so not vouchsafing to eat together hath been also taken for an argument of estrangedness and a great difference Thus we read that the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians Gen. 43.32 And the Apostle when he would have the sincere Christian not so much as to countenance the debaucht and lewd Professor of Religion he will not permit him so much as to eat with him 1 Cor. 5.11 By what hath been said it does appear that eating and drinking together hath been a mark of kindness and hath been used when Covenants and Agreements have been made between men Now when we partake of the Lords Supper we have fellowship with God himself 1 Cor. 10.20 21. We eat at his Table and do become his guests But because we can have no fellowship with him when we walk in darkness 1 Joh. 1.6 therefore we cannot partake aright of this Supper of our Lord unless we put away the evil of our doings unless we put on the Wedding-Garment and renew that Covenant which we did once make with God and which we have so greatly broken 2. That this Sacrament was ordained for a renewal of our Covenant with God appears from the words of our Saviour when he did first institute and appoint it When he gave his Disciples the Cup he adds This is my blood of the New Testament or Covenant as that word signifies which is shed for many for the remission of sins Mat. 26.28 For the better understanding of which words we may remember that it was an antient custom in the World Tacit. Annal. l. 12. when men entered into Covenant with one another that they did it by shedding of Blood they did slay a beast and pour out its Blood and thus they did ferire faeduâ— strike a Covenant with one another In token I suppose that he that should fail of performing his part of the Covenant which they entered into should perish as the beast did which was slain before them Nor was this a custom among the Gentiles only but also a custom that God made use of among the Jews his own people For so we read that when God gave his Law to that people and that Law had been read in the audience of the people and the people had promised obedience to that Law that they entered into Covenant by blood For it is added that Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Exod. 24.8 This was the blood of that Covenant which God made with that people To these words our Saviour may be thought to allude when he was ready to lay down his Life and shed his Blood for our Remission he gives his Disciples the Cup and tells them This is my Blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins That blood which Moses sprinkled was the blood of beasts but this is the blood of Jesus that was the blood of a Covenant but of the old but this is the blood of the new and better Covenant That was shed for the Jews only but this is shed for many for Jew and Gentile for all that believe The blood of the Law of Moses did not expiate for all sins but this blood is shed for the Remission of sins yea of those sins which could not be remitted by the Laws of Moses For by Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Act. 13.39 So that as the Blood which Moses sprinkled was the blood of that Covenant which the Jews entered into so is the blood of Jesus which he shed for us the blood of the New Covenant and he that drinks of this blood renews his Covenant and doth most solemnly take upon himself the observation of the Lawes of Christ When Moses had read the Law to the people and they had promised Obedience then does he sprinkle them with the blood of the Covenant and by that federal rite they are received into Covenant with God And so when our Blessed Saviour had taught his Disciples the will of his Heavenly Father and was ready to shed his blood for our remission he ordains this Sacrament of his blood which when we do partake of as we should lays a strict obligation upon us to obedience of the Laws of God which are made known to us in the Gospel When we drink of this Cup we renew our Covenant with God and do most solemnly bind our selves to a faithful and sincere Obedience we do as it were take a Sacramental Oath of Allegiance and if we be treacherous and false we are perjured persons and make our selves guilty of the blood of Jesus II. Another end of this Sacrament is that we should remember the love of our Lord Jesus Christ in laying down his life for us This do in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 The Jewish Passover was appointed for a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt Exod. 12.14 And this Christian Passover was instituted for a memorial but of a greater deliverance than from the bondage of Egypt of our Redemption from sin and death So great a mercy as the deliverance out of Egypt might not be forgotten much less may this Redemption which our Lord hath wrought And as the Passover was commanded that they might not forget their freedom from Egypt so is this Sacrament appointed that we might never forget a greater freedom which our Lord hath purchased for us from the tyranny of sin and the bitterness of death There was a mercy in that deliverance but in this a miracle of mercy God in that shewed his love to his people but in this there are all the dimensions of love here 's breadth and length and depth and height here 's a love which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.18 19. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 But our Saviours love hath out-stript this and exceeded it greatly for he died for his enemies And God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 Our Books tell us many stories of the great love that one friend hath shewed another Lucian Toxarseu de Amicitia but none of them tell us of such a kindness to enemies as what our Saviour shewed in his Death Here 's a love that out-strips not only all the Laws but all the examples of friendship nay a love that surpasses the love of Women Our Saviour became poor that we might be rich he died that we might live he became a son of man that we might be made the sons of God and left his
love When the Passe-over was commanded among the Jews they were most severely commanded to put away leaven when they kept that Feast when we keep this Feast we must be sure to lay aside all malice and hatred to that sense the Apostle expounds that passage to us Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. He that bears malice in his heart must stand away and not partake of these holy mysteries Such a man will not be welcome to this Table of the Lord. If we like Cain hate our brother God will have no respect unto our offering Gen. 4.5 God is pleased to see us at unity with one another and till then our sacrifice is an abomination unto the Lord. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Matth. 5.23 24. God is willing to stay for his offering till we are reconciled to one another And as we ought alwayes to have our hearts clear from the malice and bitterness which we are too apt to bear against our brother so especially when we keep this Feast we ought to see to it that we be purged from the leaven For we do now keep in memory the death of Christ And certainly Christ in his death gave a great proof of his love to Mankind and a great example also of forgiveness of enemies And methinks we should be ashamed to remember the death of Christ who died for sinners and prayed for his enemies when we retain our hatred and ill-will against our brother For if we did but rightly consider it we shall find the death of Christ a very effectual means to destroy out of our hearts all malice and ill-will and hatred to one another Well may we forgive one another when Christ forgave his greatest enemies and prayed for his Crucifiers Father for give them for they know not what they do We may well contain our selves and be quiet when we are reproached and falsly accused when our Saviour Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth yet when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Methinks when Christ hath shewn such a love to us it should be no hard matter for us to love one another When Christ hath paid so great a debt for us we should not readily pull our brother by the throat for every trespass If we did but reflect upon the death of Christ as we ought to do it would kill and destroy that malice and hatred which lodges in our hearts We should not find it so hard a matter to forgive our enemy to do good against evil and to pray for our persecuters and slanderers if we did as we ought to do keep in mind the death of our dear Lord and Saviour But then they that eat of the same bread and drink of the same cup that partake together at the Table of their Lord must needs think themselves obliged to love one another For if eating and drinking together have been thought an argument of kindness and friendship certainly then the partaking together of these divine mysteries must needs call for the sincerest amity and the most fervent charity amongst those that do partake Those that seed at the same Table that retain to the same Lord that wear the same badg and livery that shews to whom they do belong and live by the same Laws and must therefore hope for the same reward these men sure must needs think themselves obliged to love one another Their partaking together of these mysteries is a sure pledge of that mutual kindness which is between them When the Psalmist would describe the greatest profession of friendship and intimacy between himself and his professed friends he does it in these words We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in Company Psal 55.14 We profess our selves Children of the same houshold and family when we do partake together of this holy Feast We declare that we are members of the same body when we eat of the same Bread and drink of the same Cup which is that provision that heavenly aliment which our Lord hath provided for his Church And therefore we ought to be concerned for one another as members of the same body are We ought to care for the good and benefit each of other and to shew by our lives and actions that we do believe these things to be true We ought indeed to be in perfect charity with all men as we have opportunity to do good unto all men too but more especially are we obliged to do good unto the houshold of Faith The ancient Christians surely understood this very well They shewed a great kindness to those who did communicate with them When they received this holy Sacrament they saluted one another with an holy kiss in token of that mutual love and kindness that was betwixt them And as they had their kiss of love so after the Celebration of this Sacrament they had their feast of love where they did eat together in common in testimony of the mutual kindness which was between them And again they had their labour of love also i. e. They made collections for those that were poor among them or in distress they were not only at peace with one another but they had also a very great compassion for all those that were afflicted But alass we are not what they were that which was to them the bond of unity and love we have made a bone of contention and quarrel We dispute now we do not live we are full of questions and void of charity We are not willing to be so good as those Primitive Christians though we desire to seem as wise as they We are greatly declined from that love and unity that then obtained And we are not willing to be restored to that zeal and fervour which was to be seen in them And now we are run into two great extreams for either we receive this Sacrament with the leaven of malice in our hearts and when we are unprepared for it and then this holy Table becomes our snare Or else we will not receive it at all lest we should be obliged severely to be that which we are not willing to become IV. Another great end of this Sacrament is that we might have a full assurance of Gods readiness to bestow upon us a pardon of our sins and the great mercies of the Gospel which God hath declared himself ready to
bestow upon all those who perform the conditions of the new Covenant God is not only pleased to make a Covenant with us and plainly to declare his readiness to perform his part but also gives us his seal and so does abundantly assure us of his own stedfastness and constancy For such is our weakness so great our unbelief that we need very great supports and an abundant assurance to buoy up our sinking and incredulous hearts And on the other hand so great is the meroy and condescension of our gracious God that he is ready to consider our frame and to give us the greater security assurance He does not only promise us the pardon of our sins in his New Covenant but he also gives us his seal to it besides That so by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 2.18 Thus gratiously does God deal with Mankind He gives them his Covenant and his Seal too He not only gives out his decree in the expresses of his will but he signes and seals it also that we may be assured that it is unalterable as it is said the Law of the Medes and Persians in that case was Dan. 6.8 God makes a Covenant with Noah and his sons that he will no more destroy the earth by a flood but to give them still a greater assurance he sets his bow in the cloud as a token of this Covenant between himself and them Gen. 9. And when God makes a Covenant with Abraham and with his seed he does command Circumcision as a token of this Covenant between himself and them Gen. 17.11 God does not only give us his Word but his Sacrament the token of his truth This God does because he is gracious and because our wretched unbelief is so great that we need the utmost assurance And this certainly is one great end of the Sacrament that we might have alwayes with us a sure pledge of the favour and grace of God that we might not miscarry through our unbelief that we might have a full assurance that God would pardon our sins if we do on our part perform the condition of the New Covenant Our Saviours words are plain to this purpose This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. 28.26 This Sacrament is the instrument of conveyance the Seal that gives us right and title to this great grace and mercy of God We receive in this Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ and the benefits of his Death The pardon of our sin is here made over to us God hath given us visible pledges of his readiness to forgive our sins And because we are very jealous and suspicious very unapt to believe that such wretches as we are should be received into Gods favour he hath given us this abundant assurance He receives us to his own Table gives us under the symbols of Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of his Son who died for our sins and entertains us with this food of heaven In that God hath given us his Son and given him up to death and this death he underwent for our sins we have a great assurance that with him he will give us all things and that he is ready to pardon those sins for which our Lord hath shed his blood But then this blessed Sacrament is greatly efficacious towards the obtaining of this pardon because it is the ministery of the Death of Christ by which our pardon was procured But then we must be careful that we do not think that our pardon is procured by any inherent vertue of the outward elements of Bread and Wine or that our partaking of these alone will procure this remission of sins For the pardon of sin is procured by the blood of our Saviour and we attain not to it without a lively faith and a performing the conditions of the Gospel But if we do this we have good assurance of pardon when we partake of this Sacrament which is the Ministery of the Death of Christ But then we must have a faith in Christ that is as we eat the outward Element of Bread and drink the Wine so must our Souls receive our Lord Jesus Christ They must entertain him with all his precepts and in all his offices Our hearts must receive him as our Prophet to instruct and teach us as our Lord to rule and govern us as well as our Priest to make a satisfaction for us to the Divine Justice And as we hunger and thirst for our bodily food so we must hunger after the Spiritual provisions that Christ hath made for our Souls We must earnestly breathe after righteousness and purity of heart There must be in our Souls an hunger and a thirst they must receive and feed and not our bodies only It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing John 6.63 As our mouth eats the outward element so faith must eat too And it is not a notion not an empty nothing that will feed a lively faith It conveys as real a supply to the Soul as the outward Elements do nourishment to the body The body receives the outward symbol the Soul the inward grace We eat and drink the Element but 't is the Soul that feeds on the thing signified and represented And therefore let not the sinner who lives in his sin and loves it think to obtain his pardon by partaking of this Sacrament This Sacrament will not avail such a man as this is for the death of Christ will profit him nothing if he lives in his sins and loves them and therefore this Sacrament can avail him nothing it being but the Annunciation of the Death of Christ and therefore it cannot save that sinner whom the death of his Lord does not avail It is a vain thing for such a sinner to take sanctuary here If there be not in our souls a principle of new Life it is not the outward Elements of Bread and Wine that will help us God is ready to forgive our sins and we may see it clearly in this Sacrament but while we love our sins we are uncapable of this grace of God 'T is the burdened and the ladened sinner that shall find this favour 'T is he that hates his sin and strives against it These are those whom Christ came to seek and save 'T is not the outward work will save us if there be not in us the grace of God There is no pardon in the Gospel for the obdurate and impenitent sinner and therefore we may not look for it in any of the exterior offices of Religion And therefore let no man deceive himself in this matter He that comes in his sins out of hopes of a pardon will be so far deceived that instead of obtaining a pardon for his former guilt he will contract
a reprobate sense and a seared Conscience These are indeed deaf strokes and such as make not a noise and strike not our senses but yet if we consider the effect and consequence of them they are more formidable and dismal than the raging pestilence or the loudest claps of thunder Let us then resolve as we love our Souls or fear the wrath of God to sin no more lest the worst of things come upon us But let us thus judge that Christ died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 The Body and Blood of Christ will not save us whiles we continue in our sins Nor may we think that this Sacrament will secure us if we return to our follies I shall end this particular with the words of Syracides He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and doth the same who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him Ecclus. 34.25 26. CHAP. XIII HAving shewed you how you must fit your selves for this Sacrament I shall now also let you know the necessity that lies upon us after this Preparation to partake of it And that I shall do in the following severals 1. This duty stands upon the same authority which the other precepts of Christianity do He that commands us to Pray to search the Scriptures to hear Gods Word and to take heed how we hear hath as plainly commanded us to do this We are no more left at liberty here than we are in the other precepts of Christianity And certainly it is an argument of great insincerity to pick and chuse which of Christs commands we will obey Besides by breaking one command we make our selves guilty of all because we do despise the authority on which the rest stand For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all For he that said do not commit Adultery said also do not kill Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law Jam. 2.10 11. I am sure the command is very plain and evident Do this Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25. and verse 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. To examine our selves is a confest duty and therefore by a just consequence so it is to eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup. That duty is relative to this If we do that we are bound to do this also And though we should neglect that yet will not that excuse our neglect of this any more than one fault is a just excuse for the committing of another I doubt not but that we do divers things and think our selves obliged to do them also from the Laws of Christ for which we have no such clear command from the Laws of Christ as we have for this And therefore certainly if we do not this it is not for want of plain Scripture that requires it but for some other cause best known to God and our own Consciences But in the mean time we may be ashamed to call Christ Lord Lord and he may justly upbraid us for it when we refuse to do whatsoever he commands us Luk. 6.46 Let us not for shame call our selves Christians when we will not obey the Laws of Christ Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 It is not a partial obedience to the Laws of Christ will be sufficient to make us the genuine Disciples of our Lord and Saviour If we would be thought to belong to him we must obey him in all his commands Unless we do so we cannot be secure For though we do some of those duties which Christ hath commanded yet if we do neglect him in others we are not such Christians as we ought to be There are those indeed who think themselves obliged by the Moral precepts of the Gospel and are in great measure careful that they transgress not those Laws which are indeed the Laws of Nature as well as the Laws of Christ but yet these men neglect this institution of Christ and are not much concerned in the mean time and that because they do not transgress the Law of Nature though they do transgress the positive Law of Christ But these men ought to consider that the Law of Nature is not the adaequate and full rule of their Conscience They must also attend to the Divine Revelation and to the institutions of Christ This precept of partaking of the Communion is peculiarly the Law of Christ And to do this is the mark and badg of Christians By doing it we shew whose followers we are And we are particularly obliged to do it as we do profess our selves Christians And the same Authority that obliges us to the observance of any other Law of Christ does oblige us to do this also And therefore if we think our selves bound to any Christian duties we judge very much amiss if we think our selves unconcerned in this 2. This duty is built upon as great a reason if we consider the end of its institution as any other of the same nature is I say as great a reason I shall not need to say a greater It was appointed in remembrance of the death of Christ that miracle of mercy and love As often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 It is to keep in mind our Lords death for which this Sacrament was appointed this methinks we should be ready to do who expect such benefits from his death and know that he died that we might live We easily fulfil the desires of a dying friend But if our friend died in our quarrel and defence we know not how to forget him and he that does forget such a friend is reputed justly a most ungrateful wretch How then can we forget the dear love of our dying Lord We keep in memory our Temporal victories and deliverances and we think we do well in it also How much greater reason have we to keep in mind this deliverance from eternal death and slavery This is never to be forgotten certainly but ought to be kept in memory as long as this world endures But then our dying Saviour who might have required of us some more burdensome service if he had pleased hath commanded us to do this to do it in remembrance of him he would have us remember his love to us and he lets us know how he would have us remember his love Do this in remembrance of me 3. 'T is a duty the practice whereof is as advantageous to our Souls if we consider our own necessities as any whatsoever We have need of such helps and viands in our
a greater and instead of preventing he will but increase and enhaunce his own condemnation CHAP. II. I Shall now mention some of those practical Inferences which the severals beforenamed do suggest unto us 1. If this Sacrament be intended for a renewal of that Covenant we entered into in Baptism we may see what great reason we have at this time to examine our selves and to bewail our misdeeds and strengthen all purposes of amendment of Life The end of its institution does most severely and indispensably require all this at our hands We must prepare our selves to meet the Lord that he may be sanctified by us when we draw nigh unto him We read that at the giving of the Law when the Israelites entered into Covenant with God how solemnly they were prepared for it Exod. 19.14 15. lest their uncleanness should render them unfit for so great a work God is holy and they that make their approaches to him must be so likewise We must purifie and cleanse our hearts and cast out every thing which does defile before we are fit to make so solemn an address to Almighty God God will be sanctified in them that come nigh him Lev. 10.3 Certainly God is too wise to be imposed upon and mocked too holy to behold our iniquities too just to clear and absolve the obdurate and impenitent sinner We must not come to this holy Table before we have examined our own hearts and bewailed our sins and come we must with full purposes of amendment of Life If we cannot find that we are thus prepared we must not dare to adventure If we find that we love our sins and are not willing to part with them we shall eat and drink damnation to our selves when we eat of this bread and drink of this Cup. 2. Hence also we may see the great obligation that lies upon those which do partake of these holy mysteries to lead holy lives for the time to come It is no small sin after we have been partakers of this â—â—crament of the Lords Supper to relapse â—â—â—o our former sins and misdeeds It is â—â—ngerous looking back after we have so â—â—â—â—mnly set our hand to the Plough â—â—en the unclean spirit is gone out of a man and after that his house is swept and garnished if then he shall return thither again the last state of that man will be worse than the first Mat. 12.43 44 45. A relapse is many times of greater danger than the first disease 'T is always so in spiritual things He that commits the same sin after he hath communicated contracts a greater guilt He does not only sin against his Conscience but against his most solemn Vow and promise He sins against greater grace and with greater scandal he offends them that communicate with him and opens the mouths of them that do not He does by his Saviour as Judas did he eats of his bread and lifts up his heel against him Joh. 13.18 The sin of an unbeliever is great but this is much greater still this is the highest treachery and falseness We betray Christ when yet with Judas we kiss him and salute him with an Hail Master Nothing can be more detestable than this is No wonder that the rule Soldiers and the Roman Pilate should be unkind to our Saviour but that a Disciple should deny him and betray him this is that which swells the sin to the greatest magnitude You then that eat of his body and drink his blood have you a care that you betray him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom in 1 Cor. 11. For shame let not those hands minister to oppression or injustice that have received the Body and Blood of Christ Let not oaths lyes and filthiness proceed out of that mouth into which the Body of our Lord hath entred Let those vessels be kept clean which have been the receptacles of these sacred Mysteries Let them be shut up as the Gate in Ezekiel against every evil thing because tâ—e Lord the God of Israel had entred in by it Ezek. 44.2 Let there be no passage for any thing which would defile the man where thy Lord hath entered You have taken Christ for your Lord have a care now that sin do not reign in your mortal bodies Do not despise the Blood of Christ who died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 Know this that if you sin wilfully now there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10.26 27. God will not be mocked by those that trample on the Blood of his Son It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God You run into an unspeakable danger whatever you may think of it You have entered into Covenant with God and you cannot fall back without contracting a great guilt unto your selves It was the ancient manner that when a Covenant was made they did slay a beast shed its blood and cut it asunder Jer. 34.18 19. in token that he that did not stand to his Covenant should himself be obnoxious to the like severity When God makes a Covenant with us in the Gospel he gives up his Son to death the blood which he shed is the blood of this Covenant Heb. 13.20 and 10.19 If now we transgress and trample upon the blood of Jesus we are liable to all the wrath of God which our Lord endured and to bear it also to all eternity And though we may escape temporal plagues yet will it be worse for us if we fall into hardness of heart blindness of mind and a reprobate sense These are the surda verbera those secret and benumming strokes those stupifying ones which do not indeed so much amuse our senses and render us examples to others of Gods displeasure but yet they are of as ill an Omen and presage and of a worse consequence by far than the heaviest and sorest afflictions that befall our estates or bodies in this present world You then that have been cleansing and purifying your selves have a care that you do not defile your selves again Let every such man rather say with the spouse I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Cant. 5.3 Have a care you do not with the dog return to your vomit and with the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2.22 I shall conclude this particular with the words of Siracides He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and doth the same who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit him Eccles 34.25 26. 3. Hence we may see what great reason we have to give
service Now before I proceed to shew what we are to do towards the preparing our selves I shall shew the necessity of a preparation in general or the danger of coming unprepared And that I shall do in the following particulars 1. He that cometh unprepared loseth all those benefits which are annexed to a worthy partaking of this Sacrament Certainly the blessings which we receive when we come prepared are very many and very great We receive the pardon of our sins and power against them we have here a sense and experiment of the love of Christ to us and increase of our charity and love to one another We receive here the joys of pure Religion and the foretasts of Heaven an increase of our love to God and a demonstration also of the love of God to us This is a most excellent instrument and very available to the killing of our sins and the reviving of our graces It makes us more fit to live and both more ready and more willing to die We are here reconciled to God and also perfectly reconciled to one another 'T is the great instrument of pardon and peace of love and joy of faith and holiness He that comes prepared finds it both food and physick It nourishes his graces and it purges away his sins But whatever blessings he finds the unprepared finds none He receives no pardon of his sin nor yet any power against it And it were well for the unprepared if this were all for he does not only not receive a blessing but 2. He that comes unprepared receives a very great curse he contracts a very great guilt and condemnation to himself And if he would know how great a curse it is let him consider the words of the Apostle who tells him that he is guilty of the body and blood of Christ 1 Cor. 11.27 That he eateth and drinketh damnation to himself v. 29 Nor is this all neither but he brings upon himself bodily distempers aye and death it self The Apostle adds for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep ver 30. We have enough said to awaken us in these words if any thing be enough Sickness and death are the greatest plagues that we dread in the World and these are consequents of unworthy receiving but these are the least still He that comes unprepared as he is guilty of the greatest sin in that he is guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ so is he liable to the greatest severity and wrath of God in that he eats and drinks damnation to himself If we would avoid sickness or an untimely death if we would not be guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ and not be liable to damnation we must prepare our selves for this service We think Judas a wretched sinner that betrayed his Lord and Pilate that delivered him to death and the Jews that crucified him we esteem most miserable sinners what are we then if we do all this over again if we crucifie our Lord afresh and tread under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and all this we do if we come unprepared and in our sins And are so far from being less sinners than the Jews who crucified our Lord that we are indeed therefore greater than they in that we do this despite to him whom we know but they though they crucified him yet they did not know him to be the Lord of Glory The receiving of this Sacrament serves to some great purpose or other it does set us forward either to Heaven or Hell it conveys a great blessing or else it brings upon us a great curse And as the blessings it brings are great to them that are prepared so are the curses to him that comes unfit We either receive Christ or else Satan enters into us And all this is as we come fitted and prepared Nor is it to be wondred that it should be so for it is not the work done but the manner of the doing of it that turns to our account God deals with us not as with stocks and stones but as with reasonable Creatures We receive his blessings as we are sitted for them God waits that he may be gracious He waits on us till we sit our selves to receive his mercy The Soul that is unprepared is not sit for the blessings that are here bestowed 'T is our unfitness to receive that makes us miss of the blessing 'T is so in all our religious services We receive no benefit because we are not fitted for them nay instead of a blessing we receive a curse We do not profit by the preaching of the Word we say The cause is because we are not prepared hearers Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Micah 2.7 We are worse after the Word we hear and the Sacrament we partake of because we are unprepared And that is the true cause of it We have an Axiom in Logick That every cause does act according to the disposition of the subject 't is true in Spirituals I am sure That which is to one a great blessing turns to the mischief of another One man receives life when he eats of this bread and drinks of this cup another man through his own default eats and drinks damnation to himself The same heat of the Sun that dissolves the ice and melts the wax yet hardens the clay The same herb or flower may afford honey to the Bee and poyson to the Spider The Red Sea that gave a passage to the Israelites did for all that drown the Egyptians Obruitur Pharaoh patuit via libera Moysi Prudent It was the same seed was sown Matth. 13. but not the same ground which received it Semen Sator culpa vacant terra damnanda est We know the Ark of God was the glory of Israel and a great blessing to the House of Obed Edom but yet the Philistines found it an intolerable scourge to them Nay Christ himself that unspeakable gift who is to them that believe the power of God and the wisdom of God yet was he to the unbelieving Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Signum caventi non caventi scandalum Hunc sternit illum dirigit So that it concerns us greatly to fit and prepare our selves for so great a service It will be unto us as we are prepared for it Our unfitness will turn life into death and the greatest blessing that God hath to bestow into the greatest curse There is a great danger before us as well as a great benefit And the effect of this consideration should be that we be very diligent in fitting and preparing our selves We are apt to make an ill use of it and that is this that because there is danger in coming unworthily therefore it is the safest course not to come at all But certainly we never learnt this from the Apostle for he after he had told
his Corinthians of the danger of unworthy receiving 1 Cor. 11.27 presently puts them upon examining themselves and then upon eating this Bread and drinking this cup ver 28. We may die by a famine as well as by a surfet by not partaking at all as well as by partaking amiss He in the parable that came to the Marriage-feast without the Wedding-garment was cast into outer darkness Matth. 22.13 But then for those that were invited and would not come at all the Lord said that none of those men should taste of his Supper Luke 14.24 He that comes unworthily runs into a great danger and so does he that does not come at all There is but one way of escaping the danger and that is by calling in Gods help and a diligent preparing and fitting our selves Which we have great reason to do now 3. Because we do at this time make a very solemn approach to God We are going to his Table to be his guests to eat and drink with him And certainly we had need prepare our selves most diligently did we but rightly consider this When we go to the Table of a great man we do trim and spruce up our selves It will well become us to come hither with clean hearts when we consider that God hath an all-seeing eye and that he cannot endure to behold iniquity God will be sanctified by us or upon us It is no trifling and small matter that we are now about We make a very near approach unto God and had need therefore purge our hearts of our uncleanness lest God make a breach upon us We had need prepare to meet the Lord and sanctifie him in our hearts Let us not dare to trifle in a matter of so great weight nor to go about to mock God and impose upon him before whom all things are naked and open Nor let us by any means dare to serve God at all adventures and do such a work as this is negligently and deceitfully If we do God will be very far from accepting us or our service Wherefore draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded Jam. 4.8 Here is before us life and death let us quit our selves like men girding up the Joyns of our mind and imploring the aid of Heaven that our Souls may live No less than the life of our precious Souls is concerned in this matter As we do order this affair we may either live or die Now certainly these things that have been named above will be sufficient to awaken us and provoke us to diligence if they be but believed and considered throughly Having shewed the necessity of preparing our selves I come now to shew how this must be done And first I shall shew what preparations we are to make before we do partake Secondly what behaviour will become us when we do receive Thirdly what we must do after we have received CHAP. IV. I Shall now shew what preparations we are to make in order to our worthy receiving of this Sacrament And here I might premise that in general and holy life is a very good preparative to this service Were our whole life a life of Religion we should be always in a good readiness for this service That which fits us to die fits us to receive this Sacrament of the Lords Supper And certainly and holy life is the best preparative for death and therefore it must needs be very useful and necessary to our worthy partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ He that is fit to receive the Sacrament is fit to die and he that is fit to die is fit to receive the Sacrament one and the same preparation serves for both And if an holy life be a good preparative to death it must be so for the blessed Sacrament also But then though an holy life make a man habitually prepared for death yet there are for all that several things advisable to the dying man upon his sick-bed in order to his actual preparation for his departure hence And so it is in this Sacrament though an holy life be a good preparative yet it is but an habitual one and it is requisite that he that leads an holy life should notwithstanding that make an actual preparation before he make his approach to this holy Table And what we are to do in order to that I shall now shew 1. It is very requisite we should set some time apart for this work that we should sequester selves from our worldly affairs and business and be at leisure to attend upon the great concernment of our Souls But when we are alone we must be greatly careful that our worldly thoughts do not thrust in upon us and divert or distract us We must do as Abraham did when he sacrificed and the fowls came down upon his Sacrifice he drove them away Gen. 15.11 We must send away our worldly thoughts and cares at this time that they may not disturb and hinder us but that we may altogether attend upon that more weighty concern which we are about If we do not this we may when we are alone be as much in the World as we are at any other time And therefore we shall do well not only to set some time apart from our worldly occasions but when we have done that we must obstinately resolve that no worldly thought shall get entrance into our hearts at that time We shall be sure to be sollicited by our vain thoughts then but we must call in the aid of God and use our utmost diligence to keep them out We must empty our selves of these buyers and sellers we must overturn their Tables of exchange and with a great zeal whip these thieves out of Gods Temple This perhaps we may think a matter of some difficulty but there is nothing greatly difficult to him that is resolved nothing can be so to him that humbly and fervently implores the grace and aid of God Besides it is for the life of our Souls that we do this And if we loved our Souls as well as we do our Estates or Bodies and I might say our sins we should not find any difficulty in this matter For for the sake of these things we can spend many days and not complain and therefore have no reason to think much of spending now and then a day in consulting the interest of our immortal Souls And sure I am there are no portions of our time better spent than those we spend in the diligent service of God and about the securing the eternal interest of our Souls We shall one day wish that some of those hours which now we carelesly spend in doing nothing or in doing amiss which we spend in impertinent visits or in riot and drunkenness had been spent in our Closets in fervent prayer to Almighty God and in caring for our pretious Souls If ever we would have our Souls do well we must
that I may be able to weep bitterly as he did It will well become us when we commemorate the death of our Saviour to be very deeply humbled for our sins which put him to death 4. When thou receivest the Bread renew your Covenant with God Consent heartily to receive thy Saviour in all his Offices of Prophet Priest and King Desire earnestly to be joyned to thy Lord in the strictest bond Resolve to give thy self up intirely to the obedience of his Holy Laws Beg of him that he would dwell in thine heart give him the full possession of thy self Tell him thou art his for the time to come and that thou dost willingly give him entrance and possession of thy whole heart Say to him Lord I do heartily and joyfully entertain thee And though I am unworthy that thou shouldest come under my roof yet since it is thy condescension to visit me a poor sinner I do most joyfully receive thee Grant that I who eat of thy Bread may never lift up my heel against thee And that though many Lords have ruled in me I may henceforth only make mention of thy name Strengthen my feeble Soul that I may perform my Vows Help me that I may now be thine and that I may continue in thy love Be thou that to my Soul which bread is to my mortal and frail Body Grant that my Soul and Body may be separate and for ever set apart to thy service suffer me not to profane and unhallow what is thus solemnly consecrated to thee I offer thee my heart Lord unite it to thy fear and service Grant it may no more run astray from thee that it may not be seduced by the deceitfulness of sin by the allurements and blandishments of this wicked world but continue constant and stedfast in thy Covenant Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right or constant spirit within me Psal 51.10 5. When we receive the Cup let us again renew our consent that Christ shall rule over us And let us particularly meditate upon the great danger of revolting and sliding back This is the blood of the New Covenant the blood of the immaculate Lamb of God which was shed for us It was an ancient custom of entring into League and Covenants by slaying of beasts and shedding their blood this was in token that he that failed to perform his part did devote himself to the like destruction Oh consider then what a wrath hangs over thy head if thou trample upon the blood of Jesus There will remain nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation And therefore consider well how greatly dangerous it will be for thee to disobey thy Lord for the time to come Say thus within thy self I am now renewing my Covenant with God I do now undertake to obey the Laws of Christ and make him a solemn promise of Obedience for the time to come And that I may bind my self the faster to my Lord I take the Sacrament upon it I drink of this blood of the new Covenant So that I am now bound in a stricter bond than ever I have professed a service to him a great while I have now listed my self and as it were taken a Sacramental Oath that I will be faithful This blood of my Saviour will witness against me if I fall back and so the blood of Jesus will be upon me if I prove unfaithful And therefore O my Lord look in Mercy upon me Grant that I may not after all my other sins be guilty of the blood of Christ That I may never have the blood of my Saviour to answer for Then will my case be worse than that of the Jews who Crucified him but yet knew him not to be the Lord of Glory But I know him and am dedicated to his service My sin for the future will be of a deeper dye Grant Lord that I may not be guilty of the blood of Christ that I may not put him to death that came to save my life that his innocent blood may not cry to Heaven against me and be laid to my charge What a wretched Creature shall I be if my Saviour shall be my Accuser Thus may we meditate when we receive the Cup. And indeed it will be a very seasonable meditation we shall be very wicked indeed if we do now return to our sins and evil wonts when we have not only eat the flesh but drank the blood of Christ The blood of Christ was shed for our remission and our pardon but how sad will it be with us if it be laid to our charge if that blood from whence we expect our pardon shall cry for vengeance against us There is a saying among the Jews Vi. Buxtorf Lexicon Talmud in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used proverbially Wo be to that man whose advocate becomes his accuser And 't is very applicable to the matter in hand Our Lord is our Advocate 1 Joh. 2.1 but if we refuse to obey his Precepts he becomes our Accuser and our Judge The blood of Jesus pleads for us if we continue obedient to his Precepts but if we trample on his blood it will speak no better things than the blood of Abel and certain it is that Abels blood called to Heaven against him that shed it And how miserable is that man who instead of receiving pardon from Christs blood receives a greater guilt from it and falls under that curse which the Jews called on themselves when they said His blood be upon us and our children 6. This will be a very fit season to intercede with God for others we shall do well to pray at this time for the whole Church of God and particularly for that part of it which is planted among us especially for all Christian Kings and Governours who do greatly need our Prayers and may very justly expect them also And here we shall do well while we are attending upon this service to pray for our friends and relatives and for those who have desired our prayers This is a Feast of love and a greater expression of our love to our brother we cannot give than to intercede earnestly for his Soul and as we are alwayes obliged to do it so are we more particularly bound to do it at this time when we commemorate the great love of our dying Saviour which he expressed to the Souls of men And we shall do well at this time to send up Ejaculations to God for them Nor must we forget to pray for those who are our enemies without a cause This our Saviour did when he was upon the Cross and when we remember his Agonies we must not forget to do as he did Let us heartily pray for them that God would forgive their sins and that he would turn their hearts We are obliged to this both by the precept and by the example of our dearest Lord Nor may we expect pardon for
then taken And methinks we should be perswaded to fit our selves for death it being so much our interest to be prepared for it And though we cannot be perswaded to receive the Sacrament yet sure we cannot but judge it our duty and our interest also to make our selves fit for it He that is fit to dye is fit to receive also and who would not labour hard to be fit to die that knows his time here cannot be long but may be exceeding short Be not then so cruel to your own souls as to be unprepared for death this makes you liable to not only a great sorrow but an everlasting sorrow also Before I leave this matter I would know of him that makes this excuse that he is not fit whether he speak as he think Do you really judge your selves unfit For it is possible that a man may make this excuse and yet have a great opinion of himself and judge better of himself than other men who do receive this Sacrament and do it as they should And therefore let me put it to thy Conscience dost thou really judg thy self to be unfit If thou doest then tell me what effect this hath upon thee Art thou greatly humbled under this condition Dost thou strive whatever thou canst to prepare thy self Is it that which you greatly labour for Are you willing to take as much pains in the case as you do for your bodies or estates If you do not strive to become better when do you think you shall be fit Put these things home to your Consciences And I doubt not but that if you be sincere and do not dissemble with God you may be fitted and prepared for this service Object 2. Secondly there are others excuse themselves from this service upon a prudential account as they esteem it And thus it is they understand by the Apostle that they eat and drink damnation to themselves if they do it unworthily and therefore they conclude it the safer course not to receive it at all By this means they think they avoid the danger of unworthy receiving and take the most secure course in not receiving at all This I fear is the ground that too many rest upon who do forbear to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. In answer to this pretence I shall not need to say much especially if what hath been said before be duly considered But yet something I shall say to it And Answ First I must tell you that though this may be thought a safe and prudential course yet it is far from being so For what prudence is it to run from one extream to another and to neglect the mean which we ought to aim at We shall not need to forbear nor yet to receive unworthily Why do we not prepare our selves and receive as we ought Shall we call it a prudential course to run away from the Laws of Christ Or shall he be thought a wise man that runs from one danger into another that is as great This is as if a Man should flee from a Lion and a Bear should meet him or a Serpent bite him that I may use the words of the Prophet Amos 5.19 'T is like the prudence of the sinner in other things He is apt to run into extreams Thus he does frequently do When he should possess himself of a well-grounded hope he either presumes or else despairs when he should be patient he is stupid and senseless or else he is querulous and murmuring When he should do good with his riches and relieve the poor he either profusely spends them upon his lusts or else is penurious and covetous And when he should hear the word of God and keep it he either will not hear it or will not keep it And as he shews great folly in all these things so he does in the case before us For whereas he is required to receive this Sacrament worthily he instead of that either receives it amiss or else will not receive at all Which is so far from being prudently done that it is indeed an argument of great folly and he that takes such a course is far from being safe He that does thus runs indeed from a great mischief but he runs into another There is a rock on each hand that he may split upon he dies if he eat unworthily and so he does if he carelesly neglect to eat at all He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself There 's death there but then we are told by truth it self Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Joh. 6.53 There 's a death that meets us also We may meet with death from a surfeit and so we may from a famine and too long an abstinence He were a very ridiculous man who because he is forbidden meat by his Physician in a Paroxysm of his Fever or under the operation of a Purgative Medicine should thereupon resolve to eat no more By this means he will not only starve his disease but starve himself also Besides at this rate we might avoid the other precepts of Religion as well as this The Jew might have eluded Gods commands that obliged him to obedience under this pretext that he feared he should not do what God required aright There is danger in hearing Gods Word carelesly shall we therefore chuse not to hear it all We may displease God in our prayers if we pray not as we should shall we therefore fore not pray at all We may give alms amiss shall we therefore shut our bowels upon the poor We may keep a fast for evil ends shall we therefore keep none at all There are some that come to Church and do it from an ill principle and do thereby increase their condemnation shall we therefore stay at home Some preach Christ out of ill will shall I not therefore preach any more Sure whatever we may judg here is little prudence shewn For all this while it ought to be considered that we do not contract our guilt by receiving but by receiving unworthily And therefore if we shewed our selves wise we should do it by making our selves fit for this service and not by forbearing it altogether If we took this course we should avoid all the danger and not only that but greatly advantage our own Souls Whereas now we run our selves upon a great curfe If we come and are unfit we are accursed and so we are if we do not come at all I shall end that which I had to say to this pretence with the words of a late Writer Mr. Daniel Rogers Treat of the Sacraments part 2. pag. 211. who was well known not long since in these parts And his words upon this occasion are these If scanty coming be a sin what a fearful premunire then run they into that refuse at all to come And presently afterwards he denounces terror to all profane Esau's
every evil way and purifie my self as thou art pure Keep me O Lord for the time to come from every thing that is hurtful to me and displeasing to thee From the excesses both of care and fear from snares and great perplexities from carnal desires and brutish inclinations from covetousness and hatred from envy and pride from vanity and dissimulation murmuring and discontent And make me stedfast in justice and charity in humility and meekness in purity of heart and heavenly mindedness and sincere devotion And to these Holy ends vouch safe me the presence of thy Spirit and power of thy grace and endue me with heavenly Wisdom and all this I beg for the sake and in the Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Father which art c. Ejaculations to be used at the Lords Supper THE Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life At the Receiving of the Bread THou hast said O Blessed Jesus I am the living Bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word in which thou hast caused me to trust Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I am thine O Lord I devote my self to thee O save thy Servant who trusteth in thee I have enclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God At the Receiving of the Cup. O Blessed Saviour let thy Blood purge my Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood I will not henceforth live unto my self but unto him who dyed for me and rose again Blessed be the Lord my God who only doeth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen After Receiving BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thine own hands I intreat thy favour with my whole heart Be merciful unto me according to thy word I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Prayer after the Receiving the Sacrament BLessed be thy glorious name O Lord for all thy unspeakable mercies to me and to all the World I adore and magnifie thee for thy great goodness in giving thy Son to dye for me and making me partaker of his most pretious Body and Blood O Lord what is man that thou thus regardest him And what am I a vile and wretched sinner that thou shouldst be thus favourable to me Thou hast been pleased to admit me to renew that Covenant with thee which I had broken and to give me assurance of thy readiness to pardon so vile and great a sinner as I have been I have received the pledges of thy love and been admitted to thy holy Table I have there devoted my self again unto thee my Soul and Body all my powers and faculties I have vowed obedience to thee and after the most solemn manner consecrated my self to thy service Thou art a God that knowest the heart and art not to be mocked I tremble when I consider thy infinite power wisdom and holiness Let these thoughts beget in my Soul a great fear of thy Holy name a great care to do thy will Grant I may not for the future turn the grace of thee my God into wantonness and that I may not receive the Grace of God in vain There is nothing hid from thee Thou knowest my weakness and infirmities and the temptations with which I am assaulted and to which I have too often yielded I am surrounded with snares and my spiritual Enemies are powerful and active O Lord help thy Servant and grant that I may both resist and vanquish them by the aid of thy Holy Spirit Keep the possession of my Soul which I have unfeignedly surrendred up unto thee Unite my heart O Lord to fear thy name and grant that I may spend the remainder of my time in obedience to thee and in acts of Charity to my brethren Create a clean heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Forsake me not O Lord if thou leave me I perish Guide me by thy Counsel and at last receive me to thy glory I do greatly desire the Salvation of mankind and humbly commend to thee this Church and Kingdom the Kings Majesty and all our Superiors in Church and State humbly intreating thee to direct and guide them all into those holy wayes that are pleasing to thee and beneficial to those who are under their charge and influence And work in the minds of all Christians an unfeigned Charity a peaceable temper patience and exemplary meekness and all the other fruits of thy Holy Spirit And grant me thy heavenly grace that I may so use things temporal that I may not miss of thy Eternal Bliss for the sake of Jesus Christ my onely Mediator and Advocate Amen A Morning Prayer for a Family O Almighty and Eternal Lord God the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ look down from Heaven with pity and compassion upon thy servants who humbly cast ourselves down before thee in a great sense of thy mercies and our own misery There is an infinite distance between Thy Glorious
we are in misery or want we shall be glad of our Neighbours compassion and relief and when we love him as our selves we shall as readily afford him ours We shall be very ready to preserve our Neighbours credit to put a fair interpretation upon his actions to relieve his wants to bewail his misery to farther the Eternal welfare of his Soul if we do love him as our selves And indeed it will not avail us that we do pretend to love our Neighbour if we do not help him and do him good If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily Food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be you warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the Body what doth it profit Jam. 2.15 â—6 Certainly we are devoid of love to Our Neighbour if we do him not good as we have an opportunity Whose hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his Bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 Joh. 3.17 If we love our Neighbour we shall most readily do him good and we shall always stand ready to do good offices to all with whom we shall converse And Secondly we must forgive the evil which our Neighbour does to us This we must also heartily do before we can worthily partake of this Holy Sacrament And I shall shew 1. what it is to forgive and 2. what great reason we have to do it when we partake of this Sacrament First what it is to forgive or what kind of forgiveness the Gospel requires of us and of this I shall speak 1. Negatively 2. Positively Negatively 1. Forgiveness implyes more than a bare profession of kindness This is a very common thing and may well be supposed to take place amongst those that yet remain very great enemies It is common to make great protestations of an hearty reconcilement Our Saviour requires that we forgive one another from our hearts Mat. 18.35 2. Forgiveness implyes more than a bare abstaining from making spiteful returns There may be a secret malice where there is no visible injury done We are obliged to love our enemy 't is not enough that we do him no harm 3. Forgiveness implyes more than doing kindnesses to our Brother It does indeed require a readiness to do this but yet the doing kindnesses to our enemy is no certain argument that we have forgiven him We may be bountiful and liberal and yet devoid of Charity 1 Cor. 13.1 We may give and yet not forgive And perhaps we may do our enemy a kindness out of pride and vain-glory or else we triumph over his misery and rejoyce that he who was before the object of our envy is now become the object of our pity Positively 1. He that forgives a right does it universally That is he forgives every man and every Trespass and at every time We easily forgive little offenders and the smaller faults of our Neighbour But the sincere Christian does more than this he forgives not only a professed enemy but a treacherous and false friend not only him that despises him but the most curseing Shimei that reproaches him to the face His Charity beareth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 2. He is so far from taking revenge that his mind is free from all the intention of it The leaven of malice is quite purged out of his heart he is so far from watching an opportunity of mischief that he desires it not And so far from doing evil that such is his Charity he thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 3. He does heartily pity his Enemy and pray for him And in this is a follower of the Precept and of the example of his Blessed Saviour Mat. 5.44 Luke 23.34 He does not only not requite his enemies with evil but he returns him good As for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my Soul with fasting and my Prayer returned into mine own bosom I behaved my self as though he had been my Friend or Brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother Psal 35.13 14. 4. He does not only forgive but forget He is most willing to let the remembrance of the injuries he hath received pass away And as a proof of this he is most ready to do his enemy a kindness and that out of no other design at all but a sense of his duty and a real Love which he finds in himself towards him He does not do it out of ostentation nor with a purpose to upbraid him with ingratitude or enhance his guilt but meerly because he loves him and desires his welfare with no less sincerity than he does his own And still as a farther demonstration that he forgets the injury received he is most ready to restore his enemy to the same degree of Love which he had before he did the wrong He is willing to admit him to the same kindness which he enjoyed before aye and to the same trust and confidence also upon his Repentance or the probable indications of it In one word he does not retain any thing of malice or ill-will but on the other hand finds in himself a most sincere love and good will and by all his actions does shew the great sincerity of it No less than such a forgiveness does the Gospel require no less does the true Christian find in himself And certainly it cannot be any thing short of this For we must forgive as we desire God to forgive And sure I am we desire from Heaven no less than such a forgiveness and must therefore think our selves obliged to do no otherwise by our Brother than we would that God should do by us For in this matter that is the Rule we are to go by we are to imitate God to forgive our offending Brother Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us Eph. 4.32 Secondly I come to shew what great reason we have to forgive our brother when we come to this Sacrament Now that I shall shew in the following Severals 1. Because in this Sacrament we keep in remembrance the death of Christ This was one great end of its Institution and this does strongly oblige us to forgive our brother Whether we consider the death of Christ 1. In it self as obliging us to put away all our sins for which he dyed It is but reason we should put away our sins which put our Lord to death And if he dyed for sin then ought we by no means to live in it If we do we crucifie our Lord afresh and are more cruel to him than Judas or Pontius Pilate We make his pains of no effect and shew our selves void of all pity to our bleeding Saviour They were our sins that put him to his shame and to his sorrow and if we retain them we do but trample upon his precious blood we are very wretched Creatures if we maintain his enemies and add to
his sorrowes He did not dye for sins that we might live in them but that we might dye to them His Death is a very forcible argument against the life of our lusts and a great motive to obedience We little regard our dying Lord if we at once remember his Death and break his Lawes 2. Again our Lord at his Death gave us a very great example of forgiveness of enemies and therefore when we remember his death we have very great reason to forgive our offending brother Our blessed Lord met with great enemies and such as had the greatest reason to be his friends He that eat of his bread lift up his heel against him He was betrayed by his own Disciple delivered to death by him that pronounced him innocent scourged and mocked by a rude and heady multitude He is numbred among Transgressors who had committed no sin He was hanged on the Tree who had never tasted the forbidden Fruit. He was put to death by those whom he came to seek and to save He had done them many kindnesses whilst he was among them He healed their sick fed their hungry restored their blind dispossessed their Daemoniacks and raised their dead He offended none of their Laws He paid Caesar his Tribute took care the Priest should have his Offering observed their customs went to their Festivals and was so far from profaning their Temple that he shewed a great zeal for defending it from common uses There could be nothing said against his Doctrine nothing against his Life His enemies that bare witness against him could not agree and it was infinitely plain that he was innocent And yet his Countrymen thirst after his blood and prefer a Murderer before him They want patience when our Lord wanted none They cry out Crucifie him crucifie him And what does our Lord do he cryes out too but not for Vengeance but for Mercy Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luk. 23.34 Certainly then we should be ashamed to remember these things with malice in our hearts well may we forgive our enemies when our Lord hath forgiven his We must not dare to remember the Death of Christ and to remember our Neighbours unkindness together We may not think of revenge when our Lord shewed so much mercy We cannot rightly remember Christs Death when we do not imitate his example He taught us what we should do by what he did himself We shall look very unlike our Lord if we retain our malice and ill-will 3. If we consider that Christs Death was not only for sins but also for our sins we shall still find a greater obligation upon us to forgive one another God gave his Son to dye than which there cannot be a greater miracle of Love and if God so loved us we also ought to love one another 1 Joh. 4.11 It was for us our Saviour laid down his life and who are we Had we deserved this love were we his friends that he was at this pains and cost No surely but we were sinners and enemies and yet he laid down his life for us Rom. 5.8 10. If then Christ dyed for his enemies we ought to forgive ours and then especially we are obliged to do it when we pretend to remember the Death of Christ How can we now pull our brother by the throat for a few pence when our Lord hath forgiven us so many Talents We are very ungrateful for our Lords kindness if we are unkind to one another Did we but consider Gods mercies to us we should think our selves obliged to be merciful to one another And methinks it should be easie for us to forgive our Neighbour if we did but consider how very much we need Gods forgiveness and how far we are from deserving it If our Lords eye have been so good to us why should ours be evil to one another what miserable wretches should we be if Gods mercies to us had not been greater than ours is to one another He hath forgiven us our great scores let us not retain then our grudges to our brother For shame then let us purge out this leaven of malice when we keep this Feast Let us shew our selves kind to each other when we do remember the kindness of our Blessed Saviour Besides our brothers offences against us are small in respect to ours against God We offend against an infinite Majesty we transgress the Eternal Laws of Reason How coldly do we pray to him for the greatest Blessings How insensible are we of his many mercies How very stupid and incorrigible under his severest judgments How void of the love of him who hath loved us so much If he should mark iniquities how should we be able to stand We are not able to answer for one of a thousand But yet we hope for Mercy upon our Repentance and our Faith We expect pardon from God for all these amisses And had we not this hope we should be of all men the most miserable We have then very great reason to be reconciled to our brother when we stand in so great need that God should be reconciled unto us and when we hope for the pardon of our sins from God which we do from Christs death and at this time when we do commemorate it we have a sufficient motive to forgive our brother Especially our Saviour having said If you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will aso forgive you But if ye forgive not men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. 2. Another great end of this Sacrament is that Christians may be knit together in the strictest bond of Love and Charity It is as I shewed you before a Feast of Love It was designed to bring us together and to make us all of one heart And a very effectual instrument it is were it rightly understood and used to that end and purpose It would soon make us one again It would bring together those who now are separated from one another When Communions were frequent in the Church Christians loved one another and kept together But when they became more seldom selemnized then the feuds among the professors of Christianity grew also For indeed this Sacrament was intended to maintain us in Love and Charity And therefore if we do not heartily forgive our brother we do destroy also this end of its Institution It is very indecent to see men at odds that eat and drink at the same common Table But it is a great wickedness to come to this Holy Table with malice and ill-will to our brother in our hearts We must not keep this feast of love with the leaven of malice VVe cannot partake of this Sacrament but we must profess a kindness to our brother and if we mean it not we are like Judas that gave his Master good words when he was ready to betray him and shall be miserable as he was into whom the Devil and the morsel entered at