more who have not such a spirituall life wrought in them as may put them upon care to have this life supported and increast None can feel hunger but they that live none can desire after greater measures of grace who have not in some sort known and tasted the sweatnesse and excellency thereof But no humble souls need therefore be discouraged as if they were not worthy to feast at this Table where none are welcome but such as have true grace wrought in them since they may be confident of their acceptance if they can really find in themselves an appetite to the provisions made for them an hearty and sincere desire that their spirituall wants may be supplied their weaknesse strengthned and all their distempers healed and what true Christian whose grace is never so low but finds in himself a love to and a longing after more But this indeed condemns those who feel no need of any nourishment for their souls and therefore either wholly neglect Sacraments and other means whereby it is to be had or else come without any Stomach at all and content themselves with the shell and outside of the duty which will never feed them These full souls that loathe the honey combe are like to be sent empty away whilst the hungry onely shall be filled with good things Now to such sickly listless souls that even nauseate the most wholsome food I would say something briefly in order to their cure to bring them so farre into frame that they may come with quickened appetites and enlarged desires to the Lords Table as perceiving there are such good things here to be had which they doe most of all stand in need of 1. In order hereto labour to get sensible what needy empty creatures you are for till then you are not like to seek out for a supply Consider I mean chiefly how to destitute you are by nature and to this very day of that which is the true riches the beauty and dignity of the soul in that you are so unlike to God so full of corruption and wickednesse so empty of that Spirituall wisdome that holinesse humility heavenly-mindednesse and the like excellencies which alone can render you amiable in the sight of your Maker You cannot imagine if you have well studied your own hearts that you brought into the world with you all that grace which is of absolute necessity to perfect and accomplish your natures and it is too sad a sign you are still without it whilst you have no more mind to those means which God hath ordained for the conveyance and increase of it How happy a thing now was it if you were but throughly convinced of your own wants when you doe but perceive you need food or rayment or physick how industrious and impatient are you till you have one way or other got what you would have And thus ardently desirous would you be after the graces of Gods Spirit if you did rightly apprehend that these are the food and cloathing and physick of the soul. But alas how doe people generally labour under the sottishnesse and self-conceitednesse which was charged upon the Laodicean Church that thought her self rich increast with goods needing nothing and knew not that she was wretched and miserable poor and blind and naked Revel 3.17 'T is one of the greatest difficulties in the world to bring men to judge of their poverty or riches by the temper and frame of their souls to convince them that they are poor and needy whilst they are gracelesse though they should overflow in wealth and abundance of all externall things 2. Wherefore in the next place let me advise you to beware of a secret mistake which ruines millions in imagining that outward comforts may serve well enough to make amends for all your necessities that the husks of worldly enjoyments may serve instead of the bread that is in the Fathers house Oh take heed of inordinate thirsting after these puddles or of wallowing in them Doe not so eagerly pursue such unsatisfactory trifles as carnall profits and pleasures which divert you from the pursuit of those things that most concern you but examine well what there is in them to doe good to an immortall soul which you cannot but account your best part Beware then of being so devoted to
examine well whether thou art such a one as I have here described yea if thou hast any desire to escape everlasting misery and be received into heaven when thou diest examine thy self for except thou beest or becomest such a one as sure as God is true thou art never like to be saved CHAP. XI An invitation to come to Christ and his Sacrament with Motives thereto Use. MY next work now is to call upon and exhort all thus to examine and prepare themselves and so to come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. Ho! all you that have any love to the blessed Jesus who loved you to the shedding of his warmest hearts-blood for your sakes come hither and shew forth his death till he come If Christ be precious to you let his memory be precious and be you carefull to preserve it by your due and frequent attendance upon this Ordinance set up on purpose for the Remembrance of him All you whose eyes have been opened to discern the vilenesse of your natures and conversations come hither and give a kindly vent to your sorrow beholding sin at the worst in those wounds that it gave to your dearest Saviour All you that are indeed convinced that Christ is the true Messiah come forth from God to give life to the world and are resolved to hearken to him that your souls may live come hither and before God Angels and Men professe these resolutions and bind your selves over to him to be his Disciples and most obedient servants Be not asham'd of the Crosse of Christ but a vow it before all the world that your hope of happinesse is placed onely in that Jesus who was slain and hanged on a tree but is risen again and ascended into the heavens hereby own that you are Christians let others be what they will Come hither all you that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and feed upon him who here conveys of himself to the empty longing soul and satisfies his people with good things suitable to their wants Come hither poor dejected drooping soul that dost unfeignedly love thy Lord but art afraid thou shalt never obtain his favour come and see what he hath done to assure thee of the reality the freenesse and fulnesse of his love Come and tast the provisions he hath made for thy comfort and rejoyce in the sense of his bounty All you that expect shortly to look your Redeemer in the face come hither and behold him where till then you may most clearly discern him Here stamp his imâ—ge firmly upon your minds that he may live in your breasts though for a while he is out of your sight that till you shall see him you may never be forgetfull of him Come hither young ones and betimes list your selves under Christ your Leader here Remember your Creatour and Redeemer in the days of your youth Come hither ye aged that have stood idle in the Market-place till the eleventh hour of the day now at length hire your selves under the Lord of the Vineyard to be more industrious in his service for the hour that is behind Come hither ye poor and partake of a Feast that shall cost you nothing Come hither ye rich to a Feast more precious and costly than ever you were at which cost the Master thereof his own life to provide it Come hither ye Masters and promise to become the servants of Christ. Come hither ye Servants and by taking Christ for your Lord become his Free-men Yea all you that have been the most estranged from God and greatest despisers of Christ yet now at length if you will come in acknowledging the folly of your former ways protesting against any longer continuance therein humbly imploring mercy and acceptance from God through his Son even you are invited hither to testifie the truth of your return to him and to receive the pardon that is ready for you Behold Wisdome hath builded her house and furnisht her table and calls to all to eat of her bread and drink of the wine that she hath mingled to all that are fully determined to forsake the foolish and go in the way of understanding Hearken you foolish prodigâ—ls whose souls are out of tast with all solid food through your feeding upon the luscious delights of sin and the creature which yet have onely deluded never satisfied you Cast away these empty husks and come to a plenteous Feast here made ready wherein you will acknowledge there is sweetnesse and fulnesse if your distempers be cured and your appetite and relish changed So large is the commission which Christ hath granted that in his name I dare confidently invite all whoever they are or whatever they have been even the most profane and sensuall drunkards and whoremonger the proud and covetous if now at last you will be perswaded to bid an everlasting farewell to all your ways of wickednesse and for the time to come to walk in the holy path see that you are sincere and you may come boldly to the Sacrament there to manifest and confirm these purposes If at length you are weary of that miserable drudgery wherein the enemy and tormentour of mankind the Devil hath imploied you labouring to keep you in bondage to sin than which there is not a more loathsome stinking dungeon more intolerable chains in all the world if I say you would fain be delivered from this slavery and will take on you Christs easie yoke that you may find rest for your souls come hither and enter your selves into his service engaging to be subject to him all the days of your life In a word all you that have been baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and understanding what that signifies doe consent to the obligations thereby laid upon you come to the Lords Supper and manifest this consent and renew this covenant to be the Lords Some considerations I shall lay before you to quicken you to the performance of this weighty duty which I propose not so much to those who are already prepared that they would come to this Feast but rather to all indifferently that they would prepare themselves and come away without any longer delay 1. To that end first consider this is the expresse command of Christ as you may find at his first institution of this Sacrament before mentioned Luk. 22.19 This do in remembrance of me And to whom was this command given do you think onely to the Apostles or in them to all Christians What reason can be given why it should be peculiar to them and not common to others They were lookâ— upon and spoke to here as Disciples and therefore all Christs Disciples are concerned therein And you cannot think this was an injunction that had reference to that time onely the very phrase Remembrance speaks the contrary for this implies something that 's past or absent which shews they were to do this after the Death of Christ should be past and
thou little regardest the health of thy soul whilst thou sleightest those means which through the blessing of the great Physician upon thy carefull use of them might tend so much to thy healing and strengthning If a shilling be offered me in earnest of a thousand pound to be given upon some certain conditions if I refuse to take it it is not so much the Earnest as the greater summe that I thereby reject Thus Heaven is assured to thee upon condition of thy faith and obedience and if thou likest it upon these terms the Sacrament shall be given thee in earnest but if thou wilt not take the Earnest thou putt'st away from thee everlasting life If a condemned man tear in pieces the Kings pardon which is brought to him his fault is not so much the tearing of a piece of paper as his contempt of the Pardon Thus shall it be laid thy charge not meerly thy despising a bit of Bread and sup of Wine but thy sleighting all those rich and unvaluable blessings which hereby were offered assured to Believers If indeed thou prizest these shew it by thy setting a due esteem upon that which hath so near a relation to them but if thou value them not think not much if thou go without them for ever for whom canst thou blame if thou misse of those things which thou caredst not for 4 Is not this neglect a sad sign that thou performest no duty as thou oughtest nor to those ends thou shouldest For if thou didst rightly improve any why should'st thou not be glad of all Art thou not ready to try all courses use all means for the continuance and encrease of thy outward welfare and yet thou thinkest every thing too much that 's enjoyned thee for thy spirituall advantage and therefore comest not to this Ordinance as thinking thou maist doe well enough without it They that are in health use not to say if they have one sort of food what should they doe with another or if they eat one meal in a day why need they eat another and yet this is thy language in reference to thy soul. So long as thou hast been baptized and comest to Church and saist thy prayers and it 's well if thou doe thus much why may not this serve thy turn without coming to the Sacrament Why tell mee pray thee what 's thy design in these duties Is it to get good to thy soul That thou maist grow in grace and get fitter for glory If it be why then is not every duty acceptable to thee which would help on this design But is it not rather to be feared that these are done out of custome without expecting and therefore without finding any great advantage from them And because the neglect of that duty I am urging thee to is too too common and so no great matter of disgrace therefore thou makest so light of it And withall perhaps there is somewhat more pains requisite to prepare thee for it and therefore out of meer sloth and lazinesse thou holdest off Oh that thou wast but set in as good earnest to inrich thy soul with grace as the most of men and it 's like thou thy self art to grow rich in the world How many ways will they wind and turn to get a little gain If one course will not serve they 'l take another and if that fail they 'l try a third what they misse in one bargain they 'l seek to make amends for in the next Thus would it be with thee wast thou a diligent Christian thou would'st turn every stone seek every corner for the pearl of price Didst thou once by experience know the worth and excellency of true Grace and the satisfying sweetnesse of conversing with God thou would'st be very diligent in the use of all those means whereby these advantages are to be attained what thou hadst gâ—t at one duty would prompt thee to another in hopes to find the like or if thou hadst mist of thy hopes in oâ—e it would put thee upon another there to get satisfaction If thou found'st thy self at a distance from God or under fears of his displeasure thou would'st never be at rest with thy self till thou hadst found him whom thy soul loved and hadst got a renewed sense of his love to thy soul in all those ways wherein he gives a comfortable meeting to his people would'st thou give constant attendance ever earnestly waiting for the gracious and comfortable manifestations of himself in thy soul. But since thou canst so contentedly misse one Priviledge and that of so great importance it 's a shrewd sign that thou improvest not any as thou oughtest and what a wretched starven case then must thy soul needs be in 5. Consider what a shame it is that thou should'st be thus regardlesse of the provisions made for thy soul whilst thou art so greedy and forward after any thing that makes for the graâ—iâ—ying of thy fâ—esh Generally in the world men refuse no pains to supply their bodily necessities and yet when here is food provided to their hands they have no mind to it because this is onely suited to their souls Hâ—w eagerly can they hunt after that which they are never like to obtain or which if they doe will neve satisfie and fill them whilst they put away from them the savoury meat which God hath brought to them which would be savoury if their taste was not spoil'd Whilst Manna is loathed that falls before the tent-door how doe they long after the Garlick and Onions and Fleshpots of Aegypt May I not justly say that the Table of Devils is more frequented than the Table of the Lord What though men now adays doe not offer sacrifices to Devils as those Idolaters did of whom the Apostle speaks yet doe they not sacrfice to their own lusts And is not this as acceptable service to the Devil and as provoking to God And doe they not maintain a fellowship with Devils whilst their nature is so conformable and their lives so subject to them Such are all swinish Epicures who serve their own belly rather than the Lord Jesus Oh what multitudes have we got of such voluptuous ones who had rather bring sicknesse upon their bodies and damnation upon their souls by pleasing their greedy unsatiable throat than come to refresh and strengthen themselves with such food as through the Spirit of life accompanying it will preserve both soul and body to everlasting life Wisdome in vain sends forth her Embassadours to stand in the highest places of the City to call passengers to the banquet she hath made whilst yet the destroyer of souls is hearkned to calling them off from the right way telling them that Stoln waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant and with these unlawfull pleasures do foolish sinners glut themselves not remembring that he doth but feed them for the slaughter and that his guests are in the depth of hell Pro. 9. Oh
how will this aggravate the condemnation of the pâ—ofane in our days that whilst they could not be kept out of the Alehouse and Tavern but lay there day and night drinking away their wit their money and of entimes theâ—r life it self yet no entreaties could bring them duly to prepare themselves and come to eat and drink at the Lords own Table Hadst thou but such a favour offered thee as Haman to be entertained at a banquet with the King and Queen how forwardly would'st thou accept it and with what a pride would'st thou boast of it as he did But yet when the King of glory invites thee to be his guest thou think'st not his invitations worth hearkning to so mean are thy thoughts of his company and fare Yea dost thou not see how importunate Beggars are for an alms They come to thy door and stand begging for bread and will hardly be driven empty away and yet when thou art thus begg'd to accept of bread that comes from heaven thou wilt not receive it Here men must be compell'd that is importunately woo'd to come in and yet they will not be prevailed with or if they doe come it is oftentimes in such a carelesse manner that gives as much displeasure to him who sent for them and brings as much mischief upon themselves as if they had staid away But of this I spake in the beginning wherefore I shall onely adde that it is to me a matter of astonishment that those who know their bodies will shortly be in the grave and who say they verily believe their souls must live for ever that those very men should with so much care and unweariednesse feed and maintain their bodies whilst willingly and out of meer sloth they suffer these immortall souls to starve and perish eternally 6. Consider this is a juncture of time wherin especially thou art engaged to doe all that in thee lies toward the speedy securing of thy everlasting happinesse and therefore in the most solemn manner to consecrate thy self to God at the Sacrament there renouncing all the ways of wickednesse whereby thou hast provoked him that so thy peace may be made with him For consider how he hath lately appeared in judgement against us and shewn that he hath a sore controversie with us and shall not we the surviving inhabitants of the Land learn righteousnesse hereby Shall not we be so wise as to meet him in the way before his anger be kindled against us in particular It is to be feared the neglect of this very duty and the grosse miscarriages in the manner of performing it have done much toward the hastening of those judgements we have lain under And shall not this teach thee what to doe for the future Wilt thou go on to provoke the Lord to jealousie so that his anger should not be turned away but his hand stretched out still And if thou art one who hast lately been preserved from the very graves mouth whereinto thou wast ready to fall being in continuall expectation of death through the Visitation or any other Distemper I would with thee to look back and consider what were the thoughts of thy heart at that time thou I mean who hadst lived a loose and carelesse life Did not thy Conscience fly in thy face for all thy wickednesse And didst thou not resolve that if God should spare thee thou would'st become a new man and lead another kind of life than thou hadst done Did it not terrifie thee to remember how thou hadst neglected praying hearing and receiving Sacraments And didst thou not make promises within thy self that if God would try thee once again it should be no more thus But that thou would'st be as diligent and constant therein for the time to come as thou hadst been slack and negligent before Well now God hath tried thee according to thy desire thou who might'st have been sent to the place where Repentance will do no good art yet kept upon earth to see what will be the fruit of thy afflictions where yet thou art within the reach of mercy if thou throw not thy self out of it What then shall become of all thy good purposes and promises Are they gone as soon as thy sicknesse and pain are gone Are they all forgotten already Yet be thou sure God will remember them and fain would I perswade thee to remember them too and now in particular having prepared thy soul to addresse thy self to the Lords Table and there renew all those vows and resolutions which thou madest in the time of sicknesse and danger and humbly implore mercy and pardon for thy former carelesnesse and all thy transgressions and help from God to walk more closely with him for the future Let me now in season be thy Remembrancer from the Lord and bring to mind what engagements thou hast made to him and see thou be faithfull to them But if they be sleighted and all that I have said to thee sleighted because now thou art lusty and well and seest no death near thee and hast something else to do than to trouble thy self with being so religious as dying men use to be yet let it sink into thy thoughts that there is just such another time coming upon thee very shortly thou wilt be sick again and cast upon thy death-bed and dost thou not think the very same thoughts will then come into thy mind again When thou shalt consider thy self just lanching forth into eternity shalt look back upon all thy ungodly deeds and thy undervaluing the means of grace by an improvement of which thou mightest have been made ready for such an hour as this wilt thou not then begin again to fall to wishing that it had been otheâ—wise and to purposing thou wilt be better hereafter if once again thou maist be recovered But when thy Conscience with a redoubled fury shall rise up and 〈◊〉 thâ—e remember how thou didst long ago in the same condition seem as penitent as this comes to but yet all câ—me to nothing and that therefore thou hast no reason to expect a farther triall and shall moreover tell thee that it is most likely all this is out of meeâ— slavish fear and not out of any true love to God and Holinesse how wilt thou be able to hold up under such a dreadfull charge as this from thy own awakened Conscience It is my great desire to prevent thy being then overwhelmed with such sad thoughts as these and if thou art but as willing they may be effectually prevented even by speedily setting upon such a course as will be the rejoycing of thy soul at that day when nothing else will rejoyce thee but the testimony of Gods Spririt witnessing with thy Conscience that by the Grace of God thou hast had thy conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity For without this it would be but a poor refuge for thee to call for a Sacrament on thy death-bed who didst sleight it in thy health 7.
Consider whether by this thy contempt of the Ordinances of Christ thou maist not provoke him justly to withdraw them from us and to bestow them upon a people that will more prize and frequent and better improve them than we have done If Children be so indifferent to their food that they play with it or throw it away it 's fit it should be taken from them When people are wanton and curious that they know not how to be pleased but upon the least dislike reject their spirituall food it 's a sign they want that best of sawces a good stomach which it's just they should be brought to by being kept short Or if they be so lazy that they think it more adoe than needs to be diligent in those exercises of religion which our Lord hath appointed and take the greatest priviledges for burdens is it not just they should be eased of them for who will continue kindnesses to those who take them for injuries Yea can they expect any other than ere long to be removed into a world where they shall never more be troubled with such heavy impositions You that are now ready to say what a stirr's here with Sermons Prayers and Sacraments and think all your time lost that 's spent in them and are vext to think that you must have so many inâ—erruptions from your sins or worldly businesse be content a while and you shall have no cause long to complain of these things you now judge so grievous There 's none of this adoe in the Hell your ungodlinesse leads to but whether there be not sadder doings there your experience e're long is like to give you full conviction if nothing sooner will convince you Do but judge reasonably must it not needs be an high displeasure to God to see his Creatures contemn the most precious mercies as if they were nothing worth How would you take it if when out of courtesie you had invited a poor man to your Table and had made ready the best that could be had for him he should find fault with your meat and ask you why you troubled him to come from home to such a poor Dinner as this would you think he deserved to have the worst bit there If your Landlord or any rich neighbour should bid you to a Feast would you send word by his Servant that he nothing worth coming for but that you could provide for your self better at home Or if you should send such word do you think you shoâ—ld be invited twice And yet thus sawcy and unthankfull have you been toward the great God whilst you have kept away from his Table notwithstanding which he hath again and again sent forth his Servants to invite you thither in that way and to those ends which he hath revealed But oh Sirs do no more so foolishly so impudently I beseech you least at length you should move God to withdraw from you the mercies you trample on and you when it is too late should be put to seek with tears those blessings which once you cared not for and therefore must never have 8. Is it not a very great sign that you forget Christ himself whilst you can thus quietly passe from year to year without Remembring him at the Sacrament Could you possibly do thus if you bore him upon your minds and were sensibly affected with the frequent thoughts of all his love towards you Would you not then take all opportunities to expresse this your thankfull sense of his kindnesse The Children of Israel we read were enjoyned to keep the Feast of the Passeover as a memoriall of their deliverance out of Aegypt and if when they were come into Canaan they should after a few years have left it off might not God justly have taxt them with forgetting their deliverance it self And is not the case much what the same here So we find Exod. 12.26 27. that when their Children should see them keep this Feast and ask what the meaning was they were to answer It is the sacrifice of the Lords Passeover who passed over the houses of the Children of Israel in Aegypt in that night when he smote the Aegyptians and delivered our houses If now these Children when they were of capacity should refuse to keep this Feast as they were commanded is it not a sign that either they believed not what their parents told them or else thought there was nothing in it worth the remembrance Thus if any of you should demand what 's the meaning of our assembling together at certain times to eat and drink Bread and Wine in so serious a manner it may be answered you This is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which he appointed in the night wherein he was betrayed for a memoriall of that Death whereby he destroyed the kingdome of Satan and delivered his people If you now take this to be true and think it deserves so solemn a Remembrance come as you have been directed and joyn with the rest in this work if you refuse this you can never sure have the face to say that you doe in your hearts Remember Christ. If one that had bestowed some great matters upon the Town he lived in should order at his death that the inhabitants of that Town should upon a certain day in the year meet together at a Feast to keep up the memory of his bounty if they neglected this might it not well be said they forgot their Benefactour And does not your neglect of this Sacramentall Feast as plainly shew a forgetfulnesse of your great Benefactour who ordained it Oh wonderfull that ever men who have heard who Jesus Christ is and what he hath done should be thus unmindfull of him Ah Sirs read the history of his Life think soundly of his Death and consider then whether he thus deserve to be forgotten by you Had he had no more thought of us where had we now been and what had become of us for ever Hath he done so much for you even without your seeking and when he requires so little of you is he denied If but a dying friend should take his Ring off his Finger and put it on yours and bid you look on that Ring and remember him should you not easily do it But much more if this friend had upon any account given up himself to die for your preservation and should onely engage you by remembring him to beware of that fault whereby your life was endangered and his was lost would not the memory of such a friend be ever fresh and precious with you if you had any humanity any sense of friendship and kindnesse And would not your bowels be even turned within you whenever you beheld his Ring But alas how farre comes this short of the kindnesse which Christ hath shewn to poor sinners in many circumstances as might easily be shewn And yet how is all disregarded with the most How few obey this that was one of his last injunctions to his followers
say thou lovest Christ and art sincerely thankfull for his love and therefore wilt not joyn with thy fellow-Châ—istians in the remembrance of his mercy and expression of thy gratitude Does this sound like reason And yet no better is to be found in thy objection Might not the Apostles farre better have said they needed not the help of this Sacrament to put them in mind of Christ who was ever fresh in their thoughts But on the contrary because he was so much in their thoughts therefore were they so frequent in this duty And was thy spirit like theirs thy practice would not be so conâ—rary And let me tell thee farther it 's much to be feared thou hast little or no grace at all who sleightest any way that Christ hath ordained for the increase of grace A wise man useth not to say I enjoy my health well and therefore I care not for my food since this is the means for continuance of his health But it seemâ— thou deniest that thou canst get any good by this Ordinance wherefore 6. In the next place let me ask thee Do'st thou imagine thy self arrived to the utmost pitch of perfection so that thou lookest upon all means and Ordinances as things below thee If so I cannot now stand to shew thee the pride and ignorance of this conceit which are both so great that it's danger thou wilt not be convinced of either But wast thou indeed so excellent a creature as thou takest thy self to be yet methinks thou should'st not imagine that thou art above the exercise of grace or returning thanks for what thou hast received and even these reasons may bring thee to the duty I am now pleading for Or if this be none of thy conceit do'st thou imagine that the soul can get no good by externall means which work upon the senses If this be thy opinion thou seemest not to consider the nature and frame of man in this present state wherein bodily things do so mightily affect him and he is beholden to his senses for all or almost all the knowledge which he hath By this reason men could profit nothing by reading or hearing which is contrary to all experience And by this reason in the time of the Law no good was to be got by those Ceremonies that typified Christ to come which is a very bold assertion and most unreasonable and I hope the clearer representations of him and his benefits in our Sacraments have much the advantage of those darker shadows 7. Is it not very great impudence and ingratitude when Christ hath chosen to deal with us in such a sensible manner as he saw most suitable to our natures for us thereupon to call his wisdome and goodnesse in question when he calls us to offer our bodies as well as souls to him and to glorifie him both with soul body shall we say he cares not for bodily service and thereupon neglect all those services wherein the body is employed And when he out of indulgence to our weaknesse hath provided externall helps meet for us shall we think our selves too high for them Is not this most vile pride and ingratitude And consider whatever we dare to speak in disparagement of Christs Ordinances as if they were empty uselesse things will be found to reflect foully upon the honour of Christ himself the Law-giver 8. Where do we finde any of the pious Jews before Christs time complaining of their Ceremonies as burdensome unprofitable things Afterwards indeed when they were maintained in opposition to Christ whom they led to and ended in they are call'd beggarly Elements and carnall Ordinances but we hear not of this language before Though then God frequently exprest his very little regard to them compared to the more substantial duties of the moral Law yet where read we of any of the godly in those daies that rejected or disused them And what is our bondage sorer than theirs Hath Christ put a yoke upon his Disciples heavier than that he took off and what do they better than say thus who throw off his gracious institutions as a burden too heavy for them to bear 9. Methinks this is so like the language of Infidels that all who have any minde to be thought Christians should abhor it What wonder would it be for an Infidel to laugh at Baptisme or the Lords Supper if he should see them administred and ask what good was to be got from washing with water or receiving a little Bread and Wine But for one who pretends to owâ— the authority of Christ to speak after the same manner seems something strange If God give a command to wash in Jordan for the cure of a Leprosie it be-seems none but an Heathen Naaman to ask whether Abana and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus are not as good as the Waters of Israel And he discovers little more religion who shall sawcily demand why Bread and Wine at his own Table will not do his soul as much good as at the Sacrament 10 I would fain know of these Men whether Christ had power to appoint an Ordinance of this kinde to the use of which Christians in all succeeding Generations should be oblig'd if they grant he had as I suppose they dare not denie it then let them lay what he should have said or done more to lay this obligation upon them than he hath done in the present case If again they finde fault with the nature of this Ordinance as if it was not suited to be pertual because of its unprofitableness let them tell when it begun to be so Was it from the first institution or after a certain time If from the beginning what was it ordained for why would Christ set up an Ordinance that was good for nothing And why were the Disciples so frequent in it If afterwards let them name the time and give the reason of its degeneracy But farther was Christ able to make this Sacrament profitable to those who should conscienciouslie attend upon it They who say he was not must not take it ill to be thought Infidels but if they yield he was then let them alledge some reason why he would not or rather let them shew wherein he hath been wanting to it to make it so profitable If these fault-finders might have been at the first appointment hereof what a kinde of one would they have had it that it might have been more usefull than now they judge it is Is it not the death of Christ here set out before our eies and may not that in some sort affect us supposing we know the design of it as well as discourses that reach our eares may not this awake us to livelie thoughts of Christ of the reason and ends of his death and so quicken us to the exercise of repentance and faith and stir us up to desire after him and to thankfulnesse for his love and when our souls are wrought into so good a frame may we not reasonably expect
larger communications of grace from that overflowing Fountain of goodnesse who requires nothing more than a right disposition in us that we may be made partakers of his bounty Not to mention how fit a way this is for the conferring a right to and giving assurance of relative and future priviledges 11. Besides the Example of those in the first ages of the Church me thinks the daily experience of the generality of sober Christians may abundantly confute this conceit that there is no good to be got by frequenting the Lords Table were these demanded one by one whether they had not found the contrary I believe the most of them would professe they had though through their own fault they would acknowledge they had not hereby profited so much as they might How many poor souls have come hither heavy and dull and have gone away enlivened How many have come dejected and sad and have gone away refresht and chear'd and have long after enjoyed the benefit of this duty But if they who make this objection never found any such thing it would speak more modesty and justice too to lay the blame on themselves rather than on the means which Christ hath afforded them 12. Lastly I would desire all that are impartial to consider how plainly God hath witnest against this sort of Men who are the chief Patrons of that opinion I oppose in suffering them to be so infatuated and besotted in their own minds that whilst they have impudently dar'd to reject the Ordinances of Christ as needlesse things they themselves have doted upon the most ridiculous inconsiderable trifles as if they were matters of some huge consequence Have not those very men who cry down the Lords Supper and Baptisme of one sort or other beside many other duties as formal things yet with a great deal of earnestnesse call'd upon us to say thou rather than you to a single person not to call Men Master nor to put off our Hats one to another with a multitude the like fopperies These it seems are substantial things which they have devised whilst Christs own appointments are empty and carnal What 's this but a mark set upon them and few Sects are without one to let the World know they came not from God that none who are considerative might be endangered by their delusions And let this suffice for answer to the first Objection whereon I have been the larger in that it is of such ill consequence and hath too farre spread it self amongst giddy unstable people CHAP. XIII Against too seldome communicating in the Sacrament 2. Obj. IN the next place some may say We have already received the Sacrament and so have satisfied the command of Christ and therefore may be excused from it for the future I should scarce have dreamt of such an Objection had I not heard it us'd but to dispatch it in two words 1. I have before acknowledg'd that Christ hath not told us how frequently or how oft in our lives we must perform this duty but yet we may learn from the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.26 That it is to be done more than once for saith he As often as yee eat c. i. e. every time that you eat And then I have shew'd you what was the practise of the first Christians which may well hold the place of a rule in this case Wherefore you ought to obey the Injunction of your Pastour so oft as he shall in prudence think meet to call you to the Lords Table since you have so much reason for obedience and none to alledge for your refusal 2. And in the next place pray tell me had you any reason for this duty when you first perform'd it you 'l scarce say no I suppose and if you had any then I ask whether the same reason does not still continue If it does why should not your practise be continued agreeably thereto Have you not still some necessities of soul which may here be supplied as well as you had then Is not the death of Christ as well worthy your remembrance now as formerly and if you heretofore received any advantage by what you did me thinks you should be the more inclin'd to hold on therein But here perhaps some may reply putting the objection in another shape that they have often attended on this Ordinance and yet have found no advantage by it and therefore being out of heart and hope are readie to throw it quite off To whom I answer 1. If it be thus indeed you have great reason to acknowledge the fault is your own Either you have not been so diligent in your preparations as you ought or else you have been carelesse afterward thinking you had done when the work was over as if no more was required to make a Sacrament strengthning to your souls than to make food nourishing to your bodies barely to receive it and there 's an end when as there is a serious consideration of what you have done and a constant watchfulness afterwards necessary to make it beneficical to you as I may have occasion to shew a non And especially see that you give not a kinde of allowance to some pleasant sin or oâ—her which you are hardlie willing to be quite delivered from such a secret partial cherishing of any lust whatever will be sure to keep you low and barren and render all means unprofitable And thus is it also like to be with you if you are swallowed up in wordly businesses or do too sweetlie relish any sensible enjoyment 2. You who complain you can get nothing by Sacraments will say the same I suppose by other means and duties and will you therefore cast off these two will you lay aside hearing and praying upon this pretence you may as well for the reason holds as good for one as the other 3. But farther I would have you beware of mistaking your selves imagining that you profit not when you do And therefore consider what your expectations have been and what you have found Perhaps you have expected great joys and as it were sensible assurances of Gods Love and to be afterward freed from all troubles and doubtings or you have expected a perfect freedome from some troublesome temptations wherewith you use to be haunted and from the very first motions of sin in your selves and because you have found none of this in those measures you lookt for therefore you conclude you have met with nothing But this is no right arguing for these are priviledges that you may go without alâ— your days and yet thrive under the means too and therefore by them you cannot judge of your profiting But if you can find the strength of sin broken and your heart more set against it and you are more thoroughly perswaded to comply with the whole will of God being firmly resolved to keep close to him to the last discovering more and more the emptinesse of all creatures and his alsufficiency being more prevalently
also 3. Pray tell me notwithstanding all these faults which you finde with your selves yet do you not hold on in the performance of other duties To instance in one do you not use to pray constantly If you doe why then will you not be brought to this work also For assure your selves if you be such whose prayers are acceptable to God your receiving will be acceptable also Without a dependance upon Christ the Mediatour and a resolution to conform your selves to the will of God your very prayers will be loathsome but if these things be in you all your services will be wel-pleasing to him Wherefore beware of pretending so much reverence for this Ordinance and so much necessity of preparation that least you should not demean your selves as you ought you will wholly neglect it for sure you cannot think this according to your Masters will that you should run away from your work for fear of miscarrying in it Nor pretend that this is of a nature so much different from all other duties that whilst you may do them you may not be admitted to this since if you be sincere and hearty in one as well as another endeavouring to improve them to the end for which they were appointed even to get neerer to God thereby be sure you shall be accepted in all Moreover bethink your selves what you would have done had you liv'd in the first ages of the Church when the Christians were wont for the most part at every time of their assembling to have a Sacrament Would you then have ordinarily with-drawn from them Or would you not rather have contented your selves with that measure of preparation that you had then been capable of making Though think not that I am this while encouraging you to lazinesse or to rush heedlesly and inconsiderately hereupon no be as diligent as ever you are able to prepare your selves for so near an approach to the great God but yet be not so over-scrupulous as to keep back from the Ordinance or make your coming lesse profitable through excessive fears And remember still that the habitual devotednesse of the soul to God without any hypocritical reserve is the best qualification for this and every other performance 4. Lastly one would think you of all persons should not be guilty of refusing your presence here where there is a commemoration made of the love of your dearest Lord. I speak to you that are serious Christians well may others slight this duty if you that lie under so great engagements to it will be kept back by any Ordinary pretences You are such that are somewhat acquainâ—ed with the greatnesse of that mercy manifested in the Redemption of the World and will you be easilie detained from shewing forth that death which procured it You are persons tender of your Master's honour and sensible of your own duty shew then that you are so by obeying his command and preserving the esteem due to his sacred Ordinances by your constant reverent attending upon them Others there are that may complain of their unfitnesse who finde themselves at a losse in their preparations for this duty which yet they are very willing to set about and are desirous of instructions for their right performance of it For these especially I have reserved some Directions to which I shall come presentlie But there are a third sort those the worst and I fear the most who will confess they are unfit for the Sacrament and therefore will by no means be drawn to it but will tell you though they are not fit now yet hereafter they hope they shall be whilst in the mean time there are no sâ—gns of any preparation they make for come to them one Moneth or Year after another still they are in the same posture and use the same excuses Now the very plain case of these persons I take to be this So much knowledge they have that they are convinc't no man ought to come to the Sacrament who is not firmly resolved to forsake his sins and to become a new man if before he have been a carelesse liver and yet their Consciences tell them that such and such sins they are guiltie of which they cannot endure to think of parting with and such and such duties they believe they ought to set upon which yet they have no mind to and therefore so much modesty they have that they will not come to bind themselves to that which they are not resolved to do and this while they fancy to themselves that their case is something better than if they should go and make promises of amendment and soon after break them and are apt to conceit that they may as yet safely take somewhat more liberty than will be lawfull for them when once they have taken the Sacrament whereby they imagine they should be strangely hampered and tied to a strictnesse which they have no liking to But yet hereafter when they have tasted a little more of the pleasures of the world they intend to be take themselves to such a course and then they 'l be constant at Sacraments and as devout as may be this they promise to themselves I dare appeal to the Consciences of many whether such as these have not been their thoughts Reader have they not been thy own And commonlie it is either tipling or wantonnesse or love to an idle and jolly life and a listlesnesse to all pains and diligence in spirituall affairs and a misapprehension of serious holinesse as if it was a most troublesome rigid thing that are the ordinarie causes of these and most mens continuance at a distance from godlinesse and make them so backward to devote themselves entirely to God Now these I confesse are not to be called immediately to the Sacrament but seriously to be dealt with in order to their recoverie from those sensuall inclinations and wretched delusions which render them so unfit for and averse from it to which purpose serve the former exhortations to Repentance and Faith whereon I staid so long Onely I shall here discover to them two dangerous mistakes wherewith they seem willing to impose upon themselves and which chiefly hinder the performance of their duty The first is A conceit that they may take some kind of liberty for a loose conversation before they have bound themselves to the contrary by the Sacrament which thereupon they are much more backward to Now first I shall grant that hereby a farther obligation is laid upon them to the greatest watchfulnesse against sin and to a faithfull discharge of their duty to God in the whole of their lives and the wilfull violation of solemn engagements renders sin much more hainous Wherefore it hath been my care all along to make you understand that it is not so much the bare Receiving that I would perswade you to as to get your souls into a fitnesse for the work and to do it in a right manner And once again let me warn you as you love
courses whatever shall be told you to the contrary is little lesse dangerous and damnable than to come to the Sacramnent with such wicked purposes Let this then suffice to remove your first mistake that you may take liberty in some sinful waies you have a minde to before you have taken the Sacrament The second gross mistake which I finde in your objection is that you think though at present you have no great minde to be so serious as to set upon preparation for the Sacrament yet that hereafter you shall when you have had your swinge a while longer and have taken a little more pleasure being as yet perhaps but in the prime of your youth and thereupon you hope that God will bear with you yet a while since you have such good purposes to become his servants for the time to come Should I go about fully to shew you the vanity of this conceit and your folly in delaying to return to God I might fill many sheets wherefore that I may not be tedious I shall do little more than represent to you the very true language and import of this pretence of yours that so you may be ashamed of ever using it more or harbouring it any longer When you talk of staying yet a while before you cast off your old companions and courses and bind your selves to a godly life at the Sacrament what do you in effect but say That when you have contemn'd Gods mercy and griev'd his spirit a little longer and done somewhat more to dishonour his name then you will betake your selves to him and become his people when you have done Satan yet a little more service then you 'l shake him off and take Christ for your Master when you have a while longer trod under foot his precious blood then it shall wash you from all your sins when you have run deeper on the score and added something more both to the number and hainousness of your transgressions then you 'l come for a pardon when you have done somewhat more to make God your enemie then you 'l seek reconciliation when you have let your lusts take deeper rooting then you 'l pluck them up when you have made them a little stronger then you 'l subdue them when the sore is festered then you 'l apply the Plaister when the gangrene is almost got to your vitals then you 'l seek a remedy thus foolishly thus presumptuouslie and baselie do they argue who think it is too soon yet to come home to God and be religious in good earnest I know you would be asham'd to speak thus and will scarce be perswaded there lodges so much wickednesse in your hearts but for certain there does whil'st you retain secret purposes to go on in any way of known sin Ah poor sinner that thou didst but a little know what thou doest whilst thou standst thus unresolv'd whither thou shouldest yet bid farewell to thy lusts and come over heartilie to God by Jesus Christ. Oh disingenuous creature dost thou think thou hast not provokt and dishonour'd thy Maker enough yet Hast thou not yet sufficientlie abused thy Redeemers grace and patience Hast thou not yet thrown away time enough and sinn'd away mercies and offers enough Is sin so sweet and profitable a thing that it should be so hard to determine whether it was best be forsaken or not Is God so hard a Master and his service such a burdensome thing that sinners must be wooed to him with so much earnestness and all prove too little with the most Is it so safe and desirable a state to remain still in the gall of bitterness and under the wrath of God Can you keep off this wrath which you are plucking upon you Have you both repentance and time at your own beck And are you sure of acceptance how long so ever you stay before you seek it will holinesse be good for you hereafter and is it not now Or are you afraid of being happie too soon wherefore weigh things well Sirs and then resolve whether there be any wisdome in delaying that work which may be put off too long but cannot be too quickly done that work to which in all reason and conscience you stand engag'd every hour even to be divorc't from sin and Satan and firmly betrothed to the Lord Jesus How long must he seek and sue for thy consent Why should not he have thy youth as well as any other Doth Satan deserve it better than he Did not he die for thee in the prime of his years and why should'st not thou live to him whilst thou art young When wilt thou have put away that wretched disobedient answer that it 's yet too soon to entertain him Hath he stood knocking for entrance till his locks are wet with the dew of the night and is it still too soon to open to him and let him in Oh beware least thy continued stubbornnesse should even wear out his patience least thy perverse carriage should provoke him for ever to leave thee and least if still thou think'st it not time yet to break off thy sins and set upon a godly life he should think it time to cut thee off and sentence thee to everlasting death In the mean time know that all thy good designs what thou wilt do and be hereafter will not be the least excuse of thy present wickednesse nor make thy case any better with God nay rather they make it worse since it appears thou art convinced in thy Conscience that thou oughtest to live after another fashion than thou do'st and yet wilfully neglectest thy acknowledged duty I hope then I have said enough to shew that thou hast no refuge no excuse that will hold whilst thou absentest thy self from the Sacrament out of a lothnesse as yet to reform thy life and do the duties to which this would bind thee Wherefore to conclude If it be thy purpose to continue in any sinfull course come to the Lords Table if thou darest for farre be it from me to speak one word to encourage thee to forswear thy self But yet on the other hand Go on in thy sins and stay away if thou darest for thou art in danger every moment of dropping into Hell whilst thou remainest in such a state Thou seest then to what a strait sin brings thee so that turn thee which way thou wilt whilst thou willingly carriest it about thee an Angel with a flaming sword stands full in thy way threatning destruction whether thou comest or comest not whilst thou continuest a resolved sinner thy case is sad and deplorable But yet one way remains and but one that I know for thy safety even with all speed to cast away thy sins and change thy heart and life and then come as soon as thou wilt to the Lords Table there to professe this blessed change and to confirm thy self therein And for thy encouragement take notice of two things 1. It is not an absolute sinlesse perfection
that here thou bindest thy self to even this thou should'st thirst and aspire after but yet thou art not to be discouraged if thou never attain it till thou art taken into the number of the Spirits of just men made perfect Mistake me not as if I was indulging thee an allowance in any the least sin no this is it I warn thee of and against this thou must covenant in the Sacrament to wit against a willing loving entertainment of any sin whatever And thou shalt be accounted true to this Covenant if thou hate and strive against all and art humbled under the sense of thy remaining imperfections being farre more desirous to be rid of them than to retain them and if upon knowledge of any slip or stumble thou risest again by true repentance and recourse to the blood of Christ for mercy and to his Spirit for fresh strength being resolved to take more heed to thy ways for the time to come It is here as if thou should'st promise thy Pâ—ysician thou would'st be carefull of thy health this doth not imply that thou wilt never be sick more but yet it implies thus much that thou wilt not wâ—lfully bring diseases upon thy self but wilt use the means that are appointed to preserve thy health and whatever sicknesse cleaves to thee will be thy trouble and thou wilt desire and endeavour to be freed from it Even thus art thou bound to regard the health of thy soul and to look upon sin as a spirituall sicknesse and therefore never to fall in love with it but to do thy best toward its utter removall Even those infirmities to which the best are liable are not to be cherisht and pleaded for no more than thou would'st plead for the keeping of a little head-ach or any bodily pain Thou should'st not by thy good will be guilty so much as of a vain thought an idle word or the least motion to any sin but yet it is not required of thee to promise absolutely never more to be guilty of any of these nor art thou to judge thy self unfit for the Sacrament because thou find'st such imperfections cleave to thee so long as from thy heart thou abhorrest them and do'st ordinarily overcome all temptations to more grosse and wilfull sins Whilst thou art in the flesh thy state is like to be so farre imperfect that it will be thy daily duty to grow in grace and to pray for the forgivenesse of thy trespasses to improve Christ both as a treasurie of grace whence thou art to be supplied and as an Advocate with the Father through whom thou maist be pardoned This I mention that thou maist not say I discourage thee from the Sacrament by making it an engagement to greater strictnesse than it 's possible for man in this life to come up to since I do assure thee thou maist safely come hither if thou art but sincerely resolved to doe what in thee lies to please God and not to run wilfully into those actions which thou know'st are contrary to his will And this also may take away that fond opinion of some ignorant people that it 's best never to receive the Sacrament till they come to their death-bed as thinking that every sin afterward will damn them but remember what I have told you that we do not promise never to sin more but not to allow our selves in sin and to this sincere endeavour to keep all Gods commands we are before as strictly tied by our Baptisme and therefore by your reason this should be deferred till we come to die as some of the ancients did partly through this mistake and thinking this washt away all the sins before committed And if you should be of this opinion also that the Sacrament gives you a pardon of all your former sins and therefore it 's good to put it off to your death-bed consider well that it 's by virtue of Gods promises that you have any ground to expect pardon of sin and by those promises to which the Sacraments are seals this pardon is assured to all penitent believing ones so that Baptisme and the Lords Supper do seal your pardon even of sins that may hereafter be committed if you truly repent of them and betake your selves to Gods mercy in Christ for forgivenesse But if you think when you have liv'd an ungodly life to make up all by taking the Sacrament when you are sick know to your timely conviction this will not do the work as you shall know to your terrour if you depend upon 't for remember what I told you that if you do not truly repent of sin it is not the Sacrament that will give you a pardon and this true repentance few upon a death-bed have that put it off till then Moreover you that are for deferring this duty till you come to die I might ask you how you know whether you shall not die suddenly or have the use of your reason taken away by your distemper or be visited with the Plague that no Minister dare come near you and farther you seem not to consider that this Ordinance is exceeding helpfull to us for the overcoming of lusts and leading our lives as we ought and this brings me to the second thing which I would have you take notice of 2. Namely That if thou art but once come up to a resolution to do thy best against sin and to please God and addressest thy self to the Lords Supper with an earnest desire of grace to be here given thee from Christ to enable â—hee to perform thy promises thou maist very confidently expect strength and assistance from him and even now to partake thereof Little do'st thou think what a mightie blow thou mightest give to thy strong lusts and to the kingdome of Satan within thee by such a firm resolution as this made with an humble dependance upon Gods grace bound upon and confirmed by taking the Sacrament Oh! if thou wast but brought into so ingenuous and good a frame as to be truly grieved that Sin and Satan should have so much interest in thee and didst heartily desire that God would cast them forth and take possession of thee for himself in how good a way wast thou then to a deliverance If God saw thee labouring under the burden of thy lusts tugging with thy backward heart to bring it tâ— him thou canst not imagine what help he would soon afford thee Wherefore sit not down in a faint dejection say not there is no hope of ever getting up such strong lusts which are so deep rooted in my nature and so confirmed by long custome it 's to no purpose to attempt it Why man must not this work be done or thou perish for ever And the longer it s delaid the harder it 's like to be Thy case is sad indeed but not desperate yet Let neither thy presumption nor despondency make it desperate The things that are impâ—ssible with men are possible with God Wherefore rouze
apposite Text Ezek. 16.62 63. And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord That thou maist remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God It is to be considered moreover that the promises of joy are principally made to this frame The spirit of the humble and contrite God hath promised to revive They that mourn shall be comforted And they who come to the Table of the Lord weeping are most likely to return from thence rejoycing 4. And when you are wrought to this humiliation for and hatred of sin you will easily be brought to the next part of your work which is stedfastly to resolve by the grace of God never more to give willing entertainment to the same but to be entirely devoted to God by Jesus Christ to love please and serve him all your days I have told you how at the Lords Supper you renew your Covenant to perform those duties which you were engaged to by being Baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Renouncing carnall self you professe to place your happinesse in the love of God and no farther to regard or please your selves than is consistent with his pleasure Renouncing the world your own abilities righteousnesse and worthinesse and all ways to to happinesse which are set up against Christ you professe to take him alone for your Redeemer and to resign up your selves to him that he may bring you to the fruition of God and therefore Renouncing the Devill who would draw you from God and Christ to gratifie your lusts with earthly things you professe your resolutions to be led by the Holy Spirit of God in those ways that lead to his everlasting kingdome You who are truly willing to all this for to such I speak I would have you in the most serious manner to professe the same before God and especially in the prayers that you make in preparation for the Sacrament Bind your selves over to him by the strictest vow that he shall be your God and you will be his people Professe to him that he shall be the portion of your souls that you will have none in heaven but him and will desire nothing on earth in comparison of him that if he will but vouchsafe you his saving love in Jesus Christ you shall be indifferent to all things here below as knowing that in his favour alone you are abundantly provided for Acknowledge his right to govern you and dispose of you being your Maker and Preserver infinitely wise and good and engage to take him for your Soveraign and Lord to render a sincere unlimited obedience to his commands and quietly to submit to his dispensations Professe to him that you relinquish all right to your selves and give up all into his hands to do with you what he pleaseth consecrating all to his glory whatever he doth or shall afford you being resolved through his assistance so to improve and employ it Promise to him that neither your own will nor the will of any mortall man shall be obey'd in contradiction to his And bethink your selves of those sins whereof you have been more especially guilty in thought word or deed and of the duties you have omitted and engage your selves particularly against those sins and to the performance of those duties And then Remember under what notion you enter into Covenant with God and what kind of creatures you are even poor lost sinners loaded with much guilt which you could never by any satisfaction of your own making take off from your selves and also exceeding weak so that you cannot by your own strength give that obedience to God which he requires nor vanquish the difficulties which you will meet with wherefore it is of absolute necessity that you accept of Jesus Christ as your Deliverer and your Strength for he onely who hath the Son hath the Father also Professe then before God your unfeigned willingnesse to close with the Lord Jesus to all those ends for which he offers himself to the world Acknowledge to him that you neither expect mercy for any merit of your own nor set upon duty in your own might nor look for acceptance of any service for its own worth but that you humbly depend upon Christ the Mediatour for all that you stand in need of Acknowledge his right to rule over and in you as having bought you out of slavery with his own most precious blood to whose mild and gracious government you will therefore submit your selves Professe your willingnesse and earnest desire to have your hearts purged and sanctified by his Holy Spirit and your lives thereby directed according to the precepts of the Gospel Thus professe your acceptance of Christ and submission to the Spirit that you may be brought into the favour of God and be enabled to please and glorifie him by your holy conversation for all tends to this even to make you holy in heart and life Therefore are we married to Christ that we may bring forth fruit unto God Râ—m 7.4 And the fruits of righteousnesse are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 In him we are created unto good works This is the effect of his death and resurrection that we might be dead to sin but alive unto God Rom. 6. throughout They are Christs Disciples that bring forth much fruit to the glory of God the Father Joh. 15.8 And therefore is the Spirit of life given us through Jesus Christ that we may be made free from the power of sin and death that the carnall mind might be taken away and we made subject to God and able to please him yea that we might rise up to an higher kind of life more spirituall and heavenly than was ordinarily attainable under the Law Rom. 8. the former part of that Chapter This being then the summe of all to devote your selves to God by Jesus Christ to live in his love and fear and in strict obedience to his laws till you shall be taken glory you that are firmly purposed to do this and have made promises thereof betwixt God and your own souls Do you eat thâ— Bread and drink the Wine in the Sacrament as a confirmation of these promises Let this be remembred I beseech you whatever you forget That hereby you do most straitly engage your selves to live a Righteous Sober and Godly life from this very day and to the end of your days This some give as the reason why the Name Sacrament is put upon Baptisme and the Lords Supper because they are of a like nature with that Oath which Souldiers were wont to take to be obedient to their Generall and rather to die than to forsake their Colours which military Oath was called a Sacrament and thus both by Baptisme and the Lords Supper are we consecrated to the service of God
yours all that is in Heaven or Earth to do you good is yours also by vertue of that Covenant which shall never fail faithfull is he that hath promised and will do it Wherefore this Sacrament which you are about to receive being a seal of that Covenant you are to take it as an assurance and pledge that all the blessings of it such things as I directed you to pray for shall be bestowed upon you in that time and order which God sees best Here then you see is work for faith if you would receive the comfort which this Ordinance holds forth And more particularly I shall tell you in two words what it is for principally and in what manner you are here to exercise faith 1. Look upon the Sacrament as sealing to you a full and free pardon of all the sins you stand guilty of whether by nature or practice so that none of them shall be laid to your charge so as to condemn you at judgment And for your clearer proceeding herein you are to apprehend the Sacrament as joyn'd to the promise of pardon in the Gospel and so to look upon it as a Seal annext to a Writing that promiseth mercie to Rebels that submit themselves And if a King should send his Officers with many such Writings to a Companie of Men that were risen up in Arms against him and the Officer should tell them Sirs here 's a gracious message sent you from the King here are Papers under his own hand wherein he assures a Pardon to such of you that will now come in and here 's also his own Seal put to them for your greater assurance all which for your security I 'le put into your hand presently if you submit your selves They who upon this come in and take these Papers have a pardon thereby given them which they may boldly produce if afterward they should be accused Even thus are you to conceive God's Embassadour saying to you Aâ—l you that are willing to receive Jesus Christ to rule over you and save you he hath promised in his Gospel to forgive all your sins and beside that of Baptisme hath ordained the Sacrament of his Supper as a Seal of this gracious promise his Instrument of pardon and here I stand by his appointment to give out the same You now who find your selves willing thus to receive Christ are to take this Sacrament as an assurance that this promise shall be made good to you and so look upon it and with this quiet your conscience when it is unjustly clamorous and silence Satan when he haunts you with temptations to despair Then say within thy self Here 's the word of God assuring forgivenesse to all that take Christ for their Lord and Saviour which by his grace I finde my self inclined and enabled to do and he hath bound this word with his oath and to both he hath added his Sacraments as Seals and shall this three-fold cord be broken what should give me satisfaction if this do not wherefore be gone Satan shall I not rather believe thou art a liar who tellest me repent and believe and do all that I can my sins are so great they can never be forgiven than once suspect that the most true God will ever revoke that which he hath said and sworn and sealed to And at the great Judgment Day of Christ will own his Hand and Seal and then solemnly acquit thee whom he now pardons by his Gospel Safely then maist thou triumph with the Apostle Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It 's God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It 's Christ that died c. And this Christ with his whole purchase is made over to thee oh believing soul. Even by this Sacrament is his blood as effectually made thine to wash off all the guilt that cleaves to thee as if thou hadst been bath'd in his warm blood to that purpose yea much more effectuâ—lly 2. The other Direction I would give you is That you take the Sacrament as an earnest of the everlasting glory which shall shortly without question be vouchsaft to you who remain stedfast in your Covenant with God Here in like manner you are to look upon the Gospel as a Deed of Gift whereby through Christ an Inheritance in the Heavens is setled upon you to which Deed also the Sacrament doth Seal Even as an House is made over by the delivery of a Key and Land by a Turf so there is a kinde of conveyance of Heaven it self made to you by the delivery of the Sacramental Bread and Wine into your hands And when you receive them imagine you heard God saying to you Here poor soul take this in earnest of that eternal life which I have prepared for and will bestow upon thee And if the heavenly Kingdome be thus assured to you on condition of your continuance in the love of God you need not question but all things needfull for your passage thither are herein comprehended If you shall have glory given you then be sure you shall have that grace which may fit you for and bring you to it whereof I shall speak particularly under the next head And if you are thus richly provided for as to your souls do you think your bodies shall be neglected No never fear it whatever shall be found really good for you shall be vouchsaft What shall you have Christ and his spirit grace and glory And do you question whether you shall have food and raiment Will the Father make his Son Heir of all when he comes to age and will he not afford him a maintenance till then only refer all your concernments to God to deal with you as he shall think fit and question not but hee 'l dispose of all to your contentment if you be reasonable The whole World is in the hands of your Father and it is not for want of power or love if you have not the greaâ—est share in it but it is from his wisdome and mercy which will rather give you the best He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for you and hath given him to you how shall be not with him freely give you all things Rom. 8.32 Would you have a larger word Is there any thing you want not contained in this The like you may see 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Things present and things to come all are yours yee being Christs And as godlinesse thus hath the promises of this life and that which is to come so both sorts of promises are here confirmed to you by the Sacrament which is a seal of that full Covenant wherein blessings both of the right hand and of the left are given to Believers You may see then I hope by this time that this is no common Bread and Wine which is appointed for so great purposes If a tuig was given into your hands whereby some great estate was conveyed to you you would value it sure above a
you have a greater evidence of the graciousness of his nature than that very mercy which you are going to remember even his giving his only Son to die for us whilst we were yet ungodly and enemies And did he of his own free grace without our asking and against our deserving provide a Saviour for us and is he yet unwilling to save us did he find out a means for our reconciliation to himself and is he now backward to be reconciled Does he importune us to take that which he is unwilling to give us Be not I beseech you of such an easie belief of the Devil 's grosse fallacies and so hardly drawn to believe what God hath not onely said but done so much to make it past all doubting See the Apostle arguing much after the same manner Rom. 5.6 7 8 9 10. Oh let your hearts then be fill'd with admiration of that love which God hath herein exprest to men the wondrous greatnesse whereof is such that it almost surpasseth our Faith and doth farre surpasse our full comprehension That there should be a way for the recovery of self-destroying sinners contrived by him whom they had offended and brought about by the death of his own Son that they might be raised to the highest happinesse even an eternity of the most ravishing joys in nearest communion with the Divine Majesty and all this to be had for a cordiall thankfull acceptance This is the Lords doing and well may it be marvellous in our eyes Great things hath the Lord done for us whereof let our souls be glad If an host of Angels came from heaven to proclaim these good tidings of great joy to all people shall not the Congregations of Christians eccho back their Glory be to God in the highest who hath sent on earth peace and shewn such good will to men Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy Oh do you praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull works to the children of men who hath shewn mercy to such as sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death and hath broken the gates of brasse and cut the barres of iron in sunder and hath sent his word and healed you and delivered you from destruction Oh do you sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoycing Psal. 107. Call upon your souls with the Psalmist in another place Blesse the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who fogiveth thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases who redeems thy life from destruction and who crowns thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies Psal. 103. at the beginning Oh think what a deplorable condition we had been in if God had left us in the hands of Satan to whom we had enslaved our selves and had never lookt after us more Oh what a dungeon had this world then been where we should have lived in darknesse and fetters in horrours and torments and all as but an inlet and passage to miseries infinitely worse and altogether unavoidable But oh blessed and for ever praised be his Name who hath visited the earth with his goodnesse and caused the rejoycing light to shine in dark and disconsolate places and hath proclaimed liberty to the captive and shewn a strong hold to which he hath called the Prisoners â—f hope to turn themselves having laid help on one that is mighty sending forth the prisoners out of the pit by the blood of the Covenant Zach. 9.11 This is that blood which by the Wine in the Sacrament is represented to you yea which is thereby put into your hands and given you to drink in remembrance of that which was once shed for you And shall not the hearts-blood of your dearest Lord warm and revive your souls enflame and advance your love Will you not now begin that new song of the heavenly Chore ascribing blessing honour glory and power to him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever who by his blood redeemed us and makes us kings and priests unto God Rev. 5. This is that blood to which you owe all that you have or hope for This quencht those flames which else had fed upon you for ever This satisfied that justice which else had laid hold on you for your disobedience This purchast an inheritance which silver and gold could not buy This purgeth the conscience from dead works and makes the soul fruitfull unto God This pacifies the Conscience and appeaseth the disturbances that sense of guilt is apt to raise By this blood of the Lamb it is that the Saints in all their conflicts do overcome And can you withhold the most affectionate hearty thankfulnesse for this precious all-healing blood Methinks we should even be pained in our selves as not knowing how to give vent enough to our affections especially when our bleeding Lord is set before us Oh let him wholly possesse your thoughts and do you view that transcendent love which he manifested in his whole course but chiefly in the close of it that all may beget in you some answerable returns of love Read as you have leisure those heavenly discourses which were his Farewell Sermons to his Disciples and his last prayer for them which you may find in the 14 15 16 17. Chapters of John and see there how love breathes in every line Follow him to the Garden and there hearken to his groans and behold his bloody sweat which proclaims him to be sick of love of a love that would not be quencht by those crimson streams No still he goes on and go thou after him with the Women that followed him to his Crosse and weep not if thou canst forbear whilst there thou seest him die for love even for love of thee poor soul who do'st sincerely love him Art thou not astonisht at the thoughts of it What could the Lord Jesus see in such miserable worms as we that should incline him to undergo all this on our behalf Nay there 's the wonder he saw nothing and therefore he underwent it Nothing did I say yes he saw our guilt and defilement for which he might have justly loathed us But he seeing all this our misery was rather moved to a compassion for us Such a compassion as never dwelt in a mortall 's breast that he should pity those who pittied not themselves and die to recover those who had even murdred themselves yea that he should die to make them happy whose sins were the cause of his Death and even merit mercy for such as had no mercy on him and give life to them who took his away All this was voluntarily done by the Son of God who became Man on purpose that he might die and do all this for the
sons of men Let Plays and Fictions be hist off the Stage let Romantick follies be shamed into obscurity for here is that which alone deserves the name of Love here 's such Truth as commands our belief such worth and weight as calls for our regard and such stupendious greatnesse as may raise our wonder Here behold the power of love in the fairest display of it that ever was made to the world since its foundations were first laid beyond which imagination it self cannot ascend nay which falls vastly short of it how vastly short then doth expression fall but yet oh that we could feel as much as that little which we speak Was it ever before known that the Shepherd should lay down his life for his sheep not for innocent sheep but to reduce wilfull straglers to his Fold that he who was Lord of all should die for his Subjects not for obedient Subjects but for Rebels appointed to the slaughter Thus continue thy meditations till they have so good an effect upon thee that if Christ should appear to thee at this instant as thâ—u art got alone and should call thee by Name as once he did Peter and ask thee Soul Lovest thou me thou mightest be able truly to return his answer Lord thou knowest that I love thee And then to affect thee yet mâ—re consider of Gods saving love in Christ parâ—icularly revealed to thy soul that he was pleased to say to thee when thou wâ—â—st in thy blood Live Calling thee out of darknesse into his marvellous light laying hold on thee by his Spirit and recovering thee to himself when thou wast running farre away from him and many a tiâ—e preventing and restoring thee by his grace when otâ—erwise thou hadst utterly ruin'd thy self Oh praise him that he left thee noâ— in Satan's kingdome under the power of thy lusts but with a strong hand and outstretched arm brought thee out of that house of bondage and magnifie his name when thou beholdest that blood wherein thy sins were drowned as the Egyptians in the Red-Sea Oh blesse his name that he did not suffer thee to remain dead in trespasses and sins yea that he did not strike thee dead in them and sentence thee to the second death after which there is life no more This is a fit season for recollecting all the special mercies of thy life which God hath shewn either to soul or body to thy self or thine all which thou art to look upon as vouchsaft through Christ which makes the mercy infinitelie greater And when you have thus endeavoured to get your hearts brim-full with love and joy come and let them rise higher and boil over at the Table of the Lord. Let no sadnesse appear in your looks nor a tormenting thought by your good will seize upon your hearts this day Come loathing sin as much as you are able but come loving Christ as much Have as low thoughts of thy self as thou wilt and be as humble as thou canst in remembrance of all thy vilenesse but yet let thy Soul magnifie the Lord and thy Spirit rejoyce in God thy Saviour Thy gracious Lord will not upbraid thee with any former unkindnesse and neglect of his love which thou art heartily asham'd of and sorry for Wherefore though thou maist come blushing and weeping yet come not into his presence daunted and despairing He died on purpose to ease your souls of all those fears which make you all your life time subject unto bondage Will not you receive comfort for whom he hath shed his blood that it might be your Cordiall Let him see you then improve it this day to that purpose for your health and pleasure if it be solid is his delight And if he would have your joy at any time in this World full now it is If you must ever more rejoyce this I am sure is a fit season This is our most solemn Thanks-giving Feast Oh wonderfull That the commemoration of the Master's death should be the Servants Feast It is his pleasure to have it so and let us thankfully comply therewith Instead of his Vinegar and Gall he gives us Bread and Wine and better things than they Here he hath made according to his promise Isa. 25.6 A Feast of fat things a Feast of Wines on the Lees of fat things full of marrow Wines on the Lees well refined And you may be sure the Master of this Feast who entertains his guests with an affection as great as their fare is costly would not have them sit there sad and dejected as if they liked not their provisions or thought themselves not welcome Would it please you to see your friends in such a posture at your Table Oh question not your welcome all yee lovers of Christ but when you are there assembled imagine that you heard him saying to you Eat oh friends drink yea drink abundantly oh beloved Here he hath brought you into his Banquetting-House and his Banner over you shall be love Here will he comfort you with Heavenly Manna and stay with Flaggons all you that are sick of love You Children of Abraham that come from the slaughter of your lusts here doth your Lord meet you as his type Melchizedeck met your Father Gen. 14.18 Setting before you the Bread and Wine for your refreshment And here will he blesse you He shall cause you to sit under his shadow and his fruit shall be sweet to your tast Here may you expect the most comfortable commâ—nion with Christ that is to be had in this lower World Here then believing in and loving him whom you have not seen but whom you may here see represented do you rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 8. That your hearts may be more heavenly in this work and so more apt to be fill'd with joy and to break out in praise let me earnestly desire you here to have an eye to a glorified as well as a crucified Christ to remember not only his humiliation but his exaltation It was the minde of Christ that his Resurrection rather than his birth or death should consecrate a weekly thanksgiving to be observed by the Churh in all ages which should be call'd the Lords own day and be spent in his praise and service This being the accomplishment of his labours his finall victory over death and the grave and all Enemies that did assault his own person the memorial whereof must therefore needs be most rejoycing to his servants And as his Resurrection cannot be remembred without his birth and death which must of necessity precede it no more can his death be here rightly remembred without we also bear in mind his Resurrection and Ascension to Glory Can we remember what he was and not think what he is Sad meetings had we made indeed if our Lord had been held under the power of death if such a thing may be imagined All the World then might well be in the disconsolate posture of the two Disciples that were
travailing to Emaus crying out We trusted this had been He who should have redeemed Israel Luk. 24.21 Then would our faith be vain we should be yet in our sins But we may now comfort our selves and use the Apostles gradation Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It 's Christ that died yea rather that 's risen again and is even at the right hand of God And now with joy let this Resurrection and Glory be remembred as being the fore-runner of yours When in your thoughts you have descended as low as his Grave and there stand weeping to think how your sins have slain him imagine you heard some Angel bespeaking you in almost the same language that he did the Women at his Sepulchre Mark 16.6 7. Fear not yee for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified He is not here for he is risen as he said and is gone before you not into Galilee but into Heaven there shall you see him When therefore you shall in this Ordinance see Christ crucified before you think with your selves This is the Lamb that was dead but is alive and lives for ever By the celebrating of this Sacrament you are to shew forth the Lords death till he come Remember then he is to come for this second coming would Christ have you keep much in your thoughts as well as his first He left not this pledge of his love with his Church as a dying Man leaves some gift with his friends to put them in minde of him whom they shall never see more but as one who goes a long journey leaves his Pâ—cture with his Wife that she may be mindfull of him in his absence and be quickned to long after his return And good reaâ—on have you to be mindfull of the Glory of our Lord since you your selves will be sharers herein and so at once you remember both Here I told you you take an earnest of the everlasting treasures and the consideration thereof is exceeding necessary to raise your value of that which will otherwise appear but worthlesse and mean And conceive of your selves as in a journey to that Kingdome having here taken in by the way to refresh your selves as travellers are wont to tuâ—n in and bait And like the Prophet 1 King 19.8 In the strength of this meal you are to go on toward the Mount of God These are provisions sent by your Joseph to serve you by the way till you come home to himself Yet a few more Sacraments and you shall be past the need of all Here are some fragrancies and drops of sweetnesse for the refreshment of Pilgrims till the day breaks and the shadows flee away when we shall get up after our Lord to the Mountains of Myrrhe and the Hill of Franckincense Here a Table is spread for us in the Wildernesse and some clusters of Grapes prest into our Cup till we shall come to Canaan and enjoy the vintage Behold in this transaction at the Lords Table an emblem and shadow of the future glory and let your thoughts take advantage from what is here presented to ascend to the joyfull contemplation thereof yet within a while and you who are here his welcome guests shall sit down with your Master at his Table in his Kingdome and there shall taste of the fruit of the Vine new with him and shall eat of a Manna that is yet hidden to you and shall exchange your present company for the society of innumerable Angels and perfect Saints And let this something quiet your mindes though not take off the quicknesse of your desires all you holy souls who are acted by so noble and strong a passion that you are imâ—atient of that distance at which you yet finde your selves from him whom you love and are even weary of the World where you cannot fully enjoy him much more of your own hearts that are so estranged from him comfort your selves for within a very short while your eies shall behold him and you shall be fully satisfied in your most intimate accesse to and abode with him You may look back with joy on the Redemption Christ hath wrought for you and may look before you and lift up yâ—ur heads with joy as knowing the day of full and finall Redemption draws nigh Only see that you now thirst ardently after that spiritual communion with him which is here attainable in being possest by him and closely uniâ—ed to him that being joyn'd to the Lord you may become one spirit This is the blessed and only possible transubstantiation to be transformed into the likenesse of Christ which is of infinitely more advantage to the believing soul than if according to that monstrous Popish fiction he should chew the very gross flesh and swallow the raw blood of Christ For by this means his body would only be changed into ours but by the change I speak of our Spirits become like to his And if now you hold but this fellowship with Christ in the spirit shortly you shall have a real presence even to the satisfaction of sense it self Then shall you see him as he is for you shall be made like to him in that day of his appearance Then indeed shall Sacraments vanish as useless shadows you having got the substance Christ himself You need then no more behold him in a Glass but shall see him face to face and be perfectly changed into his Image Oh the difference that will be betwixt that clear sight and this dark alas through our own fault too dark remembrance Oh that 's the comfort we shall then have laid by all that stupidity and dulnesse which here attends us whatever we are about That full view of our blessed Lord will for ever cure us of all coldnesse and unbelief and ravish us into one eternall affectionate admiration of divine love If that joy which arose from faith and love whilst he was not seen was unspeakable and full of glory how inconceivable how transcendently glorious must that be which shall arise from his immediate sight If it be such a precious priviledge to have a right to Heaven here solemnly given us what will it be to enter upon actual possession Oh then Christians whilst you are remembring Christ at his Table let it rejoyce your hearts to consider that he is remembring you at his fathers right hand and thither will shortly exalt you All you whom the King of Glory now espouseth to himself as it were by Proxie as Princes take Wives by their Embassadours remember that the day is hastening when your marriage shall be more publickly and triumphantly solemnized when all you blessed ones shall be call'd to the great Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. Yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry And do you now get your souls mounted as high as you can climbe by all the means that are afforded you and stand ever wishly looking and diligently preparing for his appeearance and
never flack your watch nor let your expectations cool till either you see him comming in the clouds or shall be taken up beyond them With some such Meditations as these which I have suggested to you under each Head let your thoughts be taken up whilst you are emploied in this duty as you shall find your selves most inclined and as Gods Spirit shall direct you for you need not confine your self as to the method and form but rather let your affections have their free course Onely see that you watch narrowly over your hearts through the whole work that deadnesse and distractions may not possesse you Keep up a strong sense of God's presence with you and often lift up your hearts to him for life and quickning And let all the powers of your souls be summoned up and engaged in this action with all possible vigour and closenesse Let your minds be kept cleer from sadning and from impertinent thoughts that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction and be more capable of those sweet foretasts of his goodnesse which may be as a certain pledge of your everlasting enjoyment of all that he hath in store for his people 9. Lastly let me in a word or two direct you to be carefull in the exercise of brotherly love I need not stand I hope to repeat the advice I gave you to get all breaches made up betwixt your selves and brethren to do all that in you lies to obtain peace and if that cannot be had yet to forgive all injuries that have been done you and to cleanse your minds from rancour and malice and all desire of revenge to this let the love of Christ constrain you And moreover let your hearts be let out with a sincere and strong affection toward all your Fellow-members of that body whereof Christ is the Head A pleasant sight it will be to your Master who is in heaven to look down upon you his Disciples and see you here feasting together in mutuall love and delight in the remembrance of all that love which he hath shewn to you and in the joyfull expectation of what farther he hath promised And whilst your love is stirred up to Christ himself it cannot chuse but be imparted to his friends that are in sight such who sincerely love him on whom he hath set his heart and hath shed on them his Spirit whereby they are made like to him and therefore must needs be lovely in your eyes to whom Christ is precious as being also by this same Spirit made like to your selves and when in your joyning with them in this sacred action you remember that these shall be your everlasting companions in the joy of your Lord and shall there joyn with you in sounding forth his praises this will farther engage you to them as being heirs together of the grace of God and will work in you the beginnings of that love which will hereafter be perfect and perpetuall Whilst your love is built upon such right and Catholick principles as these being placed upon a Christian as a Christian you hold a Communion in the Spirit with all true Christians throughout the world though your affections will be most sensibly enlarged to those that you know and with whom you hold a locall communion in the worship of God And your joint assembling at this Table is a badge of your mutuall love and an engagement to the firm continuance of it Here are you made to drink into one Spirit by which you were Baptized into one body according to that Text I named 1 Cor. 12.13 This Sacrament is if I may so call it an Holy Philtre whereby Believers are united in more fervent love to their common Head and to one another The Blood of Christ is the onely cement and soder of souls And this is that Christian love which they are taught of God to which they are inclined by their new nature and which will easily be brought into exercise where the grace is first wrought in the heart wherefore it 's needlesse to stay longer hereon having also spoke somewhat largely to it before Onely one thing let me suggest before I conclude this namely that you take care to give a practicall demonstration of this love by contributing according to your abilities to the necessities of the poor members of Christ. This is a sacrifice wherewith God is well pleased a work never out of season but now most seasonable being an evidence not onely of your compassion to the poor but of the stedfastnesse of your belief in Christ and his promises and of your thankfulnesse for his bounty therefore you find both these mentioned together Heb. 13.15 16. As we must offer thanks so we must not forget to do good and communicate To quicken you to this charity both now and any other time when fit objects are presented Let me onely desire you to imagine to your selves that the Lord Jesus who was willing to part with his blood for you and thinks not an infinite glory too great to give you upon most easie terms that even he comes to you in one of his necessitous members to see what you can find in your hearts to bestow upon him If you that have Estates think he deserves nothing let him have nothing if he deserve but a little give him but a little if your lusts have more right to your riches than he then let your lusts have them rather than he Let Christ in his members starve whilst pride and luxury are maintained if you think this be just If you can improve your Estates better some other way take what you think the most gainfull course For remember Christ himself needs not anything you have or can do onely he 'll try the kindnesse of your hearts His is the earth and the fulnesse thereof and even his poor servants can he sufficiently provide for without you Wherefore if you give notwillingly and cheerfully you may keep your money to your self for any good that an extorted charity is like to do you But remember also you will be sure to lose and leave all that which God hath not one way or other but by giving it to him you send it before you and when all things here below fail you shall enjoy it with infinite advantage in the everlasting habitations And let this suffice by way of Direction for your preparation to and carriage in Receiving A few words for your behaviour afterwards and I shall come to a conclusion CHAP. XVII Directions for duty after the Sacrament 1. WHen you come home get alone and blesse God for the liberty and opportunity of a Sacrament which he hath afforded you and for all the priviledges that are thereby conferr'd upon you And let your souls chew the Cud and retain the savour of those pleasant things you have been entertained with keep them still lifted up and exceedingly gladded in the sence of that love which you have this day been celebrating and tasting in
in all commanded acts of obedience an eager and ingenuous pursuance after the blessed God in all those waies where in he is to be found and whereby he communicates himself to the soul of Man so that there is no contradiction betwixt inward holinesse and outward duties but much-what the same relation that there is betwixt life and eating breathing and motion for in these the divine life is exprest exercised and nourished But to think that Sacraments Prayers and hearing c. may serve turn without any inward holinesse and universal sincere obedience is as if a Man should think that the forced motion of a Puppet should make it pass for a living creature that great promises may pass for performances and that knowing what we must do and talking of it may serve instead of doing what we are taught Let them lay this seriously to heart who when their practices are ungodly and loose think to salve all by keeping their Church and saying their Prayers and all such who make more adoe about the externals in devotion than about the right ordering of their hearts and lives whereas all our devotions should tend to better these 4. If you would make good the promises you have made at the Lords Table to live a strict and godly life you will find it of singular importance yea of flat necessity to retain a great watchfulnesse over all your ways Ever keep up a sense of the danger you are in by reason of the frailty of your nature the deceitfulnesse of your hearts and the many temptations you are every where exposed to And therefore let this care secretly run through the whole course of your actions to beware of being surprized by sin therein In all emploiments companies and affairs still keep up this watch And think beforehand where your danger is greatest where you are most apt to be overtaken and there place the strongest guard Set a watch over your eyes ears appetites tongues hearts and hands that you be not by them betraid into any miscarriage When you find your self endangered by a present temptation then have some solid reason ready at hand to repell it with store whereof you should alwaies be furnisht with reasons drawn from God Christ Heaven or Hell or from your Sacramentall engagements as I shewed before and be sure have a strong resolution to check the first risings and beginnings of sin before it have gone so farre that your judgment is brib'd and blinded by your affections and have speedy recourse to the God of all grace that he would send you help from above Consideration Resolution and Prayer are three weapons wherewith the Christian Souldier may do wonders against the tallest sons of Anak that shall assault him in his way to Canaan Often take account of your selves and review your behaviour in actions that are past and let one days experience still teach you how to live the next better But upon the sense of any miscarriage let not your guilt drive you farther from God put you into unprofitable vexations and horrors but presently make hast to the throne of grace get your peace made with God through Christ and renew your watch with more diligence than ever but alwaies with the most humble and absolute dependance upon divine assistance ' T is too probable that some lazy wretches will here flye out as Naaman in a rage did against the Prophet when he heard he must wash seven times in Jordan for the cure of his Leprosie which he thought would have been done with a word speaking so perhaps you 'l tell me that you had thought Receiving of the Sacrament would so have kill'd your lusts and cleansed your hearts that you need have been at litle care about them afterward and will be ready to ask what good you got by it if you must take all this pains notwithstanding You slothfull souls may you not as well ask what good you get by Christs death and the giving of the Spirit Since notwithstanding both these you must take pains or else you are never like to be saved For know God will have you employ the faculties he has given you and the work of Grace is to heal your faculties and enable them for their proper employments He that made you Reasonable creatures will make you holy and happy as such and the help which he affords is to bring you to diligence and assist you therein and by that means to save you Thus Sacraments are onely profitable to the diligent and industrious their use being to quicken and strengthen but they are no refuges for the slothfull no encouragements to idlenesse Never think that God will make such a way to heaven that you may walk in it without using your legs 'T is you that must do the things required though it be by Christ strengthning you for whose sake also your frailties are forgiven Wherefore let me renew my advice that at all times and in all things you would be watchfull and maintain an holy jealousie over those hearts that have too often shown what they have in them Take this for the greatest work you have to do in the world to beware of sin and to be carefull to please God as the Souldier's whole work is to serve his Generall and the Servant 's to obey his Master yea more absolutely than so ought a creature to study his Maker's will and account this work your own greatest happinesse So avoid sin and all occasions and appearances of it as you would do the Plague in a Visited Town and be as carefull to watch all opportunities of doing good both to the souls and bodies of others as men ordinarily are of laying hold on their gain Often ask your selves wherein God is honoured by you or others profited and be ashamed to live to no better purpose than to eat and drink to sleep and dresse your selves for work or play And do not object against this constant watchfulnesse that it will take up all your time and hinder your necessary employments for by using it awhile it will grow even naturall to you and will no more hinder you in your affairs than it hinders a traveller in his journey to take heed of running into bogs and ditches Is it any hard matter to be alwaies carefull least you should hurt your bodies Wherever you are and whatever you are doing cannot you keep up this care and yet follow your businesse well enough Why then can you not take the same heed of your souls with as little trouble or hindrance 5. To help you in this watchfulnesse and guide you in an exact circumspect walking it will be exceeding profitable for you at all times to retain upon your minds a very awfull sense of the presence of the most Holy God Whatever you are about remember he observes you and ponders all your paths though you perceive not him Wherefore always order and behave your selves as before him Speak your words as in his hearing Spend