the purity of our hearts and the sincerity of our intentions shall be now accepted and all our manifold transgressions through humane frailty shall be now forgiven through the satisfaction and intercession of our Blessed Saviour That if we sin as we all do and repent and amend as we all should do 1 Joh. 2.1 we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and He is the propitiation for our sins We have one that will plead our cause and urge a Right that repenting Sinners have to Pardon Gal. 3.13 because by being made a curse he has delivered us from the curse that is from the punishment of the Law Heb 7.25 and is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us And that all this blessed Mystery of our Redemption through the Cross of Christ is both signified and confirmed unto us in the Holy Sacrament This is my Body which is given for you This Cup is the New Testament in my blood And therefore you cannot be qualified to receive untill you understand these Principles of the Christian Faith You cannot be qualified to enter into Covenant with God till you understand the contents and articles of the Indenture Again Is the Sacrament a Recognition of your Christianity Do you by partaking of the visible signs of our Saviour's death by assisting in the solemn Ordinance of distinction profess and own your self to be his disciple 1 Cor. 10.18 19 20 21 c. as those who ate things offered to Idols were understood to consent with the Sacrifices to own and profess the heathen gods and worship Does God by his Minister offer and confirm his Covenant of Pardon to us in the blood of Christ and are we understood to consent with all our hearts to accept the Conditions with all humility and gratitude to enter into Coveant with God our selves that we will perform the Conditions required of us Then you cannot be worthy to receive unless you stedfastly believe his Revelation trust intirely in his Propositions depend upon his Promises and chearfully resign your self to be governed by his Laws It is therefore absolutely necessary to examine well the steddiness of your Faith the seriousness of your Repentance the purity of your Intentions and the sincerity of your Obedience at least in serious resolution for the time to come since it is evident that without these qualifications you prophane this Holy Ordinance whilst you make profession solemnly of that Religion 1 Cor. 11.26 which you neither understand believe nor practise Par. Sir I am clearly of your opinion I think if we communicate in the most solemn Ordinance of our Religion we certainly ought to understand it believe it and intend at least to practise it But are we obliged whensoever we receive the Sacrament to have the History the Principles and the Duties of our Religion distinctly in our minds this seems to be very hard and almost impossible Min. No surely you mistake me very much These ought to be confidered and examined well before you presume to present your self or before you are admitted to the Holy Table But when you are entred confirmed and setled in your Religion there is no necessity of such a particular recollection your Faith will become a habit and if you have no doubt of any Article you may boldly make profession of your Faith at any time and if you are not conscious of any Vice you wilfully indulge you may profess the sincerity of your heart and your resolution of persevering in a course of universal righteousness without a particular examination of your self upon the several duties of Christianity The ordinary preparation after you have been throughly instructed and admitted to the Holy Table is this Namely first to consider and weigh the doubts and scruples that are upon your mind concerning any Branch or Article of your Religion if any be and clear them fully to your self by consideration inctruction and advice And secondly to observe your own particular infirmities what those evils are to which you are most inclined and which are aptest to prevail upon you and are subdued with the greatest difficulty and how you may prevent their return for the time to come what business what conversation what occasion what company are apt to expose you to temptation that so your humble resolutions and professions may be well considered and perfectly sincere and with particular respect to the present state of your Soul with earnest desire to be better instructed and reformed by the grace of God Par. This is but reasonable indeed and now I hope I apprehend both the nature of the Sacrament and the duty of the Communicant Min. I pray God enable you to perform it but there is one thing more that concerns our preparation which must not be omitted and that is this Is the Sacrament the Death and Passion of our Lord exhibited in proper signs Is our Saviour slain before our eyes 1 Cor. 11.26 Is his death shewed forth represented to us till he come as St. Paul expresses it then we ought to raise in our minds such a feeling sense such a sympathy such passions affections and devotions as the sight of such a stupendous passage would have stirred up and excited in us if we had been Spectators of it Had we been the Disciples of our Saviour as we now profess to be and had we seen Him at his Trial under his scourging in his Agony and on the Cross should we not have adored and magnified the love of God that he should send His only begotten Son into the world to bear the punishment of our sins should we not have been astonished at the love of our blessed Saviour that He should be contented to divest himself of all his glory for our sakes and humble himself even to death upon the Cross to save our souls Would we not have reflected with indignation upon the cause of all this grief to so good so great so innocent a Person even the sins of men should we not have resolved for our own part Heb. 10.29 never to contribute to his pain again but to live in all Obedience Love and Gratitude to God and our Blessed Saviour to the end of our lives should we not have made the most passionate professions of Fidelity and Constancy to him that has thus redeemed and purchased us by His blood should we not have exercised acts of faith affiance trust and confidence in his Word and Promises that if we fulfil our resolutions and perform our duty as well as our weak and frail condition will allow that then we shall be accepted of Him received into his Favour and made partakers of the great and precious promises of His Gospel and when you have considered all these things and understand them competently well and have prayed to God to enlighten your mind and purge your soul from all
of Blessing which we bless says St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 Is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ Not only a Remembrance of his Body broken but a Communion or a participation of the Body by which according to the fairest and most natural construction of the words we can understand no less than this that as we bodily and carnally partake of the Bread and Wine which are the signs and representations of His Body that was broken and His Blood that was shed for us so Morally and Spiritually we shall also partake of the benefits the intention and end of breaking his Body and shedding His Blood the Pardon of our sins and the Salvation of our Souls if we receive the same with such affections and dispositions of mind as we ought to do and this our Church has taught us in her most Excellent and Comprehensive Catechism That the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper By these Visible signs as by the Rod in your Copy-hold Courts you have Livery and Seisin given you of all the blessings purchased for you by the Body and Blood of Christ under the Conditions of Fealty to the Lord and the Customs Rents and Services of the Mannor Par. Methinks it is not so difficult to understand the nature of this Holy Sacrament and the reason of its institution as I thought it was I am heartily troubled that I have so long neglected it I am convinced what an enemy I have been to my self and am now resolved that I will never miss an opportunity of Receiving Min. But hold a little You had best consider what you say and what has been said to you For as the most nourishing of meats received into a sick and crazy stomach instead of that wholsome juice that strength and spirit which it contains in it self and would certainly yield and give out to the body does now but feed the diseases of it and fill it fuller of evil humours not for want of vertue in the food but for want of proper dispositions in the Recipient So also the Holy Eucharist though it contains and is ready to confer those benefits and Graces I have informed you of yet you must not think that it operates as a charm by the repetition of certain words or the punctual celebration of the Ceremony as you have already been instructed but in a way that is Natural and Rational that is to say upon this Condition that the mind of the Receiver be duly qualified and prepared There is therefore more imployed in this so solemn a Remembrance of our Saviour's Death and Passion than it may be you are aware of It will not be the Body and Blood of Christ to every one that receives the Elements of Bread and Wine which are the signs thereof but only to such as are duly qualified and prepared to receive them God is ready to perform his part of the Covenant if we have fulfilled or are resolved to fulfil the conditions which are required of us Par. I beseech you let me understand the utmost of my Duty that I may prepare my self as I ought to do Min. I will so and because the just and necessary preparation to any action whatsoever depends upon and is measured by the nature the end and design of the Action it self therefore I shall only trouble you with such preparatory exercises as you your self shall acknowledge to be fairly inferr'd from the nature of the Holy Sacrament as I have explained it to you First then Is the Communion a Sacrament does the outward action represent and signifie the whole transaction of our Redemption Begun in the Birth continued in the Life and Preaching of our Saviour and finished in his Death upon the Cross Then a Religious Commemoration hereof implyes and supposes a sufficient explicit knowledge of that which we so solemnly Commemorate because the Knowledge of the Fact goes before the Remembrance or recollection of it in the nature of the thing It is necessary therefore that you acquaint your self distinctly with the History of our Saviour's Life and Death contained especially in the four Evangelists before you can be qualified to receive Again Do we understand the Holy Sacrament not only as a bare external Ceremony of Remembrance but as a confirmation of the Covenant of Grace as the Seal of that Covenant and all the Blessings of it to every Communicant that is willing to accept the terms Matt. 26.26 This Bread is my body and This Cup is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins or according to S. Luke Luk. 22.19 This Cup is the New Testament in my blood or as S. Paul expresses it 1 Cor. 10.16 a Communion of the body and blood of the Lord then this implyes a competent knowledge at least of the grounds and principles of the Christian Faith And therefore it is absolutely necessary that every Communicant be well informed First In the miserable condition of all mankind as well by reason of the corruption of our nature as because of our many actual and obstinate transgressions which expose us to the Anger and Justice of God and to those grievous punishments annexed to his Laws which we are neither able to undergo nor avoid And Secondly in the nature and conditions of our Saviour's Mediation between God and us Heb. 10.10 who by the will of God has sanctified us who has put us into a capacity of Renovation Pardon Mercy and Eternal Life by the offering up of his Body once for all 2 Cor. 5.21 who knew no sin himself but was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through him Heb. 9.26 1 Pet. 3.18 Who therefore took our nature upon him that he might be capable of bearing our sins in his own body In a word who by his death and sufferings according to the wonderful Council of God to us unknown has offered such a satisfaction to God as with safety to the honour of his Laws and the Justice of his Government he has been pleased to accept of and has thereupon abundantly assured us of his readiness to be reconciled to us So that if any difference continue still between us the reason thereof shall be wholly on our part Col. 1.21 2 Cor. 5.18 For all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ That he hath now restored us all to a capacity of favour Pardon and eternal Happiness upon condition that we believe and hope in his Mercy through the merits of his Son Repent of all our past transgressions and sincerely endeavour to govern our lives by the Laws of his Gospel for the time to come That instead of a perfect and exact obedience which the best of us are not able to perform
that this is done for the sake of the Bread the Wine or the Company as an ordinary friendly Compotation but it is an act of Religion which we are obliged to celebrate in Obedience to our Saviour Jesus Christ who has made and ordained this breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine together S Mat. 26. S. Luk. â—2 the most solemn Ordinance of the Christian Worship Par. To eat and to drink together the most solemn Ordinance of the Christian Worship how should that be surely there must be something farther in it that does not appear to the eye there must be a reason of this Religious action that I at present do not apprehend but am very desirous to be instructed in Min. Most certainly there is for you know it is commonly called the Sacrament and the principal reason of that Catech. as our Church hath taught us is this because the outward sign that is to say the whole action that is done before our eyes by the express command of God preserves in memory represents and signifies some other thing that is invisible some Historical passage of former times some duty thereupon to be performed together with the several advantages we shall certainly receive thereby which are assured unto us and conferr'd upon us by the will and appointment of God in the due Celebration and use thereof and thus a Sacrament is distinguished from a bare religious Ceremony of remembrance or instruction Par. I beseech you Sir be more particular Min. I am very glad of your attention Briefly then our blessed Saviour as you may read in the 22. of St. Luke at the 19th Verse as He was eating the Passover with his Disciples immediately before He was betrayed set forth and represented to them His ensuing death upon the Cross by breaking of Bread and distributing the same unto them saying Take eat this is my body which is given for you and by taking the Cup full of Wine and giving that also to them saying This Cup is the New Testament in my blood or as Saint Matthew recites it Matt. 26. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins and at the same time commanded them by the same most proper and natural signs of blessing and breaking of Bread pouring out of Wine and eating and drinking the same together to continue a fresh remembrance of Him and more particularly of His death to the end of the World Do this in remembrance of me v. 19. Par. Thus far I hope I understand you the Death and Passion of our Blessed Saviour is that in especial manner which the outward Signs commemorate exhibit and refer to But you said that this Holy Sacrament was more than a Religious Ceremony of Remembrance and therefore I pray inform me in the full intent and farther signification of it Min. It is very well remembred and if you observe the words of institution which I but now recited you will easily perceive that our Blessed Saviour appointed these Sacred Signs not only for a perpetual Remembrance of His Death and Passion but also of the ends and reason of it as His Death was the Seal or ratification of the New Testament or Covenant of Grace which God has entred into with Man consisting principally in this that our sins shall be forgiven and our Souls shall be saved through the satisfaction which our Saviour has made to God for us if we on our part believe His Gospel rely upon His merits and amend our lives For so says our Saviour Take eat This is my Body there He appoints the Commemoration of His death Given for you there is the end and reason of it which is given for you Now once for all in substance and reality and hereafter to the end of the World in the sign and figure as often as you celebrate the Mystery And again This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood the Covenant of Grace between God and us which was sealed and ratified in the Death of our Saviour is revived renewed and confirmed to every particular Person in this his Holy Sacrament that receives it as he ought to do You are therefore to understand the Sacrament as a display of the whole Religion of Christianity God on his part signing and sealing his Covenant of Pardon and Peace to us and we on the other part covenanting with God to perform the Conditions required of us with all possible exactness for the time to come Par. I perceive then that the Holy Sacrament is a Remembrance of the Sufferings of our Blessed Saviour together with the design and intention thereof the Remission of our sins That it is a confirmation of the Covenant of Grace on the part of God that He will be reconciled unto us through the blood of his Son which is therefore called the blood of the Covenant Heb. 10.29 and on our part it is a Profession of our Faith in the Mediation of Christ and a solemn obligation of our selves to perform the Conditions required of us Now I pray Sir give me leave to ask you what those benefits and Graces are which you said were assured unto us and conferred upon us in the due Celebration of this Holy Sacrament Min. You may easily find out that your self if you consider what has been said already concerning the nature of the Sacrament and the end of its Institution Is it understood as the Seal and Confirmation of the Covenant of Grace Why then the benefits we receive thereby are no less than all the blessings and promises of that Covenant which is so solemnly confirmed and assured unto us Namely the pardon of our sins upon Repentance Grace and strength to persevere in a course of new Obedience and Eternal Glory in the life to come This New Testament this Covenant of Grace is sealed and delivered to every particular Person in the Holy Sacrament all such Persons present as believe the Gospel of our Saviour rely upon his Merits and Repent of their sins are at that very instant pardoned if they persevere So sure as they eat that Bread and drink that Wine in Remembrance of our Saviour's death so sure shall they partake of His Body and Blood that is of all the Blessings which were purchased for us by His Death and Passion and this is grounded upon the words of our Saviour Take eat This i. e. this Bread which you are about to eat is my Body which is given for you and This Cup i. e. this Wine in the Cup which you are about to drink is my Blood of the New Testament They shall not only be the signs of your Redemption by my Death but they shall be the thing it self they shall be my Body and Blood that is to say the intention and end of my sufferings pardon of sins and Eternal life are assured unto and actually vested in all those who worthily receive these outward signs For the Cup