that so he may be a worthy and welcome Guest in it and all of them This Repentance will restore him to the Favour of God and gain him acceptance with him and then he is fit for this and for every other part of Gods Worship and may worthily joyn in them And by this it appears who is unworthy of this Feast and what he must do to fit and prepare himself for it Every man that is Impenitent is an Unworthy Communicant but if he will Repent and Amend his ways he will find no difficulty in other Duties which make up a Believers worthiness but may then be a worthy and welcome Guest whensoever he has a mind to come to it And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed namely to shew wherein lies the worthiness of Eating and Drinking at this Feast which I have stayed the longer upon because both the irreverent approach of some men to it and the scrupulous abstaining of others from it do both take rise from this head so that it well deserves to be carefully Explained and clearly Stated And the Result of all that I have said upon this Point is this When we come to Eat Bread and Drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance that Christ dyed for us and in Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us and in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Neighbours we must be careful devoutly to Exercise and Act over these Tempers We must remember our Dying Lord with Honour and Love and Joy and Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and humble Sense of our own unworthiness and Detestation of our Sins which caused his Sufferings We must confirm the New Covenant which his Death purchased in consenting heartily to the Terms of it Repenting of all our Sins and Faithfully promising that intire Obedience which is required in it and then Believing that for Christs sake we shall be saved by it And we must Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World in laying aside all Envy and Hatred and forgiving those that have injured us and making just amends to those who have been wronged by us and giving Alms as our Ability and our Brethrens necessity requires and so being in Peace and Perfect Charity with all Persons If we are able to grasp so many particulars in our minds and to act them all over duly and as we ought at this Exercise it may be fit to Solemnize this Feast in all these instances of Virtue But if either our minds would be lost and burdened or our Devotions enfeebled by the Number of these particulars 't will yet be fit at least to express our selves Joyfully and affectionately Thankful for his kindness especially in Dying for us and Resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and Repent of all our Sins making him Faithful Promises that we will amend all our Faults particularly those which oftest win upon us and shew our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all Persons All these whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating they who have Books to suggest Thoughts or are able to supply them out of their own minds may exercise by themselves And they who cannot as also they who can may exercise them in joyning fervently with the Churches Prayers all these Duties as we have seen being so well led on and exemplified in the Communion Service Wherein because there will be some interruption whilst others are Communicating that that time may not lye idle upon their hands I think it very adviseable for them to joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the offering of the Bread and Wine to their Brethren as they will be sure to do when it comes to their own turn if their Devout Zeal is not otherwise taken up by the Psalm which at their Pastors Discretion is wont to be Sung at that time for the employment of those who have done Receiving These Virtues being in us and at the time of Receiving being thus exercised by us both in our own private or at least in our Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers make a worthy Communion And this no man who pretends to Religion ought to Complain of or think an hard Imposition For all these Duties which are necessary to a worthy Communion are as necessary to make every one of us a Good man or fit to Dye or to go to Heaven they are as necessary to a worthy Prayer Thanksgiving Vow or any other Act of true Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense Degrees and transporting Measures in this than in other parts of Worship and Devotion These things then are necessary to a worthy Receiving and no Good man can complain that they are so since they are equally necessary to all acceptable Goodness to all comfortable Hopes and to every other Ordinance to all the parts of Worship and Religion and to Gods being pleased with us in every thing that is either the Duty or Priviledge of a Christian. And as the Presence and Exercise of these Virtues makes us worthy of the Communion so doth the absence of them but especially of Repentance of all our known Sins which is the thing if any that will be wanting and which is the cause why others are Impenitence as we saw being at the bottom of all Unworthiness make us unworthy and most unwelcome If we continue Impenitent in many or in any one known Sin we are indeed unworthy to Communicate but then withall we are as unworthy to be thought Good men to go to Heaven to say our Prayers to make Vows or to have any Dealings with God in any other Actions of Religion And the way for any Wise man in that Case is not to take up with abstaining from the Communion for he ought as much to abstain from Prayer and Praise and every other Office of a Christian God being pleased with him in none of them but forthwith to Repent and Abandon such ill Course that so he may be a welcome Guest and worthy to partake of them And thus having endeavoured to give some help to all those who desire worthily to Communicate by shewing what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the worthiness of doing it I shall proceed now in the third Place to exhort and press men on to it by shewing them how much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make them seek to it of themselves were it not commanded of which in the next Part. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating The Contents To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which greatly recommend and
objective Representation of most forcible inducements to them powerfully excited in them at that time And as these Duties are all improved by the Holy Communion so are they 2ly Most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men If we were but perfect in these Virtues and they had once got the Ascendant over us and ruled in our Hearts they would have an Universal influence on all others and govern our whole Lives For if when we are tempâ—â—d to any sin our minds being familiarized to it would at that instant readily suggest to us that Christ dyed for it and that it put him to all the pain and anguish he suffered we should not endure to come near it If we have any true Love and Zeal for him we shall shew no manner of Favour or Compliance with it if we are really Thankful for what he has done for his sake we shall withstand it if we are resign'd up to his use we shall have nothing to do with it because he is against it and if we abhor it for the pains it put him to when he answer'd for it and will at last put us to also if we continue in it we shall disdainfully reject and turn away from it If we Believe and remember always as we have need that Christ died for our Sins and procured us Pardon for them upon our Repentance and Grace to get quit of them upon our best indeavours that Faith will make us Obedient and carry us on to amend them If we truly Love Christ that Love will make us do something for him and cast to please and obey him If we are Thankful for what is done we shall never despite him by any Sin which for all his Benefits were to return the greatest injuries again If we are resign'd up to his use we shall Faithfully serve him If we are heartily Penitent and abhor our Sins we shall forsake them If we have this lively Faith and Remembrance of Christs dying for us and this intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and entire Resignation of our selves to his Service and sincere Repentance and utter Abhorrence of all our Sins If we have these Virtues I say and in these prevailing measures they will carry us on to an Holy Life and make us Obedient to all Gods Commandments And therefore since this Holy Sacrament when 't is worthily received doth so much improve these Virtues in us it must needs help us on and improve us in all others and in the whole course of a good Life too Thus doth a worthy receiving by its own Natural tendency confirm and increase us in all good Living by our exercising and its exciting in us such Duties as help it on and set it forward and so doth it 2 ly By our binding our selves thereat in solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it One chief end of our meeting at this Feast and prime part of our Worthiness in partaking of it is to confirm the New Covenant as we have seen and to make God our Faithful promises that from that day we will amend all our Faults 〈◊〉 so we may attain that Pardon and Happiness which upon our true Repentance he comes to offer and assure to us And these solemn Vows and Promises are a fast hank upon us to make us leave our Sins and do all that he requires of us For every man ought and thinks himself concerned to be as good as his word and to perform what he has promised especially when 't is to one who is too Wise to be deluded and too Just and Powerful to suffer any abuses of him to pass unrevenged which all men that understand any thing believe of Almighty God When we Promise and Vow to him we know that he cannot be deceived and that he will not be mocked so that we must needs see it stands us in stead and is our highest concern to perform with him And therefore since in the Sacrament we do in the most solemn manner Vow to amend our ways and promise an Holy Life to Almighty God in Regard none that are honest will and none that are wise and serious dare be unmindful of such sacred and solemn Compacts it must needs be an excellent way to bind it fast upon our Souls and fix it in our minds and so help very much to establish and imprint it in us And thus we see how a worthy receiving conveys Grace and confirms and increases in us all Virtues by the Natural tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it powerfully excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a Good Life and set it forward and bind our selves by solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it both which are most Powerful to improve and effect it And as it thus confirms and increases in us all Graces by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites in us so does it 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it ministers and conveys to us This Sacrament doth not only confer Grace by its Natural Tendency as other means but moreover by virtue of Gods Promise and especial Bounty to the Worthy Receivers of it as it is an Instrument in his hands He tells us that he will do great things at the presence of it and be liberal in Spiritual Blessings to all that duly partake in it So that besides what they do from the Virtues themselves which are exercised thereat they may promise themselves much Spiritual Grace and Strength from his Free Gift and immediate concurrence with it For in the Sacrament he offers them all that outward Grace and Spiritual strength which Christs Death procured and therefore if they come to it worthily so as their own unworthiness is no bar against it that offer will be sure to take effect and they shall undoubtedly receive it And this is plainly intimated to us when our Saviour tells us of his Flesh that it is Bread the true use and end whereof is for support and nourishment Joh. 6.51 And when St. Paul declares that the Cup of Blessing which we Bless is the Communion or Communicating to us the Blood of Christ i. e. those Benefits his Blood procured us and that the Bread which we break is the Communion or Communicating to us the Body of Christ i. e. those Graces which the offering of his Body obtain'd for us amongst which are these Spiritual Assistances 1 Cor. 10.16 And when our Lord himself tells us that the Bread he gives us is his Body and that the Câ—p he reaches out to us is his Blood Mat. 26.26 28. By which though he mean not that they are his Body and Blood in their Natures yet the least he can mean is that they are so in their Effects so that when we receive them we receive all the Blessings of his Blood-shedding and all that Grace which his Death has purchased for all Men. And thus the
sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion since his whole Religion is made up of high Characters and honourable Priviledges it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession What thinks he of Holy Baptism wherein he was made not only a Servant but a Child of God not only a Friend but a Brother and Joint-heir with Christ and an Inheritor not of a small Estate but of a Kingdome and that no cheap or fading one neither but of the Kingdom of Heaven What thinks he of the happiness of another Life wherein God will fill us with unutterable Joys and adorn us with Crowns and Scepters and take us as our Saviour says into the same Throne with himself What thinks he of his Redemption being purchased at so dear a rate which could not be obtain'd unless Jesus Christ Gods only Son would come down from Heaven and be made man and pay down his own Life for it Are not all these as superlatively high things and as much above us as Feasting with God in the Communion is Is it not as great a Presumption in us to become Gods Sons and to inherit Kingdoms and to hope for Crowns and Thrones and Scepters as it is to sit down with him as his Guests and to eat and drink in his own Presence Is it not as high Arrogance to admit that Christ should dye for us as it is to come and remember his Death and to accept those Benefits which are thereby convey'd to us All these things are infinitely above us and we could not have had the Face to have asked any of them if God had referr'd it to our own choice and bid us name what we would for our own selves But yet since in his unbounded Love and Kindness he has freely offered them we must have the good manners in all forward Thankfulness and Humility to accept and not out of a shâ—w of Modesty and unreasonable Self-abasement refuse them When God calls us then to Feast with him in the Holy Sacrament and to feed upon the Body and Blood of our dear Lord we must not hold back because there is so eminent a Priviledge and high an Honour in it For we receive no greater Favour or higher Honour therein than in being made Gods Children as we were in Holy Baptism than in Christs Incarnation Death and Suffering than in the offers of Crowns and Thrones and the other Glorious Priviledges of our Religion So that if the Fear of receiving too much honour from God ought to put us by the Communion it ought as much to the full to puâ— us by our Baptism and the whole Christian Profession As for those then who are hindred from the Sacrament by the fear of being too Bold and Presumptuous with God in coming to a Feast which has such height of Priviledge and Honour in it they are hindred without any just Ground and kept back by what they ought not For it is no Presumption but the part of humble men to come when they are call'd and to do what they are bidden but it is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone and if the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to keep back humble Souls from this Feast it must also keep them back from Baptism wherein the same Honours are conferr'd which are in it and carry them in the same guise of Modesty to refuse Christs dying for them and all the hopes of Heaven and in a word their Christianity and whole Religion too A Ninth Plea whereby several Persons are wont to excuse their not coming to the Sacrament is because many Good People are seldom or never seen at it and therefore they may be good too and have good Company if they keep away from it Now as for those who urgâ— this in excuse I would desire them to consider that when they are inquiring after their own Duty in any matter it is no right way to ask whether others Practise it but whether their Lord has any where Commanded it For mens Practice is not always fully answerable to their own Duty and so is a very false Rule whereby to judge of ours All Persons have their Faults and though no Good man can continue in any willful ones yet will even they be subject to several Ignorant slips and unadvised miscarriages But when at any time they either willfully break any Commandment or ignorantly mistake it that is no warranty for us to do so likewise So that if we would truly understand whether we are bound to Communicate our way is not to inquire whether others do it but whether our Lord has any where injoyn'd it for if he has we are certainly obliged to it whether others observe it or no. But in more Particular Answer to this Plea I must tell them 1 st That if any good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their goodness but their blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated 2 ly That although they might be acceptably good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better inform'd which will not be forgiven but upon their amendment of it 1. I say If any Good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness but their Blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated For we have Gods express Command to come and that we cannot slight without being disobâ—dient and guilty of a plain Transgression We are call'd therein to shew our selves thankfully mindful of our Blessed Saviours Death and of all that he has done and this Call we cannot deny without proclaiming our selves most shamefully unthankful towards him We are summon'd in to profess Repentance and Amendment of all our sins and this we cannot honestly decline if really we are resolv'd to leave them We are invited to declare our selves at Peace with all the Members of our Lord and reconciled to all the Christian World and this Invitation no man can fairly refuse who in very deed is in Charity and an hearty Friend to them Gods Law peremptorily injoyns and the things therein imply'd straitly oblige us to partake of the Sacrament when an opportunity is offer'd so that every man who makes Conscience of his Duty and regards Obedience to his Lord must be careful to join in it And it is the Greatest means of a good Life and Obligation to Amendment that can be prescribed so that every one who has a just care of his own Soul and is earnestly desirous of Virtuous Improvements will seek to be admitted to it A Good mans Duty binds him and the care of his own Soul ingages him to Communicate so that there is neither Virtue nor Prudence shewn in staying away nor is it any part of Goodness to
we shall be kindly treated and accepted by him and not any ways prejudiced or frown'd upon for the unworthiness and undue Preparation of other men Thus ought not the sight of some unworthy Persons joyning in it to strike any Terror into us or drive us from the Holy Sacrament There is a great Sin and a great Danger in unworthy Receiveing which is enough to discourage all impenitent unworthy men from offering at it and where the Censures of the Church are held in any esteem and are likely to gain their end through the Awe and Reverence men have for them the Governours of the Church both out of Compassion for their Souls and concern for the honour of this Ordinance may see cause to remove them from it But if neither the Danger of the thing nor any Affectionate and fair Warning nor the enfeebled Hand of Discipline when it is become impotent and of small account through the Number of Offenders who are too strong for it or through the multitude of Schisms and Divisions one party entertaining what another excludes which cuts off all the Force of it If notwithstanding all these I say unworthy men will still press in and presume to Communicate yet is their unworthiness only to themselves but as for others who are truly worthy they have no hurt at all by it they shall not suffer for their Brethrens sins nor are incapacitated by their unfitnesses so that whilst they have no unworthiness in their own Souls they may approach the Holy Table and chearfully receive still But yet further 3. If any should be really scandalised at the Presence of those who are notoriously wicked or who have done any wrong to their Neighbours either in word or deed upon Complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denied the Sacrament For this Care our Church has taken in this Case to prevent all those whose wickedness gives publick Scandal and Offence from sharing in these Holy Mysteries If any Communicant says the Rubrick before the Communion-Service be an open and notorious evil liver or have done any wrong to his Neighbour by Word or Deed so that the Congregation be thereby offended the Curate having knowledge thereof shall call him and advertise him that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lords Table until he hath openly declared himself to have truly Repented and Amended his former naughty Life that the Congregation may thereby be satisfied which before were offended and that he hath recompenced the Parties to whom he hath done wrong or at least declare himself to be in full purpose so to do as soon as conveniently he may As for those then who are kept back from this Feast because they see some unworthy Persons are admitted to it my Answer to them in brief is this That they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy because 't is hard for them to know it and they are liable to be mistaken in it And that when they have great and plain cause to conclude others unworthy yet ought not that in any wise to hinder them who are truly worthy from coming to it For if the Company of unworthy Receivers were a just Hindrance it would have hindred our Blessed Lord and the Primitive Christians since it lay in their way as well as now it doth in ours it would not rest in with-holding us from the Communion but serve equally to put us by from being Members of the Church or professing the Christian Religion but it is plainly of no force for either of them since one man shall not bear anothers but every one his own Burden But if still any are really scandalised by the Company of such as are notoriously wicked that offenâ—e may be removed when they have a mind to it for upon complaint made those unworthy Persons are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denied the Sacrament An Eleventh Hindrance whereby several persons are kept back from joyning in this Feast is the Gesture which is required to it For though right-gladly they would be admitted to the Sacrament yet they dare not Kneel as the Church appoints all men to do when they receive it Now when any Persons refuse the Holy Sacrament upon this account they have no sufficient Plea or just Excuse from it When our Lord shall ask them at the last Day why they did not Communicate according to his appointment It will be but a bad Answer in them to say it was because they could not sit or use some other Posture which they thought convenient For since he has only required the Thing but has no where injoyn'd the Gesture we are to receive in he will have just Reason to reply to such Men That then it seems they would not do what he bid them unless at the same time they could do that also which he had not bidden nor perform his will unless withall they should be allowed to have their own which justly merits a severe Reproof but is far from being a matter of Commendation But that they may not inexcusably Neglect so great a Commandment upon so weak a Reason for it I would offer to their Consideration these three things 1. Kneeling is no unsuitable Posture in receiving the Holy Sacrament so that if we were left at Liberty we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it 2. It is appointed by our Governours whom God Commands us to obey in all Lawful things so that every Good man who is under Authority ought to observe it But if it were not our Duty when Authority has thus required the use of it and it had no Reasons from it self to recommend it but it were much better that some other Posture should be used yet 3. Since it lawfully may be used too tho' not so well as another if men have any due value for and desire of the Sacrament for its sake and rather than miss of it they should at least comply with it 1. Kneeling is no unsuitable Posture in receiving the Holy Sacrament so that if we were left at Liberty we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it For the Sacrament as I have already shew'd is a Religious Feast wherein we are set in the Presence of and are concerned with Almighty God and when we have to do with him 't is no ways unfit sure to use such Posture as is Humble and Reverent It is a Feast wherein we receive the greatest Benefits no less than our Saviour Christs Blessed Body and Blood i. e. those Benefits which his Bloody Death procured and when we receive Gifts especially of that infinite Price and from our Betters and Supream Governours it cannot misbecome us to use such Carriage as expresses most Respect and Thankfulness It is a Feast whereat we confirm the New Covenant and solemnly give Thanks and Praise to Christ and pour out many Prayers and Promises to our Heavenly Lord and
a most awful one and therefore not to be perform'd with disrespect and an irreverent Carriage So that we must be careful both to partake of this Holy Feast when we are called to it and to come to it worthily when we do And this St. Paul prescribes concerning it 1 Cor. 11. Let a man examine himself says he and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. v. 28. Let a man examine himself i. e. let him approve himself as the word here rendered examin signifies v. 19 and Chap. 16. v. 3 let him so long try his fitness for it till he see cause to like and approve himself and think he is worthy of it for he would not call unworthy Receivers to the Sacrament but drive them from it as he doth by telling them the extream danger of it v. 27 29. But when once he is so approved and fit to come to it then says he let him not forbear the Feast but hasten to partake in it Let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Thus are both a careless Forbearance and an indecent unworthy Vsage of this Holy Feast great Indignities to our Blessed Lord and criminal Violations of it It suffers on either hand so that to secure it in its just esteem and due observance both are carefully to be removed And to do what Right I can to this Holy Ordinance and what Service I am able to all such as shall seek help from this Treatise I shall endeavour what in me lies to cure or prevent both in that which follows Now to do this with the greater clearness in Discoursing upon this Subject I shall do these five things 1 st I shall shew What is the meaning of eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament 2ly Wherein lies the worthiness of doing it 3ly How much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it 4ly What great inducements we have to it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make us press to it of our selves though it were not commanded 5ly I shall consider those Excuses and take off those Pleas which are most usually made against it And when all this is done I think I shall have said enough both to invite and press men to this Feast and also to a worthy partaking of it that so they may come to it when they are invited and be welcome and worthy Guests when they do PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament The Contents Three Ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 End is in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shown from the same thing being done in Baptism Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which was a Covenant-Rite and the Bread Christs Body to the same intent the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2. From its being a Feast or Sacrifice for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we partake of it 3. From its conveying the particular Blessings of the New Covenant which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 3 End is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others This Chapter summ'd up FIrst I shall shew what is the meaning of eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and what we are to understand by them and think of them when we do them When we come to eat Bread and drink Wine in the Holy Sacrament we must not come only for a Bodily refreshment or for eating and drinkings sake as we do to our common Food For this is to eat as St. Paul says not discerning the Lords Body but as if it were bare ordinary Meat 1 Cor. 11.29 But we must eat and drink with special ends and particular Intentions which may render our eating and drinking not an ordinary Repast but a Religious Feasting upon the Body and Blood of our Lord. And these ends are three 1 st In Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us 2 ly In Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us 3 ly In Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others First We must eat Bread and drink Wine in Remembrance and Commemoratioâ— of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us By these Actions we must be put in remembrance and call to mind our selves and commemorate or tell it out to others what a good Friend and Saviour Christ has been to us and how at last he died and gave his own Hearts Blood for our sakes And this our Blessed Lord expresly ordered at the time of Institution This do says he both of the eating Bread and drinking Wine in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. To Remember one is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but also to think of their particular Quality and Relation what they are to us or what they have left with us or what they have done for us which is worth Remembring If we bid a Servant remember us we intend he should be mindful of the Commands which we have left with him if a Friend that he should bear in mind the Great Love and Faithfulness which we have always expressed towards him if one we have highly obliged that he should gratefully resent and think of the kindnesses which we have done him or if one lastly whose favour we desire and of whom we have requested any thing that he would be mindful of the Good turn which he promises to do or which we ask of him In desiring any of these or any others to remember us we mean not barely that they should call to mind how once there were such men as we in being but over and above that that they be particularly mindful of the Relation wherein we stand and think of what we have done what we deserve or what we desire or expect from them And this our Blessed Lord intends when in this Holy Feast he Desires and Commands us to remember him He would have
us think of him in all those Capacities and reflect upon him under all those Relations wherein he so infinitely deserves to be remembred by us Such as are that of a Faithful Teacher a Gracious Governour an intire Friend and noble Benefactor doing the highest kindnesses and working the greatest deliverances for us and for all Mankind 1 st He would have us remember him as our Faithful Teacher who has made known to us the whole Counsel of God concerning us and to call to mind those excellent things which he has revealed to us As namely That for the sake of his Death and through the merits of his Blood all mankind who were utter Enemies before shall be put into a way of Reconciliation with God and have the Benefit of a New Covenant which proffers Pardon to all that truly Repent and Spiritual help and inward Grace to all that carefully indeavour with it and the Blessings of Heaven and Happiness to all that are intirely obedient promising that at our Death our Souls shall go into Paradise and at the General Judgment our Bodies which till then were held in their Graves shall be raised up again to Eternal Life 2 ly He would have us remember him as our Gracious Governour whom God has anointed to give Laws to us and to recollect and bear in mind those Commands which as our Soveraign Lord and Master he has laid upon us As namely That we love God and trust in his Goodness and submit to his Providence and Worship him with Prayers and Praises but above all with an Holy and a God-like Life that we be Humble and Heavenly-minded Chaste Temperate and Contented that we be dutiful to our Governours respectful to our Superiours courteous to our Equals condescensive to our Inferiours grateful to our Friends loving and obliging to our Enemies and just charitable and peaceable towards all Persons of whatsoever Nations Sects or Parties even to all Mankind 3 ly He would have us remember him as our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor who let us in so deep into his Heart and heaped his Favours on us at so prodigious a rate as never was nor ever will be equall'd For he loved us without any thing of our own Deserts and in spite of our highest Provocations and without expecting any other recompence besides the Pleasure of being kind to us and to such a degree as made him forego the greatest pleasures which he might have held without all interruption in Heavenly places and become a man of Sorrows and lead a Persecuted difficult and necessitous Life and at last dye a most exquisitely painful and ignominious Death for our sakes which ransom'd us from the greatest Curse and procured us the most valuable Blessings that our Nature can admit of And this Benefit of his Death being not only in it self the costliest but the very price and purchase of all the rest he would have remembred above all others in this Feast and accordingly he has suited the Food in it to be broken Bread and Wine poured out which do most lively represent it As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup saith the Apostle you exhibit to all that look on and observe it or shew forth the Lords Death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 These are the things which our Saviour Christ calls us seriously to remember and consider of in our own minds and which the Actions themselves commemorate and shew forth to others when we eat Bread and drink Wine in this holy Sacrament When we partake of this Feast which he has appointed us he would have us remember him and think with our selves how Faithful a Teacher he was to us and what good Lessons and Declarations he has left with us how gracious a Lord and Master he proved and what Commandments he has laid upon us and lastly how kind a Friend and noble Benefactor he shewed himself and what astonishing kindnesses he has done for us in all the Labours of his Life but especially and above all in his suffering a bloody Death for our sakes which purchased us the Forgiveness of our Sins the Grace and Spirit of God and Eternal happiness All this Faithful Teacher and Gracious Governour and intire Friend and noble Benefactor Christ is to us in the highest Measures and to all imaginable Degrees and since he is so he would have us to bear it in mind and oftentimes to think of it And that we may be sure to do it he has instituted this Feast on purpose for it and told us that our work is to call to mind and remember him whensoever we come to it And this way of having these things remembred by appointing Feasts for the Commemoration of them has been very usual in the World Thus the Disciples in the several Sects of Philosophers at Athens were wont to have a set Feast and Collation in remembrance of their Founders And it has been the way of all the World to remember their Benefactors and commemorate some great Blessings by Festivals Thus at this day we commemorate the deliverance from the Powder-Treason and the Kings happy Restauration by a yearly Festival upon that occasion And the whole Christian Church has perpetuated the memory of Christs Nativity Resurrection and the Descent of the Holy Ghost by the yearly Feasts of Christmas Easter and Pentecost And God himself in the old Testement call'd men to a remembrance of the Creation of the World by the Feast of the Seventh day Sabbath and all the Jews to the commemoration of his sparing all their First-Born when the destroying Angel slew all the First-Born of Egypt by the yearly Festival of the Passover appointed for that very purpose Exod. 12.14 This then is the first end of our eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table it is in remembrance of our Saviour Christ and of what he has done for us So that when we partake in this Feast of his appointment we must seriously reflect on him who has appointed it and bethink our selves that he is our Faithful Teacher calling to mind his Revelations our Soveraign Lord and Master remembring his Commandments our intire Friend Saviour and Benefactor who has done strange things for us but above all who has laid down his own Life to purchase us the Pardon of our Sins and Spiritual Grace and Eternal Happiness upon our Repentance Obedience and Virtuous endeavours With these Thoughts he would have us entertain our minds at the same time we Feast our Bodies with the Creatures of Bread and Wine which he has prepared for us and if we would answer his end in it and be welcome Guests at this Feast when he calls to it we must be sure so to do And as we must eat Bread and drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us so must we 2ly In Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased and procured us This Covenant
us and worthy of this first End of Eating and Drinking in the Holy Sacrament viz. the Remembrance of our Lord and Saviour Christ and his Dying for us We must remember him with Honour and Reverence with a careful Concern to maintain and promote his Honour among others with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience as he is Lord over us with Love of him for his Kindness and Delight in his Benefits and thankful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and grateful Returns in any thing he can receive or we can give for all his Favours particularly his Dying on our account as he has so highly befriended and infinitely obliged us and with an humble sense of our own unworthiness and an utter abhorrence of all our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings and an intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use to be employ'd as his own Purchase in what he pleases as his Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins wherewith he bought and redeemed us All these are Duties which were he now before us and conversing with us we ought to pay him and which therefore in our Remembrance of him which makes him present to our Minds we must not deny him and in them consists the Worthiness of this Remembrance and Commemoration 2 ly A second End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God which Christs Death procured And to do this worthily we must come to it in Sincerity and Faithfulness and with full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which therein we solemnly profess and promise We must come to it I say in Sincerity and Faithfulness The great Qualification which is requisite in all Compacts is Faithfulness For they are the great Means of Security among Men and the great Thing which in their Expectations from each other they have to depend upon and therefore it is both pretended and expected by all that make them that they will not prove false and deceitful in them Every Man that Covenants expects those he Contracts with should mean what they profess and perform what they promise and makes shew also himself that he will do so likewise And if he doth not he is a very dishonest unworthy Man such as the Gospel condemns and will sentence unless he repent to eternal destruction Covenant-breakers being ranked among those who in the Judgment of God are worthy of Death Rom. 1.31 32. And this Sincerity or Faithfulness consists in this that we come in full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which we profess and make promise of In this Covenant to all us Believers God offers at present a Right to Pardon his Holy Spirit and Eternal Happiness and we again profess and make offer to him of our Repentance and Obedience And this Right he promises still to continue to us upon the same Terms and answerably we promise to perform them upon that expectation for ever afterwards And both in these Professions and Promises we must deal sincerely with him and neither pretend a present offer of them when we want them nor make Promises of them for the time to come when we have no fixed Design and well-weighed Resolution to perform them When we come therefore to renew our Baptismal Engagement and to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God giving him both the Profession and the Promise of these Duties and receiving from him the Proffer and the Promise of these Graces we must be hearty and unfeigned with him Our Souls must really be acted by that Repentance which we profess and fully intend to make good that Obedience which we promise And if we perform in both these we are faithful and sincere in this Business but if we fail in either we are Dissemblers and Hypocrites who act a Part and go to impose upon Almighty God which is a very unworthy part of us And this Sincerity God expresly calls for at this Feast and requires us to be faithful with him when we come to confirm the New Covenant by partaking of it Christ our Passover says St. Paul is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast not with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness by adhering still to our former wicked ways which therefore we are to repent of but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And as for Repentance particularly which is the great Condition of the Covenant renewed in it it is the great Qualification of all worthy Receivers and is most indispensably required in this Sacrament It is the chief thing that is looked at in every Confirmation of the Covenant and therefore is so peremptorily called for when we are Baptized it is the only thing that can recommend a Sacrifice and therefore the main point that must fit us for this Feast upon it And this the Ancient Church always thought of it as it plainly shew'd when at the Celebration of it the Bishop cry'd out These Holy Things must be taken only by Holy Persons and as St. Ambrose clearly informs us when he says This is the Order of dispensing this Mystery which every Church observes that first upon their true Repentance their Sins may be forgiven them and then this Heavenly Food shall be administer'd and reach'd out to them As this Eating and Drinking then is a Federal Rite and in Confirmation of the New Covenant it requires that we be Faithful and Sincere in doing it and then we come worthily and partake of it as we ought when we truly Repent of all our Sins as we profess and are fully purposed as we promise at all times after so to do 3 ly A third End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians and this requires that we lay aside all Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Peace and Forgiveness of all that have any ways offended us We must not come to it in Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts for that were to give the Lye to our selves and to contradict our own Professions For when we come there to partake of that one Bread we profess our selves as has been shewn to be all one Body and that we are all the Body of Christ and Members one of another We solemnly declare that we will be friends from that day forwards with all persons and fully reconciled even to our bitter Enemies and those who have given us the highest Provocations though not for their own sakes yet for the sake of Christ who has bore a thousand times more from us and deserves infinitely beyond what this comes to at our hands We promise mutually that we will lay aside all little Piques not fall out into Quarrels or Contentions nor bear Ill-will or be vexatious among our selves nor seek our own Pleasure Honour or Advantage at
our Brethrens loss but that we will all have a compassionate sense of each others Infirmities and a tender concern and diligent care for each others welfare that we will live as Members of the same Body which all feel what befalls any and are all solaced with the same Joys and all languish in the same Sorrows and all unite in the same Ends and all bear the Weaknesses and supply the Needs and seek the Good and Pleasure of each other as they do their own All this Good-will and Brotherly-kindness Peace and Forgiveness towards all Persons we profess in eating together at this Feast and therefore it is most unworthy dealing if we want them and are even then acted by Hatred Envy and malicious Thoughts which are most opposite and contrary to them Thus is it necessary when we confirm this League of Love and Friendship to our Brethren that we lay aside all Envy and Ill-will and have perfect Charity towards all men And this Charity must be shewn as in Prayers and Good wishes at all times and in Courteous Carriages and good Offices as oft as we have opportunity towards all Persons so particularly in giving Alms and affording Relief to such as want and are necessitous For the League of Love whereinto we are then to enter and which Christ exacts of us is not only to bestow fair words or compassionate looks or faint wishes but if we are able to relieve as we have opportunity and supply those who stand in need of our sâ—bstance If a Brother or a Sister be naked says St. James or destitute of daily Foâ—d and one of you say unto them Depart in Peace be ye warmed or filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are necessary for the Body what doth it profit Jam. 2.15 16. My little Children saith St. John let us not love in word only neither in Tongue but in deed and in Truth And hereby i. e. by this useful operative Charity we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 Joh. 3.18 19. And thus the Ancient Christians constantly used to do in the Apostles times For then at every Lords Supper they had another of their own which they call'd a Love Feast or Feast of Charity Jud. 12. This consisted of such Provision as every Communicant brought along with him they that were Rich brought in much and the Poorer sort less but when it came they all sate down in a Brotherly way and shared in common Which when the Corinthians failed to do every one eating as they came without tarrying for their Brethren and the Rich taking their own large Portions to themselves and leaving the Poor to blush at the scantiness of theirs the Apostle reproved them sharply telling them how much they prophaned this Holy Feast by such corrupt usage In eating says he at this Feast instead of joyning all like loving Brethren at a common Supper every one taketh before other his own Supper or that which he brought for his own share and one who brought little is Hungary through his scarceness and another who brought much is Drunken with the excess of his Shall I praise you in this I praise you not 1 Cor. 11.21 22. And when this way of being Charitable to the Poor at this Feast by reason of abuses crept into it was laid aside another was still used which to this day is practised in many and the best of our Churches as 't is fit it should in all and that is having offerings for the poor at every Communion which may afterwards be distributed among them Which is a most proper way and excellent opportunity not only of exercising that Charity which therein we profess to them but also of expressing our Thankfulness to our Blessed Saviour for the invaluable benefits we have received from him For in being thus kind to his poor Members whom he is so tenderly concerned for we make some sleight return and poor requital unto him who puts their Receipts upon his own score taking what we do to them as done to his own Person In as much as ye have done it unto these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25.40 And these are the things which must render our eating and drinking as it is in Confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren worthy of that signification We must lay aside all Envy and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Forgiveness of all that have offended us and in Charity to all our Neighbours which we must express as in other things so particularly in giving Alms to such whose necessities require it of us And all these the Scripture it self marks out as necessary Qualifications in all worthy Communicants Let us keep the Feast says the Apostle not with the Leaven of Malice 1 Cor. 5.8 When ye come together into one place says he again I hear there be Divisions among you And when there are so this is not to eat the Lords Supper one End whereof is to unite you 1 Cor. 11.18 20. If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave thy Gift before the Altar and go and first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. And as for the Distribution of Alms at this time that as we saw was the Apostolical way in the Love-Feasts as also in the Collections for the Poor as every Man had laid by him in store on the First day of the Week when they always had a Sacrament which St. Paul mentioâ— 1 Cor. 16.2 And when these Feasts sail'd yet these Collections and Offerings at the Lords Table still continued and do in very many Places which in this respect are sit to be Patterns to all others unto this day And thus at last we see wherein consists the Worthiness of Eating and Drinking in this Holy Feast and what Tempers and Dispositions in us are worthy of all those Ends which are signified and designed by it We must Eat and Drink in Remembrance of Christ and of his Dying for us with Honour and Reverence with a careful Concern to maintain and promote his Honour among others with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience as he is Lord over us with Love of him for his Kindness and Delight in his Benefits and thankful Acknowledgments and grateful Returns for all his Favours particularly his Dying on our account as he so highly befriended and infinitely obliged us and with an humble sense of our own unworthiness and an utter abhorrence of all our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings and an intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use to be employed as his own Purchase in what he pleases as his Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins wherewith he bought and redeemed us We must Eat and Drink in confirmation of the New Covenant professing
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that in Dying for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and repent of all our Sins making him faithful and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
Duty is requir'd in us at this Feast but if our Hearts go along with it it puts in act and makes a place for it It exercises our humble sense of our own unworthiness in the Prayer before Consecration in these words We do not presume to come to this thy Table O merciful Lord trusting in our own Righteousness but in thy manifold and great Mercies We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table And so again in the Prayer after receiving in these Though we be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer up unto thee any Sacrifice yet humbly we beseech thee accept this our bounden Duty and Service not weighing our Merits but pardoning our Offences through Jesus Christ our Lord. It exercises our hatred and abhorrence of our Sins which caused Christs Sufferings in the Confession of Repentance in these The remembrance of our mis-doings is grievous unto us the burden of them is intolerable And it exercises our Love and Reverence and Honour to Christ either in words that express it or in things that imply it being real proofs and effects of it in every thing that is done through the whole Service If every Receiver therefore that has these Tempers doth but go along heartily and affectionately with the Churches Prayers and joyn with the Minister and the Congregation in the Communion Service he acts them over as he ought and doth Honour to his Saviour and is a worthy Communicant He shews all those qualifications which God has required and receives as a worthy Guest if he can do nothing more than go along and strike in heartily at every part of the Publick Worship Which I speak not for the ease of those who either by their own invention or the help of Books can set their own Minds on work and employ their own Thoughts in meditating and acting over all these Tempers whilst the Minister is distributing the Sacrament I speak it not I say for the ease of these Persons as if beside what they do in the Churches Prayers they should not moreover do what they can otherwise But for the sake of others who have not these abilities that they may not be discouraged and to let them know that if they are good men and have these Tempers there is exercise of them sufficient in the Publick Prayers were there nothing else from the help of Books or their own invention to make them worthy Communicants And thus we see wherein lies the worthiness of receiving and what Virtues are fit for him to exercise who would be a welcome Guest at the Holy Communion When he remembers the Death of Christ and confirms the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World by eating Bread and drinking Wine according to Christs appointment he must exercise himself in joyful Praise and affectionate Thanks and Resignation of his whole man both Soul and Body to Christs Service and in Repentance of all his Sins making God faithful Promises of New Obedience and in Charity towards all Persons all which he may express in joyning heartily with the Churches Prayers besides what he doth whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating in his own Meditations And if he believes these things and is carryed on by such belief to these Performances he is welcome to the Table of his Lord and may justly esteem himself a worthy Partaker of this Blessed Sacrament CHAP. IV. Worthy Receiving not extraordinary difficult and of unworthiness to Communicate The Contents To silence the Complaint of extraordinary difficulty in coming worthily to this Sacrament three things noted 1. All the particulars of worthy Receiving are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required to fit us for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2. They are all necessary Qualifications of an acceptable Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more is required to it than to a worthy discharge of all other Acts of Religion 3. However they may be commended yet are they not necessarily required in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion The only unworthiness which can put us by this Ordinance is Impenitence if Repentance will â—o down with any man nothing else need stick with him This Point of Worthy Communicating summ'd up HAving hitherto shewn wherein lies the worthiness of receiving and what those Qualifications are which fit us for this Holy Feast I shall now only note some things that may silence all good mens Complaints about the hardship of it and shew plainly who are unworthy to join in it and what they must do to fit and prepare themselves for it and so conclude this Point 1 st I shall Note some things that may reconcile all good minds to this Feast and silence their Complaints of the hardship and extraordinary difficulty of coming worthily to partake in it And this had need to be done and may prove of great use when once it is because one chief thing which causes even good People to come so seldome is the apprehended difficulty and extraordinary solemnity of the worthy receiving Now to satisfy all good Souls in this point and to remove these hard thoughâ—s of it I would suggest to them these three things 1st That all these Tempers which are required to a worthy Communion are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required of us to sit our selves for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2 ly That they are all required to a worthy Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more Duties are required to our worthiness in it than to our worthiness in all other Acts of Religion 3 ly That however they may be commended yet are they not necessarily required as some have imagined in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion 1 st I say all the Tempers which I have mentioned as necessary to a worthy Communion are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required of us to sit our selves for a worthy receiving than is required to sit us to Dye or to go to Heaven They are all necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man It is necessarily required of every good Man who would serve God and be accepted with him that he honour his Lord and Master Jesus Christ and be careful to obey him that he be affectionately sensible of all the kindnesses he has done particularly in dying for him and most heartily thank him for them that he be humbled under the sense of his own sins and utterly abhor them and resign up himself both Soul and Body to his Saviours use who by his own hearts blood has bought him that having first Believed in Christ he
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of