will be the better able to exercise those Virtues which relate immediately to the ever-blessed God The Original whereof is Love according to that in Matth. 22. Love 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Whereby are understood the Three Faculties of a Man's Spirit the Will the Affections and the Understanding And with these we are said to love God when they are vigorously employ'd about him when out of a deep sense of the Glory of his Nature and of his wonderful Goodness to his Creatures especially to Mankind we give up our selves entirely unto him obeying his Pleasure desiring and rejecting as he directs us still having him in our Thoughts and entertaining our Minds with ravishing Contemplations of his Divine Perfections And this is that which in the Scripture-Language we call The submitting unto God Jam. 4. 7. The yielding of our selves unto God Rom. 6. 13. Not the doing ones own Will but the Will of God Jo. 6. 38. The serving of him with Reverence and Godly fear Heb. 12. 28. Delighting our selves in the Lord Psal 37. 4. And in one general Expression our walking with God as it is said of Enoch Gen. 5. 22. UPON full Convictions of his Infinite Devotion Greatness and his All-sufficiency and Readiness to help us there ariseth another Virtue viz. Devotion That we offer up daily unto him the sacrifice of our lips and the more valuable Oblation of a broken spirit Psal 51. That we pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. That we offer up the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is that we pretermit no good Opportunities of making our Supplications and Addresses unto him CONSEQUENT hereunto is a Trust in him a Dependance upon him Resignation and an entire Resignation of our selves to his Care and Providence That we cast not our confidence away Heb. 10. 35. That we cast all our care on him who careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. That we commit the keeping of our Souls to him in well-doing 1 Pet. 4. 19. That we put our Trust in him as the holy Psalmist speaks over and over and that even against hope we believe in hope as it is said of Abraham the Father of the Faithful Rom. 4. 18. THE Contemplation of those amiable Imitation Perfections in God upon which these Virtues are grounded is naturally apt to produce in us a most earnest Desire to Resemble him as far as it is possible that we be Holy as he is Holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. That we be merciful as he is merciful Luc. 6. 36. And that we be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Matth. 5. 48. AND because the Nature of God is Vniversal Obedience the measure and Rule of all Moral Perfection and the Laws he hath given to Mankind from the beginning are so many Revelations of himself therefore it is necessary for us Uniformly and Universally to observe those Laws whether we find them written in our Nature or in his Word And this is the utmost Perfection that a Man is capable of in this Life to shew our Love to him our Dependance upon him our profound Adoration and Imitation of him viz. Our keeping his Commandments Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter saith Solomon Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of Man Eccles 12. 13. I HAVE now done with all that I thought needful for you to Understand concerning this Sacrament And whether it be the Necessity of Receiving it or the Necessity of due Preparation or the Quality of the Things preparatory to the Communion or the Tendency of the Ordinance it self or the Care to be taken after the Solemnity is over you see what they all drive at in the End viz. a Sober Righteous and Godly Life And though in enumerating the several Particulars thereof some Virtues may have escaped me yet there are none I think untouched but what are fairly reducible to some of those things which I have mentioned Things which you cannot but say are suitable to Humane Reason Things which are highly Perfective of Humane Nature Things which are Good Lovely and of Infinite Satisfaction to our Minds Things which are Easie too if we will but heartily Apply our Minds to the Practice of them and make Use of that Divine Assistance which God giveth unto all that need it I dare say if you do these things you shall never fall And the very God of Peace Sanctifie you wholly that your whole Spirit Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by W. 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many infirmities then it is time to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to enter at least upon a Life of Holiness to wash our hands and hearts in Innocence and so to compass the Altar of God BEING thus rightly disposed we are then to behold the Fountain which is opened to us for Sin and for Uncleanness I mean the blood of Christ which purgeth our Consciences from all dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. Now 't is a seasonable time for us to call to mind the coronary Thorns the Scourge the Nails and the Spear which opened this Fountain To remember our blessed Lord's Agony in the Garden his bloody Sweat his Buffetings and Stripes his dolours and most bitter Death upon the Cross To consider that all this was for us sinful Men and for our Salvation to reconcile us to his Father to Redeem us from all Iniquity and to beget us again to a lively Hope to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us because he so loved us all that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Everlasting Life These Holy Meditations are not only proper and seasonable when we are now at the Supper of the Lamb but they are moreover naturally apt to enflame your Affections with the love of Jesus to dissolve and melt you into Penitential showers to ravish your Hearts with a sense of his infinite Goodness to fill you with Divine Extasies and Raptures and to fix your Resolutions of obeying for ever the Author of your Salvation of following his blessed steps with all Meekness and Humility and of bearing not only his Yoak but even his Cross too and in all things of being made conformable to his Image NEXT to the love of God and of Christ let the love of all Mankind replenish and possess your Hearts God forbid that Malice or Uncharitableness or Bitterness and Rancour of Spirit God forbid that any of these or such unclean things should ever be brought before the Altar of Peace and Reconciliation If he so loved us we ought to love one another because he tasted Death for every Man he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance he is the Saviour of all Men especially of them that believe and seeing every Soul is precious in his sight every Soul should be dear to us and our Love to all Mankind should be extensive and unlimited as his was And to express this Love we should be ready to do good to all desire and endeavour the Salvation of all and devoutly pray as the Primitive Christians did whose Hearts were so warm with the Blood of Christ for the whole Race of Mankind not only for the Church of God and for every part and Member thereof but for all too that are as yet without the borders of the Sanctuary and for all Estates and Conditions of Men that no corner of the Universe may be too remote for our Charity and that however the Uncertainties and Chances or the Evils of this World may sever or distinguish us yet nothing may be able to separate us from the love of those for whom Christ died THESE are Divine things to exercise and employ your Minds at this great Solemnity And as touching your outward deportment there are these particulars which I would recommend to your Christian practice at the time of Ministration 1. THAT ye dispose of your selves as near as may be to the Lord's Table that you may behold what is transacted there For besides the Decency which is in the thing it self when the Children of God humbly present themselves round about his Table this is apt to exalt and heighten your Devotion still and to give your Affections a new warmth when you see as it were Jesus Christ crucified before your Eyes 2. THE Mystery of his Passion being thus visibly represented by the breaking of the Bread the Symbol of his Body and by the pouring out of the Wine the Symbol of his Blood then sursum corda as the Exhortation was in the Primitive Ages of Christianity lift up your Hearts to him who was dead and is now alive for evermore and offer unto him privately these or the like holy Ejaculations O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World grant us thy Peace O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us 3. THROUGHOUT the Prayer of the Church wherein you are concern'd be sure to bear your Parts with Heart and Voice too For this doth not only help to preserve a Man 's own Zeal in a due Fervour and to keep his mind fixt and intent and free from distraction but it is moreover an excellent means to raise the Devotion of other Communicants When every one assisteth and all jointly mingle their Devotions the common flame is very much increased every one bringing sparks to the Altar to kindle in each others Heart the love of Christ For the confirmation of this I appeal to every sensible Mans experience who desires to serve God in the Beauty of Holiness How lovely how delightful a thing is it when People meet together to Worship God to send up their Prayers and Praises to him with one Lip And how apt is this to inspire every good Heart with Fervency and to heat every ones Affections each Man catching some fire from his Neighbour How like then is the Church to Heaven and how transported do we seem to be as if we were among that blessed Quire above where St. John in his Vision saw the four and twenty Elders falling down before him that sat on the Throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 10 11. And where should we imitate this blessed and Heaven-like Harmony if not at this Divine Solemnity where we celebrate the memorial of our Redemption too of our Redemption I say the great work of God a work so worthy of God so stupendious so full of the Riches of his Grace that to be unconcern'd among the common Thanksgivings of the Church must needs be an Argument of a Mind very dull and insensate very deeply possest with a Spirit of Slumber 4. WHEN you are now to receive the Divine Food and Jesus as it were coming under your Roof receive with all Humility let every lofty imagination fall and every Knee Bend Not that we may adore the Sacramental Bread and Wine that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians but as an humble Profession of our own great unworthiness and as a grateful Acknowledgement of those infinite Mercies werewith God is pleased to crown us at this time it is no more than what is decent and becoming us to be prostrate
himself where-ever he finds it and as impossible for him to love any Man without it so as to be pleased and delighted with the Object And accordingly the more or less this Image doth resemble him the greater or less are the Degrees and Measures of his Love The Reason therefore of this Love being drawn from that Godlike Frame and Disposition of Mind which is wrought in Men by the gracious Energy of Gods Spirit and their own kindly compliance with his Operations 't is a senceless thing to depend upon those effects of his Love which I have now mentioned Forgiveness of Sin and a Title to Everlasting Happiness unless we be in some measure Holy Just and Good as the ever-blessed God is these being Perfections which he loves because they are his own Hence it appears that though we go to the blessed Sacrament with Religious and Devout Minds yet if we go not on to answer the great End of Christianity the bare Reception of it can never be enough to answer our own expectations because it is a Relative Ordinance that looks forward upon a Christian Life for the leading whereof this Mystery lays all possible Obligations upon us and takes all possible Securities at our hands here at the Altar of God THIS being cleared give me leave now to recommend unto you these following Directions that you may not receive this Sacrament and the Grace of God in vain but may in one sense as the Founder of this Ordinance did in another see of the Travel of your Souls and be satisfied 1. HAVE a very great care that you relapse not into any known and wilful Sins of which 't is presum'd you have repented and especially beware of such as you have been most apt and inclined to commit People are subject to different Vices either by means of their different Constitutions or by means of their different Ages or by means of their different Opinions and sometimes too by means of their different Callings For tho' those Callings may be Innocent in themselves nay commendable in respect of their use for the publick Good yet by means of Mens own corrupt Dispositions they are accidentally apt to betray them to various sorts of Wickedness some to Luxury some to Wantonness some to Pride and most to Frauds and Injustice a bitter root of Covetousness spreading generally through all Secular Vocations though it always hurts the Soil and many times is the Bane of the Proprietor however it be thought a thrifty Vice Here then every one must carefully observe which are his own Iniquities the Sins that do so easily beset him and accordingly must stand upon the strictest Watch to guard himself from all dangers of relapsing especially from such dangers as he is most ready to fall into upon any occasion For as the Devil is always most busie about Men when they have been doing their Souls good to lay his old Snares in their way and if they fail to minister to them fresh and new Temptations so is their yielding to those Temptations of very mischievous and deadly consequence 1 IT is an Act of the highest Perfideousness to be false to those Sacred Obligations which we have now taken upon us after the most Solemn manner in the presence of God and his Holy Angels and over that broken Body of Christ which was given in Sacrifice as well to expiate as to destroy the works of the Devil Therefore saith the Preacher When thou vowest a Vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in Fools pay that which thou hast vowed Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay Eccles 5. 4 5. 2. IT is an Act of inexcusable Hardiness and Presumption to return to those Impieties which have already cost us so dear Who but a true Penitent can be sensible what the Terrours of God are when he awakens a sleepy Conscience What that Shame is which tinctures the Forehead at the secret remembrance of ones Guilt What those Dolours are which corrode the Heart like Vipers which gnaw the Womb that bears them What those throws and Agonies are which the Soul endures when it comes to be ruffled by the hand of God And how violent the Pangs and Convulsions of a new Birth are when so many inveterate Habits come to be torn up out of ones Breast by the Roots Repentance is a most painful thing if it be Genuine and Hearty when a poor Wretch is a recovering out of that miserable State wherein a long course and trade of Wickedness hath plunged him and I think 't is Oecumenius that hath somewhere observed that 't is no easie matter to fall back again into such a course of Life as hath once put one to so much expence of Shame Sorrow and Vexation The sense and experience of smart is naturally apt to make Men very fearful of being wounded any more So that when they relapse into a wicked State with so much Facility it is a certain Sign that either their smart was not pungent and acute enough or else that they are of very hardy and desperate Spirits that can break through all the Pricks and Twinges of Conscience to rush upon the Pikes again 3. IT is the ready way to lose all the Profit of Repentance though it were never so chargeable and costly Therefore is Apostacy compared to the most odious and filthy Spectacle to a Dog 's licking up his Vomit and to the wallowing again of a Sow in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 22. Nor can it be but such Creatures must needs appear abominable in the sight of God because his Love and Hatred still go along with the Reasons of them which are never grounded upon any partiality towards Mens Persons but upon a just view of their Qualifications and Tempers so that as these vary from better to worse and from Purity turn to Corruption so they become instead of Objects of Gods Love the Objects of his Hatred which always runs out in a direct course against all Impiety and still follows it at the heels and hence is the terrible Menace in the Prophet Ezekiel When the Righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations that the Wicked Man doth shall he live All his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath Trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Ezek. 18. 24. This is not only one of God's immutable Decrees but moreover the natural Result of Relapses from the common method and course of Things especially when a Man's Relapses are frequent habitual and lasting 4. FOR that which is further considerable is That the Recovery of such Men is very difficult and uncertain St. Peter speaking of some miserable Converts who though they had been cleansed from their Heathen Sins upon their Embracing of Christianity fell back again into that wretched State out
there is no respect of persons Col. 3. 25. TO forbear all Fashood Dissimulation Truth and Insincerity And so the Holy Scripture commands us Not to lye one to another Col. 3. 9. but putting away all lying to speak every Man truth with his Neighbour Ephes 4. 25. Because lying lips are abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight Prov. 12. 22. TO be candid in our Behaviour towards all men Not to be given to reviling Candour backbitings whisperings railings evil surmisings or judging one another but in all points to walk by the Rule of Charity which suffereth long and is kind which envieth not which vaunteth not it self which is not puffed up which behaveth not it self unseemly which seeketh not her own which is not easily provoked which thinketh no evil which rejoyceth not in iniquity but which rejoyceth in the truth which beareth all things believeth all things that are good hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13. 4 5 6 7. and which covereth a multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4. 8. TO be merciful to the Necessitous Using Hospitality without grudging Mercy 1 Pet. 4. 9. Visiting the Fatherless and Widows in their distress Jam. 1. 27. Praying for the sick Jam. 5. 16. teaching and admonishing one another Col. 3. 16. Distributing to the necessity of Saints Rom. 12. 13. Doing good to the poor being rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for our selves a good foundation against the time to come that we may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 18 19. TO be kind and obliging in our deportment Courtesie having compassion one of another being pitiful and courteous 1 Pet. 3. 8. Being gentle and easie to be entreated Jam. 3. 17. bearing the infirmities of the weak every one pleasing his Neighbour for his good to edification Rom. 15. 1 2. Comforting the feeble minded supporting the weak being patient towards all men 1 Thes 5. 14. Rejoycing with them that rejoice and weeping with them that weep Rom. 12. 15. TO be kindly affectioned even to our Forgiving Enemies Enemies Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice Ephes 4 21. Instead of rendring evil for evil or railing for railing 1 Pet. 3. 9. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Matth. 5. 44. Dearly be loved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Rom. 12. 19 20. TO be modest and inoffensive in your familiar discourse Swear not at Modesty all Matth. 5. 34. Bless but curse not Rom. 12. 14. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister Grace unto the hearers Ephes 4. 29. And let your speech be alway with Grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Col. 4. 6. TO be lovers and makers of peace If ye have bitter envying and strife in Peaceableness your Hearts glory not and lye not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devillish for where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work Jam. 3. 14 15 16. Study therefore to be quiet and do do your own business 1 Thes 4. 11. Follow peace with all men Heb. 12. 14. Be at peace among your selves 1 Thes 5. 13. Seek peace and ensue it 1 Pet. 3. 11. And follow after the things that make for peace Rom. 14. 19. And if it be possible and as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men Rom. 12. 18. FOR the obtaining of this the greatest Blessing upon Earth such a perfect Virtues relating to Civil Government Peace as may resemble the State of the Blessed in Heaven there are other Virtues still which relate directly to our Governours To our Temporal Governours That we render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Matth. 22. 21. That we pay to all their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour Rom. 13. 7. That we submit our selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the Will of God 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. And that every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers because there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Wherefore we must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake Rom. 13. 1 2 5. TO our Spiritual Gevernors also the To our Spiritual Governours Bishops and other Pastors of the Church That we obey them that have the rule over us and submit our selves for they watch for our souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for us Heb. 13. 17. That we know them which labour among us and are over us in the Lord and admonish us That we esteem them very highly in love for their works 1 Thes 5. 12 13. That such as rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour with toyl and hazard in the word and doctrine 1 Tim. 5. 17. TO the whole Estate and Body of the Church also That we forsake not the To the whole State of the Church assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Heb. 10. 25. That we be not contentious about Circumstantials where we have no such Custom nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11. 16. That we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace because there is one Body and one Spirit even as we are called in one hope of our calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Epes 4. 3 4 5 6. Therefore I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no division among you but that ye be perfectly joined in the same mind and in the same judgment 1 Cor. 1. 10. And that ye give none offence neither to the Jews nor to the Gentles nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10. 32. IF these things be in you and abound Virtues relating unto God you