the Sacrament but without Faith they cannot be laid hold upon 6. Direct Having shewed you what Preparation is necessary and also what Qualifications and how thou shouldst stand affected when thou comest to this Ordinance I shall next shew thee how to demean thy self in the very Act of Receiving For thy External behaviour or outward demeanour it should be such as is suitable to the Ordinance and to the presence of the Great God Reverent Grave Seemly and such as bespeaks Humility and self-abasing not Light and wanton and gazish but such as becomes a Guest at such a Table yet beware of such Voluntary or Superstitious Humility such as the Papists and some others use which hath no Footing in the vvord of God the surest way is to take the Scripture for our Guide But for thy Inward Carriage which is most to be regarded be sure thy Heart be not wanting for God cannot endure Heartless Service if this Instrument be not in Tune the Musitioner is bad here if any where God calls Son give me thy Heart and nothing else will serve turn but the Heart and the Heart broken and bleeding Come with the Heart humbled God cannot endure a proud Person especially in an Ordinance that hold forth that which may humble thee here is Christ Crucified and his Blood shed for thy sin thou wast the Traytor that betrayed him the Judge that Condemned him and the Executioner that put him Death and will not this work upon thee Is it nothing to have Blood lying upon thee the Blood of the Innocent the Blood of a Friend the Blood of a King yea the Blood of the Son of God What ingenious Spirit but would melt at such a Consideration Every Sacramental Action of the Minister may further thy Meditation and help thee up to Heaven in thy Contemplation When thou beholdest the Minister who stands in the place of God setting apart and Consecrating the Bread and Wine by the Word and Prayer will not this bring to thy Mind the Love of God to thy Soul Who from Eternity set apart his only Son Jesus Christ to be thy Mediator and Advocate thy Surety and thy Saviour well may it be said God so Loved the World c. May not the thoughts of this furnish thee with Heart-raising Heart-warming Meditations And when thou seest thee Bread broken and the Wine poured out doth not this Lively represent the bitter Death and bloody Passion of the Son of God Jesus Christ thy sweet Saviour and Redeemer his Body was broken his precious blood was shed for the Remission of thy sins which otherwise could not have been forgiven Ah! what a wicked thing then is sin when nothing would satisfie Divine Justice but the death of the only begotten Son of God When the Bread and Wine thus separated thus set apart from common use are held forth to thee apprehend God himself giving Christ yea Christ offering himself with all his Treasures to be thy Husband thy Surety thy Mediator and thy Saviour Ah! what Soul-refreshing thoughts may this produce Well mayst thou say with David Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him Or rather Lord what am I that thou regardest me and hast provided such a Feast of Fat things for me with Wine on the Lees When thousands are laid aside as good as I by Nature And when thou receivest the Elements at the Ministers hand let thy Faith lay fast hold and clasp fast about the Lord Jesus Christ and take him as given by God to be thy Husband and Resolve that the Devil and all his Instruments shall never draw off thy Affections from him but thou wilt all others being forsaken prove his faithful Spouse And when thou Eatest and Drinkest the Bread and Wine let thy Faith feed upon those Spiritual dainties hereby represented upon this Nectar and Ambrosia this Bread and this Water of Life Receive him and all the Benefits of the New Covenant by Faith and in the whole Action let thy Heart Close with God Father Son and Holy Ghost and let the whole bent of thy Soul be set upon him and by such Meditations stir up thy Heart to bless God and praise him for his Mercy and to Love him above all and to vow Obedience to him and as thou lookest upon thy sin with one Eye to hate and abominate it so look upon Christ with the other to keep thee from despair as he is offered up in the Sacrament a Sacrifice to satisfie Divine Justice and beg of God humbly yet believingly that he will accept of this Sacrifice as satisfactory for thy sin and pardon what is past and give thee power against Sin for the time to come Consider also the giving and receiving of this Sacrament is a further ratification of the Covenant as I said before wherein God offers Christ and all his Benefits and promises to be thy God and the God of thy Seed And thou promisest that thou and thine will Serve the Lord. Let this strengthen thy Faith in his Promises for he will never break his word and let it strengthen thy Resolution that thou wilt never break with him then this will be to thee an Happy Ordinance 7. Direct If thou wouldst receive Benefit by the Sacrament behave thy self well after thou hast received it All thy work is not done nay most is to be done when thou hast turned thy back upon the Congregation 't is not the making a Vow but the making it good the fulfilling of it that is the most of the work 't is not the preparing for the Duty or carrying thy self well in the Act of Receiving though this be necessary that is sufficient God expects some after-work A Servant that is refresht with wholsom meat and drink ought not to be Idle nor to spend his time vainly there is a greater tye lyes upon him to diligence and pains taking So he that comes from such a Feast and is refreshed with such Dainties should be more Active Lively Quick and Disposed to Spiritual Exercises plung not thy self too suddenly into worldly business distract not thy thoughts about things here below for as in sweats 't is dangerous to cool over-suddenly So 't is here when the Affections are raised to Heaven let them not suddenly grovel upon the ground when they are heated let not the cold wind of the World suddenly benumb them And when thou dost set about Worldly business remember there is a business of greater concernment lyes upon thy Hands and therefore do all in Subordination to God Redeem some time for Divine Meditation to consider what thou hast been about and with whom thou hast had to deal Thou hast been renewing that Covenant between God and thy Soul which was made in Baptism and therefore look to it that thou make it good It is better not to Vow than to Vow and not perform Consider whether God makes good his Promise Sealed by this Sacrament if not doubtless the fault is thine own God
requires not or do it in a manner he regards not They are like the Son that said to his Father I go Sir but went not Mat. 21.30 But shall we take it for granted that thou wilt worship him but wilt thou do it in truth and sincerity otherwise God will not regard it I fear we may say of many as Joshua of Israel Josh 24.19 You cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God but is it your Resolution as theirs was in the verses following Nay but we will serve the Lord and that you will choose the Lord to serve him consider what you do you must take him to be your God and be willing to have your Souls cleansed from all your sins and must be willing to take the Lord Jesus Christ as he is offered in the Gospel to be your Lord and Husband and be as willing to be ruled by him as saved by him and must resolve to obey his Laws and do his will and live in the performance of those spiritual duties he requires at at thy hand Yea thou must have a setled Resolution to cleave to Christ and obey him even in the most despised disgraceful dangerous difficult and costly part of duty Though it be to the loss of thy worldly enjoyments yea and life it self I know many would pick of choose their duties this they would do but that they would not they scum of the Fat and sweet of duty but leave that which is difficult or dangerous but God will have no such Servants obey him thou must though thy Father Mother and all thy Friends become thine Enemies upon the account yea in some cases thou must not only leave but hate Father and Mother c. yea thy own life for his sake yea though thou loose thy credit and esteem in the World and be made a scorn and a reproach for his sake though thou loose thy pleasure and never see merry day whilst thou livest though it endanger thy Estate and bring thee to Poverty though thou loose thy Liberty and be cast into a Prison yea though thou loose thy life and be brought to a Stake to suffer yea though thou seest few or none walk that same way with thee Noah must obey God though the whole World disobey him yea thou must obey him though his commands be never so contrary to thy carnal interest or never so opposite to flesh and blood and though they are never so hard or difficult or dangerous or costly before ever thou take upon thee the profession of Religion sit down first and reckon the charges lest like many thou begin to build and be unable to finish it and not like many put their hands to the Plow and then look back or like the stony ground when persecution ariseth presently are offended resolve to give him thy heart with thy hand or he will have none of thee he knows the heart and trie the reins and thou canst not deceive him with a dissembling shew when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire he slew them When Ananias and Saphira played the Hypocrite he struck them dead Cleanse thy heart therefore if thou wilt serve him and serve him thou must or do worse Thou canst never err on that hand in serving him too well he deserves more and better than thou canst give him his wages will be beyond thy work now that I may prevail with thee to serve God take these following Motives 1. Motive We should worship and serve the Lord our God because he hath commanded us so to do and his command makes it our duty we are his Creatures and we owe our selves and all that we have to him for our Creation He made us and therefore hath most right to us He made us for his service and therefore 't is all the reason in the World that we should serve him for who is the Pot but the Potters and this is the service he requires of us to worship him according to his will and praise him for his benefits this is all he requires at our hands even this Tribute of praise and shall we be so ingrateful to our great Benefactour to deny him this Nay we are his also by right of Redemption for we had sold our selves unto slavery even to Sathan and were become Bond-slaves to this hellish Pharaoh who exercised more cruelty to our Souls than ever Pharaoh did to the Bodies of the Israelites and in the slavery had remained for ever had not God sent his own Son to ransome us with the loss of his life and the shedding of his pretious blood Satan was the strong man armed that kept his house in peace till Christ a stronger than he disarmed him and took away his weapons wherein he boasted And now being bought with a price we should glorifie God with our Bodies and with our Souls which are Gods The end he aimed at in our Redemption was his own glory as well as our liberty and this he expects from our hands is we being delivered from the fear of our Enemies might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Lives Luk. 2.74,75 Nay we are also his by Covenant under our Hand and Seal in our Baptisme we were dedicated to his service which Covenant since we have often ratified at the Sacrament of the Supper and how can we deny our own act and deed He is our Lord and we should worship him Psal 45 1â— Now that worship and service is required of us is evident Scripture and Reason speaks as much 2 Kings 17.36 You shall not fear other Gods nor bow your selves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them but the Lord who brought you out of the Land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm him shall ye fear ond him shall ye worship and to him you shall do sacrifice and his statutes and his ordinances ye shall observe Exod. 34.4 You shall worship no other God but him the like we have Exod. 20.50 1 Chron. 16.29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name bring an Offering and an Oblation before him worship him in the beauty of holiness Yea Christ himself preacheth this doctrine when the Divil tempted him to fall down and worship him he answered It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.8 Yea he directs us with what worship to worship him John 4.23,24 The true worshippers worship him in Spirit and in Truth God is a Spirit and those that worship him must worship him in Spirit and of this spiritual worship we may also read Phil. 3.3 Or will you hear the counsel of an Angel from Heaven you have it Rev. 19.10 Worship God yea this is the practice of the Angels the work they do and the work that the Angels and gloryfied Saints shall do through all Eternity Heb. 1.6 But what are Testimonies in so plain a case few deny it though few