thanks to God that he is pleased to make that our duty which is so much our interest and for our advantage He obliges us to renew our Covenant with himself which it is our greatest interest to do He obliges us to that which tends to our own happiness and welfare and without which we could not but be miserable He will have us remember the death of our Saviour and his love he shewed us He will have us partake of a Sacrament that does not only bring us nearer to himself but also unites us faster in the bond of love to one another He would that we should partake of these Mysteries which are the seal of his Covenant and give us great assurance of his readiness to pardon our sins That is in one word God would have us be happy and he does oblige us to be so 'T is our advantage that he designs in all this His love is without any interest but that of ours Who would not enter into Covenant with so good a God who would not remember the love of so dear a Lord Who would not be knit fast to his brother in closest bond of love Who would not have assurance of the pardon of his sins These are the greatest blessings that we are capable of receiving the greatest that Heaven can bestow upon us What can be more desireable than to be at peace with God and at unity among our selves What more reasonable or more to be wished for than that we should remember the love of our Saviour and receive a good assurance of the pardon of our sins And this is the design as you have heard of this blessed Sacrament It is appointed for such blessed purposes as these How suspicious or shy soever we be of it this is the errand it comes about It hath a design to make us more holy and more happy than we were This is all the plot which it hath upon us God hath not only been pleased to give us his Son to die for our ransom but he gives him again in this Sacrament for our food and nourishment O the unspeakableness of Gods kindness to us Methinks every man should break forth into his praises methinks he should say Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfieth thy mouth with good things Psal 103.2 3 4 5. Methinks our mouth should be filled with praise and thanksgiving to God for these his kindnesses to our Souls 4. Hence we may learn what great reason we have to embrace so blessed an opportunity of becoming better Great are the benefits which would redound to us from â— frequent and a devout Communion And certainly this service must needs be welcome to that Soul that is weary of his sins and heartily and earnestly desires to be rid of them For it lays a most severe obligation upon us to search our hearts and amend our ways and set things straight between God and our own Souls This service obligeth us to that which every pious Soul would chuse of it self It binds us to be faithful servants of God to be hearty lovers of our brother to be grateful acknowledgers of the love of Christ and diligent seekers after the pardon of our sins Who would not welcome such a blessed opportunity that loves his God and is weary of his sins Who is it that desires to lead a new life that would not be glad of so excellent a service 'T is to be feared we are too much wedded to our sins when we refuse this service which would divorce them from us 'T is much to be feared we have no great sense of the love of our dying Saviour when we will not upon his command Do this in remembrance of him Or that our sins are no burden to us when we despise the evidence of our pardon If we did but worthily partake of this Sacrament we should be more fit to live and more prepar'd to die We should be more fervent in our services to God and more sincere in our love to our brother the love of Christ would constrain us to obedience and his Commandements would not be grievous to us This would put an end to our unnatural differences and quarrels it would restore love and charity it would deliver us from our slavish and dreadful fear of death In a word it would change this Earth into a kind of Heaven and him that is now a cold professor of Religion it would make this Sinner become a Saint and a zealous doer of the will of God Such a mighty change would a frequent and a worthy participation of these mysteries introduce into the world It would bring back the primitive spirit into the hearts of Christians when Communions were frequent and devout then did every holy and good thing obtain And were they again restored the Devils Kingdom which hath now gotten ground would not only shake but fall to the ground This would overturn his strong-holds as the barly-cake of Gideon did the Tents of the men of Midian And therefore no wonder that he labours so greatly by his instruments to prevent this which would subvert his Kingdom And this is so effectually done that now the professors of Christianity either partake amiss or not at all This is the case of many I wish I could not say of the most of Christians Nay and those that do not receive at all are grown witty too they think they can defend themselves from being guilty of a default I shall not here examine what they have to say for themselves but yet this I shall say that the command of our Saviour for our Communicating is so plain and the reason of it so great that nothing can discharge us from it but either the impossibility of doing it for want of opportunity which we cannot plead or a countermand from him that gave us the law which we must never expect Nothing else can discharge us not our common excuses not our mistaken and scrupulous Consciences which cannot evacuate the Law of God for hereafter we shall be judged not according to what we ween or are of opinion in the case but by a more sure and unerring rule the VVord of God I conclude this particular only adding that if we diminish or take from the Word of God and deny that to be our duty which the Word of God requires we have too much reason to fear that God will take away our part out of the book of life Rev. 22.19 CHAP. III. I Shall now proceed to shew how we may become worthy partakers of this Sacrament of our Lords Supper which was ordained for such great ends and conveys so great a blessing to all those that partake of it as they ought For there is something to be done by us before we can be prepared for so great a
the true Penitent forbears his sin because he finds in his Soul an antipathy against it and not only because it is forbidden Such a Repentance as this must we find in our Souls before we can be fit to partake of these holy Mysteries And well it will become us to be greatly humbled for our sins and to abhor them when we do commemorate the death of our Lord and Saviour For he died for sin and endured the shame and sorrow of the Cross that he might no longer abide in us And if we come with our sins to this holy Table we do crucifie our Lord afresh we do trample upon his precious blood and count it a common and unholy thing 5. To what hath been said this must be added that when by our sin we have not only offended God but also injured and wronged our neighbour we are strictly and indispensably obliged to make him restitution as well as to beg the forgiveness of God We can expect no pardon from God if we do not make amends to our neighbour whom we have wronged If the wicked restore the pledge and give again that he had robbed c he shall surely live and not die Ezek. 33.15 But then if he do not this or sincerely resolve to do it assoon as he is able to do it he shall surely die and not live And his partaking of this holy Table shall be so far from saving him from the anger of God that it will encrease his guilt and add to his sin Let no man think that God will hear him if he do not make his brother amends for the wrong he hath done him Herodot Clio. We have a story in our Books of one Halyattes that his Soldiers did set on fire the Corn of the Milesians and that the fire by the violence of the wind caught hold of the Temple of Minerva and burnt it down It happened sometime after this that Halyattes falls sick and sends to the Oracle to know what would be the success of his disease but the Messengers were told by the Oracle that they must not expect any answer till the Temple which they had burnt were first repaired Most certain it is that we shall have no return of our prayers from Heaven when we confess and beg the pardon of our sin unless we do first make restitution where we have wronged our brother It cannot be thought we have repented if we do not restore There is no sacrifice will expiate our crime if we do not also make restitution Under the Law of Moses he that had wronged his brother was obliged indeed to bring a sacrifice for his atonement but then at the same time he was obliged to make a full restitution to his neighbour whom he had wrong'd and to add also a fifth part to the principal before he could be forgiven Levit. 6. He that wronged his neighbour was by that Law sometimes liable to restore double v. Maimon Hal. Shevuoth c. 8. Exod. 22.4.9 Sometimes times four and five fold ver 1. where the Trespasser was convicted But then where the offender became penitent and confessed his sin v. L' empereur in Bava Kam C. 7. S. 1. yet in this case he was obliged to make restitution to add a fifth part v. Jomd c. 8. Mishn 9. Shulchan Aruch H. Jom Kippu and to bring his offering Numb 5.7 His Repentance nor his offering would not serve his turn unless he also made amends to his neighbour whom he had wronged Nay the day of expiation as the Jews teach us would not avail to take away the guilt which we contracted by doing wrong to our brother And we must remember that we are obliged to make restitution not only where we have done an open and forcible injury As the robber and thief and violent oppressor are bound to restore what they have wrong'd their brother of by their violent injustice But we are also obliged to restore what we have by any means unjustly got the possession of And there are more ways than one by which we may become guilty of injustice He that overreaches and out-wits his brother in a bargain he that in his trading deals fraudulently and insincerely he that hides and conceals from his neighbour his just rights and dues such men as these are obliged to make restitution as well as open the robber and the thief There are indeed very many things which the Laws of the Land do not take notice of which yet we are obliged to in the Court of Conscience And we are before we do receive this Sacrament very severely to examine our own Consciences Whether in our dealings with men we have done as we would be done by and have not detained and with-held our neighbours due from him Indeed we are come to that pass that we are not afraid of doing an unjust action if we can but do it cautelously and slily Nay we are ready to rejoyce when we have cunningly circumvented our brother and men look upon it as but a little fault if any at all when they do craftily circumvent even him that attends upon holy things But certain it is whoever does wrong his brother and him that Ministers at Gods Altar he deceives himself most and must never look for pardon from God till he have repented of his sin and made restitution for the wrong he hath done And what hath been said hitherto of the necessity of making restitution must not only be understood of the wrong we have done to our neighbour as to his goods and estate but of all other wrongs whatsoever And particularly of that wrong we have done to his name and credit We ought to judge the best of all men and to make the most charitable construction of all the actions of our neighbour And therefore if we have done otherwise we are obliged to Repentance and to restitution for the wrong which we have done If we have openly slandered our brother or more closely and slily undermined his credit and good name we are obliged in this case to make as far as we are able a reparation That is we are obliged to unsay what we have said and by our words do him honour as we have endeavoured before to do him a discredit In a word we are bound to make him such an amends as we are able or such as may satisfie him to whom we have done the wrong And when we have done this we must humble our selves greatly in the sight of God for this sin and be very careful that we sin no more Thus must we cleanse and purge our Souls before we dare to come to this holy Table We must purge out our old leaven that we may be a new lump Otherwise we shall meet with death there where we might else have found Life And we ought therefore to be very careful and solicitous lest we should by our remisness and hypocrisie expose our selves to the greatest curse As we love our
and not in their nature altered nor changed in substance from what they were And consequently it cannot be imagined that our Church should require Kneeling with an intention that we should worship the Elements of Bread and Wine when she hath always taught a Doctrine that does contradict any such practice And this might suffice in answer to this Objection But yet I add 2. That this might be put out of all doubt the Church of England hath farther declared her meaning in this matter So that hereafter whoever shall charge her as guilty of Idolatry in requiring Kneeling at the Sacrament as if thereby she intended we should adore the Bread and Wine will shew himself either profoundly ignorant or greatly malicious What our Church declares to this purpose may be found in the Book of Common-Prayer at the end of the Rubrick after the Communion-Service in these words Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lords Supper that the Communicants should receive the same Kneeling which order is well meant for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers and for the avoiding of such profanation and disorder in the. Holy Communion as might otherwise ensue yet lest the same Kneeling should by any persons either out of ignorance and infirmity or out of malice and obstinacy be misconstrued and depraved It is here declared that thereby no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any Corporal presence of Christs natural Flesh and Blood For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here It being against the truth of Christs natural body to be at one time in more places than one Thus plainly are we taught the Churches sense in the case before us Nor may we now imagine that by our Kneeling we are obliged to worship the Creature instead of the Creator 3. The Sacrament is delivered to us with a Prayer and certainly it is not only lawful to Kneel when we pray but it is also very agreeable to the example of our Blessed Saviour Luk. 22.41 And if we are bound to pray alwayes I am sure it well becomes us to do it then And there cannot possibly be any danger of Idolatry in bowing our Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ If we may lawfully pray at all times and in all places we may very lawfully Kneel when we do it And sure no man in his wits can deny but I may lawfully pray to God in the very act of receiving the Sacrament and if I may do that it is very evident that I may use that gesture which our Saviour did when he prayed a little before his Agony and Death What hath been said I hope is enough to satisfie those men who desire to find the truth There are those whom nothing will quiet Some men will not be convinced though we should bring them beams of light However I shall not mention any other Objections which men are wont to bring for their excuse Not that I have named all that might be found but because I have named the more general and material Nor do I know any other that are worth the naming I pray God grant that we may not refuse the Truth where-ever we find it We are in a very miserable condition if we suffer our selves to be swayed by our prejudices rather than guided by the truth If we shall withstand the clearest evidence because it stands not with our occasions It will well become us in the fear of God who will not be mocked narrowly to search into our Hearts and Consciences If we love the truth we may find it God will search us ere it be long it will then appear whether or no we have done our utmost to be rightly informed We shall then find it had been much better to have done our Lords will than to have disputed wittily All our disguises must then be pulled off and we shall be judged then by the unerring Law of God The good God awaken us to a serious diligence about our Souls and lead us at once into the paths of Peace and Truth We shall have an heavy account to make if upon light and insufficient grounds we separate from our brother and omit so excellent a service as our dying Lord hath required of us And surely those grounds must be very light which have no more weight than the pretences above-named I shall end with the words of that pious Father upon this occasion Quod neque c. That what is enjoined Augustin Tom. 2. Ep. 118. ad Jan. ad Casulanum Ep. 86. and is neither against faith or good manners is not to be refused but according to the place where we are and do converse is to be observed CHAP. XV. FRom what hath been said before we may see how much we do amiss if we altogether neglect so excellent a service as this or if we do it not as frequently as we can For he that does it but seldom when he hath the opportunities of doing it frequently is reprovable as well as he that does omit it quite And indeed we are self-condemned if we do omit and let slip sundry of those opportunities which God hath given us and only make use of them sparingly For whereas by doing it at all we do acknowledge it to be our duty to do this in remembrance of our Lord by chusing to do it but seldom we do avoid the paying our duty to our Lord and the disposing our selves for so excellent and holy a service It is to be feared that such men are not much affected with their Lords death who decline the often remembrance of it Were our hearts enlarged we should be willing to be alwayes praising our dearest Lord. We are not stinted by the Laws of Christ to do this but so many times in a year and we know the first Christians did it very frequently all that we are obliged to in the case is that as oft as we do it we should do it in remembrance of Christ We may justly suspect our selves not much taken with the kindness of our Saviour when we do readily neglect so excellent an opportunity of keeping up the memory of it It is a sign that our hunger is not great when we can easily neglect our food that is prepared for us We are afraid sure that the interest of Religion should prevail too far upon us when we will not accept every opportunity of becoming better Certainly if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious we shall be willing to draw nigh to him and to do it frequently also It is to be feared as