and dying for us and is to continue to the end of the World even till the coming of our Lord to Judgment So that Christ and his Death Christ as Crucified is that which is represented and pointed at in this Sacrament Here it is that Christ Jesus is as it were afresh Crucified before our eyes bruised by his Father pierced by the Souldiers bleeding for our sins Here is a sweet love-token indeed betwixt Christ and his Church betwixt Christ and Believers What greater love can be imagined than to dye for us Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend Ay but here was greater love than this here was Blood shed and a Life laid down for very Enemies This Ordinance may truly be stiled a Love Feast Every thing in it speaks love The Mysteries in it speak love Here is Christ's Body not whole but broken Christ's Blood not in his veins but shed and freely poured out for poor sinners The benefits intended to us by it speak great love Here is compleat Provision and full Nourishment for our Souls for our Faith and all the graces of the inward man intended by it A fresh seal of the Pardon of our Sins in the Blood of Christ Fuller and clearer discoverys of God's reconciled face in and thro the Attoning Blood of the Lord Jesus that Blood of the Everlasting Covenant A more full confirmation and a more close application of the New Covenant and all the Promises Comforts Benefits and Priviledges thereof to our Souls and a more full Communion with Christ in his Grace and fullness in his Death and Sufferings in his great Undertakings and glorious Transactions in his high Dignitys and Relations in his great Victorys and Atchievements and in those necessary offices of Prophet Priest and King to his Church these are some of the great benefits that are intended to us by this Ordinance Now we that have been so lately entertained at this Table of the Lord that have or might have been feasting and satiateing our Souls upon this Banquet of Christs love it behooves and concerns every one of us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all-pleasing to walk worthy of this love of Christ in doing and suffering in bleeding and dying for us That is to walk suitably and some way becoming those expressions of love that have been exhibited and represented to us in this Ordinance I say it highly concerns every one of us who have been feasting at this Banquet of Christs love it concerns us to keep up and maintain a suitable and becoming walk after it Remembring that it is not enough to Eat and Drink worthily at this Supper but we must also walk worthily after this Supper we have oftentimes bills put up for a prepared heart and a suitable frame that persons may come prepared to this Ordinance of the Lords Supper that they may not eat and drink unworthily But I do not remember that ever I saw a bill for a suitable walk and behaviour afterward It is not enough that we duely prepare before act worthily in but we must also walk suitably after Communicating And there is as much need to put up a Prayer and to dispatch a cry to Heaven that we may walk worthily after as well as come preparedly to this Supper By walking worthily I mean no more than walking suitably and becomingly But here it may be asked what is this suitable walking or wherein doth it consist or how is it that we are to walk after this Supper Ordinance To this we shall answer I. More Generally II. More Particularly I. The general answer to this is more Holily after this Supper of the Lord we are to walk more Holily Now to this holy walking there must be a Principle of Grace wrought in the heart I say before there can be any holiness in the life we must first suppose that there be Grace in the heart A person must be holy before his actions can be holy For till a Man be Regenerated and act from a Principle of Grace in his heart all he doth is but the shadow and imperfect imiation of a good action as an Ape would imitate a Man or as an artificial motion doth resemble that which is natural Grace must first be infused to beget life and then we are visibly to express it in a course of godly walking And then there must not be only a Principle from which we must walk but there must be a Rule by which we must walk and that is the Law or Word of God which meets and sets out the bounds of Sin and Duty which tells us what evil we are to decline and shun and what good we are to prosecute and persue Now there is a twofold Holiness Internal and External Internal which lies in the hatred of sin and a love of that which is good External and that is expressed in avoiding of the one and persuing after the other Now this Holy Walk doth consist in a careful avoiding that which is evil and sinful and in an eager persuite after that which is good It hath two parts The one Privative The other Possitive The Privative part which is called Mortification or a dying to sin The Possitive part which is called Vivification or a living unto Righteousness The one is the purging out of Sin the other is the spiritual refining of the Soul The one is a ceasing to do evil the other is a learning to do well The one is a strenuous opposition of Sin the other is a vigorous exercise of all Grace Now after this Supper Ordinance we are to walk more Holily To hate sin more than ever and to love God and Christ and the things that are spiritually good more than ever To dye more unto Sin and to live more unto Righteousness It is true we cannot be more Elected we cannot be more justified after Communicating than we were before But we may and ought to be more sanctified than before Sanctification is a progressive thing it is compared to seed that grows first the blade springs up then the ear then the ripe Corn. We are not so much sanctified but we may be more sanctified We do not walk so holily but we may walk more holily still there is none so good but he may be better 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. So I may say having these love Banquets these Sacrament seasons and Supper Ordinances dearly beloved time after time returning upon us let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Tho' Justification doth not admit of Degrees yet Sanctification doth that is still encreasing like the shining light or Morning Sun that shines more and more and brighter and brighter unto the perfect Day Prov. 4.18 and should be daily growing more
to come he could neither expiate Sin nor procure Eternal Life No these are things which could only be accomplished and brought about by him who was more than a meer finite or Created Being even by the Lord Jesus Christ who was not only Man but God too you see then we are beholden to Christ for all He it is that fetcheth sinners from the lowest Hell and lodgeth them in the highest Heavens that snatcheth them from the deepest Misery and advanceth them to the highest Glory that poor finite beings are capable of O the great obligations that are upon us to walk thankfully all our days Every time we partake of this Supper-Ordinance we come under new and fresh obligations of thankfulness We that have been so lately feasting upon his love so lately put in mind of the great things he hath been doing for us before whose eyes Jesus Christ in the greatest expressions of his love hath been evidently set forth and Crucified amongst us and the blessed benefits of his Death and Crucifixion represented sealed and applied to us Our Blessed Lord would not have his love in doing and Suffering for us be forgotten by us and therefore hath appointed this Supper as a standing monument and memorial thereof to his Church When we eat the Sacramental Bread and drink the Sacramental Cup we are to do it in remembrance of him of what he hath done and suffered for us This was a kindness never to be forgotten at the Institution of which Supper we find he himself gave thanks * Rob. Communicant page 178. 1 Cor. 11.23.24 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it c. after the same manner also he took the cup. Now what was the matter or form of this thanksgiving is not expressed but it is most likely it was in reference to the work or action then in hand and not only for the bare outward Elements but more cheifly and especially for the inward Mysterys and excellent benefits to be represented and sealed by them For the Grace and love of God which he came to discover to Mankind and was now about to seal with his own Blood The Baptism he was to be baptised with was now approaching viz. his death wherein his Body was to be broken and his Blood shed for the life of the World and for the nourishment of the Elect which he delighted to accomplish or as he himself expresseth it was straitned till it was accomplished These were the things that were chiefly and specially the matter of his thanksgiving Now did Christ give thanks at the first Institution why then proportionably we are still to give thanks in all after Administrations of this Supper And not only just in the participation of it but after we have partaken we are to walk thankfully all the days of our lives considering ◠1. 〈◊〉 The inward moving cause of all which was the great love and mercy of God to us John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son 1 John 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins Now this first inward moving cause of all viz. the love of God must not be overlooked because it is commended to us Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love to us in that white we were yet sinners Christ died for us Some things are barely related to us but this is commended to us that we may be sure never to forget it and to be continual matter of praise and thanksgiving to us considering 2. The outward occasion or procuring cause which is Mans misery by reason of sin This was the outward occasion of Christ's coming into the World and doing what he did and suffering what he suffered He came to reconcile and propitiate God offended by Mans sin To remove that enmity that was betwixt God and us to appease the anger and wrath of God towards us now before this can be brought about and effected the Son of God must become Man obey and suffer bleed and dye to expiate our offences And doth not this afford us continual matter of thanksgiving Once more considering the effect and fruit and benefit of all that he hath done and suffered for us and that is life that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him This was the white that Christ aimed at in all that he did next to his Fathers glory was the salvation and life of poor sinners that we might live how why a life of pardon and acceptance in Justification a life of grace and holiness in Sanctification a life of joy and peace in Consolation and a life of bliss and happiness in Glorification These are things that our thoughts should be much employed about and affected with at the Table and shall we not henceforward look upon our selves as laid under the highest obligations of thankfulness of walking thankfully all our days We never have been so much beholden to any person but we are infinitely more beholden to the Lord Jesus Christ therefore the whole of our lives should be nothing else but continual expressions of thankfulness to Christ But here it may be asked how should we express our thankfulness To this I Answer 1. By often thinking of it our selves and speaking of it to others to his glory We are to express our Thankfulness to Christ for what he hath done by giving and ascribing all the Glory to him attributing and ascribing nothing to our selves but all to the riches of his Grace and freeness of his Love To look upon our selves as any ways deserving what he hath done for us doth greatly detract from his Glory and argues a base disingenuous ungrateful temper to be in us Alas Who are we or what are we poor worthless worms not worthy that he should spend a thought upon us and much less that he should lay down his Life and shed his Blood for us Pray let us a little reflect and consider what we were not long ago Dead in Trespasses and Sins wallowing in the filth and mire of Sin and Lust alienated from nay enemies to God and Christ poor and miserable and blind and naked cast out into the open Field to the loathing of our persons polluted and defiled in our Blood not worth the taking notice of Now than ever we should be the Objects of his Love who deserved to be the Objects of his eternal disdain and the everlasting Monuments of his Displeasure How ought this to be continually acknowledged by us to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace This is one way by which we express our Thankfulness for any kindness or favour receiv'd when we think of it or speak of it to the Praise and Renown of him that shewed it So this is one way by
7. We must walk with a more inflamed Love and endeared Affection to the blessed Lord Jesus This Supper-Ordinance is a Love-token betwixt Christ and his Church where they mutually seal up their Affections to each other In it we have had the highest and the fullest demonstrations of his Love to us Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends VVhy such love there was in the heart of Christ to poor finners as to lay down his life for them Hereby perceive we the love of God says the Apostle John because he Laid down his life for us 1 John 3.16 Ay here was a full demonstration of it indeed This was a demonstration of that love which was in the heart of Christ from Eternity to poor sinners O wonderful Love that he should open his Breast to receive into his own heart the sharp point of that sword which was directed against us VVhere shall we find love to match this love Rather than we should be Sacrifices to Divine Justice he himself would become the Sacrifice Have we had such demonstrations of his love represented to us in this Ordinance O then with what an inflamed love and endeared affections to the Lord Jesus Christ ought we to walk after this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper As we are to hate sin more so we are to love Christ more Let us therefore as the Apostle exhorts us walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 The most intense love and purest affections are due from us to Christ who loved us and dyed for us and rose again for our Justifycation and is gone before to prepare Mansions of Glory for the seeing God's Face and enjoying God's Presence to all Eternity These are endearing considerations and should mightily endear Christ to our Souls And O that we could find and feel more of the constraining power and efficacy of this Love of Christ every day drawing out our hearts and affections more after himself 8. We are to walk more inquisitively that is to say more upon the search and enquiry not so much into the affairs and concerns of others as into the frames and conditions and affairs of our own Souls Many are busy in making their reflexions and observations upon others and in the mean time overlook themselves The Mind hath many turnings but the best is when it turns in and reflects upon it self This was holy David's way and practice Psal 77.6 I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search Ay this is a commendable walk indeed when we are much in communing with our own hearts enquiring how matters go there As the wise and prudent and careful Tradesman is often looking into his Accounts that he may know how it is with him whether he goes backward or forward in the World So should we be often looking into our hearts that we may know how it is with us whether we go backward or forwards in our Souls That we may know what our losses have been and what our gains have been This is a walking that is pleasing to God as is evident from the many Injunctions of his Word and Will to this purpose Lament 3.40 Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord Hag. 1.5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves prove your own selves c. In order to the preparing our hearts to approach the Lord's Table the Apostle recommends to us this excellent duty of Self-examination 1 Cor. 11.28 But let a man examine himself and so let him eat c. The Apostle is here laying before them the sin and danger of unworthy participation of this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and gives them to understand that such as eat and drink unworthily are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Here he lays before them the sin And in the 29th Verse he lays before them the danger and tells them plainly that such as eat and drink unworthily eat and drink Damnation to themselves Now to prevent such a mischief as this he recommends to them this excellent duty of Self-examination It is as much as if he had said If ye would not eat and drink unworthily and thereby eat and drink damnation to your selves then set upon this business of Self-examination Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Truly as this is necessary before we venture upon this Ordinance so it is as necessary after we have partaken of it Let a man examine himself and so let him eat c. So also let a Man eat and drink and so let him examine himself An after reflection is as necessary as a previous examination We examine our selves before in order to receive good And we must examine our selves after to see what good we have received After our performance of any duty we should be upon the enquiry what good we have got This Question we should put to our selves after every Prayer we make after every Sermon we hear after every time we Communicate at the end of every Duty and at the end of every day We have been lately partaking of this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and as we are frequently exhorted to examine our selves before we sit down at this Ordinance So the Exhortation now is to examine our selves after we are risen from it What Warmth of Affection had we in it and not only so But what Warmth of Affection do we now find remaining and abiding upon us Is not that Heat and Warmth in a great measure abated and lost already This is that which we should look to that we do not easily or quickly after Duties are over lose that Heat and Warmth which we got in the Duty at the end of every Duty and at the end of every day we are seriously and faithfully to examine and consider what of God and what of Christ hath been discovered to me this day or in this or that Duty VVhat discoveries have been made of our selves to our selves of the baseness and vileness and corruptions of our own hearts VVhat expressions of love to God and Christ VVhat expressions of Sorrow for sin VVhat delight in Christ and desires after Christ have been working in my Soul this day VVhat lively vigorous acts and exercises of Grace hath been put forth not only in the Duty performed but since the Duty was performed VVhat Power hath been exerted this day in a way of opposition and resistance against Temptations and against Corruptions VVhat Backfildings and Apostacys and defections from God have I been guilty of since the last time I renewed my Covenant And what Sorrow and Contrition of heart hath been expressed for it VVhat guilt and defilement have I a-fresh contracted and what application in a way of Faith of
read 1 Cor. 6.9 11. Even then when there was nothing but unworthyness and abominableness in us did Christ-dye for us Now is this a thing to be made light of or to be lightly esteemed of by us this argues us to be the most ungrateful unthankful wretches living upon the Face of the Earth The very Angels stand and wonder and vent their astonishment at what Christ hath done for us And shall not we admire at it our selves Never was there such love manifested before nor since Greater love than this hath no Man than that a Man lay down his life for his friends John 15.13 But Christ hath evidenced greater than this in doing and dying and laying down his Life for his Enemies Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his Life for us What for us Friends no but for us Enemies Rom. 5.10 nay for us Enmity it self Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God Was ever love like this love The Apostle Prays for the Ephesians That they may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.18 19. Here are Four Dimensions that the Apostle measures this love of Christ by Phylosophy knows but Three viz. Longitudo Latitudo Profunditas Length Breadth and Depth But Divinity adds a Fourth viz. Altitudo Height To intimate that Christ's Love is beyond all ordinary Measure and Dimensions There is Depth in it says †Roberts Communicant p. 186. one without bottom There is Height in it without top Breadth in it without side and Length in it without end Yea it infinitely surpasseth the capacity and grasp of a finite limited understanding to comprehend and take in And O that every one of us who have been so lately Celebrating and Commemorating the Death and Sufferings of our Loving Lord that have had such Lively Representations of what he hath been doing and suffering for us may find our esteem in some measure and degree answerable and proportionable to the love that was manifested and evidenced in it But yet farther there is another consideration in what Christ hath done and suffered which if rightly and duely weighed might be a means of raising and heightning our esteem of it and that is the sufficiency efficacy acceptableness and merit of his Obedience and Sufferings This was an odour of a sweet smell most acceptable to God The Law was fully answered and Divine Justice was fully satisfied in their fullest and highest demands Tho' his Sufferings were but short yet what was wanting in the duration of them was infinitely and abundantly made up in the dignity and excellency of the Person that suffered for it was infinitely more that the Son of God should suffer one moment than if all the Angels in Heaven and Men upon Earth had suffered to Eternity Such a sufficiency there is in what Christ hath done and suffered that there needs nothing more to be done nothing more to be suffered in a way of satisfaction to the Justice of God for he by once offering up of himself hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 There needs no more sacrifice for sin There is sufficiency enough in the Death and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to procure pardon for the greatest of sins and the chiefest of sinners to redeem and save the whole World nay ten thousand Worlds And if it should be asked why are not then all redeemed and saved To this I answer it is not upon the account of any insufficiency of the Blood of Christ for it is sufficient to have redeemed as many Worlds as there be Stars in the Firmament it was sufficient to have redeemed all but it was not shed for all but only those that the Father from all Eternity gave to him For these and these only it was shed to these and these only it becomes effectual unto redemption and Salvation It pleased the Father from all Eternity to elect some to everlasting life these in the Covenant of Redemption he gave to Christ to redeem and save these Christ undertook and engaged for in that same Covenant transaction for these he dyed and suffered and shed his hearts Blood which was a sufficient price for their redemption it being the blood of that Person who was God as well as Man The dignity of the Person was that which highly dignified his Passion This was that which put such an All-sufficiency into the Death and Blood of Christ that made it sufficient for all the ends for which it was designed O that poor trembling souls and misgiving hearts would consider of this and take hold of it and plead it against all the accusations of the Law against all the accusations of Conscience against all the subtile charges of the Devil Poor Soul it may be thou art terrified and amazed at the sight and sense of thy sinfulness and guiltiness it may be many doubts and fears and scruples are ready to arise in thy mind whether ever God will look upon or accept of or receive into favour such an one as thou art but know this for thy comfort whoever thou art that there cannot be so much Unrighteousness in thee to render thee loathsome but there is more Righteousness in Christ to render thee lovely in the sight of God There is sufficiency enough in what Christ hath done and suffered to procure God's favour and acceptance only do thou stedfastly rely upon it and put thy whole trust in it never did any miscarry who ventured their all upon this bottom There is sufficiency enough in the Blood of Christ to procure pardon for as many sins as there are moments in thy Life or thoughts in thy heart Be thy sins never so many for multitude or never so great for aggravation yet the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all Unrighteousness Not only from lesser but from greater Transgressions not only from some but from all Unrighteousness Tho it is true there is one sin which is called a sin unto Death or the unpardonable sin which shall never be forgiven neither in this Life nor that which is to come and that is the sin against the Holy Ghost But it is not upon the account of any insufficiency in the Blood of Christ that this sin is Unpardonable but he that sins this sin is rendered altogether uncapable of laying hold of or applying the Remedy viz. the Blood of Christ which in it self is sufficient to cleanse from all Unrighteousness The last consideration is the blessed Benefits that do issue and proceed from hence and so we are to express our Thankfulness by an high esteem of them Hereby sinners are Justified and sin purged away the guilt of sin that was so wounding to the Conscience is removed Hereby enemies to God are reconciled and peace with God procured the distance nay the enmity is removed and God and the Soul walk
the Blood of Christ hath been made for pardon and cleansing VVhat growth and encrease of comfort and refreshment and joy do I find in my Soul VVhat encrease of strength do I find to perform Dutys To bear Afflictions To resist Temptations To mortify Corruptions To walk with God Thus we should be upon the enquiry every day and after every Duty and especially after this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper Is my Soul more knit to Christ my heart more ravished with his Beauty and Excellency Doth Christ appear more Fair and Sin more foul to me than before Christ more sweet and Sin more bitter Sure I am it ought to be so with every one of us who have been Guests at our Lord's Table where we might see Two affecting heart-melting heart-breaking sights The one was Christ broken for us The other was Christ broken by us A Christ broken for us and there was an heart over flowing with love pitty and compassion to us which should beget in us hearts glowing and burning and flaming with love to him And then we have seen a Christ broken by us wounded and bruised and pierced and broken by our sins which were the occasion of his bitter Agonies and Sufferings Now as in the first we saw the fulness of Christs love so in this we see the foulness of our sins that nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse us from it There is nothing that represents to us the bitterness of sin like the Suâ—â—erings of Christ These things have been lately in a most lively manner represented to us and set before the eye and view of our Faith in this Supper-ordinance But how have our Hearts and Souls been affected with these lights Doth Christ appear more fair and Sin more foul than before Christ more sweet and Sin more bitter thus it ought to be with us who have been at this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper And our work and business now is to look to it that indeed it be so 9. More Couragiously and with greater resolution for Christ VVe that have had such Tokens of Christs love and such Instances of his zeal and courage for our good as to encounter the greatest difficulties that lay in the way of our Salvation and Happiness not only the rage of Men and Devils but the VVrath of his Father too How should the consideration of this arm and fill our Minds and Souls with an holy zeal and courage for him 1 Pet. 4.1 For as much then as Christ suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind At this Table of the Lord we have seen what Christ hath done and suffered for us It therefore concerns us to give a proof of our zeal and courage for him by owning his ways and defending his truths by withstanding Temptations and turning a deaf ear to all the Sollicitations of the Flesh not betraying the Interest of Christ into the hands of Enemies standing our ground as long as we have ground to stand upon suffering the loss of all things rather than part with Christ Honours Pleasures Preferments Liberties Livelyhoods nay Life it self rather than part with Christ VVith such a zeal for Christ was the Apostle Paul filled Acts 21.13 What mean ye to weep and break my heart For I am ready not only to be bound but to suffer at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Where shall we find such a bold Lyon-like spirited Man for the Lord Jesus Christ again as this blessed Apostle was He feared neither Bonds nor Death I am ready says he not only to be bound but to suffer and dye at Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord Jesus rather than deny or disown Christ Neither the flatteries of the World on the one hand should entice him away nor the frowns of the World on the other hand fright him away from Christ Such a zeal and courage for Christ should our Minds be armed with as to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering in the view aud face of the greatest opposition and difficulty that may be in our way to Heaven A Christian of all Men should be armed with the greatest Courage and Resolution because he is like to meet with the soarest and sharpest Assaults In the world ye shall have Tribulation John 16. ult Whilst we are in this World we must not expect much ease or quiet Storms and Tempests we must expect in our Voyage or Journey to Heaven The Christian's Life is a continual warfare From our Spiritual birth to our Natural death from the hour and moment we did first set our face Heavenward till we come to set our foot in Heaven we shall have trouble and molestation on one kind or another There is no place which the Christian can call Priviledged Ground O then what need have we of Courage to hold on and hold out to the end The Devil will never leave Tempting nor the World Alluring nor the Flesh Solliciting whilst we are upon our March The Israelites you know had no Peace till they lodged their Colours in Canaan Fresh Troubles and Difficulties did arise in their March from Aegypt to Canaan so it will be with us in our March to Heaven We must bear the Cross before we wear the Crown through much tribulation must enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 10. With a more endeared love and affection one to another Ephes 5.2 And walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour This is the Apostles Exhortation to the Ephesians viz. To walk in love And the Argument by which he presseth this is taken from the love of Christ to us in laying down his Life and offering up himself a Sacrifice to God for us Now this Love we have been lately Celebrating and Commemorating in this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper where we have seen Christ broken and Crucifyed for us And can we have a greater Motive to love one another than this who have been Celebrating the love of Christ together It highly concerns every one of us to walk in love as Christ also loved us and hath given himself for us But here it may be asked what is it to walk in love Why to walk in love Non est simpliciter diligere sed totam vitam in Charitate transigere Zanch. inloâ— Not simply to love but to pass our whole life in love Ita ut omnia a Charitate sluant in Charitate fiant in Charitatem desinant So that all may flow from love and may be done in love and may end in love This is to walk in love and so ought we to walk in love one towards another Performing all Offices of love and kindness and respect one towards another pittying and praying one for another Admonishing and reproving one another in love and meekness Bearing one anothers burdens assisting and helping one another kind and tender-hearted one to
with God God a fresh making over himself and his all to the Believer giving him a fresh sense and seal of his love and the pardon of his Sins when Christ with all his Benefits and Purchases and Merit Christ in all his Offices Christ in all his Grace and fulness hath been afresh made over to him His Blood in all the virtue and efficacy of it sealed and applyed to the Believers The new Testament with all its Promises and Priviledges and Benefits thereof this is all ratified and confirmed in the Blood of Christ to the Believer and assured to him in this Supper-Ordinance They who have been entertained at this Gospel Feast who have been feeding upon the Provision of God's Grace and have received fresh Tokens and Pledges of his Love for such to walk dejectedly and Mournfully reflects great dishonour and highly affronts the Master of the Feast and greatly disparageth the Matter of it too it is a great undervaluing of Christ and his Blood as if the guilt or filth of thy sin did exceed the Merit of his Blood or was too great for his Blood to remove and cleanse After this Ordinance we are to walk more joyfully and chearfully rejoycing in the Lord and joying in the God of our Salvation We should go home to our Houses and Habitations Rejoycing and go on our way through this Pilgrimage with Joy as the Eunuch when Baptised did it is said He went on his way rejoycing Acts 8.39 So should we after we have been at this Supper go on our way through this World Rejoycing saying to our Souls as David did to his Return to thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 12. With more earnest Breathings and Longings of Soul after fresh Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ It is not a little of the World that will satisfy a Covetous Man nor a little Pleasure that will satisfy a Carnal Voluptuous Mind Nor a little Honour and Preferment that will satisfy an Ambitious Aspiring Mind Nor is it a little of Christ that will satisfy a Gracious Renewed Heart See how David thirsted after God Psal 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary David had tasted of the Sweet of Enjoyment and Communion with God and this sets his Soul a longing and thirsting and breathing after more of God Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after God my Soul thirsteth for the living God when shall I come and appear before thee The like breathings of soul we find after Communion with God in Psal 84.1 10. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God For a day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Such breathings and longings of Soul after Communion with Christ should be kept up and maintained in our Souls after every time we partake of this blessed Ordinance Have we this day sat down under the shadow of Christ and hath his fruit been sweet and pleasant to our taste Have we had any taste of the Grace and Fullness of Christ at his Table Have our Souls been filled as with marrow and fatness delighted and solaced with Communion with Christ Have we met this day with any fresh assurances of the love of God in Christ to our Souls of the pardon of our sins in the precious blood of Christ Hath there been any fresh life and vigour and grace communicated from Christ our everlasting head to our Souls this day Have we been fed with hidden Manna with the Bread and Water of Life Have we seen any thing of the Power and Glory of Christ at his own Table O then how should we be breathing and longing after the returns of such seasons and opportunities as these are O when will this Supper return When shall I come and appear before thee O that I might still be feasting my Soul upon these dainties Thus we should be walking with more earnest breathings of Soul after fresh Communion with Christ not only in this Ordinance but in all other Ordinances of Divine Worship and not only so but long to be for ever with him after compleat enjoyment of him in Heaven above If it be so sweet to enjoy him in Ordinances here O what will it be nay How far sweeter will it be to enjoy him in Heaven where we shall enjoy him freely fully familiarly and eternally without any interruption or intermission Thus we have seen how we are to walk after this Supper Ordinance and that we may thus walk it is necessary that we be strengthned with all might according to the glorious power of God The Devil to be sure will be opposing with all his might such a walk as this and our own wicked base deceitful treacherous hearts will be too ready to side and comply with him Therefore that such a walk may be kept up and maintained that we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing it is necessary that we be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power 1 Col. 11. Let us therefore be often dispatching a cry to Heaven for that strength and assistance whereby we may be enabled to maintain such a walk and daily depend upon Christ for strength in whom we have not only Righteousness but strength too That through daily Communications of Grace and Strength from him we may be enabled so to live and act and walk whilst we are here that we may finish our Course with joy and at last an entrance yea an abundant entrance an entrance with joy and triumph may be administred to us into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that from his Kingdom of Grace we may be received into his Kingdom of Glory and from the provisions of Grace we may be taken to the provisions of Glory and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob at an Eternal Feast eat and drink at Christ's Table in Christ's Kingdom Now whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the Loving-kindness of the Lord They shall go from strength to strength their Souls shall be fat and flourishing and made to encrease with the encreases of God FINIS
it than this a becoming walk or a suitable walk but let your Conversation be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. So in the 1 Thes 2.12 That you would walk worthy of God who ha h called you into his Kingdom and Glory It is the same word in the original in all these places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the forquoted place rendered becoming Let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel Let your Conversation be worthy of the Gospel or becoming the Gospel of Christ So here walking worthy of God is no more than walking suitably to the Nature of that God who is the true and living God That ye may walk like a People that are taken into Covenant with God and express the Virtues and Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvelous Light in your Lives and Conversations according to that which we have in the 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Or that ye should walk suitably to this great Mercy and glorious Priviledges and Benefits ye have received from him So that to walk worthy of the Lord is to live and behave our selves as becometh those to whom God hath vouchsafed so great a Mercy that passing by many Thousands of a nobler extraction of a sweeter disposition and in many outward respects better than we That he should out of his meer Grace and Love in Christ chuse and call us out of the World to be partakers of Eternal Life with him That he should take us and leave others chuse us and pass by others as it is wonderful and astonishing so it ought to influence us into a walking some way suitable and becoming these great Mercies bestowed upon us And if we would know what this suitable walking is why the next words explain it It is a walking unto all pleasing so that the observation is this viz. Observ That where a Person or a People receive great Mercys Benefits or Priviledges from God there ought to be a suitable answerable and becoming walking thereunto or thus It ought to be our study and endeavour to live and act suitably and becoming the Mercies and Favours we receive from God God hath dealt Bountifully and Graciously with us remembered us not only with Common and Temporal but with Special and Spiritual Mercys too Do we enjoy Peace and Quietness when many other are involved in great Troubles and Perplexities Is Plenty and Fulness our Inheritance when Scarcity and Want is the lot of many others Do we enjoy such a competency of Health and Strength when many others are Sick and weak Languishing and Dying Hath God set any of us at Liberty from our Confinements wrought out a Recovery for any of us from any tedious and dangerous Distemper which detained us from waiting and attending upon God in the Publick and Solemn Dutys of his Worship when many others are still confined to their Chambers and many to their Beds How doth it concern such to walk answerably and suitably to the Mercies they have received Let such remember that advice of our Saviour to the man upon whom he had wrought a great cure John 5.14 And he said unto him go thy way behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing befal thee God hath done great things for us and in some respects for all of us In bearing so long with our renewed and repeated Provocations insomuch that we are under a necessity of acknowledging and confessing that it is of the Lords Mercys we were not consumed that our Bodies are not in the silent Grave and our Souls roaring in Hell That notwithstanding all our Barrenness and Unfruitfulness under the means and Seasons of Grace that yet the day and season of Grace should be lengthned out to us that after so many denyals and refusals Christ should still continue to knock at the door of our Hearts That when we have so frequently turned a deaf Ear to the calls and invitations of Christ in the Gospel that he should still continue to call and invite and promiseth a kind Reception and hearty Welcome to all those that will come unto him That he should still continue wooing and beseeching us by his Ministers and Ambassadors to be reconciled unto God after our so long continuance in ways of Enmity and Rebellion against him O the Patience Long-suffering and Forbearance of God! that ever he should so long put up the affronts and indignitys that are every day offered to his Blessed Majesty by such crawling Worms of the Earth bear so long with the Rebellions and Ingratitudes of his Creatures Lord how good art thou to the worst of Men and the vilest of Sinners in sparing and forbearing them in protecting and providing for them in calling and inviting them in waiting to be gracious to them in offering Mercy and Pardon and Grace and Christ to them in affording them time and space and opportunity for Repentance and turning unto God in vouchsafeing to them many Temporal Blessings and Favours in the midst and face of such dayly Provocations and abuse of his Bounties Thus I say in some respects God is good to us all and hath done great things for us all even for the worst and vilest Sinner now in his Presence And to some of us he hath been more peculiarly and specially and distinguishingly good In chusing and calling us not only by the outward call of his Word but by an inward and effectual call of his Spirit out of darkness unto light and from the power of Sin and Self and Satan and the World to Himself out of a state of Nature unto his Kingdom and Glory unto his Kingdom of Grace here and in a little time longer will call us to his Kingdom of Glory In Justifying us freely by his Grace and Sanctifying us by his Holy Spirit throughout and adopting us into his Family In remembering us in our low and lost estate and condition when we were blind and naked and wretched and miserable cast out into the open field to the loathing of our Persons in the gall of bitterness and bond of Iniquity held in the snare of the Devil and led captive by him at his pleasure under the power and dominion of many vile Lusts and Corruptions in bondage and slavery to Sin and Satan subjected and enthrawl'd to Death under the Wrath and Curse of God liable to all the miseries of this Life and to the pains of Hell for ever ignorant of God and Christ and Spiritual things nay enemies to God and Christ nay enmity it self When we were in such a forlorn helpless and miserable state and condition as this he pittyed us and helped us when none other eye pittyed us nay when we had no pitty for our selves he pittyed us and helped us when none other could help
apprehension of this love of Christ might constrain every soul of us to give up our selves to him Are we bought with a Price Are we Redeemed from the greatest slavery and tyranny that ever poor creatures were under from the Wrath and Vengeance of God who is a consuming fire From the Curse and condemnation of the Law from the dominion of Sin and Satan and the World Why this is a great and unspeakable Priviledge and happiness indeed Ay but how came we to be thus Redeemed Why it was by a great price that was laid down and deposited ye are bought with a price says the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.20 But what price was this Was it Silver or Gold no it was by the price of Blood But what Blood was it The Blood of Bulls and Goats no it was the Blood of the Son of God 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It was the Lord Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God that redeemed us with his own Blood What can we do less then glorifie him with our Bodies and Spirits O how Thankfully ought we to walk all our days and we cannot better express our Thankfulness than by dedicating and devoting our selves to his service and glory This is the greatest return that we can make and the highest gratitude You know the first fruits were in former times dedicated unto God partly to show God's right to the whole crop and partly in token of thankfulness from the people for all the rest Now this giving up our selves to the Lord Jesus is the best expression of our thankfulness that we can make This exceeds the most melting acknowledgments and the highest verbal resentments of all his love and kindness to us When a poor creature is deeply affected with a sense of the love of Christ to him falls down at the foot of Christ and says Lord Jesus I am one of thy Redeemed ones whom thou hast redeemed unto God by thine own most precious Blood from the slavery and tyranny under which I lay thou didst freely lay down thy life to save mine thou didst shed thine own Blood and offeredst thy self upon the Cross a Sacrifice to satisfie Divine Justice and make Attonement for my sins and to bring me nigh unto God who once was alienated from and an enemy to Father Son and Holy Ghost in my mind by wicked Works And thou wast not only offered upon the Cross for me but thou hast been lately in the Supper Ordinance exhibited and offered to me with all the virtues and benefits and victories and purchases and priviledges of thy death for the strengthning and nourishing of my Faith for the enlivening and quickening and raising my hope for the filling up my joy and encreasing my comfort for the carrying on the Spiritual life with greater vigour and power in my Soul for all this dear Jesus how shall I express and testifie my Thankfulness Why I will do it thus I do here solemnly and seriously and fully give up my self to thee to be thine and only thine both now and to Eternity that is to say everlastingly thine This is the best way of expressing our Thankfulness and this we are every one afresh obliged to who have been sitting down this day at our Lords Table For one end of this Ordinance is to be a seal of the Covenant all the Blessings and Benefits and Priviledges and Promises and Grace of the New Covenant are confirmed to Believers by it Now the Covenant binds mutually God bindeth himself to give Grace to us and we bind our selves to live to him In all Covenants there is not only something to be done for us but there is something to be performed by us God seals the Benefits of the Covenant on his part and we seal to the Durys of the Covenant on our part The exhibiting the signes is the seal on God's part the receiving the signes is the seal on our part Every time we receive we bind our selves to new and better Obedience to live more to God and to dy more to sin I have Read that Pliny should say he learned it of some Christians That at their Meeting they did Sacramento se obstringere ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent c. Bind themselves by the Sacrament that they would not commit these sins of Theft and Robbery and Adultery And so should every one that have been eating the Sacramental Bread and Wine look upon our selves as bound to live more to God and Jesus Christ and to cleave to the Lord with fuller purposes of heart and more stedfast Resolutions of Soul Our Blessed Saviour never Instituted this Holy Ordinance to qualify Persons for some advantagious Post and to sit Men for Publick Places and Offices or to be a Stepping-stone to Worldly Preferment as it is now adays only used by many to the great shame of a Protestant Nation may it be spoken that so Sacred an Ordinance should be thus Abused and Prophaned But he designed it to be a stronger Tye and Obligation upon us to a more Holy Life and Circumspect Walk and indeed if we do not answer this end we do but Prophane this Ordinance every time we partake of it And instead of eating and drinking to our own Salvation we shall but eat and drink Damnation to our selves 4. We are to Walk after this Ordinance more Believingly and Fiducially that is with a stronger Faith and Trust in Christ and Relyance upon him 2 Col. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablisht in the Faith as you have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving None are so stablished but they may grow still in Faith None have taken so much root but they may take yet more root Faith is such a Grace as is capable of farther improvement A weak Faith may become strong and a strong Faith may become yet stronger The Apostles prayer was this Lord increase our Faith Luke 17.9 Many are crying out for more Riches for more Honour for more Wealth for more Pleasure But let this be the desire of our Souls for a stronger Faith This is a Petition very proper and suteable to be put up by us after we have been at this Supper Lord increase our Faith What the Apostle said of the Thessalonians concerning Brotherly Love You need not that I write unto you for you your selves are taught of God to love one another and indeed you do it towards all the Brethren which are in all Macedonia But yet he saw it necessary to press after a farther growth and encrease of it But we beseech brethren that ye encrease more and more The same I trust may be said of many here concerning Faith Ye are taught of God to believe and indeed ye do believe but however this Exhortation or desire is not needless viz. That ye encrease more and more Those that have any measure of Faith already are to be endeavouring after a growth and
another forbearing and forgiving one another even as God for Christ's-sake hath forgiven us All bitterness and anger and wrath and clamour and evil speaking being put away from us with all malice Indeed it is much to be lamented and bewailed that there should be such heats and divisions and animosities such anger and clamour and evil-speaking and I wish I could not say malice too amongst Professors and Church-members Is this a walk any way suteable or becoming the expressions of Christ's love in dying and bleeding for us Surely no. O how contrary is this to a Gospel spirit which is a Spirit of Love and meekness What members of the same Body and mutual Members members one of another and shall we not own one another embrace one another be cordially affected Zanch. inlo◠each to other What Members one of another and yet carry it with that strangeness and distance and disaffection as if we stood in no relation at all one to another What never agree but just when we are under the lash just under the Rod How just is it with God to bring us into our former straits and difficulties again that we may learn to love one another better that there may be a greater harmony and agreement amongst us There never was more need of such a Prayer as the Apostle put up for the Thesalonians than now The Lord make you to abound in love one towards another 1 Thes 3.12 I say a Prayer never more needful since Christ had a Church upon Earth than it is in this day amongst us in this Nation where love amongst Brethren was never at a lower Ebb. Divided heads have made divided hearts Division in Judgment hath made division in love and Affection so that the love of many is waxed cold Now the good Lord who only can make dry bones to live revive this Affection where it is dead or dying and confirm it where it yet continues that being thus Members of Christ and Members one of another we may fulfil that great and everlasting Commandment that as it hath been taught from the beginning of the World so it is to be practised to the end of the same yea even to Eternity that we love one another 1 John 3.11 This is that we are most frequently exhorted to Heb. 13.1 Let brotherly love continue Rom. 12.9 10. Let love be without dissimulation be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love 1 Pet. 3.8 Finaly brethren be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another c. 1 John 3.23 And in many other places This is that which as it is the bond of all Christian Virtues so it is the bond of all Christian Societys in both which respects it is called the bond of Perfectness Col. 3.14 A most perfect bond knitting and uniteing hearts together which no other bond can do and being so it is in the first place to be put on by all those who would joyne themselves to the Mystical Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all things says the Apostle put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness This also is laid down for a mark and character of Christ's Sheep and Disciples and laid down by Christ himself By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another John 13.35 This is that which is so highly applauded and commended in Scripture Psal 133.1 Behold how good aud pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity And where this is kept up and maintained even there the Lord commands the Blessing even life for evermore Now by all this it appears that to walk in love is a very suteable and becoming walk especially after this Supper of the Lord which indeed is a Sacramental seal and token not only of our communion with Christ but also of our communion with his Members of our fellowship with the Saints and of our communion and fellowship one with another This the Apostle clearly intimates 1 Cor. 10.16 17. For we says he being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread This Supper as it is a bond of our union and communion with Christ so it is a bond of our union and communion one with another as his Members Therefore every time we partake of it we should be more and more faster and faster knit in love and affection one to another This is a confirming Ordinance and as it is to confirm and inflame our love to Christ so it is to confirm and inflame our love one to another 11. After this Ordinance we are to walk more chearfully and comfortably Of all persons Believers have most reason to be chearful and joyful at all times and in all conditions in times of Adversity as well as in times of Prosperity tho' he feeds upon Bread and Water yet he hath greater reason to rejoyce than the greatest Monarch in the World I do not say a Believer always walks joyfully and chearfully no sometimes he walks dejectedly Tho a child of light yet sometimes he walks in darkness but yet I say a Believer hath most reason to walk joyfully and chearfully and it is his duty so to do and hath frequent calls and exhortations to it Phil. 3.1 Finally my brethren rejoyce in the Lord c. Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce 1 Thes 5.16 Rejoyce evermore Now a Believer hath evermore matter of rejoyceing and reason to rejoyce inasmuch as all that which is really matter of dejection is removed and taken away viz. the guilt of Sin and the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of God now these are all removed and taken away by Christ who came to procure peace by the Blood of his Cross and in whom we have Redemption thro his Blood A Believer hath evermore matter of rejoyceing upon the account of that fulness that is treasured up in Christ in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell Col. 1.19 Now what is there that a poor creature can desire or stand in need of in order to the making him compleatly happy and blessed but what may be found in this All-fulness of Christ Here is wisdom for his Direction and Instruction included in it Here is a compleat Righteousness for his Justification Here is Grace and Holiness for his Sanctification Righteousness to give him a Right and Title to Heaven Grace and Holiness to give him a meetness and fitness for Heaven and power and ability to bring him safe thether upon these considerations amongst others a Believer hath always ground and matter of rejoyceing And by this they are described as by their vital act Phil. 3.3 We are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the Flesh A Believer should rejoyce always walk joyfully and chearfully at all times and especially after Sacrament seasons when he hath been renewing his Covenant
and more in Knowledge in Faith in Patience in Love in all Grace and Consolation until all be perfected and swallowed up in Glory II. More particularly And we may take the Answer in these following things which indeed are but branches of the other but for Method and Memory sake I chuse to put them into so many Particulars As 1. More Watchfully and Circumspectly After Communicating there must be a watchful circumspect walking As a Man that hath a Treasure in his house is very watchful and careful least he be robbed of it Now it is to be supposed and hoped that we have received that in the participation of that Ordinance which the Devil would be glad to deprive us of Whatever comfort and refreshment we have had whatever Assurances and Evidences of Gods Love we have had a-new and a-fresh whatever lights of Christ and resolutions against sin we have had he stands ready to undoe all that hath been done and to deprive us of all that we got Upon this account we have need to walk watchfully and circumspectly We had need to have our eyes upward and our eyes inward and our eyes round about us Did we find through Grace our hearts wrought up to any gracious frames Did we find that our Souls were refreshed that our hearts were inlarged that our affections were inflamed to Christ that we received any virtue from and had communion with Christ Did we make fresh vows and resolutions that through the Grace of Christ enabling us we would walk before him in holyness and newness of life all our days Why then we may depend upon it and look for it that the Devil will be very busy to undoe all this We must expect that he will have a fling at us for he is never more busy in tempting then when we have been Worshipping He is never more busy in Tempting us to sin then after we have been making new and fresh resolutions against sin When we have been at the Lord's Table renewing our Covenants with God and establishing our resolutions of better Obedience After these things the Devil will come with all his forces and endeavours to make us break our Vows and neglect our Covenants He will be courting us to return to our old sins and our old frames to our coldness and deadness and lukewarmness and worldly-mindedness to our fears and doubtings to our old manner and course of living Therefore we had need to walk watchfully and circumspectly watching our words thoughts actions lives and conversations that we do not return to our old vain light frothy conversations that better becomes the Prophane than the Professor The liberty that some do allow themselves this way Communicants I mean in frothy I had almost said in filthy Discourses and unseemly Actions is a thing that is much to be lamented and bewailed in our day It is a hard matter to distinguish the professing from the carnal part of the World who are very near as airy in their Dresses as light and frothy in their Discourses and as vain in their conversations as the Carnal Crew And is this a walk becoming those who sit down at their Lord's Table O no such ought to walk very watchfully and circumspectly that they may not occasion the ways of God and Religion to be reproached and blasphemed We had need walk watchfully that we do not lose those sights of Christ those comforts and refreshments those enlargements and enjoyments that we had in the Ordinance That the fellowship and communion we had with Christ be not quickly interrupted and disturbed It is a great mistake in Persons to think that when the Supper is ended their Work is ended that they have nothing more to do nor nothing farther to mind as if now they might return to their former courses again and be as vain and worldly and wicked as before It is to be feared this is the practice of too many Communicants in our day that no sooner or soon after the action is over they return to their old course of sinning Receive the Sacrament one day and may be be Drunk before the next nay it may be have their Oaths and Curses in their Mouths before the Bread and Wine is well out of their Mouths It were well if that which was laid unto Israel's Charge might not be laid to the charge of too many Communicants in our day Exod. 32.6 The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play O how many sit down at the Lord's Table to eat and drink of the Sacramental Elements and rise up to play return again to their old courses playing and sporting and fooling with sin to their Cursing and Swearing and Sabbath-breaking to their Adultery Uncleanness Injustice Drunkenness c. Like the Dog to his vomit and the Sow when she is washed to her wallowing in the mire Thus do many return again to their former lusts and sins with as great nay greater strength than ever so making themselves twofold more the Children of hell than before There ought to he a mighty careful heedful circumspect watchful walking after we have been at the Table of the Lord remembring that the Sacramental efficacy and bond doth not oblige us for a day only or a week only but it binds us for our whole lives But to conclude what I intend to say upon this head was it the sincere and earnest desire of our Souls before we came to this Ordinance that we might bring suitable frames and affection to it and did the Lord answer our crys herein why now we ought to be as careful and as much concerned that those gracious frames of heart may be maintained and kept up in our Souls Did we beg to come with bleeding and broken hearts to this Ordinance why now it is our duty to beg that they may be kept bleeding and broken Did we beg for a stronger Faith for more glowing burning affections to this loving lovely Jesus why now we are to watch and pray against unbelief against coldness and luke-warmness of love and affection Did we purpose to forsake our Sins why now we are to watch more narrowly against it and to beg of God strength and Grace that those purposes and intentions may be forthwith put into execution 2. More Humbly entertaining low and mean thoughts and opinions of our selves acknowledging our own baseness and vileness and sinfulness and unworthiness loathing and abhorring our selves under a sense of our daily weaknesses and sinful Infirmities renouncing and rejecting all Righteousness of our own as being altogether insufficient any ways to recommend us to the Divine Love and Favour looking upon our selves as loathsome and odious and no way lovely and amiable in the fight of God accusing judging and condemning our selves owning and admiring and adoring free Love and free Grace in all that Christ hath done for us and in us Having done all for us in a way of Purchase and Merit and all in us in a way of