many times between the Infant Adult state of Persons Baptiz'd That duringtheir Infancy they were in a state of favour with God on the account of their Believing Parents as a part of whom they were then considered and with the requisite Solemnity were admitted into Gods Visible Family here on Earth and yet when they come to grow up and stand on their own Legs they are rejected on the account of their Impenitence and Infidelity and the Ungodliness of their Lives Tho' there is I say many times as great a difference as this comes to manifestly discernable in this case vet is not God in the least chargeable with Changing but 't is we that Change and make the difference The Gifts and Calling of God says the Apostle are without Repentance He Repented not of the kindness he engag'd to shew the Israelites for their Fathers sakes ' I was they who by breaking the Covenant in which they were bound to him forct him to punish their Disobedience So God Repents not of the kindness he in the Ordinance of Baptisin engages to shew to the Children of Believing Parents He is willing to make every thing good to a tittle that he then engag'd to But the Persons I am speaking of who openly break with him and renounce his kindness in the face of the World by living in the wilful violation of their Solemn Vow make it inconsistent with his Honour to own them for his by their Rebellion against him so long as they persist in it they incapacitate him to deal with them as with faithful Subjects which they are not But it is more proper to say That such Persons throw themselves out of Gods Family than that they are thrown out of it Observe further 2. THAT tho' a willful and allow'd Breach of the Baptismal Vow Liv'd in doth directly forfeit the Blessings engag'd to on Gods part yet doth it not irrecoverably forfeit them For be it known to all so Gracious is God that he is backward to take advantages against us He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance How open and notorious soever have been our Breaches of our Baptismal Vow there 's still room for Repentance Upon our serious Profession whereof the door stands open in order to our Re-admission to all forfeited Church Priviledges and our Gracious God is ready again to receive and embrace us our Abused Saviour to Interceed for us and the Affronted Spirit to Assist and Help us all the Blessings we have forfeited may be Recover'd and Restor'd upon our Repentance and Reformation our Renewing our Vow and after keeping it sincerely But yet a Forfeiture there certainly doth ensue upon willful and allow'd Breaches of it both of Church-Priviledges and Special Covenant Blessings Which all those would do well seriously to consider of who have receiv'd the Christian Badge call themselves Christians and hope to be dealt withal as such and yet lead Unchristian and Ungodly Lives 3. IT may be observ'd that the after Exercises of Religion which build on Baptism as their Foundation have this for their great design to engage and help us to keep the Vow of God we then came under or to restore us and renew the force of it upon us when we have broke it It is the great design of Catechization to ground us well in the great Principles of our Faith and Rules of Practice that we may distinctly know what we are to Believe and Do. It is the great design of the Preaching of the Word which the Spirit is wont to accompany with his Efficacy to those who seriously and faithfully attend upon it to for those things a National knowledge whereof will be of no avail home upon our Hearts to warn us of our Danger when running on in Sin to Rouz us from our Sloth and Carnal Security to Re-call us from our Wandrings to Press us with the most Urgent Arguments and Motives to be heartily his who alone can make us Happy and to live to him to whom we are Devoted and to Encourage Further and Help us in the way of Well-Doing if our Hearts are truly set Heaven-ward It is the great design of Publick Prayers by our joint Entreaties in the Assemblies of Gods People to Supplicate for Grace and the Super-natural Aids of the Divine Spirit to render our Tempers and Lives agreeable to our Christian Profession And of our Publick Praises by Celebrating the Divine Perfections of our Great Creator Redeemer and constant Benefactor with one common Ardour especially his Kindness Grace and Goodness to engage our hearts to him and stir up our selves for shame to some suitable Returns of Holy Obedience It is the great design of the Lords Supper and its frequent Repetition to keep our Hearts under the most lively sense that is possible of Redeeming Love and to give us an oportunity of Renewing our Baptismal Vow with great Solemnity over the Memorials of that Sacrifice that is of Everlasting Vertue of which more in the Sequel And it is the design of all Church Censures wherever they are kept up agreeably to the end of their Institution to curb open Sin and Vice to prevent Scandals and Blemishes to Religion to recover Offenders and to promote Sincere Piety and Holiness to keep from Transgressing and stimulate to the Obeying of the Laws of Christ to which we have in our Christian Vow all sworn Subjection All Christian Ordinances Duties and Exercises some how or other relate to this Vow and are design'd either to Instruct us in the Latitude Compass and Extent of it or to stir us up to keep it or to help us to perform it either to keep us from breaking it or to convince us of our Breaches and deter us from persisting either to help us to repeat it with a renew'd Ardour not having wickedly broke it or to help us to renew it after Repentance for having broken it to bind our Souls more and more closely to God by it and either to draw or drive us to act like those that have a Sacred Vow of God upon us 4. A Fourth Observation I have to make is this That a Recognition of the Baptismal Vow is necessary in Persons admission to the Lords Table Nothing can be more plain Than that Baptiz'd Persons as such are not therefore to be admitted to the Lords Supper For some renounce the Faith which they were Baptiz'd into some that were Solemnly Devoted to God in Infancy have no Fear of him before their Eyes when they come to Maturity and instead of spending their Lives in his Service to which they were bound they give themselves to commit all manner of Iniquity with greediness Would to God there were not multitudes of such Persons among us Others that yet are not by far so bad as the former never think seriously of the Obligation which they were laid under by their Baptismal Consecration never study how to answer it It 's as plain as the
Gratitude A further Office of the same Grace is To behold the Fathers Mind and Heart in that Amazing Mirror of his Love that there is set before us and to behold the Divine Spirit in all his Sanctifying Gifts and Graces pourd forth on all truly Covenanting Believers as the Fruit of Christ's Purchase and to yield up the Soul to be transformed into the same Image by the same Spirit NO where hath Faith such an Advantage for this Work as at the Holy Communion and never is this Advantage so well improv'd there as when our Vows are seriously and expresly Renew'd For thereby do we shew that the Discoveries that are made by Faith at that Ordinance do truly Affect us and rightly Work upon us thereby is our Faith approv'd of the right stamp and thereby is it made a Governing Principle of our Tempers and Lives Withal 't is observable how express God is at his Table as to all the several Marks of his Favour and Love which he makes over to us and bestows on us These are receiv'd by Faith certainly therefore it becomes us to be as express in our Returns to him And hereby will our Faith be strengthened by reason of the Correspondence of our Carriage in this respect towards God to his dealing vvith us and also by reason of that Riveted Sense of Faith's Transactions at this Ordinance that vvill be hereby occasioned OUR Hope also will hereby be strengthened Our Hope of the Acceptance of what we do and of Assistance in what we need Our Hope of Grace here and Glory hereafter The more express if serious any one is in giving himself up to God at his Table every time he comes there the more Reason hath he to hope that God Accepts him who never Rejects a Self-Resigning Soul the more Reason to hope for all the blessed Fruits of the Sacrifice and Death of Christ to whom he consecrates himself the more Reason to hope for all needed Guidance and Assistance from the blessed Spirit of Grace under whose Conduct he freely puts himself the more reason to hope for all he can need either in this World or another since he so intirely commits himself to and reposes his Trust in him that is a suitable Portion for him in either Further 3. WHICH follows upon the former This Practice will encrease our comfort which it is one great Design of the Sacrament to promote 'T is indeed much to our comfort to be treated at so Noble and costly a Feast as God prepares for us when he spreads his Table before us 't is comfortable to see what is there to be beheld to Receive what is Offer'd and to stand and take so delightful a Prospect as we have there Opportunity for But the serious express Renewal of our Vows to be the Lords and Solemn Engagement to live like Persons devoted to him is as great a Spring of spiritual Comfort as any in all that Ordinance For this according to the Gospel-Constitution lays a just Foundation for a Claim of all Gospel-Blessings by vertue of the Promises made through the Blood we there Commemorate The Holy Communion implies an Investiture in Pardon and Peace Reconciliation Adoption and a Right to Eternal Life to all truly Devout Participants to all who heartily devote themselves to their Lord Redeemer Renewed Vows therefore confirm our Title to all both present and future Blessings and consequently lay a firm Foundation for the highest Comfort For what can be more comfortable than for me upon a Review of what past in that Ordinance to find that I am Entitled to all those peculiar Marks of Divine Favour which God in that Ordinance makes over to his Children of which nothing can give greater Assurance than our Repeated Devoting our Selves with all the Seriousness and Solemnity we are able to be his Servants and Subjects to our Lives End All which things taken together are methinks abundantly sufficient to recommend this Practice IT yet remains That I give some Directions about this matter and shew how we should manage the Renewal of our Vows to be the Lords at the Return of every Sacrament Which having been Excellently done already by so many I shall be but brief in it However these Eight following Directions I can dare to recommend to any serious Christians Direct I. BEFORE you go to Renew your Vows to be the Lords Recollect your past Breaches especially those since your last Solemn Engagement Look not on this as an indifferent or inconsiderable matter but as a thing needful in order to your Dedicating your selves anew to God with any Advantage Take a convenient Opportunity for Rering from the World and when alone set your selves down seriously to consider what strong Tyes and Bonds you are already under to be the Lords and how little you Answer them Review your Lives rip up your Miscarriages canvass all the Secrets of your Hearts endeavour to know the worst For since God knows all 't is every way best that you should do so too that so what is amiss may be rectified and his deserved Displeasure averted Consider your prevailing Temper and stated Tenour and recollect your Demeanor upon particular Occasions when you may find Reason to conclude the Eye of God was most upon you Think how you have carried it to the blessed God how you have behav'd your selves towards your Redeemer and what hath past between you and the holy Spirit Think how you have manag'd your selves in Secret in your Families and in your several Relations in your Callings and Business and in your Retirements How you have carry'd it towards your Selves and to Others Observe what Corruptions you have most indulg'd what Temptations you have given way to what Neglects you have fallen into and what positive Guilt you have contracted When Time will allow it the running as far back in our Lives as our Memories will help us to do will be very Proper and Useful And this should be done with more than ordinary Carefulness at Persons first Approach to the Lords Table But when our Confinements are strait the Recollecting what hath past since the last Sacrament may suffice in which the more strict we are the better Our Eyes should particularly be on our Dalilahs whereby our Affections are most entangled and it should be a particuly Subject of Enquiry What Breaches of our last Vows they have drawn us into In General Let 's lay our Rule before us and compare our Selves and our Carriage with it and that will soon discover our Defects I need not tell a serious and considerate Person the Benefit of this Practice Direct II. HUMBLE your selves seriously before God for all past Breaches with Him whether known or unknown before you offer to come under New Vows to Him The more pains we take according to the foregoing Direction in searching and viewing our selves the more reason shall we find to cry out with the Psalmist Who can unstand his Errors Cleanse thou me from secret
made perfect in Weakness And tho' without him we can do nothing Yet thro' his Strength we may do all things i. e. We may do all things requir'd in an acceptable manner We may do all that we at his Table vow we will do so as to be accepted Tho' therefore thro' the great Disorders of our Spirits the many Temptations whereto we are on all hands incident and our own weakness it be exceeding difficult to live up to our Sacramental Vows yet Strength and Aids from Heaven which those that keep in the way of their Duty may comfortably expect and hope for will not only render it possible but by degrees abate the Difficulty and make it easy 4. THE Gospel Covenant leaves room for Repentance of our frequent Breaches and manifold Defects and Infirmitys Our Sacramental Vows suppose not that we should live without slips and stumbles Unspeakably wretched were our case should they presently cast us out of the Divine Favour but they oblige us upon discerning our Falls to rise again by true Repentance and to have recourse anew to the Bloud of Christ for Mercy and to his Spirit for fresh strength resolving to take more heed to our Ways for time to come And thus doing we need not fear being accepted SOME indeed are by this Consideration so encourag'd in presumption that they run a round of sinning and repenting repenting and sinning giving themselves scope and then thinking that a slight asking God pardon when they have done will be sufficient But by this course they wretchedly mock God and egregiously deceive and endanger their own Souls But altho' it be liable to be thus abus'd and actually is so by many presumptuous daring Sinners it yet remains a truth and a very comfortable truth it is to sincere Souls for whom God hath by this means provided great relief Let us vow against Sin never so seriously and solemnly let us endeavour to live up to such Vows never so diligently never so carefully we yet after all shall find the Scripture true which declares That there is no Man that sinneth not And in many things we offend all And if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us But here 's our Comfort If we confess our Sins i. e. truly repent of them God is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness From these four Considerations taken together I draw this plain single useful Inference That tho' our experience of the difficulty of living up to our Sacramental Vows be a proper Call to Humiliation yet is not a just occasion for sinking discouragement A Call to Humiliation indeed it is to find that we in any measure fail of our Duty to God of whose Benignity Love and Grace we have had so great experience That when we have done our best our Returns to our dear Saviour for his Redeeming Love whereby he bought us to himself with an invaluable Price fall so short are so defective That such solemn Tyes and Bonds as we are continually renewing repeating and further strengthning are so little able to hold our slippery Hearts fast to our God and Saviour That after all our serious Vows and Promises Sin should be so powerful in us Temptations so prevalent with us and the great Motives and Incentives wherewith our Holy Religion presents us should have so little influence upon us But yet all this is not a just occasion for sinking Discouragement For tho' we are very imperfect yet may we still be acceptably faithful Tho' we have abundant experience of our own weakness yet is Christ ready to strengthen us tho' we often stumble and fall yet may we be accepted upon our Repentance What Christ therefore once said upon a particular occasion to poor fearful doubting Thomas say I in his Name to all fearful doubting but sincere Souls Be not faithless but believing I now proceed to the solving two or three particular Cases that commonly occur with reference to this matter Under which I 'll add some special Considerations suiting each Case to the general ones before laid down that may be apply'd to all The first of these Cases is of one who never was at the Lord's Table who by this difficulty of answering the Engagements he should there come under is kept and affrighted thence The second of one that hath oft been there but is afraid again and again to renew Vows there which he knows he can so difficulty keep The third of one that oft goes there and oft renews his Vows but is discourag'd by his frequent Breaches The foremention'd Difficulty lies at the bottom in each of these Cases The first Case Therefore may a Person say Do I forbear coming to the Lord's Table because I am there to come under Vows which I know before hand I shan't keep Withal I know my Sins after such a Solemnity will be much aggravated and my Guilt be the greater it seems to me therefore better to forbear and stay away than to run my self on such a Precipice If I come to the Lord's Table I am to Vow against all Sin but this Vow I dare not make because I am satisfy'd I should not keep it I Answer 1. We are to vow nothing at a Sacrament but what we are antecedently oblig'd to nothing but what is absolutely necessary in order to our Happiness We make nothing our Duty by our Sacramental Vows that was not so before but only bind our selves to that to which we are sensible we were before oblig'd We bind our selves to no unnecessarys but only engage to adhere to that God in whose Favour lies our Life we renounce sin which alone is enough to make us miserable we vow Holiness of Life which is the only way to Happiness To say therefore we know before hand that we should not keep the Vows we should make at a Sacrament is to consign our selves over to certain Misery for unless we do that which Sacramental Vows import we are unavoidably undone for ever 2. IF thou dost not seriously intend to keep thy Sacramental Vows I own thou hadst better not make them If thou in thy Heart really dislikest the Holy Laws and Government of Christ take not an Oath make not solemn Vows in a mockery that thou wilt be subject to him which thou before intendest not to keep Beware how thou playest with Edge Tools These are serious things wherefore either be serious and sincere in thy meddling with them or keep at a distance But then withal take notice that by thy forbearing on this Account to come to the Lord's Table thou renouncest all the Benefits of Christ's Mediation and Purchase 3. THERE 's no difficulty in any part of the Vows we come under at a Sacrament but what is superable by a diligent serious painful Christian aided with Divine Strength We run upon Mistakes if we imagine there is any other ground for fear
their Prayers and Prayers at such times are most usually accompany'd with Vows But 3. OBSERVE farther that 't is very common for Persons to forget such Vows afterwards to lose the sense of them and never pay them The Sailor mention'd by Erasmus who when he was in a dangerous Storm and in great fear of his Life made a Vow to a certain Saint of a Wax-Taper as big as the Main Mast of the Ship but when he came to be in safety thought a Farthing Candle might be sufficient gives us a Model of most Men's Tempers who are much more forward to make Vows when they are in trouble and danger than to pay them when they are out of it How often shall we see Persons who by the apprehensions of Death's near approach to them were cast into inexpressible Agonies and thereupon cry'd to God and begg'd and intreated of him with all imaginable earnestness and importunity that he would spare them a ltttle longer and try them once more which if he would do they vow and promise their whole future Lives shall show forth and express their grateful Resentments for that they will spend them entirely in his Service and that at anotherguess rate than formerly They 'll rip up their past Actions freely confess their Sins and bewail their Follies and vow by all that 's Sacred that for time to come they 'll stand on their guard watch against Temptation allow themselves in no Sin nor in the neglect of any Duty but will lead an Holy Heavenly Mortify'd Self-denying Life in the strict observance of the Rules of our Religion who when God hath heard their Cries and gratify'd them with a farther time of Trial and prolongu'd and renew'd their Lives unto them suffer their Heat in a little time to wear off slide into their wonted deadness carelesness and lukewarmness and return to their old Sins Failures and Neglects in a little time indulge to their old Lusts as freely as before if not worse than ever and are not a whit chang'd or alter'd but the same as before as if nothing at all had past between God and them And if it be so when there 's the apprehension of Death in the case we may well conceive it is the same in lower instances as under the fearful apprehensions of any thing short of it under racking Pain or any sinking Disquietment in which cases and others of the like nature 't is a very common thing for Persons to vow and promise a more careful guarding against such or such a Corruption or such a Temptation as they know is most apt to prevail upon them or a more faithful discharge of such a Duty as hath been before neglected a more close walking with God a more steddy trust in Him and more entire resignation to Him and the like But let but the Danger be over and the Trouble at an end and oh how soon are such Vows forgotten as if never made how quickly is the sense of them lost We are told Luke 17. that our Saviour cleans'd ten Lepers at once and but one of them had any thing like a sense of his Deliverance or came to return Thanks to his Great Benefactor This our Lord seem'd to wonder at and therefore cries out Where are the Nine Here was however one in ten that was duly affected with the Goodness of God and made suitable Returns But I believe I should keep within compass if I should say that scarce one in an hundred of those who come under Vows to God in trouble and distress take care with any Faithfulness to pay them afterwards An Eminent Divine now with God who had with with great Faithfulness for a course of many Years exercis'd his Ministry in this City being ask'd by one what number of the many he had known to be in great Agonies in Sickness and under the apprehensions of Death's approach who then profest Repentance of their past wicked Lives and promis'd and vow'd a serious and holy Life afterwards to which they had before been Strangers what number of such he had known that in a Judgment of Charity he could apprehend were truly chang'd by their Sickness and faithful in paying their Vows when recover'd He answer'd That he could not say that in the whole course of his Ministry he had met with above Three of that Number This is methinks very sad and doleful to consider I have often in my own Thoughts been enquiring what should be the cause of this common Failure and Neglect and it is I think well worth our enquiring after The best Account I can give of it in short is this 'T is because there 's commonly much more of Fear than Love in the Vows made in Trouble and Distress Persons under Affliction if they are not utterly stupid are under a sensible Conviction of their strait and close Dependence upon God in whose hands they are and who can do with them as seems good in his sight without any check or controul This attended with a sense of Guilt is naturally apt to excite strong Fear lest he should deal severely lest he should utterly take away forfeited Mercies and punish the abuse of them by their withdrawment lest he should deny Succour in Danger to those who are so sensible they are far from deserving it lest he should suffer the Desert of their Sins to come upon them and then to be sure woful must be their Case Which Fear if not duly temper'd with Love and other Graces will only prompt to look out for a guard for Self-preservation and so self and not God will be mainly ey'd in the vows made in such a case If 't were a true sense of Duty a real love to God that was the Spring of such Vows they 'd have a Foundation in the habitual Temper of the Soul and so the effects of them would be visible the cause would remain even when the Trouble was over which excited the particular Vows made and therefore the Effect would appear But when Fear is the sole Spring of them and that Fear wears off as the Trouble and Distress blows over we need not wonder that the Vows are forgotten and the Effects cease together with their Cause And because it is so common a thing for Persons in their Vows in such a case to be much more acted by Fear than Love therefore is it so much more common for the sense of such vows to be lost than retain'd Withal such Vows generally arise more from passionate Transport than a deliberate Confent of Heart which is another cause of their being so often forgotten and unminded View a Person in distress and anguish or under the apprehension of danger and you 'll find the Spirit in a sort of Ferment Now in the Body while the Blood is in a fermentation the animal Spirits are much more eager and impetuous than at other times and so it is also in the mind Trouble and Danger produces a Ferment and vehement
to come unto his Table when I am invited and call'd And to joyn in that Sacred Solemnity that I may thereby testifie my Union with the Church my Charity for all and my Thankfulness to Christ And will never forget his Unspeakable Love to my poor Soul manifested in his Sacrifice of Everlasting Vertue and will hope according to the Integrity of my Heart that tho' my Failings be many yet he will encrease my Graces and Heavenly Comforts upon my waiting upon him therein AND in the keeping of this my Vow and acting agreeably thereunto I Resolve by the Assistance of that Grace which God hath promis'd to Persevere and hold on to the end of my days Living in the constant expectation of Death Judgment and Eternity and my Lords Return THIS is the Nature and Purport of that Vow or Engagement which Christianity obliges all its Adult Votaries freely to come under And this is the substance of all our Religion I Appeal to all that will take the pains to read and review it Whether this Vow thus drawn up contains any thing unreasonable Whether there is not the highest Reason running thro' it Whether any Branch of it is liable to any just Exceptions Whether those who refuse to come under it or being under it to obey it are not Enemies to themselves as well as to God Whether it contains any thing impossible to a willing Mind And whether it would not be happy for the World and reflect a great Lustre upon Religion if it were faithfully and punctually kept by all that are under it HERE I desire it may be Observ'd 1. THAT it was much more usual for Persons first to come under this Vow in Baptism in an Adult State in the Primitive Church than in after times For when Christianity first made its entrance it found the World in possession of sundry Religions in which those of that Age were bred up and in the practice whereof they persisted till they were better inform'd by Gospel Light which spreading and diffusing it self far and wide insinuating it self into Mens minds and carrying its own convictive evidence along with it which was back'd by the Miraculous Power then resident in the Church brought in Proselites in abundance from Iudaism and Gentilism in all its Forms to Christianity in a full age till which time therefore they were incapable of being Baptiz'd and coming under the Vow foregoing But when Christianity having justled out its Rival Religions came to be fixt and setled Parents generally thought it their Duty to get their Childrens Names inscrib'd in the Christian Roll from their Infancy and to enter them into a Sacred Bond to be the Lords in Baptism and actually did so So that afterwards none remain'd to be Baptiz'd when Adult but either those whose Parents neglected to devote them to the Lord by that Sacred Rite in their Infant state or those who were themselves Proselyted to Christianity after they came to Maturity which after the three or four first Ages of the Church were all along comparatively few 2. THAT the more publickly this Vow is made by those who are Baptiz'd when Adult 't is so much the better In the Primitive Church 't was generally in the face of a Christian Assembly that this Affair was transacted and tho' it cannot be justly pretended that its validity at all depends upon the publickness of it yet is it unquestionable that its ends will be thereby the better answer'd It makes it much more Solemn there will be the more Witnesses who may be afterwards Monitors if there be occasion and the greater Force will it probably have and the greater is the Awe that is likely to be thereby imprest 3. THAT this Vow is by no means to be confin'd to the Adult But even those who are Baptiz'd when Infants areas much concern'd in it For 1. their Infant Dedication to God in Covenant obliges them to stand to and keep this Vow as much as if'twere Personally made in their first Consecration And 2. Their Infant Baptism obliges them actually to make a Vow of this Nature when they come to Age and so are capable of Personal Covenanting for themselves Which matters will receive no small light from the following Chapter CHAP. V. Of the Baptismal Vow as to those Baptiz'd in Infancy An Account of the distinct concern of Parents and Children in it and a distinct Address to each concerning the Duty thence resulting THO' the case of Persons Baptiz'd when Adult be more clear yet is that of those Baptiz'd in Infancy much more common in the days we live in and so it hath been in the Church now for several Ages Tho' the Obligation of the former by the Baptismal Vow be more immediate and therefore more obvious and sensibly discernable yet is that of the latter as fully and sufficiently evident if rightly stated I design not to run out into Disputes and shall therefore take that for granted which so many Eminent Persons of all Professions have so Laboriously and Clearly Prov'd viz. That it is the Duty of all Christian Parents to enter their Children while Infants into the Visible Church and the Christian Covenant by Baptism and so from the first to bring them under the Vow fore going I lay that down here as a Postulatum and take it to be but a reasonable one And supposing it evident shall set my self to show what Apprehensious we are to form of the Engagement which such Baptiz'd Infants come under and of the manner of their coming under it And here I think it undeniable That as 't is in the Parents right that Infants are admitted to Baptism so 't is by their engagement that they are brought under the Vow which that Solemnity carrys in it That we may be clear in this matter therefore it is needful distinctly to consider 1. THE part and work of Parents in Devoting their Children to God and bringing them under the Baptismal Vow 2. THE concern of Children in what upon that occasion is done by their Parents for them and on their hehalf And 3. THE Parents Power to bring them and the Childrens Capacity of being brought under such an Obligation as the Baptismal Vow 1. AS for the part and work of Parents in Devoting their Children to God and bringing them under the Baptismal Vow that is compriz'd under the following Particulars 1. THEY disclaim all Right to their Children that is inconsistent with Gods Absolute Propriety and Resign them as a part of themselves entirely to his Management and Disposal From him they receiv'd them and to him they return them begging his acceptance of them for his own 2. THEY bring them to God for his Blessing and hold them up before him with earnest desires that these little parts of themselves may be not only under his Providential Care but under the entail of his Covenant Love As they embrace that Covenant which the Gospel offers for themselves so is it also their earnest request
Obligation to carry it as becomes the Members of Gods Family as soon as they become capable But these things deserve a more accurate handling than I can at least at present pretend to give them FOR a close of this Chapter I shall Annex a brief Admonition both to Christian Parents that have brought their Children under the Baptismal Vow in their Infant State And to their Children that so early came under an Obligation to be the Lords and to live to him with reference to Duty consequent thereupon AS for you that have Devoted your Children to God in Baptism remember I beseech you and take care to breed them up for him to whom you have Consecrated them expecting to be call'd to an account about your carriage towards them and management of them another day Take care to season their tender minds well Instruct them diligently in the knowledge of God and of their Duty to him and in the Nature and Import of that Divine Vow you brought them under Shew them what will be the Benefits of keeping it the danger of breaking it and the Duties they are oblig'd to by it and do what you can to bring them to take it upon themselves and renew their Covenant with God in their own Persons as soon as they are capable Preserve them as much as may be from the Infections of an Evil Age Set them Good Examples your selves and get them among as many other lively Patterns of Serious Godliness as you can That you may thereby provoke them to Imitation Inure them to Holy Exerercises from their Youth up Possess them with as great a Reverence of the Holy Scriptures as you can Narrowly watch their Tongues from the first that they begin to use them and do what in you lies betimes to learn them to govern their Appetites Teach them the worth of Time and spur them on to make a diligent Improvement of it Encourage them when they do well and Reprove and Correct them when they do amiss Whatever Neglects or Miscarriages you over-look or pass by be sure you allow them in nothing that in Sinful This will be the way for you to have Peace and Comfort whatever be the Consequences Remember how many ways you are oblig'd hereto how solemnly you have promis'd it how certainly God expects it and how severely he 'll punish the neglect of it How sad a thing will it be to have the Blood of your Childrens Souls lying atyour door on the account of your Carelessness in this matter where your utmost Diligence was required Should they hereafter prove Crosses and Heart-breaking Afflictions thro' their Undutifulness What a Sad Aggravation will it be of your Trouble to think that all this hath arisen from your want of Care in their Education How will they cry out upon you hereafter if ever they come to be Sensible and Awaken'd for your Unnatural Cruelty who tho' you might be tender enough of them and kind enough to them in other respects yet minded not their Souls took not any suitable care to Breed them up for him to whom you Devoted them Nay How will they in another World if they finally persist in Wickedness exclaim against you who were the Instruments of conveying their Being to them as their Soul Murderers and the first Occasions of their endless Ruin by your neglect to take that care of them which you engag'd to when you Baptiz'd them I beseech you therefore if you have any regard to God any desire to see True Religion Serious Piety and Godliness flourish if you have any Love to the fruit of your own Bowels and any regard to your own Peace now or hereafter that you would make Conscience of this matter Pay the Vow you made when you Devoted your Children to God in Baptism AND as for you who thro' Gods great Goodness and your Parents Care had the happy Priviledge of an Early Baptism Oh be not so foolish as to â—…avil your selves out of the Benefit of it Your Parents brought you under Vows to God Oh desire not to be released Had there been a considerable Temporal Estate of some Hundreds a year settled on your Family before you were Born upon some certain easie Conditions to be perform'd not only by your Parents but by you after them to the performance whereof they should have oblig'd not only themselves but you their Children Would you not in such a case where the Profit on the one hand and Hazard on the other is so sensible and apparent own the binding force of their Obligation upon your selves in order to your keeping the Inheritance And will you be more unjust to God than you would to Man Will you own your Parents power to engage you for a Trifle and not in order to an Everlasting Crown But however if you think your Parents did you wrong and that you are hardly dealt with you may be out of Covenant when you will But at the same time be it known to you if you disown it you forfeit the Benefits of it if you renounce your Vow you cast off God and reject his Favour and must never expect an Admission into the Kingdom of Heaven BUT if you have any concern for your Souls any sense of the Wretchedness of your Natural State and of the desireableness of the favour of God thro' a Christ you cannot but prize your early Dedication to God as an Invaluable Mercy Oh Prize it Improve it Heartily Bless God for it and stand to the Vow you then came under and let it be the business of your Lives to Discharge and Pay it Don't pretend its Hard and Strict For there 's nothing in it but what 's Necessary Ben't impatient of its Confinements for they are all for your Good Think often and Seriously of the Unsuitableness of your Carriage and Behaviour to the Vow that is upon you and that with Sorrow and Lamentation Think what would become of you should God take your Forfeitures of the Blessings of his Covenant And if you have any regard to God any Love to your own Souls any desire to be happy here or hereafter lay aside all Excuses and without delay Freely and Solemnly own and acknowledge this Vow of God that is upon you and set your selves with all your might to Live answerably to it CHAP VI. Certain Useful Observations about the Consequence of KEEPING or BREAKING the Baptismal Vow And of the RECOGNITION of it as Necessary to a Regular Admission to the Lords Table FROM the Baptismal Vow I should now pass to the Consideration of the Solemn Stated Renewal of it at the Lords Table whereto our Holy Religion straitly obliges us But that some Intermediate Observations offer themselves which may be of no small use which I shall therefore first lay down You may take them in the following order 1. OBSERVE that by the Serious Keeping and Adhering to the Baptismal Vow all Church Priviledges and Special Covenant Blessings are effectually secur'd 'T was
us to himself Our God is sensible of the slipperyness of our Hearts and therefore he 's for binding us as fast as may be He hath so ordered matters as that we are to be Consecrated and come under a Vow to him as soon almost as we begin to be this Vow we are with great Solemnity to own and renew as soon as we become capable of Transacting for our selves and afterwards we are requir'd frequently to give new security of our Fidelity over the Consecrated Elements at the Supper of our Lord And the design of all is only this the more effectually to engage us to that which is our unquestionable Duty wherewith our interest is closely connected In obliging us time after time to renew our Bonds God hath consulted our good designing thereby to further our security of reaching those Inestimable Benefits which he hath design'd for us We should therefore be so far from thinking much of them that we should prize our Bonds we should look upon our selves as so much the more Honour'd by how much the more they are multiply'd upon us CHAP. VIII Of an EXPRESS RENEWAL of our Christian Vows every time we come to the Holy Communion And DIRECTIONS about the right Management of it IT now follows that in the second place I show how the Express Renewal of the Christian Vow every time we come to the Supper of our Lord will help us the more effectually to reap the Benefits of that Holy Ordinance Which comes in very properly by way of Motive to that which I doubt is too commonly neglected by many Christians viz. Expresly Renew'd Covenanting at every Sacrament What I have to propound under this Head will I say properly come in by way of Motive For if I can make it appear That this is the way for our reaching the Benefits design'd for us by this Sacred Institution of our Religion I think there are none who are not their own enemies but must readily fall in with it and set themselves to put it in practice It is indeed certain and undeniable That Persons growth in Grace and Advancement in the Divine Life may be promoted by their Devout Partaking of the Holy Supper while yet either thro' Ignorance or Forgetfulness or Unskilfulnefs how to manage themselves at that Sacred Solemnity they may neglect the Express Renewing their Vows to be the Lords But if it be evident that this Ordinance would do them more good and be attended with much greater Advantage to the same Persons did they positively and expresly every time make an act of surrender of themselves to him who gave himself for them and anew engage to live to him who dy'd for them it will follow that they must be enemies to themselves if they continue Negligent Now this will be made appear from these three considerations viz. That our slipery Hearts will be more fix'd and aw'd our Faith and Hope be more eonfirm'd and strengthen'd and our Comfort more encreas'd by this means than could be otherwise supposable 1. THE Express Renewing our Vows every time we come to the Lords Table will much fix and awe our slippery Hearts None that are not great great strangers at home can be ignorant how apt our Hearts are to turn aside like a deceitful bow and to lose the sense of those things which ought continually to influence and govern us especially if remov'd from us by any distance of time how easily the continually surrounding objects of sense deface those Impressions which are at any time made on our minds by higher things and how difficult 't is to keep sensible from prevailing over Spiritual Engagements Alas the Sensual Carnal part is so powerful in the best and our Hearts are so apt to fall in with it and the Temptations we meet with to draw off our Hearts from God are so numerous and we so prone to yield unto them that we can hardly tye our selves fast enough or sufficiently multiply obligations on our selves to an Holy a Christian and a Divine Life If the sense of often repeated engagements is apt to wear off and who sees not that it too too often does so even in the best How unlikely is it that a single act of Consecrating our selves to our God and Saviour or the same repeated only now and then after large and considerable intervals should retain a constant governing power over us But the frequency and expresness of our Renew'd Vows if we take but care to apply our selves to them with any degree of that Seriousness that suits such a Solemnity will much promote their influence upon us For it will keep us under a standing sense of our Obligation it will fortify us against Temptations it will be a constant Fence and Spur and Monitor to us For if I have the least degree of Grace and resolve not in the most daring and provoking manner possible to trifle with God and my own Conscience Can I who month after month while I am feasting on the Memorials of Redeeming Love Renew my Self-Dedication to the Most High can I I say presently forget that I am anothers and not my own Can I or any one so easily forget this as if it were but once or twice in an whole Lives space that solemn Vows were made And doth not their Expresness as well as their Frequency add to their force For this implies not only a Recollection that we are the Lords but a Serious Resolution taken up in his Presence and form'd over the most awful Emblems of his Greatness and Majesty and Purity and the most Endearing Pledges of his Goodness Grace and Love that we will be his for the future more than ever we were before If we are Serious in such frequently Repeated Engagements we cannot but be made more Watchful more Considerate and Provident more Diligent and more Setled Christians both in our Tempers and Lives than we should otherwise be Consciences work will be made more easie For we shall have but a little way at any time to look back to that which of any thing that can be thought of will be the most likely to curb the fury of Lust and abate the violence of Temptation and quicken us to our Duty and cause Repentance and Rising again after our Sins and Falls Now this is one one of the Blessed Benefits design'd for us by the Institution of the Sacrament of the Supper no other way more likely to be gain'd than by this Practice of Expresly Renewing the Christian Vow every time we joyn therein 2. THIS Practice will help to strenthen our Faith and Hope There 's no Grace that is more employ'd at the Sacrament by Devout Communicants than Faith Its work is to view Christ thro' the Elements whereby he is Represented to receive him when offer'd and to return our all back to him again tho' not by way of Requital or out of any hope of Desert yet out of a sense of Duty and as a Token uf the highest
acceptably enough at other Instants during the Administration of this Ordinance But the Reception of the Elements seems to be the most advantagious season At every Sacrament therefore when thou takest the Bread and Wine as sensible Representations of Christ and his Benefits as visible Pledges of the Love of God through Christ to thy Soul do thou give up thy self afresh to God thro' Christ to live continually in his Love and Fear and in strict Obedience to his Laws till thou shalt be taken to Glory When the Minister as Christs Messenger puts the Consecrated Elements into thy hands then do thou after a thankful Adoration of the Divine Clemency and Bounty expressing it self by such inexpressible Gifts as are thereby represented then I say do thou from the bottom of thy Heart cry out I willingly accept of thine offer'd Covenant O Lord my Soul doth gladly take thee for my God and Father for my Saviour and my Sanctifier And here I give up my self to thee as thy Own thy Subject and thy Child to be sanctified and saved by thee to be beloved by thee and to be happy in loving thee to all Eternity O seal up this Covenant by thy Spirit which thou sealest to me in thy Sacrament that without Reserve I may be entirely and for ever thine Direct VI. EVERY time thou at the Sacrament Renewest thy Vows to be the Lords take care particularly to vow the Death of that Corruption that sticks closest to thee whereby God is most dishonoured and thy Comfort and Welfare most endangered Give it up freely to be sacrificed for him who gave himself a Sacrifice for thee Thy Darling Corruption is thy nearest thy closest and one of thy most dangerous Enemies Vow therefore to maintain a constant Combat against it that tho' thou canst have little hope of quite eradicating it yet Divine Grace assisting thee thou wilt not yield and give way to it thou wilt not be over-power'd by it Take care expresly to vow an opposition to that which by its prevalence would make all thy Vows ineffectual Direct VII THOU shouldst at every Sacrament not only vow to be the Lords in general but to be his in all Conditions Give up thy self time after time to be disposed of by him in all respects as he shall see good Take this particularly into thy Vows at the Lords Table That thou wilt Acquiesce in all the Disposals of Providence and be contented in every state whereinto God sees it fit to bring thee Disclaim being the Carver of thy own Lot By thy Renew'd Vows willingly resign all that belongs to thee to Divine Management and Conduct and resolve that thou wilt cleave to God whatever it cost thee that tho' he slay thee yet thou wilt trust in him that thou wilt follow him when he frowns as well as when he smiles that thou wilt bear his Rebukes as the Chastisements of a Father design'd for thy good that thou wilt look on every thing as best whatever he allots thee in a word that thou wilt intirely resolve thy will into his The doing this at every Sacrament seriously would prevent us a great deal of Trouble it would be a Spring of Peace and Comfort to us what ever were our Condition whatever should befall us Direct VIII TAKE care that the deepest Thankfulness be a constant Concomitant of all thy Renewed Vows No greater occasion for Thankfulness than this That we have any ground at all for hope of being accepted upon our Devoting our selves to God thro' Christ Tho past Vows have been broken we may be again accepted upon Renewing them That we have Hearts and Inclinations to Renew them that we have any ground to hope for strength from Heaven to enable us to keep them when we have Renew'd them that we have so advantagious a Season for Renewing them as the Sacrament brings with it all minister cause of Thankfulness Let 's therefore with an holy Exultation of Soul with that Chearfulness and Joy that are the Natural Indications of a Thankful Heart give up our selves to God from time to time that it may appear we don't look upon it as a piece of Slavery or Drudgery but as our greatest Happiness THESE few Directions well follow'd would make Sacraments otherguess things than they ordinarily are and would help us to a much more sensible encrease of Grace and strength by them than we are wont to receive CHAP. IX Of the Nature Sacredness and Strength of the Obligation that lies on all those to lead an HOLY LIFE who often repeat Sacramental Vows NOTHING's more obvious to be observ'd Than that Persons may in many cases be several ways oblig'd to the same thing Those who are under no Sacramental Vows at all do yet stand bound to the same thing to which they oblige those that are under them viz. To Love and Serve the Lord all their days with all their Heart and with all their Might to Live continually in his Fear and Walk in all Holy Obedience to his Laws All Rational Creatures as such are plainly oblig'd hereto without any such Vows Antecedent as those before explain'd or with part of them only Suppose Persons therefore to remain Unbaptiz'd which yet methinks none that are come to the use of their Reason who have any value for their Souls should be content to remain and so not to have come under the Christian Vow at all with any of the prescrib'd Solemnities or suppose them to have taken the Christian Vow initially upon them in Infant Baptism without a Solemn Recognition of it when at Age and without ever coming to the Lords Table to Renew and Repeat it which is the much to be lamented case of many who pass for Christians in the days we live in notwithstanding the defects in either case the Persons concern'd are yet highly oblig'd to be the Lords and to live to him Withal Vows made on a Sick Bed or in any hour of Distress and Danger give a Superadded enforcement to the same Obligation But there is a peculiar Sacredness and Strength and binding force in those Vows that are manag'd in the Order before describ'd and which particularly are frequently repeated at the Lords Table For 1. THE Obligation Persons are hereby laid under hath all the marks of Freedom and Voluntariness which is to be understood of their Confirming and Renewed and not of their Initial Vows Persons hereby freely oblige themseves to that whereto God had before oblig'd them They own the validity of the Obligation they were under to God antecedently to any consent or act of theirs by owning the Justice Equity and Reasonableness of his Claims and consenting to yield to them And so that which both was and is the matter of their Duty appears to be the matter of their Choice for of their own accord they bind themselves to a Faithful Performance Now this is a great Additional Obligation because it is a Self Obligation I am bound to be the Lords before
I have done of the others Misery But that neither the former Chapter nor this may be wrested to serve different Purposes than they were design'd for it seems needful that I premise this Caution That as in the Chapter foregoing I aim'd at those and those only who live in such Breaches of their Sacred Vows as are inconsistent with Sincerity so what I have now to subjoyn is safely applicable to all who can approve their own Hearts sincere 'T is not indeed possible for any Mortal Man to assign such certain Universal Marks of Distinction between such Breaches with God as are consistent with Sincerity and such as are not so as will hold So great is the variety of particular Circumstances here falling under Consideration as makes this a matter uncapable of a general Determination And for my part I must declare that were I able positively to certify Persons what guilt they might contract how far and how often they might break their Solemn Vows and yet retain their Integrity I should not dare to do it for fear it should be abus'd But yet 't is certain there are many sorts of Breaches which may make Persons sincerity justly questionable and all wilful ones do so more or less and the more gross and habitual they are the oftner they are repeated and the more numerous and strong those Bonds are which Persons break the more dubious do they make it And on the other hand 't is as certain that the most upright have considerable frailties after their utmost care and pains and watchfulness they will be continually offending in many things Who can pretend to steer exactly in such a strait 't is God alone can guide When we have done our utmost he alone can keep from daugerous mistakes and abuses Let it suffice therefore to intimate That I would have all those who find themselves chargeable with frequent wilful Breaches of their Sacramental Vows give Conscience free leave to judge whether they are not in the dismal state before describ'd And on the other side I would have all those who find in the main that sin grows weaker in them and Grace stronger that they particularly get ground of their own Iniquity more abhor it strive more against it and are more griev'd at any discern'd vergencies towards it to satisfy themselves as to their own safety Such as they cannot but be sincere in their Sacramental Engagements and therefore are unspeakably happy I shan't go to heap up a Variety of Arguments to prove the Happiness of such Persons which were indeed all one as to go about to prove that there is a reality in Religion but I shall only briefly shew wherein it lies in order to the Allurement and Excitation of such as are yet Strangers to it and the Encouragement of those to whom it belongs and their Comfort and Joy NOW we may take a View of the Happiness of those who seriously come under Sacramental Vows to God and faithfully keep them in the following Particulars 1. THEY are drawn the nearer and bound the faster to God by every approach to him in the Ordinance of the Supper They come to his Table and sit down under his Shadow with great delight and find his Fruit to be sweet to their Tast and his Banner over them to be Love Whenever they come thither with prepared Hearts their dear Lord refresheth them with his Love replenisheth them with his Grace encourages them in his Ways and ravishes them with the sweetness of his Entertainment He puts forth his Hand to lift them up nearer Heaven and gives them a glympse of that which is to be their future Possession a tast of what is to be their everlasting Entertainment He warms their Hearts afresh till he makes them burn and glow and then their All is alas too little to offer up in Flames of Love to him that hath so many ways endear'd himself to them to him that hath so much power over them A separation from him is what they can now less bear the thoughts of than ever They give up themselves therefore to him anew resolving they will never forsake him and by such renew'd Vows and Engagements the Bond that fastens them to him is strengthen'd and the awe of Sacred Things which is so apt to wear off from the best is renew'd and further riveted Their Lord on his part as 't were embraces them in his Arms in token that the Bond is mutual and as a Pledge that the Union between them shall be inseparable and he sends them in fresh supplys of Grace for their assistance and support I am sensible how great unevenness there is in the best which may produce Spiritual Distempers Decays and Declensions whereby those sensible Incomes and reviving Influences that might otherwise be obtain'd in this Ordinance may be very much abated But something or other of this kind more or less hath been experienc'd at some such seasons by sincere Souls which by those who know how to value things aright cannot but be esteem'd far beyond any sensible Comfort or Refreshment 2. IT is no mean part of the Happiness of such that they take the most effectual method to secure their Peace and make it solid stable and lasting they take the right course to maintain both Peace with God and Peace of Conscience 1. THOSE who are serious in making and sincere in keeping Sacramental Vows take an effectual course to maintain Peace with God He can't slight or reject a sincere self-resigning Soul He can't but with Tenderness Love and Pity behold a Soul that seriously endeavours to keep close to him he can't break with that Soul that he sees carefully shuns breaking with him And tho' none use the utmost care they might tho' there are none in our present lapsed State but if they did would often halt and falter yet shall none of their Breaches which are consistent with Sincerity disanul or cancel that Treaty of Peace between God and them of which Christ is the powerful Mediatour or hinder their partaking of its blessed Effects To this Treaty God sets his Seal at every Sacrament The Devout Communicant at every such Solemnity thankfully accepts and joyfully embraces the Overtures of it and renews Vows of an holy Course of Life The sincere keeping these Vows secures God's Approbation and Special Favour 'T is Sin that is the only cause of separation between God and us and no Sin more than the Violation of Solemn Vows where this therefore is guarded against by a steddy course of faithful Obedience there remains no cause for any considerable breach between God and us For as for daily Infirmitys where the Heart is upright and the Course of the Life holy in the main God hath promis'd he will not remember them he 'll on the Account of Christ's Intercession easily overlook and pass them by and maintain Peace with us upon a general Repentance of them and Humiliation for them Now what Man is so happy as
are real strangers He will impart a full knowledge of himself to them and fill them with his Spirit which is a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation He will manifest the Secrets of Divine Wisdom and the traces of Eternal Love to them so far as their present capacities will bear and in the future Life he will lay himself and all those Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge that lie hid in him open to their view that they may for ever entertain themselves with their Contemplation and Enrich themselves by a constant Derivation Such Promises as these that may be so comfortably apply'd by sincere Covenant Keepers with God unto themselves make their state and condition Exceeding Happy 5. THEY are provided with what may help to support them under any Crosses Troubles or Afflictions they may be Exercis'd with Come what will they are safe They may stand their ground without giving way they need not be terrify'd or dismay'd And Oh what a Happiness is this Who knows what Personal or Domestiek Troubles they may meet withe'er they Dye And how Terribly and Violently they may be Assaulted as strong as they apprehend their mountain to stand Who can fore-see what Publick Calamaties a wait us wherein all particular Persons must unavoidably be sharers now for Perfons to be able in whatever troubles they meet with to say with the Church All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our Heart is not turn'd back neither have our steps declin'd from thy way Foâ—… Persons then to be able to look back on their Sacramental Transactions and Remember the Seriousness and Devotion wherewith they oft have Renew'd their Vows to the Lord at his Table and to look back on their Lives and find a general stated correspondency thereto would be a spring of greater Refreshment to them than is well conceivable by them who have not had some experience of it Let 's suppose a Person to meet with great Distress in his Mind in his Body in his Estate or any other way if seriously looking upwards he can be able to say with David I have kept the way of the Lord I have not wickedly departed from my God it must needs be a great Comfort and Support to him Incredible is the Consolation which such Persons lay in against trying Times they may be call'd to pass thro' in the course of their Lives Great the Supports wherewith they are provided against the time when they shall be under the assaults of Death the King of Terrors To be able then to look back on seriously renew'd and faithfully perform'd Sacramental Vows will make those Pangs easy at which Nature trembles 't will make their Passage into another World safe and comfortable Who then can express their Happiness And then 6thly and Lastly THEY take the most Effectual Course to secure themselves from falling away That of the Perseverance of the Saints is a very comfortable Doctrine and rightly understood is so far from an evil and vicious tendendency as some imagine that it tends every way to make us better Now the satisfying Assurance of a true Christians Perseverance is built on these three grounds The Favour and Love of God to him the Sufficiency of the Divine Assistance and the Conscience of his own Integrity That these Persons take the best course to secure the Favour and Love of God hath before been made appear What can hinder those who often seriously Faederally transact with God and are stedfast in his Covenant from hoping for every thing from him which beloved Children may expect from a tender and kind Father As for the Sufficiency of Divine Grace they have no reason to question it And that they shall have it imparted to them in the measures and degrees wherein they need it is the purport of many promises which they upon just ground may apply to themselves And then as for the Conscience of their own Integrity on which the Personal Comfort of the two foregoing grounds depends none are so likely to get and keep it as those who often with great Solemnity renew the acts of their Self-Dedication to the Blessed God repeat their Vows of all prescribed Duty and in the main in their whole course demean themselves suitably What can shake such persons hopes of Perseverance Their frequent slips and failings need not For tho' they are to be lamented and bewail'd yet do they not forfeit those aids of Grace whereby they may be enabled to hold out yet do they not cut of the entail of Divine Favour whereby this perseverance is secur'd It is unquestionable that many may go far in Religion and yet fall off at last and come to nothing they may begin well and hold on for a time and for want of holding out lose the Crown that the Gospel propounds as a Reward to the Faithful But that which I assert is this That those who are serious in the frequent repeating and afterwards faithful in keeping their Sacramental Vows may on this very Consideration bottom a comfortable and well grounded hope of their own Perseverance that they shall not be in the number of them that fall away I am far from thinking that any are so far out of all danger as to have any reason to grow secure and if they do grow secure and careless 't is a plain evidence to me that they are not yet out of Danger But yet I doubt not but there are such things as that those who do them shall never fall And thus much I think may be plainly learnt from 2 Pet. 1. 10. And of this number I take this course to be of serious Repeating and faithful paying Sacramental Vows For it argues the Heart to be establisht with Grace it seems to imply an incapacity of forsaking their Saviour whose Love hath taken so fast hold of them and bound them so firmly to himself it argues an incapacity of being guilty of such crying Provocations as those must be whereby the Blessed Spirit should be quencht or God oblig'd to desert them it argues Persons to be arriv'd at so fixed an habit of Goodness as cannot be lost and eradicated Needs then must it argue unspeakable Happiness in their state who have arriv'd to it Who ought therefore certainly to be fill'd with Thankfulness and transported with Joy and will be inexcusable if their Souls don't Magnify the Lord if their Spirit don't Rejoyce in God their Saviour CHAP. XII Of the difficulty of Living up to our Sacramental Vows with that Exactness that we ought With the Solution of some common Cases relating thereto NOTHING's more easie to be observ'd Than that many are the imperfections which attend those who are most faithful in paying their Sacramental Vows Hardly any thing creates some Persons so much perplexity as this And those must be great strangers to Religious matters who know not that 't is very difficult to walk evenly with God closely to
his Death and wistfully viewing him from first to last as an exact Mirror of Divinity peculiarly fixing on his Death when his Body was broken and his Blood pour'd forth being pierc'd with grief at the remembrance of those Sins which help'd to pierce his sacred Body and full of Astonishment that it should be apt to have such light thoughts of that which was so full of Malignity that it needed his precious Blood to make Atonement It views the appointed Emblems but it looks beyond them and with sorrow considers the share it had in that doleful Tragedy which is thereby pointted at It concernedly reflects on the need it stands in of a share in the Benefit of that Sacrifice which they represent it rejoyces in its own Capacity of being interested in it it takes the sacred Emblems when offer'd with a mixture of Joy and Sorrow Fear and Love and embraces a crucified Saviour in the Arms of Faith yielding up the Heart to him as a part of the Victory and Conquest of his Love resigning up it self and its all entirely to his Disposal Management and Government not as a free Gift but as his just Right which to with-hold from him would be the highest Sacriledge and as an Offering infinitely beneath the desert of his Matchless Obligations It contentedly quits all other things whatever as but Dung and Dross without a Christ being perfectly asham'd to think that any Creature should be his Rival It declares it self satisfy'd with him as a Portion by reason that in him and with him it will have all that is needful and cares not what it wants nor how it fares nor what it parts with so it may but share in his Merits and his Spirit his Grace and his Glory It not only throws it self into its Saviour's Arms for an instant but with a design to abide there detesting whatever tends to with-draw it from him with whom it is so enamour'd It renounces Sin Satan and the World as his known Enemies fetching strength from his Cross to resist and oppose them It disclaims Self as an Usurping Tyrant renouncing it so far as 't is opposite and firmly resolving to subject it so far as 't is capable to his Scepter and Government In humble Dependance on his promised Aids it takes a New Oath of Fealty to him it engages to a thorow Discipleship solemnly swearing over his sacred Emblems heartily to be subject to him to study to resemble him to carry it as one of his Followers to stick to his Interest to fight against his Enemies to follow his Conduct to submit to his Discipline to be content with his Allotments and patiently to wait for his Rewards It embraces that Covenant which his Death so firmly ratify'd stands amaz'd at the inestimable Blessings made over in it and firmly engages strenuously to apply it self to answer the Demands of it And out of a sense of its own weakness which time past hath but too much discover'd it sends up the most Pathetical Supplications to its once crucify'd but now glorify'd Redeemer for fixing stablishing confirming preserving persevering Grace and constant Supplies of it that so the sense of such Obligations as he hath laid upon it and such Bonds as it is voluntarily enter'd into to him may by nothing ever be defac'd or worn out In hope whereof it triumphs and rejoyces magnifying adoring blessing and praising all the three Persons in the sacred Trinity the Father the Son and the holy Spirit on the Account of their distinct Concern and Agency in the Redeeming and Saving of lost Sinners 3. LET 's view the same Soul immediately after the Renewal of such Sacramental Vows and we shall find its first Work to be the Recollecting what past in the foregoing Transaction How did I burn and glow says such a Soul when I found my self under the Direct Beams of my Saviour's Love at his Table And what shall I do to retain my Warreth Or How little was I affected suitably to such a Solemnity And what can fire my frozen Heart Such a Soul cann't rest in the Work done or think all 's at an end when the solemnity's over It cann't forbear either commending or chiding it self according as the posture and carriage hath been it cann't forbear endeavouring to drive things home Follow it close and you 'll find it upon the first convenient Opportunity running all over again in its thoughts and endeavouring to rivet good Impressions and fix pious Resolutions and establish and confirm holy Purposes and back Renew'd Vows with strong enforcing Considerations and doing what it can to engage it self to answer it's Engagements and Obligations to its God and Saviour Shall I go and undo what I have been doing by a lazy Indifferency a negligent and careless course of Life Shall I forget whose I am and who I am to serve and what are my Engagements and to whom and how I am bound Will not my Guilt be much encreas'd my dear Saviour more offended the blessed Spirit more griev'd and my Heart more deaden'd than ever if I return again to Folly Was not what I did in Renewing my Vows the Effect of Consideration Is not every thing that I have vow'd antecedently my Duty Hath not every part of my Duty Benefit attending it Is not He with whom I have been Transacting able to assist me And hath he not given me his Promise in his Word and seal'd it at his Table He will never change or draw back Why then should I No I have vow'd and I 'll stand to it Christ is mine and I 'll be his Him I 'll love Him I 'll serve and follow He shall have my Heart and my Life And alas That little All I am able to give him is not the thousandth part of what I owe Him These and such as these are the Retir'd Thoughts and Reasonings of a sincere Soul presently after Renewing Sacramental Vows 4. THE former Exercise is no sooner over but if you 'll persist in your suit you 'll find the same Soul wrestling with God in Prayer and sending its most earnest Petitions and Supplications upwards for Grace and Strength to pay the Vows Renew'd I have vow'd indeed O Lord says such a Soul to God that I 'll be thine I have anew Consecrated my self to my Blessed Redeemer and I desire not to draw back But I have of my self no strength to perform all my sufficiency is of thee Lord keep a sense of my Renew'd Engagements ever fresh and warm upon my heart Thou know ' st my Weakness and my Treachery I beseech thee to aid me constantly by thy powerful Spirit that how numerous soever my Infirmities and Imperfections be I may in no case wickedly depart from thee O that I who have been viewing a crucify'd Iesus and engag'd to be his constant follower might be crucify'd unto the World and have that crucify'd unto me O that I who have been commemorating my de Lords Dying for Sin may by vertue