not an easie grief or a mourning of the Eye only but it 's a mourning of the heart which is the heart of mourning It 's not superficial tears but the deep sorrow of the heart that will wash away sin I have read a Story that one of the Questions which the Queen of Sheba propounded to King Solomon was this She having brought before him a company of Children both Males and Females all alike apparelled demanded of him which were the Boys and which were the Girls which he thus decided he caused them all to wash in a Bason of Water and observ'd which rubb'd more hard and those he set aside for the Boys and those that washt more tenderly and softly he determined to be the Girls Those that would wash away the filth of sin must not like those of that softer Sex do it easily and tenderly but must exercise a masculine spirit and rub hard like those of the harder and rougher Sex to scour the Soul It 's not to be done by a slight Repentance there must be a great deal of pains taken to cleanse the heart from sin And therefore Repentance is generally mistaken while it is thought to be nothing else but a being sorry for sins committed and a wishing they had not been done Such slight Penitents can be sorry to day and sin again to morrow and yet think they have truly repented 2. Mourning after a godly manner is a grief springing from the bowels of love to God the stronger the stream is the more there is of the fountain and the stronger the sorrow for sin is the more there is of God A true Penitent finds a principle within him that carries him out to a mourning for sin But an unregenerate man is rather forced upon it by some extrinsick motives as fear of Hell than carried to it out of the proper and peculiar inclination of his own heart 3. It 's such a sorrow as changes the heart and life there 's a sanctification of the inward man and a reformation of the outward conversation going along with it This sorrow for sin consumes the sin that bred it as the Worm doth the Wood that bred it 4. It 's accompanied with an universal hatred of sin an utter abhorrency of every iniquity The Dove as they say which hates the Hawk hates every Feather of it A true Penitent so abhors sin that he hates every plume and feather every branch of it he would have the very memory of Amalek blotted out he hath a deadly hatred to the whole tribe of sin the whole stock and kind to every member of that cursed family of sin he hates the very occasions of sin which are only the harbingers and spokes-men of it and will give them no entertainment but thrusts them out of doors He so hates sin that he longs to be rid of it The Apostle cries out as one tied to a dead carcass or tired with the Chains of a grievous bondage O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.14 He here cries out against the sinfulness of Nature and hates and would be rid of that as well as sinfulness of Life If you mourn only for actual sins you only cleanse the streams and let the spring continue muddy and noisome which will soon send forth new streams of the same nature But further Repentance is not only a mourning for sins past but a fiducial Resolution to forsake all for the future I call it a fiducial Resolution i. e. a Resolution of Faith for it is not an ordinary Resolution that will prove one to be a true Penitent we have very revolting slippery hearts apt to return to sin and therefore had need to take up strong and fiducial Resolutions in the strength of Christ to fortifie our hearts against sin Crazy Timber in a Building must be well Crampt with Iron Bars to keep it from yielding And broken Bones had need of strong filleting to bind them together Take heed that you do not defer your Repentance or adjourn it to another day It 's very dangerous so to do Therefore I desire you with all possible earnestness for the Love of God and of your precious Souls set upon this duty presently Do not say within your self I am young and it's time enough to do it hereafter Remember Death comes riding Post and though sometimes he change Horses first come on one Disease and leaving that after come on another yet oftentimes he doth not change but comes on one single Horse and takes away at the first Sickness and then as you will but have little time to repent so little aptness or disposition thereunto when Sickness hath once arrested you Oh how unfit will you then be to turn to God when you can scarce turn your self in your Bed Let me therefore give you the Counsel that a Rabbin gave one of his Scholars Repent a day before you die and the Scholar thereupon thinking that he should have time enough then he bade him repent to day for thou knowest not but thou mayest be dead to morrow But is not this it may be said a hard painful Life to be every day repenting No when it is done every day it soon grows an easie work The good Huswife that scours her Plate often hath an easier task of it every day than other But is not this a sad and melancholy Life for to be always mourning and repenting No Tears of Repentance saith holy Bernard are sweeter than all worldly Joy Repentance is a most sweet Grace and hath much comfort in it The day of Expiation in the Old Law was a day of mourning yet the Jubilee was always to be proclaimed on that day The day of mourning for sin is a day of Expiation of sin and God then proclaims a Jubilee to the Soul in the pardon of it But further to take off this Objection and to give a fuller Answer thereunto I shall add the next following Advice CHAP. X. Of making Religion a delight MAke Religion your great delight and Recreation Delight your self in the Lord Psal 37.4 Or as the Apostle enjoyns Rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 1 Thes 5.16 Take delight in God himself in his infinite Excellencies and Perfections in his Goodness Love and Mercy in his Word and Works in his Commands and in his Promises in his Ways and in his Heaven which he hath prepared for Souls This and my last Advice for a daily mourning for sin are no way inconsistent but lovingly meet and kiss each other Chrysostom observes that David the great mourner in Israel was also the chief finger in Israel As with one Eye we look down to our sins so we mourn but as with the other Eye i. e. the Eye of Faith we look up to God and his Mercy pardoning sin upon Repentance so we rejoyce Godly sorrow makes pardoning Mercy taste the sweeter and causeth greater joy and
of Christ look by Faith beyond these outward Elements and say Lord thou dost here send me a covered Dish of Royal Cheer from Heaven from thine own Table as to a Beloved Friend or Dear Child Teach me to take off the outward Cover and to see plainly and clearly the rare Delicates that are laid in it Let me so imploy my outward Senses in minding the out-side of the Sacrament so as to raise my Spiritual Senses to see and discern the inside thereof and the Glorious Mysteries couched in it And here exercise further longing desires after those vailed Mysteries and say As the Heart pants after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul is athirst for God yea even for the Living God When you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then you see the lively Spectacle of a Dying Saviour Let then Repentance be renewed Faith Love and Resolutions for New Obedience and Holy Desires also Acted and Elevated in the Soul Represent now to your self in this Mystery what our Lord Jesus endured when he hung upon his painful Bed of Sorrows the Cross and say to your self canst thou look upon a broken Saviour without a broken Heart upon a bleeding Christ without a bleeding Soul Upon a pierced Jesus without a Heart pierced thorow with Godly sorrow for thy Sins that pierced him Doth not every Orifice made by the Nayls the Thorns and the Spear in that pretious tormented and pained Body and every drop of Blood that issued thence call aloud to thee for Repentance of those Sins that caused these Torments I do therefore here Vow and Covenant to take a revenge upon my Sins and give them their mortal wound and cause them to Bleed to Death using them as they used my Dear Lord and Saviour O what Streams of matchless Love were these that flowed from a Dying Saviour laying down his Life for me and do not these call for streamings of Love back again from my Breast towards him O that my Soul may be sprinkled with that Blood which issued from that Fountain of infinite Love O that it may be Bathed in that Blessed Bath set open for Sin and for Uncleanness Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there 's none upon Earth that I can desire besides thee my bleeding Saviour When the Minister comes and delivers to you the Bread or Wine look on him as doing it in Christs Name and here stir up Faith and Love to God Think with admiring Love how God in Christ delivers up himself in Covenant to you offering to be your God your Reconciled Father and Redeemer And believe with Joy and Thankfulness that you hear Christ by the Minister saying to your Faith Take my Body and Blood all the Riches of that Covenant which was Sealed with my Blood all the Blessings coucht in that Blessed Charter of the Gospel When you take these at the Ministers hands then let the Hand of Faith stretch forth it self to reach God and stir up your self to take hold on him and put forth intire Resolutions of New Obedience and say Lord by taking this I do Covenant with thee that I take thee with my whole Heart to be my Lord to be ruled and governed as well as saved by thee and I do here seriously devote my self both Body and Soul to the intire Obedience of thee When you are eating the Bread then lift up your Heart by Faith to God and say I believe Lord that thy flesh is meat indeed thou that didst Dye for me art the Bread of Life that shall nourish my Soul to eternal Life My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips And here by eating this Bread I do Covenant with thee to be thy Servant and Obedient Child for ever And when you are drinking of the Wine or immediately upon it say Lord thy Blood is Drink indeed O that my Soul may tast the refreshings of this Heavenly Wine O stay me with Flagons Comfort me with thy Love which is better than Wine I believe that thy Blood was shed for the Remission of Sins O that I may be washt from all mine in that Holy Laver And that I may hear the soft Voice of thy Spirit whispering to my Soul Daughter be of good Cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Bless the Lord O my Soul and that is within me bless his Holy Name who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases When you look upon the Communicants receiving with you exercise Love to the Saints and say where the Carcass is where the Crucified Body of my Saviour is thither will the believing Eagles be gathered together and shall not I be joyned in love with all that Heavenly Flock and Holy Society These Eagles do all feed on Blood the Blood of a Crucified Christ and hath not this a Cementing Virtue to unite Affections These are the Friends of the Bride groom and shall not I make them my Friends Shall not the Beloved of my Saviour be the Beloved Ones of my Soul CHAP. XXXV What is to be done after the Administration is ended VVHEN the solemnity is over go home with a glad heart and a chearful Spirit and say to your self what did Haman go from Esthers Banquet of Wine with a glad Heart glorying in the honour of his being there And shall not I much more rejoyce and glory who have been in the Spouses banqueting House where his Banner over me was love and have been royally entertain'd by the King of Saints with the choicest delicates of Heaven When you are come home retire your self into privacy for a little time and ask your self what your demeanour was at the Lords Table and what happy fruit you have found of your being there What meltings or softnings of Heart What glimpses of Love What cherishing Beams of the Spirit What strength vigor and liveliness of Soul What secret springings and elevations of Spirit What spiritual quicknings and refreshings have you had at that Feast of Fat Things and refined Wines And according as you find it with your Heart upon this short tryal so do you answerably make your addresses unto God If you have found the efficacy of the Ordinance and sweet satisfaction there bless God for it and sing glory to God in the highest and pray earnestly to him that it may abide upon your Soul but if you find no Divine relishes no drops of sweetness but are come away with an earthy and drossy Soul then humble your self before God and labour to find out the Sin that was the obstruction and remove it 3. Be watchful afterwards lest the World or any trifling occasions damp those influences which you found at the Sacrament All persons are most careful of themselves after they come out of a hot Bath lest they shouid take cold When you have been at this Spiritual Bath of the Sacrament be exceeding careful that cold get not info
and business to go on in the Way so as that you neither stumble in it nor step awry into by-paths Observe exactly the steps of our fore-runner the Lord Jesus Christ and tread therein Walk by this Clue alone in this dark World if you would neither go aside nor go crookedly in the way The Mariner must know every Point of his Compass otherwise he may endanger all In your passage through the Sea of this World you must mind the Word of God and steer the Ship of your Soul by this Compass exactly you must mind this Rule in all things that you do you must Pray by Rule Read Hear Meditate give Alms and examine your self by Rule Yea you must Eat Drink Sleep Dress and Recreate your self and do every thing in every part of your conversation exactly by Rule 2. Those that are for their Latitude for their vagaries and extravagancies they will cry out against all this strictness and preciseness as a being Righteous over-much and against all Zeal as too feaverish and will tell you that to be thus strait-lac'd cannot be good for the spiritual birth but alas these never knew what this Scripture meant Walk Circumspectly i. e. Strictly or Precisely Does not God who hath prescribed you this strictness know what is best and most necessary for you Let People think what they will certainly without strictness they can never be saved The way to Heaven is a strait gate and there must be a striving to enter into it Luke 13.24 Salvation is not to be got with a wet finger you cannot climb to Heaven with a little lazy and yawning Devotion It 's very dangerous trifling in Religion and doing the Work of God to halves Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully or negligently Jer. 48.10 If you may have too much godliness then you may have too much of Heaven and Blessedness 3. It requires a great deal of circumspection and care to walk aright in the way to Heaven You must be so exact here as to avoid all occasions and appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 and to keep your self unspotted from the World Jam. 1.27 You must be so careful as not to contract any stain or spot upon your Soul A neat Lady in the dirty Streets goes very cautiously and circumspectly observes her feet picks out the cleanest way takes accurate care to avoid every foul step holds up her Garment that it may not be soil'd or get the least spot of dirt Thus a neat Soul makes strait paths for its feet it makes strait steps and goes by a strait Rule considers its ways and desires God to order them looks to its Garments so as not to defile them or get the least spot thereon Are we not all under the exact and curious Eye of Omniscience which marks all our steps and ponders all our goings had we not need therefore to walk circumspectly and to abstain from all appearance of evil CHAP. VIII Of Dying daily 1. DIE daily unto sin This is an excellent way to live well Mortifie your corruptions crucifie sin within you That your Soul may be in health you must be in a continued course of Physick all your life for so long as you have this body of sin this corrupt nature about you you will still have matter to purge out 2. Now that you may do this work of Mortification thoroughly you must strike at the whole body of sin the whole corrupt frame of heart commonly called Original Sin which most persons so little look at and so little confess to God as if they had no cause to be humbled for it The sharp Knife of mortifying Grace doth not only cut off some members or acts of sin but endeavours to cut off the very body of sin to take out the Core so that the Ulcer may not break out again You may restrain actual sins but you never mortifie them till corrupt nature within be subdued Restraining actual sins alone is but violently to keep the Bladder under water which will be mounting up again but let corrupt Nature be wounded and then you prick the bladder of sin and so it will sink Mortifying Grace makes such a wound within that the very life of corrupt Nature runs out by degrees If an Imposthume breaks there 's an endeavour not only to bring up all the matter in it but to get hold of the very Bag also otherwise the Patient may die of it presently or it may gather again When you become sensible of sin and seriously convinced of it the Imposthume begins to break oh labour then to pluck up Original Sin or Corrupt Nature which is the very Bag of the Imposthume that if possible it may not gather again This is the very heart and root of sin If the heart be wounded and die all the members die with it If the root be grubb'd up all the branches wither 3. Think not that your Soul is in a healthy condition till you find every sin dying in you In true Mortification every sin consumes and pines away As in a Hectick there is a Consumption not only of one member but of all The Physick that Christ gives to make sin die in us is not an Elective that purgeth out one humour only but it 's an Universal Medicine that works on all If you leave one sin and have a heart hankering after another you are but in Benhadad's condition who recovered of one Disease but fell into another that proved mortal It 's the Custom of some Indians to value themselves by the number of heads which they have cut off If you would judge aright of your self see how many heads of sin you have cut off whether you have so cut off the head of every sin that it reign no more in you 4. In your endeavour after the death of every sin you must especially labour after the death and mortification of spiritual sins which like a Hectick are most dangerous because most difficultly discovered these lie close in the heart unseen Pride of heart and Self-love which is the very heart and quintessence of Unregeneracy as are an Imposthume more dangerous because so inward and indiscernible When the Imposthume is within the breast you cannot think to cure it by laying a Plaister to the skin your application must here be made to the heart Ignorant Patients complain more of that Disease which is most apparent than they do of that which is most malignant CHAP. IX Of Repentance EXercise daily Repentance from dead works I add this to the former Advice because it is by Repentance unto life as the Apostle calls it Acts 11.18 that sin is mortified and made to die Now this Repentance is a mourning after a godly manner for sins past and revolving fiducially in the strength of Christ to forsake all sin hereafter I say it is a mourning after a godly manner which hath these following properties in it 1. It is a great and bitter mourning it 's
hereafter also CHAP. XVIII How to manage an Afflicted Condition 1. USE your best endeavours to get good by all the Afflictions and Crosses that shall befal you I know indeed it may be with Christians as with Meats some are preserved in Sugar as Cherries and Plums c. others as Beef are preserved in Brine But yet I think you have more reason to fear the sweetness of a prosperous rather than the sharp Brine of an adverse condition Bees are killed with Honey but quickened with Vinegar If you read your Bible through you shall find that few of God's Children have gone through a prosperous condition without being ensnared thereby and rarely find any but have been bettered by adversity In the Summer of prosperity it 's well if you be not Fly-blown In the budding Spring and in the blooming Summer then Pride and Vanity Formality in Religion and Satisfaction in Creature comforts will be apt to sprout forth and taint you but the sharp Winter of Affliction will kill these Vermin Sharp and bitter things are abstersive and cleanse the body from many noxious and phlegmatick humours whereas sweet things much used do stuff up the passages of the body and create many obstructions It 's a high Character that is given of that Noble Person that Mirrour of your Sex the Lady Jane Gray that she so managed an afflicted condition that she made Misery it self seem amiable and the Night-cloths of Adversity did as much become her as her Day-dressing God's Children are his Jewels his rich Plate which being scoured by Afflictions look brighter their Souls are bleacht and whitened in the Waters of Afflictions These are the sharp Lemmon that take off their Mill-dews Christians seldom come to be great Scholars in the School of Christ without the Rod of Afflictions Learn to value Afflictions as you do Physick not according to the tast and rellish but according to the profitable effects that it works That is to be accounted a blessed Feaver that preserves the Soul from everlasting burnings 2. If you be not better'd by God's Rod when he sends it take heed lest he turn not his Rod into a Serpent as Moses Rod was Is it not to be thought a dangerous symptom of God's rejection and that the Physician of our Souls is leaving us when Afflictions which usually are God's Physick to purge out our Disease do cooperate therewith and so encrease it it's then to be feared that we shall hardly recover 3. Improve all Afflictions for your spiritual good by Prayers and actings of Faith in a Promise 1. By Prayer Is any afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 Afflictions may be said to be improv'd by Prayer these two ways 1. By making them a motive to put your self on Prayer The Rod then doth the Child good when it brings his stubborn heart to his knees God therefore lays his People on their backs that he may make them to look up to Heaven Every Cross is an unsanctified Cross that is not attended with Prayer 2. By using Prayer as a means to help you against those sins which are apt to accompany an afflicted condition as Impatience Discontent c. and to fetch in those graces which you have most need of therein as Faith Humility Repentance Contentment Joy and Submission to the Will of God Prayer will cause these precious fruits to grow on the Cross and so it will be sanctified to you 2. Improve Afflictions by actings of Faith in the Promises Afflictions are sweetned to Believers they are rolled up in Sugar they are steept in Honey sanctified by the word of the Promise that they shall work together for good Rom. 8.28 and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness Heb. 12.1 The Promise gives them a most delicious rellish to Faith Faith can make a soveraign Oil of these Scorpions to heal the Soul Faith can turn Water into Wine even the bitter Waters of Marah into the Wine of Comfort CHAP. XIX How to manage your Relative Condition 1. BE earnest in Prayer to the God of all Grace to furnish you with suitable Grace for the Relations you stand in Hath God called you to be a Wife pray for the spirit of a Wife There 's no Relation that we enter into but it calls for new duties from us No Relation but hath its peculiar temptations and sins to which it is prone Consider then what are your Relation-temptations and your Relation-sins and what are your Relation-duties and pray for strength against those particular temptations and sins and for those particular duties No duties are more momentous and yet none less observed usually It 's a common fault to neglect our own work and too much to complain of others neglecting theirs and so like Planets we eclipse one another Many Wives are apt to pick quarrels because their Husbands do not their duties when themselves omit their own And so many unnatural Children complain of their Parents for being so when it is next door to an impossibility for a Patent to be unnatural O mind well your Relation defects and be very careful that Religion may form and mould your demeanour towards all your Relations whatsoever This will be your excellency thus will you be like a fixed Star shining in that proper Orb in that very sphere and station where God hath fixt you without eccentrick motions 2. If you would know how the case stands betwixt God and your Soul consider what you are in all your several Relations and how you manage them Judge not your self so much by your praying and hearing and other duties of Religion in your general Calling as a Christian as by the practice of your Religion at home in your Relations Observe specially how your Religion works in your Relative condition and the temptations thereof She is not a good Woman that is not a good Wife or not a good Daughter 3. Live in a free and chearful submission and obedience to your Husband You have this command given in several places of Scripture Wives submit your selves to your own Husbands as unto the Lord Eph. 5.22 Col. 3.18 1 Pet. 3.1 This submission includes both Reverence and Obedience to the Husband and this Obedience must be shewed both to his commands his desires his restraints and his rebukes nay if his rebukes should turn to revilings the Wife may not revile again for that would be to shoot with the Devil in his own Bow but she may sweetly admonish him in things that she certainly knows to be sinful and hurtful Your subjection doth not hinder you from provoking him to love and good works as the Apostle useth the phrase Heb. 10 24. but yet even this provocation must be without passion You may lovingly admonish him thereunto but with a care that in so doing you provoke him not to wrath lest you do like those who take hot water to heat the Stomach and thereby enflame the Liver The Wife in Nathan's Parable is called a Lamb she must be a Lamb for
intomb'd her dead Husband in her living body A faithful Soul that is espoused to Christ doth this at the Sacrament Eating and Drinking there of her crucified Saviour by a Spiritual Commessation thus she lives by him and hath him as it were intomb'd in her Heart Therefore whensoever you come to this Heavenly Banquet come with this end that your Soul may receive increase and nourishment in Grace thereby that you may have Christ become one with you as your food doth whereby you thrive and grow But yet you must not think to get any nourishment from the out-side of the Sacrament from the outward Rynd or Bark or Skin of the Ordinance or by feeding on the outward Elements if you rest there This would be to scrape or lick the Dish only or out-side of the Cup to play with the Trencher and let the Meat alone and to go away whole and untoucht from the Table The second end for which this Sacrament was instituted is a solemn Commemoration of Christ and him Crucified or the celebrating a memorial of him in the Church thrâ—ughout all Ages Publick Feasts were usually made for the perserving the memory of some great Benefactor Now this Sacrament of the Passion is a publick Feast for the whole Church of God in all Ages and was it not instituted for to keep a perpetual memory of the Founder of it our dear Lord and infinite Benefactor This will appear by his own words at the first Institution do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 i. e. of me as Crucified and Dying as Saint Paul expresly interprets it 1 Cor. 11.16 For as oft as ye do eat this Bread and Drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come and therefore it was purposely ordain'd for the retaining a more special Memory of his Death and Passion For the Sacrament as I premised was a feast upon a Sacrifice and so it was ordain'd by Christ more particularly and specially to commemorate that oblation of himself upon the Cross for the Redemption of the World till he come to Judgment to eternize the memory of his great and infinite love and goodness in dying for us and to transmit it to all succeeding Ages and Generations The Lord hath so done this marvellous work that it ought to be had in everlasting remembrance Therefore in all your addresses to this Sacrament of the Passion come for this end to keep in a thankful and affectionate memory the great and infinite sufferings of Christ for our Sins Remember his Death and Passion through the whole Sacramental Action and that with the most enlarged and enravisht affections and meltings of Heart and the immortal hatred of those sins that put him upon dying for us and the shedding of His most precious blood one drop whereof is of more value than a Mountain of Pearl as big as the whole Earth The third End of the Lords Supper is a solemn renewing of the Baptismal Covenant The Feasts antiently made upon Sacrifices were generally used as I observed before to signifie thereby a Covenanting with God Therefore this Supper of the Lord being in the true notion of it as I said a feast upon the bloody Sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Cross for us it doth clearly insinuate to us that it was appointed to be a mutual stipulation or covenanting betwixt God and his Communicants hence Christ said concerning the Cup This is the New Testament or Covenant in my Blood i. e. the Rite or Solemnity of the New Covenant to declare and signifie the consent of parties thereunto and resolution to perform the duties of it insinuating thereby that as the Legal Sacrifices on which the People did eat were as Rites of an old superannuated Covenant so was this Sacrament a Rite of a New Covenant by using whereof we do testifie our engagements to perform it as God doth his for making us partakers of all the Blessings couched in it So that this Sacrament on Gods part doth signifie a solemn delivery of Jesus Christ his pretious Body and Blood together with remission of sins for which that blessed Body was broken and torn and that Blood spilt and all other fruits of his Death And on our part it signifies a free acceptance thereof and a hearty delivery of our selves up to the intire obedience of him as we ingaged in the New Covenant to do so that consequently one great End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge of our happy participation of the Body and Blood of Christ with remission of Sins Justification Adoption and Title to the Regions of Bliss and all other the inestimable benefits thereof Hence it 's called the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 where the Apostle doth plainly declare than the Sacramental Bread and Cup are assured pledges of our Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ i. e. of the Communication thereof to us if duely received Therefore in all your Addresses to the Lords Table go with this â—cope and End that you may have a part and portion in Christs Body and Blood remission of sins and reconciliation thereby with all other merits of the Blood of the Cross which God hath Covenanted to make over to you And go also with this intent that you may renew the ingagement and declare that you will stand to the terms of the Baptismal Covenant that you will keep firm and constant to that holy League and stand out in a holy War against all the Enemies of Christ and never revolt or go to the Enemies quarters but as a faithful confederate with him will alway fight under his Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue to be on Christs side or of his Religion to your lifes end The fourth End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge and improvement of that love unity and concord that ought to be among Christians Those that did feast upon the Sacrifices antiently as I before hinted did use to enter into a Covenant of friendship among themselves as well as betwixt God and Them And it hath been an universal custom throughout the World to make Covenants or Leagues of Friendship by Eating and Drinking together This blessed Supper of the Lord is really and truly a publick Love-feast and was designed by our Saviour for this end the promoting Love and Union among all his People and to shew that they should all cleave together in one Spirit as they have all been partakers of one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 If then it was a Love-feast and the feast still remain let not the love be excommunicated CHAP. XXXII Of Habitual Qualifications of the Communicants BEfore you make Addresses to this Heavenly Banquet see that you be habitually such a person as the Master of the Feast our Lord Jesus Christ would have his guests to be Therefore you must set some portion of time apart before the Feast Day to examin your self whether you be such a