ought to be able to recite the Words of the Creed to have a competent Knowledge of their meaning and of the influence each Article ought to have upon my Coversation I will therefore first rehearse the Words thereof and then give you such an Account of their Sense and Influence as I have been taught by you I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried He descended into Hell The third day he rose again from the dead He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the Forgiveness of Sins the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting Amen Having thus rehearsed the worâ— of the Creed my next Task is â— give a short plain Declaration â— what I believe in every Article ARTICLE I. I believe in God the Father Aâ—mighty Maker of Heaven anâ— Earth In this Article I have beeâ— taught to believe that there is God and that he is an Eternaâ— Spirit whose Being is of himself and not from any other and thaâ— from him all things have their Being And I further believe Thaâ— this God is but One because he is the Infinite Independent and Omnipotent Cause which can be but One. I believe also That this God is the Eternal Father of Christ and that for his sake he is also my Heavenly Father and that being Almighty he can do for me whatsoever he will I likewise believe That in Six days this God created all things of Nothing by his Word for his Glory and that he still preserveth all things by the same Word of his Power ARTICLE II. And in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. In this Second Article of the Creed I have been taught to believe in Jesus Christ and that he is the only Son of God and of the same Divine Essence with him That he is called Jesus because he is the only Saviour of Mankind and that he is called Christ or Messiah which signifies Anointed because he was anointed to the Three Offices of a Prophet Priest and King which Three under the Law were in an especial manner Anointed And I believe That all these Three met in Christ and that as a Prophet he doth instruct his Church outwardly by his Word and inwardly by his Spirit And I believe That as a Priest he made satisfaction unto God for the Sins of Mankind when he once offered up himself upon the Cross and that by the Sacrifice of himself he reconciled God and Man And further I believe That as a Priest he continually makes Intercession for me and all true Christians at the right Hand of his Father in Heaven and doth bless me in turning me from my Iniquities In like manner I believe That Jesus was not only Christ that is Anointed to be a Prophet and a Priest in the sense now declared but that he was also Anointed to be a King And that as such he doth govern and preserve his Church he erects and sets up his Throne in the Hearts of Believers He gives them Grace to subdue every rebellious Lust and habit of Sin that it reign not in them He conquers Satan and restrains his Power He overcomes Death and having received all Authority in Heaven and Earth he rules over all Men and all Creatures and that of his Kingdom there shall be no end So that to him belongs absolute Dominion over all and Obedience is due to him from all ARTICLE III. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary In this Article I profess to believe That when Christ was made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh he was made in all things like to my self excepting Sin For that could affect neither his Humane Soul nor Body because in both he was most Holy as being conceived only by the Operation of the Holy Ghost and born of a spotless Virgin For Christ that he might be our Kinsman and capable to redeem us by paying our Debts in the same Humane Nature in which they were contracted it was necessasary he should be the Seed of the Woman And that he might plainly appear to be that Seed of the Woman which was promised it was likewise necessary he should be born of a Virgin who was of the Lineage and House of David All which I believe from God's Word was accomplished in the Blessed Mother of Christ ARTICLE IV. Suffered under Pontius Pilate c. This is an Article that you have often told me I ought well to understand for it respects Christ's Death upon which the whole Hinge of my Salvation turns I find the History of it to be clearly and fully set forth by the Evangelists and as to the knowledge of it St. Paul valued it so highly that he desired to know nothing else but Jesus Christ crucified Now by my believing of the Crucifixion I confess that according to the Prophecies Christ suffered in his Humane Nature both in Soul and Body his Divine Nature being uncapable of suffering And that this hapned at the time when Pontius Pilate was the Roman Governour of Judaea who being addicted to Cruelty and sinful compliance condemned Christ to be crucified And as Moses lifted up the Serpent on the Pole in the Wilderness so was Christ lifted up on the Cross and by a painful ignominious and accursed Death did expiate my sin and redeemed me from all vain Conversation and from the Curse of the Law and gave me an Entrance into Heaven All which unspeakable Benefits are justly to be ascribed to the Blood of Christ because it was of infinite value as being the Blood of that Person who was God as well as Man And as I believe Christ voluntarily laid down his Life and that his Soul was really separated from his Body so I likewise believe that as a dead Man he was buried after the manner of the Jewish Nation namely that he was bound in Grave-clothes with Spices and laid the Grave with an heavy Stone rolled to the mouth of the Sepulcher All which were certain Tokens of his Death as being the usual known Rites of a Jewish Funeral I also believe That Christ being dead his Soul and Body remain'd in a separate condition under the Power of Death and that his Soul was reunited to the Body before it did putrifie in the Grave But as to the various Opinions about his Descent into Hell I think them either too high or too unprofitable for my research And as you have taught me so I believe that Christ's Birth Death and Burial or being under the Dominion of Death were the Three Degrees of his Humiliation answerable to which were the Three Degrees of his
has an Vnion with Him as being the Head of it so I believe there is a Common Vnion among the Members both those that are glorified in Heaven and those that in some degree are sanctified on Earth And this is called the Communion of Saints and is the first Priviledge of the Christian Church And by vertue of this all true Christians communicate in all Offices of Piety and Charity in doing good to one anothers Bodies and Souls And this they do upon the account that they have in common One God one Christ one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism one Hope ARTICLE X. The Forgiveness of Sins As the Communion of Saints genuinely ariseth from the Nature of the Vniversal Church so Pardon of Sins follows from both For none shall have their Sins forgiven but those who live and die in the Communion of the Church For unless I abide in this Ark I shall certainly perish Now Sin as I have been instructed is of two sorts the one Original which is the sin of my Nature the other Actual which is the sin of my Conversation The former I brought with me into the World the latter I commit while I live therein And both these sorts of sin deserve Eternal Death and can only be pardon'd by the Merits of Christ For sin being a Transgression of the Law of God it can only be forgiven by him whose Law it transgresseth For Remission of sins is the second Priviledge of the Church which is preached to all in the Name of Christ and sealed in Baptism wherein I believe my Original Sin is presently pardon'd and that my Actual Sins committed after Baptism shall be pardon'd if I truly repent me of the same Now this my Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins supposes that I believe That God graciously and freely without any Desert on Man's part gave his Son to die for the World and That for the sake of his meritorious Death he remits the Fault absolves from the Guilt and acquits from Punishment all truly penitent and believing Sinners And I do further believe That he imputes to them the Obedience of his own Son and his Righteousness and by means thereof accounts them just in his sight I believe That all who are justified and thus acquitted have Holiness in some degree according to the Condition of this Life Which Holiness tho' it cannot altogether discharge them from sin yet it doth not suffer it to reign over them So that a justified Person is not under its Dominion nor yields himself a Vassal to it but resists its Commands and makes it die daily And for the greater security of the Forgiveness of sins God hath committed to his Ministers an indispensible Power and Charge to preach Faith and Repentance as the Condition of this Forgiveness He hath likewise appointed them to pray and intercede and also to baptize for the Forgiveness of sins and to administer the Lord's Supper in memory of that Blood which was shed for the Remission of Sins And indeed all that God hath left in the Hand and Power of his Ministers especially tends to make Men capable of receiving what they believe namely the Remission of sins ARTICLE XI The Resurrection of the Body It was the Hope of the Fathers under the Old Testament as well as it is of Christians under the New That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust And if it were otherwise Christians of all Men would be most miserable and all that I have learn'd and you have taught me concerning Christianity would be in vain But I firmly and truly believe That my Mortal Body shall be raised from the Corruption of the Grave by Vertue of the Resurrection of Christ And this my Belief is founded upon the Power and good Pleasure of God who both can and will raise from the dead the very same Body that died ARTICLE XII The Life everlasting The Enjoyment of Everlasting Life is the last Christian Privilege and that which crowns the rest And I have learned to understand by this Life the Enjoyment of all true Happiness in Soul and Body For I believe that the Faculties of the Souls of just Persons shall be perfectly enlightned and sanctified and that their Bodies shall live after the manner of Spirits and be exceedingly glorified And opposite to this Life everlasting I believe there is an everlasting Death which is the Portion of the Wicked And that as Life everlasting consists in the Fruition so I believe everlasting Death consists in the Loss of God's Presence and all other Comforts and is the enduring of the sting of Conscience and Torments of Hell for ever But as my believing all the Articles of the Christian Faith as they are summ'd up in that which is called the Apostles Creed supposes that I am to learn not only the Words but likewise the Sense of the Creed so it also implies that I should live like them that do believe for otherwise my consenting to the Truth of the Articles will stand me in no stead And therefore not medling with remote and learned Inferences I will draw such from each Article as are near and familiar short and edifying As for Example From my believing that God created me I infer I am bound to be obedient and subject to him By my believing that Christ redeemed me I think it my Duty to yield up my self to him as his Purchase and to be wholly disposed by him and employed only in his Service My believing Christ's Conception by the Holy Ghost and his Birth of the Virgin should make me diligent to fit my Heart for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and for Christ to be born in it My belief of Christ's Crucifixion should teach me to crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and to destroy the Body of sin My belief of his Death and Burial should make me content to die for the sake of Truth being assured that if I suffer for Christ I shall also reign with him It should also keep me from being disheartned by Death seeing that Christ by dying hath taken away the Stinâ— of Death which is Sin and maâ— it an Entrance into Life My bâ—lieving the Resurrection of Chrisâ— should make me actually rise froâ— Sin to a New Life and utterlâ— to forsake my Sins as Christ diâ— the Grave to which after â— was once risen from it he returned no more My believinâ— Christ's Ascension and sitting â— the Right-hand of God shoulâ— teach me to set my Affections oâ— things above and not on thing on the Earth The believing Judgment to come should makâ— me careful so to walk as that may not be condemned in iâ— My believing the Holy Catholick Church and Communion oâ— Saints should render me mightâ— circumspect to preserve Charity which is the Bond of Peace and to avoid all things destructive oâ— Catholick Unity The Remission of sins which I believe should make me highly to esteem all those Ways and Means which
Exaltation namely Resurrection Ascension and Glorification in Heaven ARTICLE V. The third day he rose again from the dead Tho' being a Christian I need no Proof of Christ's rising from the Dead yet to confirm my belief of so eminent an Article God has given me the Testimony of Angels of the Men that guarded the Sepulcher the many Apparitions of Christ after he was risen the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles the Miracles done by them in his Name So that I have just ground to believe and profess That the Body of Christ saw no Corruption as did the Bodies of the Patriarchs And because it was impossible he should be holden of the Power of Death I do believe that he did really rise again and that the very same Body and Soul of our Saviour which were separated by Death were by his own Divine Power reunited in his Resurrection And as to the time when he arose I have been taught and do believe That it was the Third day after his Death which hapned to be the First day of the Week Which Day we celebrate in memory of his Resurrection and which has immemorially been called The Lord's Day ARTICLE VI. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth c. I believe That Christ ascended by the same Power he rose And that this was no other Power than that of his own Divinity by which as an High-Priest of good things to come he once ascended visibly and locally into the Heaven of Heavens as the High-Priest once every Year entred into the Holy of Holies And the End of his Ascension was I believe to prepare a place for Believers and to receive them to it that where he is they might be also After Christ's Ascension into Heaven he took his Place at the Right-Hand of God Not that I think God who is a most absolute Spirit hath either Right or Left Hand but that this is spoken after the manner of Men who place those whom they will most honour upon their Right-hand And from Christ's being thus placed in Heaven I collect That he there took up his Abode in a State of Majesty and Power to shew that he was above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and that he is exalted to be the King of Saints and Judge of Sinners the Prince of our Salvation and High-Priest of our Profession and that in him there was an Union of the Regal Power and Priestly Office when he sat down at the Right-hand of the Father Almighty So that by the former he is perfectly able to subdue all his Enemies and by the latter he doth ever intercede for and eternally save those that are his ARTICLE VII From thence he shall come to judge c. As I believe that Christ redeemed me by his death and passion and that by his Ascension he is become my Advocate and Intercessor with God so I believe that he shall come the second time from Heaven with great Glory to judge the World For besides the particular Judgment that passeth upon every Man immediately upon his Death when the departed Soul is set at God's Tribunal and examined of all its Thoughts Words and Actions I say besides this particular Judgment I believe their shall be a general Judgment when all shall be judged as well the Quick that shall be alive at that day as the Dead who shall then be raised up And that this last Judgment Christ himself as a Supream Judge shall pass the final Sentence and that the Saints as Assessors shall pass their Sentence of Approbation I believe too That I and all Men shall be judged of all things done in the Body whether Good or Evil And that upon the pronouncing of the Sentence the truly penitent shall pass to an Estate of Eternal Happiness and finally the Impenitent to an Estate of Eternal Misery ARTICLE VIII I believe in the Holy Ghost Having briefly declared what my Faith is in God the Father and God the Son I am next to declare what I believe concerning God the Holy Ghost And first I believe That without Faith in the Holy Ghost I cannot believe in God the Father nor in his Son as my Lord. For no Man can call God Father but by the Holy Ghost nor can any Man say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Whom I believe to be the Third Person in the Divine Being and therefore True God And that as he proceedeth from the Father and the Son which I believe he doth he is a Person distinct from both The Spirit in whom I believe is called Holy because in himself he is without all Pollution and sin and because he is the Author of all Holiness in me and all who truly believe in him So that all my Holiness is but a Ray or Effusion of the Holy Ghost which doth furnish my Heart with spiritual and saving Graces by the Work of Sanctification ARTICLE IX I believe the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints After this plain Account given by me of the Articles which concern the Blessed Trinity I will now give the like Account of those that follow which respect such only as truly believe in and obey and Worship the Trinity in Unity and who are here called the Church Which I plainly take to signifie all those whom Christ hath called out of the World to be his peculiar People Over whom he hath a Sovereign Authority in regard of which they willingly and chearfully pay him Homage and obey his Law and Ordinances For by Church I have been taught to understand the Corporation and General Family of all true Believers which Family truly deserves to be called Holy in respect of its Head which is Christ who is Holy in himself and whose Holiness is imputed to all sincere Believers And who through the Grace given to them do labour study and endeavour to be Holy And the Church in this familiar acception I believe is Universal as well as Holy and that there are in all the Quarters of the World those who by Baptism are admitted into it and so made Members of Christ's Mystical Body who are guided by his Spirit nourished by the Word and Sacrament and who are obedient to the Rule and Government of the Bishops and Pastors lawfully called to their Offices And of this Society of Believers which constitute the Church some are in a state of War continually fighting against their own and Christ's Enemies but yet in daily expectation of Triumph and a Crown And these are called the Church Militant which is on Earth And some are in a state of Peace for having fought the good Fight of Faith and finished their Warfare they are entred into their Master's Joy And these make the Church Triumphant which is crowned in Heaven Now these I hold are not two divers Churches but the same Church under a different State and Condition For I believe the Church to be essentially but one And as Christ's Mystical Body the Church
been prayed for and that by so doing I challenge a share therein And indeed if I neglect this I can scarce expect any part or interest in the Prayers that are made To conclude In this word Amen all the Prayer is summ'd up and abridg'd and it was as I have been taught of such singular importance with the Primitive Christians that they spoke it with so great Zeal as that he who heard their Voice would have thought it had been a roaring Sea or Thunder which should awaken my drowsiness and move me with Vigour and Warmth to declare my fervent desires to have those Prayers heard of God to which I say such an earnest hearty humble and zealous Amen The Doctrine of the Sacraments In the Creed I have been taught that God by his Son hath redeemed me and all Mankind and in the Doctrine of the Sacraments which makes the last part of my Catechism I have been taught how that by them God doth exhibit and seal unto Believers that Redemption which Christ purchased for them And as to the Number of these Sacraments I have learned they are but Two and only Two namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper And I am convinced that all Men ought to receive these Two who desired to be saved Which I do not so understand as if God could not save without them but that they are the Instrumental Means and ordinary Seals by which God hath promised to convey and assure Christ's Merits to me and commanded me this way to receive them so that wilfully to neglect or to want the Sacraments when they may be had is to cast aside God's Ordinance which every Christian is bound to obey And as I have been taught so I look upon the Sacraments as the Conditional Means which God requires to be observed of them unto whom he imparts his Grace Not as if this Grace whereof a Worthy Receiver partakes were a Natural or Supernatural Quality in the Sacrament but that it is from God himself which is the Author of the Sacrament so that Grace is receiv'd from God by means of the Sacraments And this I have learned not only from you who are our Parish-Divine but also from Mr. Hooker whose Judgment I have heard much praised by many of our best Clergy This saith he is the Necessity of Sacraments That saving Grace which Christ Originally is or hath for the General Good of his whole Church by Sacraments he severally derives into every Member thereof Sacraments serve as the Instruments of God to that End and Purpose Moral Instruments the Use whereof is in our Hands the Effect in his For the Use we have his express Commandment for the Effect his Conditional Promise So that without our Obedience to the one there is no apparent assurance of the other As contrariwise where the Signs and Sacrament of his Grace are not eitheâ— through Contempt unreceiv'd or not receiv'd with Contempt We are not to doubt but they really give what they promise and are what they signifie I fully acquiesce as to this Point in the Judgment of this Considerable Author The Sacraments of the Christian Church are as I said Two namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper By Baptism I have my Admission and Entrance into the Church and it is the washing of Regeneration by which I am new born And by the Lord's Supper to which I now earnestly desire to be admitted I believe I shall be nourished preserved and grow up in Christ And these Two Sacraments I am sure were of Christ's own appointment And seeing that by the one I am entred into the Christian Profession and by the other I am therein strengthned and made perfect I see no neep of any more And not to trouble my self with the secular use of the Word Sacrament it serves my turn to understand it in the Sense of the Church which tells me it is an outward and visible Sign of an inward and spiritual Grace Ordain'd by Christ himself and a means whereby we receive the same Grace and a Pledge to assure us thereof Now this Description of a Sacrament I have been often told is the uneasiest Point in all my Catechism I will therefore in order to be better inform'd set down my sence of this Description And first By an Outward and Visible Sign I understand that which presents its self to my Eye and represents somewhat else to my Understanding As for Example in Baptism the Outward and Visible Sign is Water wherein the Person is dipped or sprinkled And the inward and spiritual Grace which is thereby signified is a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness both which by the means of Baptism are convey'd to the Baptized I have heard you Catechizing upon this Point declare that it was the ancient manner of Baptism to put the Person baptiz'd under Water and then to take him out again and that this was done to signifie his dying unto Sin and rising again to Newness of Life The first declared the weakning the deading and putting off of sin The latter shewed the performance of those Actions of Men who being quickned by the Spirit endeavour to serve God all their days in Righteousness and true Holiness And in the Lord's Supper there is also an Outward and Visible sign namely Bread and Wine and an inward Part or Thing signified to wit the Body and Blood of Christ which are spiritually received by all Worthy Communicants and which being so received their Souls are strengthned and refreshed and the same Effect is wrought in the Inner Man by the Holy Mysteries which is in the Outward by these Elements And as strength is from Bread and chearfulness from Wine so I hope and expect that when I am admitted to the Lord's Supper my Heart will be established by Grace and my Soul strengthned and my Conscience made chearful and light with the Blessings and Benefits that the Sacrament will exhibit seal and convey unto me still supposing that I am in some competent measure fit to communicate And in order to be so I have learned from my Catechism that these following Duties are required of me namely Self-Examination Repentance Faith Thankfulness and Charity And for my assistance in the Knowledge and Examination of these Graces I have chosen The Introduction to the Sacrament written by Doctor Addison Dean of Litâ—â—field on purpose for such if Capacities as my own And after this familiar account of my knowledge in Religion you to whom I commit the care of my Soul shall judge me competent to be admitted to the Lord's Table I shall esteem my Condition happy as being perswaded that I have no other means to repair my Vow of Baptism which by numerous ways I have broken and to renew the Covenant I made with God when I was Christen'd and to be restored to all the Benefits of Baptism forfeited by the sins I have committed since I was baptized I say I am perswaded that I cannot obtain these things by any
are not to imagine that the Son of God came only to gaze upon the Miseries and to condole the Wretchedness of that Nature he had taken or to pass by us as the Priest and Levite did the wounded Traveller but with the good Samaritan he bound up our Sores and provided us of all those means of recovery whereof we were utterly destitute and put us in a right way of being and continuing healthy And this he did VIII First By making known unto you and as many as believe on him the whole Will of God assuring all such as fail not to do it that they shall meet with â— most gracious acceptance and bountiful reward During the time of Christ's troublesome Pilgrimage upon Earth you know it was one chief part of his Employment to give such Commands and Counsels as by their own inward goodness were sufficient to approve themselves to mans rational nature His Doctrine wore no Veil nor was it wrapt up in Types and Shadows but both in its Perspicuity and Justice Christ shew'd himself to be the Son of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 He would not suffer his Gospel like Moses Law to consist in Carnal but Spiritual Observances not in cleansing the Pollutions of the Body but in purifying the Affections of the Soul And by giving a Law proper to this end he proved himself to be a true Prophet whose work is not only to foretel what shall be hereafter though in this strictest sense of the word Christ was so far forth a Prophet as was needful for his Church but to instruct what men are to do to expound signifie and make known the mind and good pleasure of God And this he did in his Sermons especially in that on the Mount wherein he hath shewn upon what terms eternal Blessedness is to be had under the Gospel He also revealed some Commands of God which were not before so expresly revealed and expounding such as were so obscurely revealed in the Old Testament that men thought not themselves fully obliged to obey them IX And as a Prophet too or soveraign Institutor of the Church Christ appointed Ceremonies and Discipline or Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Censures All which he delivered either in Parables or plain Propositions To which you are to give a willing and full Assent a chearful and ready Obedience not despising or neglecting the use of whatever he hath thought fit to prescribe And if you cannot at first sight so clearly comprehend some Mysteries of the Gospel your Reason which in it self is proud and carnal must be subject to Faith which can easily wade through those depths which to Reason are unpassable Above all give diligent attention to Christ as your great Prophet being ready and desirous to be duly inform'd of that Will of God which he came to reveal X. And as the first Mercy of the second Covenant was to have Christ to be a Prophet in the sense now mentioned so another benefit therof was to have him to be your Priest You meet in Scripture with two Orders of Priesthood viz. one of Aaron and another of Melchizedeck The Office of the Aaronical Priesthood consisted chiefly in Sacrificing not Excluding Blessing of the People Gen. 14.18 But the Office of the Melchizedechian Priesthood was principally to bless not denying but that it had also a liberty to sacrifice Christ was a Priest according to both these Orders XI And first he was a Priest according to the Order of Aaron by virtue whereof he offer'd up himself upon the Cross and by that Sacrifice of himself once offer'd he compleated the whole Work of Satisfaction for Sin and put an end to all the old legal Sacrifices which had indeed an Eye to this Satisfaction but were not able to accomplish it To satisfie God for our sins not only that one of Adam but all the sins of all Mankind that truly repent and amend and by this means to obtain for man Forgiveness of sins the Favour of God and Redemption from Hell and eternal Damnation which was the punishment due to sin And all this he did by his death So that if you truly and heartily repent of and forsake your sins you shall receive the benefits of that Sacrifice of Christ which he offer'd as a Priest and your sins though never so many and heinous shall be forgiven you and you shall be saved from those everlasting Punishments which are due for them XII Secondly Christ is a Priest according to the Order of Melchizedeck and though he did not enter upon this till after he was risen from the dead yet it shall not end until the Consummation of all things His Aaronical Preisthood expired with himself upon the Cross but he remains a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedeck And as the Office of this Priesthood consisted in Blessing and praying for the People as you may collect from Gen. 14.18 it belongs also unto Christ God having sent him to bless you as St. Peter speaks Acts 3.26 And the following words declare that this Blessing consists in turning every one from his iniquity And those excellent means used by Christ for this end which ought to be reckon'd for the greatest Blessings are 1. A Succession of Priests an Holy Order of men whom he continually employs by their Ministry to work in mens hearts a sincere Obedience to the Gospel 2. A giving to all humble Christians strength to enable them to overcome sin 3. His interceding with God for his Servants that they may continue in well doing And as he did this last while he was upon Earth praying that his Disciples Faith might not fail so he still pursues the same Office of praying for the Church now that he is ascended up into Heaven where sitting at the right hand of God he makes request for us Rom. 8.34 And it is your duty as a Christian to comply with Christ herein and to be willing to be thus blessed by him in being turned from your sins and not to resist his Prayers and Intercessions not to render all his Blessings the means of Repentance void and fruitless by your wilful continuance in iniquity But when you shall use these Blessings to the end they are designed by your Saviour and shall cease to do evil and learn to do good not expecting Forgiveness or Salvation upon other terms than Christ has propounded them when you shall be careful to run diligently the Race Jesus has set before you then may you expect to receive rhe Prize even a Crown that fades not which God the righteous Judge shall set upon your Temples not for your own but the Merits of your High-Priest who according to the Order of Aaron offer'd himself a Sacrifice and according to the Order of Melchizedeck blesses and prays for you XIII And as the second Mercy of the second Covenant is thus to have Christ for your Priest so the third is to have him for your King And he exerciseth this Supream Office by reigning in
offend both against your self and Neighbour yet the Law is God's which thereby is transgressed and therefore Reparation in the first place is to be made to him And seeing sins have both the nature and name of Trespasses and Debts Justice requires they be satisfied and paid and all that you can do in order hereunto is Repentance In which God receives a sort of Reparation because he requires no other satisfaction for your faults but that you truly bewail and amend them which is the sum of Repentance toward God Acts 20.21 XLI But for Trespasses done against your Neighbour there is another-guess satisfaction required For to those from whom you have exacted more than is due you are bound to make restitution Which was esteemed such a principle of common Equity that it was acknowledged by those whom the Jews esteemed the worst sort of men For the Publican in St. Luke 19.8 finding himself bound freely offer'd to make fourfold restitution according to the Law for Thieves of whatever he had falsly taken from any man And though this may have a harsh and unpleasing sound yet if you consult Divines antient and modern in this paticular you will find them all concluding Repentance without Restitution to be like an arm of flesh without strength and service or as a City wanting walls unfit to secure the Inhabitants And therefore fail not to make satisfaction to those you have wrong'd if it be in your power but if wholly unable then let your desire of so doing be so express manifest and plain that good men no less than God may be moved to accept the will for the deed But to tell him whom you have injur'd You are sorry for what you have done and yet offer him no further amends when you are able I leave it to common construction whether this can be deem'd satisfactory XLII Minds truly Christian cannot be at ease till they have repaired the wrongs they have done for it is a burden upon the Conscience of which you cannot be rid but by satisfying your self in making satisfaction to him you have injured If you wrong your Neighbour it is your fault and you and not he ought to repent and be grieved for it but if the injury be done to you either quite forget it being content that God to whom Vengeance belongs keeps it in memory or if the injury be of that nature that you are oblig'd to take notice of it then implore God to direct you to such ways of satisfaction as are agreeable to Peace and Honour free from Blood and Cruelty Ever remembring that Charity and Meekness are more noble and worthy than Impatience or even Valour it self The tops of those Mountains which are above the Clouds are not beaten with Hail and Rain and Spirits truly high and generous are above the insolencies of unadvised persons and enjoy serenity and a calm during such tempests It is in your power to falsifie the Italian Maxime Chi offende non perdona Mas He that offends never pardons In a word if Jesus our great Master forgave those who put him to death and was careful to heal the wound his Disciple had given Malchus you can never refuse to cure the wounds you have either given or received XLIII The last branch of Repentance is a resolution to sin no more or a stedfast purpose to lead a new life to follow the Commandments of God and to walk in his most holy ways For without this all other parts of Repentance will be to no more purpose than it is to pump in a Ship without stopping the leak In the Law if a man held the unclean thing in his hand he was unclean though he wash'd his hands never so often Which is easily applicable to those persons who confess and sorrow for their sins but take no care to avoid them Whereas the very Heathen according to A. Gellius Noct. Attic. lib. 17. cap. 1. never thought that a man repented till he was displeased with the things he had done and changed his mind concerning them and became another man Your Repentance then is imperfect till you resolve against all sorts and degrees of sin for the time to come XLIV And because your Duty consists in Obedience to Gods Commandments your Resolution must have a respect unto them all And being each sin is a trnsgression of some one Command in particular and that you as all men are proner to some than other sins you are to enquire what the sins are to which you are pronest and to have the Commandment continually in your eye which you are so apt to violate and so to watch more especially against the violation of that particular Commandment XLV And having resolved upon every branch of Duty and entire observance to every Commandment apart you are then to make trial of the sincerity of your Resolutions whether they be not only formal and customary such as people usually put on when they come to the Sacrament or but only politick and carnal to keep up your credit with the World to further some design you have on foot or to quiet some present troubles of mind For if your Resolutions are of this sort they will soon vanish but if they are sincere and truly religious then will they prove lasting and you will use all possible endeavours to continue them unto the end and to bring all your good purposes to good effect XLVI Nothing is more certain than that you cannot worthily receive the holy Sacrament without a perfect hatred of every sin and it is also most certain that your hatred of sin is not perfect if you are not fully resolved to forsake and avoid it For who can imagine you hate what you ever embrace and pursue Resolutions though never so good are seldom durable if they are sudden and vehement He that makes a Resolution without due consideration will in like manner break and reverse it And though you need not consult whether you are to turn from Satan unto God and to forsake Wickedness and follow after Vertue yet the means of keeping such a holy purpose ought to fall under your most sober and serious thoughts And you haâ— need herein to be careful hoâ— you advise with flesh and blood for these will counsel you tâ— take part with your ease anâ— seduce you to reject even thâ— fittest means of keeping you Resolutions when they becomâ— difficult and unpleasing Anâ— therefore as you resolve upoâ— the end so you must also upoâ— the way thither though neveâ— so irksome to the flesh considering that even the recoverâ— of bodily health seldom is procured without the use of disgustful Medicines XLVII And as you are thus to resolve upon the use of the likelâ—est means to further and compleat your holy purposes so likewise to avoid all things thaâ— may divert and hinder them And amongst the fatal Impediments of your religious intenâ—ions all things are to be reckon'd which any way lead â—empt and invite to sin And
others and beget a discountenance in your self But there will be no ground left for this surmise when it is duely consider'd that the Person to whom you are thus to reveal your self is a pious and discreet Minister of Gods Word one who will be as faithful to conceal as you are to discover your infirmities and as ready to heal your sores as you are to rip them up one too who will be so far from insulting over your Weaknesses or thinking ill of you for discovering them that he will love and encourage your ingenuous and Christian dealing and restore you in the Spirit of meekness and help to set things at rights between God and your Soul But suppose the discovery of your Scruples should indeed turn to your shame which is the worst you can fear yet to abstain from doing it upon this account is to betray in you a less care of your Soul than of your Body For the foulest and most shameful Diseases of the Body you can without blushing lay open to your Physician and will you then be coy and squeamish to confess the sickness of your Soul of which your care ought to be infinitely greater than of your Body as no less excelling it than the heavenly Manna did the Earthen Pot that contained it So that neither fear of shame nor any thing else ought to keep you from using such means as any way tend to its Salvation LXXV And thus having with what brevity and plainness I was able run through the several Duties to be perform'd at your coming to the Communion and brought you as it were to the Rails of the Holy Table before I leave you I will take the freedom to mind you how you are there to carry your self Where two things are now required of you namely a Devout frame of Mind and a decent gesture of Body LXXVI As to that Devout frame of Mind required of you at the time of receiving it chiefly consists in thoughts of your own unworthiness of being a Guest at so Divine a Banquet And in order to raise in and to humble you under a due sense of this Unworthiness call to mind the sins you have committed since you were last at the Sacrament because you are now come again to repeat and renew that Covenant which thereby you have broken LXXVII Be attentive to the actions of the Minister and when you see him breaking the Bread and pouring out the Wine meditate How Christs Body was broken and his Blood shed upon the Cross And above all think with your self that it was your Sins that drove the Nails into his Hands and Feet and pierced his blessed Side with the Spear That it was your sins with the sins of others occasioned all his Sufferings the pains of his Body and Soul and that if he had not suffered once upon the Cross you had been tormented to everlasting Ages And upon these sober Thoughts you will even abhor your self and with indignation behold your cruel dealing with your Gracious Lord. Consider too how nothing but the Blood of Christ can cleanse your sins and that it doth not like Abel's speak for Vengeance but loudly calls for Mercy upon them who spilt it if they repent and reform and still draws down Blessing upon all who worthily receive it in the Sacrament Consider too how Christ by those Sufferings which are represented and commemorated in the Sacrament has made an Atonement for your sins appeased the Wrath and satisfi'd the Justice of God which you have provoked and incensed against your Soul And this will raise up your hopes and make you come with an humble and religious boldness to the Communion being assured God will not onely there seal unto you but put you in possession of the benefits of Christs Sufferings namely Reconciliation with God and Pardon of your Sins LXXVIII Let your Tongue and Heart joyn with the Minister in that excellent Prayer wherewith he delivers the Bread and Wine The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given c. The Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed c. Lift up your Heart unto the Lord. Let your Thoughts be wholly set upon Christs death and its benefits for the remembrance of Christs death as it was one main end of the Institution so is it of your receiving of the Sacrament And look not upon the Bread and Wine being consecrate and blessed as ordinary things but as they are after a spiritual manner the Body and Bloud of Christ LXXIX And as these and the like considerations may serve to render your Soul devout so will they also make your Body humble For though Humility properly belongs to the Heart yet it cannot be outwardly expressed but by gestures of the Body And you are to manifest your Reverence at the Lords Supper by using such gestures as the custom of the place where you receive it account most decent humble and reverend Kneeling is the posture appointed by our National Church as fittest to signifie your humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein sealed to every worthy Receiver and for the avoiding of such profanation and disorder in the Holy Communion as might otherwise ensue LXXX If you look to the first Institution of the Sacrament you will find Christ employing therein such a singular care that nothing low or mean appears about it And in all times where Schism and Faction were excluded nothing but solemnity and expressions of greatest reverence appear'd at the receiving it But to proceed LXXXI Besides Humility and Reverence there is required of them who come to the Lords Supper a thankful remembrance of Christs death And this you cannot want when you reflect upon what he suffer'd for you both in credit and Body when he underwent the most painful and ignominious sort of dying and in those sharp and fearful Agonies of his Soul which forced him to cry out His God had forsaken him And seeing all this was to save you from perishing this must needs awaken you to an holy ambition of making your Thankfulness if possible as unspeakable as his Sufferings And how can you but praise and magnifie his Goodness who hath redeem'd you at so dear a rate especially when you come to the Sacrament to make solemn Commemoration of Gods mercies in sending his Son to die for you and appointing the Sacrament to be a continual Pledge of your Thankfulness for the same With Angels therefore and Arch-angels and all the Company of Heaven laud and magnifie his glorious Name praising him and saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high Thanksgiving or praising of God was the devout practice of the first Christians at the receiving of the Lords Supper Acts 2.46 47. And in after-Ages Thanksgiving was thought so necessary at its celebration that the Sacrament it self thence got the name of Eucharist A word though it be not found
kept so long for this speaks it your want of Will and not of Power and that it was not your Weakness but something else that moved you to leave the Road wherein you had walked so long a time with ease and safety XC Use makes hard things easie the chief if not onely difficulty in Holiness is want of practice and a being accustom'd to the contrary The ways of Gods Commandments neither waste the Spirits nor gall the Feet of those who use constantly to walk in them Let the like serious and holy Thoughts possess your Soul for the future that you have the day of receiving and continue to co-operate with that Grace God gives you at the Sacrament and I see not why your whole Life may not be all of the same piece and your Conversation continue as vertuous and well-govern'd after as it was at the time you came to the Holy Communion from which I will no longer stay you than with this hearty Wish That when you come thither to renew your Covenant in Vows and Purposes of better Obedience God may vouchsafe to assist you with his Grace and to strengthen you with his Power that you may pay the Vows you then make unto him and that by Virtue of the heavenly Nourishment you there receive you may grow up in Grace and Holiness till at last you come to be a perfect man in Christ Amen THE Communicants Assistant BEING A COLLECTION OF DEVOTIONS To that purpose A Prayer before communicating WHY should I O God who by innumerable wayes have offended thee why should I dare to come to thy Table which none ought to approach but obedient Children and faithful Servants But seeing thy fatherly Goodness this day doth invite me to receive the blessed Pledges of my Peace and Reconciliation with thee and seeing thy well-beloved Son whose Death I now with all Thankfulness commemorate doth call unto him those and only those who travail and are heavy laden to whom the remembrance of their Sins is grievous and the burthen of them is intolerable Finding my self in this number I know thou wilt not reject me Raise O raise up my Heart and Spirit unto thee Strengthen my Faith and help my Infirmities Grant me power to perform and to persevere in all those good things thou now requirest at my hands and grant that the whole course of my Life may be answerable to the present purposes of my Heart and bring me at last to the enjoyment of those Blessings which at this thy holy Table thou art pleased to propound unto me Amen O My God raise up my Thoughts unto thee increase my Faith Hope and Charity warm my Heart with the divine Fire of thy Love purifie my Conscience with the Spirit of Sanctification Grant this day I may with full affiance in thee receive the Pledges of thy Goodness and the Seals of that Covenant which thou hast graciously contracted with me by the Mediation of thy Son my Saviour O My God save and deliver me from all my Offences and at the end of my Life receive me into thy heavenly Kingdom to the accomplishment of all those things which are represented at thy holy Table Let my future Conversation be as one of thy Sheep living in thy Church an Example of Peaceableness Charity Humility Patience and Justice Give me a firm reliance upon thy Promises a holy zeal for thy Worship and a sincere obedience to all thy Commands Fill my Heart with spiritual Joy keep me from the immoderate Cares of the World and among all disquiets here give me that Peace which the World can neither give nor take away from me For forgiveness of Sins FOrgive me my Sins O Lord forgive me the Sins of my Youth and the Sins of mine Age the Sins of my Soul and the Sins of my Body my secret and my whispering Sins my presumptuous and my crying Sins the Sins that I have done to please my self and the Sins that I have done to please others Forgive me my wanton and idle Sins forgive me my serious and deliberate Sins forgive me those Sins I know and those Sins which I know not the Sins which I have striven so long to hide from others that at last they are even hid from mine own Memory Forgive them O Lord forgive them all and of thy great Goodness let me be absolved from all mine Offences Amen PRAYERS FOR The several things required of those who come to the Lords Supper 1. To repent them truly of their former Sins A Prayer for true Repentance TO thee O God all Hearts are open all desires known and from thee no Secrets are hid so that if I would I cannot conceal my Sins from thee And now that I confess my Sins unto thee it is not to inform thy infinite Knowledge but to obey thy gracious Pleasure and to make me capable of that forgiveness promised to all who confess their Sins With a sorrowfull Heart therefore I confess my Sins unto thee I accuse my self here before thee of innumerable wicked thoughts and desires which I have conceived form'd and foster'd in my Heart of infinite corrupt and evil Words that I have utter'd with my Tongue of many naughty and ungodly Deeds which I have wrought with my Hands by all which I have provoked most justly thy Wrath and Indignation against me but it is thy Nature and Property always to have mercy and to forgive the Sins of them that are penitent Grant me therefore Holy Father the Grace of true repentance create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Grant I may truly lament my Sins whose burden is intollerable and whose remembrance is so grievous unto me And for the future inable me to cease from evil and learn to do well to cast away the Works of Darkness and to put on the Armour of Light and to bring forth Fruits of Repentance in amendment of Life to the Praise and Glory of thy Grace in Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer 2. Stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life A Prayer for Perseverance in good Purposes GRant O God that I may bring the good Purposes with which this day I come to thy Holy Table Grant I may bring them to good effect I know I am light and unconstant turn'd with every blast diverted by every allurement and ready to yield to every Temptation But do thou O God who art the same Yesterday to Day and for ever do thou graciously impart some of thy unchangeableness to establish my Understanding in Truth and to keep it from the Snares of all seducing Spirits that I may not be led away with the Errours of those who are cunning to deceive Fix my irresolute and wavering Will and cause it faithfully to adhere unto that which is good Let neither the Flatteries of the World nor of my own Heart so far work upon my Affections as to draw me from that intire Obedience which I resolve from this day forward to
yield unto thy Word But grant that I may continue stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord and by patient continuing in well doing seek for and in the end obtain eternal Life Suffer not my own weakness nor the number or strength of Temptations to turn me from that holy course upon which I have now resolved to enter But grant that I may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of Life to the Honour and Glory of thy Name through Jesus Christ Amen 3. To have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy through Christ A Prayer for the same SEeing O God that it is impossible without Faith to please thee and that whatever I do without Faith is Sin Pour into my Heart this most excellent Grace of Faith for it is thy Gift and not my procurement Let thy Spirit work in my Heart such a Faith as may be acceptable in thy sight and which at this time may be as a Hand to receive a Mouth to eat and a Stomach to digest and turn the Elements of this blessed Sacrament into the Food and Nourishment of my Soul O let me not rest in a dead ineffectual Faith but grant it may be such as may shew it self in good Works inabling me to overcome the World and to conform to the Image of that Christ on whom I believe that so at the last I may receive the end of my Faith even the Salvation of my Soul by the same Jesus Christ Amen 4. With a Thankful remembrance of his Death THou O God expectest no other return for all thy Mercies but Praise and Thanksgiving let me O Lord never defraud thee of that so easie tribute but let my Heart be ever filled with the Sense and my Mouth with the Acknowledgment of thy Mercies It is a joyful and pleasant thing to be thankful O suffer me not I beseech thee to lose my part in that Divine Pleasure especially grant that with humble and sincere Devotion I may now and after with all imaginable Thankfulness celebrate the Memorial which thy Son hath commanded to be made in remembrance of his most blessed Passion and Sacrifice that by the Power thereof now represented before thy Divine Majesty I and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our Sins and be made Partakers of all other benefits of his most precious Death and Passion Grant that as often as thou vouchsafest me this blessing so often I may thankfully receive it and with an affectionate and devout Heart offer up thanks to thee for the same And grant that I may not only with my Lips but with my Life shew forth thy Praise by consecrating my self to thy Service and walking in Righteousness and Holiness before thee all the days of my Life Amen 5. And to be in Charity with all Men. A Prayer for the same O Mercifull Lord who hast made of one Blood and redeem'd by one ransom all Nations of Men let me never harden my Bowels against any thaâ— partake of the same Nature anâ— Redemption with me but granâ— me an universal Charity toward aâ— Men. Give me O thou Father oâ— Compassions such a tenderness oâ— Heart that I may be deeply aâ—fected with all the Miseries and Calamities outward or inward of my Brethren and diligently imploy all my Abilities for their succour and relief Let thy Spirit of Love enter and dwell in my Heart and cast out thence Malice Envy Hatred and all Uncharitableness make me seek not to please my self but my Neighbour for his good to Edification even as Christ pleased not himself Thou hast taught me O Lord that all my doings without Charity are nothing worth pour into my Heart that most excellent Gift of Charity without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake Amen A SHORT OFFICE OF Private Devotions To be used 1. Before 2. At and 3. After the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament 1. Before Receiving When you enter into the Church I. LOrd I have loved the Habitation of thine House and the place where thine Honour dwelleth II. I will wash mine Hands in Innocency O Lord and so will go to thine Altar When you are kneeling before the Communion Table I. THou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Wills sake they are and were created II. Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanks and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God for evermore Amen III. Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come receive my Prayer I. ALmighty Lord who hast of thine infinite Mercy vouchsafed to ordain this dreadful Sacrament for a perpetual memory of that blessed Sacrifice which once thou madest for us upon the Cross grant me with such diligent remembrance and such due reverence to assist at the holy Celebration of so heavenly and wonderful a Mistery that I may be made worthy of thy Grace to obtain the Virtue and Fruits of the same with all the Benefits of thy precious Death and Passion even the remission of all my Sins and the fulness of all thy Graces which I beg for thy only Merits who art my only Saviour God from everlasting World without end Amen II. O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God regard I beseech thee the Devotion of thy humble Servant who does now celebrate the memorial which thy Son our Saviour hath commanded to be made in remembrance of his most blessed Passion and Sacrifice that by the Merits and Power thereof I and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our Sins and be made Partakers of all other the Benefits of his most precious Death and Passion together with his mighty Resurrection from the Earth and his glorious Ascension into Heaven who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever one God World without end Amen III. BE pleased O God to accept this our bounden Duty and Service and vouchsafe that the Prayers and Supplications together with the remembrance of Christs Passion which we now offer up unto thee may be received into thy heavenly Tabernacle and that thou not weighing our own Merits but looking upon the blessed Sacrifice of our Saviour which was once fully and perfectly made for us all mayest pardon our Offences and replenish us with thy Grace and heavenly Benediction through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Devout Thoughts immediately before the receiving of the blessed Sacrament I. I Will go to the Altar of God even to the God of my Joy and Gladness II. I will offer thanksgiving unto my God and pay my Vows unto the most highest III. O Lamb of God that takest awâ—y the Sins of the World have mercy upon me IV. O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World grant me thy Peace V. Grant me gracious Lord so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son and to drink his Blood that my
you may here do wisely to call to mind by what occasions and with what baits you have been â—nd still are apt to be drawn away and enticed to the end you may with greater vigilance and courage avoid and resist them For common Prudence will teach you to strengthen the Fence where the Beast useth to break in and to re-inforce that Avenue where the Enemy is wont to make and prevail in his Attack XLVIII The last thing I shall mention concerning your Religious Resolutions is their speedy execution for delay therein has ever been thought dangerous aâ— having a throat wide enough tâ— swallow the biggest opportunâ—ty And you cannot be suâ—â— till you practise what you puâ—pose for seeing your life coâ—tinually walks to and fro â— a breath and that you have 〈◊〉 warrant of being able to do thâ— the next hour which this yoâ— neglect and put off this througâ—ly concludes for the present dâ—ing of what you purpose Anâ— if holy Resolutions might safeâ—â— be delay'd yet they can be delay'd no longer than your comâ—ing to the Scarament becauâ— you cannot safely approach thâ— Ordinance without stedfastâ— purposing to lead a new lifâ— for till you are a new Creaturâ— or begin to lead a new life yoâ— are in sense of Scripture deaâ— And how absurd a thing is it 〈◊〉 put Bread and Wine into a deaâ— mans mouth none so stupid aâ— not to imagine You may indeed naturally eat and drink the Bread and Wine receive into your stomach the elements of the Sacrament but if you live in the liking much more in the commission of any thing you know to be sin you can receive no more spiritual nourishment in the Sacrament than a dead Carcass at the best Entertainment XLIX And this is another consideration that lays upon you a necessity presently to renounce your sins to give them a Bill of Divorce and to withdraw from them all degrees of kindness and respect For without this you can be in no fit disposition to be married to Christ and to embrace all the Graces flowing from him In short that Resolution which I call a branch of Repentance and which is indispensible required of you when you come to the Lords Table is made up of these two things First Renouncing of all sin Secondly Embracing of all Christian Vertues The first without the second is but sweeping the house without furnishing it And therefore when you have cleansed your Soul of the nastiness and dirt of sin you are not to let it lye empty but to furnish it with all those Graces commanded you in the Gospel such especially as are required in every one coming to the Supper of the Lord. And those are chiefly three namely Faith Charity and Devotion L. The necessity of Faith is expresly taught you by your first Catechism where it saith That a lively Faith in Gods Mercies through Christ is required of every Communicant and that the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper For it is by Faith that you there look upon him whom God hath set forth to be the Propitiation for your Sins even Jesus Christ the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Rom. 3.25 John 1.29 You easily perceive the necessity of Faith when you mind that in receiving the Holy Sacrament you are to believe that Jesus is the true Seed of the Woman which was promised in the beginning and was sent in the fulness of time that in hiâ— all the Nations of the Earth iâ— they will may be blessed he being the Universal and Mighty Saviour who both will and can save all that come unto him there being no other in whom Salvation is to be expected Yoâ— are likewise to believe that he was crucified or died an ignominious or cursed death and that the Merits of his death are sufficient to save all Sinners and that all those Merits are convey'd to you in the Sacrament when it is worthily received LI. But as to the clear Nature oâ— that Faith now required of you the Church fairly intimates whaâ— it is when she calls it a lively Faith in Gods Mercy through Christ LII And Faith is said to be lively when it works through Love shewing it self in well doing for where Life is there will be Action And the Life of Faith like that of Nature will shew it self in the Heart Tongue and Hands In the first by sincereness of Devotion and holy Thoughts in the second by wholsome and gracious Communication And in the last by works of Justice and Charity LIII The Object of this lively Faith is God's Mercy upon which it reflects as the Fountain whence the Scriptures have proceeded in which Gods Covenant for Mans Redemption is established and his Promises to believing penitent Sinners are contained And if you shall inquire into the reason of all this you will find that nothing but his meer Mercy moved God to make known his Will and in the Holy Scriptures to reveal the Means of Salvation and make the way to Heaven plain and easie It was onely to shew the great love wherewith he loved you and the exceeding Riches of his Grace that prevailed with God to be thus kind unto you LIV. But all this is through Christ he is the Conduit of all these Blessings being of God made unto all Believers Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption He is the Author oâ— all true Knowledge the cause oâ— your Justification your Sanctification and will be also of your Deliverance and rescue from all Calamities that you are subject to in this Life and at last from Death it self by raising you again 1 Cor. 1.30 And as by a voice from Heaven God declaed with Solemnity that he was well pleased with Christ so he hath likewise declared that he is well pleased with Believers only for his sake By Christ you are predestinated adopted accepted and pardon'd and shall be glorified So that in your own Person you may speak as the Apostle did in the Name of all Christians Ephes 1.3 4 5 c. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed me with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as he hath chosen me in him that I should be holy and without blame before him in Love LV. In whom I have Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of Sins according to the riches of his Grace c. It is impossible in any Duty without Faith to please God or to be accepted of him because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin But in the matter of the Holy Sacrament Faith hath a more appropriate Office for by it as by a Hand Mouth and Stomach you receive eat and digest the spiritual Food and heavenly Sustenance by which your Soul is nourished to eternal Life And in the sense of the Spirit to eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ is properly to believe on him
in the Sacrament which doth not only represent unto you the manner of Christs Death and in visible Actions set before you what he suffered on the Cross Nor doth the Sacrament only convey unto you that Grace which flows from Christs Death but it doth seal and confirm unto every worthy Communicant all the Benefits of Christs Passion For God to magnifie his Mercy and Goodness towards Believers was not content to give them only a general offer of his Promises in Christ but thought sit to seal them to every particular penitent Christian and in the Sacrament actually to deliver him them Faith apprehending and applying the benefits of Christ which are all comprized in the Forgiveness of Sins and Salvation the sum of all the Happiness of this World and of that which is to come LVI And having tried and found your Faith toward God to be such as he has promised not to be displeased with your next business is to examine your Charity toward your Neighbour for it is required of them who come to the Lords Supper to be in Charity with all Men. If thou bringest thy Gift to the Altar and there rememberest 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 This was our Saviour's advice to the Jews and may thus be translated to your self and every Christian If at any time you are coming to the Lords Table and there call to mind that you have done any man any Injury do you repair first to that Person whom you have injured use means to reconcile him to you repair the wrong and if you cannot let him know your willingness and request his Pardon and having done thus return to compleat your intention and receive the Sacrament in testimony of your Peace with God and your Neighbour This reconcilement with your Brethren is absolutely necessary not only to make your participation of the Sacrament but all other performances acceptable to God And you see it consists in a confession of your wrong and repairing it it being reasonable that in order to obtain his pardon whom you have injured you acknowledge your fault to him and to the utmost of your Ability make him amends LVII And as to this Charity here spoken of the very Elements of the Lords Supper figure and enforce it for the many grains made up into one Loaf and the many Grapes pressed into one Cup signifie how we being many are made one Bread and one Body And nothing can make all Christians to be affectionately one but Charity or mystically and spiritually one except Charity the Bond of Peace and Union And this is that heavenly temper of Mind to which Christians are obliged upon the account of the nearness of that relation which is amongst them for they have all but one Father one Saviour one Sanctifier they all profess one Faith have all received one and the same Baptism and all expect one and the same Inheritance But if in spight of all this you trample Charity under Feet and instead of being reconciled to your Neighbour you malice and hate him you are no more fit for the Sacrament than a Murderer for such are all those who hate their fellow Christians according to St. John in the third and fourth Chapters of his first Epistle LVIII And as Charity binds you to seek to be reconciled to those whom you have injured and to obtain their Pardon so it likewise engageth you to forgive those by whom you have been wrong'd And indeed the forgiving others their Trespasses is the condition of obtaining the forgiveness of your own for if you forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if you forgive not men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses This was our Saviours own Doctrine Mat. 18. from verse 23. to the end and also his Practice when he pray'd for the forgiveness of his Crucifiers and that at a time too when his own most grievous Agonies and Pains might justly have diverted all respect to others especially to those who were then actually putting him to death How dismal then is your Condition if instead of having your Heart replenished with Charity it be full of Malice if instead of obeying the Doctrine and following the Example of Christ you act quite contrary If you find your brest barren of this kindness to your fellow-Christians pretend not to any real respect to the blessed Author of that Name 1 John 4.20 For if a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he never saw You never beheld God with any Eye but that of Faith and therefore could never have Opportunity if he needed it to shew any kindness to his Person So that all you can do to testifie you love him is your Obedience to his Commands whereof this is the sum That he who loveth God loves his Brother also 1 John 4.21 LIX And if this love be without dissimulation such as Scripture and common Equity requires at your hands it will not only appear in a merciful forgiveness of Offenders but also in a liberal relief of the needy And I mention this latter Act of Charity because I find that something was ever given to the Corban of the Poor by those who came to the Sacrament If you consult the practice of the Primitive the best Guide for the present Church you will hardly find that the Lords Supper was ever administred without an Offertory In Acts 2.45 46. you have mention made of selling Possessions and Goods and parting them to all as every man had need And that this was done at the solemn times of publick Prayers and receiving of the Sacrament there is light enough in the Text to clear it You read likewise of a Command That upon the first day of the Week every man should lay by him in store as God hath prospered him The first day of the Week was that we now call Sunday and the Lords day whereon the Lords Supper was constantly received 1. Cor. 16.2 unto which they never came emptie but according as God had increased their Goods the Communicants gave to the relief of the Poor And if you look into the ancient Liturgies you will find them generally taking notice of this Religious Custom And that this was intended by our own Church is concludible from her placing Texts to persuade to this sort of Charity and desiring God to accept our Alms and Oblations in the Communion-office Apol. 2. In Justin Martyr a Father of the second Age we read how the Christians brought forth some of the good Fruits of the Earth and offer'd them at Gods Table and the Bishop or in his absence the Presbyter received them as an Abel's Offering and blessed God for the Fruits of the Season