Repentance What Danger in doing the Will of God What Danger in performing our Duty What Danger in serious Endeavours to cleanse our selves that we may be pure even as God is pure What Danger in eating and drinking with a Lively Faith in the Promises of the Gospel What Danger in making the Love of God and the serious Contemplation of it a Motive and Occasion to grow in Grace If there be any Danger it is in the Unworthy Eating and Drinking at this holy Table and in that indeed there is as much Danger as there is in cutting our selves with Knives and Lances or in running a Sword into our Bowels And who but a Mad-man will do so There is nothing so good nothing so safe nothing so sound nothing so innocent but Men may corrupt it by their evil Inclinations So they may abuse God's Name and Day and Word and Ordinances and the Duty of Prayer and the Ministry and what not Unworthy Eating and Drinking is a sinful Eating and Drinking Let Men separate the Sinfulness from the Duty let them pare away that poysonous Rind and there is no Danger and you may eat and drink at this Table with as little Danger as you eat and drink at home there is no Danger here but what you make your selves The Danger rises not from the Eucharist but from your Hearts That which makes it dangerous is your Love to Forbidden Fruit while you eat and drink here This you harbour this you cherish and that makes your feeding dangerous But cast out that old Leaven and you may feed as peaceably as contentedly as securely as Children under their Father's Wings as People that sit under their own Vine and under their own Fig-tree The PRAYER O Jesu whom I see coming toward me in this Sacrament not with Balm and Myrrhe and Spices hut with that which is infinitely better even with the Balsom of thy Blood to anoint me to wash me and to make me whole to make this blind Creature see and this lame Man to walk this Dumb to speak this Deaf to hear and to dignifie this Beggar even me the weakest in thy Flock the poorest in thy House the meanest person in thy Spiritual Kingdom What shall I say of this Mercy What can I think of it Thou art both the Giver and the Gift the Feeder and the Food the Guest and the Feast the Offerer and the Oblation O deal with me after thine infinite Goodness I have deserved to be left to be forsaken to be rejected to be cast away from thy Presence But O! let not this miserable Beggar go away from thy Door without an Alms scatter thy Bounty and let me gather it The poorer I am the greater Object I am of thy Pity I bring my Heart to thee to reform it I come to offer my Soul to thee be thou intreated to renew it by thy Holy Spirit Bring me to a more lively and nearer conjunction with thy self that I may become a living Member incorporated into thy Mystical Body and may live not longer by mine own Spirit but by Thine which is the Spirit of my Spirit the Soul of my Soul and the very Life of my Life Thou art my Sun from whose Beams I must receive the Light of Grace Thou art my Fountain from which I must draw Living Water Thou art the Root from which I must receive Sap of increase Thou art my Head from which I must receive Life and Being O! let me feel the force of this Sacrament in my Soul Power against Sin and Satan and ability to serve thee Corroborate my Spirit that I may obtain Victory put off the anxious Cares of the World and put on Joy flowing from Remission and pardon of my Sins I am sensible that Thy Table is the strength of my Soul the Sinews of my Mind the Band of my Confidence my Health my Light and my Recovery Being sprinkled with thy Blood I shall be able to turn to fight the Armies of Aliens the Armies of my Spiritual Enemies and prevail against them and go on from Virtue to Virtue till I shall Hunger and Thirst no more in thy Everlasting Kingdom Amen Amen CHAP. XIX Of Bodily Sickness Weakness and untimely Death which is sometimes by way of Judgment inflicted on Unworthy Receivers of this Blessed Sacrament The CONTENTS Sickness and Weakness and Death are either Corporal or Spiritual Some Reasons laid down why God makes use of Sickness and Weakness of Body to Chastize the Unworthy Receiver How a Person may know whether the Sickness and Weakness of Body that is upon him comes upon him for his Unworthy Receiving How Sickness and Weakness of Body and an untimely Death can be said to be inflicted for Unworthy Receiving when we see that even the most worthy Receivers sicken and dye and sometimes suddenly and before their time and when it is evident that these are effects of Natural Causes The time of Adversity a time of serious Consideration The Soul that loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity hath no reason to be troubled when Sickness or Affliction comes as if it came for Unworthy Receiving Worthy Receiving the best Preparative for Death Those that neglect coming have reason to fear that all the Miseries which befal them come upon them for their neglect The Prayer I. HAving told you in the foregoing Chapter that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgment doth import both Temporal Judgment and Damnation and shewn how the unworthy Receiver makes himself liable to exemplary Temporal Judgments in general it 's fit I should in the next place in imitation of St. Paul speak of the particular Temporal Judgments the unworthy Communicant pulls upon himself whereof one is Bodily Sicckness Weakness and untimely Death for thus we read 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause i.e. upon the account of this unworthy Eating and Drinking many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep as if he had said This your unworthy Receiving brings Sickness Weakness and a preternatural and unusual Sleep upon you This must needs be meant here for ordinary Sleep or the usual Rest of the Body can be no punishment and to tell you that by Sleep in Scripture is frequently understood Death or separation of the Soul from the Body or dissolution of this natural Life were to tell you what all Men know that have but look'd into the Bible nor can any be ignorant that these Phrases are often used in a Spiritual Sense for Spiritual Weakness and Sickness and Death which will oblige me to take both significations into consideration And that God did in the Primitive Ages of Christianity inflict and visit unworthy Communicants with weakness and sickness of Body and with an untimely Death sometimes especially if they continued impenitent thereby to put them in mind of their Offences and to exhort them to amendment of Life all Interpreters agree and the same Temporal Judgments an unworthy Receiver hath reason to fear and look for at this
is for the healing of the Nations here fix though the Earth be moved here shelter thy self from the Wrath to come Christ the same Yesterday to Day and for ever will open Rivers in High Places and Fountains in the midst of Valleys When the Poor and Needy seek for Water and there is none He Prince of Peace wil hear them He the mighty God will will not forsake them He will plant in the Wilderness the Cedar the Myrtle and the Oyl-Tree He will set in the Desart the Fir-tree and the Pine and the Box-tree together that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the Hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it Ezek. 41. 16 17. The PRAYER O Blessed and Crucified Saviour How often have I broke with thee How often have I broke loose from thee How often have I broke the Silken Strings whereby thou hast sought to tie my Soul How justly mightest thou turn thy Face away from me How justly mightest thou look upon me as unworthy to be called any more to this Spiritual Feast But remember Lord Remember I am Dust remember my Frailty and do not shut up thy Tender Mercies in Displeasure O call after this Prodigal and bring him home again to his Father's House Make lively Impressions of thy Crucifixion upon my Mind Let the Torments of thy broken Body fright me from all known Sin Whenever I am tempted to any Thing that is evil cry in mine Ears or possess me with this Thought That that very Sin did help to break thee on the Cross A lively Apprehension of this will keep my Soul undefiled this will break and crush my former Delight in Vanity this will embitter my Sensual Pleasures this will make me weary of running after other Gods this will humble my Soul this will subdue the vain Imaginations whereby I have been wont to flatter my self into Misery O give me a View of the Riches that are to be found in thy broken Body that I may run no longer after broken Cisterns and may rely no longer on broken Reeds O let my Soul feed on thy broken Body by Contemplation Thou didst not count thy Life dear for my sake O let me be touch'd with these Thoughts that I may despise Death and Torments for thy sake and may with all Saints and Martyrs behold thy Face at last in Eternal Glory O Jesu Great Store-house of Delight Who hast the Keys of David Spread open thine Arms of Mercy and receive this poor miserable Creature Behold this straying Sheep beset with Multitudes of Wolves runs to the good Shepherd Protect me from the fiery Darts of the Enemy embrace me as a tender Mother doth her sickly Child with Bowels of Mercy Kill in me the base Desires of the Flesh and whatever evil Inclinations thou spiest in me root them up Extinguish in me the impure Flames of Lust. Give me an excellent Spirit a Spirit active in the Practice and Exercise of Vertue Raise the Powers of my Soul by thy Love that I may love thee with all my Heart that I may praise thee that I may honour thee and think nothing tedious or troublesome that may promote thy Glory Repair this shatter'd Tabernacle and vouchsafe to dwell in it I have wilfully ruin'd it by my Sins O make it whole again Remove the Poyson which hath infected all my Faculties Destroy the Serpent's Seed that lurks in the secret Corners of my Heart If Adam could not preserve his Integrity in the State of Innocence how shall I preserve mine in this State of Corruption without thy special Grace and Assistance Thy Grace is the Treasure I want thou hast promised it I beg it O let me not go without it O Jesu Thou didst love me when I was thine Enemy O hate me not now that I am made thy Friend When I was lost thou didst redeem me with thy Blood now that I am found O wash me with that Blood O let me not perish now when Heaven is bought and an endless Bliss is purchased for me Now that the Hand-writing against me is blotted out let me not run into new Dangers nor forfeit that Blessing which is so graciously tendred to me It is the real Desire of my Soul to serve thee and O that I might do it with Chearfulness with Alacrity with Fervency and with Constancy The Preparation of the Heart is of thee thou givest the Will O give me Strength to do what I desire What can I do of my self I am naturally defiled Original Sin sticks to me Proneness to Evil follows me thou must stop the Current nothing but thy self can dry up this Fountain of Corruption it is thy Work And whatever Good is in me from thee it comes from thy Grace it doth proceed Let the same Mercy uphold me that hath hitherto guided me and guide me so through the Briars and Thorns of Temptations that I may not only be more than a Conqueror through him that loved me but may at last receive the Crown and Recompence of such as overcome Amen Amen CHAP. X. Of Taking the Consecrated Bread with our Hands and the Mystery of it The CONTENTS In the Primitive Church the Eucharist was always taken with the Hand This Simplicity in progress of Time abandon'd and as the Veneration of External Symbols advanced the Bread received in certain Vessels and sometimes upon Linen Cloth The Superstition of the Church of Rome of putting the Bread into the Mouth of the Communicant laid open and the Vanity of it shewn The Mystery of Taking the Eucharist with our Hands set down in three Particulars viz. To put us in mind with what Alacrity we are to accept of the Mercy offered us to testifie our appropriating of that Mercy to our selves and to hold it fast when we have received it Of God's Liberality in bidding us take the best Gift he hath to bestow The Impiety of those that take Christ for their Redeemer and continue disobedient discovered The Prayer I. 'T IS certain that Christ said Take and eat which the Primitive Church understood of taking the consecrated Elements with the Hand And to this purpose saith Tertullian We receive the Eucharist from none but from the Hands of the President or Minister of the Ordinance It was for this Reason that in the ancient Liturgies the Deacons cried to the People or Communicants Extend your Hands And upon this Account it was that St. Ambrose expostulating with Theodosius about the barbarous Slaughter he had been guilty of tells him How can you stretch forth your Hands from which as yet innocent Blood drops down How can you with such Hands receive the Body of the Lord Nor do even the Papists themselves who will not suffer the Lay-Communicant to touch the Wafer with his Hand but put it into his Mouth deny it Whether every one in the Ancient Church did take the consecrated Elements with his own from the Priest's or
day insomuch that if many a Man's sickness and weakness of Body and not living out halfe his days were throughly examin'd and look'd into it would be found to proceed in a great measure from this Cause even his unworthy Receiving of the Holy Symbols II. If we enquire into the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness and weakness of Body to lash the unworthy Receiver in this Life we must conclude that considering how all Afflictions and Judgments of this Life are curative and intended to work a change in the Offender for the better the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness particularly in punishing the unworthy Receiver are these following 1. Sickness weakens the Flesh abates and lessens its violent desires whereby it comes to pass that the Spiritual part gets from under the slavery it lay enthrall'd in while the Flesh prevail'd and puts the Sinner upon serious Thoughts for now it gets leave to exercise its Authority which before was over-aw'd and crush'd and oppress'd by the usurping Tyrant and thereby occasions terror and consternation in the whole Man about his unworthy Receiving While the Flesh is predominant and bears Rule Faith and Reason are mere prisoners and whatever they suggest is not hearken'd to The Flesh still baffles their Arguments and admits of nothing but what pleads in favour of its brutish Appetite Sickness coming and weakning the Flesh and rendring all the delights of the World insipid and unsavoury the Soul recovers her freedom and is now at liberty to think of her former Life to survey the Actions of her past Practices and among other Errors to reflect upon her unworthy Receiving to aggravate this particular Offence and thereby to incline the sinner's Eyes and Heaâ—t to penitential Tears for now the Man having no hurry of business no noise of vain company no external Gayeties no Musick of sensual Pleasures to call him away from minding the things that belong to the happiness of his Soul he is more at leisure to ruminate upon what he hath been doing and the dreadfulness of his Sin viz. feeding irreverently at this Table and not discerning that the Body of the Son of God was offered to his Soul and if any thing will melt or turn him this is very likely to effect it 2. Sickness puts the unworthy Receiver in mind of Death for he that falls sick knows not but his Illness may end in Death and there are few Men but are of this opinion when once they take their Bed fear that they shall or may dye makes them seek out for proper Helps and Remedies send for Physicians if they be able and sometimes for Divines too think of making their Wills set their House in order and after all leave nothing untried whereby they may prevent the stroak of Death Sickness being of that nature and having this influence on men may therefore be suppos'd to put the unworthy Receiver in mind of his Death and as it puts him in mind of Death so if he have any sense of Religion left it minds him also of an approaching Judgment and suggests to him that for ought he knows he will shortly be in another World be summon'd to give an account of his Life to God and appear before the Judge of Quick and Dead even before Christ Jesus the Son of God whose Death hath had no influence upon his Life whose Blood he hath trampled under foot whose Sufferings he hath not much thought of whose Love hath made no great impression upon him whose Charity hath wrought in him no considerable tenderness to his Neighbour whose Presence in the Sacrament he hath undervalued and whose entreaties to become Wise unto Salvation and meek and humble and serious and blameless he hath stopt his Ears against and how little Mercy he must expect of that Judge whom to please he hath not been much concern'd This Kindness Sickness may be supposed to do to the unworthy Communicant viz. to put him in mind of his Death and future account and the Judge whose Body and Blood he hath profan'd and his anger and indignation against such Profanation and what can be supposed more effectual to promote Repentance and Godly Sorrow and new Resolutions to awake from the Dead that Christ may give him Life And therefore God makes use sometimes of Bodily Sickness to afflict the unworthy Communicant But where Death seizes on the unworthy Commnicant either before he can bethink himself or before a previous lingring Sickness hath melted and wrought his Heart into a Spiritual Life there the Man's case is deplorable indeed for to think that God will accept of his Death as a Satisfaction for his Sin and save him however is to make a new Divinity and to erect Principles which the Scripture knows nothing of 'T is true in some Cases where God cuts off a young Man in 〈◊〉 Flower of his Age a young Man I mean whose Liâ—e hath been blameless attended with holy Fears and a Conscientious Behaviour at home and abroad his untimely Death may be said to be a Temporal Affliction for some accidental Miscarriages and single Inadvertencies such as never swelled into an Habit or setled Approbation by which Affliction he is saved and freed from the greater Condemnation according to the Apostle's Rule 1 Cor. 11. 32. But when we are judged i e. with Temporal Judgments such as Sickness Weakness and Untimely Death whereof he had spoken Vers. 30. we are chasten'd of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World In this Case i.e. in Accidental Miscarriages God may be said to accept of the lesser for the greater Judgment upon his Account who died and rose again for those who hear his Voice But where the Sin is habitual rooted in the Heart hath invaded the Complexion and is allowed of and thought harmless and void of Hurt there an Untimely Death is no Security against Condemnation no Shelter against the Wrath to come How far it may abate or qualifie the future Indignation I am not able to say but it is no Deletory no Fortisication no Charm against that Storm III. But here a Difficulty will arise How a Person may know that the Sickness or Weakness of Body that is upon him comes upon him for his unworthy Receiving To which I answer 1. There is not a more ready Way to know it than by ransacking our Life and particularly our publick Devotions If in our present Sickness we find upon Examination that when we came formerly to the Supper of the Lord we came without any sincere Intent Desire or Resolution to be wrought into Love and Obedience to Christ Jesus by the Sight of his Cross and Death and Charity that we came and went away unconcerned unmoved untouched at this Medicamentum Immortalitatis this Physick of Immortality as St. Dennis calls it or that we thought that the Blessings promised to the Faithful and to those who strive and fight the good Fight would fall to our share and
afford matter of comfort to think at such times that the same Jesus who was crucified will ere long appear in Glory with all his mighty Angels to give those that have followed him in the Regeneration full possession of the purchas'd Glory However at the best the Celebration of this Feast at night was but a circumstantial thing and therefore the Church is not obliged to keep to it circumstantial things depending much upon conveniency or inconveniency which vary in several Ages and this was the reason that though standing at the eating of the Passover was a commanded circumstance Exod. 12. 11. yet the Jewish Church in after Ages varied from it even by Christs own Approbation and turned that posture into leaning as I shall have occasion to shew more largely in the Chapter about Kneeling at the Communion The Church therefore sins not in Celebrating this Feast at any other time especially in a circumstance barely related not commanded Yet as I said before because this Spiritual Feast kept up in all Churches is still in imitation of Christs Supper and that Supper is religiously remembred in it and the same essential things together with the scope drift and design of all are still preserved it is not unfitly called the Lords Supper still so that if any man seems to be contentious about the name We have no such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 12. 16. IV. Yet this is no Argument but that it may also lawfully be called and expressed by other Names and this we find the Christian Churches have done from time to time Tertullian was the first that called it a Sacrament taking the Name from the Oaths the Roman Soldiers took that they would be true and faithful to their Emperor and the rather because we vow Allegiance and Fidelity in this Ordinance to the great Master that died for us Others have call'd it an Oblation because we offer up our humble Prayers and Supplications to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our Souls and Bodies too when we remember this Beneficial Death Sometimes it hath been call'd a Sacrifice because it is not only a commemoration of the wonderful Sacrifice of Christs Death but we chearfully offer up the Sacrifice of our Praises for this inestimable Mercy The name of Communion occurs frequently in the Writings of the Ancients because all sincere Christians are hereby tyed in a bond of mutual Love participate of the same Bread are Fellow-members of the Mystical Body of Christ and have Communion with Christ their Head and enjoy all the same Benefits of his Death and sufferings The word Eucharist is used as often as any other because Thanksgiving and Magnifying the Goodness Mercy and Charity of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are a great part of the Service here The name Mass which they of the Roman Persuasion and even the Lutheran Churches make use of as it was not known in the Church for the first Four hundred years after Christ so the Original of it was this When the Lords Supper was to be celebrated after Sermon the Deacon or some other Officer of the Church called to the People that did not or were not to receive in these words Ite missa est Depart the Congregation is dismissed In time that which was only a Preliminary circumstance of the Lords Supper was applied to the whole Office and the Service was called Missa or Mass a word which the Romanists make a great stir with and turn into a perfect Charm and a monstrous Sacrifice to the great disparagement of Christs Sufferings and the Benefits that accrue thereby to true Believers Some of their Writers make it a Hebrew word and fetch it from the Old Testament others derive it from the Greek others from the Northern Language and though it expresses less then any of those Names we mentioned before yet hath this swallowed up all the rest and the more superstitious in the Roman Church are almost afraid to call it by any other Name and the Mass is that which both young and Old both learned and unlearned among them have most frequently in their Mouths though few of the Vulgar know what it means I omit here many other Names appropriated by Writers to this Mystery such as Collect Oeconomy Liturgy Dominical Agenda Anaphora Synaxis c. partly because I intend no Critical History and partly because by the names I have already spoken of this Sacrament is usually known in the Western Churches That we do so often call it a Mystery is because the things discovered and imitated here do altogether depend upon Divine Revelation and are such as Flesh and Blood understand not and the Secrets of which none but a Person enlightned by the Spirit of God apprehends to any purpose and which transcend all the Arcana or hidden points of Heathen Divinity V. The name of the Lords Supper puts us in mind that this Holy Feast differs from Common Suppers 1. In that Common Suppers are for the support of Nature this for the support of Grace and Goodness in our Souls The former are intended for the strengthning of the Body this for the corroboration of our Faith and Hope and Love Our Common Supper represents to us the Ordinary Providence of God which opens its hand and fills the desire of every living thing This Gods extraordinary dispensation which shews at what cost and charges we are made the Children of God and fitted for everlasting habitations The former gives us an account of the Blessings of Gods Left this of the favours of his Right Hand The former bids us look into the nether this into the upper Springs of the Divine Clemency 2. In our Common Suppers our Spirits may unbend and our Minds and Tongues take liberty of thinking and speaking of things relating to our necessary Employments in the World in this our thoughts must rise mount up with Wings as Eagles pierce the Clouds and fix on the Riches of Divine Love retire from the World view God and his glorious Attributes and unite with that excellent object improve themselves into Contemplaâ—ion and adore the Mystery of Redemption In the former no other Preparation is required but what we are to bring with us to common affairs and businesses i. e. Gravity and Sobriety but in this the Heart must be prepared the Soul chafed the Affections warmed prayers offered Ejaculations press into Gods presence and Self-examination dispose the Soul for the visits of the Holy Ghost that it may be a worthy Guest at so great a Table and the rather because God is in a special manner present here for wherever Providence displays its brighter beams of Love there God is eminently present that makes Heaven what it is because there the Divine Goodness shines most gloriously In this Sacrament are set before us more then ordinary Characters of Gods Love the Angels of Heaven saith St. Chrysostom stand round about the Altar and while the Minister
we receive may be prejudicial to some Constitutions which must therefore be indulged to eat something at Home Cautions and Rules to be observed in Eating before we Receive The Decay of Fasting among Christians of this Age an Argument of the Decay of Christianity To Fasting before we Receive must be joined afterward Abstinence from Sin The Prayer I. THat it is not absolutely necessary to eat the Lord's Supper Fasting will appear from the following Arguments 1. Neither Eating nor Abstinence do in themselves commend us unto God for neither if we Eat are we the worse neither if we Eat not are we the worse saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 8. 8. It 's not the Belly God regards so much as the Heart and the Frame of the Soul he ever respects more than the Bowels The Pharisee that lays the stress of his Religion upon an empty Stomach mistakes the Nature of God as much as the Pythagorean who fancies God will be pleased with his chusing one sort of Food before another Neither the former's abstaining from Swines-Flesh nor the other's Aversion from Beans is an Offering acceptable to him especially where they stand single and have no other Virtues to bear them company God being a Spirit loves to converse with Spiritual Natures and such are our Souls and an humble and broken Spirit prevails more with him than all outward Ceremonies whatsoever The Jews Es. 58. 3. were as much out when they cryed Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not as those Luk. 13. 26. that said to Christ Have not we eaten and drunk in thy presence One Act of sincere Contrition is a more pleasing Spectacle to God than a thousand external Formalities and doing his Will a more acceptable Sacrifice than a rueful Face Fasting hath no intrinsick Virtue the Gracious Aspect God vouchsafes it is upon the account of something within that looks very lovely in his Eyes and that is a Conscience sprinkled from dead Works 2. Christ's Example is a convincing Argument that to receive it Fasting is not absolutely necessary Not only St. Matthew Matth. 26. 26. but the other Evangelists assure us that while Christ and his Disciples were eating the Passover or as soon as they had eaten it he took Bread and Blessed it and brake and gave it to his Disciples and said take eat c. Had it been a sin to do so we may rationally suppose the first Author of this Sacrament would have given no encouragement to it by his Example and though it 's true that may be sometimes lawful in a Prince which may be an Error in the Subject yet our Great Master laid aside that Piece of State and appeared in the Form of a Servant and became obedient to that Law he would have his Followers live up to He did not prescribe one thing and do another but like a watchful General put his Hand to that Plough at which he would have others labour and it 's evident enough that while he and the Disciples were eating or as soon as they had eated the Passover and consequently they were not fasting he bid them Eat and Drink of the Sacramental Bread and Wine which accordingly they did and we may be confident he would not have led them into an Error 3. The Apostles afterward we see were indifferent whether they gave it to Men fasting or to Persons who had been at a Meal just before so they were but studious of a pure and spotless Conversation and so much appears from what we read Act. 2. 46. After they came from the Temple i.e. after they came from the Common Prayer in the Temple which was at Nine of the Clock in the Morning and at Three in the Afternoon they break Bread from House to House and giving it in the Afternoon as well as in the Morning we may justly conclude they laid no stress upon Peoples receiving it fasting However it 's plain that the Corinthian Christians by St. Pauls Allowance and Approbation administred and received it after their Love-Feasts and while they observed the Rules of Decency Sobriety and Temperance and Charity and Seriousness in those Agapae or Feasts of Charity the Apostle found no fault with their Communicating after them but when they became luxurious and grew exorbitant and made provision for the Flesh more than the Spirit he justly changed his Discourse and turned his former Gentleness into sharp Reproofs and Apostolical Reprehensions and he had reason for these Doings would have soon brought this weighty Ordinance into Contempt and made Men abhor the Offerings of the Lord. II. Notwithstanding all this to receive it Fasting is a thing very convenient 1. Because it quickens Devotion That we are not to come to the Table of our Lord with an indifferency of Mind or looseness of Fancy or carelesness of Affections none can be ignorant The sublimest Mystery requires the sublimest Thoughts and a Mind as clear from gross and carnal Apprehensions as Mortality will let us but this is not to be done without Fasting Meat and Drink filling the Brain with Fumes and as you have seen a Cloud coming before the Sun intercepting and darkening the brighter Rays of that noble Planet so the greasie Steams and Vapours which feeding before sends up to the nobler Parts must needs in some measure at least obscure the Understanding the Sun in this Microcosm and hinder it from spreading and dispersing its kindly Beams and Influences and this was the Opinion not only of the Primitive Believers but of the Pythagoreans also and other Philosophers whose Great Maxim was That the purest Thoughts flow from an empty Stomâ—ch or Self-denial in Meat and Drink That the ancient Christians fasted so often the reason certainly was to give Wings to their Devotion and to make their Prayers fly the faster and with greater Alacrity to Heaven This way they found was most proper to plant a Spiritual Temper in their Souls and when they would mount up with greater Chearfulness above the Clouds they gave themselves to Fasting and Prayer And indeed in some Constitutions at least the Soul never acts more like it self than when the Body gives it no Divertisement by Eating and Drinking for a time The more the Body is fed the leaner grows the Soul and the leaner the Body is kept the fatter grows the Soul all which is evidence enough That to receive the Holy Communion Fasting is the way to receive it with the quickest and therefore most sutable Devotion 2. To receive it fasting is an Act most agreeable to the mortifying Prospect of Christ's Death and Passion What Look upon so dismal an Object with a full Stomach or a pampered Body which is enough to tempt us to say with St. Thomas in another case Let us go that we may dye with him John 11. 16. He that comes to this Sacrament comes to dye with Christ i. e. to dye to Sin and sure no sober Man will think Eating and Drinking to be a proper Preparative for
look on such Mercies with spiritual Reflections and Praises and these Praises are holy Thoughts Nay the Task is very easie and there is nothing lies more in our power than by taking a View of such Blessings to think This God hath done this is part of his Charity this is a Character of his Bounty What am I and what is my Father's House that God hath brought me thus far And as it is easie so it is profitable too for this will fill our Minds with humble Thoughts and teach us to have a low Opinion of our selves it being impossible to think our selves very unworthy of God's Favours and not to despise our selves II. I told you in the first Chapter of this Discourse that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper among the Ancients was frequently called the Eucharist Here we see the Reason of it for as the Word Eucharist imports Praise so Thanksgiving is one of the principal Actions and Offices in this Sacrament The Church of Rome will have it called a Sacrifice because in the Primitive Church it went by that Name We deny it not but then they meant by it a Sacrifice of Praise and this Sacrifice we exhort every one of you to offer when you remember your Great Master's Funeral Give Thanks for that Death when you are preparing your selves for this spiritual Feast Give Thanks when you feed at this holy Table Give Thanks when you depart from that Banqueting-house Give Thanks unto the Lamb that was slain bless him for his Wounds bless him for his Cross bless him for his Bloody Sweat bless him for all his Sighs and Groans bless him for his Merits for through these your Souls must triumph over Hell and Sin and Devils But then take heed of praising him at Church and affronting him at home These Praises must be uniform and equal and constant not that you are obliged in all Places to speak of his Glory whatever Business you have or that you must do nothing but sing Psalms to him where-ever you are but your upright and Christian Behaviour in all Places is a Glorification of his Mercy For you are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2. 9. The PRAYER O Thou who inhabitest the Praises of Israel our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and they were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Praise waits for thee in Sion Thou deservest my devoutest Praises my most hearty Thanks my loudest Celebrations Can I think of what thou hast done for me and be loath to praise thee What should I do but praise thee All that I see within me or about me is Mercy my Meat my Drink my Clothes are Mercies But Oh! what a Mercy is that Spiritual Food thou settest before me at thy Table Oh let my Mouth be filled with thy Praise all the Day long I am sensible not only of the Necessity but the Comeliness of it too It sets a Lustre on my Soul it is an Ornament to my better Part it makes me glorious in thy Sight Oh teach me the Art of praising thee Let me but love thee and I cannot but praise thee My Love will dictate Words and suggest Meditations and I shall speak of all thy wondrous Works Let this be my greatest Delight my greatest Joy my greatest Pleasure that I may praise thee at last with all the Saints and Angels to Eternal Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. IX Of Breaking the Bread and the Mysteries of it The CONTENTS The Action of Breaking Bread borowed from the Jews used by Christ to put us in mind of his Crucifixion Of the broken State of Mankind Of his going to break down the Partition Wall betwixt the Jews and Gentiles Of the Communion of the Body of Christ Of our Coming to his Table with Broken Contrite Hearts Of his Readiness to comfort the Bruised and Broken Spirit Of the Vertue and Power of his Death in breaking the Force of God's Wrath against us Of the Miracle that was to happen at his Death in the Earth and Rocks c. And of the strange Divisions that would rise about this Sacrament The Action of Breaking the Holy-Bread doth not interfere with the Canon in the Rule of the Passover that not a Bone of the Lamb should be broken The Church of Rome is to blame for not Breaking the Bread Christ as well as the Disciples received the Communion Reflections to be made by Christians when they see the Bread broken The Prayer I. AMong the Jews as no Man durst eat Bread without consecrating it by Thanksgiving so no Man gave Thanks for the Bread but he broke part of it did eat of it and gave of it to the rest that were with him at the Table and the Master of the House if present was usually the Person that did all this gave Thanks and dealt the Bread about To this End the Loaves among the Jews were made with divers Cuts or Incisions that when they were brought to Table they might be broken with greater Ease by the Head of the Family and distributed to those that did eat with him Among the ancient Romans it was otherwise for though they had Cuts and Divisions upon their Loaves yet those Cuts were but four in all in the Shape of a Cross to the End that when they came to reach it to their Guests they might easily break it into four Parts Which was the Reason why they called the Portion that fell to one Man's Share Quadra or the fourth Part of a Loaf If Christ imitated any Custom in Breaking of Bread 't is most probable he followed that of the Jews from whose manner of living he used not to vary if their Actions and Customs had nothing of Sin in them shewing thereby how loath we should be Quieta movere to change or alter Things in a Church or Nation which through a long Succession of Time have been received provided there be nothing of Immodesty Superstition or Indecency or Irregularity in it The Unleaven'd Cakes of the Jews they use at this Day in the Celebration of their Passover are in all probability Relicks of that ancient Way among their Country-men of ordering their Loaves and making them with many Cuts and Divisions in them whereby the Master of the House took occasion to break off a just and convenient Piece for each Member of his Family But though Christ in breaking the Sacramental Bread might borrow that Right and Action from the Jews yet we must not suppofe that therefore he had no farther Design in it but rather sanctified it into a Mystery as he did the Washing of the Feet received among the Jews Joh. 13. 14 15. II. As Breaking the Sacramental Bread was an Action design'd to represent several Things of great Importance so
serious Reflections on his Death and Agonies and the Bitterness of his Passion It being spoken to our Souls not to our Bodies to take and eat this Body the Soul hath no other Way to feed upon it but by a pathetick Consideration of the Particulars of that Death and the End and Design of God in it and the Comforts and the Benefits that thereby redound to Mankind and such a Consideration as affects our Souls touches them to the quick and puts them on serious Enquiries into our wretched State and makes them break forth into Flames of Love so that though Christ's Body was crucified above Sixteen Hundred Years agone yet a pious Soul can eat it at this Day swallow the Charity which appears in it with her Thoughts consider who it is that is so wonderfully concerned for her Safety look upon him whom her Sins have pierced and take a View of that Man of Sorrows who was bruised for her Iniquities and wounded for her Transgressions and admire the Miracles that are to be seen in all this 2. To eat Christ's Body is to apply the Benefits of his Death and Passion to our Souls and to rejoyce in them as our greatest Treasure As he that eats with his Bodily Organs applies the Food he takes with his Hands to his Mouth and Body and converts it into Blood and Substance so the pious Soul is pleased with this Spiritual Meat is refreshed by it and applies the Benefits of that crucified Body to her self and with the Thoughts of Peace and Pardon and Salvation which are the Blessings that drop from that Tree arms her self against the Assaults of the Devil and the Terrours of Death and believing without wavering that those Mercies were purchased for her in particular and that she hath a Right and Title to them stands up in the evil Day and in the midst of Temptations boldly cries with the Apostle Who is he that condemns It is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. 3. To make this crucified Body a Persuasive and Motive to Holiness and Obedience To conclude from thence that if he gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity then we must not frustrate his Expectation nor cling to that Iniquity which he came to free us from And if he died to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous for good Works then we must not defile our selves after that nor wallow in the Mire any more with the Swine but cleanse our Minds from carnal covetous and lustful Thoughts our Wills from Perversenes and Stubbornness our Affections from Fondness of this present World and our Hands from Uncleanness His zealous Love to us must make us zealous for his Glory to him we must consecrate our selves and to be holy as he is holy must be the Business of our Lives and so to love him as to keep his Commandments must henceforward be looked upon as our bounden Duty He truly eats this crucified Body upon whom this Crucifixion hath that Power as to crucifie in him his known Lusts and Passions and to engage him to purifie himself from all Filthiness both of Soul and Body The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. IN all Writings both Ancient and Modern about this holy Sacrament there are various Rhetorical Expressions used which we must not understand literally but as Flowers strowed upon the Herse of our Blessed Redeemer and as Ornaments of Speech to represent the Greatness of the Mystery There is nothing more common among the Fathers than to call the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper the Body and Blood of Christ and the Cup the Vessel in which Christ's Blood is contained And many times Christ is said to stand at the Altar and all the holy Angels waiting at the Table that Christ offers his Body to be bruised by the People's Teeth and dyes them red with his Blood that the Elements are changed and become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus and that after Prayer and Thanksgiving they are no more what they were before and a Thousand such Expressions besides From which the Church of Rome presently infers that they believed a Transubstantiation or a Conversion of the Elements into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood than which nothing can be more absurd For if a Man compare these Saying of the Ancients with other Passages in their Writings it plainly appears that they meant no more than that the Elements are representative of all this and that the Expressions they use are nothing but Rhetorical Flourishes to raise the People's Affections and to render their Devotions brisk lively servent affectionate and vigorous We do the same at this Day when we tell you that you come to feast with Christ that in this Sacrament he is crucified before you Eyes that you may see his Blood run down that you hear him groan under the Burthen of your Sins that you see here his Body hanging on the Cross that you are to stand under the Tree and catch the precious Gore as Balsam for your Souls All which is true in a spiritual Sense and we do it to make you more attentive and set this Passion out in such lively Characters that your Souls may be touch'd and enliven'd and as Things represented in brighter Colours strike the Senses more so we speak of these Things as if they were visible and perceptible to the outward Eyes that your Souls may more chearfully feed on the Kernel that lies in those Shells and with greater Life embrace the glorious Benefits which come to you by that precious Sacrifice II. By the same Way that Man was lost by the same Way he must recover He was undone by eating He must be made whole again by eating By eating he died By eating he must come to Life again That Day thou eatest of this Tree thou shalt surely die saith God And the same saith God of this holy Sacrament That Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely live The Fruit in Paradise became a Savour of Death unto Death unto him The holy Bread in this Sacrament becomes a Savour of Life unto Life unto him That Eating brought him into Slavery This gives him a Title to the glorious Liberty of God's Children In eating that Fruit he thought to be like God and made himself worse than the Beasts that perish By eating of this Bread he is enabled to become like unto the Son of God by being changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory That Eating made him sick This is Health to his Navel and Maerrow to his Bones Prov. 3. 8. That brought the Plague This delivers from it That filled him with Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores This makes his Flesh come again like unto the Flesh of a little Child In a Word By eating God's Favour was forfeited By eating it is regained Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King for the Lord takes pleasure in his People he will
beautifie the Meek with Salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their Beds let them praise the Name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven III. See here how rich a Meal God the Father prepares for our Souls even the crucified Body of his Son Shall we look upon that Celestial Food with dull and careless Thoughts Can we behold this costly Bread and forbear crying out Lord for ever give us that Bread Christian if thou meanest to be saved by the crucified Body of thy Lord thou must needs eat of it Not only thy Mouth must eat the Sacramental Bread and chew it but thy Soul must ascend and employ her self in eating of the crucified Body represented by that Bread Thy Soul thy Mind thy Will thy Affections must have the greatest Share in eating at this Table Thy Body hath little to do here that is only the Chariot that brings thy Soul to this Banquet Thy Soul not being engaged and busie here in Thinking Admiration Resolution Love and Joy the Cringes and Bowings of thy Body will be insignificant The End of our common Eating is Assimilation and in our ordinary Meals we therefore eat Food agreeable to our Bodies that it may be united to our Substance mingle with our Blood and become one with our Bodies So here our Souls must feed on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus that we may become one with him All Creatures may be said to be one with Christ as he is God as he is their Creator in which respect he fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence and is not far from every one of us and in him we live and breath and have our Being Nay in a more particular manner every Professor of Christianity may be said to be one with him as he professes the same Religion which Christ taught his Disciples But this is not the Union aimed at in this Sacrament nor can the Union which respects our Profession only give any great Comfort to a Christian. The Union designed by this Sacrament is effected by the Spirit of Christ Jesus and the Soul that unfeignedly see◠here on the crucified Body of her Master gets the same Spirit that dwelt in her crucified Lord which produces the same Graces in her that shined in that great Shepherd of Souls and the same Mind the same Temper the same Disposition in substance at least though not in the same Degree is effected and produced in her by this Spirit as we see Rem 8. 11. Phil. 2. 5. And this is that Union every true Communicant is to aim at and from hence flows a Communion with Christ in all his Privileges and Glories whereby the Soul is raised up together with Christ and made to sit together with him in Heavenly Places though not by way of actual Enjoyment as yet but by getting a Right and Title to those Privileges as the Apostle informs us Ephes. 2. 6. By feeding on this crucified Body the Soul is nourished and gathers Strength against her spiritual Enemies becomes bold in Temptations resolute in Dangers couragious in spiritual Enterprizes The Soul that comes to feed on this crucified Body and comes not with this Intent comes in vain comes only to stare upon the Cross but not to be refreshed by it The Soul that after the Sacrament yields wilfully to the same Temptations it did before is ensnared by the same sinful Pleasure that ruin'd it before is led Captive by the same Lusts that intangled her before certainly feeds not on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus because the Contemplation of that Crucifixion works no suitable Effects which if it did the Soul would unfeignedly destroy the Body of Sin according to the Apostle's Rule Rom. 6. 6. and offer up her Body a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God as it is said Rom. 12. 1. Make the Body obedient to Reason and Sense to Faith and the Flesh to the Spirit and it would keep under the Body and bring it into Subjection as St. Paul did 1 Cor. 9. 27. i. e. it would deny the Body those Satisfactions which are manifest Hindrances to the Things of the Spirit it would force it to Temperance to Hardships to Industry and Laboriousness in God's Service it would strive and take care that the Body might become a Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 what the Soul doth in this Ordinance would leave such a Sense upon us as would not only enable but constrain us to glorifie God both in Body and Soul as the Scripture requires 1 Cor. 6. 20. These are the blessed Effects of eating the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus And the Soul that feeds on that Body will find these happy Consequences it will not go away empty from this Meal and though for the present it doth not see all these Effects yet there is that Impression made on her by this Eating that these Effects will afterward discover themselves in her Life and Conversation The PRAYER O My God! What Care dost thou take of my immortal Soul that it may not starve Thou hast made large Provision for my Body in the Earth in the Air and in the Water The Earth brings forth Herbs and Roots and Cattel to feed it The Air affords Fowl and Feather'd Creatures to nourish it The Water provides Fish for it But none of all these can satisfie my Soul that must have a spiritual Diet and rather than it shall want thou hast given thine own Son to be her Food O mysterious Love Can I after tbis have low and mean Thoughts of thy Goodness O sweetest Jesu if my Soul feeds not on thee if must die and be separated from thy glorious Presence for ever If it feeds on thee it is made for ever Oh! be thou my most beloved and most delightful Food Thy crucified Body alone can keep my Soul from fainting Thy Death must yield me Life Thy Sufferings must give me Joy Thy Agonies must afford me Comfort Thy Torments must work mine Ease Thy Nails and Thorns must be my Bed of Roses Nothing else can give my Soul Rest. When the Snares of Death and Hell encompass me I will lay hold on these Horns of the Altar here I shall be safe safer than in the Arms of Angels Thou that diedst for me livest for ever to intercede for me and having such an Advocate I may come boldly to the Throne of Grace O let me not survey this glorious Provision made for my Soul with carnal Eyes O let me ponder seriously not with flying and transient but with steady and fixed Thoughts how thou hast favoured how thou hast loved how thou hast dignified this miserable Soul of mine that I may rejoyce in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XII Of remembring Christ in this Sacrament or doing what we do here in remembrance of him The CONTENTS The Death of Christ Jesus the principal thing to be
remembred in this Sacrament What kind of Death it was shewn in four Particulars How this Death is to be remembred The Benefits of this Remembrance laid down Though the Death of Christ be the principal thing that is to be remembred in this Sacrament yet that puts no stop to other Remembrances Christ's Example makes it lawful to preserve the memory of any signal Mercy or Providence we meet with Those that do not remember Christ's Death in this Sacrament do very much forget themselves The remembrance of his Death a Motive to forget the World and the Vanities of it This Remembrance the best Defensative against Sin The Prayer I. AS these words Do this in remembrance of me do necessarily import the Bread in this Sacrament to be a Memorial of Christ's Crucified Body or that which is to put us in mind of it and consequently suppose that Christ's real Body is absent so how Christ is to be remembred here must needs be worth our serious enquiry What Christ calls Doing in remembrance of him the Apostle the best Interpreter of his words stiles Shewing forth his Death 1 Cor. 11. 26. So that his Death is the thing that is to be remembred here by all the Communicants And that this Death is worth our serious remembrance will easily appear if we consider what Death the Death of Christ Jesus was For 1. It was the Death of God According to the Quality of the Person dying so his Death is more or less surprizing hence the Death of a King makes a greater noise in the World than that of a Peasant The Death remembred here is the Death of the King of Kings and though as God he could not dye yet it may truly be said that he that was God did die not in his Godhead but in his Humanity not as dwelling in a Light inaccessible but as dwelling in a Tabernacle of Flesh. Plutarch relates that he had heard his Master Epitherses tells this Story How in the Emperor Tiberius's time under whom Christ suffered intending to Sail into Italy he went aboard of a Ship laden with many Goods and Passengers One Evening coming near certain Islands call'd the Echinades the Wind slackening and the Ship being becalm'd with a slow pace they arriv'd at last at the Isle of Paxae Several of the Seamen and Passengers sitting up that Night and drinking on a suddain from off the Island came a Voice calling to Thamus the Master of the Ship thrice When you are come as far as the Palodes proclaim that the Great PAN is dead The Master and his Company doubtful what to do whether they should do according to the import of the Voice or no resolved at last if the Wind favour'd them to pass by the Palodes and say nothing but if they were becalm'd about that place then to cry as they were directed So sailing on and coming to the place they found themselves strangely becalm'd whereupon Thamus call'd aloud That the Great PAN was dead which words he had no sooner spoken but great Howlings and Sighings and Lamentations were heard By PAN the Heathens meant the God of the Universe or him that rul'd govern'd and influenced all and it 's probable this Voice had relation to Christ Jesus who suffered about that time at Jerusalem and that upon the news of this Death Howlings were heard it 's very likely this noise was made by Fiends and Devils whom the Death of the Son of God filling all in all put into those excesses of consternation and sorrow And lest any Man should object That the Furies of Hell had no reason to mourn at his Death but might rejoyce rather that their great Antagonist was gone it must be noted That they feared the Power and Virtue of that Death such Virtue as in a short time would make all the Powers of Darkness tremble and destroy their Empire When Abner Saul's General was carried to his Grave King David follow'd the Herse and said Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great Man fallen this day in Israel 2 Sam. 3. 38. If such a death as Abner's deserv'd to be taken notice of what must we think of the Death of the Lord Jesus Not a Great Man only but one of whom it was said Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy Hands Heb. 1. 10. How justly is this death remembred by his Followers And what a mixture of Passions Amazement as well as Gladness Trembling as well as rejoycing ought it to cause in all Christian Hearts to think that our God died for us A Captain hath his like a General his Fellow a Prince may be parallel'd with others a King may meet with others of his Rank and Quality but God hath no equal 2. It was the Death of a Person higher than the highest for his Enemies Regulus Codrus Mutius and among the Jews Moses had courage to die for their Country and the good of the People they were related to but still they were their Friends but here a Person ador'd by Angels worshipp'd by all the Host of Heaven the Comfort of Paradise the Joy of Seraphim the Terror of Devils the Lord of Life the Eternal Son of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person dies for Men for Men miserable and wretched for Men that were Sinners for Men that were proper Objects of his Justice for Men that were haters of God acted like Enemies had affronted their Maker Crucified their Redeemer came out against him as against a Thief who took pleasure in trampling on his Laws rejoyced in their Disobedience had made a Covenant with Hell conspired against him who had given them their Being laugh'd on the brink of Destruction were Heirs of Hell and had no other Inheritance but Damnation for such this wonderful Person dies and this makes his death miraculous and astonishing Rom. 5. 8. 3. It 's Death that Nature and all the Elements were confounded at and Heaven and Earth seem'd to be at strife which of them should be most concern'd at it insomuch that we are told of Dionysius the Areopagite the Person mention'd Acts 17. 34. when he was yet under the Clouds of Paganism that beholding the stupendous Eclipse of the Sun which happen'd about the time that the Saviour of the World died brake forth into this memorable saying That certainly either Nature was going to be dissolv'd or the God of Nature suffer'd If ever Nature endur'd a Convulsion-Fit it did now The Sun disdain'd to look upon the barbarity of the Murther and hid his Face that he might not see his Creator die The Earth trembl'd as if it were asham'd to see Men stupid at the dreadful Spectacle The Rocks broke as if they would testifie against the Sinners that could stand under the Cross without broken Hearts The Vail of the Temple was rent as if it would chide the Wretches that could see the
assert God's just Anger against Sin and keep off the fatal blow from Man at once defend God'ds Right and establish Man's Felicity and thereby put the poor miserable Worm in a capacity of becoming Heir to the Riches of God who was an Heir of the Treasures of Wrath and a companion of Blessed Spirits who had deserv'd to howl with Apostate Spirits a Child of Light who was a Son of Darkness and a Servant of Righteousness who was a Slave of Sin I say the Holy Ghost supposes that he that seriously believes all this will think nothing too good for God will not stand out against so great a Mercy will fight no more against so great and so good a Master but will submit to him be ready to run at his Commands give himself up to the Will of so great a Benefactor and will be hearty and sincere in serving him Now the unworthy Receiver being so far from doing this so far from turning to God with all his heart and with all his mind that he refuses the Dominion of God will be a Slave to his Sin still and had rather obey the Devil than this most bountiful Master who hath done so much for him by doing so denies that Christ's Body and Blood was sacrific'd for him for if he believ'd it he could not do as he doth and tho' he may protest by all that 's Good and Sacred that he believes it yet Words and Compliments will not absolve him and if talking were believing no Man that professes Christianity would ever be damn'd What doth a Malefactor's pleading at the Bar that he is not guilty signifie when the Evidences are strong and the Matter of Fact is prov'd against him Belief that doth not touch the Heart or renew the Mind or spiritualize the Affections is mere Infidelity and where this Belief is not to be found the Sinner is accused of denying the Mercy he pretends to believe And to this purpose saith the Apostle They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him Tit. 1. 16. So that the unworthy Receiver i. e. He that receives and yet will not reform whatever his Profession may be in his Actions he denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him and therefore makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 2. He Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of jesting with the Body and Blood of Christ As the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis speak He plays with the most tremendous things for in coming he seems to confess that by the Death of the Son of God his miserable Soul was redeem'd and a Pardon purchas'd for him and the Heavens made to bow to him and the good Will of God procur'd to save him for ever and yet he doth not think all this worth forsaking a sinful Lust or shaking a pleasing Dalilah from his Bosom and what is this but playing with the Body and Blood of Christ Should a Man make a very curious Harangue in commendation of his Neighbour compare him with Salomon for Wisdom with David for Sincerity with Jonathan for Faithfulness with Josiah for Piety for Generosity with Moses for Chastity with Joseph for Patience with Job with St. Paul for Courage with St. Peter for Zeal with Absolom for Beauty with Zacheus for Charity with Abraham for Hospitality nay with Angels for clearness of Understanding and for Purity of Life with Seraphim And when he hath done abuse and reproach him or do that which he cannot but know must be offensive and irksome or prejudicial to him gives the Spectator just occasion to think that all that flanting Panegyric was only a jocular thing design'd rather as an essay of Wit than as any real affection to the Virtues of the commended Party The unworthy Receiver doth in effect the same for his coming to this Sament is a tacit Commendation of Christ's Crucified Body and Blood whereby he seems to applaud the wonderful Works that Christ hath done for him and to proclaim to all the standers by what an Obligation that Death is to mortifie the body of Sin and to be true and faithful to him that did not count his Life dear to do him good and yet having no real purpose within whatever external Declaration he may make to become a new Man but after he hath been at this Table when temptations assault him temptations to his former sins yields to them as easily as ever plainly declares he was in jest when he seem'd to magnifie this Munificence of his Saviour and from hence it must follow that he is guilty of playing with the Body and Blood of Christ. 3 He that Eats and Drinks unworthily seems to wish that Christ may dye again and upon that account is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord for in that Christ's Death is not efficacious to pull down the strong holds of Sin in him or rather in that he will not let that death prevail with him to the mortifying of his sinful Lusts he seems to wish for an iteration of that Death which may be more powerful and have a greater influence upon the destruction of his Sin It is a Declaration as it were that the Death of Christ as the case stands doth no good upon him and therefore since the Death of the Son of God must be the means to break the power of Sin in him he stands in need of another death of that Saviour which may do greater miracles upon his Soul or sinful Temper Christ's Death indeed must break the reigning power of Sin but then a Person in whom this effect is to be wrought must apply that Death think upon it warm his Heart with the Consideration of it ruminate upon the Motives of it and upon the greatness of his own Sin that occasioned it and upon the vast Advantages that flow from that Death and be restless with God to make it effectual to his Soul For to think that this Death will do the work without our Labour or Industry or pondering the weight and moment of it is to imagine that God will deal with us as with Brutes that have no understanding As Christ died once in the end of the World so his Death spreads his Virtue to all Penitents from the beginning to the end of the World But wherever it works a serious Reformation it must be improv'd by Faith and Thoughts and Prayer and Contemplation and should Christ dye a thousand times if these means be neglected his dying so often would signifie little to the inconsiderate Spectator This is the monstrous Fancy of some Men that they hope the Mysteries of Religion will or must change their Hearts without any trouble of their own which Conceit must needs make them contemptible in the sight of an All-wise God who sees them neglect the Powers and Faculties he hath given them The unworthy Receiver therefore finding no good by this Death of the Lord Jesus for it makes no alteration in his
Life for the better looks as it were for a new Sacrifice for Sin and since he will not be purged from his known Sins by the Blood of Jesus which hath been already spilt if he hath any hopes of being purified from his Sin in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness seems to desire a more effectual Death of that great Mediator which may against his Will drag him away from his sinful courses and thereby would have Christ suffer and be kill'd again and consequently makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 4. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily kills the Lord Jesus You will say This is impossible Christ being in Heaven and incapable of any such Act of Violence No more could Saul if you understand it according to the Letter persecute him after he was glorified yet the voice that came to him in his way to Damascus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. â— 4. The same may be said of an unworthy Receiver he cannot strictly speaking kill the Lord Jesus yet being unwilling to venture upon a change of Life under all the Abjurations of a bleeding Redeemer that stubborness is Death to Christ as God said to the Jews Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorssh Heart So may the Saviour of the World cry to the Communicant that comes to remember his Death and will not die to his known Sins Thou piercest thou woundest thou killest me by thy obstinate and refractory temper as we say of a tender Father that the ill course his disobedient Son takes is death to him because it is as grievous to him as if one should attempt to take away his Life The unworthy Receiver by being loth to conform to the Rules of the Gospel in his Practices even while he beholds as it were Christ Crucified for his Sins does an Act so unworthy so disrespectful so injurious that it is as much as if he made attempts upon his Life nay he kills the preventing Grace Christ affords him and slays the good motions whereby Christ lives in him Christ is said to be in us as we are Christians and the unworthy Receiver being desirous and willing to maintain and keep his darling Sins doth thereby drive Christ out of his Heart and kill him in his own Soul for Christ and Love to a sinful Life are inconsistent and incompatible things These destroy his Life in the Soul and therefore in this Sense also the unworthy Receiver makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 5. He that eats and drinks unworthily consents to the Murther the Jews were guilty of when they killed the Lord of Life and approves of that barbarous and inhumane Act and therefore is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He is supposed to consent to that Murther that is not sorry for if And how can he be sorry for it that is not sorry for his Sins which were the principal Cause of it The unworthy Receiver being supposed to be one that doth not heartily shake hands with a sinful Life and is loth so to renounce his known Sins as to tear them from his Heart we cannot imagine that he is heartily sorry for them for his Sorrow hath not those Effects which Godly Sorrow is said to have 2 Cor. 7. 11. For this same thing when ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation against Sin Yea what Fear i. e. of offending God! Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge The Tree is known by its Fruits And if Sorrow for Sin must be discovered by such Effects and these Effects appear not in the Communicant as he cannot be thought to eat and drink worthily so in not being sorry for his Sins he doth not appear sorry for the Murther the Jews committed upon the Body of our Saviour his Sins being the Cause of that Murther And doth not this look like Consent or Approbation of that Murther You will say How can any Man be sorry for Christ's Death when that Death is our greatest Comfort and what Consolations the pious Soul feels it feels by virtue of that Death Shall a Man be sorry for that which God had ordain'd appointed and design'd for the Relief and Redress of our Misery If Christ had not died we had been ever wretched and unhappy and must have looked for no Friendship from above and therefore to charge Men with being guilty of his Death because they are not sorry for it seems to be both against Scripture and Reason Is any Man sorry for a Treasure he finds in the Field Or sorry for an Estate that falls to him by the Decease of a Relation Or sorry for an Act of Oblivion which a gracious Prince imparts to Offenders whereof himself is the Principal But to this the Answer is very easie for the Benefit of Christ's Death and the Mercy God intended Mankind by it must be carefully distinguished from the Instrumental Causes whereby Christ was brought to his Death which were partly our Sins and the barbarous Cruelty of the Jews The Benefit that came by the Death of Christ a Christian most certainly ought not to be sorry for but hath reason to rejoyce in Day and Night But that he was so inhumanely murther'd by the Jews and that our Sins were such abominable things in the Sight of God that to expiate them God was moved to give up his own Son to the lawless Rage of those cruel Enemies this requires our Grief and Sorrow That the Jews did commit a very heinous Sin in crucifying Christ is evident from St. Peter's Discourse or Sermon to the Murtherers Act. 3. 17 18 19. For though God hath decreed that Death as an Expedient to reconcile Man to himself and decreed not to hinder the Jews in pursuing their wicked Designs and Purposes but to make that Death an Antidote against Everlasting Death yet that doth not excuse the Jews from the Guilt of Sin in killing of him whose Cruelty God was resolved to turn to the Good of all true Penitents and sincere Believers nor a Christian from an hearty Sorrow that his Sins were the deserving Cause of it So that a Christian may at once rejoyce in Christ's Death and be sorry for it rejoyce in the unspeakable Mercies procured by it and be sorry that those stubborn Wretches did with that Cruelty dispatch him or rather that his Sins did arm those desperate Sinners to put the Lord of Life to death for the Jews could have had no power to murther him but that the Sins of Mankind crying aloud for Vengeance enabled them and gave them Strength and ministred Occasion to do it So that he that is not heartily sorry for his Sins is not heartily sorry that the Jews did murther him and therefore the unworthy Receiver not being heartily sorry for the Sins he hath lived in consents to that Murther of the Jews and upon
be conveyed to us in this Ordinance without a due Contrition and Endeavours to tread in our Master's Steps we may easily infer that we were unworthy Receivers and that among other Causes of our Sickness this is one and the principal too even our unworthy and irreverent Feeding at the Lord's Table 2. Is any sick among you Let him send for the Elders of the Church saith St. James Chap. 5. Vers. 14. In the Primitive Church the sick Person especially he that was doubtful of his Spiritual Condition sent for Seven Ministers or Presbyters of the Church as so many Physicians to consult about the State of his Soul before whom he faithfully spread his Case giving them as candid an Account of himself as he could and so left it to them to judge and give Sentence in his Cause And this also is a very rational Way to come to a satisfactory Knowledge whether the present Sickness proceed from unworthy Communicating or not And therefore he that falls sick after he hath been at the Lord's Table let him send for a faithful Guide and Director and impartially signifie and reveal to him the Constitution of his Soul what it hath been and what it is and the Actions of his Life the manner of his Worship in publick and private and how and which way he used to address himself to God what his Thoughts and Preparations were when he used to go to the Table of the Lord what he felt after Receiving whether it left an Awe upon his Spirit a Fear desiring his own Soul what his Design was in Receiving and how far he closed with God And a pious judicious Divine may be very helpful to the sick Person to direct instruct and inform him whether the Sickness be an Effect of his unworthy Receiving or not And lest any should cavil here and object What matter is it whether a Man know the Occasion of his Sickness and what it was that brought it upon him I shall offer by way of Answer these few Particulars 1. If there were nothing but Curiosity in the Case something might be said for a Man's being so inquisitive In Natural Causes of Distempers Men think no Curiosity great enough and if either we our selves or Children or Relations fall sick common Curiosity tempts us to ask the Physician what he thinks the Cause of our Illness is nay if the Cause be unknown both to our selves and others we have very often the Curiosity to have the Body of a Friend or Child open'd to know the Cause And why People should not be as curious in Spiritual Things as they are in Natural I know no Reason The Providences of God and his Designs in the various Accidents that befall us certainly deserve our Curiosity and Inquisitiveness much more than things of an inferior Nature Nor is it impossible to find out the particular Cause why God sends such a Sickness upon certain Persons when himself hath declared in his Word in what Cases and upon what Provocations he will send it 2. If the Sickness be found to be a Consequence or Effect of unworthy Receiving this helps to strengthen our Faith in the Promises and Threatnings of God and finding that what the Apostle hath said so many Hundred Years agone comes to pass still this is a very strong Argument that he spake by the Spirit of God and a Motive to admire the Veracity of God and Encouragement to believe the other Promises and Threatnings of the Word of God Nothing is a greater Confirmation of Faith than Experience and he that hath seen the things the Scripture speaks very frequently accomplished hath enough to turn his Faith into a full Assurance 3. If the unworthy Receiver knows that it is his Sin committed in the holy Sacrament that hath brought the present Sickness upon him if after that he recovers and escapes it will be an Obligation upon him to come to it with greater Circumspection For he that hath suffered in the Flesh saith St. Peter hath ceased from Sin 1 Pet. 4. 1. And therefore having suffered for his unworthy Receiving that Suffering will make him weary of his Sin which he cannot be except he comes for the future and draws near with a pure Heart holding fast the Profession of the Faith without wavering as it is said Heb. 10. 22 23. But IV. While we are discoursing of this particular Judgment another Doubt arises viz. How Sickness of the Body and an untimely Death can be said to be inflicted for unworthy Receiving when we see even the most worthy Receivers sicken and grow weak and die young many times in the Prime and Flower of their Age And nothing is more vulgarly known than that Sickness and Death are nothiâ—g but the Product of Natural Causes I answer 1. Though even very excellent Christians who may be supposed to have been very penitent and worthy Receivers ever since they frequented the Ordinances of God with any Sense and Understanding though even such do sicken and many times die suddenly and in the midst of their Race yet that proceeds from other Causes And these Accidents are either Trials of their Faith and Patience or Preparatives for Heaven or Preservatives from Sin or Occasions to glorifie God or Opportunities to promote the Honour of Religion or Chastisements for some rash and imprudent Actions to prevent their being condemned with the World According to which Rule we are to judge of the untimely Death of that Prophet 1 Reg. 13. 24. who cried against the Altar of Bethel A good Man no doubt but being persuaded by the crafty old Prophet who pretended a Counter-Inspiration he went back and ate Bread in the place against which he was warned for which imprudent Act a Lion found him and slew him And such was the Death of Uzzah 2 Sam. 6. 7. who out of a good intent put forth his Hand to uphold the Ark that was in danger of falling the Oxen that drew the Cart shaking it For which God struck him dead upon the place And this was the Case of Josiah a Man noted for his singular Piety yet going up rashly against Pharaoh Necho was killed in Battel though according to the Course of Nature he might have lived many Years longer Thus God chastised the impremeditated Errours of his Servants in this Life that they might not fall a Prey to the greater Condemnation hereafter One and the same Effect may have very different Causes and the Reasons of Things that happen in the World are various The same thing may be a Mercy to one which is a Judgment to another as the Pillar of a Cloud Exod. 14. 19 20. was Darkness to the Egyptians and Light to the Israelites And the Meat sent to Elijah was a Character of God's Love whereas that sent to the Israelites upon their murmuring was a Fore-runner of his Wrath and Anger And this may be applied to Sickness and Untimely Death In the unworthy Receiver it is a Punishment in the Worthy a
they help to prepare thy Soul for the Possession of that Inheritance which shall last for ever III. Worthy Receiving of the Lord's Supper is the best Preparative for Death No Man can die uncomfortably that makes it his Business as often as he comes to this Table to receive worthily Death cannot hurt him let it be natural or violent untimely or orderly for by this worthy Receiving he hath laid up a good Foundation against the Time to come Death may destroy his Body but cannot kill the Soul Death may fright him but it cannot undo him It may dis-lodge his Spirit but it drives it to a nobler Habitation It may expel the Guest but it gives him a Title to a better Building His worthy Receiving gives him an Interest in Christ's Death and because Christ lives he shall live also Death may come blustering and make a Noise but in that Whirlwind his Soul rides to Heaven Let his Death come by Sword or Famine or Torment or Fire or Water it makes no Alteration in his Happiness To him to live is Christ and die Gain And he knows who hath said I am the Resurrection and the Life The worthy Receiver never dies for he lives in Christ who abides for ever Christ will not suffer that Soul to perish in which he hath been pleased to make his Habitation He is concern'd to secure her Happiness and his Eyes are open upon her to do her good Her worthy Receiving arms her against the Fears of Death and scatters the Mists which Death doth cast before her Eyes Receiving worthily makes the Soul a sit Habitation for the Spirit of God and If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you Rom. 8. 11. IV. As the unworthy Receiver when Sickness or some other heavy Judgment lights upon him hath reason to believe that it is for his unworthy Receiving so he that wilfully neglects coming to this holy Sacrament may very justly conclude that all the Troubles and Miseries that befall him do in a great measure befall him for that Neglect 'T is hard to determine which is the greater Sin whether Receiving unworthily or not Receiving at all both will admit of great Aggravations And as these Sins are in a manner equal so it is not irrational to conclude that the Judgments threatned to the one may be inflicted for the other too As the Jews say of the Golden Calf that an Ounce of that Sin is an Ingredient into all the Calamities that came upon them so there is not a Cross that the wilful Neglecter of this Sacrament feels or endures but he hath reason to think that this Neglect contributes towards it and all his Miseries call to him though he will not hear the Voice not to neglect so great Salvation and if all these Calls cannot awaken him into a Sense of his Duty how must his Reckoning swell and how inexcusable must he be whom neither the still Voice of Prosperity nor the shriller Sound of Adversity can convince Take eat this is my Body and Drink ye all of this is a Duty as much as doing by others the same that we would have others to do us It will appear and be made out one Day that this was not an Evangelical Counsel only which the more Religious Sort that are ambitious of the highest Place in Heaven need only mind if they please It was said to all the Disciples that represented the Church-Militant And if thou professest thy self a Member of that Church thou art no more excused from the Performance of it than thou art from coming to Church and attending the other Ordinances of God But if these Motives cannot prevail God hath Enforcives which shall but from these Good Lord deliver us The PRAYER O God! When thou with Rebukes dost chasten Man for Iniquity thou makest his Beauty to consume away like a Moth Hear my Prayer O Lord and give ear unto my Cry hold not thy Peace at my Tears Oh let the Afflictions which have befallen me and which thou shalt hereafter think fit to send upon me help towards the strengthening of my Faith in Christ Jesus Thou hast sometimes laid thy Hand upon me thy Afflicting Hand and I have taken no notice of it Thou hast smitten me and I have not looked up to Heaven from whence the Stroak did come Thou hast corrected me and I have not been the better for it I have been like a Beast before thee so foolish was I and ignorant Oh teach thou me Let me read my Duty in my Crosses And whatever Trouble comes upon me let that Trouble direct me to the Cross of my dear Master the Lord Jesus Enlarge my Contemplations of the Cross of Christ by the Crosses that knock at my Door Let these make me more zealous to participate of the Benefits of the Cross of Christ. In these Crosses and Troubles let me find Motives to come with greater Seriousness to the Table of my crucified Redeemer Let these prompt me to run to the Tree which yields the Fruit of Righteousness Let not these discourage me from loving thee but rather inflame my Affections to make thee my Hope and Fortress my Light and my Salvation Let me look upon the Joy that all my Troubles will at last end in and take Comfort in all my Tribulations Imprint this Belief upon my Soul that thou knowest better what is good for me than my Carnal Heart I am apt to hanker after the Flesh-pots of Egypt but let me see the richer Table in thy Kingdom I am apt to be fond of these outward Comforts Oh quench my Thrist after them Let me see clearly that to feed on thy Love is better Diet than this Earth affords Give me thy Peace not as the World gives but as thou usest to give thine own People Oh! give me what I want Thou knowest my Necessities better than I. Give me better things than my Flesh desires even those which may preâ—erve me by thy Power through Faith unto Salvation through Jesus Cheist our Lord. Amen CHAP. XX. Of Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death the Second Temporal Judgment inflicted sometime on the Unworthy Receivers of this holy Sacrament The CONTENTS The Eucharist a Cure for all Diseases yet many continue weak and sick after it The Cause shewn to be in themselves The Signs of Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death God inflicts these Spiritual Judgments upon Unworthy Receivers by degrees The Justice of it vindicated in four Particulars Spiritual Weakness and Sickness proved to be a greater Judgment than the Corporal Of the End of our Eating and Drinking worthily at this Table which is Spiritual Health and wherein that consists Spiritual Judgments more common than Men think or suspect Our Souls are capable of Diseases as well as our Bodies Several Instances and Proofs given of it The Cure of Spiritual Weakness
none but general Gifts so even these upon his Abuse and misemploying of them are gradually removed as Men take meat and victuals away from insolent Beggars that throw their Gift upon a Dunghil and as a charitable Pension is withdrawn when we find that the Party which enjoy'd it spends it in Ale-houses and Taverns or in Play 2. By a gradual permitting the Devil to exercise his Power and Jurisdiction upon them God doth not very frequently suffer the Enemy to fly upon the Offender with all his force or to ruin him at once but he lengthens his Chain by degrees to see whether the Sinner will yet give himself leave to think and attempt to be freed from that intolerable Yoak and Slavery but that tenderness and patience of Almighty God becoming fruitless and ineffectual the Judge gives the Executioner greater liberty to darken his Mind to pervert his Will and to sear his Conscience Time was when but one Devil was permitted to Tyrannize over him but if instead of being angry and displeas'd at that single foe the unworthy Communicant embraces and makes him his friend then that Devil takes with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first saith Christ Matth. 12. 45. Nor is there any thing of injustice in these proceedings of God For 1. It is nothing but Lex Talionis a just Retaliation a Rule whereby God ordinarily governs himself in the execution of his Judgements Hâ—s 6. 4. He tells Judah and Ephraim Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it passes away The Judgment therefore is made proportionable Hos. 13. 3. Therefore they shall be as the Morning Cloud and as the early Dew that passes away so here the Sin is spiritual the Judgment is so too The unworthy Receiver wrongs his own Soul and in his Soul the marks of God's Wrath appear 2. God in this case doth no more than what we our selves do and think our selves very reasonable and just for doing so A Father reduces his spend-thrift Son to a smaller Allowance and the ground that will not bear any thing after a world of Toil we Dung and Dig and Manure no more In this manner and for Reasons â—ike these God withdraws his Holy Spirit from the unworthy Receiver 3. As the Devil is God's Minister of Justice his Jaylor and Hangman so he may justly make use of him to judge and lash the unworthy Receiver the rather because he wilfully hearkens to the base suggestions of his sworn Enemy and who finds fault with a Prince or Magistrate for sending an Executioner to behead or hang those that have committed Treason or conspired against their lawful Sovereign 4. That God doth gradually send this Spiritual Judgment upon unworthy Receivers this speaks his Goodness Compassion and Patience and shews how loth he is to give up Ephraim how loth he is to deliver up Israel to the rage of the Enemy how loth he is to make them as Admah and to set them as Zeboim so that there is Charity mingled with the Justice and in the midst of his Anger he remembers Mercy IV. And this will give us occasion to enquire which of these two Judgments is greater the Temporal or the Spiritual And here if we consider the mischief done by them we must conclude and assert that the Spiritual is greater For 1. Pain and sickness of Body may yet bring a Man or drive a Man to a true Repentance and a sight of the Errors of his ways as we proved in the foregoing Chapter but this Spiritual Weakness makes the way and passage to Repentance more difficult and the more any thing doth hinder a Man from Repentance the more dangerous it is Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death supposes that the faculties which should be chiefly employed in the product of Repentance are out of order and violated such as the Understanding the Will and the Affections Bodily Sickness very often puts these into a new fermentation and a strong desire after Spiritual Things But when the very Tools whereby the Soul is to work are blunt and their edge rebated or are become rusty and useless the work is very likely to be left undone If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness saith our Saviour Matth. 5. 23. 2. The Spiritual Judgment is the more dangerous because it is less perceiv'd and taken notice of than Bodily sickness If a Man feel the smart and pain of his Wounds and Sores they oblige him to seek out for a Physician for Remedy for Counsel and Advice and so we find it is for the most part with all Diseases of the Body which cause anguish and grief and great inconvenience and disorder in the Body yet among these various distempers some there are where the poison creeps along in the secret parts and Men perceive it not till it seizes upon the Vitals invades the very Heart and tolls the Bell for Death and these we count the most dangerous Of this nature is Spiritual sickness and weakness It leaves the Body in the same temper it found it in causes no prickings in the Back no stitches in the side no disturbance in the Head It lets Men eat and drink and sleep and walk and do their business and as to the outward Man they feel no inconvenience which makes them think that they have nothing of a distemper about them that all is safe and they ail nothing For this Spiritual sickness cannot be perceiv'd without Thinking and Self-examination which being neglected Men feel it not whence it comes to pass that it spreads insensibly in the dark while Men are asleep and by degrees corrupts the Soul till all its goodness be consumed and consequently this Spiritual Judgment is greater than the Corporal 3. The Spiritual Judgment is a sign of God's greater anger too and though it will not enter into the thoughts of a sensual Man that it is so or that any thing can be a sign of God's Anger but what relates to losses and disappointments and crosses in the outward Man and in the World yet enlighten'd Souls have ever look'd upon Spiritual sickness and Death as a sign of God's heavier wrath and indignation because in this case God doth as it were let Men alone leaves them to themselves and his not punishing of them with Bodily troubles looks like an aversion from their Persons and so much we may guess from what we read Hos. 4. 14 17. The Preceding Considerations reduced into farther Practice I IF Christ and his Apostles press Eating and Drinking worthily at this Table it is because they would have our Souls be in perfect health and they are then in perfect health when they rejoyce in the Lord always Thomas Aquinas upon that saying Cant. 1. 13. A bundle of Myrrhe is my well-beloved unto me observes that as Myrrhe preserves Bodies from
some farther Prospect than this present Life and that he uses the Word not only to terrifie the unworthy Receiver with Sickness and Weakness of the Body and a Spiritual and Temporal Judgment but at the same time bids him take heed that in case any of the former doth not for Reasons best known to Providence light upon him or in case the Thoughts of the former do not work upon him and transform him into a better Man he doth not run himself into Hell-Fire and Eternal Misery It is plainly to tell him that since the Word includes both Judgments Temporal and Eternal he hath no reason to flatter himself that it will be only a Temporal judgment but may justly fear he shall in our God's Everlasting Indignation And therefore our Church retains both Significations of the Word in her Exhortation before the Sacrament So is the Danger great if we Receive the same unworthily for then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour we Eat and Drink our own Damnation not considering the Lord's Body we kindle God's Wrath against us we provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death II. How an unworthy Communicant eats and drinks Damnation to himself is the next thing we are to explain And this he doth this following Way 1. He makes himself obnoxious to the fierce Anger of the Judge that is to decide the Controversie of his Life and Death to all Eternity and this Judge is the Son of God Christ Jesus who hath protested that Not every one who saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven and therefore will say unto them in the last Day I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And there is nothing more certain than that the unworthy Receiver is resolved not to do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven whose Will is that Men should honour the Son as they do the Father Joh. 5. 23. i. e. believe in him as they do in the Father and come to this Sacrament like Persons redeemed from their vain Conversation resolved to war against the Lusts of the Flesh like Soldiers of the Cross and to remember the Death of the Son of God here with that Respect and Devotion they owe to God resolved to live and die with him like Persons who have listed themselves under his Colours with an Intent to fight against his Enemies and to take heed they do not dishonour the Son of God by an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the Living God This is the Will of God and since Christ the Judge of the World is the Person appointed to examine whether this Will of God hath been obeyed the unworthy Receiver dying in Impenitence and coming before him and it appearing that he hath nothing less than the Will of God professed indeed that he would do it pretended Service and Obedience to him and yet done his own Will though exhorted and moved to do the Will of God by numberless Arguments Arguments big with the greatest Charms what can his Obstinacy cause but Anger in the Judge Anger implacable since he would continue dead and unconcerned under the lively Oracles of Heaven and under the most lively Representations of the Love of God The Effect of which Anger is the Sentence of Everlasting Condemnation Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire c. Matth. 25. 41. And for this Reason the Psalmist calls to all Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the right Way when his Anger shall be kindled but a little Psal 2. 11. 2. He puts himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Sinners are in to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever And that State and Condition is Wilful Disobedience to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Consequence of this State is St. Paul explains 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power And that this is the unworthy Receiver's Condition is manifest from hence because he knows not God i. e. he will not know him nor obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He might know that God is an holy God and hath called him to Holiness and is not to be put off with blind lame and slovenly Devotion and yet he will not nor doth he obey the Gospel which obliges him by virtue of the Grace of God appearing to all Men to renounce Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. This Ungodliness and these Worldly Lusts he retains and cherishes and makes much of notwithstanding his coming to the Lord's Table and so putting himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Men are no wonder if he makes himself liable to the same Damnation 3. He makes himself fit Company for the Damned and the Sufferers in Hell Those that are in that miserable State did as he doth and he doth as they did They suffer'd the Profits and Pleasures of the World to justle out a serious Sense of Religion so doth the unworthy Receiver They had a Form of Godliness and denied the Power thereof so doth he They some of them at least came to this Sacrament with unmortified Lusts with unsubdued Passions of Anger and Pride and with ungovernable Desires after the World and had no real Intent to become Proselytes of Righteousness so doth he They did not think that the holy Sacrament was such an Inforcive to a Change of Life as Divines talked of so doth he They made no great matter of this Ordinance but thought it expedient to comply with the Custom of the Country and the Usages of the Church they lived in and that was all and so doth he They made nothing of promising and breaking their solemn Promises to God no more doth he And being like them in Manners no wonder if he be like them in Torments too Being their Companion in their Sins 't is just he should be a Companion with them in their Misery Having been their Associate in Hypocrisie 't is fit he should have his Portion with Hypocrites III. But here the Sinner I know will be apt to clamour and say What Justice can there be in it that God for eating a Piece of Bread and for drinking a few Drops of Wine irreverently and unworthily without observing some Punctilio's and Nicer Rules of Divinity should inflict Eternal Damnation upon a poor Creature To which I answer 1. Every supreme and absolute Law-giver hath liberty to set what Penalties he thinks fit upon the Breaches of his Law If he will appoint a Punishment that is very dreadful for a certain
Offence the Interest of the Subject is to keep the Law not to quarrel with the Sanction At this rate a Man might plead What great matter is there in opening a Window at Night to get into an House to steal some small inconsiderable thing in the House And shall this be made Felony without Benefit of the Clergy All wise Law-givers have their Reason why they inflict severe Penalties upon Offenders and 't is fit that an Infinite Majesty should both threaten and appoint Punishments suitable to his Grandeur Where the Law and the Sanction of it is sufficiently known Men do not accuse the Law-giver of of Cruelty if the Offender runs himself into Danger but rather blame the senseless and foolish Man who knowing the Severity of the Sanction might have easily denied himself in his sinful Purchase and secured his Life and Welfare And the less the Fault is for which a severe Punishment is appointed the more easily might it have been avoided and not to avoid it when the Forbearance was so easie is an Argument of strange Presumption so that the Contempt and Presumption are so severely punished and not the Fault it self Let us apply this to the Case in hand The Supreme Law-giver thinks fit to inflict Damnation on the unworthy Receiver Either this unworthy Receiving is a very littâ—e Sin or a very great one If a great one the Punishment cannot be thought too great for it is proportion'd to the Greatness of the Authority which is despised and to the infinite and incomprehensible Mercy which is slighted not to mention that unworthy Receiving is a Complication of many Sins and more than one go into the Composition If it be little it is more easily shunned and then the Presumption comes to be very great and that Presumption is justly punished with great Severity Besides Who can judge so well of the Contempt and the heinousness of it as he that knows all things and can best judge how great the Indignity is which is offered to God in the Sin Nay the Greatness of the Penalty discovers the Greatness of the Impiety the Foulness of the Crime the deep Dye of the Transgression and the dangerous Tendency of the Offence A Christian from the Greatness of the Penalty is to conclude there must be more in the Sin than appears to his Eyes and to infer that if the Offence were not greater than ordinary so severe a Penalty would not have been laid upon it So that at the same time the Greatness of the Punishment serves to fright the Sinner from continuing in his Sin against he comes next to the Table of the Lord and is a strong Engagement to him to take nobler Resolutions to come with greater Reverence and with better Purposes that he may escape Damnation 2. That which makes the Penalty just is the Reason the Apostle gives 1 Cor. 11. 29. Because he discerns not the Lord's Body And what is it not to discern the Lord's Body 1. The unworthy Receiver discerns not that the Bread and Wine in this Ordinance set apart for an holy Use and consecrated by the Words of Institution represents the Body and Blood of the Son of God Which Consideration should over-awe him into the greatest Reverence and Devotion He considers not that by laying his Hands upon the Body of the Son of God he vows Faith and Allegiance to him and therefore refusing that Faith and Allegiance in his Actions is supposed to look upon that Bread as common which God hath made representative of the greatest Mystery He considers not that by eating of this Bread his Soul at the same time pretends to feed on the Body of Jesus Christ and to apply the Mercies and Benefits of his Death whereby he brings himself under an Obligation to live as a Member of Christ's Mystical Body not according to the Lusts of the Flesh but according to the Will of him that bought him at so great a Price And being at the same time unresolved to do so he mocks the Lord Jesus Christ and plays with Vows made in a place where Angels give their Attendance 2. He discerns not he considers not what it is for God to take a Body upon him for a poor Sinner's sake to redeem him from Damnation For God to take a Body upon him is a thing so astonishing so miraculous that if the greatest Prince of the World should voluntarily make himself a Beggar and wallow in Dirt and Slime to deliver a Slave out of Prison in a Foreign Country it is not so much nor a thing of that great Consequence For God to take a Body upon him that he might die for the Sinner and make him capable of inheriting Everlasting Bliss is a Mercy which runs so high that Reason is at a loss and it is enough to make the Mind grow giddy at the Consideration and consequently it is so great an Engagement to devote our selves to the Service of that God who hath done this that no Obligation can be thought greater or more likely to prevail with Men of Common Sense and Ingenuity And therefore for the unworthy Receiver not to discern or consider this must be a Contempt that is without a Parallel 3. He considers not that it is the Body of his Lord and Master that is present in the Figure in this Ordinance even the Body of that Lord whose Servant he is and owns himself to be He discerns not that in eating of the holy Bread he acknowledges Christ Jesus to be his Lord and Master at whose Beck he means to run by whose Command he intends to act and by whose Will he designs to be ruled So that the unworthy Receiver runs himself into strange Contradictions He acknowledges at the Receiving of the Eucharist that Christ is his Lord and Master and yet is not willing to be govern'd by his Laws his Lust and sinful Desires still continue his Masters the Devil is still his Master the World is still his Master and Sin still reigns in his Mortal Body Christ is only his Master in shew these in good earnest he in Complement these in sober Sadness And when this Contempt hath all these Aggravations in it who can complain that God is unjust in inflicting Damnation on the unworthy Receiver if he turns not IV. But still they were only the prophane Corinthinians against whom this Judgment is denounced Men who came drunk to this holy Sacrament And since no Body in this Age can be presumed or supposed to come in such a Posture to this Sacrament why should the Penalty mentioned by St. Paul be enforced upon Men now living who are not guilty of the same Sin and in no possibility almost of committing it i. e. of coming drunk and disguised to the Lord's Table To which I answer 1. Not to mention that Whatever things are written afore-time are written for our Learning 't is a great Mistake that the Apostle restrains the Penalty to being drunk with Wine or any other
hast thou had of thine own Worth And how hast thou undervalued the Man or Woman that have had to no other Crime but Poverty Thou hast thought thy Inferiors scarce worth talking to How unlike thy Redeemer is this Pride and Haughtiness Were Grace an Inhabitant of thy Heart what low Thoughts wouldst thou have of thy self How readily wouldst thou converse even with the meanest Saint How wouldst thou learn to esteem Men more for their Holiness than for their Riches And how lovely would a Creature that hath the Image of God upon him look in thine Eyes Far more lovely than the greatest Monarch or Lady that have nothing to recommend them but their outward Splendor 15. And he said unto them With Desire I have desired to eat this Passover before I suffer HOW doth God long for our Happiness How fervent are his Desires to do us good Yet how little have these Longings prevailed with thee O my Soul Notwithstanding all these Desires of God to make thee happy how hast thou longed after the muddy Waters of Sensual Pleasures Nay longed to be for ever miserable when in despight of his Intreaties not to neglect so great Salvation thou hast longed for the stolen Waters of sinful Delights coveted Death and been enamoured with Destruction How hath God intreated thee to close with him upon his own Terms and how hast thou grieved him with thy Refusal How hath the Almighty beseeched thee by his Ambassadors to be reconciled to him and yet thou hast stood out and baffled the Stratagems of Mercy 16. For I say unto you I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God CHrist rejoyces that the Shadows are at an end and that the Substance or Antitype is approaching for as the Passover was a Sign of the Jews Deliverance from Egyptian Bondage so that Deliverance was a Shadow or Emblem of our Deliverance from Sin here and our Exemption from all Misery and Trouble in Heaven which was now to be effected by the Death of Christ. But O my Soul how hast thou hunted after Shadows and left the Substance unregarded What are the Glories of this World but mere Shews Yet how fond art thou of them and how strangely hast thou been enamoured with them These Shadows intimate that there are more substantial Glories in the Everlasting Mansions yet these thou passest by and the other thou art delighted with See how thou dotest on those painted Coronets those Butter-flies those Airy Nothings while with the Cock in the Fable thou tramplest on the Pearl even on the Pearl of Price to purchase which the Spiritual Merchant in the Gospel sold all he had 17. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves HOW thankful is our Great Mediator for every Mercy he received from his Everlasting Father Yet how ungrateful hast thou been O my Soul to thy mighty Benefactor What Mercies hast thou received at his Hands and what strange Returns hast thou made for them Thy God hath been kind to thee and thou hast been base and unworthy How hast thou fed on his Blessings and ascribed them to thy Wisdom and Industry How hast thou lived upon his Charity and spurned at his Laws Foolish Creature Dost thou thus reward the Lord thy God Thou shouldest not eat a bit but send some Thanksgiving-Ejaculations to Heaven yet thou contentest thy self with a careless Grace and never thinkest more afterward of God How little dost thou mind the Providences that are sent upon thee And while thou considerest not the Operations of God's Hands how canst thou be thankful 18. For I say unto you I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine until the Kingdom of God shall come INdeed Heaven hath the best and choicest Wine even the Wine of Angels This Wine is the ravishing Love of God This transports the Understanding and wraps up the Intellect in Extasies of Joy and Comfort A brutish Man knows not this neither doth a Fool understand it And hath not this been thy Case O my Soul How weary hast thou been of thinking of this Banquet How soon have thy Spirits tired with meditating of that Love How ready hast thou been to think of the World and the last Night's Revel and how backward to reflect on this richer Entertainment What a Weariness hath it been to thee to survey these Glories to walk about that Jerusalem and to behold the Towers and Bulwarks of it 19. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me HEre begins the happy Institution of the holy Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood and the great Command to remember the Death of Jesus and together with that an Item of the greatest Love that can be shewn to poor Mortals Yet how backward O my Soul hast thou been sometimes to come to this holy Sacrament Thou should'st have longed for an Opportunity to remember this Death with the People of God What is this Bread but an Emblem of the Communion of Saints and a Representation of thy Communion with the Great Head the Lord Jesus Yet how little Delight hast thou taken in this Ordinance How often hast thou come out of Formality only How little have thine Affections been moved with that stupendous Love Either Sin or Malice to thy Neighbour or some Worldly Trouble hath made thee stay away The Thoughts of this Love should have thrown down all thy Strong Holds of Iniquity and left thee in a calm holy spiritual Temper But how hast thou preferred thy little Concerns in the World before this Feast And what Hazards hast thou run of being doomed to a Spiritual Famine as those Guests against whom the Master of the Feast protested that they should never taste of his Supper 20. Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying this Cup is the New Testament of my Blood which is shed for you AT how dear a rate was the remission of our sins purchased The Blood of the Son of God was the Price Greater Love hath no Man shewn than that he lay down his life for his Friends but here is one that laid it down for his Enemies that they may be pardoned How hast thou looked upon this pardon O my Soul sometimes without standing amazed at the height and breadth and depth and length of the love of God! How cold hast thou been in thy desires after this precious Blood Thou should'st have stood under the Cross waiting for the drops that trickled down But the familiarity of the joyful news of it alas hath too often wrought in thee a dis-esteem of it Nay how light hast thou made of this remission and by making so light of it thou hast profan'd it too when thou hast sinned because God is willing to pardon sinners and hast made that pardoning Blood an encouragement to indulge thy self in thy carnal
Temptations were stronger than my Purposes and when they came I fell This Sickness Lord I am still apt to fall into and though by thy Grace I act sometimes according to my good Intentions and Resolutions yet how often do I miscarry in this point Lord give me not only good Inclinations but Courage to perform them too Oh let me not think it enough to entertain good Wishes in my Soul but make them so strong that the Good I intend and purpose may break forth like the Sun from a Cloud into a perfect Day 17. For of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast VVHen the Paschal Lamb was to be killed the Jews had a Prisoner released to confirm the Memory of their Deliverance from the House of Bondage O Lamb of God! When thou diedst thou openedst the Prison-door for all Mankind to come out Thou didst proclaim Liberty to all Men captivated by Sin and the Devil O wonderful Release This makes me admire how Men after this Liberty procured for them by thy Death should yet be fond of their Prisons still and delight in Slavery and the Bondage of Iniquity Oh Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy Name The Righteous shall compass me about when thou shalt deal bountifully with me 18. And they cried out all at once saying Away with this Man and release unto us Barabbas A Monstrous Choice To prefer a Man before God a Son of Death before the Lord of Life a Malefactor before Innocence it self a Murtherer before the Saviour of the World Darkness before Light a Villain before the Son of God! Yet blessed Jesu such a sad Choice I have made too often when I have preferred the Cares of the World before the better part and while I have condemned these wicked Men and been in a kind of Passion to see and hear of their Impiety have unawares sunk into this Sin my self by preferring a Trifle before thy Will and a foolish Satisfaction before Rest in thy Bosom and an Interest in thy Favour and the Things of this World before a more glorious Reversion in another Life Pardon my desperate Choice And let me henceforward prefer thee who art fairer than the Children of Men before all that my Flesh doth promise or the World give For one thing is needful even thy Love of Complacency and if I have that it shall not be taken away from me 19. Who for a certain Sedition made in the City and for Murther was cast in Prison PRisons are fit Places for Malefactors not only upon the Account of securing Humane Societies from Enemies but also because such Sinners being removed from Temptations and Objects that enticed them to do ill and under pressure may think of God and reflect upon their wicked Lives and come to a sincere Repentance Yet when they are delivered out of their Durance their Lives very often are the same that formerly they were O my dear Redeemer Thou hast made me a Prisoner sometimes by Sickness and other Disasters in hopes that the Affliction might work upon me and the Fire I was in would make me a new Man yet when thou hast freed me from this Prison I have re-assumed my former Liberty in sinning Oh let it be so no more And seeing I am made whole let me take heed and sin no more lest worse things happen unto me 20. Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus spake again to them HEre I see greater Charity and Tenderness in an Heathen than in those who had the lively Oracles of God What a strange Sight is this to see Uncircumcision which is by Nature fulfilling the Law judge them who by the Letter and Circumcision do transgress the Law How many excellent Acts of Vertue do I see and read of in mere Pagans that had nothing but the Light of Nature to direct them Acts which I do not come up to that have the Light of Heaven to shine upon me O Jesu make me ashamed of my Backwardness and let my Righteousness exceed that of Men which do not call upon thy Name lest it be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in that Day than for me 21. But they cried saying Crucifie him crucifie him THis was the most infamous Punishment that any Man could be condemned to Ah Wretches Did not your Hearts smite you when you said so Will nothing serve you but the most ignominious Death a Death which none but Slaves were destin'd to What a brutish thing is Wrath and Anger It stops its Ears against all common Ingenuity and Reason It doth things in haste which must be repented of by leisure Lord Jesu I remember what unreasonable things I have done when my Passion hath been up things I am ashamed of now Oh leave me not to these Winds and Tempests Oh let me learn of thee for thou art meek and lowly in Heart that I may find Rest for my Soul 22. And he said unto them the third time Why what Evil hath he done I have found no Cause of Death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go O Jesu 'T is very true thou hast done no Evil neither was Guile found in thy Mouth When thou wast reviled thou didst not revile again when thou sufferedst thou threatnedst not Thou wentest about doing good no Man could convince thee of any Sin Thou wast good and didst good even to those that now cried Crucifie him Thou camest to discourage Men from Evil it was thy Province to destroy the Works of the Devil and to make Men Partakers of the Divine Nature Goodness was in thy Nature and all thy Actions breathed of it Thou wast tender of Men's Good of the Good of their Souls and Bodies Oh make me conformable to thy Goodness Let me abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Let thy Goodness be my Pattern and let me ever rejoyce in thy Goodness Make me steadily and invincibly good good unto Death that I may receive a Crown of Life Thy Goodness endures for ever Give mine the same Duration Oh touch it with thy Light and it shall burn bright for ever 23. And they were instant with loud Voices requiring that he might be crucified and the Voices of them and the Chief Priests prevailed THE Devil was let loose in these Sinners and see how he rages He makes them leap Bogs and Ditches and a Thousand Precipices to get their Wills accomplished The Damned in Hell were not more outragious than these Men. Lord Jesu What are we when left to our selves or to the Power of the Enemy Thou camest to redeem me from this Power Oh let me come under it no more Once I dwelt under that Tyranny I now serve a gentler Master Oh let me serve thee not with Eye-service as a Man-pleaser but as a Servant of God doing the Will of God from the Heart 24. And Pilate gave Sentence that it should be as they required THese Brutes threaten to accuse him
Confessions specifies the particular Acts wherein he hath walk'd contrary to God discovers an earnest desire to grow in Grace and in this St. Paul shews us an example 1 Tim. 1. 13. where he doth not say I have been a great Sinner but a Blasphemer spoke ill of the way to Life a Persecuter afflicted oppressed and made havock of the Churches of God injurious done great injuries to St. Stephen and to abundance of other Christians In a word such a person by his particular Confession deals faithfully with his own Soul and by mentioning the particular Diseases that annoy him manifests his earnest desire of a Cure whereas General Confessions leave the Soul ignorant dull careless and unaffected with the great Concerns of Salvation And tho' a person every time he accuses himself or confesses his Errors is not bound to enumerate all the particular Sins of his Life he can charge his Memory with yet if he never did it before it 's fit he should do it at least when first he receives the Holy Sacrament and at other times confess such fins as he finds himself most inclin'd to and most apt to harbor in his Bosom 2. These Confessions must be accompanied especially the Confessions before the Sacrament with aggravations of our Offences and with shame and confusion of Face I joyn these two together because aggravating of them is the cause of that confusion and he that reflects in his Confessions what light what knowledge what checks of Conscience what motions of God's Spirit what goodness of God what mercy what patience what promises what threatnings he hath sinn'd against what time he hathlost what opportunities he hath neglected what a gracious what a merciful God he hath offended even love it self and sweetness and beauty it self and what blessings what priviledges what advantages what offers he hath slighted will find himself obliged to have very low and mean thoughts of himself This was the Publican's case Luke 18. 13. Who standing afar off would not lift up so much as his Eyes to Heaven but smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful to me a Sinner He was ashamed and confounded His Conscience told him how unworthily he had dealt with his Creator how strangely he had carried himself to God his best and greatest Friend how unthankful and how base he had been to his most gracious Benefactor and how strangely he had carried himself to the best of Beings He was confounded with the thoughts of his vileness and conscious of his guilt he â—ast his eyes to the ground unable to look his offended Father in the Face His Heart was full of grief Sorrow fate heavy on his Soul and though his Tongue could not express his particular acts of injustice oppression pride anger and greediness after the World yet his Mind confess'd them thought of them his Heart was ready to break at the dismal sight and this was a very acceptable Confession 3. These Confessions must be joyned with invincible purposes to endeavour after a better and more Spiritu-Temper So the wise Man tells us He that confesses his Sins and forsakes theâ— shall find mercy Prov. 28. 13. Without this Qualification our Confessions are mere Lip-services and rceive not one gracious Look from above nay are accounted no better than Israel's Devotion Hos. 10. 1. Israel is an empty Vine He brings forth fruit unto himself Why unto himself The reason is because in that fruit he aim'd not so much at God's Glory as his own Profit Nor was any Person the better for it the design was selfish it was just to satisfie the present terror within no love of God lay at the bottom the ground of all was self-love and God had nothing to do with it The same may justly be said of him that confesses but is not concern'd whether his Flesh be subdued to the Spirit or not Such a Confession is his own invention it is not that Confession which God requires If he confesses it must not be to himself for God regards it not and indeed till this actual endeavour to forsake them is added to the Confession our Sins continue still in God's Books of Accompt look still as black as ever not one of them is blotted out for the enmity against God is still maintained and whilst that lasts it naturally follows that God and we cannot be friends III. The second act of judging our selves is upon this Confession to condemn our selves And indeed if the Soul be truly awake and the Heart sincerely sensible of its errors and miscarriages the Penitent cannot but condemn himself and acknowledge that the Judgments threatned in the word of God are due to him and cry Ah! my God and my Lord Who shall deliver me from the Body of this death from this confluence of Misery I have deserv'd with Adam to be thrown out of Paradise and to be for ever forbid eating of the Tree of Life I have deserv'd to drown'd with the first World or to be consumed for ever as Sodom and Gomorrah I have deserved the sudden and unnatural death of Nadab and Abihu to be stoned with Achan to be struck with Leprosie as Miriam to be swallowed up â—live by the Earth as Dathan and Abiram I have deserv'd Manasseh's Prison and Zedekiah's Chains and what is worse the everlasting Chains of Darkness I acknowledge that I have deserved it should be more tolerable for Infidels in the Great Day than for me for I have seen the mighty works of God and continu'd a stranger to Repentance I have deserved to be called upon at Midnight as that careless Man Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee and whose shall be which thou hast provided To this Wretch that is before thee belongs nothing but Wrath and Indignation On this Head of mine thou mightest justly discharge the Ordinance of Justice and pour out the Vials of thy Wrath On me thou mightest justly rain snares and Fire and Brimstone I have deserv'd to be plagued with Diseases tormented with grievous Pain haunted by panick Terrors If any of these Judgments do not fall upon mee it is thy Patience not my Goodness and I may wonder I have escaped them all this while I have deserved to be made a Prey to that Devil whose Temptations I have swallow'd with Greediness Instead of rejoycing over me to build me up thou mightest justly rejoyce over me to destroy me Justly O Lord thou mightest send upon me trembling of Heart and fainting of Eyes and sorrow of Mind I have deserv'd that my Life should hang in doubt before me that I should fear day and night that in the Morning I should say Would God it were Even and at Even Would God it were Morning Mercy Lord I have deserved none The Crums that fall from thy Table are Blessings too good for me if I deserve any thing it is thy Rod thy Scourges thy Waves thy Billows and a horrible Tempest To condemn is the proper act of a
Blood is for the healing of Mens Souls or what a Vine is to Men on Earth the same am I to my living Members and what an Husbandman doth to his Vineyard the same doth my Father to the Branches that shoot forth from me or to my Followers 2. This is my Body i. e This Bread is my Body as the roasted Lamb is the great Festival of the Jews was the Passover i. e. The Memorial of it This Sacrament of the Lords Supper being instituted immediately after the celebration of the Passover as hath been often hinted the Disciples of our Lord being acquainted with that way of speaking could not wonder at Christ's expression for thus the Jews used to say of the Paschal Lamb This is the Passover as we may read Exod. 12. 11. And there was not any so rude among them but understood by this phrase that by eating that Lamb they were to remember the Angels passing by the Houses of the Israelites in Egypt to save them from Destruction This Sense they imbibed with their Mothers Milk and when the Father instructed his Children he told them that by these words This Lamb is the Passover was meant nothing else but this Lamb is the Memorial or puts us in mind of the Passover for so God had himself explain'd it Exod. 12. 26 27. So that our Saviour in saying of the Bread he broke This is my Body brought in no new way of speaking but what the Disciples and all the Jews were already sufficiently acquainted with in Sacramental Discourses which makes Christ add immediately to shew that he meant no more by it but a Memorial Do this in remembrance of me i. e. As the Lamb put the Jews in mind of the destroying Angel's passing over their Houses so the Bread in this Ordinance puts you in mind of my Body that shall be nailed to the Tree of the Cross for the Life of the World and tells you how by that Sacrifice offer'd for your Souls ye shall escape the Everlasting Wrath of God and the burning Lake prepared for the Devil and his Angels as they did the Destruction prepared for Pharaoh and his People 3. That Christ's Church is often called his Body none can be ignorant that peruses these passages Col. 1. 18. Ephes. 5. 23 Ephes. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 1 Cor. 12. 27. And though that Sense we have already alledgâ—d be the principal thing aim'd at in these words This is my Body yet to shew how little need there is to have recourse either to Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation rather than run into such absurdities we might very well say that the Bread is an Emblem or Adumbration of Christ's Body i. e. of Christ's Church For as that Bread is made up of many Particles so Christ's Church of many Members and as those various Crums are closely united to th' other so the various Members ought to be link'd together in Love and Charity according to the Royal Law given by our Master Joh. 13. 34. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another But this we add to shew rather what little temptation there is to run our selves into inextricable difficulties in the explication of these words than to express the immediate intent of this expression All Churches agree in 't That Christ's Crucified Body is meant here only the difference is how the Bread is Christ's Body and how Christ's Body is present in the Sacrament we say it is there spiritually as the Bread is a Symbol a Figure a Sign a Representation and a Memorial of Christ's Body which was offer'd for the Sins of the World and this Interpretation is so easie so intelligible so agreeable to Sacramental expressions and to the Analogy of Faith that one would think it should be impossible for Men to contradict it except they were resolv'd to defend an Opinion right or wrong merely because it is their interest to do so The Romanists indeed have of late years endeavour'd very much to perswade the World that the Greek Church in the Levant is of their Opinion in the Sacrament but not to mention the rudeness and ignorance of those poor Churches which scarce understand the Principles of their own Faith if the Protestants had but taken the same pains with the Modern Greeks that the Popish Missioners do i. e. bribed and paid them for their assent and consent to their Faith they would have been Protestants in this Article of the Sacrament as some of them are Papists at this present Cyril who was Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1622 where-ever he imbibed his Doctrine certainly was not for Transubstantiation and though by the endeavours of the Jesuits he was afterwards strangled yet that doth not make him an Heretick And though several Synods have been held by the Greeks of late years which have establish'd Transubstantiation yet it 's sufficiently known that it hath been by instigation of those of the Roman Communion who spare no cost that they may bring them to say as they do However such Greeks as are not yet corrupted by the Roman Emissaries are so far from believing Transubstantiation that they know not what it is and as a late ingenious Travellr hath observed wonder any Man should think them such Beasts as to believe such an Absurdity But what doth it signifie whether the Modern Greeks who are sunk into gross Ignorance and Barbarism be of our Opinion or no 'T is sufficient that the ancient Greek Church is and hath been of the same Belief with us The Churches of the Levant at this Day as Learning is become a very scarce Commodity among them so their Opinion in a controverted Point is of no great Consequence Where they can give Proof of an uninterrupted Succession of their Doctrine it may be of importance else not The Church of the Aethiopians or Habessines as they have for many Centuries continued in the honest Simplicity of their Doctrine so their Testimony in this Point of the Eucharist may be of some use and by what appears they seem to joyn with us in this Sacrament For though they pray in their Liturgy That the Holy Ghost may descend and come and shine upon the Bread that it may become the Body of Christ and that the Taste of the Cup may be changed and become the Blood of Christ yet by what one of their own Priests confessed they believe no other Change but a mysterious or representative one or a Change of the use of the Bread whereby from common it becomes sacred And so much appears from the Exposition they give of the Words used by Christ for they say expresly This Bread is my Body and This Cup is my Blood IV. From what hath been said 't is easie to conclude what it is to eat Christ's Body in this holy Sacrament 1. It is to contemplate Christ's crucified Body and the Cause and Reasons of that Crucifixion to view all this with our warmest Thoughts to make
preferr'd before the lesser and Mercy many times comes to be a greater Duty than Sacrifice Ordinarily a Duty of God's Worship we have resolved upon ought to be preferr'd before a Duty of Civility and a customary visit is not to dash or hinder our intended Devotion God must first be pleas'd and then Man in things lawful and convenient yet Charity is of so great a value in the sight of God that many times he bids us prefer that before Devotion When my Neighbors House is on fire I am bound to run and endeavour to quench that though the hour is come that I use to enter into my Closet to pray to my Father in secret and my sick Neighbor wanting my help and assistance I may justly prefer a charitable Visit before my accustomed Suplications Nor is this all the Order that is to be observ'd in Duties The business of our calling must be begun with Prayer and concluded with Thanksgiving and he that when first he awakes in the Morning lets his first Thoughts be of God and when he is up and dress'd applies himself to singing of a Psalm or to meditating in the Law of God by reading a Chapter in the Bible with attention then kneels down to Prayer either by himself or with his Family and afterwards goes to his lawful employment and in the midst of that imployment forgets not that God sees and hears him but runs up often with his Thoughts to Heaven takes notice of God's Providences and before he goes into company arms himself with Holy Ejaculations against Sin and Infection and at night reviews what he hath been doing in the day-time such a person acts orderly and draws a Blessing down upon the work of his hands not to mention the Peace he thereby procures to his Mind and Conscience 2. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew that after the Jewish Oeconomy another and much nobler Dispensation was to follow a Dispensation not of Shadows and Types and Images but of Truth of Reality and Accomplishment a Dispensation not requiring Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks but such as press'd Spiritual Sacrifices and Oblations a Dispensation not of Bondage and Slavery but of Freedom and Liberty a Dispensation which should be large and diffussve not confining its Priviledges and Influences to a single Nation but spread them abroad to the comfort of all the Inhabitants of the World None drank of the Cup of the Passover but persons circumcised but the Cup Christ takes here all Nations both circumcised and uncircumcised were permitted to participate of all Penitents what Kindred People Tongue or Nation soever they were of 3. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew there was greater Virtue and Excellency in this last than there was in the first After me comes a Man saith the Baptist John 1. 30. that is preferr'd before me for he was before me So it may be said of the Paschal Cup after that came a Cup which was far more Excellent and Glorious and Beneficial than the other Christ came after Moses after the Law after the Prophets yet went beyond them all in Light in Knowledge in Virtue in Goodness and in bringing glad Tidings And so the Passover tho' it was before the Lord's Supper yet doth this Supper of the Lord transcend the other by many degrees and both represents and confers sublimer Mercies than the roasted Lamb could do for here the Blessed Trinity manifests it self in greater charms than it did in the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in which St. John saw the Heavens open and the Holy Ghost descending on the Son of God in the shape of a Dove and the Father compleating the stupendious Scene with an Acclamation This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased For in this Sacrament the Holy Ghost falls on the Souls of sincere Believers as Rain on the Mowen Grass and as the Showers that water the Earth The everlasting Father not only tells us which is the Beloved Son but by setting his Sons death before us shews that he loved us in a manner better than his Son in giving that Son to dye for us than which nothing can be more kind nothing more surprizing the Son himself invites us and offers to wash us from our sins with his own Blood and assures us That being sprinkled with his Blood we are fafe and secure against all the Curses of the Law and the Thunders of Mount Sina These things were Mysteries and Paradoxes in the Passover but this Sacrament which came after it opens the door and lets us in to see this Glorious Representation and consequently is a Richer Greater Holier Sublimer and more Heavenly Ordinance than the Passover The Preeeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. AMong the Heathen Poets there is much talk of Circe's Cup which transform'd Men into Brutes and Swine a Fable whereby they represented how sensual pleasure transform'd Men into Creatures void of Reason and Discretion But the Cup we speak of hath contrary effects and Fire and Water are not more opposite than the operations of these two For this Sacramental Cup transforms Brutes into Men again and changes Beasts into the Image of the Son of God Sinner make but a trial of it thou I mean that hast not had so much understanding as the Swallow and the Turtle and the Crane for they know their appointed times whereas thou hast not known the time of thy return thou that hast rusht into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle thou that hast wallowed in the Mire with the Swine and acted like a Creature made of Earth and Dung. Take courage prepare thy self for drinking of this Cup purifie thy Soul for profane Hands must not touch it confess thine iniquity make War with thy Lusts Fight with thy carnal Desires and drink of this Cup and thou wilt find how thy Reason will clear up how thy Understanding will be enlighten'd how thy beastly Qualities will die The Blood in this Cup hath such Virtue in it that it will transform thee by the renewing of the Mind and make thee prove what is the Holy Perfect and acceptable Will of God It 's true the bare drinking will not do it but drinking it with Contrition with contemplation of the Person whose Blood is in the Cup with consideration of the Cause viz. the Sins that spilt it with thankfulness for the infinite Mercy of him that thus freely parted with it and with resolutions to love him that did not think his own Blood too dear to let it flow for the good of his enemies Petrus de Natalibus tells us of a Woman who having labour'd many years under very great infirmities of Body was brought exceeding weak but drinking one day accidentally out of the Cup that a Holy Man Scion by Name did use to drink of she was restored to perfect health Though we cannot promise that this Sacramental Cup will work such a Miracle of the Diseases of the Body
yet surely it will transform a Soul sick to death into a lively and healthful constitution though with the Woman in the Gospel she hath lain under her distemper a considerable time II. Among the Scythyans as Herodotus tells us there was a custom for the Princes of the Country to meet once a year at a certain Feast where a Cup was set upon the Table a Cup of Honour which none durst presume to drink of but such as had signaliz'd their Valour in Battel and kill'd more or less of their publick Enemies Though this Sacramental Cup is too High too Sacred and too Lofty a thing to be compared with Cups used at the Feast of Barbarians yet I may take occasion from hence to tell you that this Holy Cup is fit for none to drink of but such as have either shewn or are at least resolved to shew their Valour against their Spiritual Enemies Christian if thou hast fought with the Old Serpent encountred the Hellish Dragon wrestled with Powers and Principalities exprest thy Courage against Temptations defied Goliah the Lion and the Bear the World the Devil and the Flesh or art resolv'd to be a Champion for thy God and fight the Battels of the Lord Thou art that valiant Man that may drink of this Cup Thy God will give thee leave to drink of it with other Hero's with the greatest Worthies with Men of whom the World was not worthy with Men whose Faith hath advanced them above the Stars and who are to shine as the Sun in the Firmament in their Father's Kingdom Let no despairing Thoughts no suggestion of the Devil no slavish Fear no pretence of Unworthiness discourage thee from touching this Cup or drinking of it It 's mingled for thee for thee it is prepared The King expects thee at this Feast thou art called to this Banquet Thus shall it be done to the Man whom the King of Heaven intends to Honour What If thou hast not slain thy Thousands with Saul nor thy Ten thousands with David What if thou hast not brought thy Two hundred Foreskins of the Philistins to thy Lord and Master thou dost a greater act in conquering thy Thoughts thy Desires thy Passions thy Appetite thy vain Imaginations than if thou hadst laid Countries waste ruin'd Kingdoms or bound their Kings in Chains and their Nobles with Fetters of Iron Such Honour have all all his Saints III. Hear this thou fainting Soul that groanest under the burthen of thy Sins goest heavy laden with Sorrow and like Rachel wilt not be comforted Behold thy Lord and Master touched with the feeling of thy infirmities and afflicted in all thy afflictions who waits to be Gracious and loves to converse more with a weeping Publican than with a jovial Herod he reaches forth a Cup to thee a Cup of Joy a Cup of Gladness a Cup of Comfort It is this Sacramental Cup. Drink of it thou thirsty Soul Why shouldst thou fear This Cup is design'd for labouring Souls they that have born the heat and burthen of the day are to taste of it It is design'd to recreate design'd to refresh desing'd to revive design'd to support their Spirits Dost thou believe this Christian Dare to believe it Take thy Saviours word for it and triumph in the Promise The Mercy may be too big for thee to ask but not too big for him to grant Thou hast a Master to deal withal who gives like himself like a King like a Prince whose Stores are inexhaustible Let no Senacharib deceive thee regard not what such a Rabshakeh says Hearken not to the frightful Stories of thine enemies who rejoyce to see thee discourag'd are glad to see thee forbear drinking of this Cup and think it their interest to keep thee from that which may and will give thee everlasting health I have read of a precious Stone of considerable value that dropt no Man knew how into the Holy Cup while the Priest was administring the Sacrament There needs no precious Stone to drop into this Cup to make it of greater value That which is in it is of greater worth than Ten thousand Worlds It represents that which neither Pearls nor Rubies nor Diamonds can counter-balance The Papists boast much of the Gifts of their Popes how Sylvester gave three Golden Cups to be used in the celebration of the Eucharist How John the Second gave a Cup of Gold weighing Twenty pound How Gregory the Second and Leo the Third presented their respective Churches with Cups all beset with precious Stones What if thou canst bring no such Presents to God thou bringest a better when thou bringest a Spirit a Heart a Soul lamenting and mourning because thou hast departed from him contented thy self with a form of Godliness and under the profession of Religion hast denied him in thy actions A Heart toucht with the sense of the unreasonableness odiousness and loathsomness of all this and finding a relish in the things of God and of Salvation qualifies a Man more for comfortable drinking of this Cup than if with the Wise Man he had offer'd Gold and Myrrh and Frankincense to Christ Jesus Is not this the Cup whereby my Lord divineth saith Joseph's Steward Gen. 44. 5. Christian by drinking of this Sacramental Cup thou may'st divine thy future happiness guess at what will become of thee hereafter make conjectures of thy Glory and conclude that thou shalt feel the comfort of drinking the Cordials of a Blessed Eternity The PRAYER O Jesu Great Fountain of all Goodness who didst drink of the bitter Cup which my Sins had mingled I am sensible there was no sorrow like thy sorrow which was done unto thee and wherewith the Lord afflicted thee in the day of his fierce anger How was thy Spirit disturb'd How sore amaz'd was thy Soul How dismay'd thy Mind To such an exceeding heighth of Grief and Sorrow did the Sense of the incumbent load of my sins and the prospect of calamities hanging over my head together with the reflexion on my wretched condition skrew up thy Affections innumerable evils encompass'd thee thou sawest the wrath of God flaming out against my Sin and trembledst Thou stoodst before the mouth of Hell which I had deserv'd and wast astonish'd Thou with thine own Heart Blood didst quench the wrath of Heaven O how am I obliged to adore thy Love O everlasting Father What Charity was it not to spare thine own Son but to deliver him up for us all What pity and compassion was it O thou Eternal Son of God thus to pour forth thy Blood What Affection what tenderness to my Soul O thou Eternal Spirit hast thou express'd in inspiring my Blessed Redeemer with Charity more than Human and in supporting him to undergo all pressures with invincible patience If I forget thy Love sweet Jesu let my right hand forget her cunning What an encouragement is here to believe thy Word which I see so punctually accomplish'd The antient Prophets foretold that Christ should
and Sicknesses laid down in several Particulars The Prayer I. AS Corporal so even Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death proves too frequently an Effect of Eating and Drinking unworthily at this Table Nay these Spiritual Sicknesses are more common than the other 'T is true they cause no Pain no Aches no Torments in the Bowels they are not felt as the Pleurisie or Cholick or Twisting of the Guts but they are Sicknesses still And because we find such Things and God manifests his Anger often against unworthy Receiving by such Symptoms we have reason to believe the Apostle aimed at these as well as at Bodily Diseases when he avers For this Cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 'T is true there is not a more proper Medicine for all the Diseases of the Soul than this holy Sacrament To which purpose Albertus Magnus saith very appositely If in the Eucharist in the Remembrance of our Saviour's Passion we reflect on his Humility it will free us from the Infection of Pride If we think of his wonderful Charity we shall be delivered from the Evil of Envy If we consider with what Alacrity he went to die for us and to offer himself in Sacrifice for us it will be an Antidote against Weariness of his Service and Backwardness to Devotion If we ponder his Bounty and how liberally he gives us himself and all he hath we shall be rid of Covetousness If we lay his Meekness and Patience to heart it will be an excellent Remedy against Wrath and Anger If we remember how frugal his Supper was and how far from Pomp and Ostentation and how mean the Food was he made use of it will check our Gluttony and Voracity And if we cast our Eyes on the bitter Herbs he eat the Emblem of his bitter Passion we shall not be troubled much with Luxury And to this purpose was the Saying of Innocent III. That the Mystery of the Cross frees us from the reigning Power of Sin and the Mystery of the Eucharist from a Desire of Sin And if the Woman in the Gospel was cured of her Infirmity by touching but the Hem of Christ's Garment what Virtue may we suppose in his whole Body if it be touched by a lively Faith in this Ordinance If God hath given to the Fat of Vipers Virtue to expel Poyson shall not we think there is greater Virtue in Christ's crucified Body to cure the Diseases of the Soul If he gave Virtue to the Tree of Life in Paradise to prolong Age and to procure Perpetuity of Duration shall not Christ's Flesh represented by the Symbols here confer Life and Health and Salvation much more If he have given some Minerals Virtue to disperse Fumes and Vapours shall not we believe there is greater Virtue in the Incarnate Son of God to disperse the Clouds and Fogs that molest and annoy the Soul This cannot be denied and we may rationally believe that this Sacrament is intended by God to cure all the Distempers of the Soul But if that Medicine be not used as it ought the Soul instead of growing stronger becomes more weakly more sickly and draws nigh unto the Gates of Death II. What this Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death is will not be very difficult to discover If you mind the Apostle's Expression there is a Gradation in the Judgment he speaks of Weakness is a lower Degree of Misery than Sickness and Sickness a lower Degree than Death The first Act of God's Displeasure against Receiving unworthily is to inflict Weakness if that works no Reformation then Sickness and if this doth not make the Sinner rise then Spiritual Death 1. Spiritual Weakness And this may be said to consist in these following Particulars 1. In the Loss of Lively Apprehensions of Spiritual Things which were formerly vouchsafed to the unworthy Receiver Even Men that are Hypocrites in Religion and whose Hearts were never throughly changed have sometimes Flashes of Heaven or Hell coming either from without or from within Ahab certainly had a very great Sense of God's Displeasure and a Sight of Divine Vengeance surprized his Mind when he rent his Clothes and put Sack-cloth upon his Flesh and fasted and lay in Sack-cloth and went softly 1 King 21. 27. And some of us may have known some Persons who have been given to Drinking or Swearing or Lying or Uncleanness or Quarrelling when their Office or Employment or Station in the World or some such External Cause and Motive have put them upon Receiving the Holy Sacrament before they have come to this Table they have had some very serious Thoughts and you might observe in them a Demureness of Behaviour some Apprehensions of the Necessity of Repentance and sometimes their Hearts have been so touched that even a few Tears have dropped from their Eyes as a Testimony of their being moved at the Thoughts of Christ's Death and Passion but the Sacrament being over their Devotion hath been at an end too and they have returned to their old Sins which made them unworthy Receivers because this shews they were not heartily resolved when they came to this Table to subdue their Corruptions Their lively Apprehensions of Spiritual Things they formerly had have thereupon grown dark and decayed become languid and faint and no Foot-step of them hath been left Those Flashes of good Thoughts though short and transitory had they been improved would have signally strengthen'd their Souls and encouraged their practical Love to Christ Jesus But being careless and regardless of that Improvement God justly lets those lively Apprehensions decay and thence comes their Spiritual Weakness God could uphold those lively Apprehensions but they having no Love to them God by a secret Judgment lets them wear out And then What can be the Issue but Spiritual Weakness 2. Irresoluteness to resist Temptations is another Symptom of this Spiritual Weakness When the Soul is either unresolved whether it shall resist such known Temptations or not or resist them but faintly it is a Sign the Powers of the Soul are shaken and the Plague is begun in the Heart By Temptations I mean such Temptations as are agreeable to our sinful Temper and Inclination or such as our Calling and Employment makes us subject to He that observes and takes a View of such Sinners as Receive unworthily cannot but spy in them a very feeble and irresolute Resistance of such Temptations For notwithstanding whatever Resolutions they made before Receiving whatever Prayers and Supplications for God's Grace and Assistance they offered and put up before yet after they have been at this Table the old Temptations return even the same dear Friends that enticed and persuaded them to sin before their Resistance is very weak and they know not well what they shall do whether they shall displease their own and other Men's vain Desires or no. Perhaps some little horror or kind of damp the Sacrament for the present leaves upon their Minds hath so much force