Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Secondly labour to imprint a deep remembrance of any promises or holy resolutions there made between God and thy Soul and be watchful in the keeping of them Thirdly earnestly beg of God to assist thee in the keeping them and in the walking for the future in the wayes of Religion and Holyness Fourthly meditate on the danger and the guilt thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those thy pious purposes and thy felicity if thou do Fifthly and Lastly by looking back on this divine and heavenly and pleasant duty think and meditate how lovely and chearful and pleasurable a Religious life must needs be First thankfully meditate on the infinite mercy and long suffering of God that he has been pleased to give thee this one opportunity more of renewing and sealing again the Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Upon this Consideration who is there but must needs say with David Ps 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is good We that have lately tasted and have seen how good the Lord is how gracious to have given us one opportunity more of renewing our Covenant with him shall we can we forbear to publish it Can we ever cease to be thankful No surely rather let us be ready to encourage others ever hereafter to go from whence we have come and tast and see how good the Lord is However let each particular Soul be deeply sensible and considerate of this goodness of the Lord which he hath tasted O my Soul say has our Jesus admitted us once more to his Table and permitted us to seal our Covenant again to renew our resolutions and purposes of obedience and would he do it after so many old breaches of it and is he willing yet to be reconciled upon our reformation and future sincerity in Holyness and has he confirmed this to us in the Sacrament O infinite Mercy and Compassion of our God! Well my Soul let us never forget it but say with David Ps 103.1.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Let us consider a little might not God have snatcht away and have called us presently before him in the midst of such or such a crying Sin which we can easily remember and not have given us one call more one opportunity more of a reconciliation he might very justly Might he not have call'd us to our particular judgment in the middest in the very act of such or such an Impiety of this or that Lust or Intemperance injustice or perjury Oath or Execration Debauchery or uncharitableness Might he not have done so after our long and wilful neglects of this holy Duty before ever we approacht to it and how might it have been now with us had he taken that advantage against us Might he not have hurried us away to eternal unknown woes without giving us these advantages which we now by his Grace may improve to the purposes of a blest Eternity And shall we not my Soul shall we not improve them to the uses of Immortality when our Lord is thus willing we should Let us do so then and do it heartily chearfully and constantly and let this goodness of the Lord lead us to Repentance and Reformation and invite us to holyness and Religion that 's the first Secondly after receiving labour to imprint a deep remembrance of thy Promises or holy resolutions then made or before between God and thy Soul and be diligent in keeping of them O let not the old Love the former affection to Iniquity return any more but if the temptation do return stay and remember how odious how deformed and ugly the Sin appeared then to thee when thou wert at the Lord's Table and then it was that it appeared most truely as it is and then next let this engage thee to recal thy pious purposes there for alas these are not to abide with thee only for an hour or a day or a week but to the end of our dayes and how hypocritically should we deal with our God should we instantly forget that we have renewed our Covenant and our purposes of obedience with him upon the Alarum of a Sin that promises much and shows fair However Consider before-hand the temptation will come again whatever thy resolutions now are and do thou expect no other and 't is likely thou wilt not always be in this temper of Soul that thou now art in The opportunities for thy Sin will be fair again but dost not thou now resolve against it I suppose thou dost But alas this thou hast done heretofore perhaps often also and promised universal obedience to this Saviour and yet hast fallen again as surely as a man falls that is struck with a Thunderbolt and thus it may be thou hast gone round all the dayes of thy Life Sin'd and repented received the holy Supper and yet still fallen as frequently and as surely as ever and hitherto remain'd in a State of Sin and Death Thus I say it may be thou hast run on in this Course many years and doubled thy guilt with thy dayes and always upon the next occasion and opportunity forgotten that ever thou didst repent and resolve amendment of life Remember this is a very ill sign yet of thy Condition and it is extreamly dangerous Much perhaps above half thy days have gon round in this Circle And now if thou wouldest thou hast not half of them left to dedicate to Religion and the service of the holy Jesus and to the blessed Severities of Piety and virtue And what 's now to be done then O at last now be more strictly watchful and diligent in keeping thy Resolutions against it and against all occasions of it also whatever self denial or shame or reproach or difficulty it cost thee Get at least som tolerable ground against it now never leaving till thou hast crucified and subdued all known habituall wilful sin whatever and laid it dead at thy feet Remember too that now is thy time that now thou hast yet fair advantages but if thou imploy them not to the uses of Eternity and in order to the conquest and victory over thy darling Sin that has so often born thee down before it thy Lord may e're long bid thee lay aside all thy business here and come and appear before him and find it uncrucified unreformed and unmortified in thee Consider further if so why when thou art laid on the borders of the Grave and coming to the Neighbourhood of Death thou wilt then with sorrow perceive and find that by that hour all thy pains about it would have been over and all thy trouble at an end and would have been as if they had never been and nothing left to do but to sit down in eternal peace all thy combats
powers of my Soul for this first admittance of me to the mercy and the priviledges of the Holy Sacrament of thy Body and Blood for my having lately partaked of some of these joyes and comforts that are alone to be found with thee and in thy Service and till now were unknown to me O that having had the mercy and advantage of renewing my Covenant with thee I may now at least begin to spend my days as far as ever the necessary business of this present life will permit me in thy Service in all the parts of piety and virtue in works of Mercy and Charity and Devotion in meekness and humility in self-denial and Repentance in Chastity and Temperance in all that 's holy just and good O my Lord 't is the serious desire and resolution of my Soul thus to do that so early beginning to lay up my treasure in Heaven I may by thy Grace have a good account there in the Records of Eternity at the end of my sixty or seventy years O my Jesu whatever thou pleasest else to deny me here deny me not a grant of this my request I beseech thee that those desires and resolutions of mine may in some good measure be accomplished and effected Let not the allurements and perswasions of my Companions ever entice me from my Duty or the jeers or reproaches of any man whatever fright me from my Innocence O let me never suffer my self to be laught out of my Religion or be ashamed or affraid to perform my holy Duties before the face of any man but be ever looking unto Jesus and let me in view of him be content to endure the Cross and despise the shame or whatever else shall befal me for the sake of Piety and Virtue or obedience to any one Command of thine Let my youthful heart be never much inflam'd with any Loves or passions or desires but those of thee and thy holy Religion O my Lord grant that I may be perswaded to understand and consider what a great advantage I have of devoting and giving up my first and best dayes to Religion and Piety and that now is my time to shew that I am lead to Religion by Love and by my choice and not driven to it only by the fears and horrors of an approaching Grave and that I may often and betimes consider with how much greater comfort I shall leave Mortality if I may be able then to remember an early Love and Obedience to thee O Jesu Let me who have liv'd in thy family ever since I was baptized now at least begin to feel my self more powerfully drawn to thee than ever O make me in the beginning of my dayes to be truely serious and considerate to begin to withdraw from the World betimes and to love to be sometime alone to look into the state of my Soul and provide for a joyful Resurrection Make me to think it the greatest happiness in this World to choose thee O blessed Jesu betimes for my Lord and Master and to look on Religion as the Rest and Delight and Satisfaction of my Soul O fill my Soul with such a Love to thee and to those holy Mysteries in which I commemorate a dying Lord that I may be able to think it long before I have an opportunity to come to feast upon thy Body and Blood again and that as I grow in years I may in some measure grow in Grace and in the Divine favour To this end O that I may pass safely through this dangerous state of life freed from the Intemperance and Lusts the folly and vanity the heedlesness and inconsideration that often attends it and that I may the better be able thus to do Lord I now deliver up to thee all my Affections and Desires to be guided and directed by thy Holy Spirit I am willing to submit them all to thee that so as I have lately begun for Eternity I may go on and prosper and in an acceptable measure now keep up to the purity and Innocence of my first sanctification and never more give out till I come to the end of my hopes and the beginning of my joyes and be presented to my Father pure and spotless in the great day of Rewards and Punishments by thee O holy and merciful Jesus Amen A Prayer which may be used by them who before they come to the Sacrament set apart something to be then offered up to God in Alms. O Merciful Lord from whom every good gift comes and by whose bounty alone it is that I enjoy any thing which I possess I humbly offer up this small return of it to thee for the use of them whom thou hast made thy receivers the poor and the needy Let not the smalness of the offering or any unworthyness of mine I beseech thee keep it from being an acceptable Alms and Oblation to thee and let not the abuse of any of my possessions that have been laid out on Sin and Folly Gluttony or Vanity Lust or Intemperance Revenge or Malice be ever charged or remembred against me in the day of Judgement And O my God take from me a Covetous and Illiberal heart and teach me the truely Christian measures of Charity in Giving and Forgiving for Jesus sake Amen A Prayer for the Grace of Charity in forgiving with particular reference to that petition in our Lord's Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive c. which may be used either before the Sacrament or any other time O Blessed and holy Jesus who wert the great Example of Giving and Forgiving dying for Enemies ready and willing to forgive Iniquity and Sin and to give Heaven and Glory to all true Penitents Give me Grace to write after all this blessed Copy of thine in an acceptable measure And if there be or has been any offender or trespasser against me whom I have not forgiven according to thy Will and the measures of the Gospel forgive me O blessed Jesu and let me not fail to receive a full pardon of that Iniquity for thy mercies sake O let my desires and Petitions of being forgiven as I forgive never be answered according to that instance whatsoever it were or ever shall be wherein I have not heretofore or through the frailty of humane nature or any sudden surprize or inconsideration should not hereafter at any time keep up to thy sacred Rule and Will And O Lord guide and direct me for the Remainder of my dayes in the true measures of Patience and forbearance and take from me all malice and hatred and grudgings and heart-burnings and desires of Revenge on any that has injured me and plant in my Soul I humbly and earnestly beseech thee the true Charity and forgiveness O Lord for thy mercies sake thy Love's sake to mankind so pitty me and pardon all my former gratifications of my revengeful humour that they may never be so charged on me or remembred as to hinder thy forgiveness of me And
our Baptismal Covenant when our Lord is yet so willing to renew it with us No longer let it be said of us that we should be so inconsiderate as to live in the omission and neglect of a duty which if frequented would convey so many benefits and advantages to us as we have mentioned O let it no more be said of us that we should ever hereafter live in the constant neglect of that solemn act of Christian Worship which if frequently performed would be so evident a sign of our great love to Religion and Piety and of our deep apprehensions of another World and our concernment for a joyful Immortality Never never let it be said of us in the day of Judgment that while we dwelt upon Earth we were alway loath and backward and unwilling to present our selves whenever we were invited to that holy and heavenly and pleasant duty by the frequenting of which we might so plainly have shewn our greater love to Jesus by our readiness to take all opportunities of commemorating his dying bleeding affection to us And then O let it never be said of any of us that the only reason why we should or could be supposed to refuse it was because we would not be at the pains of putting on the Wedding-Garment or endure the thoughts and consideration of stripping our selves of the old spotted rayment of Sin and Irreligion No the old acquaintance must be parted with the old Dalilahs divorced the darling Iniquity that has long been near and dear to thee must be thrown off But may it be henceforth never said of us that we had rather part from the sweet Communion with the holy Jesus than renounce our fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Why shall any of these things be ever said of any one of us in the hour of death or day of our Accompts May they never be said to us or remembred in that day and hour when it shall be impossible to reform them To conclude this head O that sometimes we would withdraw our selves from the World and look beyond the Grave and then look upon our selves as those that are hastning to Eternity and then in that serious thought let us consider that e'r long we shall find it to have been the best and most satisfactory imployment in the World to have been frequent and devout Communicants O that sometimes we would shut our Eyes or take them off from the World and then think how vast that Eternity is that depends upon the holy management of this moment and having so done then tell me how great the necessity and advantages of this holy Duty do begin to appear O that sometimes we would look upon our selves only as Strangers and Pilgrims here and that two or three ages hence we shall all be forgotten that then nothing shall be remembred of us any more but either our horrid unreformed Iniquities or our sincere holiness and Conformity of heart and life to the Gospel of our Saviour and then upon such a close and piercing thought as this instantly consider how does this holy and heavenly Duty appear to thee and wouldst thou not willingly have it then remembred of thee that thou wert here below a devout frequenter of these holy Mysteries O that Sometimes we could seriously fix our eyes in a holy Meditation on that glorious day in which our Lord shall come to place his faithful Servants beyond all further doubts or fears possibility of sin or temptations infelicities or Scruples of Conscience Tell me in such a thought as this would it not be a blessed consideration to be in a State in which we could be truely able to love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 why never shall it be thus with us 'till we come to be devout and frequent attenders on these holy Mysteries Nay I will appeal to thine own Soul in the Case when wert thou ever able so heartily and truely to love the thoughts of thy Lord 's appearing as when thou wert but just come from his holy Table Couldst thou not have been willing then that all thy business in this World might have been over and that he might have then come and taken thee into the air with him and set thee down in the Mansions of eternal Holyness and why then should not thy frequency in this holy action be such as that he may almost even at any time come and not fail to find thee so doing O that sometime we would look upon this life as a state and condition in which we are plac't by the eternal God to fit and trim the Soul for the society of those holy Worthies that are gon up before us and then in that thought consider how far short our practice comes of their daily and weekly communicating Or that lastly we would sometime look back too and consider again that among all our former days that are slid away from us those only shall shortly be remembred with joy in which we have done something in order to a joyful Resurrection and a safe Eternity Say now would we not in such a thought as this wish heartily that we had a better accompt in the Registers of Heaven than we yet have more especially that we had many more devout performances of this holy and heavenly duty recorded there than we have and if we find Reason thus to think of our past dayes Oh why should we henceforward have reason to think the same of our future days then when they also shall be over and we shall be brought to the Neighbourhood of the Grave I shall therefore in the name and words of our dear and holy mother the Church earnestly beseech you no longer to continue so much strangers to so wilful neglecters of this holy Duty and if any man neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a Publican St. Mat. 18.17 and she invites us thus I bid you in the name of God I call you in Christ's behalf I exhort you as you love your own Salvation that you all be partakers of this holy Communion And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his Soul by death upon the Cross for your Salvation so it is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the Sacrifice of his death as he himself hath commanded Which if ye shall neglect to do consider with your selves how great injury you do unto God and how sore punishment hangeth over your heads for the same when ye wilfully abstain from the Lord's Table and seperate from your brethren who come to feed on the Banquet of that most heavenly food And thus much of the first general head to shew that this is a necessary holy and Christian Duty to be frequently performed and the neglect of it infinitely dangerous CHAP. II. This do in remembrance of me SEcondly we come now to see to what end it was instituted or appointed by our blessed Saviour First it was instituted
usual miscarriages in this case are two likewise either first we come to this feast of Charity without setting apart any thing for the needs of our poor brethren or else secondly we bring too little As to the first of these Consider when we relieve any at our doors that 's often because of their importunity with us or it may be to be rid of them when we relieve by a Rate that 's by constraint and the Laws compel us But this is a free-Will-offering Never let us fail therefore when we come to see fresh tokens of our Saviour's Love to us who for our sakes became poor 1 Cor. 8.9 then to set apart some evidence of our Charity to those who bear his Image and whom he has made his proxies and that our Lord takes it as done to himself and that for an Alms we may receive a blessing Never therefore in this Heavenly action let us appear before the Lord empty But secondly the other fault is that our alms are often too thin and slender 'T is true indeed the holy Scripture has not set down the exact measure or rule of giving but therefore even for that very reason we should do well to give even beyond our ability rather than fall short of it that being the course that is most safe and most holy considering that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 and ever remembring that 't is the observation somewhere of a pious Prelate Bishop of Down and Conner now through Christ reaping some of the fruits of his unknown Charity and Piety That the business of the great day of Judgment shall be transacted and the Sentence chiefly pass according to the measure of our works of Mercy and Charity as he infers from St. Matth. 25.31 to the end 'T were easie to produce admirable instances of the vast Charity of the Christians of old such as to this age might seem almost incredible for as a learned Person observes of them Dr. Cave Primitive Christ They looked upon the Poor as the Treasure and ornament of the Church by whom as by bills of Exchange they returned their Estates into the other World Let me therefore offer you this one Consideration to be seriously laid to heart in your next sober and retired thoughts would we be but content to cut off from our vain Expences needless visits our Excess and extravagancy our vanity or folly or what we may lay out on either Lust or Intemperance or in prosecuting our brother in a revengeful malicious and contentious Law-Suit or the like we might have a good portion for the Poor and opportunity for many more charitable actions than are yet recorded above and might have a large Treasure laid up in Heaven at the end of or Sixty or Seventy Years yet never the worse in our Estates at the end of the year or the end of our dayes besides the promise of a blessing here and hereafter from the Eternal God who has past his word to us And why then can we not secretly lay out that on our Kingdom on our Eternal Inheritance in Reversion which would else be expended on our jollity and excess in vain and useless Expences Further he that has injured his brother by fraud or deceit or any other injustice is in Conscience absolutely bound to restore or make restitution to him again but in case he be deceased we are then to make it to his Heirs or Executors But possibly it may so happen that we may have been unjust to some or in such wayes that we cannot possibly know who they are In this Case the Restitution is to be made to the Poor Now consider what an excellent opportunity we have of so doing by our Alms at this holy Sacrament alway remembring that the Restitution be rather beyond the injustice done than in the least degree to come short of it And that 's the fourth part of Preparation Fifthly we are then to bring with us a great Devotion and pious frame of Soul Let us be very careful to lay aside all thoughts and considerations of this lower World and all things else that may clog and hinder the Soul from being then wrought up to a Sprightly Holy Heavenly and Devotional temper and earnestly beg of God by prayer to assist us in our cloathing our selves in the Wedding Garment that so we may go to meet our Saviour acceptably and chearfully as we would to meet the dearest Friend on Earth whom we had not seen in many years before And having with us a deep sense and sight of our Iniquities begot in us by Examination and a lively Faith in the infinite mercies of our God through our Saviour having our Charity truely Christian and our Devotion high and Angelical let us with joy and pleasure go to Jesus and declare our resolutions to be his unfeigned and faithful Servants and followers utterly abhorring all known Sin and sincerely resolving for all known duty And let us say of our old Iniquities Be content to lay down your Necks quietly and submit to be thrown off for I am going to renew my Covenant with my dear Redeemer Be content ye my old Debaucheries Prophanesses Lusts and Intemperance Oaths and Blasphemies Malice and Injustice and the rest of you to part from me who am resolv'd to take my leave of you and to go and be more closely united to the Holy Jesus and to go on in my journey to the new Jerusalem adieu to you all and though we weep at parting 't is not because I must leave you but because I have been too long with you and had not done so sooner And now my Soul may the devout person say seeing we have done with them let us raise and exalt one affections for our Lord is coming and he is coming if yet we are not wanting to our selves to bring us a pardon sealed with him from God and to re-establish our title to a glorious Inheritance and we shall shortly bless the day that ever we were perswaded thus to do Stay methinks we begin to feel something of the pleasures of Religion already something of satisfaction in our very first resolutions of holyness Oh what will it then be when we are better acquainted with our blessed Saviour and his holy and Heavenly Doctrine what will it be when we come to his Table and have long frequented it and given up our selves intirely to him as we now hope to do Come then let us begin it now And oh my Soul could we but for a while steal out of the body that we might be the more free and lively and active and unwearied in our thanksgivings praises and Hosanna's to that Lord whom we are going to meet But however Let us now say I believe Lord help my unbelief for I come to have my Faith strengthned I am grieved and wearied with the burthen of my Sins but I come from them to
frequently and earnestly to sue for it at the Throne of Grace and then if we are not wanting to our own Interest but with diligence and sincerity and watchfulness and honest endeavours we set our selves to the performance of them the day will e're long be ours the Victory and the Crown ours Say then who would be so imprudent as not earnestly to sue for that which he may certainly have for the asking and the using and who would not diligently use and husband it when the so doing will not fail to procure more and then again who would not industriously imploy that More when like Interest upon Interest it would bring in more yet St. Mat. 13.12 and 25.29 St. Lu. 8.18 and 19.26 O let not the Grace of God be in vain and lost on us only for want of our own Diligence in imploying and using it and then let not our own watchfulness and labours and pious endeavours be all in vain only for want of suing for the assistance of divine grace frequently and devoutly beg of God therefore to aid thee in all thy holy purposes and desires and Resolutions that he will please to keep thee constant to them as thou art passing over this World to him and to a better that he would increase the hatred of thy Sins and the Love of Religion in thee both which he has lately graciously begun in thee Say to him O my Lord I have nothing I am nothing I can do nothing without thee These my Resolutions and purposes of amendment of life of piety and virtue will upon the next violent Temptation be wavering and tottering again without thee and thy aid By that be pleased to keep them warm and stedfast in me so warm that no length of time may cause them to grow cold again no violence of a Temptation break through them Fourthly Meditate on the guilt and the danger thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those pious purposes and thy Felicity if thou do I do not say so to keep them as to live without Sin and in an absolutely perfect Estate To live wholly without Sins of frailty and meer infirmity ignorance or sudden surprize that is those that may sometime or other rush on us e're we are a ware No but of not keeping thy Resolutions of Reformation of all known customary wilful Sin whatever and to retain no one such known Iniquity Remember the Sin if entertained again at least as familiarly as heretofore and returned to with as much love as ever will now ever be a Sin against more Mercy against more Love and against more purposes and resolutions of returning from it O run not thy Soul then upon this increase of Guilt and Danger But rathey say O my Soul shall we so soon forget our Lord our Master Jesus to whom we lately vowed obedience and swore Allegiance as to entertain and cherish a known Enemy of his within our heart and bosome Shall we soon forget whose sighing groaning bleeding dying Love we have seen represented to us lately and shall we add disingenuity and ingratitude and a vow-breach to the Sin it self And shall we thus keep our integrity and thus shew our endeavours to keep to our pious resolutions as tamely to yield up all lay aside all those considerations at the return of the next Sin that looks pleasantly and that comes with fair opportunities for the committing it shall we do this not only after so much love but after having our Covenant renewed and sealed again with Almighty God And after he has graciously declared that he is willing to be reconciled to us for what is past if we heartily give up our selves to him for the future and when we have promised so to do to our uttermost and to give up the whole man to him In sum shall we say in spight of so much Love so much mercy and Compassion such gracious offers on God's part and then in spight of many advantages purposes and resolutions on ours shall we return to our Lusts and Intemperance as frequently as ever to our old Oaths and Execrations our Revenge and Malice our Covetousness and Injustice our Pride or Ambition our Inconsideration or Uncharitableness to our darling Sin whatever it be No my Soul we will now at last more seriously weigh the Guilt and Danger of so doing We have begun and let us go on for Eternity whomsoever we displease by it whatever becomes of it as to this present life Let us now once more consider that possibly this may be the last opportunity that our Saviour may give us to be reconcil'd to him before we go hence and be no more seen the happy union and agreement between us has been lately sealed let us never more wilfully and knowingly break it lest all the old account be charged on us again Let us therefore now make the best advantage the best use of it we are able and return no more to the former state lest our Lord come and find us in such a breach of our part of our Covenant and never more permit us to renew it again till the day of Judgment And as now we have by our Lord 's infinite mercy got a good advantage to try once more for a Crown of Life and Glory let us be watchful and diligent unwearied and constant in our Race that our Lord when he comes may find us so doing Adieu then say once more my old Dalilahs farewel to ye and welcome Religion welcome my holy Duties ye that once seemed irksome and tedious to me Welcome now as the way and means by which I am to be qualified to have my Lord's merits applyed to me to keep me in his favour and to meet him in his Kingdome Welcome my Devotions ye that once seemed too tedious to me and to take up too much of my time the actions I once was even ashamed to be found imployed in Welcome though purchased at never so dear a rate or expence of time I am sure I can be no loser by you Welcome my Solitudes and Retirements from the World and my frequent being alone I find I can best see and consider the state of my Soul in ye and though ye were once very disagreeable to me I now perceive you are advantagious Welcome ye Christian Temperance and Sobriety and Purity and Chastity whatever self-denials or reproaches ye may possibly cost me no matter so I may sit at the Feet of Jesus to all Ages And welcom Alms and Charity though ye once seemed expensive to me and ill bestown I now see Cause infinite Cause to think otherwise when ye are laid out in order to the Inheritance of a Kingdome Welcome Humility Charity and Forgiveness and Love of Enemies ye that once seemed unreasonable and of all other Duties most disagreeable to flesh and blood and a heavy yoke but I now think otherwise of you when I consider how excellent an imitation ye are of that blessed Jesus
with whom I lately supt and at whose Feet I hope to sit in the mansions of Glory Welcome Meekness and Patience Mortification and Self-denyal and all that 's holy just and good Welcome all means of my growth in Grace all the Commands of my Saviour Welcome to me who have resolv'd never more to give out never to think I have done enough till all be over and at an end in a holy and happy Death in a blessed and joyful Resurrection Fifthly and Lastly after receiving by looking back on this Divine and Heavenly and pleasant Duty think and meditate how lovely and chearful and pleasurable a Religious Life must needs be Say truely is there not a great Serenity and Calm and peace of mind in the being free from Malice and desires of Revenge from Rage Envy Is there not a Secret joy and Cheerfulness and Lightsomeness of heart in offering up Praises and Thanksgivings and Hymns and Hallelujahs to the Saviour of the World Is there not a blessed inward Relish and delight and pleasure that flows from the offering up a holy and devout Prayer to him How great a satisfaction and pleasantness is there in offering up some of our substance to God in Alms Is there not a great quiet and sedateness and peace of Soul and mind in the being free from the hurries and the shame and follies and sollicitations of Lustful desires Is there not an unknown tranquillity of mind in the being freed from proud and vain-glorious and ambitious desires and in the sitting down at ease with meekness contentment and humility Is it not a blessed thing to be freed from the pain and disorders of Intemperance from the shame and dishonour of Lust to have subdued and conquered and mortified our passions and sinful appetites and to sit above the reach of them Must it not needs be a blissful thing to be freed from those stings and lashings and secret gnawings that perpetually dwell in the heart of the wicked and irreligious man though they are little known to any other but God and his own Soul Is it not think you a great felicity to be freed from the slavery of Sin and the Devil which are the greatest Tyrants in the World Can you not now from this short and small experience of these things be perswaded of the sweets and Delicacies that dwell with Religion Do but ask the holy person the man of an heavenly Conversation whether there ever be any thing that greatly discomposes and troubles his serene and calm and peaceful heart Ask him again whether he do not each night lye down in peace and with an undisturbed Conscience sleep sweetly and securely content heartily if his Lord please to sleep 'till the general Resurrection Ask him whether he lying down in peace and Innocence feels the insupportable horror and amazement of any great guilt when he awakes No he awakes as pleasantly as the morning he no sooner opens his Eyes but they are darted towards the new Jerusalem before they behold vanities Ask him whether he dreads the Face of the Sun or Men or Devils Whether he greatly dreads the sight of an open Grave of a winding Sheet or the name of Death Know of the pious Soul again whither there be any real pleasures in a holy retired and angelical life and he will tell you he has found more pleasure in being a devout communicant at his Lord's Table than ever he found in the commission of the most relishing Iniquity Ask him further whether those pleasures do not stay longer with him than any others and he must undoubtedly tell you that as the pleasures of Sin are but for a small Season none of them lasting and continuing So those of Piety are permanent and abiding But now on the other head Let us a little enquire into the unpeaceful unpleasant state of the unholy person Ask him whether when he is sometimes in the midst of his jollities and pleasures there do not something within him check and restrain the freedome of his mirth and often on a sudden turn him into fears and Melancholy and if he would speak the truth he must needs confess that he hath been frequently served so Alas this is his guilty Conscience proceeding from his inconsiderate state of life this is the fruit and effect of his Crimes and the want of a more frequent and devout communicating Enquire of him again whether he usually lyes down in peace and rest whether he do not often startle in his sleep and his very dreams are not terrible whether he be not hugely apt to be disquieted and discomposed and disordered and to fear almost every little noise and at last awakes with unknown horrors of Guilt upon his heart This he can doubtless tell you is a sad truth Ask of him again whether when others take their innocent recreations and refresh their Spirits with harmless mirth whither I say he do not sometimes sigh and droop and goes away alone withdraws into some solitary place and is there discontented full of anguish perplext and haunted and when he hears the knel of his departed Neighbours looks pale and trembles and is amazed being so little prepared for the same state and condition Ask him whether when he beholds a dead Corps his blood do not cool and surround his heart Alas poor wretch 't is his guilty Conscience his Sins unrepented of his life unreformed that are the Causes of these doleful and dismal Confusions and little it may be do the World think the Iniquities he knows himself guilty of This if he would confess he must needs acknowledge Say now is it not a blessed Estate of life to be alwayes freed and to sit at a distance from these to be at peace from these secret tumults and inward horrors Why 't is Religion and holyness and frequent communions alone that can effect it for us Say again when we look back on the state and temper of the pious man can we choose but think it a blest and peaceful thing alway to have the Soul in that disposition why 't is Piety and Virtue That can alone fix and settle that joy and peace there To which state when you are once by the assistance of Heaven arrived you will find reason to say O my Soul how much peace and joy do we find in that State of Life in which we have reason to hope our Lord is reconciled to us How much better is it how exceedingly beyond the old unreformed unregenerate course how sweet is the consideration of being become from an Enemy a friend of God and to think that we have caused joy in Heaven by our returning Oh how imprudent were we that we should believe nothing of those things sooner and could not be brought to believe there was any such contentment and joy in holyness How many Dayes and Months and Years of true Peace and Pleasure have we lost that we had not been acquainted with our Saviour sooner That the voice of
wilful Sin DRead Majesty of Heaven and Earth Forasmuch as I who was early dedicated to thee by Baptism and have frequently renewed that Covenant at thy holy Table have yet sadly fallen from my Baptismal holyness and broken my vows and resolutions even since the last Sacrament grieving thy holy Spirit wounding my Soul and provoking thy displeasure setting my self back deplorably in my journey toward Heaven by the Sin of †Here you may mention the Sin best known to thee when and where committed I do now heartily accuse and judge and condemn my self for it and for all other known and secret Sins and do earnestly repent my self of it and desire to rise from it again by a sincere Resolution of amendment of life a greater watchfulness and intire obedience and this I solemnly on my bended knees declare before thee O holy Trinity and do now likewise humbly beg fresh assistances of the holy Spirit to enable me to be more constant in my holy Resolutions and to please thee better And for my Lord Jesus sake and in his Name and for thy loves sake to mankind thy pitty and compassions sake humbly beg humbly hope my pardon may be as certainly now sealed in Heaven as I make this declaration here on earth Mercy O my God mercy for the sake of that immaculate Lamb that takes away the Sins of the World Amen Here again if you are able to write and sincerely do desire to rise from the Sin by Repentance you may before you go to the holy Table write out a Copy of these Words and having repeated them with a penitent heart subscribe your name on your bended knees as also the day when you made this Resolution January 1. 1681. N. N. That so you may the better discern what progress your soul makes in its Victory over all known Sin For no man can well observe his own growth in Grace Bishop Taylor Rule of holy dying but by accounting seldomer returns of Sin and a more frequent victory over temptations concerning which every man makes his observations according as he makes his inquiries and search after himself A Prayer before the Sacrament which may be used by them who never received it before O Blessed Saviour and Redeemer who wert pleased to admâ—â— me into thy holy Church by the Waters of Baptism in my Infant dayes before I knew it I do now being by thy Grace come to the knowledge of it from the bottom of my heart adore and bless thee for that mercy and with a penitent heart humbly and earnestly beg thy pardon for my great abuses of it that I should so wretchedly as I have stained and poluted those white and innocent Robes which I then put on and for my known and unknown breaches of those vows and promises which were then made in my name O my Lord I am accused judged and condemned by my own Conscience But O my Jesu whose sacred side once dropt Water and Blood for me as thou hast admitted me to the Water when I was baptized so be thou now graciously pleased to admit me to the Blood too and to partake of all the benefits of it that as I early partaked of the cleansing of the one so I may now receive the healing virtue of the other and let all my Iniquities I beseech thee that have been adventured on by me since my Baptism to this present hour be to thee as if they had never been at all O that I could now go to thy Table with the like innocence that I came from the waters of Regeneration But seeing I cannot O my Jesu who wert pleas'd to bring me to the honour and priviledge of Baptism before I could beg or desire it be thou likewise pleased by thy grace to carry me prepared to thy Table who can and do earnestly desire and beg this of thee and as thou wert pleased then to make me a lamb of thy flock so deny me not the favour how unworthy soever I have hitherto lived of it of being one of those faithful Sheep of thy fold that hear thy voice O my Lord as I was never yet at thy Table and come a stranger to this Heavenly feast so I intreat thee let me not miss of the mercy of being a welcome and acceptable guest there O make me to understand and consider the advantage that I have above many others who may now by thy Grace never be an unworthy Communicant Do thou therefore by thy gracious intercession supply my ignorance and by thy Mercy and Merits pitty and pardon the vanities and sins and follies of my youthful state particularly †Here you may mention the particulars and receive me with the Love and Compassion and Tenderness of a Parent that so I may love thee and adore thee and bless thee and obey thee betimes and may tast of the sweets and delicacies of an early Religion and Holyness I come then O my Jesu I come to give thee this first solemn Testimony of my Love to thee and to receive the first great tokens of thy Love to me O be pleased so feelingly to touch my heart now at the first with a deep sence of Love to thee and thy Religion that I may ever hereafter rejoyce in all opportunities of a holy Sacrament and have a never-ceasing Love to those holy Mysteries Do thou vouchsafe O my dear Redeemer at this our first most solemn meeting to bring all those Graces along with thee which thou would'st have my Soul to be fitted with and fix them there I beseech thee O my Lord I was early devoted to thee by others but suffer me now to dedicate my self to thee Come Lord Jesu come then take possession of my heart I beseech thee before ever the World Flesh or Devil get any more footing there and if either of them have got any already for my great neglects to present my self to thee and opening the door of it to thee sooner turn out O my Lord turn them out thence and with the rest of thy Church accept me even me also O my Father Let me take thee into my hand O my dear Lord and place thee in my heart before ever any more lusts or follies be admitted there and then be thou pleased to take me by the hand and place me in thy heart that there I may live and there I may dye Finally O my Lord let all my past Iniquities I beseech thee be so done away that thou mayst receive me so as if I were but now come from the Waters of Baptism With such hopes as these with such defires as these I come to lay my self at thy feet O blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen A Prayer and Thanksgiving after the holy Sacrament to be used only by such as had never received it before O Holy and merciful Jesus by whom the mercies of Eternity are conveyed to mankind I bless and praise and thank thee with my whole heart and all the
habitual preparation for this holy Feast Whereas in this declining Age of the Gospel in which holiness so visibly decayes how loath are we to approach him how uneasie when we are there how joyful when we are gone So unwilling that alas we must be even hal'd and drag'd to it And it may be feared that some of us could even wish it over and at an end already Why what 's the Reason of this unwillingness this backwardness this loathness to go to meet the Lord of life in the most holy and sweet and pleasant Duty in the World Is there so much charge or difficulty in it or is it so hard to be performed O what is there in this holy Action that any Soul that professes the Religion of the ever Blessed Jesus should have such an aversness to it Say are there any expensive chargeable Sacrifices to be offered any Firstlings of our Flocks to be slain No why what 's then the Cause that we should not be as ready and forward and when any opportunities are offered us to remember the death of our Great Master in this holy Mystery as constant too as the Sun is to run his race Alas our great Reason is That the Wedding-Garment of Religion and Holyness Repentance and Reformation of our Lives Charity and Devotion does not please us We are loath to put it on it sits uneasie about us we are hugely unwilling to put off the old spotted rayment of Sin and Iniquity of Wrath and Malice and Irreligion We find no tast no relish in the Sweets and Delicacies of Piety and Vertue We are willing enough doubtless to meet our Lord that is if we thought he would receive and welcome us with our sins about us and with our old affections to them then would we continue as stedfastly in breaking of bread and prayers as ever the first Worthies did Id. ibid. p. 9. though it were twice a day as is with great reason supposed they did of old Were those arms that were once stretcht upon the Cross and still are open to receive the true-penitent were they but as open too to receive the habitually disobedient and impenitent then would we frequent the Lord's Table But does not the Wedding-Garment of Faith and Repentance and Charity and Devotion and the like does not this please us Give me leave to ask as the Apostle did in another case unto what then were ye Baptized have ye put on Christ for this And was it for this that we were early dedicated to him in Baptism and received into the Covenant of Grace and Mercy that when we with the Disciples of old should have continued stedfastly to renew this Covenant in the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and to ow̄n what was then done for us when we could do nothing for our selves and come and declare our willingness to stand to those Engagements then made for us to come and in person to shew our readiness and our willingness to follow him in the ways of his Commands and holy Religion that then we should refuse it or if we do not refuse it yet come so seldom as if we desired to be excused from it Whither Oh whither will our Indevotion our Lukewarmness our Inconsideration carry us Is this to act as they who now sit at Peace and rest in the Mansions of Glory have done before us And has not our Lord shed as much blood for us as for them And are not our hopes and Promises and Expectations the same which they had why then Cur non possumus quod isti istae as the pious Father said of old Why cannot we at least in far better measures than now do as they have done before us whence is it then that our Practice is gone so far off from their frequency in this Heavenly action their zeal and their fervour Certainly this must of necessity proceed from a great and most deplorable want of Love to our Religion or of Zeal for our Saviour from a stupid unconcernment for a joyful Resurrection or as was before hinted because we find no tast or relish in this heavenly food this sood of Angels or from intolerable inconsideration Hence O hence is it in a great measure that our Lives are so unholy our Actions so uncharitable and unchristian our thoughts so impure and prophane and inconsiderate and the whole frame of our Live so disordered and discomposed and as this chiefly for want of a more frequent and devout use of these holy Mysteries Whence sayes one came the Sanctity and Holiness of the first Christians Whence came their strict observation of the Divine Commandments whence was it that they persevered in holy Actions with a comfortable hope and unweary diligence from whence came their despising the World their universal Charity whence came these and many other Excellencies but from a constant Devotion and frequent Communion They who every day represented the Death of Christ every day were ready to dye for Christ We look upon that body to be sickly distempered and diseased and dangerously ill that allways loaths it's wholesome food and has no appetite to that which would be its only or it 's best nourishment Thus O thus it is in the Case of the Soul how sickly and distempered how diseased and disordered must that Soul needs be that loaths it's most wholesome food the food of Angels this nourishment of the holy Sacrament which if duely and devoutly taken would so nourish it up to Salvation as to make it more healthful and holy more chearful and religious more just and upright more pure and devout and Angelical 'T would make it much more ready for the performance of any other Duty more full of zeal and fervour more constant and unwearied in all Religious actions In short 't would make it more ready for Death and Immortality The holy Sacrament is call'd by St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing and surely if we do not thirst after this Cup of Blessing Blessing may be far from us Neither is it imaginable That that man should love Heaven and his Soul or felicity or his Lord that desires not frequently to bath in that wholsome stream the blood of that immaculate Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World Having thus seen what these texts of Scripture are that imply a frequency of Communicating we shall briefly consider the second thing Secondly let us see what was the custom and the practice of the first Worthies of the Christian Church shortly after our Saviour's time and if in a few Instances we find them frequently meeting and representing the death of their and our Common Lord and Master Let us remembring he has done and suffered as much for us as he had done for them ever hereafter fit the Soul to take all opportunities we are able to do in some degree as they have done before us The first Instance I shall produce shall be of a great and holy man
and ordained for a perpetual and devout remembrance of him our Redeemer so says our Lord himself St. Luke 22.19 This do in remembrance of me As if he had said in remembrance of mine Agony and bloody sweat for your interest in remembrance of my bitter sufferings and my death in remembrance of my Laws and Doctrines in remembrance of my Resurrection and Ascension in remembrance of my Victory for you over Sin and Death and Hell in a comfortable remembrance of this too that upon your Repentance Reformation and Sincere obedience for the future your past iniquities shall all be placed upon the accompt of the Cross and be covered with the Robes of my Righteousness and that I will ever be your Jesus your Saviour Do this do it for a continual and grateful memorial of these things that so such a remembrance as this of me your dying Lord may fill your Souls with Love and Devotion your Wills with holy resolutions that so it may excite and stir up holiness and virtue in your lives and may unite and endear you to your Lord and Saviour unite and reconcile you to each other and promote peace and love and unanimity and Charity among you who are all members of my body of that body the Church of which I am the head that so meeting together frequently at this feast of Charity when you remember my love to you all this may promote love among you all and may increase Faith and Piety and obedience in you and incourage you in it till at last you come to meet me in my Kingdom Thus was it first instituted for a thankful remembrance of our Redeemer and all he has done and suffered for us Was it so and Lord can it ever be when this was the great intent and design of it that any that name thy sacred Name should be unwilling to come and bear a part in such a remembrance Methinks that Soul that should refuse to do so refuse to fit and trim it self to go forth and remember the Lords of Life and Glory with the rest of his Christian brethren should upon such a thought be sorrowful and greatly troubled that almost all others should go to claim and beg an interest in the death and sufferings of their Lord and he alone be unconcern'd in it he alone stay back and refuse to put his hand to the Petition and his Seal to the Covenant Methinks again such a Soul should consider and say how imprudent how inconsiderate is my case and condition how dangerous is my state of Life that while others are resolving and preparing to go and hoping to feast acceptably with Jesus I should be alone backwards Here I am wallowing in Sin living in a heedless stupid careless state of life following my lusts and vices and take no care to get out of them no care for my Salvation making no provision for Eternity and a joyful Resurrection but always suffer my self to be hurried away by Iniquity born down by every slight Temptation and am kept off from fitting my self for the Table of my Lord by vain pretences and little Excuses by every Sin that looks fair and offers a little delight or advantage and shall I live and dye thus Shall I continue in this State till all opportunities be over and at an end with me Why O why should not I even I also labour to put on the Weding-Garment and see if he will yet be intreated and reconciled to me and bless me even me also Rouze then O my Soul awake and arise speedily from the death of Sin to the life of Righteousness off with thy old poluted Garments by divine Grace forever on with thy better rayment of Faith and Repentance Piety and Charity and come my Soul let us go speedily to remember the love of our dying Lord for most others they are either gone or going Come my soul at last let us go willingly and chearfully others they are hastening and methinks the Love of Christ begins to constrain us to 2. Cor. 5.14 Come then let us hasten to commemorate and meet him with the best preparations we can make for others they are sitting trimming and adorning the Soul so to do and the same Lord is ready with his assisting Grace for me even for me also if I am not wanting to my self that is earnestly beg and faithfully use and imploy it Well then my Christian Brethren all of them they are going and shall I be the only person that shall stay behind they are now resolving to celebrate the memory of a bleeding Redeemer and shall not I also Oh how will my Lord take this at the day of Judgment how ill will he take it at my hands that I alone should stay behind lurking with his Enemies Sin and Satan when others throw them off and bid adieu to them to go to meet and remember Jesus May each Soul that is seeking for pretences and has any temptations to absent himself thus argue and thus consider and let him say further would I be willing to stand among those who have frequently and devoutly remembred the Lord of Life and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 Is not this my desire is it not my earnest hope Come my Soul say once more come let us stand with them now let us stand with them now and ever hereafter while we stay with them here below let us be found among them now imploy'd in this heavenly action among whom we would willingly be found at our Lord's Second coming to judge the World Let us not my Soul prefer the pleasures of Sin for a Season let us not choose the trifling profits and advantages of Sin for a season but when others go forth to meet the Lord and commemorate the death and passion of their blest Redeemer may it never be my lot to be absent much less may it never be my choice to be so and when others shall be prostrate before him and by this heavenly action joyntly renewing their Covenant with him recounting what he has done and suffered for them Sending up the Incense of praises and thanksgivings joyntly Suing out their pardon from the Court of Heaven with one Soul and heart sending up holy petitions to him to be by him presented and handed un to the Father thus making a joynt provision for a safe and holy Eternity far be it O far be it I say from me to refuse to bear a part with them but with all the devout Souls of the Christian Church be ever hereafter ready and joyful and forward and glad of all opportunities to be imployed in the solemn devout and holy and thankful remembrance of the Lord that bought me And That 's the first end to which this Sacrament was appointed Secondly it is also a Seal of that Covenant which God was pleased to make with us by Christ which we entred into at our Baptism that gracious Covenant made between God and us by the
Mediator Jesus Thus 't is called the blood of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mat. 26.28 or of the new Covenant Now this new Covenant between God and us made by our Saviour is as was before said that God will give pardon of our Sins sanctifying Grace and everlasting Glory upon our Conditions of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience Our Lord in those Mysteries Seals this to us and assures us as he is the God of Truth and cannot lye or deceive us that he will perform his part We on the other hand seal back this to him that we will sincerely and heartily endeavour to perform our part We are then to remember that thus it was promised for us in our Baptism when we knew nothing of it but here we come in our own persons to take those advantageous Conditions on our selves to renew them by our own hand our own act and our own choice This is my Blood of the new Covenant says our Saviour to this our Lord invites us to shew first his death till he come and next to renew our Covenant with him to Seal it again and to declare our resolutions to labour more effectually and diligently for the remainder of our dayes to stand to our engagements and discharge our Conditions of it O my Lord say now upon this consideration who am I that thou shouldest leave thy Fathers bosom to be the compassionate Mediator of a new Covenant between God and me but oh who am I that after so many breaches of it thou shouldst call and invite me once more to come and renew it with thee again who am I that thou shouldst speak to me to come and enter again into a further confirmation of it what a tender mercy is this how blest a priviledge is this that thou art pleased to call me once more to come and receive my Pardon if but yet for the future I do in an honest sincerity perform my part of the Covenant What long-suffering is this that thou shouldst still bid me to approach and have my Pardon sealed too if my terms be but yet performed and how far have I been from deserving any thing of this at thy hands And O my Jesu shall I refuse to come and humbly accept of those mercies which thou art yet pleased to offer me and though I have broken my part of that Covenant which this Sacrament is a seal of shall I not thankfully come and accept of thy desires to make good thine if after all this I am not yet wanting to my self Shall I not rejoyce in an opportunity of confirming and ratifying in my own person that which was done for me without my knowledge in my Baptism shall I not come and declare my desires to be found now and ever within the Covenant of Grace Or shall I voluntarily withdraw my self from it and not come and put my hand and seal to it with others of my Christian Brethren shall I by my refusal to renew it declare for Sin for the World Flesh and Devil Far be it from me say O my dear Redeemer far be such thoughts as those No I come willingly and readily and chearfully with a Soul and Heart and Mouth full of Praises and Adorations to renew this gracious Covenant to own my self thy Disciple thy Servant thy follower I come to see thy dying bleeding Love and to imprint it afresh upon my memory I come to see thy earnest desires of accomplishing my Redemption represented to me I come to behold thy Agony and bloody sweat thy Cross and Passion thy Body broken thy Blood poured out for me I come freely and openly to own my unworthyness to come at all to own how undeservingly I have walked of those benefits I come to sue a Pardon for my breaches of my terms of the new Covenant I come to seal it again with thee and humbly and thankfully adore thee for this mercy that thou callest me once more to do so O that instead of ever entertaining a thought of absenting our selves we would imploy it in some such meditations as these Dr. Sherlock Relig. Assemb or with the words following of that excellent person before mentioned That frequent Communions are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holyness to repair the decays of our Graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of Sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their Souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food And if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing on the commission of any Sin when we have with tears bewailed our Sin and renewed our Repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are Sinners yet we are not Apostates that is we are not fallen from the Faith or the Christian Religion but that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live CHAP. III. Of Examination of our Selves I Come next in the third place to shew briefly how we are to come prepared to this holy Sacrament The chief parts of preparation are these First Examination of our selves Secondly To enter then into a holy Course of Life by Repentance and Resolutions of a future sincere Obedience Thirdly To bring with us a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ Fourthly To bring with us Charity to our Brethren Fifthly To bring with us Devotion and a pious frame of Soul Of each of these briefly First of Examination of our selves to this St. Paul adviseth Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 And here we are to examine as far as our memory can inform us what our breaches have been of that Covenant which we entred into with God and our Saviour in Baptism We told you that our part of the Covenant is Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience But alas we have most miserably gon astray and have often knowingly wittingly and willingly broken all these parts of that holy Covenant As to our Faith first how dull lifeless and unactive has that been how little have we shewed it by our works by works of Mercy Piety Charity or Devotion How little have we shewed our Faith by our Conformity of heart and life to those Gospel duties to God to others and our selves by which we should have shewn it St. Ja. 4.18 Again as to Repentance how unsincere has that been how have we return'd soon after our beginnings of it to our old iniquities like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet.
thy arms the Sanctuary of rest and peace where wearied Souls alone can lay their Heads and bring their Cares and Sorrows to be eased of them and to have them turn'd into Peace and Pleasure Thou Lord art he whom my Soul loves and suffer me to say with thy Servant St. Peter Lord thou knowest that I love thee And whatever thou please to deny me here deny me not thy Grace and Aid to cloath me in that Wedding-Garment which thou will please to accept And may the pious Soul further say Away away from me all my lesser Concerns of this life that are apt to draw aside my thoughts from Holyness Trouble me not now when I am about to sup with Jesus and come and welcom to me all holy thoughts holy desires and holy Resolutions for you my heart is open at the welcom news of going to feast my Soul with the Body and Bloud of the Saviour of the World And be entreated Lord to come and fill my heart and take up thy dwelling there and turn out thence every thought and desire and inclination whatever it be which thou art not willing should dwell with thee Be entreated Lord to possess thy self wholly of it for I am coming to offer it up and present it to thee And I am loath when thou shalt come to take possession that thou shouldst find any thing there but holy desires divine breathings earnest longings after thee pantings after Immortality holy hopes and devout affections Fill it O my Jesu fill it up with those for me who am coming to meet thy glorions Majesty by the nearest approaches I can make to thee on Earth that So I may never miss of thee at thy Table or ever go away without a blessing and when I shall go forth into the necessary concerns of this present life again ever let me keep such a flame alive in me that so the old Enemies may no more be lodged there or the old temptations prevail with me but that alwayes hereafter when they shall come and seek to be entertained again in my heart or affections I may have this answer ready for them Away from me Jesus has taken possession there already Trouble me no more the room is full and the door is fast shut to keep him there and you from thence With these or some such meditations as these let us raise our Devotions then and stir up our affections which in this are like other Flames the more they are moved and stirred they appear the more bright and shining Or let the pious heart again say Oh my Saviour thou hast touched me with secret but strong inclinations to be with thee at thy Table and to take henceforward all opportunities of so doing O make them greater than yet they are and may they never cease to be growing till I come to meet thee in thy Kingdom O that thou wouldest but look upon this heart of mine that pants after thee as a heart fit to be wrought upon by thee to be made to do so infinitely more than it does That it may never more be contented to take fewer opportunities to commemorate the Death and love of a crucified Lord than all that it can possibly have and when the day of my communicating is over that I may mourn and sigh and long for the return of it again O let the time come when my Soul shall be wrought up to this pitch and temper never to be so well at ease or so full of joy as when it has lately come from or is shortly to go to a holy Communion 'T is true O my Redeemer and 't is a sad trueth I have long carried a World of unholy desires and sensual inclinations about with me and they have long followed me and made my love to this Sacrament but dull and little But I now hope they are all going off from me to make way for that and thee I have long fancied I might have found happiness in some things of this World but I now begin to be perswaded and to find it is only to be found with thee and thy Religion I can easily remember when I have been greatly troubled at small disappointments of this lower World but never at my disappointing my self of this holy and Heavenly feast and can likewise as easily call to mind when I have longed for and been pleas'd in vanity and folly much more than for a holy Sacrament but 't is some comfort to me that at last I can feel the thoughts of it to begin to appear pleasing and joyous and that those old Clouds of Darkness begin to be scattered and let those flames of love to thee never go out again never more return to coldness and ashes and may I ever be much more afraid lest they should do so than at all the troubles and all the disappointments and all the reproaches of this World May I but live and dye with those and then let all other things be as thou pleasest And now O my Redeemer come and take possession of my heart while 't is thus warm with the Love and desires of thee while by it's pantings and divine breathings 't is moving towards thee and stands open for thee May my eager pursuits of either Riches Honours or Pleasures of this life never more shut thee out thence but be thou pleas'd to rest there 'till I shall be caught up in the Clouds to meet thee in the Air. 1 Thess 4.17 and be ever with thee As this of all things is now my earnest desire so may it ever be 'till that glorious day and then all my doubts and fears shall be over and at an end all my temptations and inclinations to Sin and my frailties and infirmities shall be cured all my scruples of Conscience my tremblings and my fears to displease thee shall be ended and be to me as if they had never been at all But before that time come suffer me O my Lord to sigh out my desires to be always with thee as near as I am able to be on Earth at this distance from thee And O my Soul shall we begin then to take this Heavenly course now at the holy Sacrament We will by Divine aid On then our Lord invites us and calls Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest St. Matt. 11.28 And seeing all things are ready and he expects us let us say to him we come to do thy will we are weary and heavy laden we come to find rest and ease we come Lord Jesu we come quickly With these or some such meditation let us then scrue up the Soul to a devout frame and temper And thus much of Preparation CHAP. IV. Considerations after Receiving Fourthly what is fit to be considered and done after Receiving FIrst thankfully meditate on the infinite mercy and long-suffering of God that he has been pleased to give thee this one opportunity more of renewing and sealing again the
would then have been ended all thy mortifications over every difficulty of thy journey past through and thou wouldest have had nothing more to come but only through thy Lord's merits to sit down and to enjoy the fruit of thy diligence and thy Victory in Rest and Holiness and joy and safety Come then in view of these hopes consider once more that after all that thou hast done the old temptation will return upon thee and what art thou resolv'd to do if it should wouldst thou without any resistance of it submit and tamely yield to it again Dost thou not resolve with sincerity of endeavours to get some ground of it if not the victory art thou fully purposed to oppose and resist it If not to what end hast thou begun thy holy Course of life if thou intend only to go on in it so long till thou findest a fair opportunity to do otherwise If this be thy Case if thou wilt run thy race no longer than thou canst do it with ease or no longer than thy Corrupt Interests or desires or the Devil are quiet and forbear to tempt thee thou art then as surely gone as ever Consider therefore now while they are at rest before they come to be importunate and earnest with thee again for they certainly will how thou mayst best resist them or be out of the way and most secure from them from all appearance all occasions of them out of their reach and violence Whatever your Iniquity be try whether there be not an absolute necessity before it be subdued and thy resolutions kept to mortifie thy great desires of the Riches Honours and Pleasures of the World Do but try for a while how safe thou wouldst be then how much further from all danger of a relaps and be sure of this also that whenever it returns it will like other Enemies fall upon thee there where thou art weakest and least fortified Whatever therefore thy sinful inclinations be O double thy guards there that the Enemies of thy Soul and of thy crucified Lord may never more find thee unarmed and unprovided at their next return upon thee Further if thou hopest to keep thy holy Resolutions against all known Sin then beware lest thy affections to it should not be left as dead as thou art apt to think Take heed that they revive no more The least indulgence or affection left behind may renew insensibly and grow great and become big enough to bear thee down against thy present holy purposes and become strong enough to break down all the bonds of Reason and Religion and then all thy Labour may prove to be lost thy guilt greater and thy time less So great are the least remains of affection left for the old Iniquity O be then at least more mindful of thy promises of obedience than hitherto thou hast been Remember that now thou hast begun for Heaven and set out for the Land of Canaan and undertaken sincerely to be for all that 's holy just and good and that now thou mayst be safe for ever holy and happy for ever if prudently and with an upright heart thou carry on the concerns of thy Soul with those of thy allowable Calling and to make them equally keep pace together as thou art peacefully moving toward thy Prize and thy Crown And as thou art thus going on chearfully to health and peace and pleasure look behind thee as little as thou canst lest thy foot slip again and thou lose thy ground and thy last state be worse than the first Whenever therefore the old allurements the old occasions and the former temptations shall return or the Flesh the World or the Devil be strongly drawing thee off and pressing thee to fall as grosly as ever then if possible recalling thy pious resolutions producing and laying them before thee say O my Soul shall we now break them again if we do we know not we are not sure that God will ever give us one advantage or opportunity more of a Reconciliation Now then is our time of resisting the Enemies of our Saviour and our Soul and of showing what we can do for God and for Religion for Heaven and Immortality Now when our Enemies are most earnest busie and importunate with us let us now seeing this is our time of tryal gather up all our strength manage the Combat with Courage and a great and fixt Resolution and whatever the pleasure whatever the advantage or Interest or Honour be let us look on them all as the flatteries of our Enemies and be deaf to them all and then by Divine aid and assistance We shall prevail and be more than Conquerors Rom. 8.37 And O my Soul let it never be said or remembred of us in the day of judgement that we begun well very often but persevered not went not on with alacrity and chearfulness with Zeal and Courage in our pious Resolutions Never then let it be said that we forgot thee O Jesu forgot our League of Friendship our Covenant with thee assoon as ever we came from Feasting with thee Should our Prince whom we had highly provoked and injured by treasonable words and actions invite us to his House bid us come and dine with him at his own Table should he tell us he were willing to pardon us willing to be reconcil'd to us notwithstanding all the affronts and injuries he had offered him willing to receive us into his embraces too and to be as we say friends again and take us to his favour should we not thankfully accept of the kindness and be proud of the favour Would it not melt us into Love and Affection joy and gratitude and upon this should we promise him sincerely to endeavour no more to partake with his Enemies or to be lead by them to affront or displease him should we or could we indeed assoon as ever we were gone out of his house presently run to his Enemies and joyn with them and fall to injuring him again as bad as ever or perhaps worse than ever How disingenuous how provoking must it needs be to him If so far be it from us my Soul thus to deal with the King of Kings and Prince of Peace the Saviour of the World and our dear Redeemer But now when we go forth from his House the House of Prayer and are to apply our selves to the lawful Concernments and occasions of this life let us carry with us a faithful and constant remembrance of our holy purposes and let this be one of our pious Resolutions no more to be ever unmindful of the rest of our good resolutions which we made with God at the Holy Table Thirdly Earnestly beg of God to assist thee in keeping any good Resolutions and in walking for the future in the ways of Religion and Holyness Our pious purposes desires or intentions cannot be effected by our selves alone without the preventing and assisting Grace of our Great Creator and Redeemer Let us not fail then
God inwardly calling us often by his holy Spirit or outwardly by his Embassadors should so long have been in vain Oh that we should not have been perswaded by them to come sooner and to tast and see how gracious the Lord is That we should scarce ever till now find by our own Experience that the wayes of Religious Wisdom are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 But blessed be God that he has at last opened our Eyes to behold the wonderful things of his Law Ps 119.18 and enclined us to experience and try the sweetness pleasure and satisfaction of being in a good measure qualified to have his merits applied to us that he has given us Grace to experience somewhat of the blissful apprehensions of being in his Favour And now O my Soul what infinite reason have we to say Blessed be the day that ever we came acquainted with our Saviour Blessed be the day that ever our disobedient heart was melted into Love of thee O our dear Redeemer And I beseech thee keep it filled ever with this love fortified ever with these Resolutions ever fixt and constant in this temper and if there be any thing in it that yet may displease thee O make me to know it and assist me to throw it off for ever And when will our Lord come again that we may again Sup with him and feast our selves upon his sacred Body and Blood and tast this pleasant most delicious food again May he make no long tarrying may it not be long O may it not be long before we again either meet him at his Table meet him in the Air or meet him in his Kingdom O what will it be to be always with him where there is so much secret joy and peace in this small glymps of him and at so great distance too And now my Soul seeing we have given up our heart to our dearest Lord in this temper let us live and in this disposition let us dye and we hope by Death we shall come nearer to him never more to be pulled back again or in danger to be drawn off from him by the violence of any temptation for these shall be done away And being thus united to him the great Lover of Souls we shall at last at his glorious coming not much dread the heavens being rolled into a Scroul or the Crack and flames of the dying World or the Trump of the Arch-angel but with infinite joy hear the words Arise come up hither awake and arise and come Take your Crowns your place on my right hand Arise and come and see your new State and new Condition your unknown felicities and unknown Glories your endless peace and safety Arise and come hither up to me your Jesus the Captain of your Salvation Come and be above the reach of Infelicities and Miseries Sin and Death for all ages and sit down in your Immortality and Rest for ever Arise come and partake of those Glories that cost me your Lord Sighs and Groans and Blood and Wounds pangs and Life it self to purchase it for you that cost you also so many Dutys the Strugling with so many temptations the combating so many Enemies before you got the Victory so many difficulties discouragements so much shame and reproach self-denials and the like before you were intitled to my Merits and qualified to receive the bene t of my purchase Come now and sit down in their Enjoyment for above millions of years and ages In a word O my Soul say May these hopes be ever in our view ever in our heart thoughts And as we have lately begun for Eternity upon the Stock of this Hope so let us by this square and order all the Actions of our lives That so at last when we shall come to leave Mortality our Passage hence may be peacefull safe and holy our Resurrection joyfull safe and holy and through him who is the foundation of our hope we may not fail to be remembred with mercy in the day of judgment After which we may with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven laud and magnify his glorious Name ever more praising him and Saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Glory be to the O Lord most◠High Amen A Prayer before the holy Sacrament O My dearest Saviour who wert pleased to suffer death upon the Cross to purchase Heaven and Salvation for me and now callest me to a remembrance of that thy dying Love so fit and trim and adorn my Soul I beseech thee that I may not fail to be now and ever an acceptable guest at thy holy Table Let the consideration of my state and the remembrance of my past sins lead me to a deep humiliation and contrition for them and that contrition to intire hatred a sincere reformation of them and fixt resolutions of future Love and obedience O my Saviour let my Faith and Charity and Devotion be by thy gracious assistance raised to a Heavenly pitch and temper that so whatever thou please to deny me in this lower World I may never be denied a participation of all the benefits of thy meritorious death and sufferings I come dear Jesu I come to renew my Covenant with thee which I have so miserably broken by my Sins of Omission and Commission by my Iniquities of thought word and deed †Here you may mention those grosser Crimes which upon Examination you find your self to stand guilty of particularly by my Sins of For these and all other my impieties known and unknown be pleased to receive a reconciliation and let this holy Sacrament prove a sealing of my Pardon in the Court of Heaven and may I not fail O my Saviour together with thy body and blood to receive new Grace and strength against them O my Jesu who hast done and suffered so much for me and now invitest me to come and see it represented to me be pleased to do this further for me to grant that it may not be in vain and lost as to me by mine own default O let it never be said or remembred of me in the day of Judgment that I ever appeared before thee in this holy action without such a wedding Garment as thou didst mercifully accept or that I did eat and drink my own damnation And though my Iniquities are great great like thy Sorrows and great like thy sufferings which I am coming to commemorate yet because they are infinitely less than thy Mercies and thy Merits Pitty me O Lord pitty me accept me O my God accept me for lo I come to do thy will and grant that I may ever hereafter live the life of Grace in a state acceptable to thee that so by thine Agony and bloody sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious death and burial by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascention which I am coming to remember my past Iniquities being done away I may now at length be more closely