Writing for the use of the Church in all Ages 'T was he that gave such convincing Evidence of the Truth of Christianity at first by Innumerable Open and Uncontroulable Miracles in order to the first Introducing it into the World and the confirming the Faith of it in all after times and 't is he that hath been giving his Testimony to the Truth thereof in all succeeding Ages even down to this very day in producing the Saving Effects thereof on Mens Hearts notwithstanding so much such united and such vigorous Opposition 'T is his office to Illuminate convince of Sin Righteousness and Judgement to Quicken Strengthen Comfort Succour Guard and Enliven and Seal unto the day of Redemption He is the Author of all saving Light and Grace and the first spring of every good Work the Beginner Maintainer and Encreaser of the Spiritual Life and Issuer of it in that that will be Eternal AND accordingly that part of a Christians Sacramental Vows that relates to God the Holy Ghost is a serious engagement to use him as our Saviours Deputy in all the parts of his Office to take the Holy Scriptures as of his Inspiration as the rule of our Faith and Life and to adhere to that Religion the Truth whereof he hath so many ways attested Earnestly to implore his help and assistance and carefully to use it when given to keep our Minds open to his Light to yield to his Convictions and comply with his Motions to hearken to his Voice and follow his Conduct to wait humbly for him in all ways of Divine Appointment to depend upon his Aids to receive his Comforts and by Strength derived from him to be continually walking in the way of Holiness towards Everlasting Happiness Thus are each of the Persons in the Trinity distinctly concern'd in our Sacramental Vows 3. OUR Sacramental Vows summarily comprehend the whole of our Religion A great Noise and Stir there hath been in the World about Fundamentals fierce and earnest have been the Disputes among the Learned about the number and nature of them and various have been the ways pitcht on to determine what points are absolutely Necessary and what not But when all 's done the Christian Covenant which in Baptism is Initiated and afterwards at the Lords Table renew'd confirm'd and ratifi'd would if rightly consider'd give us the clearest Notions of the great Essentials of our Holy Religion All the great Principles of our Faith are comprehended under the distinct Agency of God the Father Son and Spirit in bringing about our Salvation and Happiness to which our Sacramental Vows have a direct Reference as appears from the former head And as for the Practical part of our Religion no Essential of that can be wanting in them since they take in the whole compass of our Duty The whole Moral Law which always was is and will be the Rule of Duty is reducible to two Heads The Love of God and our Neighbour As for the Love of God that is to be exprest by a serious Acknowledgement of him and renouncing all that would rival it with him an hearty zeal for his Worship and his Name and a punctual Sanctifying of that Portion of time he hath consecrated for himself And if we heartily Love our Neighbours we shall be ready to do to them as we would have them in like Circumstances do to us to give all the respect to any that is due to their place and to be tender of the Life Chastity Goods and Name of all we have to do with and never envy their Prosperity To all which our Sacramental Vows are Solemn Engagements And so are they also to all those Duties which our Blessed Saviour hath in the Gospel peculiarly enforct as Self-denial Mortification the taking up of our Cross giving and forgiving Charity Relieving the Poor Succouring the Distressed and helping the Necessitous forgiving Injuries without Retalliating or giving way to Revenge Unity and Peace and the like Would we therefore have a compleat and full a distinct and clear and comprehensive Idea of our whole Religion would we take it in at one view that we may the better discern its Excellency Order and Beauty and be the more Enamoured with it let us turn our eyes to the Christian Covenant to our Sacramental Vows and there we may have it 4. THE Obligation and Binding Force of Sacramental Vows is Perpetual and can never cease The Acts themselves may be quickly perform'd and soon over But their Obligation will last as long as our lives Some sorts of Vows may cease to be binding when the reason of them ceases or a greater Duty would be hinder'd or a greater danger Incurr'd or the like But none of these things can happen as to those our Vows that are attended with Sacramental Solemnities Perseverance and Constancy in our Duty to the last is one part of the matter of those Vows For we do therein engage not only that we 'll be Faithful and Dutiful and Obedient in the general but that we 'll persist and hold on in our Duty whatsoever it costs us and whatever troubles or difficulties we meet withal That by the strength of God we won't flinch nor give way that if we fail we 'll be Sorry and Repent and Divine Grace assisting us to our work again and so doing hold out to the last till in fighting the good fight of Faith we have finisht our course and so come to lay hold on Eternal Life CHAP. IV. Of the BAPTISMAL VOW The Sum of it in Form as made by Persons Baptiz'd when ADULT BAPTISM was Instituted by our Blessed Lord as a Sacred Rite whereby Persons were to be first Initiated into the Christian Covenant And be it sooner or later Administred it carries in it an Obligation to all the duties of that Covenant on which its Blessings are suspended In Baptism there is always either exprest or imply'd a Vow of hearty complyance with all the demands of our Holy Religion without which suppos'd the pouring on of Water in the name of the Father Son and Spirit by the Minister as Gods Representative would be utterly Unavailable either to seal or convey those Inestimable Gospel Blessings of Pardon and Peace Adoption and a Right to Life But this Vow must be differently consider'd by all that would avoid Confusion according to the Different state of the Subjects of Baptism which are either Persons Adult that are come to years of Understanding and so are capable of transacting Personally for themselves or the Children of Christian Parents in their Infant State The case of the former is the subject of this and that of the latter of the following Chapter ADULT Persons before they are Baptiz'd ought seriously to consider what Christianity will oblige them to and to reckon their costs before hand that they may come under so Solemn an Engagement as Baptism carries in it understandingly deliberately and with full consent of Heart that there may be no danger of after
Sun that such Persons are unfit for such an Ordinance as the Lords Supper for they are incapable of reaching the ends of its Institution Since therefore none but Baptiz'd Persons may approach the Lords Table but all Baptiz'd Persons may not the Question is Where the discrimina tion of some from others of them proper to this case lies And what it is that is necessary as a pre-requisite Qualification I answer the difference lies here That some stand to their Baptismal Engagement and others don 't and the qualification pre-requir'd is an owning of it For if Persons don't own the Vow they once came under 't is to no purpose to think of Repeating it again NOW the owning of this Vow is pre-requir'd to Persons Right Receiving of the Lords Supper in a double respect either with Reference to God or the Church 1. WITH Reference to God and so the Hearty owning the Obligation of this Vow is necessary without which we cannot approve our selves to him or so transact with him as to reap those Benefits which he designs for us by that Ordinance whereto we are suppos'd to pretend Our Hearts must be really Consecrated and our Lives Devoted to him according to the tenour of our Engagement in Baptism before we can justly pretend anew to strike Covenant with him who searcheth Hearts and trieth Reins as we are to do at his Table 2. OUR owning our Baptismal Vow is also requisite with reference to the Church to our admission to the Lords Table We must make a Credible Profession of adhering to it of which kind is every such Profession as is not contradicted by an Unsuitable Life and Conversation This Credible Profession of an Adherance to the Baptismal Vow is necessary that it may appear there is a difference between those that are admitted to Church Communion and those that are debarr'd it and for the same reason it would be well if it were Publick It would be very becoming and Advantageous did Persons every where before they first Communicated freely profess their Sincerity and Constancy in their Baptismal Covenant or Vow and openly declare themselves in the face of a Christian Congregation Enemies to the Devil the World and the Flesh And this is the most considerable part of that which hath been wont to be call'd Confirmation A thing much practic'd and insisted on in the Primitive Church tho' of later times much neglected and by some quite laid aside as useless the more 's the pity IT much Rejoyces me therefore and I cann't forbear mentioning it on this Occasion to know and hear of several even of the Dissenting Congregations in the Nation wherein this Practice is still kept up Among whom 't is usual for the Pastors after their private Transactions with those who are to be Admitted to the Lords Table either on some day in the preceeding Week or just before the Administration of the Holy Communion Publickly to demand of them whether they don't stand to their Baptismal Vow and take it on themselves Whether they don't cordially give up themselves to God the Father Son and Spirit according to the tenour of it And whether they don't engage to walk agreeably to all the Laws of the Gospel Or to that purpose Which is really a thing of great weight and moment and I could wish 't were more universally minded This as I was saying is the most considerable part of that which the Antients us'd to call Confirmation And such a Declaration as this made by Persons in the face of a Christian Congregation is really an Act of Confirmation for they do thereby further ratify and establish the Contract which is between God and them and by confessing it to be valid and good and openly owning that the Vow of God is upon them bind themselves still faster to him whose they were before Some may perhaps think this to be more ado then needs by reason the very coming to the Lords Table with antecedent Preparation and siting down there among the Faithful who are bound to God by Covenant is a Tacit or Virtual owning of the Baptismal Vow And at most they may apprehend that the doing this in private before the Pastor of the Church might be sufficient To whom I can without any difficulty grant that what I aim at is indeed virtually imply'd in such a case and that the private performance of it may suffice to render Persons worthy Communicants But yet it follows not but that the Publick Transacting of this matter may be much more Eligible Many Instances may be produc'd where very near as much depends on the manner of doing a thing as on the thing it self and this I take to be one For I pray observe Persons upon their first coming to the Lords Table pass out of the state of Infant into that of Adult Members of the Church The faster therefore they are bound to GOD the more likely will they be to credit Religion of which the generality of the World are apt to pass a Judgement from the Demeanor and Conversations of such Persons Now the more publickly such a Profession is made the more likely it is to influence them since they will have so many as Witnesses against them ready to admonish them upon occasion of their open Engagement which cann't but strike an awe And but that it would be too great a Digression I could make it appear that the Scripture favours such a publick Recognition of the Baptismal Vow and it is agreeable to the Practice of the Church in several Successive Ages True it is in process of time the Romanists in a shameful manner abus'd it but that 's no just Reason for our slighting or rejecting it who may have it pure and free from their Abuses However this I think is plain and clear That a Recognition of the Baptismal Vow is necessary to Persons Regular Admission to the Lords Table I add further 5. THAT the more Solemn this Recognition of the Baptismal Vow is 't is so much the better where I mean not Ceremonicus by Solemn as if this matter would be ever the better the more Ceremonious it was No that is far from my Intention The Papists indeed have made it a Sacrament and turn'd it all into Ceremony for they use Oil in the Administring it and Balsam and sign with the Sign of the Cross c. But of these things we can safely say They were not from the beginning for the time when they first began to be us'd in the Church can be mark'd out But my meaning in the word Solemn is this that the more Seriously and Gravely it is manag'd on the part of the Persons coming to Confirmation and the more Authoritatively on the part of the Minister as Christ's Officer the more likely is it to Answer its End The Establish'd Church of England hath taken care enough in this latter point as to the Authoritativeness of this Transaction but 't is the Desire and Wish of all sober
us to himself Our God is sensible of the slipperyness of our Hearts and therefore he 's for binding us as fast as may be He hath so ordered matters as that we are to be Consecrated and come under a Vow to him as soon almost as we begin to be this Vow we are with great Solemnity to own and renew as soon as we become capable of Transacting for our selves and afterwards we are requir'd frequently to give new security of our Fidelity over the Consecrated Elements at the Supper of our Lord And the design of all is only this the more effectually to engage us to that which is our unquestionable Duty wherewith our interest is closely connected In obliging us time after time to renew our Bonds God hath consulted our good designing thereby to further our security of reaching those Inestimable Benefits which he hath design'd for us We should therefore be so far from thinking much of them that we should prize our Bonds we should look upon our selves as so much the more Honour'd by how much the more they are multiply'd upon us CHAP. VIII Of an EXPRESS RENEWAL of our Christian Vows every time we come to the Holy Communion And DIRECTIONS about the right Management of it IT now follows that in the second place I show how the Express Renewal of the Christian Vow every time we come to the Supper of our Lord will help us the more effectually to reap the Benefits of that Holy Ordinance Which comes in very properly by way of Motive to that which I doubt is too commonly neglected by many Christians viz. Expresly Renew'd Covenanting at every Sacrament What I have to propound under this Head will I say properly come in by way of Motive For if I can make it appear That this is the way for our reaching the Benefits design'd for us by this Sacred Institution of our Religion I think there are none who are not their own enemies but must readily fall in with it and set themselves to put it in practice It is indeed certain and undeniable That Persons growth in Grace and Advancement in the Divine Life may be promoted by their Devout Partaking of the Holy Supper while yet either thro' Ignorance or Forgetfulness or Unskilfulnefs how to manage themselves at that Sacred Solemnity they may neglect the Express Renewing their Vows to be the Lords But if it be evident that this Ordinance would do them more good and be attended with much greater Advantage to the same Persons did they positively and expresly every time make an act of surrender of themselves to him who gave himself for them and anew engage to live to him who dy'd for them it will follow that they must be enemies to themselves if they continue Negligent Now this will be made appear from these three considerations viz. That our slipery Hearts will be more fix'd and aw'd our Faith and Hope be more eonfirm'd and strengthen'd and our Comfort more encreas'd by this means than could be otherwise supposable 1. THE Express Renewing our Vows every time we come to the Lords Table will much fix and awe our slippery Hearts None that are not great great strangers at home can be ignorant how apt our Hearts are to turn aside like a deceitful bow and to lose the sense of those things which ought continually to influence and govern us especially if remov'd from us by any distance of time how easily the continually surrounding objects of sense deface those Impressions which are at any time made on our minds by higher things and how difficult 't is to keep sensible from prevailing over Spiritual Engagements Alas the Sensual Carnal part is so powerful in the best and our Hearts are so apt to fall in with it and the Temptations we meet with to draw off our Hearts from God are so numerous and we so prone to yield unto them that we can hardly tye our selves fast enough or sufficiently multiply obligations on our selves to an Holy a Christian and a Divine Life If the sense of often repeated engagements is apt to wear off and who sees not that it too too often does so even in the best How unlikely is it that a single act of Consecrating our selves to our God and Saviour or the same repeated only now and then after large and considerable intervals should retain a constant governing power over us But the frequency and expresness of our Renew'd Vows if we take but care to apply our selves to them with any degree of that Seriousness that suits such a Solemnity will much promote their influence upon us For it will keep us under a standing sense of our Obligation it will fortify us against Temptations it will be a constant Fence and Spur and Monitor to us For if I have the least degree of Grace and resolve not in the most daring and provoking manner possible to trifle with God and my own Conscience Can I who month after month while I am feasting on the Memorials of Redeeming Love Renew my Self-Dedication to the Most High can I I say presently forget that I am anothers and not my own Can I or any one so easily forget this as if it were but once or twice in an whole Lives space that solemn Vows were made And doth not their Expresness as well as their Frequency add to their force For this implies not only a Recollection that we are the Lords but a Serious Resolution taken up in his Presence and form'd over the most awful Emblems of his Greatness and Majesty and Purity and the most Endearing Pledges of his Goodness Grace and Love that we will be his for the future more than ever we were before If we are Serious in such frequently Repeated Engagements we cannot but be made more Watchful more Considerate and Provident more Diligent and more Setled Christians both in our Tempers and Lives than we should otherwise be Consciences work will be made more easie For we shall have but a little way at any time to look back to that which of any thing that can be thought of will be the most likely to curb the fury of Lust and abate the violence of Temptation and quicken us to our Duty and cause Repentance and Rising again after our Sins and Falls Now this is one one of the Blessed Benefits design'd for us by the Institution of the Sacrament of the Supper no other way more likely to be gain'd than by this Practice of Expresly Renewing the Christian Vow every time we joyn therein 2. THIS Practice will help to strenthen our Faith and Hope There 's no Grace that is more employ'd at the Sacrament by Devout Communicants than Faith Its work is to view Christ thro' the Elements whereby he is Represented to receive him when offer'd and to return our all back to him again tho' not by way of Requital or out of any hope of Desert yet out of a sense of Duty and as a Token uf the highest
I Vow it and whether I Vow it or not but if I Vow it I am doubly bound For God hath bound me and I bind my self And the oftner I Vow it the more firmly do I bind my self and the greater appearance is there of a Plenary full Consent So that I have not only the Authority of God but the authority of my own Resolved Mind to awe me to a faithful discharge of my Duty And tho' a Command of Gods is a sufficient Obligation yet doth my own engagement give a Super-added force thereto by reason of the power God hath given us over our selves So that by Vowing we will be the Lords and his only and his for Ever which is our own free voluntary act we utterly renounce all indifference in the matter and quite put it out of our power as I may say ever to refuse any instance of Duty and Obedience without an open contradicting our selves as well as going contrary to our God Now if our own free Promises Oaths and Engagements have not an Obliging and a Binding force upon us we may bid adieu to all Civil Society and Religion at once How can it be suppos'd we should mind or be govern'd by any Obligations we are laid under by another be he never so much above us if we are not Influenc'd by those Obligations under which we voluntarily lay our selves If anothers Authority can firmly bind us certainly our own free Engagements may strongly oblige us If God may bind us to what he pleases by his Command certainly we bind our selves firmly by our own voluntary Vows THIS Consideration doth indeed as well suit those Vows that are made on a Sick-Bed or in an hour of Distress as those that are first form'd and renew'd at a Sacrament and it would be well if any Persons who have such Vows lying on them unperform'd would duly weigh it But yet the Repetition of Sacramental Vows by those who statedly frequent the Holy Communion gives it a peculiar force in our case I add 2. THAT Persons don 't hastily and on a sudden rush on and are not e'er they are aware drawn into the Obligation they are by these Sacramental Vows laid under but there is abundant time and scope for and all the marks of Deliberation which much adds to its force There is in this case no Circumvention or Surprize no force or craft is us'd to draw persons to oblige themselves to that of which they should have any occasion to repent upon the withdrawment of the Inducement which in any case much weakens an Obligation But Persons proceed deliberately in binding themselves to be the Lords 'T is true when they are first consecrated to God in their Infant State there is no room no Capacity for Deliberation But in all after acts in their Recognition of the Christian Vow at years of Maturity and all its renewals and repetitions tho' there is a vast difference in the degree of deliberation us'd by several Persons yet is there a sufficient degree of it to give it a strong binding force ever necessarily presuppos'd THOU wert not its true capable of deliberating on the matter when thou wert first bound to be the Lords in thy Swadling Cloaths But hadst thou not abundant time and scope for serious deliberation after thou grewst up Nay Did not thy after desiring to come to the Lords Table imply that thou hadst seriously consider'd the matter and wert come to a full determination to stand to thy Baptismal Vow and live answerably to it For why else shouldst thou desire to be admitted to the Communion there to renew thy Engagement and repeat thy Vow Nay Didst thou not at lest pretend to him by whom thou wert admitted to the Lords Table that thou hadst fully deliberated on the matter and wert come to a fixed settled Resolution to stand to the engagement thou cam'st under in Baptism Wer 't thou not told that this was absolutely necessary in order to thy admission to right acquitting thy self in and reaping any benefit by that Ordinance Wer 't thou not therefore seriously call'd on sedately and soberly to weigh matters in thy Retirement as thou wouldst not by thy Prophaneness and egregious Trifling with God in his most Sacred Institutions pull down ruin on thine own Head Wer 't thou not warn'd rather to keep away and forbear proceeding any further in Polluting Holy Things if it were not thy formed purpose Divine Grace enabling thee to lead a Christian Life under a Christian Name and Profession Was not an owning of thy Baptismal Vow whereby thou first wer't bound to thy Lord Redeemer and an express Promise to keep and live up to it exacted of thee and given by thee before thou wer 't admitted a guest at the Lords Table there to feast on the Memorials of his Love And what O Man O Woman Could'st thou do this without deliberation Without thinking what thou didst what thou wer 't about and what all these things meant If thou didst not use all the Deliberation which thou ought'st to have done in a matter of so great a Consequence and Importance 't is thy own fault thou can'st blame none but thy self But it appears thou thought'st thou hadst deliberated long enough for a just determination by thy proceeding and coming to joyn with Devout Communicants at the Lords Table after such Warnings Admonitions and Intimations Thou must certainly have had some thoughts about the matter otherwise thou would'st have had no reason at all to have prefer'd coming to the Sacrament before staying away from it Why didst thou not then I pray throw off thy Masters Livery once for all if thou thought'st his Service a slavery Why didst thou not lay aside the Christian Name if thou didst not seriously intend a Christian Life Why didst thou go to make new Vows unless thou resolvedst to live answerably to them Why dost thou now continue to heap Bonds upon Bonds and Vows upon Vows if thou art really unwilling of that to which thou Engagest thy self I pray observe it There 's a great deal of Deliberateness in thine Engagements to lead an Holy and a Pious Life There was so at first when thou Professedst thine adherence to the Baptismal Covenant and there is so at every Sacrament where thy Covenant is suppos'd to be renew'd By thy very coming time after time to the Communion thou professest thy self not to be weary of thy Master nor his Service not to be asham'd either of his work or his wages but that thou art Resolv'd whatever befalls thee thou wilt adhere to him and faithfully follow him And is there not plainly all the marks of Deliberateness in an act that is thus persisted in for a course of years together and often Repeated But what signifies all this if thou Vowest and Breakest Engagest and Falsifiest thy Word as soon as thou hast done What signifies its Deliberateness were it an hundred times as great as 't is if thou art not to be prevail'd
a new Vow which yet they take no more care to keep than they did those which went before it And think to obtrude themselves upon him for his Servants by vertue of their frequent Promises of Fidelity to him in order to the receiving of his Wages while yet they spend their Lives in doing the Devil's Work This is a sort of Audaciousness that is much aggravated and very provoking 2. They virtually bid him defiance and call upon him to do his worst for that they fear him not They would not dare I suppose to express any thing like this in words but their Actions speak it For when they Month after Month call God to witness that 't is the firm Resolution of their Souls to be his and to live to him and then go their way and still persist living to themselves and to their Lusts they do interpretatively tell him that they value not his Threatnings any more than they do their own Promises and that they are not afraid of the utmost severity he can use towards them which certainly is as great Audaciousness as Mortals can be guilty of and no small Aggravation of their Sin Further 4. NO Ingratitude is comparable to that of these Persons For 1. THEY crucify their Saviour afresh and that every time they come to commemorate him at his Table They crucifie him afresh and put him to open shame they murder the Lord of Life as 't were anew and make his Wounds bleed afresh And is this a suitable Return for such Love as his was Can any thing be more ungrateful Was it not enough O ye harden'd Wretches that our dear Lord should once so far condescend as to come down from Heaven suffer bleed and die in order to your Salvation Must he be always suffering from you who once suffered for you Did he not suffer enough from Friends and from Enemies from the chief Priests the Scribes the Pharisees the Souldiers and the common People when he was here on Earth that you cannot let him rest now he is in Heaven but must be renewing his Sufferings by profaning his Institutions and doing what in you lies to make all his Sufferings ineffectual by your persisting in those Sins to save you from which he dy'd and to leave and forsake which he engages you every time you appear before him at his Table Is this all the Return you 'll make him for his unspeakable Kindness to you Can all he hath done and suffer'd for you no more influence you than this comes to No such Ingratitude can possibly be instanc'd in as this bespeaks 2. THEY contemptuously undervalue that Covenant that was the effect of Infinite Wisdom Amazing Pity Strange Goodness and Rich Grace the Blessings whereof were purchas'd at a vast Expence which also shews their monstrous Ingratitude This Covenant they undervalue for they wilfully neglect performing the Conditions on which the Benefits promised in it are to be bestow'd and by which perform'd they may be secur'd and that altho' they time after time vow and promise a Performance of them by their Negligence and Carelesness wherein they shew that they value not the Covenant nor the Inestimable Blessings of it in reality a rush and so return Contempt for all the Love Pity Pain Cost and Charge of their God and Saviour in order to the putting them into a capacity of Salvation which was a Blessing fallen Angels never enjoy'd this is horridly ungrateful and therefore very provoking Great therefore certainly must their Guilt be who are chargeable with such horrid Profaneness such base Persidiousness such tremendous Audaciousness and detestable Ingratitude TO all which I shall add one Consideration more which possibly may affect some much more than any abstracted Arguings Which is this That the Sin of the Persons before describ'd is greater than that of Peter who deny'd Christ and in some respects greater even than that of Iudas who betray'd Christ or of the Iews that crucify'd him And if so certainly it must be horridly enormous 1. THEIR Sin is greater than that of Peter who deny'd Christ. For Peter's Sin was in a particular Act the Sin of these Persons in a stated Course Peter was acted by the Power of a Temptation which accosted him on a sudden these Persons cannot make any such pretence for a partial Excuse Peter's Sin tho' great was yet such as was consistent with Sincerity which can by no means be said of the Sin of those who run a round of making and breaking Sacramental Vows whereby they plainly shew they have no fear of God before their Eyes no true love to their Saviour in their Hearts Peter had no sooner sinn'd but he went out and wept bitterly These Persons persist in their Impiety and are as impenetrable as a Rock 2. THEIR Sin is in some respects greater even than the Sin of Iudas who betray'd Christ. I doubt not but Iudas thought that our Lord who had so many ways shewn his Power in his view would escape altho' he should deliver him into his Enemies hands But 't is meer riveted Malignity against Christ by which these Persons are acted which won't admit even of any such weak Plea as that even for a partial Excuse Iudas his Sin tho' unspeakably heinous was yet a single Fact But the Sin of these Persons is repeated over and over Iudas his Perfidiousness was great in betraying his Master But I know not whether their Perfidiousness be not to the full as great if not greater who time after time vow Fidelity to him with all possible Solemnity and yet break their Vow immediately and continue so doing Iudas endeavoured to undo what he had done when he came to bethink himself These Persons may undo what they have done so far as a thing once done is capable of being undone viz. by serious Repentnce but refuse and persist Iudas consider'd of his guilt till it over match'd him which intimated some sorrow for what he had done These Persons go on without any sorrow at all as if all were well and there were nothing amiss 3. THEIR guilt is in some respect greater than that of the Iews who crucify'd Christ for they persecuted Christ in his state of Humiliation These Persons Affront Despise and Abuse him and after a sort Crucify him even in his estate of Exaltation They when they Crucifi'd him knew not what they did but these persons knew that 't was Sin that brought Christ from Heaven to Earth Sin that occasion'd all his sorrow Sin that nail'd him to the Cross and bury'd him in his Grave and that was ever hated by him as the worst of all his Enemies and yet they will persist in it in defiance of him notwithstanding their frequent Vows against it They did what they did against Christ out of zeal for their Law to which they lookt on him as an Enemy These Persons can pretend nothing but Love to their Lusts. They were instigated by others These Persons can lay the blame
same Temptations draw you into Sin and the same Corruptions prevail upon you and the same Toys and Trifles divert you from your Duty as heretofore What would this be but to do that in Spirituals which you would blame as unaccountable and amazing Folly in common and civil Affairs And then 8. and Lastly WHEN do you expect to arrive at a confirmed State How can you think to grow in Grace and to thrive and improve in the Ways of God if you are not more careful and faithful in keeping and paying Sacramental Vows Can you be satisfied with the lowest degree of Grace that 's saving and that 's capable of helping you to Heaven If so that alone might justly make the Truth of your Grace questionable but if you desire to improve in Grace and that to such a degree as that you may have an abundant Entrance ministred to you into God's Heavenly Kingdom as 't is natural for all those who have the Truth of Grace to do methinks you should not be your own Hindrance by your Carelesness about your Sacramental Vows which the more faithfully you keep the more may you hope to do so and the less careful you are about them the less Hope is there in the case CHAP. XV. The Temper and Carriage of a Soul that 's rightly sensible of the Force and Sacredness of Sacramental Vows briefly EXEMPLIFY'D HAving thus far endeavour'd to open illustrate and enforce Sacramental Vows and done what in me lies to help my Readers to understand them rightly and to engage them to repeat them seriously and keep them saithfully I shall close with a brief but distinct View of the Temper and Carriage which was the Scope of this present Endeavour I 'll draw a Model and that as exactly and faithfully as I am able in a short Compass from whence all may discern what they should be and how they should carry it in order to the approving themselves sincere and reaping the Benefit of their frequent Sacramental Federal Transactions In doing which I 'll avoid running things to such an height as ordinary Persons are incapable of arriving at or as few attain to which might prove a Discouragement instead of an Assistance and shall instance in the common pitch of upright and sincere Souls that are rightly sensible of the Vows of God which they are under SUCH Persons may be consider'd in several Instants and I shall select those that are most remarkable and in each show the Temper and Posture and Resentments of a sincere Soul how its Pulse beats what are its usual Affections and Motions and most natural Stirrings SUCH a Soul may be consider'd either as preparing it self for the renewing sacred Vows or in the Act of renewing them or after it is finish'd and the Bonds are renew'd and so either as immediately retiring or in the after Life A sincere Soul immediately after the renewing Sacramental Vows may be consider'd either as recollecting what 's past or as praying for Grace and Strength or as charging it self to be faithful And then again in the After-Life it may be consider'd either as first setting out or as meeting with Temptations and Struggling with them or as stumbling and falling and so expostulating and chiding or as rising again by Repentance and renewing its Resolutions or as bemoaning its Unhappiness by reason of its Imperfections or as longing for that State where it shall ever keep close to its God and Saviour without any Failures and Breaches Many more Periods or Postures might be mention'd and considered but these are the most signal and the most common and they who can as I go along from point to point find their Temper and Carriage correspondent to the Model propos'd they who arrive but at the pitch here exemplify'd need not question their Sincerity or doubt of Divine Acceptance 1. THEN let 's begin with viewing a sincere Soul preparing it self for the renewing sacred Vows to be the Lord 's at the Holy Communion and we shall find it seasonably retiring from the World and disingaging it self from sensual Intanglements that it may be free without Clog and Incumbrance for transacting with its God and Saviour about Matters of the vastest Consequence and Importance studiously ridding it self of worldly Thoughts and Cares that would fasten it down to this Earth when it ought with the greatest Ardour to be aspiring Heaven-ward Follow it into its Retirements and you 'll find it mighty busy in examining and enquiring into its past Carriage and present State narrowly searching all the Corners of the Heart and bringing the Actions of the Life to the Scrutiny that no considerable Failures Neglects or Disorders may be unobserv'd It attempts not to cover or extenuate discover'd Faults or Breaches but aggravates them to the height in order to the greater Self-abasement It falls therefore to grieving blushing and self-condemning it throws it self at God's Feet owning an entire Forfeiture of all Covenant Blessings by its Negligence Carnality Sloth and Folly and breathes out its penitent Remorse in unaffected strains of Devotion After which it stirs up it self to transact a-new with God with the utmost Seriousness endeavouring to renew its Sense of his just Right and manifold Claims It chears it self by the Consideration of the known and experienc'd Clemency and Pity of the God with whom it hath to do and fires it self by devout Meditations on its Redeemer's matchless Love and earnestly begs to feel more and more the constraining Power of it It takes all possible care to get its Wedding-garment on that so it may become a welcome Guest at the sacred Festival on that Peace-Offering which is the only Cement between it and its God It sets it self to burnish up its Graces that they may all be in readiness to act their part It pants it thirsts it longs for Christ it endeavours to enlarge its Desires and to open wide the everlasting Doors that the King of Glory may come in and have a free Admission and a fuller Possession and a more absolute Dominion than ever and strives with all its Might to excite in it self such a Sense of the Justness of its dear Saviour's Authority as may make the Bonds it renews to him more strong fixed and lasting more powerful and prevalent than ever 2. Let 's view such a Soul in the Act of renewing Sacred Vows and we shall see it humbling it self under a Sense of its great Treachery and Baseness Fickleness and Inconstancy asham'd to look upwards on the account of its Defilements and Disorders heartily owning it self unworthy such an Honour as the being admitted into the Divine Service admiring at God's great Benignity that after all that 's past there 's room for Acceptance and ground for Hope adoring its Redeemer's unspeakable Condescention and endeavouring to lose its self in the Wonders of his Love recollecting all those Divine Excellencies which shone forth in the Course of his Life throughout all his Sufferings and at the Hour of