us and worthy of this first End of Eating and Drinking in the Holy Sacrament viz. the Remembrance of our Lord and Saviour Christ and his Dying for us We must remember him with Honour and Reverence with a careful Concern to maintain and promote his Honour among others with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience as he is Lord over us with Love of him for his Kindness and Delight in his Benefits and thankful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and grateful Returns in any thing he can receive or we can give for all his Favours particularly his Dying on our account as he has so highly befriended and infinitely obliged us and with an humble sense of our own unworthiness and an utter abhorrence of all our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings and an intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use to be employ'd as his own Purchase in what he pleases as his Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins wherewith he bought and redeemed us All these are Duties which were he now before us and conversing with us we ought to pay him and which therefore in our Remembrance of him which makes him present to our Minds we must not deny him and in them consists the Worthiness of this Remembrance and Commemoration 2 ly A second End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God which Christs Death procured And to do this worthily we must come to it in Sincerity and Faithfulness and with full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which therein we solemnly profess and promise We must come to it I say in Sincerity and Faithfulness The great Qualification which is requisite in all Compacts is Faithfulness For they are the great Means of Security among Men and the great Thing which in their Expectations from each other they have to depend upon and therefore it is both pretended and expected by all that make them that they will not prove false and deceitful in them Every Man that Covenants expects those he Contracts with should mean what they profess and perform what they promise and makes shew also himself that he will do so likewise And if he doth not he is a very dishonest unworthy Man such as the Gospel condemns and will sentence unless he repent to eternal destruction Covenant-breakers being ranked among those who in the Judgment of God are worthy of Death Rom. 1.31 32. And this Sincerity or Faithfulness consists in this that we come in full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which we profess and make promise of In this Covenant to all us Believers God offers at present a Right to Pardon his Holy Spirit and Eternal Happiness and we again profess and make offer to him of our Repentance and Obedience And this Right he promises still to continue to us upon the same Terms and answerably we promise to perform them upon that expectation for ever afterwards And both in these Professions and Promises we must deal sincerely with him and neither pretend a present offer of them when we want them nor make Promises of them for the time to come when we have no fixed Design and well-weighed Resolution to perform them When we come therefore to renew our Baptismal Engagement and to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God giving him both the Profession and the Promise of these Duties and receiving from him the Proffer and the Promise of these Graces we must be hearty and unfeigned with him Our Souls must really be acted by that Repentance which we profess and fully intend to make good that Obedience which we promise And if we perform in both these we are faithful and sincere in this Business but if we fail in either we are Dissemblers and Hypocrites who act a Part and go to impose upon Almighty God which is a very unworthy part of us And this Sincerity God expresly calls for at this Feast and requires us to be faithful with him when we come to confirm the New Covenant by partaking of it Christ our Passover says St. Paul is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast not with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness by adhering still to our former wicked ways which therefore we are to repent of but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And as for Repentance particularly which is the great Condition of the Covenant renewed in it it is the great Qualification of all worthy Receivers and is most indispensably required in this Sacrament It is the chief thing that is looked at in every Confirmation of the Covenant and therefore is so peremptorily called for when we are Baptized it is the only thing that can recommend a Sacrifice and therefore the main point that must fit us for this Feast upon it And this the Ancient Church always thought of it as it plainly shew'd when at the Celebration of it the Bishop cry'd out These Holy Things must be taken only by Holy Persons and as St. Ambrose clearly informs us when he says This is the Order of dispensing this Mystery which every Church observes that first upon their true Repentance their Sins may be forgiven them and then this Heavenly Food shall be administer'd and reach'd out to them As this Eating and Drinking then is a Federal Rite and in Confirmation of the New Covenant it requires that we be Faithful and Sincere in doing it and then we come worthily and partake of it as we ought when we truly Repent of all our Sins as we profess and are fully purposed as we promise at all times after so to do 3 ly A third End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians and this requires that we lay aside all Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Peace and Forgiveness of all that have any ways offended us We must not come to it in Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts for that were to give the Lye to our selves and to contradict our own Professions For when we come there to partake of that one Bread we profess our selves as has been shewn to be all one Body and that we are all the Body of Christ and Members one of another We solemnly declare that we will be friends from that day forwards with all persons and fully reconciled even to our bitter Enemies and those who have given us the highest Provocations though not for their own sakes yet for the sake of Christ who has bore a thousand times more from us and deserves infinitely beyond what this comes to at our hands We promise mutually that we will lay aside all little Piques not fall out into Quarrels or Contentions nor bear Ill-will or be vexatious among our selves nor seek our own Pleasure Honour or Advantage at
our Brethrens loss but that we will all have a compassionate sense of each others Infirmities and a tender concern and diligent care for each others welfare that we will live as Members of the same Body which all feel what befalls any and are all solaced with the same Joys and all languish in the same Sorrows and all unite in the same Ends and all bear the Weaknesses and supply the Needs and seek the Good and Pleasure of each other as they do their own All this Good-will and Brotherly-kindness Peace and Forgiveness towards all Persons we profess in eating together at this Feast and therefore it is most unworthy dealing if we want them and are even then acted by Hatred Envy and malicious Thoughts which are most opposite and contrary to them Thus is it necessary when we confirm this League of Love and Friendship to our Brethren that we lay aside all Envy and Ill-will and have perfect Charity towards all men And this Charity must be shewn as in Prayers and Good wishes at all times and in Courteous Carriages and good Offices as oft as we have opportunity towards all Persons so particularly in giving Alms and affording Relief to such as want and are necessitous For the League of Love whereinto we are then to enter and which Christ exacts of us is not only to bestow fair words or compassionate looks or faint wishes but if we are able to relieve as we have opportunity and supply those who stand in need of our sâ—bstance If a Brother or a Sister be naked says St. James or destitute of daily Foâ—d and one of you say unto them Depart in Peace be ye warmed or filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are necessary for the Body what doth it profit Jam. 2.15 16. My little Children saith St. John let us not love in word only neither in Tongue but in deed and in Truth And hereby i. e. by this useful operative Charity we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 Joh. 3.18 19. And thus the Ancient Christians constantly used to do in the Apostles times For then at every Lords Supper they had another of their own which they call'd a Love Feast or Feast of Charity Jud. 12. This consisted of such Provision as every Communicant brought along with him they that were Rich brought in much and the Poorer sort less but when it came they all sate down in a Brotherly way and shared in common Which when the Corinthians failed to do every one eating as they came without tarrying for their Brethren and the Rich taking their own large Portions to themselves and leaving the Poor to blush at the scantiness of theirs the Apostle reproved them sharply telling them how much they prophaned this Holy Feast by such corrupt usage In eating says he at this Feast instead of joyning all like loving Brethren at a common Supper every one taketh before other his own Supper or that which he brought for his own share and one who brought little is Hungary through his scarceness and another who brought much is Drunken with the excess of his Shall I praise you in this I praise you not 1 Cor. 11.21 22. And when this way of being Charitable to the Poor at this Feast by reason of abuses crept into it was laid aside another was still used which to this day is practised in many and the best of our Churches as 't is fit it should in all and that is having offerings for the poor at every Communion which may afterwards be distributed among them Which is a most proper way and excellent opportunity not only of exercising that Charity which therein we profess to them but also of expressing our Thankfulness to our Blessed Saviour for the invaluable benefits we have received from him For in being thus kind to his poor Members whom he is so tenderly concerned for we make some sleight return and poor requital unto him who puts their Receipts upon his own score taking what we do to them as done to his own Person In as much as ye have done it unto these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25.40 And these are the things which must render our eating and drinking as it is in Confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren worthy of that signification We must lay aside all Envy and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Forgiveness of all that have offended us and in Charity to all our Neighbours which we must express as in other things so particularly in giving Alms to such whose necessities require it of us And all these the Scripture it self marks out as necessary Qualifications in all worthy Communicants Let us keep the Feast says the Apostle not with the Leaven of Malice 1 Cor. 5.8 When ye come together into one place says he again I hear there be Divisions among you And when there are so this is not to eat the Lords Supper one End whereof is to unite you 1 Cor. 11.18 20. If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave thy Gift before the Altar and go and first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. And as for the Distribution of Alms at this time that as we saw was the Apostolical way in the Love-Feasts as also in the Collections for the Poor as every Man had laid by him in store on the First day of the Week when they always had a Sacrament which St. Paul mentioâ— 1 Cor. 16.2 And when these Feasts sail'd yet these Collections and Offerings at the Lords Table still continued and do in very many Places which in this respect are sit to be Patterns to all others unto this day And thus at last we see wherein consists the Worthiness of Eating and Drinking in this Holy Feast and what Tempers and Dispositions in us are worthy of all those Ends which are signified and designed by it We must Eat and Drink in Remembrance of Christ and of his Dying for us with Honour and Reverence with a careful Concern to maintain and promote his Honour among others with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience as he is Lord over us with Love of him for his Kindness and Delight in his Benefits and thankful Acknowledgments and grateful Returns for all his Favours particularly his Dying on our account as he so highly befriended and infinitely obliged us and with an humble sense of our own unworthiness and an utter abhorrence of all our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings and an intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use to be employed as his own Purchase in what he pleases as his Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins wherewith he bought and redeemed us We must Eat and Drink in confirmation of the New Covenant professing
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
are no more able always wholly to forget what has past than we were at first to be wholly ignorant and insensible of it Nay in many Cases if we could it is not advisable that we should do it for whilst the injurious Person is Impenitent and ready to repeat the same again the Remembrance of it will do us good in quickning our care and making us more wary and watchful to prevent it But if once he has Repented of what he did so as that he ought to be admitted to his former state then indeed it may seem very desirable that as much as in us lies we should forget it by giving no entertainment or incouragement to the Thoughts of it For the Remembrance then can serve no good ends but may prove a very great snare to us in making us backward in kindness or fit to catch fire on small Provocations or uncandid in interpreting his words or actions afterwards It will not be our sin till these or some other ill effects are wrought by it but it will be our Temptation whereby 't is very like we shall sometimes be much indanger'd so that then it may be very fit to lay it aside for fear of receiving hurt by it 2. They fear that after an unkindness or injury received they are not so Charitable as they ought because they think the worse of him that offered it Now if they are uncandid in judging of the injurious action i. e. if they impute it to the worst cause and make not those Allowances of forgetfulness over-sight and the like which it would well admit and which Love would fix upon it were it to construe it 't is true they are so far wanting in it This indeed is hard for us always to avoid and therefore we must be sure to take the more care and keep the stricter watch against it And if after all through unwariness through an Accusers laying out only the interpretations of the ill side or our own suspicious temper insensibly leaning towards it we are ingaged in an uncandid Construction e're we can discover it there our inconsideration and unadvisedness will be our excuse for it But so soon as ever we can observe it or are shewn how the action is equally capable of a favourable Sense we must strike in with it and correct our hasty Judgment So that if by thinking worse they mean that they think worse than needs of the Action and incur an uncandid interpretation this is the Sentence they are to pass upon it Either it was an innocently inconsiderate escape and then their haste and unadvisedness must excuse it or it was a known sin i. e. it either was or had they not been grosly partial and evidently bent to think ill would have been committed with observation and then their Repentance and Amendment must atone for it But if by thinking worse they mean that when the Fact is evidently ill they have a worse opinion of the Person there is no want of Charity in that because they have just cause for it and cannot in Reason think better of him They judge only according to the plain Truth of things and that the best Souls may safely do and it is no uncharitable part in any of them For thus our Lord thought of Judas when he most affectingly suggested to him the baseness of â—is Bâ—trâ—ying him and that too with a Kiss the sign of Friendship and Affection And thus the Apostles thought of the Jews whom they looked upon as wicked Murderers for our Saviours Crucifixion And thus St. Paul thought of Peter when he blamed him for his sinful complyance and dissimulation And thus God himself thinks of us upon our miscarriages for he sees them and dislikes us for them and thereby magnifies the Honour of his Patience and loving Kindness in that he is good even to the unthankful and the evil and shews us Favour notwithstanding them And thus also may we very innocently and charitably too think ill of any others when they have evidently deserv'd it and given us just occasion for it For the work of Charity or Love to others is not to make us blind in a plain Case and see no Faults in them when they are clear before us For this is Love without Eyes which is by no means the Love of wise men or the Charity of Christians It is not always possible in Nature nor could be shewn if we should attempt it for when others Faults are evident there is no way of being dark against the Sun or shutting out the Light whilst our Eyes are opened But if it always could be done yet is it not in any wise proper to be advised for if we must see no hurt in any Persons it unavoidably destroys all wise choice of Friends and Companions Relations and Dependants all seasonable Counsel and Instruction Reproof and Admonition and so produces most sad effects both in Conversation and Religion The work of Charity to others then is not to wink against a Fault when 't is apparent but not to be quick in discerning and forward in presuming it when there is no just Cause for it So that if we would be Charitable to our Enemies we must not believe ill of them till it is sufficiently made out to us nor conclude them faulty in a doubtful case when there are Reasons on both sides and they are as likely to be otherwise nor presume they had an ill design in that which lies as open to a good and might have no hurt at all in it In these Cases where their offence is not clearly proved it is uncharitableness in us to be hasty in believing it But when their Enmity is profest and their Vnkindness or Injurious dealing is evident 't is no Duty in any man to shut his Eyes against the Light nor any Uncharitableness at all to esteem them the less for it We may think him a Dishonest man that has injured us and him a False Friend that has betrayed our Secrets to our Prejudice as our Saviour Christ did Judas and that he is not so kind as he professes who when he might refuses to do good to us When we judge of Persons not from rash Surmises but from clear Evidence and Experience we may judge as we find cause and if we judge ill of them it is not because we are inclined to it but because they have deserved it so that our ill Opinion is owing purely to their Faults and not to any want of Charity in our selves 3. Some Persons of Passionate Natures fear they have not that Charity for Enemies which is required of all Good men because when some have been most mischievous to them their hearts are troubled and they are inwardly moved as often as they see them not with any Angry or Revengeful Passion which would do hurt to them but only with a sad Remembrance of their own Losses which they have sustained by them Now where this is really the
live peaceably with all men Lastly They Love to be vexatious and cut out work for their Adversaries deferring a Tryal several Terms for no other end but to make them throw away both their Mony and Pains in attending to prevent a Surprise or putting them to prove needless things which influence not the merits of the Cause or insisting on every fetch of Law that may be an hindrance in their way though 't is no way necessary to the main business or studying other mischievous Arts of creating them trouble and being vexatious which is absolutely against the Loving of our Neighbour as our selves and having a Brotherly-kindness and doing Good as we have opportunity to all Persons and is that very sin which St. Paul mentions and which he expresses by wickedness or mischievousness i. e. a studying to do mischief and make work for others Rom. 1.29 Thus to mention no more are all these Prolongations of Suits and delays of Justice these Covetous Desires and Acts of Impatience these Arts of Circumvention and going beyond our Adversaries these deceitful Suggestions and Falsifications in Pleadings these mischievous and vexatious ways this Hatred Envy Evil-speakings and Surmises Anger Bitterness Strife Clamour Revenge c. which are so ordinarily the Concomitants of Judicial Causes most unlawful and forbidden things so that whensoever we have any Suits depending we sin in them if any of these intrude and mix with them A Judicial Controversie that is begun upon a Justifiable Ground will not be innocent if 't is carried on by so unjustifiable a management And therefore to clear our Consciences in all Legal Tryals we must take care not only that after all other means of righting our selves have fail'd the Suit be Commenced for a thing of weight which is a justifiable Ground but also that it be pursued in all this Justice Charity and Peace which makes a justifiable management For 't is not enough that the Cause be good unless the manner of maintaining it be good too This I must confess is an hard Point because in managing a Suit we are in the way of so many sins and meet at every turn with strong Temptations which must needs very much indanger us For all the way these sins lye before us so that unless we have a constant care we shall step into them They generally serve our ends and set on the cause so that we are still under a Temptation to them And what through our own Interest and the desire of Conquest what through the opposition that is made unless we are very Circumspect our Passions will be ingaged and then more or less we shall be hurried into the Commission of them So that if no Suit be innocent where the Ground is good except all these sins be avoided in the management it will be a very hard thing may some say to sue innocently and appeal to Courts at all This indeed is very true and I am ready to confess so too For though some even-temper'd men who are endowed not only with great goodness but also with great Discretion and Government of themselves may do it with some ease and not find it very difficult yet are those men very few in Number who are so well set out and qualified for it But ordinarily it is a very difficult task and there is great danger of offending God attending it For I think there is hardly any thing that shews more the Conduct and Goodness of a man than to be able to keep innocent whilst he is put upon contending and so to manage a Suit or other Contest as that when he has done his own Conscience shall have no cause to accuse or condemn him for it But then the effect of this can be nothing else but that men be very slow in coming to it and very Circumspect in all they do when in a thing of weight after other means have been tryed in vain they cannot avoid it It must make them slow in coming to it I say and this besides its quitting them of the hazzard will I believe make also for their ease for they will generally find less difficulty in bearing Loss than in keeping innocent whilst they seek Judicially to repair it But when the thing is of so great weight that a Suit cannot well be avoided it must make them very Circumspect and Watchful over themselves all the time it is going on lest they incur any of these sins in pursuit of it The greatness of their Care must answer to the greatness of the Danger so that they must resolve to set a strict Guard upon themselves in suing or else not venture to begin any Suit at all And thus it appears that although in it self a Suit at Law be an innocent thing yet when 't is either begun upon an unjustifiable Ground or carried on by a sinful management it is not innocent but defiles the Conscience of a Christian. It is our sin and we must account for it when we seek Revenge by it or Reparation of a thing so small as cannot bear it or of a weighty matter by delays of Justice Falsifications Vexatious Arts or any other Instances of Injustice or Vncharitableness which is a sinful way of managing it When this is the state of it there is a great offence in it and whilst that lasts it deprives us of the Favour of God and ought to exclude us from the Holy Sacrament whereas were it free of these there would be no hurt in it nor any Cause at all why a good Soul should be hindred by it As for this Hindrance then whereby Devout minds are oft-times with-held from coming to this Feast viz. their being ingaged in a Law-Suit we see now at length what weight is to be laid upon it and when indeed they ought to be hindred by it For if there are no Damages to be expected in the Cause but we sue only for Revenge or if when there are they are so small as will not bear a Suit but ought to be a matter of Forgiveness or if when the Loss is of that moment which would justifie a Suit we transgress any instances of Justice or Charity in managing the Process our Suit is our sin which will not be forgiven us till we shew Repentance When 't is unlawful upon the unjustifiableness of the Ground we sin in it till we put an end to it and when upon some particular Injustice or Vncharitablness in the way of management we sin in it till that particular is Corrected and Amended And so long as we are Impenitent in either of these we are unfit for the Holy Sacrament since no man who allows himself in any sin is worthy to partake of it But then we are equally unfit to Pray or perform any other Religious Service or hope for the Forgiveness of our Sins and Eternal Happiness because as I have formerly observ'd Justice Peace and Charity and other Virtues are equally necessary in all these Cases If