Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
Friendliness in Neighbourhoods and to beget Endearment and mutual Love in all Fraternities And this our Saviour intended it should be among us He invites us all to eat of the same Loaf and to Feast at the same Table that we may embrace as Friends and love as Brethren and be knit together in the same Fellowship and Communion We being many says St. Paul are one Bread and one Body for in the Sacrament we are all Partakers of that one Bread which is a firm Bond of Union to make us one also 1 Cor. 10.17 It links us together by the most Powerful Arguments of our being Servants of the same Lord and Sharers in the same Privileges and Members of the same Body which are all most strong Motives to Peace and mutual Kindness and besides all this by our own Solemn Covenant and Engagement also For in coming to this Feast we are not onely excited to it by mighty Reasons which suggest it but are to Covenant and Promise Love to all our Brethren and to plight our Troth for it And thus the Primitive Christians understood it and accordingly made use of it whose Judgment and Practice in this Point were so apparent that the Heathens themselves who looked any thing into their Religion took notice of it For Pliny in his Letter to the Emperour Trajan wherein he gives an Account of the Christians Meetings reports their Communicating to be a Religious Compact and Combination among themselves to do no hurt to each other but to love as Brethren and live as Friends together They assemble early in the morning says he and sing an Hymn to Christ as God and then bind themselves mutually in their Sacrament which is a sacred Oath not to commit any wickedness like a pack of lewd Conspirators but to be no Thieves Adulterers Injurious False and Perfidious Persons and having done these things and given these Assurances of mutual Honesty and Kindnesses to each other they depart home and meet again at a promiscuous and Friendly Treat where they innocently Feast together This then is a third End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament namely to be a Solemn Profession of our Communion and Fellowship with our Brethren and an Engagement of mutual Love and Friendship to those who Communicate with us and to all others So that when we come therein to remember our Saviour Christ and to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God we must enter into a League of Love with all our Brethren and promise an inviolable Friendship unto them too And thus we see what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Communion and what we must intend and understand by them that we may as the Apostle says discern the Lords Body in them When we Eat Bread and Drink Wine according to Christs appointment we must fix our thoughts upon him and remember what Love and Friendship he had for us what Lessons as our faithful Guide and Instructor he has taught us what Commands as our Lord and Master he has left with us and what inexpressible Things as our most Precious Saviour and Benefactor he has done for us in being made Man and leading a mean and necessitous Life but above all in dying a most ignominious and painful Death for our sakes and that he might purchase us the Favour of God the Graces of the Spirit and Eternal Happiness We must renew that Engagement which we made when we were Baptized and confirm again that New Covenant with Almighty God which his Blood procured professing that we do and will believe his Word and repent of every Fault and endeavour with his Spirit and obey all not wilfully transgressing any Commandment that so we may have Right to that Forgiveness Grace and Happiness which upon these Terms he has purchased And lastly we must confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren professing that we do and will forgive all that injure us and be kind to all about us and never fall into Hatred or cause Difference with any Persons but be at Peace and live in Charity with all the World The Bodily Eating is but the out-side and the least part in this Feast but the chief thing required is this Spiritual Work and Business which is to accompany it So that when our Saviour Christ calls us to Eat and Drink at his own Table he calls us not barely to Feast our Bodies for that is the least thing that he intends but chiefly and principally to employ our Souls in remembring him his Laws and Benefits and among them above all that of his Dying for us in confirming the New Covenant with God and a Covenant of Peace and Brotherly Love with his Members throughout all Mankind CHAP. II. Of the Worthiness of Communicating in the Sacrament The Contents To Communicate Worthily is to do it with such Tempers and Behaviour as are worthy of it and becoming the Things which are meant by it The First End was to remember Christ both first As our Lord and Master which calls for Honour and Reverence in our selves and a Care to maintain his Honour among others For mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience 2. As our most kind Friend and Benefactor which calls for Love and an hearty Affection for him For Joy and Gladness in what we receive from him For Thankfulness for all his Kindnesses particularly in Dying for us And as this Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins the Remembrance of it calls for a deep sense of our own Vnworthiness An utter Abhorrence of our Sins which caused his Sufferings A Resignation of our selves to his Vse as thereby we are become his own Purchase The Second End was to confirm the New Covenant with God which his Blood procured This calls for Sincerity and Faithfulness A Third End was to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians This calls for Peace and Charity to all Persons and particularly for Alms to the Necessitous A Summary Repetition of these Qualifications A Belief of these Things which carries us on to these Tempers and Performances is the Faith that makes us Worthy Communicants HAving shewn hitherto what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament I proceed now in the next place to shew wherein lies the Worthiness of Doing it And this had need be clearly stated not onely because the most considerable Scruple against Communicating lies in it but also because really 't is a Matter of great account and there hangs a great weight upon it For he that eats and drinks unworthily says the Apostle commits a Damning Sin which will destroy him unless he repent of it he eats and drinks Damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.29 and is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord v. 27. Now to Do this Worthily is to Do it with such Tempers and Dispositions as become it and are worthy of it For this
begin to make excuses For has not he done enough for us to deserve to be thought of Do not all the inexpressible Favours he has gain'd and all the exquisite Pains he underwent for our sakes most justly challenge to be held in remembrance He left unutterable Glories and submitted to all sorts of Earthly Calamities and took unwearied Pains and shewed Invincible Patience and laid down at last his own Life to save our Souls and must all this be forgotten now 't is done and quite buried in silence What man of any Ingenuity that has been happy in such a Friend can be averse to remember him What man that has been blessed in such a Saviour can ever decline the Thoughts of him Unless we will shew our selves grossly stupid or intolerably proud and both ways Monsters of Ingratitude we must needs be ready to Celebrate the memory of such a Person when we are called to do that Honour to him and none that would be thought a man much more a Christian must ever refuse to remember his Saviour Christ and give him Thanks when in the Sacrament he is call'd to it in Christ's own Name and by his special invitation 3 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Sacrament we confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God In this Feast as has been shewn we assure him that we will Repent of every sin as ever we hope that he will forgive us and will endeavour with his Grace after every Virtue as ever we expect that he should assist us and obey every one of his Commandments as ever we look that he should Crown us with Eternal Happiness and believe that for Christs sake we shall have this Pardon Grace and Eternal Life upon these Terms and not otherwise for all these Duties we give him our Word and Promise and on that Condition for all these Blessings he gives us his Seal and Assurance back again And what man is there who pretends to the Name of a Christian who will refuse to do this when he has an Authentick Summons nay even a Friendly Invitation will he not Repent that he may be forgiven nor endeavour after such Graces as he wants that Gods Spirit may help him to them nor obey all his Saviours Laws that he may be happy in Heaven nor believe that Christ has purchased these Benefits for us at Gods hands upon these Terms but that without performing them we shall never have them If he will not do all this why doth he make any pretence to Religion If he is unresolv'd and suspends about any of these Particulars why doth he profess himself a Christian For these things are the very substance of Christianity and the Life and Soul of all Religion No man can belong to Christ without them and when he was Baptized and came to him he solemnly undertook and ingaged for them And therefore if any man will refuse to make God his engagement of this Faith Repentance and Obedience when he is call'd to Promise and Profess them he revolts from his Baptismal Vow and if he persists in that mind may as well renounce his Profession and turn his back on the whole Christian Religion 4 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Supper we confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren this being one end as I have shewn of this meeting to profess our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all men And who now that owns himself a Christian can seek shifts and shun this when God calls him when his Saviour that dyed to make God Friends with him asks him to be Friends with all the World can he refuse him When he invites him to be at Peace with all his Members and to embrace them all as Brethren can he fly from him If he shun this he may as well shun every thing else and quit all claim to his Religion For by this says our Saviour shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another Joh. 13.35 And unless ye forgive men their Trespasses says he again neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours Mat. 6.15 And he that says he Loves God and yet hates his Brother saith St. John is a Lyar. 1 Joh. 4.20 And if it be possible saith St. Paul and as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men Rom. 12.18 Love and Peace and mutual Friendship and Beneficence are the great Duties which Christs Law prescribes and which all his Followers must be forward at all times to make profession of And therefore if any man turns away from declaring them when God calls him to them he turns his back of the most Signal Duty of his Religion and will not come to that whereby above all things else he should declare himself a Christian. 5 ly In Feasting with God at the Holy Sacrament we are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glory from him and these no man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them He vouchsafes us the greatest Honour For he calls us to his own Table and tells us he is most glad to see us there and that the oftner we come the welcomer shall we be to his Supper he invites us as his own Guests and thereby seeks our Company and Acquaintance and treats us as his Friends and Confidents which Honour is so high that greater cannot be shewed us He gives us the surest Tokens of highest Love For he calls us to Feast upon the Body and Blood of his own Son i. e. upon those Blessings which the breaking of his Body and shedding of his Blood procured for men and shews us plainly that he is still of the same mind and is glad that for our sakes he parted with him For his inviting us to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ in this Holy Supper imports as much as if he should say to us Lo here my dear and only Son whom I gave to shed his own hearts Blood a Ransome for your Souls When I did it your sins were most provoking and render'd you utterly undeserving of it and since you have received it you have not been affected as you ought but have shewed your selves most unthankful for it but yet all this doth not make me Repent of what I have done or grudge you the Benefit of him I am come here freely to present you with him and invite you and exhort you nay intreat you to accept him Eat his Body and drink his Blood i. e. those Benefits and that Expiation which was purchased by it I freely give them without grudging nay I shall take it extreamly ill if you refuse them For I would by all means have you receive the advantage of him I gave him once for you and now again I give him to you I am still of the same mind to part with my own dear Son for your sakes and
thou throw back a Soul that would hang it self upon thee wilt thou disdain an Heart that is desirous after thee and would fain be no longer it s own but thine that thou mightest use it as it may best serve and honour thee O Blessed Jesu do not reject it for it is the Purchase of thy Blood Let not all that be thrown away which thou hast already done for it for want of thy further Care and Conduct of it Accept me Good Lord who here unfeignedly devote my self unto thee that both my Soul and Body and all I have may be employed as thou seest fit to order me I am nothing I have nothing and I desire nothing but to be with thee to be filled with thy Grace and obey thee perfectly that so I may have nothing of my self but do all things thro' Christ dwelling in me And when we thus Resign our selves to our Saviour's Use we must heartily repent of all our Sins faithfully promising never more to yield to them but to amend them all thenceforwards To Repent particularly of all our Sins we must first discover them by taking some Catalogue of Christian Duties and examining our own Hearts at every one Whether we have consented to transgress them And where we find we have there we must bemoan our selves and fully resolve That if God will be pleased to pardon what is past we will never yield to do the like again And what Man will not thus stedfastly resolve to leave all his Sins that has the patience to consider what will be the End of his Continuance in them For by that we shall infinitely offend our Saviour Christ who gave his own Life for ours and whom therefore we are bound to please above all Persons we shall certainly lose the Joys of Heaven and Eternal Happiness a Loss which the whole World put together cannot recompence we shall unavoidably be dâ—â—med to Hell-fire and Eternal Torments which is the utmost heighth of Misery that can possibly befal us This will infalâ—ibly be the Effect of our Perseverance in any Sins we find our selves guilty of And now let us ask our own Souls Whether we love them so well that we will â—ndure all this rather than forâ—go them Shall I prize my Sin to that degree as for its sake to act despite to my dearest Lord who died for me Must it be dearer to me than his Love that I should dishonour and offend him whensoever it bids me Is this the Return I make to my truâ—st dearest Friend to side with his professed Enemy Is this my Thankfulness for all his Kindness to stick to a Lust that aims at nothing but my Destruction rather than to him who gave his own Life to save mine Thou lovest it dearly O my Soul but canst thou value it at such a Rate as to part with Everlasting Life for it Hadst thou rather have it than enjoy the Face of God and be for ever Happy Art thou content for the short and unsatisfying Pleasures it affords to lose all the Joys and Glories of a Blessed Eternity Wilt thou die sooner than be divorced from it and accompany it even into the Flames of Hell and the midst of Eternal Torment God forbid will every May say whose Heart is thus particularly posed that ever I should be so desperately mad and unaccountably wicked I cannot despite so dear a Lord or throw away the Eternal Joys of the Heavenly State or endure the Smart of Hell and the insupportable Load of Everlasting Torment No Man can bear it and I stand amazed to think of it And therefore since this will be the Effect of my wicked ways I am resolved from this Moment to renounce them and by the help of God will never return to them any more Thus let the Drunkard think with himself on his Cups the Sâ—â—earer on his Oaths the unjust Man on his unlawful Gain the Contentious on his Quarrels the unclean Person on his Fornication and forbidden Pleasures the Revengeful Man on his spiteful Carriage the Slanderer and Evil-speaker on his reproachful Words Back-bitings and Defamations and every other Sinner on his particular Sins and when they seriously consider that this Saviour must be lost this Happiness of Heaven forfeited and this eternal Anguish and Extremity of Pain endured if they persist in it they will instantly resolve to forsake it and never yield to be guilty of it again O Blessed Lamb of God who hast redeem'd me with thy Blood will every Contrite Heart then cry out I am utterly ashamed to look thee in the Face considering all the cruel Usage I have brought upon thee I scarce know how to think of Feasting on thy precious Blood now I am most earnestly invited to it since mine own Sins have shed it I am alas a most polluted Creature who have daily offended in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty My Pride and contempt of God and Sensual Lusts and Covetous Desires and uncharitable Practices have cried aloud for Vengeance on me and that Cry would not be silenced unless thou my dearest Saviour wouldst die in stead of me Of all these Offences I am guilty and the horrour of that Guilt would fright me from thee were it not that thou freely callest me to accept of Mercy I come Lord in obedience to thy Word and with an humble and a penitent Heart most earnestly entreat thee to have pity on me I am sensible of these and all my Errours and utterly ashamed that ever I committed them I am weary of them and fully purposed by thy Graâ—e to become a New Man or else I durst not ask to be forgiven My Heart shall never more joyn with them nor will I ever hereafter yield to live in such ungrateful and wicked ways again They nail'd thy tender Hands and Feet to the accursed Tree and thrust the Spear into thy Side and can I then endure to see or any longer side with them They made God who is the Author of all I have and hope to enjoy my utter Enemy and shall I then be still a Friend to them They would bring me to eternal Destruction both of Body and Soul and whilst I consider this is it possible I should have any more to do with them No Blessed Lord I hate them and am utterly resolved from this time forth for ever to abandon them They have been the Shame of my Life and are now the Sorrow of my Heart as alas when thou enduredst such Anguish for them on the Cross once they were of thine I loath my self by reason of them and will never consent any more to live in them and with an humble and a contrite Heart beseech my Heavenly Father that thro' the Merits of thy Blood I may be forgiven And wilt not thou O God who sentest to seek after me whilst I was an open Rebel now meet me graciously as thou didst the Prodigal Son when I return again to my
us think of him in all those Capacities and reflect upon him under all those Relations wherein he so infinitely deserves to be remembred by us Such as are that of a Faithful Teacher a Gracious Governour an intire Friend and noble Benefactor doing the highest kindnesses and working the greatest deliverances for us and for all Mankind 1 st He would have us remember him as our Faithful Teacher who has made known to us the whole Counsel of God concerning us and to call to mind those excellent things which he has revealed to us As namely That for the sake of his Death and through the merits of his Blood all mankind who were utter Enemies before shall be put into a way of Reconciliation with God and have the Benefit of a New Covenant which proffers Pardon to all that truly Repent and Spiritual help and inward Grace to all that carefully indeavour with it and the Blessings of Heaven and Happiness to all that are intirely obedient promising that at our Death our Souls shall go into Paradise and at the General Judgment our Bodies which till then were held in their Graves shall be raised up again to Eternal Life 2 ly He would have us remember him as our Gracious Governour whom God has anointed to give Laws to us and to recollect and bear in mind those Commands which as our Soveraign Lord and Master he has laid upon us As namely That we love God and trust in his Goodness and submit to his Providence and Worship him with Prayers and Praises but above all with an Holy and a God-like Life that we be Humble and Heavenly-minded Chaste Temperate and Contented that we be dutiful to our Governours respectful to our Superiours courteous to our Equals condescensive to our Inferiours grateful to our Friends loving and obliging to our Enemies and just charitable and peaceable towards all Persons of whatsoever Nations Sects or Parties even to all Mankind 3 ly He would have us remember him as our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor who let us in so deep into his Heart and heaped his Favours on us at so prodigious a rate as never was nor ever will be equall'd For he loved us without any thing of our own Deserts and in spite of our highest Provocations and without expecting any other recompence besides the Pleasure of being kind to us and to such a degree as made him forego the greatest pleasures which he might have held without all interruption in Heavenly places and become a man of Sorrows and lead a Persecuted difficult and necessitous Life and at last dye a most exquisitely painful and ignominious Death for our sakes which ransom'd us from the greatest Curse and procured us the most valuable Blessings that our Nature can admit of And this Benefit of his Death being not only in it self the costliest but the very price and purchase of all the rest he would have remembred above all others in this Feast and accordingly he has suited the Food in it to be broken Bread and Wine poured out which do most lively represent it As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup saith the Apostle you exhibit to all that look on and observe it or shew forth the Lords Death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 These are the things which our Saviour Christ calls us seriously to remember and consider of in our own minds and which the Actions themselves commemorate and shew forth to others when we eat Bread and drink Wine in this holy Sacrament When we partake of this Feast which he has appointed us he would have us remember him and think with our selves how Faithful a Teacher he was to us and what good Lessons and Declarations he has left with us how gracious a Lord and Master he proved and what Commandments he has laid upon us and lastly how kind a Friend and noble Benefactor he shewed himself and what astonishing kindnesses he has done for us in all the Labours of his Life but especially and above all in his suffering a bloody Death for our sakes which purchased us the Forgiveness of our Sins the Grace and Spirit of God and Eternal happiness All this Faithful Teacher and Gracious Governour and intire Friend and noble Benefactor Christ is to us in the highest Measures and to all imaginable Degrees and since he is so he would have us to bear it in mind and oftentimes to think of it And that we may be sure to do it he has instituted this Feast on purpose for it and told us that our work is to call to mind and remember him whensoever we come to it And this way of having these things remembred by appointing Feasts for the Commemoration of them has been very usual in the World Thus the Disciples in the several Sects of Philosophers at Athens were wont to have a set Feast and Collation in remembrance of their Founders And it has been the way of all the World to remember their Benefactors and commemorate some great Blessings by Festivals Thus at this day we commemorate the deliverance from the Powder-Treason and the Kings happy Restauration by a yearly Festival upon that occasion And the whole Christian Church has perpetuated the memory of Christs Nativity Resurrection and the Descent of the Holy Ghost by the yearly Feasts of Christmas Easter and Pentecost And God himself in the old Testement call'd men to a remembrance of the Creation of the World by the Feast of the Seventh day Sabbath and all the Jews to the commemoration of his sparing all their First-Born when the destroying Angel slew all the First-Born of Egypt by the yearly Festival of the Passover appointed for that very purpose Exod. 12.14 This then is the first end of our eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table it is in remembrance of our Saviour Christ and of what he has done for us So that when we partake in this Feast of his appointment we must seriously reflect on him who has appointed it and bethink our selves that he is our Faithful Teacher calling to mind his Revelations our Soveraign Lord and Master remembring his Commandments our intire Friend Saviour and Benefactor who has done strange things for us but above all who has laid down his own Life to purchase us the Pardon of our Sins and Spiritual Grace and Eternal Happiness upon our Repentance Obedience and Virtuous endeavours With these Thoughts he would have us entertain our minds at the same time we Feast our Bodies with the Creatures of Bread and Wine which he has prepared for us and if we would answer his end in it and be welcome Guests at this Feast when he calls to it we must be sure so to do And as we must eat Bread and drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us so must we 2ly In Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased and procured us This Covenant
vouchsafed to the Jews no not to the Priests themselves for in all their Sacrifices he would never give them the Blood of Expiation to assure them of their Sins being atoned by it nay nor the Flesh neither in the Great Sacrifice of Expiation which was burnt without the Camp but ordered it always to be poured out upon the Altar or the Ground Exod. 29.12 Levit. 4.25 30 34. And to this 't is like St. Paul may have respect when he tells the Hebrews We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle Heb. 13.10 11. They convey to us also the Assistance of Gods Spirit and Grace to aid and strengthen us This is intimated by our Saviour Christ when he calls his Flesh which all must eat i. e. not in its Natural Substance but in its Effects or those Blessings which were purchased by it by the Name of Bread which is a thing that as the Psalmist says strengthens mans heart and gives Nourishment and Support to us I am the living Bread says he which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World Joh. 6.51 In the Sacrament we are called to eat Christs Flesh and drink his Blood not in their Natural Substances as I have hinted but in their Effects and he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood saith he dwelleth in me and I in him and when Christ dwells in any Man his Spirit dwells there too so that he cannot want Grace sufficient to assist him Joh. 6.56 And St. Paul alluding to the Power of Wine whose Natural Vertue is to enspirit and enliven Men says That in the Eucharist we are all made to drink into one Spirit i. e. we are all made to share in the same Holy Spirit which is the same to our Souls that a Draught of Wine is to our Bodies a Principle of New Life Strength and Vigour in us 1 Cor. 12.13 They convey to us lastly a Right and Title to Eternal Life and Happiness The Blessed Sacrament was thought anciently to have a peculiar Efficacy in preparing our Bodies for an Immortal State Thus Irenaeus says of it As the Bread that springs from the Earth after it is blessed is not Common Bread but the Eucharist consisting of an Earthly and an Heavenly Part i. e. the Sensible Sign and the Spiritual Thing signified so our Bodies receiving the Communion are not now corruptible as they were before but are put in hope of a Resurrection And St. Ignatius calls it the Medicine of Immortality which is an Antidote to preserve Men from Dying and give them a Life that is Everlasting And to this as 't is not unlike the Prayer at the giving of the Bread and Wine refers That they may preserve our Souls and Bodies to everlasting Life as it was long since in the Form of the Western Church and as it is still in use amongst us But whatever becomes of that Conceit viz. it s preparing our Bodies for it 't is plain that a Right to Life and Immortality is conferred by it Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood saith our Saviour hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.54 and again He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever v. 58. And if he had not in express Words declared it in all Equity and Reason this might most justly have been presumed For since in this Sacrament God gives us the Body and Blood of his own Son than which nothing can be dearer to him we may justly argue as St. Paul doth and say He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up both for and to us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Thus are all the Particular Blessings of the New Covenant which Christs Blood has purchased and which God has promised and made over in it conveyed to us in this Holy Sacrament And since they are so it must needs be a Federal Rite and a Solemn Ceremony of Covenantin◠with God because otherwise than 〈◊〉 Federal Performances and Engagements 〈◊〉 are not to be had God has suspended all these Benefits upon our Performance of certain Conditions so that we cannot have them conveyed to us on his part otherwise than by undertaking at the same time for these on our own He will not forgive any Believers their Sins unless they repent of them nor help them to any Graces unless they endeavour after them nor reward them at last with Eternal Life unless they have intirely obeyed him as we have already seen And therefore wheresoever those are bestowed these are either performed or sincerely promised too So that from this Reason also it appears that the Sacrament is a Federal Rite and a Ratification of the New Covenant and of our Baptismal Ingagement because all the Blessings of that Covenant are conveyed by it which otherwise than by Federal Performances or Engagements are not to be had And thus we see upon all these accounts that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is intended not onely for a Remembrance of the Death of Christ but also for a Renewal and Ratification of the New Covenant which was purchased by it For so much the General Nature of Sacraments which are Covenant-Rites of Baptism which goes hand in hand with it and of the Passover which preceded and answered to it do fairly intimate and so much also the Words of Institution at the Blessing both the Bread and Wine declare and its being a Feast on Sacrifice infers and its conveying all the Blessings of the Covenant proves concerning it And this is the second End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament namely to renew our Baptismal Vow and in most solemn sort to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God So that when we come to remember our Saviour Christ in this Feast we must come also to give and receive Engagements with our Blessed Lord promising that we will believe all his Words and endeavour after all Virtues and obey all his Laws and repent of all our Faults and then hoping assuredly that his Mercy shall forgive us his Grace and Spirit assist us and his Bounty reward us with Eternal Happiness when we do But besides these Ends of its being in Remembrance of Christ and his Dying for us and in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us there is yet another 3 ly And that is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others Eating and Drinking together at the same Table and joyning in the same Feast was always a Note of Friendship and a Profession of Love and Kindness among Men. It is the common way of the World to compose Differences to keep up
Requisite to our worthy Commemoration of his Benefits in this Feast For Praising God is reckoned as one Particular of the Disciples Carriage in their Breaking Bread Act. 2. They continued daily breaking Bread says St. Luke which they eat with gladness praising God v. 46 47. Nay so great a share has Thanksgiving and Praise in this Business that the whole Action is called the Eucharist i. e. the Giving of Thanks to God for those Benefits which are therein Commemorated And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when we Commemorate him as our Friend and Benefactor in this Holy Supper We must love him for his Kindnesses and delight in his Benefits and be thankful for all his Favours particularly for that which is therein especially Commemorated his Dying upon our accounts bursting out into grateful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and being ready and resolved by our Zeal in his Service our Observance of his Laws and our Kindness to his poor Members to make him all the small Requital we are able so that he may never have any cause to repent of what he has done for us But besides this Remembrance of his Friendship to us and Benefits in general which require in us these forementioned Tempers we are especially to commemorate the Benefit of his Dying for us which more particularly calls for certain others In Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper I say we are to remember his Dying for us and shedding his Blood a Ransom for our Sins And to do this worthily we must be humbled under the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to bleed and die for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase 1 st We must remember his Dying for us in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness and in an utter abhorrence of our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings We must remember it I say in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness His Death was not for any thing that he had done but onely for our Sins and this shews what vile Wretches we are and how unworthy Persons It lets us see how hateful our Sins had made us unto God and what they had deserved at his Hands For he would not let them pass without inflicting the highest Shame and the most exquisite Pain and Tortures Yea when his own onely Begotten Son would intercede for them and bâ—ar the Burden of them in his own â—â—â—son so implacable was the 〈…〉 to them and so indispensable â—he Râ—â—sons that constrainâ—d him to punis◠〈…〉 that his most tender Love for him whom he valued as his own Right Eye could not hinder but that he should bleed and die for them It lets us see also how troublesom they had made us to our best Friends and how shamefully burdensom and expensive to the Blessed Jesus For when he long'd and labour'd to redeem us from them he could not be our Friend unless he would cease to be his own nor do us any good at all except he would give his own Life a Ransom And what Man now can ever think of this but he must hide his Face and be quite buried in a shameful sense of his own Unworthiness He may see how vile he was when God was so highly offended with him and thought no Punishment too heavy for him and would not be reconciled at the Intercession of his own Son unless he would die in stead of him and it was so dangerous and costly a thing no less than the laying down his own Life for his Saviour to shew himself a serviceable Friend to him And if this Sight doth not work shame and self-abasement in him he will be concluded by all to be the basest Man alive and utterly unworthy that â—ver any thing of all this unparallell'd Kindness should have been done him We must also remember his Dying for us with an utter abhorrence of our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings For if we do not hate and abhor them when we consider what Tortures he endured for them we shew we are very little concerned for his Ease nor have any feeling of his Pains nor any Zeal at all against the Occasion of his Sorrows And this is a very bad Requital of his undergoing all those Pains for our sakes and a most unworthy Usage So that if we would worthily Commemorate his Dying for us we must be humbled and ashamed of our selves at the sense of our own Unworthiness seeing we had deserved such insupportable Punishments and have put him to such exquisite and intense Pains and particularly we must turn our abhorrence on our Sins which caused all this Mischief and made him if he would befriend us to undergo such heavy Tortures 2 ly We must remember his Dying for us with a Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase He died in our stead and his Blood was given to God for a Ransom to buy us off from it that we might not die also The Son of Man saith he is come to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20.28 And since he has bought us and paid so dear for us to deliver us from Hell-torments and Eternal Death which is not his but our own Advantage in all Equity and Reason he ought to have the Use of us and we should be wholly devoted to his Service And this the Scripture requires of us The Love of God constrains us saith St. Paul to live to him because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5.14 15. And again Ye are not your own ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. And since his Dying for us has made us his own Propriety and acquired him an absolute Right over us to his own use which we had infinite Reason to desire but he had no need of if we would remember it worthily we must do it justly by honestly devoting our Souls and Bodies and assigning them over to him to be wholly at his Service And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when in the Holy Sacrament we Commemorate his Dying for us and shedding his most precious Blood a Ransom for our Sins We must be humbled with the sense of our own Unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings and resign up our selves both Bodies and Souls to be wholly at his use and employed where and in what he pleases as thereby they are become his own Purchase And thus it appears what Tempers are becoming
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that in Dying for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and repent of all our Sins making him faithful and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
it makes us more unmoveable and settled in it if with Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours it fills us with a greater abundance of it It augments all the Virtues of a Good man which he brings to it making him more perfect in them and strong in Spirit to persevere and go through with them But these Effects it has not upon an ill man nor produces this increase of Virtue in those who bring nothing of it along with them So that 't is no disparagement to the Virtue of this Sacrament if wicked Men find themselves wicked still and not at all amended by their Receipt of it since it was not ordained for their Improvement It was not meant to give Grace to those that are Graceless or to give Repentance to Impenitent Persons but to carry them through in their Repentance who have fully set upon it and to enable them to lead a New Life who are resolved to do it and to strengthen them to amend a Fault who are wholly bent to strive against it and to confer Grace on those that have it and make them more Gracious still And this the Holy Sacrament is to every worthy Communicant It conveys Grace into his Soul and makes him stand more firm and increase in every Virtue of a Christian. It is an excellent means to make him a better man and to carry him on to improve in Duty and Holy living So that every one who comes worthily will gain a great increase of Grace and Strength and be much set on in Spiritual growth by Receiving Now this it doth two ways 1 st By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us 1 st A worthy Receiving conveys Grace into our Souls and confirms and increases us in all Virtues by the Natural Efficacy and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a good Life and set it forward and therein we bind our selves by solemn Vows and Engagements to go on in it both which are most powerful to effect and improve it 1st It excites and therein we exercise several Duties that help on a good Life and set it forward All the Duties of worthy Receiving are instances of an Holy Life as we have seen and parts of a Good man but several of them are not only particular Duties in theâ—selves but withall most powerful helps to the performance of all others So that in performing and improving them we do not only discharge and grow in some Virtues but make a way for our easier Discharge and fuller growth in all others also And these are a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs wonderful kindness to us especially in Dying for us an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and intire Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins all which as they are much improved in a worthy Communion so are they most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men 1 st I say these Duties are improved in us by the Holy Communion And this they are by being both exercised and excited in us at that time They are all exercised in every Worthy Communicant at that time because in them as we have seen consists the worthiness of Receiving And the more still they are exercised the more they are improved For all Habits come by usage and Custome makes those things which at first seemed strange to become not only Easie but Natural to us So that in exercising them at the Sacrament we shall improve and add to them and go away with a greater measure of them than we brought when we came And this we shall more especially do because therein they are not only exercised but mightily excited in us also The Holy Sacrament suggests such Powerful Motives to them and presents us with such obliging Reasons for them as we cannot have any where else so that we cannot take a better way than by coming to it to improve them For therein we most solemnly and attently remember how when our sins had made us utter Enemies of God and Heirs of Destruction Christ laid down his own Life in our stead and by that Ransome redeemed us from it And this is not only the highest but in a manner the sum total of all those inducements which can ingage us to these Virtues or possess us with them For what can possibly raise so warm a Love of Christ in an ingenuous Spirit that is sensible of what is done to it as to see how infinitely he has Loved us and when we were his bitter Enemies gave his own Life in exchange for ours What can ever ingage us to so great Thankfulness as to think that a Person so far above us and that stood in no need of us and that was not sought to by us and that was even thâ—n most highly disobliged and had received the greatest Provocations from us should most frankly give his own self to do us a kindness What can so powerfully move us to resign up our selves to any one as to see that he has bestowed himself on us first to buy us off from our implacable Enemies and that for no Self-Interests or By-Ends of his own but purely for our Eternal Happiness What can work in us so hearty a Repentance and provoke us into so utter an Indignation and Abhorrence of all our Sins as to behold in our dear Lords Agonies what they deserv'd and how unmeasurably mischievous they proved and what inexpressible Tortures they brought on him when he would put himself in our place and undertake to answer for us These things are most livelily set out and powerfully suggested to us in this Blessed Sacrament one chief business whereof is solemnly to Commemorate and make mention of them and they are the most effectual means to raise in us a constant mindfulness a zealous and intense Love of him that dyed for us and an hearty Thankfulness for all his kindnesses and a sincere Repentance and utter abhorrence of all our Sins and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Use anâ— Service that can be given us And the Sacrament being thus richly furnished with the most perswasive Motives and thus vividly suggesting to us the most Powerful Reasons for all these Virtues it must needs be the best Course to improve in them and we cannot lay out our time upon them better or to more effect in any other way Thus are the Duties of a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs dying for us of an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins very much set on and improved in all worthy Receivers by the Holy Communion They will be heightned and increased by receiving because they are both exercised and by an
put our Adversary to great Cost and Pains and since in Christianity he is our Neighbour and our Brother this we ought not to do for little things whereby we shall not gain near so much as he loses for this is not according to the Commandment to Love him as our selves Nay it will be a great snare both to his Virtue and ours for although it be no state of direct sin yet is it a state of very dangerous Temptation there being so many ways to offend whilst a Suit is carrying on and it being so very hard to avoid them without great Conduct and Circumspection And this also we ought not lightly to cast either in the way of our own Souls or of our Brothers yea we shall not do it if we have any of that tender Love and Care for Souls which Christ has shew'd and which he requires us to shew when upon a prospect of saving them he commands us not only to bear a Reproach or to part with our Substance but even to lay down our own Lives for others 1 Joh. 3.16 Thus when the Damages to be repaired are but of small account and the trouble and charges of the Suit will take much more from him than we are like to get by it out of our tender care of all Persons whom God commands us to Love as we do our selves and out of our Love to each others Souls and desire to keep both our selves and them from dangerous Temptations which would rob us of our Innocence a thing that ought not to be hazarded for trifling Regards we ought patiently to bear the Loss and not seek out by Law to redress it And this as I have intimated is what our Saviour expresly commanded Mat. 5. If one smite thee on thy right Cheek which is a tolerable affront turn to him the other also or expose thy self to be smitten again rather than judicially resist it And if any man sue thee at the Law to take away thy Coat or inner Garment a thing that may easily be spared hazard an higher Loss and let him take thy Cloak also rather than sue to regain it v. 38 39 40. So that rather than sue to recover little matters and enter Actions for small Reparations we must be content to want them and sit down without any Repairs at all And in rating when things are thus little and frivolous we must not judge by our own Pride and Passions which count nothing little but aggrandize every affront or injury that is done to our own selves but by the reality of things and according as we our selves should judge were we humble and dispassionate or as they would be judg'd of by other Holy and Indifferent Persons Our own Pride and the Opinions of the World would whisper to us that every Trespass against us is intolerable and deserves a Process every imputation of a Lye a Stab and every actionable Affront a Suit at least if not a Challenge But Pride and Passion and the Opinions of the World must not be our Councellors for we renounced them at our Baptism when we were first made Christians and if we would please God they must not sway but ought daily to be mortified and subdued in us And since they are so much our Sin and so directly against our Baptismal Vow and Profession it will be no excuse for going to Law on little Losses and Indignities to say we thought them Great through their being our Advisers In judging then what are little things we must not be governed by our own Pride and Passions but by the reality of things and the Judgments of dispassionate humble Persons And this our Lord plainly shews by setting down a Box on the Ear which in reality doth no hurt nor leaves any permanent effect behind it among those light Indignities which ought not to be a matter of a Suit though every where the Pride and Passions of men and particularly at thâ—t 〈◊〉 the haughtiness of the Jews thought it a great thing which ought by all means to be recompenced For this as a Learned man observes was their Rule about it Doth any Person give his Neighbour a box on the Ear let him give him a Shilling yea says Rabbi Judah a pound or if it were upon the Cheek let him give him 200 Zuzes to make amends for it Nay if he give him another Box he ought to give him 400 to recompence it So great did they think the Indignity to a Jewish man esteeming all their own Nation as he observes from Maimonides even those of the most beggarly condition to be Gentlemen because they were all the Children of Abraham And thus it appears when a Suit is unlawful upon this first account viz. it s entring upon an unjustifiable Ground For such it is in all Cases when we bring an Action only for Revenge and not for Reparation of Damages or when for the Reparation of such small things as ought not to expose us to all the Evils and Temptations of a judicial Process but to Exercise our Patience and Forgiveness which smallness of things is to be rated not by mens Pride and Passions which esteem no ill small that is done to themselves but by the reality of things and the Judgment of Humble and Dispassionate persons And this holds true not only in Losses and Indignities offered to our selves but also in the Case of Trust when they are offered to others who are committed to us For when Suits are Sinful as we have seen they are in the Case of Revenge and of lighter affronts and injuries which Christ Commands us not to redress by Law but to bear with Patience I see no difference but an equal unlawfulness whether we Sue upon our own or upon their Accounts For surely our taking of a Trust doth not ingage us to Disobey our Lord or do any evil thing but only to do all that which we can for those committed to us as Good Christians and Honest Men. And therefore in lighter matters when Suits are sinful we may no more Sue for them than we can tell a Lie or Swear an Oath or Over-reach in their Cause or be guilty of any other Transgression If they were come up to Act in their own Name in these cases a Judicial Tryal would not be lawful but a sin in them And where they themselves could not Sue we must not think that we who Act only as their Proxies and Representatives may do it for them If these Losses and Indignities which are shewed to them were offered to our selves we ought not to commence an Action but to be patient under them And they have no Reason in the World to think us wanting either in our Trust or Friendship when we do all that to the utmost in their Case which we durst do in our own So far then as Suits are Sinful and to put up injuries without entring Actions for repairs is a strict Duty as it plainly is in
stay away and not receive at all But that they may not be kept back by this hindrance I shall observe to them these three things 1. That they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from it 3. If it happen that any are really Scandaliz'd at the sight of such as are notoriously Wicked or have done any wrong to their Neighbours either in word or deed upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denyed the Sacrament 1. I say they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy to communicate lest they be mistaken in it For every Penitent Man who is fully Resolved to leave all his Sins is really worthy to receive the Sacrament and whether the Person they think unworthy be so resolved or no is very hard for them to judge since no Man can see into anothers Heart and only God and his own Soul are privy to it When he comes to the Lords Table every Communicant professes to Repent and promises to lead a New Life thenceforward and when he solemnly declares he is thus resolved 't is hard for another Person who cannot see into his Soul to say he is not but is still impenitent Tho all Good Men therefore may be free in judging of themselves yet ought they to be very wary how they pass a Judgment on the unworthiness of others They must not be forward to pronounce of it because 't is hard for them to know it so that when they give Sentence against their Brethren in this point 't is venturously done and they are liable to be deceived in it 2. When some others who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do Receive the Sacrament yet ought not that to hinder them from joyning in it Our Business should not be to move Questions and Disputes about the preparedness of others but to be careful duly to prepare our selves and when once we are sitly qualified for it we ought to come whether they be so or no. Their unworthiness will have all its effect upon themselves but will not hinder our acceptance nor ought to put us by from doing both our Saviour and our own Souls this Service To shew this I shall observe these three things 1. If the company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians 2. It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession But 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they we unworthy we are safe and may freely come and they alone are to be debarred from Receiving 1. If the Company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it is not so barely unto us but would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians For when our Lord eat hiâ— own Supper it was not with a Select Company of worthy Receivers but with a mixt multitude of Saints and Sinners Thus he found it in the Jewish Passover for all the Congregation of Israel both good and bad were to eat of it and none but Foreiners and hired Servants were excluded from it Exod. 12.45 47. And the like mixture of Guests he allowed when he instituted this Feast instead of it For in great likelyhood Judas who as the Scripture says was a Thief and the Son of Perdition was one of the twelve that Communicated with him Mat. 26.20 25 26. Luc. 22.20 21. And in the first times all Christians as I have shewn who came together to pray to God met also to receive the Holy Sacrament that being then a constant part of their Publick Worship The Number of Communicants in those Days was the same with the number of Christians or Baptized Persons for all Men then met in the Communion who were made Members of Christs Mystical Body the Church by Baptism and were not cut off again by Excommunication as St. Paul plainly intimates when he says of all those many who make up the one Body that they are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and of all those who have been Baptized into one Body that they have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 So that their Communions as well as ours were mixt Assemblies which were made up of worthy and unworthy Receivers and therefore if other Mens unworthiness ought to be our hindrance it should also have hindred our Blessed Saviour Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians who if this be a good Reason for it should all have forborn the Sacrament because Judas a lost man and other unprepared and unworthy Persons met also with them at the same time to partake in it 2. If the Company of unworthy Persons be a just impediment from the Communion it ought to hinder us also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession For the Church it self is a mixt multitude of fit and unfit of holy and unholy Persons It is compared to a Net wherein Fish of all sorts are caught both good and bad Mat 13.47 48 to a Field where both Wheat and Tares spring up and wherein both must grow together till the Harvest v. 24 25 30. All Christians are not such as their Saviour Christ was and such as their Religion requires they should be and therefore if we refuse to share in any holy thing whilst some unworthy Persons pretend to it and will not joyn in any Act or State wherein ill men participate we must not only shun the Communion but cease also to be members of the Church or Profess the Christian Religion Nay I might add further since all Communities have some Corrupt Members and in every Body of Men there are some Vicious as well as Godly Persons if we decline all Society and fellowship which has ill Men to partake in it we must not stop in avoiding the Communion and leaping out of the Christian Church and Profession but if we run on so far as this Principle will lead us become Out-Laws to Families Townships Kingdoms yea to all Mankind 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they are unworthy we are safe and may freely câ—me and they alone are debarr'd from receiving God will not punish one Soul for anothers fault or be angry at this because that Person has deserv'd it But every Man shall stand or fall by his own Work and either be approved or â—â—jectâ—d as it prepares him for it Let every Man prove his own Work saith the Apostle for every Man shall bear his own Burden Eph. 6.4 5. So that if we take care to come worthily our selves
last to bear the stroke and iâ— reach'd in so doing He becomes a Petitioner to us in their behalf and intreats us by vertue of all that he has done to be Friends again and can we have the face to deny him who has so infinitely obliged us and ought to command us in every thing Shall we refuse so small a Suit to him who died for us or stick to throw away a sinful Resentment for his sake who has parted with his own Hearts Blood for ours Tho' they are most unworthy to be pardoned yet is he most worthy of it so that when he intreats we must not be backward in it Nay we stand daily in a thousand times more need of his Pardon than they do of ours so that we block up the way to our own Forgiveness if we refuse it For what if they have injured us Have we been altogether innocent and have offered him no Injuries What if they have most ungratefully abused us after they had received the most endearing Kindnesses have we been duely thankful unto him and never offended against all his Mercies Do not we owe him Ten thousand Talents whereas their Debt to us is but a Trifle of an hundred Pence And since we are daily asking him the Forgiveness of these vast Sums can we at the same time stick at his Instance to remit these smaller Matters to our Neighbours Have we the Face to ask Pardon whilst we have not the Heart to grant it Or can we hope that Christ should give it us for the most heinous Sins at our Request when we deny it to our Brother for the smallest Trespasses at his Or rather since he most frankly forgives us and that too without upbraiding us shall not both our own Necessity and the Example of his Mercy engage us to forgive our offending Neighbour also Lo here my Blessed Saviour will a Devout Heart then say how I cast by all angry Thoughts and am Friends with all the World as thou requirest me They shall all be dear to me because I see they are so to thee who hast given thine own Life for their Ransom Thou ownest them all as thy Brethren and therefore they shall evermore be mine for I desire to have the same Friends and to go along with thee in every Relation No Member of thine whom before I had never seen shall ever be a Stranger to me but I will embrace him as a part of my own Body Nay even my bitterest Enemies shall have no hatred or hard usage at my hands but I am Friends with all the World since thou wilt have it so Shall not I forgive other men who am undone my self unless I be forgiven Shall not I have pity on their Souls as thou Blessed Jesus hast on mine and freely Pardon them when thou becomest their Advocate to sue and intercede for them O! my Dearest Saviour I do from my heart forgive them and will never yield to return their Injuries or Vnkindnesses upon them Nay I most humbly beseech thee and that by thy own most precious Blood that thou wouldest forgive them also Give them Grace to Repent of what they have done and impute not their Trespasses unto them but receive them I earnestly intreat thee into thy Favour as here I do truly and unfeignedly into mine Hear me O Blessed Jesu both for my self and them that we may all be one with thee and among our selves being united to thee by a Spirit of Holiness and to each other by a Spirit of mutual Charity and Brotherly-kindness that so all the World may know we are thy Disciples by that Spirit of Love which thou hast given us 3. We must Resign our selves up to our Saviours use and Repent truly of all our sins promising him Faithfully that we will amend them all thenceforwards We must Resign our selves up to our Saviours use that he may dispose of us as he pleases And what man can stick at this who considers that he has bought us and would put us to no use but what is infinitely for our own Advantage Has any Person a better claim to us than he who bought us with his Blood and gave his own Life for the Purchase Should not he have the benefit of all our Service who has paid so dear for it by dying himself instead of us But if we were at Liberty and he had no Power over us is there any better way to dispose of our selves or could we desire to be in other hands rather than in his Can we hope for more Wisdom in any one to direct or more Power to bring our Happiness about than in him who knows and governs all things Durst we trust more to the Faithfulness and Affection of any Heart than of that which dyed for us Or can we think our selves happier in any Hands than his who is in all things studious of our Advantage For our Blessed Lord seeks no other ends by us but our own Eternal Happiness he imposes no Duties on our Consciences but what he has done himself before us nay what had we the understanding to discern it we should all have imposed upon our selves So that in committing our selves to his Conduct we do not give but seek a Benefit and dispose of our selves in that way which is incomparably our highest Interest We are absolutely his own Right and 't is infinitely our own Interest to be wholly given up to him and govern'd according to his liking and therefore every considerate man will freely resign his Heart to Christ and never suffer the World or his own Lusts to pull it back again Come then my Dear and Rightful Lord will a poor Soul say and take Possession of me Thou hast bought me with thine own Blood a strange Price for so despicable a Purchase and here I come in all Humility to present thee with what thou hast so dearly got and without all reserve to give up my self unto thee I know O Lord I am a Deformed and Polluted Creature most unworthy to be offer'd to so excellent a Majesty But gladly would I be thine that thou may'st make me better and so adorn me with thy Grace that I may be sitted for thy self and therefore I earnestly beseech thee to accept me I humbly beg to be delivered from my self for I am my own most mortal Enemy O! that thou wouldest give thine Holy Spirit Power over me and not let my own Corrupt will any longer govern me nor my false heart any more deceive me nor my unbridled Passions any more to reign in me which alas have tyrannized too long already O! that thou wouldst purge my understanding from all foolish Principles and all darkness and Ignorance of Holy Things and cure my will and affections of all their stubbornness and opposition to thy Laws that thou wouldest first take them as thine own Propriety and then fit them for their Masters use that I may never hereafter live to my self but unto thy Glory wilt
Duty Wilt not thou my sweetest Saviour who diedst for me whilst I was thine unrelenting Foe now intercede for me when I come to serve thee O speak Peace unto my poor Heart and let me know and feel that thou forgivest me Send thy Holy Spirit to take possession of it to keep it true unto thy self that it may never more start back from thee Thou hast promised thy Grace to those that ask it and endeavour in expectation of it O! I desire it and will do what I can to be assisted by it and therefore humbly hope this Promise shall be made good unto thy Servant Whatsoever thou doest in other things deny me not this Grace O Heavenly Father for Jesus's sake who is infinitely dear to thee and who died for me Amen Thus may we Discharge the Duties of this Feast and excite and actuate in our own minds that Faith and Thankfullness and Charity and Resignation and Repentance which are to render us fit and worthy of it If any are destitute of other helps they may make use of these Meditations and Prayers to affect their own Hearts and to shew forth these Virtues of worthy Receivers They will not always find room for all these Devotions whilst the Sacrament is Administring but they may go thro' with all of them before they come for then they may allot what space they please for them and make use of such of them as the time allows when they are receiving And for a more actual adorning of their Souls with them at that time whilst the Minister himself or others before them are Receiving they may express them all in one Continued Devotion by lifting up their Hearts to God in the words following O Blessed Jesu who gavest thy self to die for my sake how near have I lain to thy kind heart when the precious Blood that streamed thence was not so dear to it I am utterly ashamed of my self that ever I should put thee to part with such a price and to endure such exceeding smart and tortures to bâ—friend me I blush to think of it and abhor my sins which brought thee to it But since my need required and thy Boundless Love would make thee undergo what thou didst in the utmost thankfulness of an humble heart I gladly accept the inestimable benefit for which I love thee most Affectionately and will serve thee most Faithfully and praise thee most joyfully evermore extolling thy boundless Goodness and glorious Excellencies and endeavouring that all others may do so too Thou hast Bought me with thy Blood and here with an unfeigned Heart I give up my Soul and Body my Goods and all I have to be employ'd in thy Service and disposed of as thy Providence shall order me Take Possession of me by thy Spirit that my Body may always be the Temple of the Holy Ghost my Soul and all its Faculties intirely Devoted to thy Behoof and Interest and all 〈◊〉 worldly Goods acquired so innoâ—â—ntly injoyed so thankfully spent so â—â—â—perately and laid out so charitablâ—â—s becomes thy Faithful Steward I 〈◊〉 not hence forward call any things my own when once my Lord has need of them I freely resign all up unto thee since thou hast paid so dear for me I have grievously offended thee by many sins particularly by c. I am perfectly asham'd of them and sorry at my heart that ever I committed them and would never do it were they to do again and faithfully promise that wittingly I will never more yield to them and humbly beg that for Christ's sake in whom thou offerest Pardon to every penitent Heart thou wouldst forgive them Thou hast purchased the Holy Spirit for all those who are ready to labour in an Holy Life and take pains with it and offerest him to all such industrious Souls in this Sacrament I desire O Lord to amend all these Sins which I have here acknowledged I am fully bent upon it and will endeavour what I can towards it and depend upon thy Grace and Aid to carry me through it Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word I am at Peace O Lord with all Persons and forgive all Offenders against me as I expect Forgiveness of my own Offences at thy Hands and am fully resolved to be kind to all the World but especially to all the Members of thy Mystical Body for thy sake that by these Returns of Charity I may in some sort answer that Infinite Love and Kindness I receive from thee Thy Blood O Blessed Jesus has procured and thou Holy Father for Christ's sake hast promised Pardon of any Sin to every one who repents of it and the Assistance of thy Spirit to every one that endeavours with it and Eternal Life to all that are entirely Obedient and callest us to receive Assurance that thou art still of the same mind and wilt make all this good in this Holy Sacrament Lord I heartily repent me of all my Sins for Christ's sake do thou pardon me I am fully resolved to shew Care and to labour in the Amendment of all my Faults let thy Grace and Holy Spirit come in to assist and enable me I am stedfastly purposed to keep thy Commandments do thou then graciously accept me for the sake of my Crucified Saviour whose Death I now most thankfully commemorate and who is here offered unto thee as our Atonement on this Table Or shorter thus O Blessed Jesus who diedst for my sake and daily still renewest thy Kindness by shewing thy self well-pleased with what thou hast done and calling me to meet thee in this joyful Commemoration of it I come at thy Command to shew my self humbly and thankfully mindful of so Infinite a Benefit Blessed yea for ever Blessed be thy Love which made thee think upon when I lay in misery nay forget thy self and throw away thy own Life to save mine I humbly adore thy marvellous Goodness which shall ever be the Joy and Praise the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels And O that I may always love thee better than I do my Life that so I may not flinch even to die for thee as thou hast done for me if ever thou shalt call me to it for thy Glory I see in this Bread that is broken and this Wine which is poured out what cruel Pains my Sins brought to my dearest Lord and how they stand guilty of his Body and Blood I come with shame and a troubled Heart to confess it I utterly abhor them for what they have done and declare since they have proved thâ—â—ruel Enemies they shall evermore be mâ—â—e and that I will never from this day admit of a Reconciliation I am here to assure thee that I will not live unto my self or them but unto thee and freely devote all I have to thy use since thou hast bought me I love all Men and will embrace them as my Brethren because they are thine and freely forgive all the World even as I