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
Numerous Expensive and Laborious Jewish Precepts so that out of Natural Equity and to shew our Thankfulness for such a gainful Exchange we ought most readily to observe it The Jews were loaded with a Number of Troublesome and Expensive Rites which had no Goodness discernable in themselves nor any thing but the Revelation made by Moses to recommend them to their Consciences Such as the forbearing Swine and several sorts of Flesh the washing of their Bodies upon their touching of any Dead Persons and upon any Corporal Vncleannesses the bringing Offerings and Sacrifice of Fed Beasts at return of Thanks and for Propitiation upon any Offences and many other cumbersome and costly Rites which the Apostle calls the Law of Carnal Commandments Heb. 7.16 and 9.10 and weak and beggerly Elements Gal. 4.9 which were given them not because the things deserv'd it but only that they might be kept imploy'd as useless Exercises are to Children to hinder them from more hurtful Work and so were suited only to the Infancy and Non-age of the World Gal. 4.3 But from all this Burden of Ceremonies under which as St. Peter says they and their Fathers groaned and were oppressed Act. 15.10 by the coming of Christ we are most graciously delivered For he has abolish'd in his Flesh i. e. by his Death wherein he gave his Body for us the Law of Commandments contain'd in Ordinances Eph. 2.15 He has blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us hedging in the Church within the Jews and excluding all us Gentiles and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross Col. 2.14 All this Law of Jewish Ceremonies he has abrogated and procured us a compleat liberty and exemption from it injoining us only thâ—se two cheap and easie Rites of Baptism and the Lords Supper instead of it And if any man has but Common Ingenuity and will return Equitably for what is done and much more if he has any grateful Resentments for so valuable an Exemption he must needs submit with all Thankfulness to this gainful Exchange and Imposition and run to it with as much forwardness as any man would to pay Twelve pence in full Discharge of twenty pound 3 ly It was his Dying and last Command he gave it the very Night before he suffered The same night says St. Paul in which he was betray'd he took Bread and said Take eat this do in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.23 24. And this had it come only in the Nature of a Request and not with the Authority of a Command must needs have made it of greatest Power with us For it is great Inhumanity and shews an hard Heart to deny the last Suit of a Dying Person though he were a Stranger to us and base Ingratitude and a Falsification of all Friendship to throw back the last Request of a Dying Friend especially if he is before hand with us and has done much more than his Request comes to for our sakes and the greatest aggravation of all Disobedience to sleight the last Will and Words of our Fathers or Masters or others that have Right over us and Power to Command us And therefore since our Blessed Lord who came upon Earth for no other end but to do us Service yea even to lay down his Life for our sakes after all the Pains and Cost he has been at for us left this as his last Will and both intreated and injoyn'd at parting that we should eat and drink in Remembrance of him if we have any shame we cannot and if we profess any Duty we dare not and if we have any Love for him we will not neglect it but come to it out of mindfulness of our gone Friend and Departed Lord as oft as we shall have opportunity so to do 4 ly It was thought by Christ a Command so material that when St. Paul received his Commission to Preach the Gospel it was by name inserted and particularly specified and this special Designation of it shews that he was more than ordinarily concerned for it I have received of the Lord says he or by his Revelation when I was call'd by him that which I also delivered unto you as from him namely that the same night he was betrayed he took Bread and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.23 24. 5 ly It is a Command which as the Scripture plainly intimates without great danger to our selves cannot either be unworthily kept or neglected Without very great and apparent danger to our selves we cannot come Vnworthily to the Sacrament For he that eats and drinks unworthily says St. Paul eats and drinks Damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.29 And without a like danger we cannot neglect or keep back from it Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man says our Saviour and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Joh. 6.53 This the Ancient Church as is well known understood generally of eating his Flesh in the Holy Sacrament which is the great Reason they give for that Practice so common among them namely why Infants are to be Communicated And of this there is great cause to understand it For 't is hard to think of any thing that can support such full Expressions as eating of his Body and drinking of his Blood besides eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Sacrament which he calls his Body and his Blood when he institutes it Mat. 26.26 27 28. And besides in this very place he directs us to his Body Crucified and given for the Life of the World to shew the Eating relates to it as so represented which is no where done but in the Eucharist I am the living Bread says he which whoso eats shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give i. e. to be eaten is my Body Crucified which under that Notion is represented only in the Sacrament or my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World And except ye thus eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man ye have no Life in you Joh. 6.51 52 53. This Discourse indeed of eating his Flesh in the Sacrament was before the Sacrament it self was instituted But so was his Discourse of Baptism to Nicodemus before Baptism was appointed for the standing Rite whereby all Mankind should be Christned Joh. 3.5 And so was his Discourse to the People of the Death he should dye by being lifted up before he was Crucified Joh. 12.32 33. And so was his Discourse of raising up the Temple of his Body after it should be destroyed before he was raised from the dead Joh. 2.19.21 And so in this very place was his Discourse of giving his Flesh for the Life of the World which they understood not before he suffered more than they did this Sacramental eating of it before the Sacrament was appointed Joh. 6.51 Our Saviour spake several
things by Anticipation in sundry places as from this last instance 't is plain he did in this which though his Hearers did not at that time fully understand yet they would afterwards so that when other Reasons evince him to have spoke in this place of the Sacramental eating of his Body and Blood the Sacrament's not being yet instituted is no good Proof or Argument against it Thus is this necessity of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood as ever we would hope for Eternal Life by it spoke of the Lords Supper wherein we Feast upon it And that it should be so has no wonder in it For it is no more than is expresly spoke of Baptism which is but of equal Rank with it both being alike Duties and equally required For of that 't is said He that Believes and is Baptized shall be saved Marc. 16.16 And except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 But besides this Proof of the danger of neglecting the Sacrament because our Lord tells us we have no Life in us without it it may also appear from the danger of neglecting the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it and was the same to them as this Feast is to us wherein Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us And as for the danger of neglecting that it was great indeed no less than of being cut off from Israel which was the punishment God had threatned to it Whosoever in the Feast of the Passover eats leaven'd Bread from the First day to the Seventh day that Soul shall be cut off from Israel Exod. 12.15 Thus necessary is it for all men who would please God to frequent this Ordinance and to come to the Holy Sacrament when they are call'd to it They have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an instance as best shews their particular Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more 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 have the more effect has left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision All which shew the Greatness of the Duty and how much it is every mans Concern who would hope to have the Favour of God or go to Heaven And as this appears from the obliging Import and Expressness of the Command about it so doth it 2 ly From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it For therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which no Ingenuous man will and no Good man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them 1 st In the Sacrament I say we publickly own Christ and profess his Religion This was always understood to be the meaning of Feasts on Sacrifices both among Jews and Gentiles they that would eat of the Sacrifice offer'd to any God or Idol were looked on to have Fellowship and Communion with him and thereby to own their joyning in that Worship and Service which was paid to him Thus St. Paul tells us it was among the Jews for they that ate of their Sacrifices were partakers of their Altars And thus he tells us it was among the Gentiles and that they who Feasted in the Idol-Temples on the Sacrifices made to Devils did thereby declare their Communion with them and had Fellowship with Devils And the same is true of the Feast of the Lords Supper which upon this account he makes parallel to and compares with them In Israel after the Flesh says he they who eat of the Sacrifice are sharers in the Worship or Partakers of the Altar And in the things which the Gentiles Sacrifice to Devils they who Feast on the Sacrifices have Fellowship with Devils And therefore you that Feast with the Lord at his Table and thereby have Fellowship with him must not mix Light and Darkness Christ and Belial together and by Feasting with Devils at theirs have Fellowship with them too You cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils you cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils since that were to unite the most opposite Interests by holding Fellowship and professing your selves to be the Servants of Christ and of the Devil also 1 Cor. 10.16 18 20 21. Our joyning in the Holy Communion is our avow'd owning of Faith in our Crucified Lord and of our adherence to him By eating at his Table of broken Bread and Wine poured out which are the Representation of his Death we tell it out to all the World that we are the Servants of that Lord and Worshippers of that Jesus who gave himself to be Crucified and to Dye for us As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup saith St. Paul ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come Ye shew forth his Death i. e. ye tell it abroad and profess to all the World that he dyed for you and is Lord over you and that you own him so to be 1 Cor. 11.26 Thus is our eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table an open profession of his Religion and a Token whereby we give out to all the World who see what we do that we belong to him It is a most solemn sign of our Relation to Christ and a publick Badge of our being Christians And this sure no man will decline when there is a fit occasion who is not ashamed of his Lord nor Repents of his Profession But if he is really a Follower of Christ and would be thought one he will let all the World know it by joyning in this Feast which is the most Solemn Badge and Authentick Mark which Christ has appointed of it 2 ly In coming to the Holy Sacrament according to our Lords appointment we solemnly remember him and think of the Relation wherein we stand and of the benefits which we have received from him Do this says he in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. And when he is call'd to remember his most precious Saviour who has both lived and dyed to make God his Friend and to do him Service there is no man sure that has any thing of Shame or Ingenuity left in him who will shew backwardness and
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
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