Church accordingly tells us That to the End we should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ in dying for us he has instituted and ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of it And the actual and lively Consideration hereof of Christ's wonderful Love towards us miserable Sinners so ungrateful so unworthy so often guilty of broken Faith and broken Vows who have loved the World and our own Lusts more than him who have grieved him who have wounded him who have crucified him by our Sins and who continue to do so for there is no Man that lives and sins not and all this to him who still loves us and still offers us Peace and Pardon and Grace and Heaven and even his own blessed Body and Blood in this heavenly Feast Shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless Love again for the rest of our Lives To give it him without exception and without reserve It must it will it cannot fail of having this happy effect if we carefully regard every part of this sacred Action and intently consider our Saviour's Death as represented therein especially while the Minister is consecrating the Elements the whole Prayer of Consecration being made up of a lively and thankful Recognition of our Saviour's sufferings and of his instituting the Sacrament in memory of them We are therefore in order to the exercising and encreasing of our Love to Christ diligently at that time to regard the Minister with our Eye and Christ with our Hearts When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then to consider with all the Agonies of our Souls and with Hearts pierced and melted with the Love of Jesus what Agonies he himself endured for us both in his Body and Mind Then to look on him whom we have pierced and mourn for him and delight in him and hate those Sins which were the cause of this and which can only divide us from his Love and especially when we actually receive Then are our Souls to be intimately united to his Divine Person Then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of Ten Thousands and fairer than all the Children of Men to adore his infinite Perfections to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them and to be wholly ravished with his Love § XIII Which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of Charity Love to our Neighbour for this cannot but be easie to us when our Minds are raised to this happy Temper The Love of Christ will subdue the Enmity of our Natures towards each other that Pride which is the cause of almost all Quarrels that bitterness of Spirit and Rancor and Malice and Revenge and Anger Those obscene Birds will all fly away before the Beams of the blessed Sun of Righteousness as did the Devils of old from their Oracles All our Hatred will be against our Sins all our Indignation our Resentments our Revenge for neither were those in vain implanted in our Minds will be turned quite another way O how happy would the World be did but the Body of Christians frequently and worthily receive the Communion I am confident nothing could sooner heal the wide Wounds of Christendom as I believe the neglect of it has been the great Original of them as well as of all our own Factions and Divisions All good Men must love one another if they often met at this Holy Table They could not they dared not there retain or nourish any pique against each other They would Love much both Christ and his Members because they so often considered that much was forgiven them And tho' this may seem a Digression yet the Truth and Consequences thereof appear so plain and so considerable that I knew not how to omit it But to return Charity is here to be actually exercised towards all Christ's Members especially towards those with whom we communicate We are to knit our Hearts most closely and intimately to them with the Bands of Holy Love Poor and Rich without exception only loving those most that love God most We are to pray for them all and not only in the Offertory but on other occasions to do them all the Good we can by faithful Counsel by tender and prudent Reproof and by all lawful and possible means promoting the welfare of their Souls and Bodies And lastly by devout Prayer to God for them as we are directed That all who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be filled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction But tho' our Charity is to begin there we are not to confine the Exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us for we are also directed by the excellent Spirit of our Church shewing it self in those Holy Confessors and Martyrs who composed her Liturgy humbly to beseech God to grant by the Merits and Death of his Son Jesus Christ and thro' Faith in his Blood that not only we but also his whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Passion Which may he grant who has so dearly purchased it for us to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Glory Honour and Dominion now and to Eternal Ages Amen! If there be any time between the Consecration and actual Receiving the Communicant may make use of these following Devotions An Act of Penitence O Infinite offended Goodness who art a consuming Fire to the obstinate Sinner but infinite to pardon those who confess and forsake their Sins I desire earnestly to repent of all my Misdeeds I will acknowledge my Transgressions before thee and mine Iniquities will I not hide I have sinned I have sinned O Father against Heaven and before thee Against thy Mercies and thy Judgments the Thunder of thy Law and the still small Voice of thy Gospel Against the clearest Manifestations of thy wonderful Love in sending thy Son to shed his Blood as an attonement for the Sins of the whole World which precious Blood of his I have too often trampled under Foot and crucified the Son of God afresh by my repeated Iniquities Not all his bitter Agonies have been so far able to pierce my hard Heart as to make me entirely forsake my Sins which were the Cause of them Tho' he sweat Drops of Blood in the Garden tho' his Soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto Death tho' he endured the Contradiction of Sinners tho' he was mocked and buffeted and spit on and crowned with Thorns and scourged and fainted under his Cross and was nailed unto it and raised in the Air a spectacle to Men and Angels tho' he there groaned under the weight of our Guilt and of our Sins imputed unto him tho' he thirsted tho' he fainted tho' he cried out as if thou thy self couldst have forsaken him tho' he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost O! shall all this nothing move me shall my Heart be as hard as the nether Milstone
and Blood and thereby assures us of his Favour and Goodness to us and renews his Covenant with us and gives us leave to do the same with him § XXII But we confirm this Covenant by a most solemn Oath as well as a Feast in this Holy Communion for it partakes of both The very Word Sacrament originally signified that Military Oath which Soldiers took to their General to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him to obey his Commands In the Lords Supper we swear Fealty and Homage to the great King of Earth and Heaven and as well as in Baptism engage to be his faithful Servants and Soldiers to our Lives end Which Oath as all others does imply an Imprecation as did the ancient Sacrifices used at the Ratification of Leagues wherein the Beast being cut in pieces the Parties agreeing went between them wishing that their Blood might be so poured out and they themselves cut in pieces if they ever brake their Vow and Covenant To which the breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine does answer in the Communion as it may farther signifie that we resolve to be faithful even to the Death to our great Lord and Master and if there be occasion are ready to shed our Blood for him as he did for us The Commemoration whereof is indeed the main End of the Sacrament and the principal Notion wherein we are to represent it to our Minds but there are subordinate Ends and other useful Notions under which we may consider it in order to profit by it Among which is § XXIII The next thing in our Description of this Sacrament That we therein praise God for all his Goodness As much as this is included in that very ancient name of it the Eucharist which is used in the Scripture for giving of Thanks in general ‖ Eph. 5. 4. but applied to this most solemn Act of Thanksgiving in the blessed Sacrament not only by the earliest Ecclesiastical Writers but even by an ancient Version of the New Testament For the Syriac retains the Word Eucharist both in the 2d of the Acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. In both of which places what we render breaking of Bread is with them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breaking the Eucharist And a Word of the same Original is used both by the Apostle and the Evangelists in the Description of its Institution †1 Cor. 11. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke 22. 19. and where our Saviour is said to give thanks over the Bread by St. Luke and St. Paul and to bless it by St. Matthew ‖ St. Mat. 26. 26. the same thing is intended for he blest and praised God for his Gifts and by that Thanksgiving did sanctifie the Bread both derive God's Blessing upon it and set it apart to a sacred use to be the thankful Memory of his own Death till he come to Judgment And accordingly in this Sacrament the Church does render most solemn Thanks and Praise to God the Father for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of his dear Son and to Christ himself who gave his Body to be broken and his precious Blood to be shed for us as well as for all the Benefits of his Passion especially the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Life § XXIV The next thing to be taken notice of in this Sacrament is That we do therein testifie and express our unfeigned Union with all our Christian Brethren with all those that bear the Image of the Heavenly This was doubtless one great end of its Institution that thereby all the followers of our Saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble Bands and that all men might know them for his true Disciples by their Loving one another * St. Iohn 13. 35. and thus the Apostle argues The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread where he hints at the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church and of all the Members thereof one with another ‖ 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. Feasting in common has been always esteemed both a Token of Amity and Friendship and the way to increase and preserve it In the Holy Communion we may be said to renew our Covenant with one another †Pliny ad confaederandam disciplinam coetus Chrianorum as well as with God and seem yet further even to imprecate his Wrath upon our selves if we break that sacred Band. And to the same purpose were the Agapae or Love-Feasts among the Christians both in the Apostles times and a Century or two after * Vid. Tertul. Apol c. 39. p. 105. And the frequent reception of the Communion must needs render Christians more charitable and increase a holy Love among them because without this Charity they know they ought not to communicate as the too general neglect of this Sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that Grace amongst us For the partaking of this Divine Feast and the consideration of Christs wonderful Love to us in laying down his Life for us even when we were Enemies must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us and with a pure heart servently to love one another § XXV Hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the Reception of the Holy Sacrament To commemorate and represent the Sacrifice of our Saviours Death according to his Institution by eating of Bread and drinking of Wine therein renewing our Covenant with God praising him for his Goodness and testifying and exercising our Unity and Charity towards all our Christian Brethren § XXVI I proceed in the last place to that which we are to receive from God in the conscientious discharge of our Duty and devout Reception of this Holy Communion Which is contained in the last part of our Description That thereby all the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § XXVII The Sacraments are Seals of God's Covenant with us The Apostle expresly affirms it of Circumcision * Rom. 4. 11. Galat. 3. 14. as it was a Sign of the Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham and all his faithful Children that is all that should believe in God as he did In the room whereof Baptism was introduced by our Saviour as another Seal of the same Covenant and means our Initiation into it And one Sacrament being a Seal it follows by parity of Reason that the other must be so also The Holy Symbols when duly received do exhibit and convey unto us divine Virtue and assistance and all the inestimable Benefits which were purchas'd for us and reached out unto us
greatest Ioy and the greatest Reverence the first thing we do would be to sequester our selves from the World nay even from all worldly Thoughts and the troublesome Cares of Life To do this with all possible Intention and with the whole force of our Minds with firm Resolves and full purpose of Heart not to admit any other Business any other Thoughts unsuitable to this great Work Which having begun with devout Prayer for the Divine Assistance let us proceed in the impartial Examen of our Consciences on the following Heads 1. Of our Repentance 2. Holy Resolutions 3. Faith 4. Thankfulness And 5. Charity All which if we find in some good degree wrought in us by God's Holy Spirit we may approach with comfort to this Sacrament § VIII And first We are to examine our selves concerning our Repentance wherein the Nature of it consists whether habitual or actual and under actual Repentance may be included our particular Examination by the Rule of God's Commands before we approach the Sacrament The general Nature of Repentance consists in a thorough Change of Heart and Life so as to hate all Sin and turn to God to love God more than the World or our Lusts or even than our own Lives in the prevailing bent the settled Choice of our Minds and to evidence this by keeping his Commandments To live in the course of no greater Sin such as Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness neglect of Publick Worship or the like which waste the Conscience and are a perfect Contradiction to true Repentance and must be left immediately as we would avoid eternal Misery not to indulge so much as Sins of Infirmity nor to say is it not a little one such as sloth passion forgetfulness of our Duty in some Instances wandring Thoughts or the like for a Christian is to fight against all Sin and such as are at first comparatively little yet do all deserve God's Anger and eternal Punishments and will if they are neglected grow bigger and at last perhaps irresistible I say true Repentance is a thorough Change of the whole Man the Principles Inclinations and Desires as well as outward Actions and hence it 's call'd in Scripture the New-Man the New-Heart the New-Creature because we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath and guilty of Original Sin * Vid. Discourse of Baptism nor is there any who has lived to years of Discretion but what has made that sad use of his Reason to sin against his Maker and to commit many actual Transgressions if not to fall into grosser habits of wickedness from which God knows very few can say they are wholly innocent in this degenerate Age Now there is no way to recover from this and to escape God's Anger but by forsaking Sin with the greatest abhorrence and detestation 'T is therefore evident that those are miserably and dangerously mistaken who fansie they repent because they have some Fear of Hell some light checks of Conscience and transient Sorrow for offending God without effectually leaving all wickedness and coming to God from whom they have wander'd and leading a Holy Life Then have we this habitual Repentance when by God's Grace we do in the main course of our Lives express our Love to God and hatred of Sin and sorrow for it and are become New Men and make it our chief Business to strive against our Corruptions manfully to resist them effectually to work out our own Salvation To have that Image of God renewed in us which we lost by the Fall And thus much for habitual Repentance § IX Actual Repentance is that which every good Man puts in practice on his falling into any Sin and which he should renew more particularly and exactly before he comes to the Lord's Table whereunto we are directed in the first Exhortation on the Sunday before the Communion which we would therefore do very well seriously to peruse in order to our Preparation for it Wherein we are taught That 't is our Duty to search and examine our own Consciences and that not lightly and after the manner of Dissemblers with God but so as that we may come Holy and Clean to this heavenly Feast And we are further directed to do this by the Rule of God's Commands and whereinsoever we shall perceive our selves to have offended either by Will Word or Deed there to bewail our own sinfulness and to confess our selves to Almighty God And to assist us herein we may find large and exact Catalogues of Sins in several Books of Devotion particularly those annexed to the Whole Duty of Man which if you have not you may if you please make use of this following and examine your self concerning the particular Breaches of God's Commands either of the first or second Table § X. The Breaches of the first Command of the first Table are 1. Atheism or at least Atheistical Thoughts or Discourse too common among the foolish Wits of the Age 2. Polytheism or believing or worshipping more Gods than one the main thing forbidden in this Command under which may be included Ditheism or worshipping two Gods of which those cannot clear themselves who pay Divine Honours to any whom they believe not essentially one with the Father and Tritheism if any now are guilty of it which is worshipping three Gods whereas there is but One Supreme there can be but One God tho' Three Persons who is over all blessed for ever 3. Covetousness which is Idolatry Immoderate Love of our selves or of the World that Carnal-mindedness which is Death A violent and unreasonable Passion for any Person or Thing in this World 4. Wilful Ignorance of God or of his Word carelessness of our Souls neglecting or despising Instruction 5. Presumption upon God's Mercy A false Peace and Security in Sin As on the other side distrusting his Power or Goodness or murmuring against him or despairing of his Mercy 6. Worshipping Angels or Saints 7. Witchcraft or doing interpretative Homage to the Devil by using Charms consulting with Wizards cunning Men and the like which is esteemed by our greatest Divines a degree of renouncing our Christianity * Bp. Hopkins Bp. Andrews W. D. of Man c. 8. Unthankfulness Lukewarmness Indevotion Pride Impenitence 9. Want of Love to God Faith in him Dependance on him Submission and Resignation The Breaches of the second Command are 1. Idolatry which is making any Images with intent to bow down to them or worship them or actually paying such Worship to them even tho' God himself be represented by them any visible corporeal Representation of God being a contradiction to his pure spiritual Nature and a high Breach of this Command * Deut. 4. 15. as is even the forming any corporeal Image of him in our mind much more believing a material God 2. Sacrilege Robbing or profaning Churches detaining Tythes or any thing that is dedicated to God God forgive all Nations Families and Persons that are guilty of it 3. Loathing Manna neglecting or
the highest Thankfulness and Love For how can a Rebel be fit for Pardon if he is not thankful when 't is offered him 'T is therefore necessary that we should so long so seriously remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us even before we come to the Solemn Sacramental Commemoration of it till our Hearts burn within us as did the two Disciples that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our Saviour and that he may make himself known unto us as he did unto them in breaking of Bread St. Luke 24. 32. But we must take care that this Remembrance have a future lasting influence on our Lives Ill Men may remember Christ's Death but it 's certain that whatever they may pretend they do it presumptuously not thankfully because it is not productive of a Holy Life It makes them nothing better but rather encourages them to go on in their Sins whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned Obedience And to make us both obedient and thankful one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what Evils Christ has saved us by his Death no less than the Power of Sin the Wrath of God and everlasting Misery And what Benefits he has obtained for us by it the Pardon of Sin the Favour of God Grace to serve him and eternal Happiness some of which are actually conveyed as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed Sacrament to every penitent faithful grateful Receiver § XV. The last thing necessary to a worthy Communicant is Charity To be in Charity with all Men. When we bring our Gift to the Altar we must be first reconciled to our Brother We must offer it and sincerely desire and endeavour it and if he refuses to be reconciled the Fault is on his side nor ought another's Crime to keep us from our Duty and Happiness This Charity must also show it self in an universal Love to Mankind wishing praying for endeavouring and as much as in us lies promoting their temporal and spiritual Welfare But especially this Holy Love is to be acted and exercised towards all Christians and particularly towards those with whom we communicate not forgetting the Poor whom we are to relieve as well at the Offering which ought not to be neglected at the Sacrament as any other way that lies in our Power The exercise of this Divine Grace is more eminently necessary when we approach to this blessed Feast because 't was one great End of its Institution it being designed to increase Christian Unity and Holy Love among the Faithful who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things who Feast and make a Covenant with each other as well as with the great Inviter and being many are hereby made one Body and one Bread 1 Cor. 10. 17. We are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither whether we heartily forgive our Enemies and are ready to render Good for Evil Whether we feel this Divine Flame in our Hearts and dearly love all those that bear the Image of the heavenly And in order to produce in us both parts of this Grace one would think we should need do no more than consider seriously how many Talents our Lord has forgiven us how much he has done and suffered for us even while we were his Enemies and that we are all Members of one Body whereof Christ is the Head § XVII And thus have we finished what relates to our Preparation for the Sacrament and those several Graces concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it Repentance attended by good Resolves Faith Thankfulness and Charity Not that we should forbear to come thither if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection but where we find any of them weak and languid we must strengthen the things that remain and be humbled for our Imperfections and endeavour earnestly after higher degrees of Grace and consider the means appointed to encrease them especially the Holy Sacrament wherein they are to be all exercised and renewed as will appear in the next Chapter And in the mean time most humbly and devoutly to fall upon our Knees and in the following or any better Forms * See the excellent Devotions added to the Whole Duty of Man or those in the Christian Sacrifice of Prayer thus address our selves to the Giver of all good things for a Supply of our Necessities A Confession when we are Preparing for the Communion ALmighty and most merciful Father who mayst for my Sins be most justly displeased with me for ever cast me off from thy presence and condemn me to Everlasting Misery I am ashamed O Lord and blush to lift up my Face unto thee for all my misdeeds are before thee and my most secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance I was shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin by Nature dead in trespasses and sins averse to Good and violently inclined to Evil ignorant of God and an Enemy to him in a lost and undone Condition and utterly unable to help and to deliver my self And I have added to this Original Sin many hainous actual Trangressions Here let the Penitent repeat those Sins whereof on the former Examination he has found himself guilty The Remembrance of all which I desire may be most grievous as their burden is most intolerable unto me for I have done all these abominations with many aggravating Circumstances which have highly encreased the Guilt of them without regard to thy tender Mercies or to thy terrible Judgments or to my own repeated Vows and Resolves of Repentance and Obedience O make me to abhor them and my self for them and to repent in Dust and Ashes I know that my sorrow for them is no satisfaction to thy offended Justice yet since thou dost require it of me to render me capable of thy Mercy work in me I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit such a true and unfeigned Remorse for them that I may entirely forsake them and come Pure and Holy to thy Heavenly Feast O God be merciful to me a Sinner who cry unto thee in an acceptable Time and in the Day of Salvation O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Father of Heaven who didst send thine Only Son out of thy Bosom to tast Death for every Man that we might not die eternally accept his Attonement accept his Intercession and be reconciled unto me thro' his Blood In my Father's House is Bread enough and to spare O let me not perish with Hunger O Son of David have mercy on me and if thou canst do any thing since thou canst do all things help me By thine Agony and bloody Sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious Death and Burial Good Lord deliver me I desire not to be saved from the Guilt of my Sins only or
the Mind from all wordly things till it acquires a contrary bent and inclination and mounts freely and vigorously towards Heaven despising and trampling all the ridiculous trifles of this perishing World and counting all things but Dung and Dross for the Knowledge for the Love of a crucified Redeemer which every very good Man experiences in some happier moments of his Life Now the way to obtain this is the vigorous acting of Faith Repentance Humility and Divine Love and the Energy and inward free motion of the Mind towards Heaven And to this the Church invites in those Words which were used on this occasion in the Primitive times The sursum corda or Life up your Hearts to which the Congregation replys We lift them up unto the Lord which we have the highest reason to do when he confers such inestimable Favours upon us and when Christ instituted this Feast as has been said principally for this Reason that we should think upon him our absent Friend give our selves a little ease and breathing from the amusements and care of Life escape from this World and fix our Hearts upon a better upon that happy place where Christ sits at the right Hand of God and whither if we are faithful to him we shall at length also arrive seeing he has prayed to his Father That all those whom he has given him may be with him where he is that they may behold his Glory St. Iohn 17. 24. § X. A fourth Grace is Humility This is indeed included in Repentance for a true Penitent must be humble But we must be more explicite in it and are directed by the Church to form a particular Act thereof immediately before the Consecration when the Priest kneeling at the Lord's Table says in the name of all that communicate We do not presume to come to this thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in our own Righteousness but only in thy manifold and great Mercies We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table And indeed one would wonder that any Christian should think he could express too great Humility either of Body or Mind when he comes before the Throne of God to receive his Pardon 'T is this most humble prostration of Soul this abasement and annihilation of our selves and utterly disclaiming our own merits which seems to be the bottom of that seraphical Divinity which has made so much noise in the World If they make it more than this 't is dangerous Enthusiasm as has appeared both in the Church of Rome and others If they rest it here as is done in some part at least of Sancta Sophia it is accountable and rational and may be of great Advantage in the course of a Christian Life especially in the Sacrament where the lower we abase our selves the higher will God raise us And this we ought particularly to exercise when we see the Minister approaching to us with the Bread or Wine and firmly to believe that we shall receive our Saviour together with them § XI But yet fifthly this ought not to hinder but rather to encrease our Thankfulness because as has been said the Sense of God's Goodness must needs be advanced by the consideration of our own unworthiness To this the Church especially directs us Above all things ye must render most humble and hearty Thanks to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And again after the Sursum Corda we are invited To give Thanks to our Lord God to which the Congregation answers 'T is meet and right so to do On which follows that solemn Act of Thanks and Praise which the Priest alone pronounces as 't is said our Saviour did in St. Luk. 22. 19. and in 1 Cor. 11. 24. He took Bread and when he had given Thanks he broke it From which Actions the whole Sacrament obtained two Names the Eucharist from giving Thanks as 't is expresly called in two or three places of the New Testament in the Syriac Version and breaking of Bread as 't is stiled in the Acts of the Apostles Now this praising God and acknowledging and adoring his infinite Goodness ought to spread it self thro' every part of the Office And even our Repentance and Humility would be so managed as to encrease our Praises But we should more especially exercise our Thankfulness when the Minister says It is meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all times * 1 Thess. 5. 16. and in all places give Thanks unto God on which follows that Seraphical Anthem repeated by Saints here below and Angels above Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels c. In which the pious Communicant joins both in Heart and Voice as well as in the particular Prefaces before it wherein we are directed to praise God either for the Birth of Christ or his Resurrection or Ascension or for his sending the Holy Ghost or else we adore the Divine Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead which Prefaces seem to have been added because the Church does not doubt but that so often at least as these greater Festivals return there will be a Communion And after we have received We entirely desire our heavenly Father mercifully to accept our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving and we most heartily thank him that he has vouchsafed to feed us who have duly received these Holy Mysteries with the spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of his dear Son and assured us thereby of his Favour and Goodness towards us And then we again break out into that Hymn of Praise to the whole Blessed Trinity part of which is the same that was sung by the Angels at the Birth of our Saviour Glory to God on High on Earth Peace Good-will toward Men. But more especially are we to have our Hearts filled with the most exalted Praises in the very Act of Receiving to which the Minister exhorts us in the delivery both of the Bread and Wine Nothing but Faith and Holy Ioy and humble Praise are then to be admitted Then when the Holy Soul is in the Mount with God and says 't is good for her to be here and if any thing of disturbance can find Entrance 't is because she must so soon return again to a sordid vexatious impertinent World when she is now already on the Wing for Heaven is advanced so far upward in that glorious Road and would so gladly fly away and be at rest in the Bosom of her Redeemer § XII The last Grace is Charity taken in the largest Sense for Love to God and to our Neighbour 1. Love to God the Soul of all Piety which quickens and enlivens every Christian Duty This is here encreased by remembring God's Love to us in sending his Son and our Saviour's Love in giving himself to die for us This Sacrament is the dearest Token of his Love and the
Torment one Drop of the precious Blood of the Son of God! So thou didst think who madest us out of nothing who didst take this most endearing method to obtain our Love And wilt thou accept it may I offer it wilt thou receive a Magdalen after she has so long wandred from thee wilt thou dwell in such a Breast which has been so long a Cage of unclean Spirits yes thou thy self hast said it thou hast assured me of it thou hast sealed my Pardon at thy own Table and requirest nothing of me in return but my worthless Love I grieve and I love O my Redeemer for all that thou hast done for me for all that I have done against thee O when shall I love thee without any Interruption any Disturbance from this intruding World when shall I be ever with thee and be satisfied with thy Love My Heart beats towards thee my Soul desires and pants and longs earnestly to be united with thee never never more to be divided I would fain be more like thee I would refuse nothing for thee O how shall I express my Love and what shall I do for him who has done all for me Come O thou whom my Soul desires to Love thou chiefest of Ten Thousands and all together lovely and fill my Heart so full with the Sense of thy Goodness and with longing desires after thee that I may frequently that I may constantly present my self here at thy Table to meet thee and bless thee That I may shew I have been with Jesus by telling what great things he has done for me by endeavouring to make all others admire and love him that I may still aspire more earnestly towards those blessed Regions of Peace and Love where he is entered before me to prepare a place for me and in the mean time let all my Actions be guided by the Love of Jesus that I may be made perfect in his Love and it may expel all other Loves from my Heart that are inconsistent with it That so when he shall appear I may be like him and see him no longer in Types and Sacraments but Face to Face see him as he is and be for ever with the Lord. Make haste my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Amen! Amen! CHAP. V. § I. HAving already in the First Chapter of this little Treatise given an Account of the Nature of the Sacrament In the Second Of the Obligation which lies on all adult Christians to receive it and even to frequent Communion and answered the Objections which are commonly brought against it In the Third Given some Rules for our Preparation for it and Heads of Examination in order thereunto In the Fourth Discoursed of our Behaviour at the Time of the Celebration and those Graces which are then in a particular manner to be exercised I proceed in the Fifth and last Chapter to add some plain Directions after we have received and what Influence this Holy Sacrament ought to have upon us and how we ought to behave our selves in relation to it both immediately after and between one Sacrament and another as well as through the whole Course of our Lives § II. First Immediately after our Receiving The first thing to be done at our return would be to retire from the World and fall upon our Knees before our Father which sees in secret and bless and adore him with all the ardor of our Souls for his undeserved Mercy in having admitted us once more to his Holy Table and for all the good things which he has there bestowed upon us After this to reflect on the whole Action and carefully to examine our selves how we have performed every part of it Whether our Minds have been deeply affected with the Sense of our Sins and of our Saviour's Love in dying for us Whether our Thoughts have been wandring or fixed on the engaging Objects before us Whether the sacred Food of our Saviour's spiritual Body and Blood has been sweet and delightful to us and we thereby find our selves comfortably satisfied of God's Favour and Goodness and strengthened in his Fear and Love and our Hearts more raised towards Heaven If we find the contrary and that we have been cold or wandring and opprest with that deadness or aridity of Spirit as some call it which even good Men sometimes complain of we must enquire into the Reasons thereof as whether this was not for want of due Preparation or from sloth or negligence in the Morning or want of earnestness in our private Devotions or of taking a just Care to raise our Hearts towards Heaven and to fix them on the Feast and the Inviter or from our unnecessary mingling over-much with the World soon afterwards or not keeping our Feet our Thoughts and Affections in good order when going to the House of God or when present there or not bending and fixing them with the utmost Intention to what we were employed in or not considering as we ought Christ's Love and God's Presence and Goodness and Majesty and Glory or coming in our own Strength and depending too much upon it not casting our selves entirely on God's Mercy thro' Christ some or more of which miscarriages may have been the cause of our want of Comfort or Advantage from this Sacrament for which we therefore ought to blame our selves and not to charge God foolishly to be humbled for them and carefully to note them down or remember them against the next Sacrament that we may be then more watchful against them and avoid what has now been so disadvantageous unto us Nor are we to be unthankful if on Reflection we find that God's Grace has preserved us from any such Inconveniences that our Hearts have been fixed our Devotions enflam'd our Affections raised our Love to God and hatred of Sin heightened and augmented by what has past at that heavenly Feast and that it has been sweeter to us than the Honey and the Honey-Comb and helpt us to despise the World and to long for Heaven These are Blessings which ought not to be forgotten but the Remembrance of them should be dear unto us we ought to revive the Impression of them upon our Hearts and to sink them deeper there that they may have a future lasting Influence on our Practice § III. And here it may be necessary to interpose a double caution as to these Matters There are some who are so afraid of Enthusiasm that they almost forbid a devout Christian to expect or to desire any more than ordinary Ioy or Delight in God's Service nay to suspect it when ever he finds it while others fansie that they have no Communion with God in any Duty nor are indeed any thing the better for it if they have not always these sensible tasts of his Goodness A rational Christian ought to keep the mean between these two Extreams so as neither to despise far be it from him that heavenly
Treatise with an earnest Request to all those who were baptised in their Infancy that they would always remember the Vows of God that are upon them and evidence the same by their Care to fulfil what they have so solemnly promised To renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh and stedfastly believe God's Word and obediently keep his Commandments That they would continue stedfastly in the Doctrine and Fellowship which is so agreeable to the Apostolical Practice and to the Word of God And lastly That they would by no means forget to pray earnestly for their mistaken Brethren That God would please to bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived That he would take away all Pride Uncharitableness Prejudice and Blindness and whatever may hinder godly Union and Concord That as we have but one Lord and one Faith so we may have but one Baptism that so we may come in the Unity of the Faith and the Knowledge of the Son of God to true Christian perfection to the measure and stature of the fulness of Christ. To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost Three and One be Glory in the Church throughout all Ages Amen! Amen! The Great Hallel or Paschal Hymn which was sung by the Jews at the Passover and by our Saviour and his Apostles at the Institution of the Lord's Supper consisting of Psalms 113 114 115 116 117 118. The two former were sung towards the Beginning of the Feast the rest at the End of it Lightfoot ' s Vol. II. pag. 258 260. The first of these Psalms the 113. is still used by the Tigurine Churches at the Communion Tigurine Liturgy p. 116. And any of them as they are here turned into Metre may be sung either in Private or by a Family before or after Sacrament PSALM CXIII The same Tune with that in the old Version 1. YE Priests of God whose happy Days Are spent in your Creators Praise Still more and more his Fame express Ye pious Worshippers proclaim With Shouts of Joy his Holy Name Nor satisfy'd with Praising bless 2. 3. Let God's high Praises ay resound Beyond old Times too scanty Bound And thro' eternal Ages pierce From where the Sun first gilds the Streams To where he sets with purple Beams Thro' all the outstretcht Universe 4. The various Tribes of Earth obey God's awful and imperial Sway Nor Earth his boundless Power confines Above the Sun's all-cheering Light Above the Stars and far more bright His pure essential Glory shines 5. 6. What Mortal form'd of Dust and Clay What Idol even more weak than they Can with the God of Heav'n compare Pure Angels round his glorious Throne He stoops to view nor those alone Even Earth born Men his Goodness share 7. 8. The Poor he raises from the Dust The Needy if on him they trust From sordid Want and Shame he 'll raise That they with mighty Princes plac'd With Wealth and Power and Honor grac'd May sing aloud their Saviour's praise 9. The Barren Womb whose Hopes were past His boundless Power unseals at last And saves her Memory and Fame He fills the House with hopeful Boys Who their glad Mother's Heart rejoyce O therefore praise his Holy Name PSAM CXIV Like the CXLVIII 1. 2. WHen ransom'd Israel came From faithless Egypt's bands The House of Iacob's Name From hostile foreign Lands Iudah alone God's holy Place And Israel's Grace Was his bright Throne 3. 4. Amaz'd old Ocean saw And to its Chambers fled While Iordan's Streams withdraw To seek their distant Head Tall Mountains bound Like jocund Rams The Hills like Lambs Skipt lightly round 5. 6. What ail'd thee O thou Sea To leave thy antient Bed Why did old Iordan flee And seek its distant Head Ye Mountains why Leapt ye like Rams While Hills like Lambs Skipt lightly by 7. 8. All Natures utmost bound The God of Iacob own Where Sea or Land is found Fall trembling at his Throne At whose Command Hard Rocks distill A Crystal Rill And drench the Sand. PSALM CXV Like the C. 1. NOT unto us we all disclaim Glory alone to God's blest Name Whose Truth shall stand for ever fast Whose Love to endless Ages last 2. Why shou'd th' insulting Heathens Pride Our Hopes alike and him deride Where is your God why shou'd they cry Ye Hebrew Slaves O Saviour why 3. Blasphemers know he reigns above And soon will your vain hopes remove He all Events disposes still And all obey his Sovereign Will 4. Not so the Gods to whom they pray Of Silver and of Gold are they To whom in vain their Vows are paid Adoring what their Hands have made 5. Tho' Mouths they have yet all their Art Can neither Breath nor Speech impart Nor can they turn their useless Eyes On those who kneel and sacrifice 6. Tho' loud their Slaves for succour cry They neither hear nor make reply Nor can their Nostrils ought receive Tho' they rich Clouds of Incense give 7. 8. The Bolts they wield they cannot throw Their Feet can neither move nor go With neither Breath nor Sense nor more Who them erect and them adore 9. The Rock of Israel is not so In whom we trust and whom we know Still trust his watchful Providence Who is our help and strong Defence 10. Ye Priests of God who daily bring Incense and Praise to Heav'ns high King O trust in that Almighty Friend Who still will help and still defend 11. 12. He 'll such whose hope on him is staid Against all Fears and Dangers aid Still he 'll his Love on Israel place Still smile on Aaron's sacred Race 12. Those who from Regions wide away Their Vows at his High Altar pay In vain they shall not thither come But go with Blessings loaden home 14. Their pious Children too shall share Th' Almighty's Kindness and his Care Whose wondrous Bounty shall extend To future Days and know no end 15. O happy Israel who partake His Blessings who the World did make 16. Who o're the Heavens triumphant rides And Earth's wide Globe to Man divides 17. 18. The silent Dead no Praises give But we who by his Favour live While we have Breath will Offerings bring And grateful Hallelujahs sing PSALM CXVI Like the XCV 1. O God who when I did complain Did all my Griefs remove O Saviour do not now disdain My humble Praise and Love 2. Since thou a gentle Ear didst give And hear me when I pray'd I 'll call upon thee while I live And never doubt thine Aid 3. Pale Death with all its ghastly Train My Soul encompast round Anguish and wo and hellish Pain Too soon alas I found 4. Then to the Lord of Life I pray'd And did for succour flee O save in my distress I said The Soul that trusts in thee 5. 6. How good and just how large his Grace How easie to forgive The simple he delights to raise And by his Love I live 7. Then O my Soul be still nor more With
disesteeming or ridiculing God's Word or not profiting by it contemning abusing causless grieving his Ministers 4. Adding to his Word making any thing necessary to Salvation which he has not made necessary coining and imposing New Articles of Faith not contained in Scripture Superstitious scrupling what is lawful without endeavouring to have the Conscience better informed Irreverence or Undecency in God's Worship refusing to glorifie God with our Bodies as well as Souls when both are his 5. Want of inward spiritual Worship without which the outward is but like a dead Carcass tho' this may be referred also to the first Command The Breaches of the third Command are 1. Taking God's Name in vain which those who do are particularly branded as God's Enemies * Psal. 139. 20. either by false or rash Oaths or rash or impossible Vows or by breaking lawful or possible Oaths or Vows the Vow in Baptism or at the other Sacrament or by mentioning that glorious and fearful Name the Lord our God without an act of Reverence and Devotion 2. Swearing by any Creature 3. Want of a just Concern for God's Honour encouraging or not discouraging or reproving or punishing where 't is possible and practicable those Monsters of Men who blaspheme or prosane God's Holy Name †Levit. 5. 1. or discouraging or not assisting to our Power those who would do it and who have more Zeal for God's Glory Or not heartily lamenting those Sins if we are where the Tide of wickedness runs so high that we cannot have them punished The Breaches of the fourth Command are 1. The taking it quite away and mocking God in desiâ—ing him to have mercy upon us for our Offences against it and to incline our Hearts to keep it when we believe it as some do purely Typical and Iudaical whereas a seventh part of Time is evidently of moral-positive Obligation being enjoyned before the Fall and there 's little doubt was observed by the Patriarchs before the Law for 't is not reasonable to suppose that Religion could continue Sixteen Hundred Years in the World without a stated time of publick Worship * So St. Athanasius St. Chrysost. Bede many old Councils in England and other places our Book of Homilies Mr. Hooker Archbishop Usher Bishop Stillingfleet Bp. Patrick Bp. Hopkins c. as by all Christians since our Saviour tho the precise seventh Day of the Week was indeed peculiar to the Iews 2. All Profanation of it by weekly or work day Labour or any Works but of Necessity or Charity Unnecessary worldly or vain Discourse or Visits much more by Playing Dancing or the like which make it indeed a Iewish not a Christian Sabbath 3. Neglecting to imploy the whole Day as far as our Strength and Necessities permit in publick or private Acts of Religios Worship 4. Suffering any to profane it who are under our Charge and whom we can binder from doing it or not giving them time for God's Service 5. Not permitting our Servants or very Beasts to rest on that Day or any manner of Cruelty towards them 6. Refusing to observe any other Days appointed by lawful Authority for God's publick Worship either Fasts or Feasts if our Occasions and Circumstances will permit § XI As for the second Table containing our Duty to our Neighbour as the first does our Duty to God We offend against the first Command of it the fifth in the Decalogue by any ways dishonouring our Parents whether Natural our Father and Mother or Civil the Magistrates the King and those that are in Authority under him or Ecclesiastical our Ministers and lawful Pastors or any other Superiors as Masters or Mistresses or our betters and Elders By being undutiful stubborn or unnatural to those to whom we are indebted for our Birth and Education By rebelling against our Prince or being unthankful to him or reviling him or lightly believing ill of him or of those commissioned by him or opposing them in the exercise of that lawful Authority he has deputed unto them By contemning or defrauding our lawful Ministers or forsaking them or discouraging them by neglecting publick Worship of which also under the third By being unfaithful to Masters or careless of their Concerns or stubborn and refractory and disobedient to their lawful Commands By incivility and rudeness and want of due Respect to our Superiors rising up before the hoary Head Or in the reciprocal Duties want of Kindness Watchfulness Support Instruction Provision from Superiors and doing what in them lies for the Souls and Bodies of those committed to their Charge For the sixth 1. The direct Breach of it is Murder the old Version Thou shalt do no Murder being better than the New thou shalt not Kill for all know that all killing is not murder nor is it unlawful as in a just War or the like But murder is killing without or against Law or by a wrested pretence of Law worse than all the rest And under Murder are doubtless included Duels for such the Laws have justly made them and 't is little better to fight in an unjust War or without enquiring into the Justice of it meerly for Pay or Plunder * Bishop Sanderson's Cases of Conscience 2. The next Breach of this Command is by Wounding or Hurting our Neighbour or procuring others to do it 3. Procuring Abortion or Onan's Sin †Gen. 38. 9. 4. Malice or Envy or Revenge against our Neighbour with which none must come to this Feast of Love 5. Causless rash immoderate or implacable Anger and any expressions of it by Word or Action 7. Murthering the Souls of any by ill Advice or Command or Temptation or Example 6 Self-murder the highest and most unnatural Breach of this Command which argues the heighth of Discontent and Despair and where it once proceeds to Action cuts off all Repentance and therefore the least Inclinations to it are to be abhorred and repelled as a most dangerous Temptation of the Devil and to be as severely repented of where they have found any admission 8. Want of Meekness and Forgiveness and Charity and Compassion towards our Neighbour In the seventh are forbidden 1. Expresly Adultery 2. Fornication and all actual Impurity 3. All incentives to this odious Sin Unchast Looks Dresses Books Plays Songs Poetry Pictures Conversation Idleness Pampering the Body and lastly Drunkenness which is so often the occasion of this and almost all other Sins The direct Breach of the eighth Command is Stealing either open and forcibly which is Robbery or private which is These and Pilfering and so is injuring our Neighbour by pretence of Law by Extortion by Oppression by unequal laying of Taxes or otherwise 3. Cheating in Trade false Lights Weights Coin Measures Imposing on our Neighbour in Buying or Selling Lying to raise the Price of Goods 4. Denying detaining or delaying the Hire of the Labourer or lessening or raising it beyond a just proportion 5. Living extravagantly not proportioning Expences to Incoms thence running
from those heavy Punishments that are due unto them but from their Power and prevailing Influence on my Mind from all my Sins even those which have been most dear unto me and am willing to cut off my Right Hand or pluck out my Right Eye so I may but enter into the Kingdom of Heaven My Saviour came to take away the Sins of the World He has born all our Griefs he has carried our Sorrows he was wounded for our Transgressions he was grieved for our Iniquities he has excepted none out of that General Pardon which he has purchased for Mankind and offered to all those who are qualified for receiving it I present the Merits of his inestimable Sacrifice before thee O offended Majesty of Heaven I have no Merits of my own I have nothing I am nothing but vile Dust and Sin But he is worthy for whose sake I beg Mercy of thee which I most humbly implore and expect only in that way which thou hast appointed and on those Conditions which thy Son has revealed in his Holy Gospel by an unfeigned Repentance a firm Faith a sincere and an impartial Obedience O therefore take away all mine Iniquities and receive me graciously who like the Prodigal desire to return to my Father's House And since 't is thou alone who dost both put into our Minds good Desires and canst also give us Grace to perform the same assist me now and ever in those Holy Resolves which I make of new and better Obedience Vouchsafe me thy Grace to avoid all those Occasions and Temptations whereby I have been too often drawn to Evil. Let thy Blessed Spirit evermore comfort and guide me and lead me into all Truth and all Goodness Let me henceforth Evidence my unfeigned Love to my Saviour by keeping his Commandments and let that and all other Graces be excited and encreased in me at this Time in my approaches to his Holy Table Pardon the frivolous and sinful Excuses which I have too often made for my Absence from it my want of Preparation for it the Deadness and Indevotion of my Soul in receiving it and my shameful Unprofitableness by it O that I may now sit under my Saviour's shadow with great Delight and that his Fruit may be sweet unto my Taste That I may in this Sacrament receive greater Strength than ever against my Sins and be thereby nourished up unto Everlasting Life that so after this painful Life is ended I may sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven for the sake of Jesus Christ who ever lives to make Intercession for us in whose most perfect Form of Word I conclude my unworthy and imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. Collect for Perseverance O GOD of all Power and all Love who art the same yesterday to day and for ever and hast assured us in thy Holy Word that thou wilt not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Accept I beseech thee for the sake of thy Dear Son any weak beginnings of Goodness which thou mayst have wrought in me by thy Holy Spirit Despise not the Day of small things Help me to continue to the End that I may be saved And now that I have put my Hand to the Plough grant I may never look back lest I be accounted unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven My Strength O Lord I ascribe unto thee for my own Heart has often deceived me and I know that all my Strength is weakness and my Wisdom folly Assist me therefore by the mighty Aids of thy Holy Spirit and while I am to wrestle not only against Flesh and Blood but against Principalites and Powers let the strong Man be bound by a stronger than he and the God of Love bruise Satan under my Feet Let me be content to suffer shame for thy sake and never be drawn away by the Number or Greatness of bad Examples Lead me not into Temptation and let me never be so hardy and presumptuous as to rush into it Keep me always sober and vigilant temperate and humble ever upon my Guard watching and praying that the Enemy may obtain no advantage against me Accept and confirm all my Vows and Resolutions of Obedience Let me have a constant Respect unto the blessed Recompence of Reward and by patient continuance in well doing seek for and at length obtain Glory Immortality and Eternal Life thro' thy Mercies in Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen! Amen For Faith O LORD who hast said that he who has but Faith as a Grain of Mustard-seed may remove Mountains and that without Faith it is impossible to please thee Increase my Faith and let me thereby overcome the World and the Flesh and quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil Let me firmly believe all thy Promises to the Penitent and Obedient and all thy Threatnings against impenitent Sinners Let me not rest in a dead Faith a presumptuous Opinion that I shall be pardoned or saved without performing all those good Works which thou hast prepared for me to walk in Give me that Faith which worketh by Love and by an impartial Obedience to thy Commands Let me firmly believe in the Lord Jesus that I may be saved and not trust in my own Righteousness but in his Merits who is the Way the Truth and the Life Let me always hope in him for Pardon of what 's past and Grace to serve thee better for the future Let me have a lively and stedfast Faith in him when I approach to his Table that I may draw near and take the Holy Sacrament to my Comsort and that it may powerfully help me forward in the right way which leads unto Everlasting Life To the unfading Glories of that happy State where Faith shall be changed into sight where with Holy Souls who are departed this Life in the true Faith and Fear of thy Holy Name I may enjoy the End of my Faith the Salvation of my Soul and see and love thee to all Eternity thro' Jesus Amen A Thanksgiving before the Sacrament WHAT shall I render to thee O God of all Grace for the Riches of thy Goodness towards me a miserable Sinner How utterly unworthy am I even of the common Blessings of Life And yet art thou pleased out of thy infinite Mercies once more to permit me to invite me to tread thy Courts to sit at thy Table and to Feast on Angels Food O that my Heart could be fully possest with Thoughts of Gratitude and Love O let my Mouth be filled with Thanks and my Lips with Praise for those inestimable Benefits God will in very deed dwell with Man tho' the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him My Saviour will fulfil his gracious Promise and be present with his Church in his own Institutions till the End of the World I have now one happy Opportunity more offered me to renew that Covenant which I have so often broken to obtain greater Strength against my Sins and to sacrifice
Manna that Angel's Food of Ioy in Believing the pleasures of God's House and Table the Fruits of the Tree of Life the foretasts of Heaven for which he pants as the thirsty Hart does after the refreshing Streams being fully perswaded by Reason Experience and Scripture that Ioy in the Holy Ghost and Fellowship with the Father and the Son are something more than Enthusiastical Fancies that God can communicate himself to his Creatures in what measure and by what means he pleases and that his own Institutions are those means whereby he does thus communicate himself to prepar'd and holy Minds and therefore he cannot rest in the outward only but prays for the Light of God's Countenance and the Ioy of his Salvation which make up so great a part of the Happiness of Heaven and when he has thus tasted how good the Lord is he cannot but be entirely thankful for it But yet neither does he estimate his Profit in any religious Duty or the presence of God in them by these sensible Ioys only He knows our weak Nature is neither able long to bear them nor is often fit for them He expects not all Canaan while on this side Iordan tho' he cannot but be delighted with a taste sometimes of the Fruits of that happy Country He believes he has then Benefit by any Duty and particularly by this Sacrament and that then God is present with him in it when he finds that he is thereby more settled in his Faith his Hope and his Obedience more rooted and grounded in Holy Love both to God and his Christian Brother when he finds his will more submissive and entirely resigned to God's Sovereign Will and the Duties of Religion growing gradually more easie and as it were natural and delightful to him And consequently he cannot be so well satisfied of his profiting by a Sacrament immediately after he has received for he expects it not all at once as at some distance of time when the Grace he then received is as it were digested in his Mind and spreads it self thro' all the Parts and Offices of an holy Life § IV. After examining the Frame of our Minds at the past Communion we are in the next place exactly to reflect on those Holy Vows and Resolves which we have made at God's Altar whether against Passion Impurity Intemperance immoderate Love to the World neglect of Sacraments or of publick private or Family Devotion or of the Souls of those whom God's Providence has committed to our Charge or any other failure whereof we found our selves guilty in our former Preparation and Examination and which we have anew vowed against at the Communion all which Vows if we did now again solemnly renew and implore and expect the continuance of Divine Strength to perform them and consider the means to obtain and preserve it we should doubtless find great Advantage by it especially if we renewed the same in our daily Examination which must needs preserve both the sense of God's Goodness and of our own Obligations more fresh and lively on our Minds and have a good Influence on our Practice tho' at greater distance from the Communion § V. And indeed this is the main hinge of the whole matter the great means whereby we must gain advantage by the Sacrament and which if we neglect we must at least expect the loss of our Comfort if not our Souls 'T is to remember all is not over as soon as we have received No nor that Day nor Week nor indeed while we live for the Obligation is for ever We do in the Sacrament shew forth the Lord's Death Till he come We engage our selves by this Oath as well as by that at Baptism to be his faithful Soldiers and Servants to our Lives End We are not to think the Oath it self is all since 't is but a Security to our future Faith and true Allegiance 'T is not enough to Vow nay 't is better not to vow at all than to vow and not to pay tho' to do both is still better than either We cannot too often remember that those Graces which we exercise at this Ordinance must also be put in Practice thro' the whole course of our Lives and 't is the reason of its Institution that they may by degrees be reduced into holy Habits We must be inwardly better'd by the Sacrament as well as by other Duties or else indeed we are not better at all for as one well observes Religion is not a Road of Performances but a New Nature evidenced by a New Life § VI. But more especially are we to call to mind these Promises and Obligations when we find our selves again attack'd by any Temptation either to those Sins which we have formerly committed or to any others Wo to him who after he has escaped the Pollutions of the World and tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come in this Ordinance shall yet fall away again return like a Dog to his Vomit shamefully yield to the same Sin which he has before so solemnly renounced and pretended to forsake and thereby in a great measure trample under foot the Blood of the Covenant crucifie the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame I speak not of lesser unavoidable Infirmities such as wandring Thoughts the first motions of Passion or being ready to give way to the violence of Temptation tho' recovering again but what I here intend is the relapsing into any grosser Sins such as Uncleanness Injustice Drunkenness habitual Carelessness of Duty and neglect of God's Word and Sacraments and our private stated Devotions which last may justly be ranked among greater Sins as being too frequently the beginning of all the rest Not that even these are unpardonable on true Repentance but that the Aggravations of them are so exceedingly heightned by the addition of Ingratitude and Perjury An old Wound may possibly be cured at last even when 't is badly healed but then there 's a necessity of its being laid open again and the Pain will be more exquisite than it was at the first We ought therefore when attack'd by any old Temptation to oppose immediately this powerful Armor against it and whatever pleasure or profit it 's baited with by the great Deceiver with Indignation to reject it To reflect vigorously on our new Obligations to the contrary both of Promises of Interest and of Gratitude To say within our selves I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep God's righteous Judgments And ' Get thee behind me Satan the God of Peace whose I am and who has promised to help me shall bruise thee under my Feet And to this end we must be always upon our Guard we must be temperate and sober or else we can never be vigilant We must avoid ill Company the great Emissaries of Satan as we would Satan himself A great End of the Sacrament is to make us look forward and remember Christ's last coming
anxious Thoughts distrest God's bounteous Love does thee restore To wonted ease and rest 8. 9. My Eyes no longer drown'd in Tears My Feet from stumbling free Redeem'd from Death and deadly Fears O Lord I 'll live to thee 10. When nearest press'd I still believ'd 11. Still glori'd in thy Aid Tho' when by faithless Men deceiv'd All all are false I said 12. To him what Offerings shall I make Whence my Salvation came The Cup of Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now I 'll take 13. And call upon his Name 14. Those Vows which in my greatest straits Unto the Lord I made Shall now be at his Temple Gates Before his People paid 15. That Life which thou O Lord didst save From raging Tyrants free 16. That ransom'd Life thy Bounty gave I dedicate to thee 17. My Heart and Voice at once I 'll raise Thy Goodness to proclaim With loud and grateful Songs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Praise I 'll call upon thy Name 18. Yes all those Vows which in my straits Unto the Lord I made Shall now be at his Temple Gates Before his People paid 19. His Priests shall mix their Hymns with mine His Goodness to record And all Ierusalem shall joyn With me to praise the Lord. PSALM CXVII 1. YE Nations who the Globe divide Ye numerous People scatter'd wide To God your grateful Voices raise 2. To all his boundless Mercy shown His Truth to endless Ages known Require our endless Laud and Praise Doxology To him who reigns enthron'd on high To his dear Son who deign'd to die Our Guilt and Errors to remove To that bless'd Spirit who Grace imparts And rules in all believing Hearts Be endless Glory Praise and Love PSALM CXVIII 1. GLad Hymns and Songs of Praise rehearse To th'Maker of the Universe Whose Goodness does so far extend Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End 2. Let Israel now no more oppress'd With Quiet and with Plenty bless'd Praise him who all their Bliss did send Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End 3. Let Aaron's Sons who round his Throne In sacred Hymns his Goodness own While his bless'd Service they attend Confess his Mercy knows no End 4. Let all who with Religious Fear Approach his Gates and every Year With Gifts fair Sion's Hill ascend Confess his Mercy knows no End 5. With deep distress encompast round To him I cry'd and succour found He me from Exile did retrieve And safe and free as Air I live 6. He 's on my side and I 'll despise 7. Th' Efforts of all my Enemies 8. On him 't is safer to rely 9. Than Princes who may fail or die 10. Tho' Troops of Foes besieg'd me round 11. As angry Insects swarming sound 12. Their short liv'd Mischief I can scorn Noise without Strength like Fire in Thorn 13. At once they charg'd and prest me all Yet staid by God I could not fall 14. My Saviour he to whom belongs The Tribute of my grateful Songs 15. Nor shall my single Thanks be paid Lend me ye Saints O lend your Aid Let Health and Joy be spread around With Praise let your glad Gates resound 16. God's own Right Hand has Wonders wrought And conquer'd those against him fought 17. He smiles and grants me happier Days And here I now my Saviour praise 18. Heavy his angry Strokes did fall But ah I well deserv'd 'em all Yet in the Confines of Despair And Death he found and sav'd me there 19. Now to his Holy House return'd Who late a helpless Exile mourn'd Thro' th' Everlasting Gates I 'll go And pay him part of what I owe. 20. 21. A pious Crowd I 'll with me bring And with glad Heart my Saviour sing 22. That Stone the Builders once displac'd Now to the Corner's Head is rais'd 23. God's Hand the great Event has wrought Wondrous and passing human Thought 24. This is the Day the Lord has made Therein let all our Vows be paid 25. Still hear and save O still defend And heavenly Joy and Comfort send 26. Blessed be he who'll Blessings bring Pardon and Grace from Heav'ns high King We who from his high Altar bless Will for his People ask Success 27. He from the Confines of Despair Has rais'd us to the Lightsome Air. Let the crown'd Victims haste away And Thousands after Thousands slay Wash the broad Courts with sacred Gore Till Bashan's Fields can send no more 28. And what thou valuest far above Thee O my God! I 'll Praise and Love 29. Whose Goodness does so far extend Whose wondrous Mercy knows no End FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Charles Harper at the Flower-de-Luce over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet THE Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. An Heroic Poem dedicated to her most Sacred Majesty in Ten Books Attempted by Samuel Wesley M. A. each Book illustrated by necessary Notes explaining all the more difficult Matters in the whole History Also a Prefatory Discourse concerning Heroic Poetry The Second Edition revised by the Author and improved with the Addition of a Large Map of the Holy Land and a Table of the Principal Matters with Sixty Copper-Plates by the celebrated Hand of W. Faithorn Folio Linguae Rom. Dict. Luculentum Novum A New Dictionary in five Alphabets Representing first the English Words and Phrases before the Latin Second The Latin Classic before the English Third The Latin Proper Names of Persons Countries c. Fourth The Latin Barbarous Fifth The Law-Latin The whole compleated and improved from the several Works of Stephens Cooper Gouldman Holyoke Dr Littleton a large Manuscript in three Volumes of Mr. Iohn Milton c. In the Use of all which for greater Exactness recourse has always been had to the Authors themselves Cole's Dictionary in Octavo Eng. Lat. and Lat. and Eng. The Pantheon representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and most Illustrious Heroes in a short plain and familiar Method by way of Dialogue Written by F. Pomey For the Use of Schools The Second Edition wherein the Whole Translation is Revised and much amended and the Work is illustrated and adorned with elegant Copper-Cuts of the several Deities c. The Lives of the Roman Emperors from Demitian where Suetonius ends to Constantine the Great Containing those of Nerva and Trajan from Dion Cassius A Translation of the Six Writers of the Augustean History And those of Dioclesian and his Associates from Eusebius and others with the Heads of the Emperors in Copper-Plates dedicated to His most Sacred MAJESTY In two Volumes By Iohn Bernard A. M. English Examples to Lily's Grammar Rules for Children's Latin Exercises with an Explanation to each Rule For the Use of Eton School Gratii Falisci Cynegeticon cum Poematio Cognomine M. A. Olympii Nemesiani Carthaginensis Notis perpetuis variisque Lectionibus adernavit Tho. Johnson M. A. Accedunt Hier. Fracastorii Alcon Carmen Pastoritium Jo. Caii de Canibus Libellus Ut Opusculum vetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dict seu de Cura Canum incerto Auctore