they are costly things when prophan'd Hezekiah knew this full well and therefore hee prayes Now the good Lord pardon all those who come to seek the God of their Fathers though they are not prepared according to the preparation of the Sanctuary he saw the danger of the unsanctified use of Ordinances To be short it will bring upon thee 1. Corporall hurt you see this in the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many are fallen asleep It was some Epidemicall disease flagellum inundans some over-flowing scourge whereby God swept away many in all the quarters of the Church and will you know what was the ground what was the reason of it The Apostle tels us that in the beginning it was for this cause viz. the prophanation or unsanctified use of this Ordinance there was mors in olla death in the cup they partaked of the cup of the Lord unworthily and drank their own death in it the cup of life was become a cup of death the blood of pardon a cup of guilt 2. Spirituall hurt though God do not break out in visible judgements upon the carkasses of men as formerly yet the curse of God eats secretly into the consciences of men You cause God to give you up to blindness of minde hardness of heart and these are curses with a witness the curse of curses is a hard heart 3. It puts you in danger of eternall judgement The Apostle tels you so 1 Corinth 11.29 verse He that eats and drinks unworthily eats drinks his own damnation Better saith * Melius erat mola asinaria collo alligata mergi in pelagus quam illotâ conscientiâ de manu Domini buccellam accipere Ambr. de coena Applicatiof the second Doctrine Ambrose that a milstone were tied about thy neck and thou cast into the midst of the sea then to take the least bit of bread or drop of wine from the Minister with an unsanctified heart and polluted conscience And thus much for the doctrinall part wee will now come to the application Vse 1. If so that whoever hath to do with an Ordinance must sanctifie God in it and that there is so much required before so much in the time so much afterward Oh! how few then shall we finde that sanctifie God in this Ordinance Some there are who openly prophane this Ordinance some who steal a draught of damnation to themselves your close and civill men this is the difference where the common prophane man goes to hell the plain road way this man steals to hell behinde the hedge And indeed the best of men do not sanctifie God as they ought in them Alas what preparation before wee come upon these Ordinances What exciting and stirring up of our graces What exercise of grace here Faith Repentance What thankfulness What obedience afterwards Where is the fruit of so many Sermons Sacraments have they not been like rain that falls on the rocks Are not all these like so many clouds which pass over our heads and leave never a drop of moisture behinde Are wee not like Pharaoh's lean Kine never the fatter for all our feeding Are we not like men sick of an Atrophy who though they feed upon never so good nourishment yet they grow not thereby Do wee not shame our meat discredit those heavenly dainties that we thrive no more by them Other ages like Leah were bleer-eyed but fruitfull ours like Rachel beautifull but yet barren Wee answer not God's care and cost towards us we profit not wee grow not and what 's the reason Because we do not sanctifie God as we ought in these Ordinances therefore are we so weak in faith therefore so feeble in grace therfore corruptions so strong in us they who look the Ordinances should be means for the perfecting of their sanctification they must labour to sanctifie God in them Vse 2. Is it so Then it behooves us to enquire whether we have sanctified God in these Ordinances Wee have to do with God's Ordinances daily you see God requires who ever have to do with his Ordinances should sanctifie God in them Let us then ask the Question of our selves Have I sanctified God in this Ordinance I have often come to the Sacrament but have I sanctified God in it Now you might know this by looking over the things 1. Precedent 2. Concomitant 3. Subsequent But at this time I shall follow this method Would you know whether you have sanctified God in this Ordinance see then whether you have observed 1. God's order 2. God's rules 3. God's ends and this before your coming 2. whether you have exercised God's graces in the time 3. whether you have returned with God's quickenings God's inlargements God's inablements afterward 1. See whether you have observed God's order Now God's order is this to justifie a man put on him the Wedding Garment to sanctifie a man to beget him anew before he bring him on this Ordinance 1. Art thou then justified Hath God given thee an interest in Christ Hath he discovered thy sins to thee Hath he humbled thy soul under the sense and burthen of sin Hath hee revealed to thee what footing and ground there is in the Word for receiving graceless persons to life Hath he cleared to thee the truth fulness freeness goodness of the promise Hath he brought thy soul over to assent to the truth imbrace the goodness rest upon the firmness of it and to bring all this home to thy own soul Thou art a man who art justified and God calls thee hither to put his Seal to thy Evidence that thou mayest be assured for ever that Christ is thine and thou Christs 2. Art thou a man sanctified renewed regenerated Hath God wrought a through an universall spirituall change I say spirituall not a partiall morall formall change but a spirituall reall universall change That thou hast a new judgement new will new affections Whereas before there was disagreement now there is a blessed conformity between God and thee in all things thou seest as God sees loves as God loves thou differs as much from thy self as if another soul lived in the same body thou wert once darkness now light in the Lord once dead now alive once blinde now seest Thou art a man whom God calls hither to strengthen and nourish his own work in thee As the maid whom Christ raised from death hee said Give her meat so Christ having raised thee from the death of sin to the life of grace hee calls thee hither that thou may have meat for the nourishment of spirituall life in thee and this is God's order 2. You may know whether you have sanctified God in an Ordinance if you examine whether you have observed God's rules Now the grand rule is Preparation which lies in two things 1. In Examination 2. Excitation of our graces 1. Examination 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself and so let him eat c.
By the way then this may discover to us where the fault is when we return home our faith never the more strengthened our hearts never the more warm'd our graces never the more nourished our corruptiōs never the more weakned It is a shrewd sign faith did not play its part in the mount It is great suspition that your faith did succumbere in conatu did faile and sink in the encounter Faith was intrusted in this imploiment to goe over to Christ for these benefits and thy faith did faile in the undertaking therefore God suspends the bestowing of these benefits because thou suspendest thy faith A man may halt after his striving with God and yet overcome as Jacob did but when a man's spirit doth halt in striving with God when we doe not strive fully with God there is little hope of prevailing Well then if thou see not the fruit and benefit thou expected to come into thy soule in the use of this Ordinance charge thy faith with it and bewaile the weaknesse of it and for the future put it to its burden let it have its full and perfect worke and thou wilt then find the comfort and fruit of it Never did faith touch Christ in any Ordinance but vertue came from him But so much for the first Grace 2. 2d Grace to be exercised A second grace which is here to be exercised in the use of this Ordinance and requisite to the sanctification of God in it is Repentance The Sacraments they are the crucifixes of Christ in which Christ is represented as crucified afresh before our eyes the bread broken doth preach unto us the breaking of Christ The wine powred forth doth preach unto us the Blood of Christ poured forth for our sinnes And who is it that can with the eye of faith look upon a broken Christ but with a broken heart a wounded Christ but with a wounded spirit a bleeding Christ but with a bleeding soule God hath made in nature the same organ for seeing and weeping And in grace hee who sees clearly weeps throughly Lam. 3.5 The eye will affect the heart The Passeover under the Law was to be eaten with bitter herbs So Christ the true Passover is here to be eaten with bitternesse of soul as it was prophesied They shal look on him whom they have pierced and shall lament and mourne first seeing and then weeping c. Zach. 12.10 There is a twofold mourning 1. Historicall 2. Spirituall 1. Historicall mourning there is a naturall tendernesse in men and women whereby their hearts doe yearn and melt to heare the relation or behold the sight of some sad story Such a one as Augustine confesseth he had when he read the sad story of Dido and yet his heart was hard he could not mourn for sin Or such a one as they had whom Christ blamed in the Gospel who lamented the cruell usage of Christ out of naturall compassion only to whom he saith O daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me Homini non est necessarium ut Christū in ipsius passione deploret sed magis ut seipsum in Christo Of this the Father speaks It is not necessary you lament his passion so much as your sinnes which have caused his passion There is a kind of naturall tenderness in men and women wihch yet is often joyned with hardnesse of heart for sinne As an Historical faith with spirituall unbelief and an Historicall love with spiritual enmity so a natural tendernesse with spirituall hardnesse of heart for sin 2. There is a spirituall mourning which ariseth from spirituall grounds and causes and tends to spirituall ends A sorrow which is caused by faith looking upon heart-melting promises or taking up heart-breaking considerations or beholding a heart-softning object by which Faith doth draw waters out of the fountaines of the soul for sin as you have it 1 Sam. 7.6 they drew water as out of a well and poured it forth before the Lord. And this is that sorrow which is here to be exercised which will melt and mellow the heart and cause it to be more fruitfull in obedience Never doth the garden of graces better grow then after such a showre of repentant tears And therefore doth God preserve these springs in the soul to water the seeds of grace and make us more fruitfull which it surely doth when they are Sun-shine-showres such showres wherein the Sun appeares Christ is not hid from the eye of faith And my brethren here are many things in this ordinance which if but looked upon with the eye of faith will open all the springs of sorrow in the soule and call forth all the waters in him Bellarnine he layes down twelve considerations to provoke sorrow as the miseries of mankind by nature the sad condition of the souls in Purgatory and such like stuffe But we need not be beholding to him for such cōsiderations as these to occasion mourning Here is enough in the Sacrament presented to the eye of faith to open all the Springs thou hast and if thou had a fountaine of teares to spend them all for sinne We will name some particulars here which draw out mournings 1. Here is a discovery of the love and sweetnesse of God in giving his Son to die for us Joh. 3.16 So God loved the world c. enough to cause us to mourne that ever wee offended Oh that God should bee more tender to us then to his owne Sonne not spare his Sonne that he might spare us give him to die that we might live poure the curse upon him that the blessing might bee poured on us Quis temperet à lachrymis O how should this affect us Who can think of this and with-hold from teares 2. Here is presented to us the sufferings and breakings of Christ enough to break our hardest hearts 1. The sufferings of Christ in se in themselves as those upon his body what breakings what woundings what scourgings what crownings piercings did he endure in his body and those in his soule What conflicts and struglings did he undergoe with the wrath of God the terrors of death the powers of darknes Oh what weight what burden what wrath did hee undergoe when his soule was heavie unto death beset with terrors as the word signifies when he drank that bitter cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vndequaque tristis valde tristis Passor Supra modum dolens Scap. Obsitus terroribus Arist that cup mingled with curses which if Man or Angell had but sipt of it would have sunk them into hell Nay it made him who was God as well as man sanctified by the Spirit supported with the Deity comforted by Angels sweat such a sweat as never man sweat drops clods of blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam grumi sanguinis as the word implies 2. Consider them in Causâ as the meriting cause of all our good the procurers of all our peace salvation c. He was wounded
Ordinance then we do but as the Apostle saith as oft as you have opportunity do good so as oft as you have the opportunity take the occasions to meet God in his Ordinances 1. By them you see you draw neer to God you come into his presence you have to do with God's Name nay you have to do with God himself 2. By them God draws neer to you he walks among the Candlesticks he presents himself in his Ordinances Matth. 28.1 and there he directs us to finde him Cant. 1.7 8. 3. If wee keep not up a conscionable use of Ordinances distance will grow between God and you As the Water-man may lose more by the omission of one stroke then he is able to recover again by many so may you lose more by the omission of one duty then you are able to recover again by the performance of many especially if this omission hath arisen 1. from neglect of God 2. from carelesness 3. from sleighting of the converses with God 4. or from the importunities and solicitations of Satan and our corruptions 5. or from the blandishments of the world If upon such grounds little dost thou know what thou losest by such an omission If notwithstanding all indeavours it be so hard to keep communion with God what would it be if we should cast up our Oars and neglect it wholly You see what a distance was bred between God Israel Jer. 2. And what was the ground of it why saith the Text My people have forgotten mee dayes without number they had no care to keep and cherish cōmunion and acquaintance with him and so distances were bred between God and them neglect of duty breeds strangeness strangeness distance distance falling off A good caveat in these dayes when so many do cry down duty shall we look upon that as our burthen which is our glory our bondage which is our priviledge what is the happiness of a glorified Saint but only that he is alwayes under the line of love ever in the contemplation and converses with God And shall that be thought our burthen here which is our glory hereafter By this first you come to see the face of God secondly you have converses with him thirdly you get new quickenings fourthly new incouragements fifthly fresh strength against sin sixthly new supplies against the temptations of Satan the world seventhly fresh strength to walk with God eighthly armor against our lusts and this is enough to make us conscionable 4. We know not how soon we may be deprived of Ordinances wee have play'd with the breasts and God might put them up we have sinn'd in the light and God might put out our light How justly might God remove his Candlesticks let out his Vineyard to other Husbandmen and seek for other ground to sow the seed of his Ordinances upon seeing the ground where it hath been sown hath brought forth so little fruit how deservedly might hee suffer us to wish and wander to injoy one of the days of the Son of man which we have injoyed But though God do not take away the Ordinances from us yet hee may take us from the Ordinances and that not only by death but in life it self and a sad thought this will bring to thy soul when conscience shall report to you your former negligence in the use of Ordinances II. Let me exhort you not only to a conscionable use of ordinances but to Conscionableness in the use of them be not onely conscionable to use them but let your hearts be wrought up to a Conscionablenesse in the use of them The power of the Word the terror of the Law the fear of wrath and the hope of reward may put a man to do duty yea have power upon the spirit and ingage the conscience to doe duty You see many that dare not but pray and yet have no heart in prayer they have a conscience to doe duty but their hearts are not brought to any conscientiousness in the doing of it A common work of God may make men conscionable to doe many duties but nothing but the Spirit and Grace of Christ will work up the heart to a conscionablenesse in the doing of them To this conscionablenesse in the performance of Ordinances would I exhort you upon this ground because you draw neere to God have to doe with him And as in all so in particular in this Ordinance of the Lords Supper 1. Because otherwise ye get no good 1. no good of Grace no improvement of Holinesse 2. Nor no good of cōfort Comfort comes not in from the bare doing of the duty but from the manner of doing it is not the issue of conscience to doe but of conscionablenesse in the doing of them All the Sermons you have heard all the Prayers you have prayd all the Sacraments you have received though done out of conscience as you say will not minister one dram of true comfort to you upon your death-beds if your spirits have not been wrought up to a conscionablenesse in the doing of them 2. Because otherwise you provoke God to give him the carkasse and out-side of duty and to with-hold the life and spirit of duty is a provocation of God 3. Because otherwise you will contract much guilt and bring much evill upon your own souls This is sure that Ordinances used in an unconscionable way 1. They give Satan further possession of us 2. They put much weight to our sin 3. They set our soules at further distance with God 4. They ripen us to the great downfall the great sin lies among such 5. They make our conditions more irrecoverable When a man comes to be Ordinance-proofe prayer-proof Sermon and Sacrament-proofe that none of these can enter and work upon him he is out-grown the power of Ordinances that man's condition is very neere desperate There is nothing makes the condition of the soule more desperate and unrecoverable then the use of Ordinances in a formall and unconscionable way when a man doth harden under means of softning When a mans soar runs under the plaister nay when the plaister increaseth the soar when that which should draw us neere sets us at further distance this man's condition is dangerous Scarce one of many are ever wrought upon When once a man can heare and pray and receive and yet retaine his sinne too without disturbance all this doth not trouble him no weapon will pierce him no command no threatning of the Word no power of Ordinances can move him this man is in great danger to die in this condition And the use of Ordinances in a formall way brings men to such a condition As the use of Physick in an ordinary way doth take away the working of it so the use of Ordinances in a formall way doth take off the edge and blunt the power of working on the spirit Well then let me exhort you not onely to be conscionable to use but to a conscionablenesse in the use of
morning And this is fearfull to return with the dog to the vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 But God's people cast them away Isa 30.22 as a menstruous rag never more to have to do with them 2. Get your hearts further strengthened to service Here is in this Ordinance a mutuall sealing of Covenants between God and you As God seals to thee so thou seals again to God God seals to the first part of the Covenant pardon mercy grace and thou seals to the second part of it service subjection obedience God gives Christ to thee here in this Ordinance and thou gives thy self back again to Christ As there is matter of bountie from God to thee so there is matter of duty from thee to God God here in bounty bestowes Christ upon every humble broken hearted and believing receiver They take him and re-give themselves back again to him for subjection and obedience There was never any soul to whom God said in this Ordinance I am thine whose hearts did not eccho again the same to God Lord I am thine This head is thine to contrive thy glory this hand is thine to work for thee this hart is thine to love thee He that sayes my beloved is mine sayes again and I am his Cant. 2.16 Cant. 2.16 Let us then labour to see our hearts further strengthened to service let this inable thee to walk 1. More strongly The Sacraments are our spirituall baitings and refreshments which God affords us to strengthen us in our journey to Heaven They are spirituall meat drink to strengthen us in the performance of al spirituall obedience such meat as will not only inable a man to work but to work more strongly And 't is to be feared that they who are never the stronger for service feed not upon the substance but upon the shadow they feed upon the elements but never tast of Christ the staff of nourishment Purum elementum non est alimentum and t is true here the meer element is no nourishment 2. More willingly and cheerfully Then shall wee be able to run the wayes of God's Commandements Psal 119. when God once here inlarges our hearts It is said of Jacob that when he had been refreshed with the presence of God he plucked up his feet and went on cheerfully So here when the soul hath been refreshed with the presence of Christ he will be able to walk more cheerfully in the wayes of God The food we feed upon is Angels ' food and will inable us to Angels ' imployments h. e. to do our work with an Angels spirit with all alacrity cheerfulness joy and delight though not in the same equality yet in the same quality Siquid boni tristè feceris fit de te magis quam à te Prosper though not in the same measure yet in the same manner And thus much for the second generall viz. How we must sanctifie God in an Ordinance Wee will now come to the third generall which is the Reasons why Who ever have to do with an Ordinance of God must sanctifie God in it 1. Reason Because God commands it God saith hee will be sanctified and God's will is our law God doth not only command the substance but the circumstances not only the matter of worship but the manner And though the matter be good if the manner of performance be naught God doth not regard it You see what hee saith to the Jewes He that sacrificeth is as he who killed a man and hee that kils a Lamb as if he cut off a Dog's head and he who burneth incense as hee who blesseth an Idoll Isa Isa 66.3 66.3 These seem strange expressions What were not these such duties as God commanded Doth not God command sacrifice c. Yes but because they did them not in that manner God commanded therefore were they abominable to him If therefore thou gives God the bulk of outward performance without the spirit of devotion thou deals by him as Prometheus by Jupiter who did eat the flesh and present him with nothing but bones covered over with skin Or to use the Scripture phrase you compass God with a lie Hos 11.12 Hos 11.12 Thou gives him the shell of outward performance but not the kernell of inward devotion thou gives him a body without a soul And as the body without the soul is dead and stinks so doth that service which wants the spirit As God's will doth command service so our will and affections must perform service Though our will must be no instrument of devising service yet it must be an instrumēt in performing service Though God will not own will-worship in regard of prescription yet he will own it in regard of performance and none else Thus you see God commands it and therefore c. Impü Petram lambunt sed indè nec mel nec oleum sugunt c. Ambr. Ser. de coena 2. Reason Because otherwise wee get no good by this Ordinance no good of Comfort nor none of Grace If indeed the Sacraments did ex opere operato confer Grace or if that this Sacrament were an Instrument for the begetting of Grace in graceless hearts then might you get good though you came unpreparedly The word it is set up for that end to be the instrument of regeneration and therefore though you come unpreparedly thither yet you may be wrought upon there * Nemo bonus qui non ex malo bonus Aug. Many that have come to the Word with purpose to scoff to taunt to deride nay to insnare and accuse who yet have been wrought on there and sent away other men Were the Sacraments set up for such an end to beget grace where there is no grace then might you get good though you come unpreparedly and unsanctifiedly thither but as I have told you it was never set up for such an end here its true habenti dabitur to him that hath shall be given he that hath grace shall in the exercise improve his graces but he that comes graceless hither goes graceless away nay worse then he came which is the next Reason 3. Reason Because otherwise we get much hurt The Ordinances are not idle but operative they either work for life or they work for death As Paul said of the Word it was the savour of life and of death so I may say of every Ordinance There is never a time you come to hear the Word but you are set a step neerer heaven or hell so never a time you come to receive the Sacraments c. The fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evill might be wholsome in it self yet Adam did eat his death when he tasted of it contrary to God's command So here the Sacrament though in it self it be good yet it becomes the bane and destruction of those souls who partake thereof unworthily As the Ordinances of God are precious things when God is sanctified in them so
God which is worth ten thousand of our lives and souls as the people said to David God doth inflict punishments upon offenders And there is no other way to preserve or make whole and repair the honour glory of God c. Men that will not learn by the Word must be taught by works if the Word will not prevail with you to forbear the prophanation of his Ordinances then his works come in If you will be so sensuall and brutish that you will see nothing to be sin but what you feel to be sin in God's hand upon you you shall feel blows enough A rod is for the back of a fool Take this with you What ever you will not learn by faith you shall be taught by sense God makes men feel those things to be evill by sense which by faith they would not believe to be evil When the word will not prevail with men to forbear prophanation of any ordinance or any sin then from word he goes to works lays afflictions judgements punishmēts on men And happy t is if the works bring men again to the word when Schola crucis is Schola lucis when God's house of correction is a school of instruction So saith David Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest and teachest in thy law It was so you see with the Corinthians the word did not prevail God goes to his works inflicts punishments on them sickness weakness death and then hee comes to the word again For this cause many are sick And no doubt but word upon works was more prevalent with them then when it went alone Reason Reas 6 6. To declare his hatred against sin God hates all sin and the neerer a sin comes to God the more he hates it Now this is neer him you dishonour his Name his Ordinances are precious they are his name and therfore God will not hold such guiltless c. Thus you see I have shewed you that God will sanctifie himself upon al those who do not sanctifie him in an ordinance And I have shewed you the grounds reasons of it now to application Vse 1. Oh! then take heed thou who art a prophane person a swearer a drunkard and forbear lest God make this true of thee this day and raise his glory out of thy ruines Thou wilt not be warned by the word look for works thou whom the examples of others will not make to beware take heed lest God do here make thee an example It was the third Captain's wisdome in the 2 Kings 1.13 14. who when he saw God's visible judgements upon the two former Captains hee takes warning thereby and avoids their sins so you that are prophane when you see and heare what God hath threatned against prophaners of this Ordinance and what fearfull judgements God hath executed upon all unworthy receivers which are all Christless all graceless persons Oh! beware of coming hither in thy sins God's Word is true As what hee promiseth is sure to come to pass so what ever hee threatens And though hee prolong and defer the time of execution yet your damnation sleepeth not as Peter saith 2 Pet. 3.7 8 9. verses It shall surely come If God should threaten to strike dead every unworthy receiver you would be afraid to come and how would it make the best of us to look about us whether we are worthy receivers or not But alas what is this threatning in comparison of the other you eat and drink damnation to your selves This is as far above the other as a temporall is below an eternall A punishment upon the body below the everlasting wrath of God and punishment of your souls Better you were strucke dead here then reserved for everlasting death hereafter Thy body escapes here and yet I cannot assure thee of that others who were God's own people were struck with death and sickness and I cannot assure thee that God will not destroy thee with the bread in thy mouth as hee did the Israelites with the Quails in theirs God hath threatened and we know not whether he will execute yea or no God said I will not hold him guiltless that takes my Name in vain Examples we have but other examples are worn out who knowes whether he will not give fresh examples and deal by thee as he did by Nadab and Abihu in the Text even in the face of the whole congregation destroy thee with fire from heaven that all may feare thou went with them but from fire to fire from a destruction by fire to preservation in fire from temporall to eternall burnings But suppose that God should forbear his stroke now yet it is certain to come Quorum ultio reponitur in futurum And wo be to them whose vengeance is reserved for another day Ah it will come then with a witness then with load enough when the guilt of al thy prophanations of this glorious ordinance come together and therefore beware beware as thou loves thy body nay thy soul that for ever beware of unworthy partaking c. Vse 2. If so Oh! then look to it you who go on in a way of prophanation of Gods Ordinances God hath said hee will be sanctified of them who draw neer to him And dost thou believe this Is it true or is it false I know thou dare not but say this is truth God himself speaks it Well then this being a truth what may thou expect who art a prophaner of his Ordinances And to all thy prophanations as it was said of Herod he added this that he cast John in prison so you adde this to all the rest the prophanation of this Ordinance of the Lords Supper Oh! this is a sin for which God will not bear with thee If God would not bear with his own people the Corinthians who yet had grace were habitually disposed were justified sanctified and wanted only actuall preparation and disposition in the Ordinance how shall he bear with thee thou prophane person graceless person If God deal thus with the green tree what shall become of the dry tree If God deal thus with his own what shall become of thee If thus with the bearing what shall become of the barren tree If judgement begin at the house of God where shall the wicked and sinners appear Answer me that if thou canst If God will be sanctified upon his sanctified ones what of thee If God doth punish the want of circumstances what wil he do to thee who wants the substance the main requisite But it may be thou thinks there is no such matter these are but Bugbears c. for thy part thou hast come hither and gone home and found no hurt And hast thou so Bless not thy self in that there is the more behind A black and dismall showre of wrath is sure to fall upon thee one day This is true God will be sanctified of them that come nigh him And this is true also Hee who eats and drinks unworthily is made
guilty of the body and blood of Christ nay he eats drinks damnation to himself And this is as true he who eats and drinks in a Christless condition eats and drinks unworthily And what dost thou think will be the consequents of such a sin In stead of a drinker thou becomes a shedder of the blood of Christ as Judas as Pilate as Herod Look upon the Jews and see what it is to be guilty of the body and blood of Christ It is the heaviest curse in the world to be guilty of that blood which should save you pardon you shall that which should be a blood of pardon become a blood of guilt Oh! what is it to be guilty of that blood should take away guilt If thou wert guilty of all the sins of men on earth and damn'd in hell the blood of Christ could pardon thee and take off that guilt But what shal take off the guilt of that that should take off guilt Oh! see what a sin it is and in the fear of God adde not this to all your sin to all your swearings your prophanations drunkenness adde not this to all to be guilty of the body and blood of Christ assure your selves God will not care for your bodies who have no regard to the body of his Son shall your blood be esteemed when the blood of Christ is contemned shall your lives be priz'd when the death of his Son is sleighted nay when you by this sin shal crucifie Christ again judge that Vse 3. Well then if the sin be so great and the punishment which God hath threatned be so terrible what care ought wee to have wee do not prophane this Ordinance and what care to look back into our lives and see whether we have not prophaned this Ordinance The one to prevent sin not cōmitted and so to prevent wrath the other to repent of sin committed and so to turn away wrath But you will say how shal I know whether I have prophaned this Ordinance For the answer of which I refer yon to what I have said in the second Doctrine where I put the triall upon these three Generals 1. the observing Gods order 2. Gods rules 3. Gods ends I shall now adde three more to help to discover whether you have been prophaners of this Ordinance yea or no. 1. When the Sacraments work no further good upon thee thou hast prophaned this Ordinance I have told you the Sacraments are not idle empty things but operative and efficacious toward them who are worthy receivers Christ cannot be fed on but he must nourish the soul A man may feed upon other meats and get no nourishment but he who feeds on this he finds spirituall strength and nourishment Now then when men come hither and return as empty as they came as vile as before there is no fruit can be seen in their lives and conversations here a man may suspect the Ordinance is prophaned When men were filthy and are filthy still swearers and are so still drunkards and remain so still this is an evident demonstration thou hast been a prophaner of this Ordinance Indeed Gods people do not ever get the good they expect never get the good they desire But yet some good is gotten some more strength of Grace some more working out of lust although for the present they cannot apprehend it But the other now they get none they come graceless hither and go graceless away and it must needs be so this is no Ordinance for the working of grace in graceless persons but for the nourishing of grace in those whom God hath wrought grace in as I have shewed at large So that is the first when wee get no good 2. When a man is worse after then before this is an evident sign hee hath prophaned this Ordinance When a man is strengthened in a state of sin returns with more violence to any particular sin as you see Judas the Devil entred into him he took fuller and stronger possession of him and you shall see this the ordinary fruit of prophanation of this ordinance men wax worse worse proceeding from evill to evill It may be when first they came to receive they were fearfull for there is some naturall tenderness of conscience in men and they are afraid to come to so great an Ordinance without some kind of preparation and therefore it may be they did catch up a book the day before and say a Prayer more carry themselves demurely But afterwards when men are grown up in the prophanation of this ordinance they can look upon all the threats upon all the judgements denounced against them in this Ordinance and never start at them never tremble And what is the Reason they trembled before and do not now their condition is never the better it may be farre worse Why here is the reason the custome of prophanation of this Ordinance hath hardened them in their way they now fear nothing their heart is fortified They have sinned away those common principles that naturall tenderness that was once in them Sin is an eating thing it eats out the very heart of every thing which is good in men A man may not only sin away his morall principles but he may sin away the very principles of nature Sin will never leave till it hath made all as vile as it self Rom. 1.26 27. When men live in the prophanation of this Ordinance they wax worse and worse That man runs violently on in sin who sets out from the prophanation of Gods Ordinances because he runs with the Devils strength Satan hath filled his heart with more mischief As the Saints do run more actively in the wayes of God after so the wicked more violently in a way of sin The prophanation of this Ordinance doth strengthen men to further sinne either as 1. One sin doth dispose a man to another helps the birth of another 2. Nay and one sin doth strengthen a man to the commission of another As one duty of godliness doth dispose and inable to the performance of another So one sin doth dispose and strengthen to the cōmission of another The sin of unworthy eating doth strengthen to more sin Such a man he gets more heart to sin he that dares break through threatnings here to sin will not stick to do it in other cases It causes God to give us up to blindness of minde hardness of heart c. which gives Satan further footing in mens hearts to egge them on to all munner of wickedness You see it in Judas and therefore if thou finde thy self worse in life and conversation there 's a manifest sign thou hast prophaned this Ordinance 3. Sign of prophanation When a man feeds upon nothing but the outward element the Bread and Wine and not upon Christ in the promise he prophanes this Ordinance If thou feedst not upon panem Christum as well as panem Christi the Bread which is the Lord as well as the Bread of the