might these things already mentioned be to make us carefull to come to the Sacrament after the due Order with preparation But because our carelesse hearts are not so easily wrought upon try we yet a little further what we may be brought unto by shame or feare of danger for to come to the Sacrament without due preparation is both a shamefull and a dangerous thing Rogo vos fratres diligenter attendite si ad mensam cujusque potâ—ntis hominis nâ—mo presumit cum vestibuâ— conscissis inquinatis accedere â—uâ—nto mâ—â—is c. Aug. De temp Ser. 251. 1 First it is a matter of shame It were a matter of soule shame for a man to come and sit downe at a great mans Table in rags and tatters in his nastinesse and filthinesse and in such a case how would we take and tucke up such an one Art thou not ashamed to come to such a mans Table in so base a fashion What an uncivill fellow art thou in such a garbe to come into such a presence And is it not then a matter of fouler shame to come rudely unpreparedly and unbeseemingly Quid vero annon vides vasa abluta adeo nitida splendida His longe mundiores oportet esse animas his sanctiores splendidiores Quare Quoniam illa propter nos fiunt talia Illa eum qui inest non participant non sentiunt Nos autem participamus sentimus Nunc autem vase quidem sordido uti nolueris sordida autem immunda accedis anima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Ephes 1. hom 3 unto the Lords Table Consider that 2 Chron. 30. 15. The Priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves And why were they ashamed because they had so long deferred their sanctification and preparation and therefore at length for very shame did sanctifie themselves It was a matter of shame then that they had so long put off their sanctification They have cause of shame that sanctifie not themselves in due time for holy duties And if it be a matter of shame to deferre it though done at the last then how much more is it a shame to neglect it altogether and not to doe it at all If a foule cloath should be laid on the Communion Table if the Napkin wherein the bread is laid were not cleane if the Cup Vessels in which the Wine is put were not made handsome and decent men wold cry shame of it and would say that it is an arrant shame that the linnen and vessels be in such a case that it is an arrant shame that these things are not provided and prepared to be in more decent and cleanly order And a shame it were indeed there ought to be an outward decency in these things Our Saviour made no choise of any room at adventure to eat the Passeover in but of a decent handsome furnisht roome Luke 22. 12. He shall shew you a large upper roome furnished there make ready Now then were it a shame that the vessels and linnen should not in their kinde be fitted and decently prepared what a foule shame then not to have our soules and hearts prepared what is a foule cloth or a sullied vessell to a foule and an unprepared soule Oh shame that men will offer to come to Gods Table with sluttish and unprepared spirits should not we much more be prepared than the vessels They containe but the outward elements for our use but we come to receive the body and bloud of Christ Will we have the vessels prepared and can we for shame come with unprepared hearts 2 Secondly it is a matter of great danger to come unprepared to the Table of the Lord that eating of the Passeover of theirs otherwise than it was written 2 Chron. 30. 18. it was a dangerous thing and Hezekiah was faine to make speciall suite for mercy for them And yet that want of theirs was but an omission of some Legall Ceremony How much more dangerous had it beene if for the inward substance of preparation they had done it otherwise than it was written To come to the Sacrament without such preparation is dangerous indeed The dangers are these 1 First that which the Apostle speakes of 1 Cor. 11. 27. Whosoever shall eate this bread and drinke this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord. The end of the Sacrament and our comming to it is to shew forth the Lords death But now if we come unpreparedly to it we make our selves guilty of the Lords death We come to the Sacrament to drink the Lords bloud but if we come unpreparedly to it wee come to shed the Lords bloud and so instead of drinkers prove shedders of Qua ratione reus fit indigne assumens perinde nimitum ac si ipse sanguinem Domini effundat Vt n. qui tum pupugerunt Christum non ut biberent effuderunt veruÌ„ ut effunderent sic indigne bibens nihilque inde commodi referens frustra ac temere profudie sangumem Theophil in 1 Cor. 10. Chrys 1 Cor. 11. hom 27. Christs bloud An unworthy receiver is guilty of Christs bloud how so because he doth so as if he shed his bloud he doth so as the shedders of Christs bloud did For looke as they that crucified pierced Christ powred not forth his blod that they might drinke it but onely that they might powre it forth and shed it So he that doth unworthily and unpreparedly drink his bloud receiving thereby no profit nor benefit he hath rashly and in vaine shed his bloud Now do but sit downe and consider how fearfull a thing it is to be guilty of Christs bloud It is a fearefull thing to be guilty of any mans bloud yea to bee guilty of a wicked mans bloud how much more then to be guilty of the bloud of the Sonne of God of the bloud of God Deliver me O Lord from bloud-guiltinesse cryes David Psal 51. It is a very heavie thing to have an hand in mans bloud That same is a sad Text 2 Sam. 3. 28 29. I and my kingdome sayes David are guiltlesse before the Lord for ever from the bloud of Abner the Son of Ner let it rest on the head of Ioab and on all his Fathers house and let there not faile from the House of Ioab one that hath an issue or that is a Leaper or that leaneth on a staffe or that falles on the sword or that lacks bread What an heavie Imprecation was this upon Ioab and that for the bloud of Abner who was none of the best neither And if so heavie a curse upon Ioab for being guilty of Abner's bloud how much more heavie will the curse be upon him that shall be guilty of the bloud of Christ God will require the bloud of a man at the hands of a beast Gen. 9. 5. The Ox that killed a man must be stoned to death and his flesh must not
neither of these pure Well then who are they now that are defiled ones See the words of the Text to them that are defiled and unbelieving Therefore an unbelieving person is a desiled and an uncleane person Faith purifies the heart Acts 15. 9. and so fits for pure Ordinances but unbeliefe defiles the heart and a defiled heart defiles Gods Ordinance to it selfe And how can that man bee welcome to an Ordinance welcome to a Sacrament that defiles it 2 To come without faith makes our comming an abomination To come without faith is to come out of Christ and to performe the service which a man doth out of CHRIST Now all service performed out of Christ is abominable to GOD. See Lev. 17. 3 4. What man soever there be of the house of Israel that killeth an Oxe and a Lambe c. And brings it not to the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to offer an offering to the LORD c. bloud shall be imputed to that man he hath shed bloud and that man shall be cut off from among his people And againe vers 6 7. And the Priest shall sprinkle the bloud upon the Altar of the Lord at the doore of the Tabernacle c. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto divels Sacrifices then not brought to God to the doore of the Tabernacle were as murder and bloudshed were as the service of the Divell And what more abominable before God The doore of the Tabernacle was a Type of Christ Iohn 10. I am the doore And the drift of that Law is to teach that they should performe all their services to GOD in CHRIST and to shew how loathsome to GOD all services are that are not done in him Now he that is in his unbeleefe that wants the grace of faith is not in Christ neither can he doe any thing in Christ And therefore such a mans comming cannot but be an abomination God abhors and abominates that man and his comming that wants faith The end of comming to the Sacrament is to seeke and see Gods face and to have fellowship and communion with him Now if we come without faith God will not let us see his face GOD will turne away and hide his face from us Deu. 32. 19. 20. And when the Lord saw it hee abhorred them because of the provoking c. And he sayd I will hide my face from them But why will God do so He gives his reason for it for they are children in whom is no faith So that when a man hath not faith he shall not see GODS face in the use of his Ordinance for how can a man see an hidden face But that is not all GOD not onely hides his face but he abhorred them He abhorred them because of their provoking him How did they provoke him Not onely by that spoken of in the verses going before but by that also in the verse following because they were children in whom was no faith Such then as have no faith have no communion with GOD and doe provoke God so as he abhors them There can bee no communion with GOD where a man is cut off from God and fellowship with him And where a man is cut off from covenant he is cut off from communion Now where there is no faith there is an excision a cutting a man off from God and covenant with him Rom. 11. 20. Through unbeleife they are cut off And besides it is a provoking sinne An unbeleever lives in a sin that continually provokes God Numb 14. 11. How long will this people provoke mee And how long will it be yer they beleeve me And Psal 78. 21 22. The Lord was wroth so a fire was kindled against Iacob and anger also came up against Israel because they beleeved not in God And what wonder then that a man comming to the Sacrament without faith is abomination to GOD when his unbeleife angers and provokes the Lord. 3 The state of unbeliefe is a state of spirituall death I live by the faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2. 20. A beleever is a living man an unbeleever a dead one spiritually dead The want of faith in the soule is the death of the Vnde mors in anima quia nō est fides undemors in corpore quia non est ibi anima ergo animae tuae anima fides est August in Ioh tract Placuit ut corporibus defunctorum Eucharistia nō detur Dictum n. est ◠Domino Accipite edite Cadavera aut◠nec accipere posiunt nec edere Concil Carthag 3. can 6. soule as the absence of the soule from the body is the death of the body It was an ancient abuse of the Sacrament to give it to dead bodyes an abuse condemned and cast out by a Councill upon this reason Because CHRIST sayes Take Eate But carcases and dead bodies can neither eate nor drinke It was a good reason to deny it to dead bodyes The very same reason excluds unbeleevers Vnbeleevers are dead unbeleevers can neither eate nor drinke for beleeving is eating drinking Ioh. 6. 53. What should a man doe at the Sacrament that can neither eate nor drinke CHRISTS flesh and bloud An unbeleever can doe neither because he is a dead man because hee wants faith the life and teeth by which Christ is to be eaten 4 Vnbeleife evacuates enervates and de-sorces the Sacrament of its efficacy and vertue or powerfull operation The Sacrament in Gods Institution is an Ordinance that hath a fulnesse of spirituall blessing in it full of efficacy and spirituall power and offers to empty it selfe with a rich and plentifull blessing upon the soule of the receiver But yet provided that hee come to receive it after the due order that hee come prepared with a beleeving heart And Christ sayes to every receiver as he sayd to the Centurion Matth. 8. 13. As thou hast beleived so be it done unto thee and as to the blinde man Matth. 9. 29. According to your faith bee it unto you So in this case as you beleive and according to your faith when you come to the Sacrament so bee it done unto you According to your preparation with faith so shall mine Ordinance worke and be effectuall and empty out it selfe unto you And as every man brings faith so hee carryes away an answerable portion of blessing and spirituall good from the Sacrament But now when a man comes to the Sacrament in unbeliefe voyde of the grace of faith the Sacrament proves but a dead Ordinance utterly ineffectuall utterly empty of any spirituall good That looke as the Apostle speakes of CHRIST to them in case of circumcision and justification by the workes of the Law Gal. 5. 2. Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing and verse 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you who ever of you are justified by the Law So it may be said of the Sacrament and
A VVORTHY Communicant OR A TREATISE Shewing the Due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper By IER DYKE Minister of Epping in Essex Levit. 10. 3. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me Cypr. de Can. Dom. Nec se judicant nec Sacramenta dijudicant Petr. Bles Epist. 40. Vide ne Dominus dicat de te Ecce manus tradentis me mecum in mensa Dederunt in escam meam fel. LONDON Printed by R. B. for R. Dawlman and L. Fawne at the Brazen Serpent in S. Pauls Church-yard 1636. TO the Right Honourable LORD THOMAS Earle of Winchilsea And to the Right Honourable the Lady CECILL Countesse of Winchilsea his most Pious Consort Right Honourable IT was a salt and a smart speech which one Melancthon spake unto an Italian Vos Itali vnltis Deum habere in pane quem non creditis esse in coelis Melch. Adam in vit Melanch You Italians will have God to be in the bread in the Sacrament whom ye beleeve not to be in Heaven It were to be wished that many amongst our selves were not under the guilt of somewhat the like incongruity It is an high opinion that men generally have of the Sacrament and reason good it should be had in pretious esteeme but that which is sad to consider they partake of that Ordinance with such irreverence carelesnesse and prophanenesse of spirit as if they beleeved not there were a God or as if in that Ordinance they had not to do with the God of Heaven That which was once injoyned the Dominican Priests in memory Morn myst Iniq. prog 56. and hatred of that heinous act of one of their fraternity in poysoning the Emperour Henry the seventh in the Hoast That they should communicate only with the left hand may bee feared to bee the case of too many thorow their owne negligence that they are no better than left-handed Communicants It matters not before God with what hand the Sacrament be received the right-hand or the left so the heart be right and the work done in a right order But yet in a spirituall sense to be left-handed receivers is a matter not only of disgrace but of danger It is all one in Scripture phrase to be left and to be lame-handed And to be sure to be left-handed in this worke is to be lame-handed The lame and the blinde who knowes not in what ill esteeme they were with God The lame and the blind had no acceptance with God And wherein concernes it men to be more solicitous for acceptance than in the solemne service of receiving the Sacrament No acceptance is to be had but when it is well done If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted sayes the Lord to Cain It was good which Cain did in offering Sacrifice but if thou do well shalt thou not be accepted It must be a good thing and a good thing well done which shal find acceptance That speech of Aarons in his case would be a very seasonable thought for men before the Sacrament Behold this day such Lev. 10. 19. things have befallen me and if I had eaten the sin-offering to day should it have beene accepted in the sight of the Lord Happy were it that before the Sacrament men would thus say with themselves Behold this day week this moneth c. such things have befallen me and I have fallen into such sinnes as have made my person guilty mine heart hard and dead and if I should in such a case before I have prepared my self by faith and repentance eat the Supper Lord should I be accepted in the sight of the Lord They were crosses and afflictions which by Gods providence befell Aaron in the death of his Sons and the sorrow and mourning that followed thereupon that indisposed and unfitted him for eating the flesh of the sin-offering Sanctified things were not to be eaten in a mans mourning Deut. 26. 14. They be sins that men thorow their owne corruption fall into that they live and lye in and the want of sorrow and mourning for them that unfit men for eating the Sacrament With spirituall sorrow and mourning for sin should these sanctifyed things be eaten And for want of this and other due dispositions it is that this holy Ordinance that men seeme to think so highly and reverently of is so much abused and profaned Conceiving it therefore a worke of charity to direct people to a preparation and a performance suitable to the holinesse and excellency of the Ordinance I have published this small treatise And such as it is I present it to your Honours as a publike testimony of that thankfulnesse service and due regard I owe unto you and your Noble Family the which deserves so much the more honour from men by how much the more it is honoured by God They were ill Si quis ex nobilibus ad Deum coÌ„verti caeperitstatim honorem nobilitatis amittit Religio ignobilem facit Si honoratior quispiam religioni se applicueâ—it â—llico honoratus esse disistit Salv. de Provid lib. 4. times that Salvian lived in and complained of when religion and godlinesse were thought staines and blemishes of Honour as if Religion made Noble Persons vile and ignobled Greatnesse But that which GOD cals Glory and Honour let no man account shame and basenesse It is most true which S. Bernard writes to Sophia a religious Noble Woman Thou art the more Insignior plane atque illustrior quod de paucis facta es quam quod orta de magnis Illud namque Dei munere tuum est Hoc tuorum Porro quod tuum est tanto carius cst c. Bernard Ep. 113. illustrious that thou art made one of few aluding to that of Paul Not many Noble than that thou art borne of Great Ones That by Gods gift is thine owne this namely her Birth and Noble Parentage thou art beholding to thy Parents for That which is thine owne is so much the more deere by how much the more rare Who shall finde a vertuous woman much more a vertuous and Noble one God indeed is no accepter of persons yet I know not how it comes to passe yet to passe it comes that vertue in a Noble person is more pleasing peradventure because it is more shining As light is more glorious in the Stars of greater than of lesser magnitude It is a most sure thing what ever the world may judge that nothing so enobles as Christ grace and being in the Covenant I have blessed Ishmael sayes the Lord twelve Princes shall he beget But my Covenant will I establish with Isaac Account it your greater Honour Gen. 17. 20. 21. to be in the Covenant than to have Seed Royall issue out of your loynes or to have Bloud Royall runne in your veynes Then are persons truly Honourable indeed when pretious in Gods sight Since thou wast pretious in my sight thou hast beene honourable So may You
come to the Sacrament with our eyes to Christ and to his promises expecting his making good his promises to us hee would not cause our eyes to faile Thus therefore resolve Christ hath promised to give in the Sacrament his body and his bloud to give the benefits of his death he hath promised to seale pardon to manifest himselfe to give power against lusts c. I will therefore now go to this Ordinance with a particular expectation of such and such a particular blessing as my soule stands in need of And most sure it is that the want of this duty proves very prejudiciall to us How come many from the Sacrament without any benefit or good at all How fals it out so They have as much as they expected as they went expecting nothing so they come away receiving nothing God will not drop downe his blessings upon oscitant and negligent hearts We our selves will not give unto others where wee know there is no such thing expected from us Chap. 18. God to be sought in speciall manner by prayer before the Sacrament CHAP. 18 THere remaines now onely the sixth and last thing to be done in actuall preparation and that is the solemne and serious seeking of God in prayer Indeed prayer is a common preparative duty to all services of God yea to all workes we take in hand Col. 3. 17. And whatsoever ye doe in word or deed doe all in the name of the Lord Iesus that is calling upon the name of the Lord and seeking first to him by prayer It is layed to their charge as a great sin Isay 30. 2. That walke to go downe into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth No businesse especially businesse of weight and concernement should be undertaken without prayer And what businesse of greater weight what businesse wherein we stand so much in need of God and his helpe as in the worthy receiving of the Sacrament If common and ordinary businesse must not be medled withall without prayer for direction and blessing how much lesse should this great businesse of receiving the Sacrament How needfull a duty this is will thus appeare 1 First this duty neglected it will cast a dampe upon all other our preparations This failing in the last act will marre all that hitherto wee have done neither can a blessing be expected upon all the rest in the want of this We know Solomons Proverbe Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart are in man but the answer of the mouth is from the Lord. The meaning of it is that though a man have studied hard and have well provided and prepared himselfe what to say yet he hath need of Gods help to deliver the thoughts of his mind and that a man cannot bring forth his conceptions without the obstetrication of Gods assistance A Minister when he is to preach spends time in preparation for the work now when he is thus prepared yet he needs the helpe of God for a doore of utterance Is it not therefore exceeding necessary for a Minister though he have ever so well prepared himselfe by study to seeke to God by prayer that utterance may be given unto him that he may open his mouth as S. Paul desires to be prayed for Eph. 6. 19. Though a man by study be well and sufficiently provided yet if a man without prayer to GOD for his assistance should up into the Pulpit might not such an one feare that his mouth might be stopt and God should silence him in the Pulpit Or could he looke at lest that his tongue should so speake as that the preparations of his heart should go to the hearts of others For al a Ministers preparations notwithstanding he stands in need of Gods speciall assistance and therefore it neerely concernes him together with his preparations to seeke to God by prayer for that helpe and assistance of his Iust so it is in the case of the Sacrament The preparations of the heart are in man but yet ability and power to do the work at the Sacrament is from the Lord so that if God helpe not and assist not all preparations come to little And it cannot be expected that God should helpe when he is neglected and not sought to and intreated to helpe We need Gods helpe in all things but specially in holy duties What was the bearing of the Ark on the Priests shoulders to the receiving of the Sacrament One would think there should have needed no such speciall help to that work of bearing the Arke besides the generall concourse of Gods providence And yet it is said 1 Chron. 15. 26. That God helped the Levites that bare the Arke yea it was such speciall helpe that they offered sacrifices upon it And if they needed the helpe of GOD to beare the Arke of the Lord how much more do we need the helpe of God in this solemne action and service of receiving the Sacrament And if such need of helpe is there not then as much need of prayer Will helpe come from God without prayer Will the Lord helpe us if we seeke not for his helpe nothing lesse Nay so farre from helping us that we may rather feare he will curse our performances For upon our preparations before specified to come to the Sacrament without speciall seeking God in prayer what is it better than a trusting in our selves and in our preparations Assuredly God will blast all selfe-confidences and all confidences in our owne preparations Therefore never thinke thy selfe duly prepared till to all the rest thou hast joyned solemne and earnest seeking of God by prayer 2 Secondly it should bee a mans great care both to sanctifie himselfe to the Ordinance and to have the Ordinance sanctified to him Sanctifie your selves sayes Iosiah 2 Chron. 35. 6. to the Levites Now prayer is the way to doe both It sanctifies us to the Ordinance and the Ordinance to us 1 Tim. 4. All things are sanctified by the word and prayer All things both persons to the Ordinances and Ordinances to the persons not only meats and drinkes but Ordinances Sacraments are sanctified to our uses by prayer Where prayer is neglected neither is the person sanctified to the Ordinance nor the Ordinance to the person 3 Thirdly what an happy and a joyfull thing is it when a man comes to the Sacrament and it shall as it were say to a man as Ananias said to Saul Acts 9. 17. Brother Saul the Lord hath sent me unto thee that thou mightst receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost So when the Sacrament shall come with such commission to us how blessed a thing is it The Lord hath sent mee unto thee that thou mayest receive comfort and be filled with the Holy Ghost Now there is a course to be taken that the Sacrament may bee sent with such a Commission But what may that course be Doe as Saul did Vers 11. Ananias goe inquire for Saul c. for behold he prayes Saul was
with all his benefits Take eate drinke I see then God offers me Christ to be taken His body to be eaten His bloud to be drunke Here then must faith Actuate it selfe and set it selfe on worke striving with all it's might to take Christ to eate and drinke Christ offered Lord Christ as verily as I take and eate and drink these outward Sacramental elements so verily doe I by my faith receive thy selfe into my soule and feede upon thee for spirituall nourishment Christ is offered to us offers to come in and enter into our hearts The Act of faith now then is that Psalm 24. 7. Lift up your heads ô yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores But why must these gates and doores of their hearts be thus lift up And the King of glory shal come in Christ is come and he makes an offer to come into your hearts open therefore the gates of your hearts lift them up even from off the hookes that faire and full way may be made for his ready entrance when a great man specially a King comes to a mans house he will not only open the small wicket his little doore but he sets open his great gates throwes them wide open to make spatious way for his entrance Now Christ in the Sacrament offers Himselfe to come to us the King of glory offers to come in Here then let thy faith busily bestirre it selfe in widning the passage and opening thine heart to make Christ way now strive might and maine to stretch open thine heart to such a breadth and largenesse as a fit way may be made for the King of glory to enter Doe in receiving Christ at the Sacrament as Zacheus did in receiving him into his house Luk. 19. 5. Zacheus saies Christ Make hast and come downe for to day I must abide at thine house Here Christ offers Himselfe to Zacheus and upon the offer made instantly Zacheus made haste and came downe and received him joyfully Think upon that gratious offer of Christs how Zacheus bestirred himselfe with what haste he leaped down from the Tree with what readinesse and heartinesse he brought CHRIST home with what sweetnesse of affection he claspes about CHRIST when he entertained him into his house Christ makes thy soule the same offer at the Sacrament now let thy faith as busily bestir herselfe as Zacheus did hasten open claspe embrace welcome and receive CHRIST thus offered to thee Secondly In the Sacrament wee have Sacramentall promises This is my body This is my bloud This is my body which is given for you my blood which is shed for you Shed for the remission of sinnes Take Eate Drinke saies our Saviour Well what if we doe so what shall we get by it What shall we be the better for it A great deale the better for this is my body my bloud I promise you in the use of this Ordinance you shall receive my body and my bloud that body which was once crucified and offered for the redemption of the world that bloud which was shed for Recon 〈…〉 n and Remission of sin and you by being made partakers hereof sâ—â—ll receive efficacious vertue of my quickning death So that these are Sacramentall promises So that here is that which may abundantly set faith on worke for the promises are the most proper object for faith to worke upon Well then CHRIST saies This is my body given for you my bloud shed for you shed for the remission of sinnes Let faith now beleeve these promises Lord I beleeve that thy body was given for me thy bloud shed for me thy bloud shed for the remission of my sins Lord I cheerefully and gladly beleeve that I am now made partaker of thy body and bloud and that my sinnes are pardoned in thy bloud Faith must doe here as David doth Psal 60. 6 7. God hath spoken in his holinesse that is hee hath made me a gracious promise that he will bring all the land under mine obedience Here David hath Gods promise marke now what followes I will rejoyce saith he I will divide Sechem I will mete out the valley of Succoth Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine See how hee actuates his faith upon Gods promise so as to rejoyce so as to take possession of Sechem Succoth Gilead and Manasseh So Christ hath spoken in or by his holinesse This is my body which is given for you this is my bloud which is shed for you for the remission of your sins Here be Sacramentall promises Now upon the view of these promises should a man Actuate his faith and say I will rejoyce I will eate Christs flesh I will drinke his bloud Christ is mine His death is mine His Resurrection is mine Remission of sin is mine Pardon and Heaven are mine And thus by this Actuation of faith should a man with Iohn leane on CHRISTS bosome Iohn 13. 23. When he is at the Sacrament so participating of him as to have communion with him in all his benefits Thus leane wee on our beloved Cant. 8. 5. when at the Sacrament Againe This is my bloud shed for you for the remission of sinne Loe here is that bloud offered me to drinke and promised to me in the Sacrament by the shedding wherof remission of sin was purchased yea here is remission of sin not onely offered me and promised me but of fered and promised under seale Now then Actuate thy faith and say Lord I accept Lord I beleeve this sealed pardon of my sin And faith thus Actuated will make good unto us the Sacramentall promises for as it is true in case of prayer Mar. 11. 24. What things soever you desire when yee pray beleeve that ye receive them and yee shall have them so is it as true in case of receiving What things soever ye desire when ye receive doe but Actuate your faith and set that on worke for them beleeve that yee receive them and yee shall have them Thirdly In the Sacrament we have Sacramentall representations There is in the Sacrament a visible remembrance of CHRISTS death and in the breaking of the bread and powring out the wine there is a representation of Christs death and Passion When I see the wine powred out it represents unto me the shedding of Christs bloud here I see Christs bloud shed on the Crosse What is to be done now when I see this bloud in the Sacrament Do but consider that same Exod. 24. 6 8. Moses tooke of the bloud of the Sacrifices and put it in basons and he tooke the bloud that was in the basons and sprinkled it upon the people haply with a bunch of hysope as the manner was to which David alludes Psal 51. Purge me with hysope Now so must it be here The bloud of our burnt offering which was shed for us the Lord hath put in basons in the basons of the Word and Sacraments and out of these basons it must be sprinkled The Sacrament of the Supper is one bason
be eaten Exod. 21. 28. Doth God take care for Oxen sayes Saint Paul in another case and doth God doe justice and require justice to be done upon Oxen doth he require mans bloud at a beasts hand Then how much more will he do justice upon men that are guilty of Christs bloud and how much more will he require his Sons bloud at the hands of reasonable creatures that by unprepared receiving the Sacrament make themselves guilty of it Iudas his great sinne for which his soule and his memory is everlastingly accursed was the betraying of innocent bloud the betraying of Christs bloud his sin was That he was guilty of the bloud of the Lord. The horrible sin of the Iewes which we professe with so much indignation to abhor and detest it was the shedding of Christs bloud and how remarkable and dreadfull a curse and vengeance hath lyen upon their heads for the space of above fifteene hundred yeeres for that very bloud according to their owne wish His bloud be upon us and upon our children And doth it not then deeply concerne men to take heed how they make themselvs guilty of that bloud Why then in the feare of GOD take heed of comming to the Sacrament unpreparedly If thou commest unpreparedly thou commest unworthily and if thou commest unworthily instead of being a drinker thou wilt be a shedder of Christs bloud Bloud is a crying sin take heed above al things of having bloud cry against thee but especially take heed of having Christs bloud cry out against thee Christs bloud indeed applied by faith speaks better things than the bloud of Abel but if wee make our selves guilty of it as we do if we come unpreparedly and unworthily to the Sacrament it speakes no better things than the bloud of Abel it then speakes Quod si ipse pellere non audes mihi dicas Non permittam ista fiâ—eri Animam prius tradam meam quam dominicum corpus alicui indigno sanguinemque meum potius effundi patiar quam sacratissimum illum sanguinem praeterquam digno concedam Chrys in Mat. hom 64. and cries as Abels bloud for justice and vengeance Woe be to him for whom Christs bloud speakes not but woe a thousand times more to him against whom Christs bloud cries All which considered were enough to make unworthy and unprepared ones to resolve with themselves in the case of receiving the Sacrament as S. Chrysostome did in the case of giving it to unworthy ones I will rather sayes he give my life than I will give the body of Christ to any unworthy one And I will rather suffer mine own bloud to be shed then I will give that most holy bloud to any but him that is worthy So should this consideration worke men to those thoughts Is it so dangerous to receive the Sacrament unpreparedly Shall I thereby make my selfe guilty of Christs bloud Then surely I will rather lose my bloud then by unprepared and unworthy receiving make my selfe guilty of such bloud 2 The second danger is That a man comming unpreparedly to the Sacrament he not onely receives no good but a great deale of hurt to his soule Good he receives none God blasts his Ordinance to such a soule so that it shall not yeeld its fruit and its efficacie unto such an one Isay 1. 13. Bring no more vaine oblations Were not those oblations of Gods owne appointment and by his owne precept Why then are they called vaine oblations because they were to them in the use of them but vain Then a thing may be said to be vaine when there is no profit in it Things are vaine things which are unprofitable things 1 Sam. 12. 21. Vaine things which cannot profit That is a vaine thing that yeelds not a man fruit answerable to his paines and endeavours Levit. 26. 20. And your strength shall be spent in vaine for your Land shall not yeeld her increase neither shall the Trees of the Land yeeld their fruits They should use their strength in tilling and planting the Land and yet all their labour should be vaine because the land should not yeeld her increase nor the trees their fruits So here when a man shall use Ordinances come to the Sacrament and they doe not nor can profit him when a man comes to the Sacrament and it doth not yeeld its increase and its fruit then is the Sacrament vaine to such a man and then the Sacrament yeelds not fruit when men come unprepared unto it for want of preparation was the thing that made their oblations vaine as appeares Isay 1. 16 17 18. For those whom he forbids comming before he bids them come upon their preparation Come now namely when you prepared your selves as is required Verse 16. 17. To come to the Sacrament and not to partake of the benefit and fruit of it is an heavie thing And it is the case of every unworthy and unprepared communicant The same curse is upon him that was upon the Prince of Samaria 2 Kings 7. 2. Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eat thereof They see the plenty that God provides but yet they eat not of that spirituall provision with which God so richly furnishes his Table They are spiritually in this case under those curses Hos 4. 10. They shall eat and not be satisfied Hag. 1. 6. Ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled There is a Law Deut. 16. 16. That three times in a yeere they must appeare before God in the three solemne Feasts And they shall not sayes the Text appeare before the Lord empty So must it be with us when we appeare before God in this solemne feast at the Sacrament we must not appeare empty before the Lord. He that is voide of that disposition of spirit which God requires he that comes unprepared he appeares empty And what will the danger be of appearing empty Surely as we come so shall we goe God will send us away empty As in another sense God sends away the rich and the full empty Luke 1. 53. so in this sense he sends the empty away empty Yea the Ordinance of the Sacrament which in Gods instituon comes to us as Paul to the Romans Rom. 15. 29. And I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fulnesse of the blessing of the Gospell of Christ shall come empty handed to us and shall prove an empty Sacrament unto us So that upon our receiving it shall be no better with us than with those in that case Isa 29. 8. It shal even be as when an hungry man dreames and behold he eats but he awakes and his soule is empty or as when a thirsty man dreames and behold he drinks but he awakes and behold he is faint and his soule hath appetite So shal it be w th every unprepared Communicant he may eat and drinke the outward elements and may thinke to eat Christs flesh and