Open still new Springs of Love when I come to this Sacrament of thy Everlasting Love that the New Springs may still give new life to my Soul new courage to do thy Will new Power to tread on Serpents new resolutions to conquer all that stops my way And thus my dearest Lord transform me by the renewing of my Mind that I may prove what is the Holy acceptable and perfect Wall of God Amen Amen CHAP. XVI Of the Perpetuity of this Ordinance and the Necessity of its Continuance to the World's End The CONTENTS St. Pauls Command to the Corinthians of shewing forth the Lord's Death till he come not to be understood of Christ's coming to them in the Spirit but coming to Judgment This proved largely by many arguments The reasons laid down why this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to last to the end of the World Christ's coming to Judgment proved to be a very proper object of our Contemplation in the Recieving of the Holy Eucharist and a help to Patience and Faith and confidence in the Goodness of God God's Marvellous care of our everlasting welfare shewn in tying us up in Bonds of Obedience in this Ordinance Men who look for Grace and Salvation as they are bound to make use of the means of Grace so they are obliged to make use of this The wretched state of those who neglect to shew forth the Lord's Death in this Sacrament The same temper required in Recieving the Eucharist that we desire to be in when we shall be summoned to Judgment The Prayer I. THat this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a standing Ordinance and to last to the end of the World St. Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 11. 26. For as often as you Eat this Bread and Drink this Cup ye do shew or do ye shew the Lord's death till he come Whereby is plainly meant Christ's coming to judge the World and this hath been the unanimous belief of the universal Church since the Apostles time unto this day which makes us justly wonder at the boldness and ignorance of Quakers and other Enthusiasts who have presumed to abolish this Ordinance in their Conventicles pretending that this Sacrament was fitted only for the Infancy of the Christian Church but intended it should cease when Christ should come to them in the Spirit and having already received Christ as they fancy in their first Conversion and Regeneration they foolishly and ridiculously imagine that they have no need of receiving him again in the use of the outward Symbols tendered to Christians in this Sacrament Puffed up with this airy conceit they run into this Sinister and Childish Interpretation of the Apostle's words contrary to the sense of all Christian Churches as if Till he come were as much as Till he come to you in the Spirit to which impertinent Exposition nothing could possibly lead these silly Men but the Spirit of error and contempt of all human Learning and undervaluing the common dictates of Reason and a monstrous Spiritual Pride which not only swells them with an opinion that they are wiser than all the Christians in the World besides but tempts them to other insolencies and Prophanations of the Written Oracles of the Holy Ghost and therfore lest weak Capacities should be ensnared by such specious pretences it will be necessary to shew the unreasonableness of this interpetation 1. There is not the least Syllable not the least hint given us in all the New Testamenâ— that this Sacrament after it was once instituted was ever to be abolished which made not only the Apostles introduce it into the Christian Congregations while they lived but all the Churches planted and founded by them retained and continued it knowing nothing to the contrary but that this Ordinance was to be perpetual and Eternal and therefore as they had recieved the necessary use of it from those who laid the foundation of their Religion so they propagated the same to their posterity Nay among the Hereticks that left and separated from the Church there were very few but what preserved the use of this Sacrament in their Congregations and though they had the insolence of Blaspheming other Mysteries of Christianity yet this Ordinance they were afraid to abolish being sensible that it was one of the Corner stones of Christianity And who could imagine otherwise that considered how this Sacrament succeeded in the room of the Passover which was Item enough that it was to last for ever for as the Passover after its first Institution was to last to the end of the Jewish Oeconomy that expiring with Christ's Death so this succeeding was an argument that it was to continue while the dispensation of Christianity should last and that is to the end of the World 2. No Man will deny but that those three thousand Souls converted by St. Peter's Sermon did receive the Holy Ghost for St. Peter expresly promises them Acts 2. 38. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the Remissions of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and this was very common in those days for true Penitents to receive the Holy Ghost immediately upon their Baptism and sometimes before their Baptism as Cornelius and his Company Act. 20. 44. 48. And though by the Holy Chost in those places are meant the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost speaking with Tongues healing diseases c. Yet it must be granted that in their conversion they had the Sanctifying Spirit of God sent upon them yet these very Persons that â—nd so received the Spirit continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayer as we are told Act. 2. 42. And that by breaking of Bread there is not meant sitting down to their private and ordinary meals is evident from hence because it is mentioned as a part of their Devotion and publick Worship to which their ordinary Diet cannot be referred and therefore it must be the Encharist or this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper that 's meant by it for by that Term it was usually expressed in the Primitive Church as we see 1 Cor. 10. 16. 3. Those very Corinthians to whom the Apostle writes in the place aforementioned and gives a Command to shew forth the Lord's death in this Sacrament till he came had already received the Spirit of God as we read 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God and to this purpose he adds 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God These Men then had received the Spirit of God and therefore when the Apostle writing to them chap. 11. Saith that they should shew forth the Lords death till he come most certainly he cannot mean till he came
rejoyce in nothing so much as in this that I love thee XX. O my bountiful Saviour O my loving Redeemer When when shall it be that I shall love thee perfectly Here on Earth I must not hope for this Happiness but in Heaven I shall O Heaven Heaven How desirable art thou Where the Love of Jesus shall eternally reign in my Soul Where my Love shall be perfectly pure perfectly Seraphick perfectly Extatical and Eternal Ages shall not alter it At present I am in Prison encompassed with a Mortal Body and must sojourn in a wicked World Oh when will that Day that Hour that Minute that happy Time come that I shall be delivered from this Dungeon and translated to that place where Love is all in all where Love knows no End no Decay no Period where it is pure without Mixture invariable without Changes eternal without ceasing Come Lord Jesu Come quickly Particular Acts of Devotion at the Acts of Consecration and Receiving of the Consecrated Bread and Wine At the Minister's pouring out the holy Wine into the Cup. O Jesu Who can think of the flowing of thy Blood without being desirous to be washed with it Or I fancy I do at this present stand under thy Cross and see thee bleeding for my Sins Or Oh. Let thy Blood flow upon my wounded Soul that I may become a sound Member of thy Mystical Body At the Minister's laying his Hand upon the Bread O Blessed Saviour Lay thy Hand upon my Soul that all my Distempers may depart from me Or Oh lay hold on my Soul as the Angel did on Lot Save me from the Flames and let me escape into the Mount of God that I perish not At the Minister's Breaking the Bread Lord Jesu In suffering thy Body to be broken for my Sins I see the Vehemence the Strength and Fervour of thy Love Oh make me all Love all Fervour all Charity Or Oh break the united Forces of my Sins scatter them by thy mighty Arm. Gather the broken Planks of Vertue in my Soul unite them make them whole and strong and secure against the Fury of Winds and Tempests At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Body Lord Let me look off from these material Things and shew me Things invisible and Heavenly Or O Lord The Benefits of thy wounded Body my Soul longs for Oh say They shall be thy Portion At the Minister's touching the Cup. Lord Touch my Soul that it may feel the Power of thy Super-abundant Charity Or Oh! Touch me as thou didst the Blind of old that I may see the Bowels of thy Compassion and rejoyce in the glorious Sight At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Blood Lord My Soul wants Wine of another nature than is in this Cup Oh wash it and cleanse it and purifie it in thy Blood Or Lord Speak thou to my Soul and say I will be thou clean At the Receiving of the Bread Lord Let thy Death be my Life And the Bread represented by this Bread feed me into Everlasting Life Or Lord As thou hast provided Food for my Soul so give me a Taste and Relish also of this Food and a Tongue to praise thy Name for ever Or Lord As thou hast given thy Body for me so I freely offer my Soul and Body as Living Sacrifices to thy Majesty At the Receiving of the Cup. Lord Nothing is more precious than thy Blood Oh! Let it warm my Heart that it may comply with thy Will wlthout wavering Or Lord Bid me look upon thy Blood and in thy Blood upon the Reconciliation wrought by it to the Comfort and Edification of my Soul Or O Lord I am heavy laden and my Pollutions are great And as thy Blood alone can remove that Burthen so free me from those Spots and Wrinkles which make me look deformed in thy Sight CHAP. XXVIII Of the proper Acts of Devotion after we have Received The CONTENTS The Time that is left after our Personal Receiving before all have Communicated not to be spent in Gazing or Looking about Acts of Devotion to be used after Receiving and relating to the Wisdom Mercy Liberality Love Goodness Greatness and Majesty of God to our own Vileness and Unworthiness c. IT falls out so often that when we have Communicated and our Souls have been fed at this Table a considerable Space of Time remains before the united Praises and Thanksgivings of the Congregation begin again This Time be it more or less must not be spent in looking about or in sitting still or in thinking of what Objects our Fancy is pleased to offer and present to us but in holy Aspirations And that the Communicant may know how to employ himself in that Interval it may not be amiss to set down some pious and proper Ejaculations whereby he may exercise his Mind according as Time will permit I. O God! Thy Love in Christ Jesus deserves to be praised admired and magnified There is all that in it which can engage a Soul to break forth into Praises and Hallelujahs There is Beauty Wisdom Condescention Mercy Liberality Sweetness Power Greatness Majesty in it and all these in the highest Degree which would force even a dumb Man to speak of thy Glory II. I adore thee O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity for that infinite Care of my immortal Soul which I see in all thy Proceedings and Transactions and particularly in the Cross of my dearest Redeemer Here thou seemest to empty all thy Stores and pourest out thy Grace abundantly upon the Heads and Hearts of thy Servants Behold Bless ye the Lord all ye Servants of the Lord which by Night stand in the House of the Lord Lift up your Hands in the Sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made Heaven and Earth hath blessed us out of Zion III. O Charming Son of God! I alone am not able sufficiently to praise thee and therefore I wish that every Drop of the Ocean every Grain of Sand every Leaf of the Trees of the Field and every Sprig of Herbs and all the Creatures that ever were or are or shall be might be turn'd into Seraphick Tongues to praise thee IV. O Jefu When I behold thy wonderful Love how it hath bowed how it hath stooped to so mean a Creature as I am the Thoughts of it force my Soul into the humblest and deepest Prostrations Thou art Beauty I am Deformity Thou art Wisdom I am Ignorance Thou art Light I am Darkness Thou art Omnipotence I am feeble Thou art Purity I am Filth and Dung Thou art rich I am Poverty it self Thou art happy I am Misery it self Thou art Perfection I am Weakness Thou art All in All I am nothing V. O Blessed Saviour When I see how Men fall in love with a mortal and fading Beauty which to Day shines bright as the Sun to Morrow by Sickness or Death is all tarnish'd and decay'd how do I blame my self that I do not love thee better whose
not Jon. 11. 49. 50. But St. John is fuller in the explication of this Good when he asserts that his death is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World 1 Jon. 2. 2. Many things are by Men pretended to be done for the Publick Good but what they call Publick is either for the Good of a Family or Corporation or Parish or City or a certain Territory or a Kingdom But the Death of Christ spreads its Virtues infinitely wider not confining its Benefits to a Province or a part of the World but the whole Race of Mankind was concern'd in the Favour so that nothing was ever done so truly for the Publick Good as Christ's Suffering and Dying and whoever remembers it in publick testifies his esteem and value of it not only by his inward sense and admiration of it but by the very place in which he doth remember it The Truth is Christ was crucified publickly in the face of the Sun and before huge multitudes both of Jews and Proselytes who were come to give their attendance at the Passover Both Jews and Gentiles beheld the spectacle and Men of all sorts and conditions crouded to see so dreadful a shew which was an Item that the remembrance of it should be in the most publick place the Church the rather because this publick remembrance doth best promote Christ's Glory as multitudes joyning together in Confessions and Praises must necessarily advance it more than the Hallelujahs of two or three in private IV. Private Communions or Communions in places which were neither Churches nor publick Oratories owe their first rise to the Churches persecutions For when Nero and his successors in the Roman Empire began to defile the Faith with Blood and to be a Christian and a Malefactor were made convertible Terms the Christians were forced to serve God as they could and therefore celebrated the Communion in any place to which they were driven in the common Storm in Mines in Ships in Stables in Prisons in Caves and Dens of the Earth and where two or three Christians had the convenience of getting a Bishop or Minister to consecrate the Elements they chearfully remember'd their Crucify'd Lord and Master as Dionisius of Alexandria tells us in Eusebius And this soon occasion'd another Custom which was to send part of the Consecrated Bread and Wine to Peoples Houses and Cottages in the Country Justin Martyr is very express in this point And hence it came to pass that the Christians kept the Consecrated Elements by them to make use of them when either sickness seiz'd them or they found death approaching and upon this account the Sacrament was called the Viaticum or provision for a Man's Journy into another World as we learn from Gregory the Great And because the Holy Bread thus kept for use was sometimes too big for the sick or dying Person to swallow they crumbled the Bread into the Consecrated Wine and gave it the sick Person in a Spoon as we see in the example of Serapian in Eusebius a thing which in process of time was thought so necessary for all dying Christians that in some places where Superstition thrust out true Devotion in case a Person dyed before he had received the Communion they would thrust and force the crums of Bread mingled with Holy Wine into the Mouths of Persons already departed against which profanation the Fathers thought themselves obliged to Enact very severe Canons which was done accordingly in the Councils of Carthage Antisiodorum and Constantinople and Julius Bishop of Rome forbad putting the Crums of Consecrated Bread in Wine a practice which in all probability came first from sending the Consecrated Elements to Persons absent from the Publick who either could not or durst not appear in the publick Oratories a thing that Origen either foresaw or knew would be abused which makes him inveigh against such presumption So that as Persecution first brought in private Communions so when those Persecutions ceased the Church still obliged her Members to receive the Communion in publick according to the first institution It is therefore wisely ordered by our Church that People shall be exhorted in time of their health to receive the Eucharist in publick that they may not be disquieted for the omission of it when Diseases or Distempers do suddainly seize upon them at which times as the Senses and Faculties are weak so Men cannot receive these Mysteries with that Vigor Zeal and Love that is required in the right use of the Ordinance And indeed where People neglect receiving in publick not thinking of their Duty till death put them in mind of it we can promise them but little comfort He that hath often appeared at the Lord's Table in publick and concludes the scene of his life with this remembrance may reap more than ordinary satisfaction from it because he perfects that in private which he so often comfortably made use of in publick but he whose Eyes were never open to see the necessity of it till his dying groans remove his blindness as he hath despised the Church of God and neglected the time of his Visitation so his Comforts can neither be so great nor so solid as his who hath frequently strengthen'd his Soul in publick with this Cordial when the powers of the Soul are shaken with a violent sickness and the Limbs are weak the Spirits faint and the Thoughts diverted by uneasiness and pain Alas How can the Soul fix on the Cross of Christ What Sense what touches of his Love can it have or what guesses can it make at its Spiritual growth and advancement in Holiness And though according to the old Proverb It 's better late than never yet it 's to be fear'd such Men come so very late that if they were to be pictur'd they might justly be drawn as the Cardinal drew Salomon hanging betwixt Heaven and Hell it being very doubtful which of these two would fall to their share So that upon a review of the whole tho' private Communions cannot be said to be altogether unlawful especially in times of persecution nor inconvenient to persons who have frequently attended this Ordinance in publick when they were able so in times of Peace and Liberty and Tranquility for Men and Women to continue strangers to publick Receiving and to satisfie themselves with a private Communion upon a Death bed is a thing so inexcusable that we cannot but with all possible earnestness discourage it as a thing that 's dishonour to the Church they live in a disgrace to the Religion they profess an impediment to their comfort a remora to their joy an affront to their Saviour and an uncertain cherisher of their hopes of Salvation The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. WHat a mercy is it that we have Publick Churches and Oratories to go to without lett or hindrance that we have no Tyrants nor Foreign Enemies no Rods no
hast thou had of thine own Worth And how hast thou undervalued the Man or Woman that have had to no other Crime but Poverty Thou hast thought thy Inferiors scarce worth talking to How unlike thy Redeemer is this Pride and Haughtiness Were Grace an Inhabitant of thy Heart what low Thoughts wouldst thou have of thy self How readily wouldst thou converse even with the meanest Saint How wouldst thou learn to esteem Men more for their Holiness than for their Riches And how lovely would a Creature that hath the Image of God upon him look in thine Eyes Far more lovely than the greatest Monarch or Lady that have nothing to recommend them but their outward Splendor 15. And he said unto them With Desire I have desired to eat this Passover before I suffer HOW doth God long for our Happiness How fervent are his Desires to do us good Yet how little have these Longings prevailed with thee O my Soul Notwithstanding all these Desires of God to make thee happy how hast thou longed after the muddy Waters of Sensual Pleasures Nay longed to be for ever miserable when in despight of his Intreaties not to neglect so great Salvation thou hast longed for the stolen Waters of sinful Delights coveted Death and been enamoured with Destruction How hath God intreated thee to close with him upon his own Terms and how hast thou grieved him with thy Refusal How hath the Almighty beseeched thee by his Ambassadors to be reconciled to him and yet thou hast stood out and baffled the Stratagems of Mercy 16. For I say unto you I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God CHrist rejoyces that the Shadows are at an end and that the Substance or Antitype is approaching for as the Passover was a Sign of the Jews Deliverance from Egyptian Bondage so that Deliverance was a Shadow or Emblem of our Deliverance from Sin here and our Exemption from all Misery and Trouble in Heaven which was now to be effected by the Death of Christ. But O my Soul how hast thou hunted after Shadows and left the Substance unregarded What are the Glories of this World but mere Shews Yet how fond art thou of them and how strangely hast thou been enamoured with them These Shadows intimate that there are more substantial Glories in the Everlasting Mansions yet these thou passest by and the other thou art delighted with See how thou dotest on those painted Coronets those Butter-flies those Airy Nothings while with the Cock in the Fable thou tramplest on the Pearl even on the Pearl of Price to purchase which the Spiritual Merchant in the Gospel sold all he had 17. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves HOW thankful is our Great Mediator for every Mercy he received from his Everlasting Father Yet how ungrateful hast thou been O my Soul to thy mighty Benefactor What Mercies hast thou received at his Hands and what strange Returns hast thou made for them Thy God hath been kind to thee and thou hast been base and unworthy How hast thou fed on his Blessings and ascribed them to thy Wisdom and Industry How hast thou lived upon his Charity and spurned at his Laws Foolish Creature Dost thou thus reward the Lord thy God Thou shouldest not eat a bit but send some Thanksgiving-Ejaculations to Heaven yet thou contentest thy self with a careless Grace and never thinkest more afterward of God How little dost thou mind the Providences that are sent upon thee And while thou considerest not the Operations of God's Hands how canst thou be thankful 18. For I say unto you I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine until the Kingdom of God shall come INdeed Heaven hath the best and choicest Wine even the Wine of Angels This Wine is the ravishing Love of God This transports the Understanding and wraps up the Intellect in Extasies of Joy and Comfort A brutish Man knows not this neither doth a Fool understand it And hath not this been thy Case O my Soul How weary hast thou been of thinking of this Banquet How soon have thy Spirits tired with meditating of that Love How ready hast thou been to think of the World and the last Night's Revel and how backward to reflect on this richer Entertainment What a Weariness hath it been to thee to survey these Glories to walk about that Jerusalem and to behold the Towers and Bulwarks of it 19. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me HEre begins the happy Institution of the holy Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood and the great Command to remember the Death of Jesus and together with that an Item of the greatest Love that can be shewn to poor Mortals Yet how backward O my Soul hast thou been sometimes to come to this holy Sacrament Thou should'st have longed for an Opportunity to remember this Death with the People of God What is this Bread but an Emblem of the Communion of Saints and a Representation of thy Communion with the Great Head the Lord Jesus Yet how little Delight hast thou taken in this Ordinance How often hast thou come out of Formality only How little have thine Affections been moved with that stupendous Love Either Sin or Malice to thy Neighbour or some Worldly Trouble hath made thee stay away The Thoughts of this Love should have thrown down all thy Strong Holds of Iniquity and left thee in a calm holy spiritual Temper But how hast thou preferred thy little Concerns in the World before this Feast And what Hazards hast thou run of being doomed to a Spiritual Famine as those Guests against whom the Master of the Feast protested that they should never taste of his Supper 20. Likewise also the Cup after Supper saying this Cup is the New Testament of my Blood which is shed for you AT how dear a rate was the remission of our sins purchased The Blood of the Son of God was the Price Greater Love hath no Man shewn than that he lay down his life for his Friends but here is one that laid it down for his Enemies that they may be pardoned How hast thou looked upon this pardon O my Soul sometimes without standing amazed at the height and breadth and depth and length of the love of God! How cold hast thou been in thy desires after this precious Blood Thou should'st have stood under the Cross waiting for the drops that trickled down But the familiarity of the joyful news of it alas hath too often wrought in thee a dis-esteem of it Nay how light hast thou made of this remission and by making so light of it thou hast profan'd it too when thou hast sinned because God is willing to pardon sinners and hast made that pardoning Blood an encouragement to indulge thy self in thy carnal
of it and in so doing have higher thoughts and reflect upon all the instances of his Love to their Immortal Souls and teach their Successors to do so too This Jesus who by wicked hands was Crucified and whom God hath made both Lord and Christ was the Master and Author of this Feast and from him it justly derives its Name 2. Because the end of this Eating and Drinking is to Commemorate the Death of the Lord Jesus As the end of the Passover under the Law was to remember the great Deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage and that of the Feast of Tabernacles their being guided through the Wilderness by a Cloud and their Ancestors dwelin Booths and Tents As the Feast of Trumpets was instituted either by way of Anticipation that they might remember afterwards how the Walls of Jericho fell or to refresh their Minds with Isaac's Sacrifice an Emblem of the Messiah's Death and the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost was ordained as a Testimony of their Gratitude for a Plentiful Harvest and to put them in mind of the Liberty they gain'd when God gave them the Law and entred into a Covenant with them and that of Purim to bring into their Memories how they were rescued from the cruelty of Haman the Amalekite and that of the Dedication to suggest to them the Rebuilding of the Temple So the Lord Jesus enjoyn'd and recommended the keeping of this Feast to his Followers that they might remember how their Master loved them and made his Death a demonstration of Love how he died to make them happy and denied himself in all the Contents of Life to make theirs blessed and glorious for ever how he submitted to the Power of the Grave to purchase their comfortable Resurrection and fell a Sacrifice that they might have hopes of Pardon through his Blood a Remembrance so just that if this Charity deserves not frequent Commemoration no Mercy no Benefit no Favour no Providence can deserve it for this goes beyond all that the Word of God calls glorious and beneficial to Mankind 3. It s the Lord's Supper because the Lord Jesus is Meat and Drink in this Feast Meat indeed and Drink indeed as the expression is John 6. 11. for though that Chapter speaks not directly of this Supper yet the Phrases and modes of speech used there may very piously be applied to what is represented by the Elements in this Feast for the Benefits Advantages and Emoluments of Christs Death are Food so proper to a Religious Soul and a gracious Mind feeds so savourly upon these that nothing deserves the name of Spiritual Meat and Drink so much as these and indeed these nourish and feed the Soul make her strong and lively these are her Cordials and Restoratives and in the nature of David's Oyl Psal. 104. 15. which make her Face to shine 4. It 's the Lords Supper because the nourishment and strength it affords or yields is by the influence of the Lord Jesus He sends his Spirit into the Soul that comes to his Feast hungry and thirsty and longing after the Riches of Gods Love whereby the Soul is inflamed to love him who bought her at this dear rate and that love produces Peaceableness and Gentleness and Faith and Purity and Sincerity and Delight in good Works which are excellent signs of the Souls growing strong in the use of the Spiritual Food The Holy Spirit of Christ destroys the reigning Power of Sin in her and the government of the Flesh for the leaner this grows and the more the authority of it is diminished the better the Soul thrives and the more vigorous and active it becomes in all its faculties III. Though to call this Feast The Lord's Supper when it is in most Churches Celebrated in the Morning seems to be improper yet the reason why it still bears the name is Because the same substantial Actions are still observed in the Celebration of it that were used by Christ and his Disciples at his first institution in the night and not only the same Actions but the same end and design is kept on foot which we find in its first foundation and whenever it is celebrated it 's still in imitation of that Supper and that Supper is still remembred in it The reason why Christ in instituting of it made use of the night which gave it the name of a Supper was because it was to be succedaneous to the Passover which according to custom was eaten at night as the Deliverance which the Jews remembred then was performed by the Angel at night and as the Passover represented the Old Covenant or Testament and this Feast the New so it was fit that the later should be instituted immediately after the Celebration of the former that both being set together their different signification might more plainly appear and Men might see what Mercies they might expect from the bringing in of a better Covenant This being the occasion of Christ Celebrating this Feast at night and consequently the reason ceasing with the Typical Passover the Christian Churches in process of time took the liberty of Celebrating it at all seasons as they saw it either necessary or expedient And though what I have said about the Passover is the Principal reason why Christ made choice of the night for this Institution yet for ought we know it might be with an intent also to hint to us how by this Sacrament the night of Ignorance which sat heavy on the minds of most Men would be dispell'd that by night is sometimes understood the night of Ignorance in Scripture is evident from Matth. 4. 16. Es. 9. 1 2. Rom. 13. 12. and that by the devout and religious use of this Sacrament our Ignorance is in a great measure cured experience is a sufficient testimony Hereby certainly our minds are signally enlightned and we behold the Wisdom Love and Goodness of God discover the methods and ways of Salvation get clear Apprehensions of the Mysteries of our Faith and see how inconsistent the Works of Darkness are with this solemn remembrance of the Death of Christ hereby we come to feel the Power of God toward them that Believe and find out the Secret of the Union that is betwixt Christ and his true Followers and learn to know that what is said in the Word of God concerning the tender regard of Christ to his Church and Friends is no Fable Add to all this that Christ made choice of the night possibly to put us in mind of his sudden coming to Judgment which is frequently expressed in Scripture by his coming in the night Mark 13. 35 36. Luke 12. 38 39. 1 Thessal 5 2. Rev. 3. 3. nor is this an unsuitable Reflection in this Sacrament to contemplate his coming to judge the World for though that coming may strike terror into Men that put the evil day far from them and prepare not for their Lord 's coming yet to a Soul enlightned and Sanctified it cannot but
afford matter of comfort to think at such times that the same Jesus who was crucified will ere long appear in Glory with all his mighty Angels to give those that have followed him in the Regeneration full possession of the purchas'd Glory However at the best the Celebration of this Feast at night was but a circumstantial thing and therefore the Church is not obliged to keep to it circumstantial things depending much upon conveniency or inconveniency which vary in several Ages and this was the reason that though standing at the eating of the Passover was a commanded circumstance Exod. 12. 11. yet the Jewish Church in after Ages varied from it even by Christs own Approbation and turned that posture into leaning as I shall have occasion to shew more largely in the Chapter about Kneeling at the Communion The Church therefore sins not in Celebrating this Feast at any other time especially in a circumstance barely related not commanded Yet as I said before because this Spiritual Feast kept up in all Churches is still in imitation of Christs Supper and that Supper is religiously remembred in it and the same essential things together with the scope drift and design of all are still preserved it is not unfitly called the Lords Supper still so that if any man seems to be contentious about the name We have no such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 12. 16. IV. Yet this is no Argument but that it may also lawfully be called and expressed by other Names and this we find the Christian Churches have done from time to time Tertullian was the first that called it a Sacrament taking the Name from the Oaths the Roman Soldiers took that they would be true and faithful to their Emperor and the rather because we vow Allegiance and Fidelity in this Ordinance to the great Master that died for us Others have call'd it an Oblation because we offer up our humble Prayers and Supplications to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our Souls and Bodies too when we remember this Beneficial Death Sometimes it hath been call'd a Sacrifice because it is not only a commemoration of the wonderful Sacrifice of Christs Death but we chearfully offer up the Sacrifice of our Praises for this inestimable Mercy The name of Communion occurs frequently in the Writings of the Ancients because all sincere Christians are hereby tyed in a bond of mutual Love participate of the same Bread are Fellow-members of the Mystical Body of Christ and have Communion with Christ their Head and enjoy all the same Benefits of his Death and sufferings The word Eucharist is used as often as any other because Thanksgiving and Magnifying the Goodness Mercy and Charity of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost are a great part of the Service here The name Mass which they of the Roman Persuasion and even the Lutheran Churches make use of as it was not known in the Church for the first Four hundred years after Christ so the Original of it was this When the Lords Supper was to be celebrated after Sermon the Deacon or some other Officer of the Church called to the People that did not or were not to receive in these words Ite missa est Depart the Congregation is dismissed In time that which was only a Preliminary circumstance of the Lords Supper was applied to the whole Office and the Service was called Missa or Mass a word which the Romanists make a great stir with and turn into a perfect Charm and a monstrous Sacrifice to the great disparagement of Christs Sufferings and the Benefits that accrue thereby to true Believers Some of their Writers make it a Hebrew word and fetch it from the Old Testament others derive it from the Greek others from the Northern Language and though it expresses less then any of those Names we mentioned before yet hath this swallowed up all the rest and the more superstitious in the Roman Church are almost afraid to call it by any other Name and the Mass is that which both young and Old both learned and unlearned among them have most frequently in their Mouths though few of the Vulgar know what it means I omit here many other Names appropriated by Writers to this Mystery such as Collect Oeconomy Liturgy Dominical Agenda Anaphora Synaxis c. partly because I intend no Critical History and partly because by the names I have already spoken of this Sacrament is usually known in the Western Churches That we do so often call it a Mystery is because the things discovered and imitated here do altogether depend upon Divine Revelation and are such as Flesh and Blood understand not and the Secrets of which none but a Person enlightned by the Spirit of God apprehends to any purpose and which transcend all the Arcana or hidden points of Heathen Divinity V. The name of the Lords Supper puts us in mind that this Holy Feast differs from Common Suppers 1. In that Common Suppers are for the support of Nature this for the support of Grace and Goodness in our Souls The former are intended for the strengthning of the Body this for the corroboration of our Faith and Hope and Love Our Common Supper represents to us the Ordinary Providence of God which opens its hand and fills the desire of every living thing This Gods extraordinary dispensation which shews at what cost and charges we are made the Children of God and fitted for everlasting habitations The former gives us an account of the Blessings of Gods Left this of the favours of his Right Hand The former bids us look into the nether this into the upper Springs of the Divine Clemency 2. In our Common Suppers our Spirits may unbend and our Minds and Tongues take liberty of thinking and speaking of things relating to our necessary Employments in the World in this our thoughts must rise mount up with Wings as Eagles pierce the Clouds and fix on the Riches of Divine Love retire from the World view God and his glorious Attributes and unite with that excellent object improve themselves into Contemplaâ—ion and adore the Mystery of Redemption In the former no other Preparation is required but what we are to bring with us to common affairs and businesses i. e. Gravity and Sobriety but in this the Heart must be prepared the Soul chafed the Affections warmed prayers offered Ejaculations press into Gods presence and Self-examination dispose the Soul for the visits of the Holy Ghost that it may be a worthy Guest at so great a Table and the rather because God is in a special manner present here for wherever Providence displays its brighter beams of Love there God is eminently present that makes Heaven what it is because there the Divine Goodness shines most gloriously In this Sacrament are set before us more then ordinary Characters of Gods Love the Angels of Heaven saith St. Chrysostom stand round about the Altar and while the Minister
not been for such forcible means or straits and necessities so that the Minister of the Ordinance may thank their Office more than their Religion that he sees them in that holy place And most certainly this is not Eating the Lord's Supper for nothing is properly an act of Religion but what is a free-will-offering and flows from an internal love of the Duty And what is here said of accidental Employments is too true of standing Offices of the Church A Minister or Clergyman may come to the Lord's Supper and yet not eat the Lord's Supper he may celebrate it as a Minister and yet not eat it as a sincere Christian he may eat it because his Office obliges him to administer it and yet not eat it with that sense which becomes a sincere believer And it is so with lesser Officers about a Church Custom may carry them a great way and for some years they may never fail to come to this Table and yet may not eat as they ought for they may do it upon the account of their Office only and because it is expected of them but the sense of the end and of the love of God may be wanting which defect makes it a very lame offering 3 Such Men however come and to this they are led by a fancy they are willing to entertain that other Men who come receive it with no greater sense or seriousness than they They consider not whether this will be a good Plea another day but it gives present satisfaction and this makes them espouse it Not to mention that it is great rashness and presumption in them to judge of other Mens hearts the secrets of which they are for the most part ignorant of and if other men should be no better than they yet that would be no excuse Men being to live by Precepts not by every Example that is before them yet thus Men love to delude themselves and by that means precipitate themselves into unspeakable Dangers For III. This not eating as they ought strangely hardens them in Sin If the Cross of Christ cannot open their eyes or make them sensible of their Errors few things can be supposed able to do it to their comfort If the Blood of the Covenant cannot supple their hearts other things must be believed to be ineffectual because God looks upon this as the most potent remedy to effect it nor is this to be understood only of scandalous sins but all such offences which Christ hath peremptorily forbid though the world takes no great notice of them such as are aversion from holy Thougts and Discourses and neglect of those Gospel Graces the Apostle presses upon such as would not be Christians in vain And hence it is that where Men do not eat the Lord's Supper aright our Exhortations to those nobler Duties of Religion are lost upon them and all the severe threatnings we rehearse and mention to rouze them from their Spiritual slumber are spoke into the wind and they continue strangers to that Spiritual frame which the Apostle calls Rom. 8. 5. minding the things of the Spirit By a Spiritual frame of the heart I mean a God-like Temper which is pleased with any thing that makes for the Glory of God and as Fire converts all things into its own substance spiritualizeth Objects or makes a spiritual use of them and is truly enamoured with the severer Precepts of the Gospel and looks upon them as perfective of our natures and consequently thinks no Commandment grievous Hence it is that such Men who are strangers to this frame their Religion turns into mere Formality and Hypocrisie and however it may look in their own eyes in the sight of God it goes for no more than Paint and Varnish mere Glow-worm light that shines but warms not glitters but gives no Heat blazes but doth not touch the Heart and like rotten Wood seems bright but hath nothing of Fire in it and this must necessarily cause very false Applications of Gospel Promises which at last produces such Self-deceptions that when they come to appear before the Bar of God's Justice they 'll not only wonder at the Cheats they have put upon themselves but tear their hair and smite their breasts and be ready to kill themselves to think how they have murthered their own Souls with kindness and by fair Words and Speeches enticed them into ruin IV. From what we have said it will easily appear what eating of the Lord's Supper doth import eating it I mean in a Scripture Sense 1. To eat it with a relish of the Benefits of Christ's Death and Passion even in our common Meals we find a great difference betwixt eating and relishing betwixt eating with and without an Appetite betwixt tasting the juice and delicacy of the Meat and fancying it to be no better than Chaulk or Ashes He that eats the Lord's Supper aright his Soul must eat as well as his outward Organs and as Christ saith John 6. 63. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life so the Soul that eats as it should do the benefits of Christ's Death they must be Life and Spirit to her a perfect Cordial true Elixir real Sweetness comfortable Balm and sweeter than Honey to the Palate These Benefits are Pardon and Peace and reconciliation to God and Salvation and the Soul must be affected with them prize them value them practically above the Riches of the World and count all things dross and dung for the excellency of them and be willing to part rather with Father and Mother and Lands and Houses than with the Comforts of them and that is to relish and then the Soul eats indeed whereas a person that either thinks not of these Benefits or if he thinks of them hath no actual value for them so as to feel in himself how highly he esteems them and what a mighty veneration he hath for them though he may be said to eat yet he doth not relish them and therefore doth not eat aright 2. It is to eat with secret longings to be conformable to Christ Jesus in his Humility and Charity or as the Apostle expresses it to have the same mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus Phil. 2. 5. And this in another place is called hungring and thirsting after righteousness Matth. 5. 6. and was represented of old by the secret longings of the Spouse Cant. 1. 3. Draw me after thee and I will run Where there is no such longing to conform to Christ in these Virtues a Man doth not properly eat the Lord's Supper like a healthy man for he digests not the Food doth not turn into good Juice it doth not nourish him he doth not thrive upon it I call it longing for the desire after these Graces which were so eminent in Christ must be strong and vehement ardent and grounded upon the Beauty Loveliness and Amiableness of them such a longing as David expressed for the Lord's House and his
of the Wheat Psal. 147. 14 so it s like they would not in their Passover in the Bread they used omit the commemoration of that Mercy and the same Bread which Christ made use of in the Passover we must suppose he made use of in the institution of this Sacrament This will give us occasion to enquire whether any other thing Men make use of instead of Corn-Bread may be used in this Holy Sacrament for it 's certain that in some Countries they have no Corn and divers Authors tells us how much the Bread differs in the several parts of the habitable World according to the nature of the Soil and temper of the Inhabitants The Egyptians heretofore made Bread of Millet and Milk and Water and in some part of the West-Indies at this day they make Bread of the roots of certain Trees which they dry and powder and then make up into Paste or Bread and so they do in divers parts of Africa And as it may be the lots of many Christians to be cast upon such places so the question may justly be ask'd Whether in the administration of the Lord's Supper being destitute of Bread made of Corn they may with a safe Conscience make use of any other And most Divines answer in the affirmative For tho' the Canonists among the Papists will allow nothing to be Bread but what is made of Corn yet whatever it is that nourishes like Bread made of Corn is Bread to them who are so nourish'd by it And since the reason of Christ's making use of Bread in this Sacrament was to represent the Spiritual nourishment of our Souls by application of the benefits of his death or as we commonly speak by his Body and Blood Why should not any Nation or People make use of that in the Sacrament to represent this Spiritual nourishment which serves them instead of Bread and gives the same nourishment to their Bodies that ordinary Bread doth especially where Bread of Wheat or Rye or Barley is not to be had Yet this is not to be applied to other Fruits of the Earth such as Pears and Apples and Figs and Melons c. as if they in case of necessity might be made use of instead of Bread for though they nourish too yet no Nation makes use of them as their Bread And since Bread is not only used by Christ but by all the Christian Churches in all Ages something that hath the nature and the name of Bread must still be used in this Holy Sacrament and all care imaginable taken that by making use of something else Men run not into Profanation of this Ordinance 3. As it was unleaven'd and wheaten Bread Christ made use of in the Institution of this Holy Sacrament so it was also substantial Bread not a Wafer as is now used in the Church of Rome That Christ used substantial Bread no Man ever doubted that understood what Bread the Jews made use of in the Celebration of the Passover and for a thousand years after Christ the Church was wholly ignorant of Wafers It 's granted that the Sacramental Bread was antiently called Host from the Latin Hostia a Sacrifice because the Bread represents the Body of Christ which was offered in Sacrifice for the sins of the World which name of Host the Church of Rome still applies at this day to their Wafers in the Mass but then it was substantial Bread or a whole Loaf they called by that name How these Wafers first came in is explain'd by Honorius Augustodunensis The report goes saith he that it was usual in former times for the Ministers of the Church when the Sacrament of the Altar was to be Celebrated to fetch a quantity of Meal or Flower from every House or Family in the place they lived in which Custom is yet observ'd among the Greeks and of that to make the Bread which was to be used at the Lord's Table and distributed among the Communicants But after the Church increased in number but decreas'd in Holiness it was order'd for the sake of carnal Men that those that could should communicate either every Lords Day or every Third Lord's Day or on the Festivals of the Year But the People not coming and there being no need of so great a Loaf as formerly it was thought good to use Wafers in the form of a larger Penny and that they might not want a Mystery for these new doings the People desired instead of Flower to offer every Man a Penny that thereby they might acknowledge how their Lord and Master was betraid for Thirty pieces of Silver So far he And it 's probable that from hence came the Easter-Offerings which as yet are usual in most Churches of the Nation And since these Wafers are the effects of so great no abuse which the wickedness of the times brought into the Church it can be no great encouragement for those that would preserve the solemnity of this Mystery to keep them up or plead in vindication of them It 's true the Wafers they use this day in the Church of Rome are made of Flower and Water But 1. There is not that quantity of Flower and Water in them as is required in substantial Bread Neither 2. Are they wrought or baked as common substantial Bread is Neither 3. When they are made are they design'd for any thing but to seal Letters withal I mean in the ordinary use of them before the Priest doth lay them upon the Altar which shews that they are not intended for nourishing Bread nor have they the right taste or smell or strength of Bread neither are they commonly sold for Bread nor doth any Man make use of them for his daily Bread thereby to strengthen his Body So that they do not answer Chrst's design and the Analogy that ought to be betwixt the thing signifying and that which is signified i. e. They being no substantial Bread cannot exactly represent the substantial Nourishment of the Soul and therefore have been most justly rejected by most Churches but by that which hath made bold with God himself with Scripture and the express Laws of our Saviour and substituted their own Inventions and Traditions IV. Why Christ made use of Bread in this Holy Sacrament is next to be consider'd Besides the general Reason I have already mentioned viz. To represent the Nourishment he intends our Souls by his Death and Crucifixion if we lay hold of it by an active and fruitful Faith there may these following Reasons be also given for it 1. To put us in mind that he was the Person prefigured by the Bread variously prepared and ordered under the Law and in the Temple and in the Rituals of the Jews The Shew-bread was to be before the Lord continually Exod. 25. 30. In the Original it 's called The Bread of Faces The Mystery of it was to shew that Christ was to be the great Mediator who should be always in the Presence of God behold his
would to God it might be as surprizing to see one Christian fall out with the other 5. He broke the Bread to hint to us with what Hearts we ought to come to the Table of our Lord and to the Altar of the Cross even with humble broken contrite Hearts Such Hearts we might get if it were not for our Pride It was therefore prohibited in the Old Law to use Leaven in God's Sacrifices and Offerings Leaven was the Emblem of Pride which makes us unfit to appear before the humble Jesus I am broken with their whorish Heart which hath departed from me saith God Ezech. 9. 6. This was literally fulfilled in Christ And shall not we share in the Depth of that Sorrow Shall we see him bow his Head under the Weight of our Offences and shall not the Burthen appear heavy and insupportable to our Spirits Shall we see the innocent Lamb weep for our Stubbornness and be unconcerned at the Spectacle 6. He broke the Bread to let us see how ready he is to comfort the Contrite and Broken Heart Christian as great as the Agonies were thy Sins did put him to as great as the Torments were he felt upon thy Account as bitter as the Death was he suffered and tasted for thee yet if thy Soul relents and if that which made him die becomes loathsome and abominable in thy Sight if a deep Sense of thy Unworthiness fills the Chanels of thy Heart if the Fountain of thy Head runs with Water if thine Eyes gush out in Tears if the Weight of thy Sins presses thy Soul into an holy Self-abhorrency if his Passion can fright thy Sins into a languishing Condition abate their Courage and break their sturdy Necks and his broken Body proves a Motive strong enough and obliges thee to break loose from the Government of Hell behold those very Wounds thou madest shall be thy Balsam and the Blood thy Sinns did spill shall turn into Oyl to supple thy broken Bones with that precious Liquor thy Soul shall be washed and that which was his Death shall be thy Life and Antidote with that Offering of himself once made he will expiate thy Filth and perfume thy Services render them acceptable to God give thee a Right to Heaven comfort thee in all thy Tribulations and call to thy Soul Be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee 7. He broke the Bread to let us know that his Death would break the Wrath of God allay his Anger pacifie his Justice and satisfie for the Affront his Holiness had suffered from the Sins of Men and make way for the Penitent's Admission to God's Bosom This is St. Bernard's Observation and the Mystery is rational for by his Death he broke the Power of him who had the Power of Death Heb. 2. 14. This was the Devil who got that Power by Man's Apostacy which provoked the Almighty's Wrath and moved him to permit the Enemy to exercise that Power over Mankind who was therefore not only the Cause of Adam's Death but of all the Deaths that followed that for which Cause Christ called him a Murtherer from the Beginning Joh. 8. 44. And the Jews stile him the Angel of Death and if any extraordinary Judgments were inflicted on Men at any time he was still the Executioner Besides all this he had Power given him to fright Men with Death either violent or natural and the dreadful Consequences of it of all which Man's Apostacy was the Cause This Power given him by the Justice and Wrath of God against the Sins of Man was broken by the Death of Jesus who thereby gave all true Believers Power and Courage to undervalue these Fears and Terrours to look upon them as Bugbears and Things to fright Slaves withal since this wonderful Death brings Life and Pardon and Salvation to their Souls and makes their own Death a Passage to the full Possession of the Joys to come 8. He broke the Bread prophetically to fore-tell what Miracles would happen at his Death how the Veil of the Temple would rend the Rocks break and the Graves burst their Bonds and open even then when Men's Hearts would be harder than Flints more impenetrable than Stones more insensible than Adamants less tractable than the Earth more rigid than the Grave and less relenting than inanimate Creatures 9. He broke the Bread Why may not we think that hereby he signified the Breaches and Divisions that through the Passions and various Interests of Men would happen in future Ages in the Church upon the Account of this Sacrament What Strife what Bitterness what Contentions hath this Ordinance occasion'd betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches and in the Western betwixt the Papists and Protestants and among the Protestants betwixt the Lutherans and those that call themselves of the Reformed Religion Upon which Account I cannot but think of the bitter Language that both Luther and his Followers have given to the Zwinglians and Calvinists that differ'd from them in Opinion about the Supper of the Lord. Nor did the Fury stop here but in many Places where any of the Zwinglians were they were turned out imprisoned harrassed expelled driven into Exile and forced away to Sea in a severe Winter in Frost and Snow when the Winds blew hard and the Weather was exceeding tempestuous and all because they would not abjure these Six Propositions 1. That these Words Take eat this is my Body and Take drink this is my Blood must not be understood literally but typically and figuratively 2. That the Elements in the Lord's Supper are only Signs and Symbols and that Christ's Body is as far removed from the Bread in the Sacrament as Heaven is from Earth 3. That Christ is present in this Sacrament by his Virtue and Power and not with his Body as the Sun with his Light and Operation assists and refreshes the Creatures of God in this lower World 4. That the Bread in the Sacrament is the Emblem and Figure of Christ's Body and signifies and represents only 5. That Christ's Body is eaten only by Faith mounting up into Heaven not with the Mouth 6. That only true Believers do properly eat Christ's Body but wicked Men who have no lively Faith receive nothing but the bare Bread and Wine Those that would not abjure these Doctrines were used like Hereticks Fanaticks and Vagabonds By their usage one would have taken them to have been guilty of Sacrilege Murther Robbery Sedition Rebellion c. but the chief Crime it seems was because having imbibed Zwinglius and Calvin's Doctrine about the Eucharist they could not conform to the Lutheran Persuasion in that Point Wonderful Barbarity which one would scarce have expected from Heathens much less from Christians and Fellow-Protestants who together with them protested against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome Into such an unseemly Behaviour do Men precipitate themselves when they let loose the Reins of their Passions instead of becoming Repairers of Breaches they make them wider and
Deacon's Hand or whether they took it out of the Dish into which the sacred Bread was broken with their own Hands is not very material to determine Though whatever Passages there may be in Clemenâ— of Alexandria and St. Cyprian which seem to import that the Communicants did take the broken Bread out of the Dish yet most of the Ancients do agree that the consecrated Elements were taken from the Hands of Ecclesiastical Persons And though among the Jews the Master of the Family that broke the Bread did not always give it into the Hands of every Guest but having broken it laid it upon the Table and every one took a Piece yet the Practice of the Christian Church for Six Hundred Years at least after Christ sufficiently shews how the holy Apostles took it whom we may suppose the first Churches did imitate And as the Disciples took it from Christ's Hands so the Communicants afterward took it from the Apostles and their Successors Hands which Practice continues this Day in most Churches of the Protestants that call themselves Reformed I say in most for in some and particularly those of the United Provinces the Communicants take it out of the Dish after it is broken by the Minister It was Ignorance and Superstition that brought in a contrary Custom And from hence rose that Canon in the Council of Antisiodorum celebrated about the Year after Christ 613. That Women must not take the Eucharist with their bare Hands but in a Linen Cloth which they called Dominicale Soon after as Folly and Superstition increased some began to take the consecrated Bread in little Vessels of Gold or of some other Metal against whom the Sixth Council of Constantinople about the Year of our Lord 676. made a Canon and forbad them to do so for the future but to put their Hands cross-wise and so to receive it The Pretence in receiving the holy Bread in some Thing besides their bare Hands was that they might not defile the Body of Christ with their Hands as if touching it with baser Things than their own Hands would be more acceptable to God For as Solomon tells us a living Dog is better than a dead Lion so we may with far greater Reason say That a living Hand is infinitely better than all the dead Things which are made either of Gold or Silver or Brass or any other Mineral But though these Abuses crept in so early yet the Custom of receiving the holy Bread with their Hands continued in abundance of Churches till the latter end of the Ninth Century by which Time it began to be customary in the Western Church to put the Eucharist into the Mouths of the Communicants as it is practised this Day in the Roman Church as also among the Lutheran Protestants It is confessed that a Canon was made in a Council of Roan about the Year of our Lord 685. That the Eucharist should for the future by the Priest be put into the Mouth of the Communicant whether Woman or Lay-man Yet there are sufficient Testimonies extant that assure us that this Canon was not observ'd every where till about the latter end of the Ninth Century In a Word As Superstition grew and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation began to prevail so this ancient Rite of taking the Eucharist with the Hand was abolished and the Priests of the Church of Rome would not so much as suffer Lay-men to touch the Sacramental Bread with the Tip of their Fingers pretending that it was only given by Christ into the Hands of Priests an Absurdity so great that by the same Rule it would follow that the Laity must be totally excluded from the Sacrament because at the first Institution it was received by none but Priests Nay to that heighth of Folly did Men arise by degrees not only Papists but many also that professed the Purity of the Gospel that it was counted a great Profanation of the Eucharist if the People did any way touch the sacred Bread and therefore great Care was and is still taken even at this Day that the Bread be put exactly upon the Tongue of the Communicant that he may not touch it so much as with his Teeth So that under a pretence of Religion Men are made to forbear that which true Religion commands to be done And what an Injury is it to the People to hinder them from touching and taking the holy Bread in their Hands when Christ laid down his Life for them as well as for the Priests Did the Priests receive greater Benefit by Christ's Death than the People Or were some peculiar Advantages consigned to them by his Death over and above what is intended for the Laity If this could be proved there might be some Colour for this Pretence But when all equally share in his Mercies why should not all take the Bread in their Hands whereby they remember the Benefits of his Death Are the Priest's Hands holier or cleaner than the People's Would to God they were so not only in this Sacrament but in all Things But after all what can be more weak or silly than to imagine that the holy Bread is defiled more by the Hands and Teeth than by the Tongue or Bowels or Stomach which receive it Is not the Tongue a Member of the Body as well as the Hand Or are the Bowels into which the Bread is received purer than the Hand If it be said that by the Hands great Sins are usually committed I would fain know whether greater Sins are not daily committed with the Tongue than with the Hand So impertinent is this Plea that it deserves no Argument or Answer In the Greek Church the Custom of taking the holy Bread with the Hand was kept up for many Hundred Years till of late they have got a way of mingling the holy Wine with the Bread in a Spoon whence the Communicants do take it II. As we are commanded to take the holy Bread with our Hands which makes it no indifferent Thing so we cannot suppose that Christ would command it without intending some Mystery in that Action and if it be lawful to guess we may piously believe that by that Taking he intended these following Things 1. It puts us in mind with what Alacrity we should accept of the unspeakable Gift viz. The Mercy of Reconciliation by the Death of Christ Jesus As we readily stretch forth our Hands to receive a Present that is pleasing to us so ought we to accept of what a merciful God doth so freely and so frankly bestow upon us Accept of it You will say Who can be supposed to refuse it Will a Malefactor scruple to accept of his Prince's Pardon Or If a King put a Treasure into a poor Prisoner's Hands will he scorn it or withdraw his Hand 'T is true Men are willing enough to accept of a Saviour so they may have him upon their own Terms If he will give them leave to do what they please and
risen after he had been dead And how can any Man be sure there are such Words in the Bible as This is my Body if he may not believe his Eye-sight 3. This is my Body differs very much from This is Transubstantiated or Changed into my Body or Let it be changed into my Body This is my Body speaks what is already in Being not what may or shall be effective of something else To be and to be changed into a Thing are quite different Expressions And he that says a Thing is or hath a Being cannot be therefore supposed necessarily to say that it is changed or transubstantiated or shall be so for a Thing may be several Ways besides being changed That of which Christ affirms that it is his Body was the Bread he took in his Hand or that which he broke and that may be said to be his Body several Ways without being changed or transubstantiated into his Body Which very Thing hath made the wiser and more judicious Papists confess that these Words do not necessarily infer a Transubstantiation without the Decree Order and Explication of the Church upon which they chiefly build their Doctrine and Assertion And how ridiculous this Explication of their Church is any common Capacity may perceive that doth but understand Grammar and the ordinary Way of speaking in all Countries and Languages whatsoever For What can be more common than to say Such a Man is a Fox and Such a Person is a Lion and Such a Neighbour is a Beast and Such a Boy is a Tyger But doth any Man of common Sense infer from thence that such a Person is transubstantiated into a Fox or Lion or Tyger 'T is true God can do all Things but his Power is one Thing and his Will another and to believe he will do that which he hath no where said or promised to do is notorious Presumption And though we are not presently to reject a Thing because our Reason cannot comprehend it yet it is fit that what we cannot comprehend with our Reason we should be sufficiently assured of that God hath revealed it Such as is the Mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of our Lord and the future Resurrection c. And if we had but as good Ground for Transubstantiation as we have for these Mysteries not only God's express Revelation but the constant Doctrine of the Church no wise Man would dispute it Transubstantiation is a Thing which neither the Scripture nor the Primitive Church did ever acknowledge And there being nothing in the Word of God to establish it and being besides contrary to all Sense and Reason we must be first given up to believe a Lye as some 〈◊〉 it seems are 2 Thess. 2. 11. before we can give 〈◊〉 unto it It were endless to repeat here all the Contradictions and Absurdities that this Doctrine may be charged with for Mice and Vermine will eat the consecrated Wafer if it lies in their Way It destroys not only the Nature of Christ's Body but a principal Article of our Belief too which saith That Christ is ascended and sitteth at the Right Hand of God whom the Heavens must receive until the Time of the Restitution of all Things Act. 3. 21. Not to mention that the Apostle calls the Bread in the Sacrament even after Consecration Bread still 1 Cor. 11. And that this Doctrine crosses the Nature of a Sacrament and is confuted by Christ's saying Do this in remembrance of me which supposes that he is absent as to his Body which was crucified c. Nor will that Place Joh. is 55. My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed do any great Service to our Adversaries in this Controversie For if it be Meat indeed how doth that infer that the Bread must needs be transubstantiated into his Flesh since his Flesh may be Meat indeed several Ways For to all true Believers that take Comfort in his Death and are released from Sin and the Snares of the Devil by his Flesh that was nailed to the Cross he may be truly said to be Meat indeed and Drink indeed because their Souls are comforted by the Remembrance of it and preserved to Eternal Life and though he be only spiritual Meat to them yet he is so indeed and really and in a very good Sense As we say of a comfortable Word spoken to a troubled Conscience That that Word is Meat and Drink to it indeed and doth it more Good than all the Meat and Drink in the World would have done And that all that Discourse John 6. is to be understood of Spiritual Meat and Drink whereby the Soul receives comfort and refreshment Christ himself hath declared Joh. 6 63. II. As these words This is my Body do not infer a Transubstantiation so neither do they import a Consubstantiation a word as hard as the former and which hath been taken up by the Lutheran Protestants to express their Opinion that Christ's Glorified Body is in with and under the Element of the Bread in the Holy Sacrament or hid under it a Doctrine which they ground upon the Ubiquity of Christ's Body or being every where and in all places which Priviledge they fancy was communicated to Christ's Human Nature by its being joyn'd with the Divine a thing so irrational that hereby they confound the Divine Nature with the Human And to say that Christ had a Body which as all other Bodies must have Dimensions heighth and breadth and depth and length and yet to make that Body every where present is a conclusion so weak that I am apt to believe that if it had not been pitch'd upon by Luther in a heat or passion he would never have embraced it For indeed this was the infirmity of that excellent Man who tho' otherwise very much mortified in his desires after the Riches Honours and Glories of the World yet could not endure to be contradicted nor yield to another Man's Opinion tho' much sounder because himself was not the first inventer of it And by what I can see from History this was one great reason why he differ'd from Zwinglius in the point of the Holy Sacrament and embraced Consubstantiation which implies as is said already that the Body of Christ is hid under the substance of the Bread a Point that transported him into very great passion which made him afterward upon his Death-bed deplore That he had been too hot in his Controversie He that gave the first hint of this Opinion was John Gerson Chancellor of Paris who about the time of the Council of Constance not being able to digest the absolute Doctrine of Transubstantiation and finding that Assertion to be full of Blasphemy and Idolatry found out this expedient as he thought That Christ as he was a Creature and had a Body finite could not be at one and the same time in divers places yet being united to the Divine Nature in one Person the Human Nature by that conjunction had
remembred in this Sacrament What kind of Death it was shewn in four Particulars How this Death is to be remembred The Benefits of this Remembrance laid down Though the Death of Christ be the principal thing that is to be remembred in this Sacrament yet that puts no stop to other Remembrances Christ's Example makes it lawful to preserve the memory of any signal Mercy or Providence we meet with Those that do not remember Christ's Death in this Sacrament do very much forget themselves The remembrance of his Death a Motive to forget the World and the Vanities of it This Remembrance the best Defensative against Sin The Prayer I. AS these words Do this in remembrance of me do necessarily import the Bread in this Sacrament to be a Memorial of Christ's Crucified Body or that which is to put us in mind of it and consequently suppose that Christ's real Body is absent so how Christ is to be remembred here must needs be worth our serious enquiry What Christ calls Doing in remembrance of him the Apostle the best Interpreter of his words stiles Shewing forth his Death 1 Cor. 11. 26. So that his Death is the thing that is to be remembred here by all the Communicants And that this Death is worth our serious remembrance will easily appear if we consider what Death the Death of Christ Jesus was For 1. It was the Death of God According to the Quality of the Person dying so his Death is more or less surprizing hence the Death of a King makes a greater noise in the World than that of a Peasant The Death remembred here is the Death of the King of Kings and though as God he could not dye yet it may truly be said that he that was God did die not in his Godhead but in his Humanity not as dwelling in a Light inaccessible but as dwelling in a Tabernacle of Flesh. Plutarch relates that he had heard his Master Epitherses tells this Story How in the Emperor Tiberius's time under whom Christ suffered intending to Sail into Italy he went aboard of a Ship laden with many Goods and Passengers One Evening coming near certain Islands call'd the Echinades the Wind slackening and the Ship being becalm'd with a slow pace they arriv'd at last at the Isle of Paxae Several of the Seamen and Passengers sitting up that Night and drinking on a suddain from off the Island came a Voice calling to Thamus the Master of the Ship thrice When you are come as far as the Palodes proclaim that the Great PAN is dead The Master and his Company doubtful what to do whether they should do according to the import of the Voice or no resolved at last if the Wind favour'd them to pass by the Palodes and say nothing but if they were becalm'd about that place then to cry as they were directed So sailing on and coming to the place they found themselves strangely becalm'd whereupon Thamus call'd aloud That the Great PAN was dead which words he had no sooner spoken but great Howlings and Sighings and Lamentations were heard By PAN the Heathens meant the God of the Universe or him that rul'd govern'd and influenced all and it 's probable this Voice had relation to Christ Jesus who suffered about that time at Jerusalem and that upon the news of this Death Howlings were heard it 's very likely this noise was made by Fiends and Devils whom the Death of the Son of God filling all in all put into those excesses of consternation and sorrow And lest any Man should object That the Furies of Hell had no reason to mourn at his Death but might rejoyce rather that their great Antagonist was gone it must be noted That they feared the Power and Virtue of that Death such Virtue as in a short time would make all the Powers of Darkness tremble and destroy their Empire When Abner Saul's General was carried to his Grave King David follow'd the Herse and said Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great Man fallen this day in Israel 2 Sam. 3. 38. If such a death as Abner's deserv'd to be taken notice of what must we think of the Death of the Lord Jesus Not a Great Man only but one of whom it was said Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy Hands Heb. 1. 10. How justly is this death remembred by his Followers And what a mixture of Passions Amazement as well as Gladness Trembling as well as rejoycing ought it to cause in all Christian Hearts to think that our God died for us A Captain hath his like a General his Fellow a Prince may be parallel'd with others a King may meet with others of his Rank and Quality but God hath no equal 2. It was the Death of a Person higher than the highest for his Enemies Regulus Codrus Mutius and among the Jews Moses had courage to die for their Country and the good of the People they were related to but still they were their Friends but here a Person ador'd by Angels worshipp'd by all the Host of Heaven the Comfort of Paradise the Joy of Seraphim the Terror of Devils the Lord of Life the Eternal Son of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person dies for Men for Men miserable and wretched for Men that were Sinners for Men that were proper Objects of his Justice for Men that were haters of God acted like Enemies had affronted their Maker Crucified their Redeemer came out against him as against a Thief who took pleasure in trampling on his Laws rejoyced in their Disobedience had made a Covenant with Hell conspired against him who had given them their Being laugh'd on the brink of Destruction were Heirs of Hell and had no other Inheritance but Damnation for such this wonderful Person dies and this makes his death miraculous and astonishing Rom. 5. 8. 3. It 's Death that Nature and all the Elements were confounded at and Heaven and Earth seem'd to be at strife which of them should be most concern'd at it insomuch that we are told of Dionysius the Areopagite the Person mention'd Acts 17. 34. when he was yet under the Clouds of Paganism that beholding the stupendous Eclipse of the Sun which happen'd about the time that the Saviour of the World died brake forth into this memorable saying That certainly either Nature was going to be dissolv'd or the God of Nature suffer'd If ever Nature endur'd a Convulsion-Fit it did now The Sun disdain'd to look upon the barbarity of the Murther and hid his Face that he might not see his Creator die The Earth trembl'd as if it were asham'd to see Men stupid at the dreadful Spectacle The Rocks broke as if they would testifie against the Sinners that could stand under the Cross without broken Hearts The Vail of the Temple was rent as if it would chide the Wretches that could see the
Messiah suffer without rending their Cloaths and what is more tearing themselves for the crime they had been guilty of The Graves burst their Bands as if they were concern'd to see Men harden'd against all impressions of Compassion The Angels we may without danger of Heresie believe stopt in the midst of their Hallelujahs and if ever there was sadness in Heaven we may suppose it was at this time The upper and the nether World seem'd to go into Mourning because their Lord and Master gave up the Ghost Thus much we are told by the inspired Writer Matth. 27. 51 52. And this makes the Death of Christ Jesus surprizing beyond comparison and surely such a Death ought to be remembred 4. It is a Death whereby the Person suffering merited Eternal Life not only for himself but all his Followers too A mighty Blessing but such as was a just reward of so deep an Humiliation It was for this Death that the Everlasting Father exalted Christ's Humane Nature above Powers Angels Principalities and Spiritual Creatures and in doing so declar'd what those whose Nature he had assumed if they did follow him in the Regeneration might come to after Death viz. Eternal Life and Glory And what greater Blessing can be thought of to enjoy all Blessings at once and to all Eternity To see God and to be ravish'd with his Sight for ever to enjoy Riches Honour Glory Power Dominion Pleasure Recreation Houses Lands in a most eminent manner or to enjoy that which is beyond all these in inexpressible degrees and without interruption without ceasing without disturbance without envy without fear without danger of losing it What can be greater What can be more satisfactory What can be more comfortable This the Son of God hath purchased by his Death That Death is the Messenger of all these Glories In that Death all these Treasures are amass'd and heap'd and piled up together and then it must be worth remembring nay it is impossible not to remember it where all this is believ'd II. How this Death is to be remembred at the Table of the Lord will deserve our next consideration And most certainly a slight transient Remembrance such as we pay to our friends and acquaintance which are absent at our common Meals or at other times as we have occasion to discourse of them is not sufficient here for that 's not at all agreeable to the Greatness and Profitableness of this wondeful Death It must be such a remembrance as 1. Refreshes our Memories with that marvellous Love that shines in this Death This Love must be called to mind even the Love of God the Love that mov'd him to the Kindnesses we see and taste and feel and have experience of The Love that mov'd him to give us a Saviour the Love that mov'd him to take pity of us when we lay in our Blood when we lay in Darkness and in the shadow of Death Love Love Love must here be the Motto the Watch-word and the dear Expression And as the Martyr in Eusebius being ask'd divers Questions about his Name Kindred Relations Family Country Parents c. still answer'd That he was a Christian so if here we should be ask'd what we think what we speak what we mind what we come for what we design what our business is or what we delight in Love must be the Answer to all these Questions Love must be the burden of our Song even the Love of the Holy Trinity a Love in which our Life our Happiness and all our Hopes are wrapt up a Love which nothing above and nothing below can give us any tolerable Image of There is nothing among all the Angels in Heaven nothing in the Sun or Moon or Stars nothing among Men or Beasts or Roots or Herbs or Stons or Minerals that can be said to be truly like it all comparisons are feeble all resemblances faint no Language can reach it no Rhetorick express it no Oratory describe it no Pencil draw it it surpases our Reason transcends the brightest Understanding puzzels the very Angels in Heaven and perplexes the Spirits of Light and Glory It is all Sea all Ocean all Light it hath no Bounds no Shores no Limits and the greatest that ever was said of it or can be said of it is St. John's Expression 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love Love it self all Love all Charity all Goodness and nothing but such perfection could have loved such poor pitiful Worms as we are God looks upon our giving a cup of cold Water to a Righteous Man as an Act of Love O then what an Act of Love must it be in him to give us himself to give us the dearest thing he had even his own Son Jesus wept over Lazarus Joh. 11. 35 36. and the Jews said See how he loved him But these Tears were but drops of Water Here the Lord Jesus is seen to weep drops of Blood for us O then see how he loved us We were blinder than Bartimaeus lamer than Mephibosheth fuller of Sores than Lazarus poorer than Job no Comliness no Beauty no Form no Excellency appear'd in us Adam's Fall had disfigurred us defaced us ruin'd us in this lamentable condition God loved us and gave his Son to die for us and shall not this Love be remembred in his Death 2. This remembrance requires calling to mind our Sins which were the cause of that Death It 's true the Love of God was the impulsive cause but our Sins were the instrumental cause these brought him to the Cross and whoever remembers his Death must necessarily remember that whereby this Death was effected and procured this was our Sin and the Infection that attended it But then if I remember my Sins in the remembrance of his Death how can I remember them without detestation How can I remember them without abhorrency How can I remember them without arming my Soul with resolution and arguments to fight against them Can I look on my neglects and not charge them with this Death Can I remember my Love to the World and not accuse it of having had a hand in buffeting and reproaching of him Can I think of my Pride and Wrath and not bid them look on the Wounds they made in that Holy Flesh Can I reflect on my wantonness and lustful Thoughts Desires Words and Gestures and Actions and not be angry with them for having struck Nails into his Hands and Feet And what is said of these particular Sins must be applied to the rest that we are either guilty of or most inclined to they must be so remembred as to be represented to our Minds in their odious shapes as having been accessory to his Death and if this be done we cannot but proclaim War against them and maintain that War all our days 3. With this there must needs be remembred the mighty Redemption procured and accomplished by this Death even our Redemption from Slavery a Slavery so much the worse because we were not
his his Sins or into greater Admiration of God's Goodness Such Exercises the Divine Clemency accepts of approves of them and blesses them with new Favours repeals the Judgments threatned and confirms the Soul in her holy Zeal and makes those Devotions Occasions of opening the Windows of Heaven to shower down larger Benedictions upon her II. It must follow from hence that those who do not come to remember Christ's Death in this Sacrament do strangely forget themselves How great is their Number What vast Multitudes of Men and Women live in this Neglect O ye that are sensible of their Sin and Blindness when you meet with any of them tell them they forget that they are Christians they forget that their Lord and Master hath peremptorily commanded them to come and remember him in this Feast and that consequently they are disobedient perverse stubborn wilful and if they obey him not are no Servants no Children of his For If he be their Master where is his Fear If he be their Father where is his Honour Tell them they forget the Danger they run into and neglect the Means whereby their Souls must be snatched from the Devil's Power and shun the Remedy that must give Health to their Souls and therefore are guilty of the highest Contempt and set up their carnal shallow bruitish Reason againt the Infinite Wisdom of God Tell them they forget they have Souls to be saved and how long it is before a Soul be wrought into a total Conformity to Christ and that therefore they had need begin betimes and tye and engage their Souls to God under the Cross of Christ and do it often and force themselves into an holy Life Oh tell them how they will repent when it is too late of their Neglect of so great Salvation Tell them Christ will not remember them in the last Day but prosess to them I know you not because they were not sprinkled with his Blood and had not the Character of Christians on their Souls which will infallibly drive them into Desparation III. See here my Friends what an Obligation the Remembrance of Christ's Death lays upon us all to forget the World and to mind the greater Concerns above Christ died to the World his Life his Death and all his Actions shewed his Contempt of this present World He regarded not the Vanities the Lusts the Recreations the Slanders the Reproaches the Censures of the World but for the Glory set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame Can we remember his Death in this Sacrament and think that he did all this only for us to admire his Actions without transcribing all this on our own Lives Surely we may live in the World and yet not be of the World we may sojourn in the World yet not be greedy after the World we may mind our Work in the World and yet not make the World our highest Good we may converse with Men of the World and yet not set our Hearts upon the World we may be industrious in the World and yet not suffer the World to ingross our Affections we may provide for our Families in the World and yet not conform to the World we may eat and drink in the World and yet not participate of the Sins of the World we may trade and traffick in the World and yet not have the Spirit of the World we may suffer Afflictions in the World and yet be far from the Sorrow of the World we may prudently contrive Things in the World and yet be Strangers to the Wisdom of the World In a Word Our living in the World is no hindrance to our arriving to an holy Contempt of it And though there be some Difficulty in this Task yet the Necessity of the Work and the Reward in the World to come and Christ's Example and the Apostles Practice and God's Readiness to assist and the All-sufficiency of Grace are Persuasives and Encouragements strong enough to prevail with any Soul that is not bent upon her own Ruin IV. The best Defensative against Sin at any time is the Remembrance of Christ's Sufferings Not only at the Sacrament but where-ever we are this Remembrance is an excellent Shield in the Day of Battel Art thou walking art thou standing art thou sitting art thou going out or coming in Set a Bleeding Saviour before thee When Sinners entice thee think of thy Saviour's Wounds When thou art tempted to over-reach or defraud thy Neighbour in any Matter think of the bitter Cup thy Master drank off When any Lust any vain Desire rises in thy Mind think of thy dear Redeemer's Groans When thy Flesh grows weary of a Duty remember who suffered on the Cross When thou art tempted to be indifferent in Religion and saint in thy Mind look upon him who made his Soul an Offering for thy Sin When thou art loth to overcome think of him who by his Death overcame him that had the Power of Death When impatient Thoughts assault thy Mind think of the Lamb that before his Shearers was dumb and sure under this sad Scene thou wilt not dare to sin And there is this Advantage in such a Remembrance that there is a Book of Remembrance written before the Lord for them that speak often to one another and think of his Name insomuch that he will remember them in that Day when he makes up his Jewels Mal. 3. 16. V. To remember Christ's Death in this Sacrament with greater Life and Sense it is very necessary to remember him often at other times And that is the Reason why Christ calls himself by many familiar Names and the Holy Ghost gives him Titles and Epithets taken from Things we daily see that we might not look on those Things from which he takes those Denominations without remembring him To this End he is called a Door Joh. 10. 9. that we might not go in or out but think O thou who art the Gate of Mercy by whom whoever enters will find Mercy open thy Bosom to my wounded Spirit and let me find Rest in thy All-sufficiency and the Merits of thy Passion For this Reason he is called a Sun Mal. 4. 2. that we might not view that splendid Luminary without thinking O thou glorious Light that didst shine to those that sit in Darkness shine into my Soul dispel the Clouds that darken my Understanding and warm my Heart that it may long for thy Salvation Hence it is that he is stiled the Morning-Star that whenever we take notice of that Son of the Morning of that Harbinger of the Day we might reflect O thou who tellest the Number of the Stars and callest them all by their Names rise rise unto me and irradiate my Inward Man that I may delight in Vertue Be thou my Guide lead me to thy Kingdom keep me from going astray and preserve me that I may be thine for ever It is from hence that he is called Alpha and Omega Rev. 1. 8. which are Letters of
and Feet and Gestures and Behaviour thy Reason Memory and Passion should all be at his beck move by his prescription act according to his appointment be seasoned with his Grace and conducted by his Wisdom If thou art content that all shall go rather than his Favour if his Love or a share in it be dearer to thee than the dearest of all outward enjoyments be of good cheer it 's a good sign and thou mayst rationally infer that thou art in Covenant with thy Lord and hast a right to all the priviledges that are annex'd to it for thy encouragement V. And here we may justly reflect what a mercy it is to be in Covenant with God a mercy indeed which no Tongue can express nay no Apollos neither as eloquent as he was can describe no Tertullus no Cicero no Demosthenes represent according to its worth a mercy which no Man knows save he who receives it a mercy weich fills the Tongues of departed Saints with praises a mercy which unhappy Souls that groan among Devils would give Millions for if they had them a mercy which sweetens all Conditions makes Sickness easie and Iron Chains sit soft mitigates pain and tempers grief and anguish A mercy which made the penitent Publican stand confounded amaz'd the humble Magdalen caused St. Paul to go chearfully through Stripes and Imprisonment and encouraged the Believers of old to defie death and torments He that is in Covenant with God enjoys all that Son of God enjoys though not as yet in fruition and possession yet in title and reversion God the Father carries him on his Wings as the Eagle doth her young the Eternal Son of God is his faithful Friend The Holy Spirit of God speaks to him in the still voice of peace and comfort He that is in this Covenant is safe in the midst of Spears and Arrows safe when he goes through the Water safe when he passes through the Fire safe when the Waves do roar safe when Hell gapes upon him safe in a Storm safe at Sea safe on the Shore safe in his Life safe in his Death God is concern'd for him in all his afflictions He is afflicted The Lord Jesus is touch'd with his infirmities and the Spirit of God makes intercessions for him with groans that cannot be utter'd In a word there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus to them that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. The PRAYER O God! whose pity is infinite whose compassion knows no bounds How shall I extol thy Humiliation How shall I admire thy condescension to this poor Worm Will God the Great the omnipotent God look upon such an one as I Wilt thou enter into a Covenant with this lump of Clay wilt thou tye and oblige thy self to do me good The Favour is wonderful I could not have thought it possible but that thou hast most graciously revealed it to me I believe Lord help my unbelief Behold I am Servant the Son the Daughter of thine Handmaid Be it unto me according unto thy Word I accept of thy offer I count my self happy that I may be admitted into Covenant with thee I renounce the Devil and all his Works Thou shalt be my Master my Father my Guide my Director my King and my God my Master to command me my Father to counsel me my Guide to lead me my Director to conduct me my King to rule me my God to dispose of me as thou pleasest I will know no Will but thy Will By the Blood of the Covenant unite my Will to thy Will Grant me to desire what thou delightest in desiring to search after it searching to know it and knowing it to fulfil it Make me O Lord for thou alone canst do it make me Obedient without contradiction Holy without defection Chast without corruption Patient without murmuring Humble without dissimulation Chearful without licentiousness Sorrowful without dejection Grave without affectation nimble in Religion without lightness Fearful without despair Upright without Hypocrisie and fruitful in good Works without presumption Give me a watchful Heart a Heart not easily drawn away by vain imaginations a Heart unbroken by afflictions unaffected with the vanities of the World that may not swell with prosperity nor sink in adversity Grant me understanding to know thee diligence to seek thee wisdom to find thee a readiness to please thee perseverance to wait for thee and confidence at last to embrace thee O Holy and Eternal Spirit I depend upon thy assistance Make me faithful to my God faithful to my Neighbour faithful to mine own Soul faithful in my Calling faithful in the discharge of my Duty faithful in my Promises faithful in my Conversation faithful in my Love faithful in my Obedience faithful in thy House faithful in mine own faithful unto Death that I may obtain a Crown of Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. XV. Of frequent receiving the Holy Communion and the necessity of it The ONTENTS Frequent coming to the Lord's Table the Practise of the Primitive Christians Receiving every Lord's Day an universal observance Different Customs in different Churches Decay of a good life the cause of Communicating seldom The necessity of frequent Communicating shewn in four particulars as the Eucharist is a great preservative against Sin an engagement to emulate Christ's Virtues a Motive to Charity and the frequent coming a thing very pleasing to God Inquiry made how often a conscientious Christian is bound to Communicate The measures of that Obligation to be taken partly from the Orders of the Church we live in and partly from the fervency of our love to Christ. An Objection drawn from the danger of contempt and disesteem of the Ordinance if we come often answered Arguments to prove that lawful business in the World is no just impediment of Communicating frequently An Expostulation pressing frequent Receiving The frequent Communicant an Object of Divine Mercy The Prayer I. THough the Example of the Primitive Believers is not properly a Law yet we may have leave to infer so much from it that being well acquainted with the Will of Christ and his Apostles in those Practises especially which were universal we ought not without very urgent reasons to depart from that Pattern and if this Rule hold frequent communicating at the Lords Table will become if not absolutely necessary yet highly useful and expedient since it was the practise of the best of Men in the best of Ages and of this the Acts of the Holy Apostles give us a very large account particularly Ch. 2. 42. 46. which place being generally understood of the Eucharist it must follow that the Believers did daily participate of it But this seems to have been a custom peculiar to the Church of Jerusalem for though St. â—yprian St. Chrysostom and St. Austin speak of some places in their time where the daily Sacrifice was celebrated yet even in the Apostles days we find other Churches did
it it must stand and last as long as those assaults do last The Apostle therefore makes mention of sincere Christians that will be alive at Christ's coming to Judgment 1 Thess. 4. 17. And consequently the Church will last till then and if the Church is to last to the Worlds end the Marks of that Church must last as long It 's true Holiness of life is one Mark but that 's not all the Marks the Christ's Church must have The Sacraments are Marks too and Marks whereby it may be better known than by Holiness not but that Holiness is the principal Ornament of the Church but as those that are to joyn themselves unto the Church are generally more inquisitive after the Constitutions and Ordinances of it and the means whereby that Holiness is effected than after any thing else so this Sacrament being part of those means and therefore one of the necessary Marks it must last to the end of the World as much as the Church it self and as long as there is any probability of Mens joyning themselves to the Church and by this means Holiness of Life is signally promoted as experience sufficiently witnesses As Christians in general so the Church of Christ or the respective Societies of Christians professing Christ's Doctrine and imitation of his life are compared to a City set on a Hill and which cannot be hid Mat. 5. 14. Not that Christ's Church must always appear outwardly Magnificent and Glorious thereby to attract the Eyes of Spectators no but that the purity of Doctrine and sound Preaching of the Word and the due administration of the Holy Sacraments together with innocence of Life must make it visible and this it may be under the greatest persecution and when a severe Tempest falls upon her by these Marks she may still be known and if these are her Marks these Marks must last as long as the Church it self III. The term therefore to which this Holy Sacrament is to last even Chrst's coming to Judgment may very justly be taken into consideration in receiving of the Blessed Eucharist I hinted so much Ch. 1. Fa. 9. But must upon this occasion enlarge upon it For 1. This consideration will help to encourage us to Patience under reproaches Injuries and Mens unrighteous dealing with us It serves to quiet the Soul to think that Christ knows my Sufferings aud the Injuries that are done me and sees my Integrity and Innocence and will clear me in the last day before the whole World What need I resent such an affront when the Son of God takes notice of it and if I am patient under it will in that great day plead my Cause set the Sinners Transgression if he repents not before his Eyes and confound him not that I am to wish that confusion of the offender but my consideration that Christ will actually do it may promote my contentedness under that affliction What need I revile my Persecutors when he for whose sake I endure that persecution will sufficiently vindicate me in that day for it is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to those that trouble you saith St. Paul 2. Thes. 1. 6 7 8. This Judge will at last discover how Men were mistaken in us how unjust there Censures were what sinister Constructions they put upon our Actions how malicious their Slanders were how unjust the Punishments they inflicted on us how inhuman how contrary to Charity all their ill Lauguage was He shall bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day Psal 37. 6. and this consideration must needs be very effectual to promote Patience 2. This Consideration will help to increase our confidence and arm us against distrust and diffidence for if the powers of darkness would fright us from laying hold on Christ's Merits because he will be a very severe Judge in the last day the timerous Christian may answer thus True he will be my Judge but he hath promised to be a Father too to those that fear him He 'll be my Judge Indeed but he is a Judge of my Flesh and of my Bone and who will have regard to my infirmities He 'll be my Judge but he is my Head withal who will be tender of his Members He 'll be my Judge but he is a merciful High Priest withal who will be my Advocate and answer the Objections I cannot confute I will cling to his Precepts I will not wickedly depart form him I will express my Love to him in Holy Obedience I will dread his Judgments and make his Mercy a motive to Purification I will not give place to the Devil I will fight against his Temptations I will stand upon my watch I will not lie asleep in the Bed of Sin I will get up if I chance to fall I will rise again when I am overtaken in a fault I will accuse my self and beg his pardon I will endeavour to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith I am called with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering I will not take part against him with his Enemies This is the work I have resolved upon according to this Rule I will walk and such a Soul I know this Gracious Judge will not cast away nor condemn what inadvertencies I may run into I will not justifie but strive against them and I doubt not but his Cross will cover them while my Heart is sincere and my Soul is ever toward him This Judge will absolve me he will deal favourably with me as with a person whom he hath redeemed I will look upon the Promises and apply them He hath promised that he will not take away his kindness utterly from such as love him while I live I will love him and I question not but as severe as he is to the obstinate and untractable he will visit me with everlasting kindness The Preceding Considerations improved and reduced to Practise I. O Let us admire the Goodness of God and his marvellous care of our everlasting welfare He sees how slippery our Natures are how fickle how mutable how changeable how apt to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them and therefore he ties us in Bonds in Covenants and in Sacraments of of Virtue whereof the Lord's Supper is the strongest the greatest and most Sacred and therefore the best defensative and guard against the encroachments of Temptations insomuch that he who can break through this Mound and will not be kept in by Arguments drawn from the Death of Christ but in despight of the Blood of the Covenant he hath drunk and sealed his Promise with will plunge himself into known sins that Man's case is desperate that Man is truly resolved to be miserable and will die though the Lord Jesus call to him from the Cross Live in thy Blood live He that can Swear and Vow to God in this Sacrament vow upon the Body and Blood of Christ that he 'll be Drunk no more and Swear no more
and Lye and Cheat no more and yet forgets the Oath of God that is upon his Soul and dares fall to his old Sins again that Man's last Estate is worse than the first and he slights him by whom he must be saved despises him who alone can make him happy refuses that Blood which alone can cleanse him undervalues the only Champion that can secure him against the Rage of the roaring Lion loses and rejects the Prop which alone can support him against the wrath of an offended God and affronts that Friend which alone can help and comfort him in the day of Vengeance II. This Sacrament being a standing Ordinance and a notable means of Grace as much as Prayer and hearing the Word of God it must necessarily follow that Men who look for Grace and Salvation must make as great Conscience of this as of any other and if they account it a Sin to neglect Prayer and hearing the Word they must look upon it as sinful too to neglect this Ordinance If this be a means of Salvation as well as the rest he that hopes to be saved must seriously make use of this means else he can have but little hopes of arriving to the end without the means Surely this Sacrament is a means whereby you and I must come to love the Lord Jesus Christ a Duty of that consequence that he that love him not in sincerity lies under a severe threatning and is liable to a dreadful Curse 1 Cor. 16. 22. But how shall we ever love him to any purpose except we use the means whereby that Love must be raised and kindled in our Breast Doth any Man hope to thrive in the World that will not bestir himself become active in his profession and apply himself to Labour Does any Man hope ot arrive to Learning and Scholarship without Books or Reading Does any Person hope to keep himself warm in Winter that puts on no Cloaths Or was ever any so foolish as to hope to come to his Journies end if he sits still in a Tavern or Alehouse by the way If this Sacrament be a means of obtaining Happiness will that Happiness fall to our share without using the proper means If thou refusest to come to this Ordinance how can God be kind to thee how can he visit thee with the Favour he bears to his own People How can he wash thee with the Blood of the Lamb How can he make thee Blessed and a companion of Seraphim and give thee a right to the Treasury of Christ's merits when thou neglectest the means whereby these Mercies must be consigned and applied to thy Soul And therefore III. How wretched how sad must be the case of that Soul which neglects to shew forth the Lord's Death in this Ordinance when the Lord shall come to Judgment When the Son of God shall appear in all his Glory and the Sinner who neglected this Holy Sacrament shall be brought before him it will not be an ordinary fright the wretch will be in especially when the King of Glory shall accost and ask him How canst thou hope to share in my Glory that didst not think my Death worth remembring in the Congregation of my Saints How canst thou hope to participate of my Happiness that wouldst not weep at my bitter Passion How canst thou hope to be advanced to my Throne who wast ashamed to look upon me hanging on the Cross How canst thou hope to enter into thy Master's Joy that would'st not by lively representations of my suffering in the Sacrament I ordained be melted in Tears How canst thou hope for a seat in the Eternal Mansions where no defiled thing must enter that wouldst not cleanse thy self from filthiness Or how couldst thou hope to be cleansed that wouldst not make use of my Blood to wash thy self Here none can be happy that were not Holy upon Earth and how couldst thou expect to be Holy that didst neglect the means which was intended to enrich thy Soul with Holiness Such an Address of such a Majestick Person and to an offender too that knows and cannot but know that all this is true must necessarily strike the Malefactor dumb fill him with horror and make him cry out though too late O that my Head were Water c. Expostulations of displeased Princes with their Servants that have acted contrary to their Will in things of far less moment have cast them into Grief and Swoons and fatal diseases and we must needs conclude that in the case we speak of as the Person offended is greater than the most puissant Prince in the World and the neglect greater than if a Man had neglected to provide for the security of a Temporal Kingdom so the Expostulations will be more terrible and the Sinner's Heart to whom they shall be spoken in far greater consternation IV. This shews with what temper and disposition we ought to come to this Holy Table even with the same temper we would or desire to be in if within a few hours we were sure to be summoned to Judgment Were any of you to appear to Morrow Morning before the Bar of God and had you all imaginable assurance of it that by such a time you must certainly attend there would you lie or swear or dissemble or break out into a passion or pray carelesly or be backward to do good or be averse from Holy thoughts and discourses c. I trow not and as you would not appear before the Judge with an unmortified temper of Mind so neither can it be adviseable to appear before him at this Table with such a disposition As the appearing before his Judgment Seat would make you call your most serious Thoughts together and make you loath the charms the inticements and the alluring temptations and suggestions of the Flesh and of the World so your appearing at this Table requires the same inclinations for as in the day of Judgment the King will come forth and behold the persons cited into that Court to see whether they are qualified for Heaven and Happiness so in this Feast he comes to look upon the Guests and to see who comes with a worldly and carnal disposition and takes as much notice of the frame and temper of your Hearts as he will do in the last day Here thy great Master comes and takes a view of thy Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions whether they proceed from a principle of Love and Submission Happy the Soul that sits down at this Table with a sense of her duty and the greatness and goodness of the Master of the Feast for such a Soul anticipates her future bliss and feels in some measure the sweetness and comfort of the joyful Absolution which shall be pronounced upon her with greater solemnity in the last day even this Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom c. The PRAYER O Thou Eternal Wisdom who alone knowest what is best for me who hast established this
things than his Favour that is ashamed of him in a sinful and adulterous Generation and is more taken with the Things that are seen than with the Things which are not seen though confirmed by Divine Promises and a Thousand Miracles So that it is evident that he that comes not to this Sacrament with Resolutions and Desires to value him above all cannot be a very worthy Receiver 2. Such a Person undervalues his miraculous Love and is supposed to esteem it no more than the Love of a Servant or the Love of an ordinary Friend He doth not value it as the Love of Him in whose Power it lay to make him everlastingly miserable he values not the unparallell'd Condescention that appears in it the infinite Humility that shines in it the inexpressible Grace and Favour that runs through the whole Frame prefers Dross and Dung before it contrary to the Apostle's Example Phil. 3. 8. will not understand the Need he has of Christ nor the dreadful Consequences of his Sin nor what it is to be freed from the power of the Roaring Lion and from Condemnation from Eternal Mournings and Lamentations from being swallowed up by the fierce Anger of the Lord Mercies so great and a Love so much beyond all that this World affords that God thought the very hearing of it would make Men â—eap for Joy and immediately leave all and follow Christ. 6. It is to eat and drink without sincere Reconciliation to our Neighbours who have offended or provoked us to Anger Where either our Forgiveness is slight and superficial or we forbear to vent our Spâ—een and Malice and Ill-will for a time with an intent when a fair Opportunity offers it self to let the Party feel the weight of our Anger like Joab who was a great Master in the Art of dissembling and could connive at the Injury Absalom had done him give him fair Words fawn upon him and introduce him to the King but when a convenient time came re-pay'd it home with a witness Where we are either averse from Reconciliation or make but a shew of it and eat and drink at this Table we cannot be supposed to eat and drink worthily For 1. In this Case we can have no hope that God will be reconciled to us God's Reconciliation to Man depending upon Man's reconciling himself to his Neighbour so that where this is wanting the other is impossible as is evident from Matth. 18. 35. He that can have no just Hope of God's being reconciled to him comes to this Sacrament to very little purpose or if he come with Hopes of his Favour he must hope that God will prove false to his Word which can never make him a worthy Receiver So that his Hope can be no other than that of the Hypocrite the Character of which we have Job 8. 13 14. His Hope shall be cut off and his Trust shall be as the Spider's Web. He shall lean upon his House but it shall not stand He shall hold it fast but it shall not endure An ill-grounded Hope must needs be a bad Preparative for this Table where nothing is so acceptable as Sincerity and both the Reconciliation and the Hope of Mercy being destitute of this Qualification the Soul is under very ill Circumstances A sound Hope we are told makes not ashamed Rom. 5. 5. The Hope we speak of cannot but cause Shame and Confusion when God shall demand of us how we could have the Courage to hope for his Mercy when he hath expresly told us that he is resolved to shew none as long as we are unacquainted with it in Offences and Trespasses committed against us by our Neighbours 2. Add to this That a Person communicating under such Circumstances shews he hath something that is dearer to him than God's Reconciliation even his Lust and Ill-Nature And what is this but to prefer Darkness before Light the Suggestions of the Devil before the Motions of God's Spirit a blustering Passion before the Meekness of the Holy Jesus Bondage before the Freedom of the Gospel and a Blast of Honour before the soft and still Voice of the Holy Ghost 'T is true If such Persons were asked whether they do so they would have the Confidence to deny it for Men are loth to have their Sins anatomiz'd and drawn in their native Colours but God still judges of us by the tendency and complexion of our Actions not by the soft and plausible Names we put upon them and if our Actions speak so much God passes his Verdict of them according to what he finds at the bottom Tho' we may be unwilling to speak out yet God is not afraid to declare what he sees and finds and therefore where Men will not be heartily reconciled and yet venture to Eat and Drink at this Table God's judgment of us can be no other than this That our perverseness and ill humor is dearer to us than his being reconciled to our Souls and surely such a person cannot Eat and Drink very worthily 7. It is to Eat and Drink without any serious Thoughts Where we come to this Table with Thoughts as loose as they were in a Tavern or Market place where we take no care to contract those Beams of our Minds so as to unite and fix them on the Scene before us or on somthing relating to it whether it be our being Created after the Image of God and our Apostacy from that state and the ruin and misery which came with that violent Stream or the great necessity of being renewed to that Image and the way that 's opened to that Renovation by the Blood of Jesus or the Honour and Privileges God offers us by his Son or the advantages we receive by being Christians and having an interest in the benefits of his Passion or the Glory of the other World which we are made capable of by the Death of him who was the Lord of Glory or the Holy Ambition we see in the Saints of old to be made partakers of that Glory and their Industry and Care and Pains they took to attain unto it and the Joys they found in the remembrance of Christ's Sufferings or the Attributes of God his Wisdom Holiness Justice Mercy Power Love and Good-will to the Children of Men all which appears in the Sacrifice offer'd for us c. As these particulars are the most proper objects of our Thoughts at such times so he that lets the thoughts of his Trade Business and other worldly Concerns to engross his Understanding and go in and out at their pleasure doth not come with that Respect and Reverence requisite in the participation of this Ordinance Not but that such Thoughts may accidentally and by the wicked diligence of evil Spirits that always hover about us invade the Mind upon such occasions but it 's one thing to be surpriz'd with such imaginations contrary to our design and purpose and another to give them Entertainment without any serious opposition of their
assert God's just Anger against Sin and keep off the fatal blow from Man at once defend God'ds Right and establish Man's Felicity and thereby put the poor miserable Worm in a capacity of becoming Heir to the Riches of God who was an Heir of the Treasures of Wrath and a companion of Blessed Spirits who had deserv'd to howl with Apostate Spirits a Child of Light who was a Son of Darkness and a Servant of Righteousness who was a Slave of Sin I say the Holy Ghost supposes that he that seriously believes all this will think nothing too good for God will not stand out against so great a Mercy will fight no more against so great and so good a Master but will submit to him be ready to run at his Commands give himself up to the Will of so great a Benefactor and will be hearty and sincere in serving him Now the unworthy Receiver being so far from doing this so far from turning to God with all his heart and with all his mind that he refuses the Dominion of God will be a Slave to his Sin still and had rather obey the Devil than this most bountiful Master who hath done so much for him by doing so denies that Christ's Body and Blood was sacrific'd for him for if he believ'd it he could not do as he doth and tho' he may protest by all that 's Good and Sacred that he believes it yet Words and Compliments will not absolve him and if talking were believing no Man that professes Christianity would ever be damn'd What doth a Malefactor's pleading at the Bar that he is not guilty signifie when the Evidences are strong and the Matter of Fact is prov'd against him Belief that doth not touch the Heart or renew the Mind or spiritualize the Affections is mere Infidelity and where this Belief is not to be found the Sinner is accused of denying the Mercy he pretends to believe And to this purpose saith the Apostle They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him Tit. 1. 16. So that the unworthy Receiver i. e. He that receives and yet will not reform whatever his Profession may be in his Actions he denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him and therefore makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 2. He Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of jesting with the Body and Blood of Christ As the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis speak He plays with the most tremendous things for in coming he seems to confess that by the Death of the Son of God his miserable Soul was redeem'd and a Pardon purchas'd for him and the Heavens made to bow to him and the good Will of God procur'd to save him for ever and yet he doth not think all this worth forsaking a sinful Lust or shaking a pleasing Dalilah from his Bosom and what is this but playing with the Body and Blood of Christ Should a Man make a very curious Harangue in commendation of his Neighbour compare him with Salomon for Wisdom with David for Sincerity with Jonathan for Faithfulness with Josiah for Piety for Generosity with Moses for Chastity with Joseph for Patience with Job with St. Paul for Courage with St. Peter for Zeal with Absolom for Beauty with Zacheus for Charity with Abraham for Hospitality nay with Angels for clearness of Understanding and for Purity of Life with Seraphim And when he hath done abuse and reproach him or do that which he cannot but know must be offensive and irksome or prejudicial to him gives the Spectator just occasion to think that all that flanting Panegyric was only a jocular thing design'd rather as an essay of Wit than as any real affection to the Virtues of the commended Party The unworthy Receiver doth in effect the same for his coming to this Sament is a tacit Commendation of Christ's Crucified Body and Blood whereby he seems to applaud the wonderful Works that Christ hath done for him and to proclaim to all the standers by what an Obligation that Death is to mortifie the body of Sin and to be true and faithful to him that did not count his Life dear to do him good and yet having no real purpose within whatever external Declaration he may make to become a new Man but after he hath been at this Table when temptations assault him temptations to his former sins yields to them as easily as ever plainly declares he was in jest when he seem'd to magnifie this Munificence of his Saviour and from hence it must follow that he is guilty of playing with the Body and Blood of Christ. 3 He that Eats and Drinks unworthily seems to wish that Christ may dye again and upon that account is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord for in that Christ's Death is not efficacious to pull down the strong holds of Sin in him or rather in that he will not let that death prevail with him to the mortifying of his sinful Lusts he seems to wish for an iteration of that Death which may be more powerful and have a greater influence upon the destruction of his Sin It is a Declaration as it were that the Death of Christ as the case stands doth no good upon him and therefore since the Death of the Son of God must be the means to break the power of Sin in him he stands in need of another death of that Saviour which may do greater miracles upon his Soul or sinful Temper Christ's Death indeed must break the reigning power of Sin but then a Person in whom this effect is to be wrought must apply that Death think upon it warm his Heart with the Consideration of it ruminate upon the Motives of it and upon the greatness of his own Sin that occasioned it and upon the vast Advantages that flow from that Death and be restless with God to make it effectual to his Soul For to think that this Death will do the work without our Labour or Industry or pondering the weight and moment of it is to imagine that God will deal with us as with Brutes that have no understanding As Christ died once in the end of the World so his Death spreads his Virtue to all Penitents from the beginning to the end of the World But wherever it works a serious Reformation it must be improv'd by Faith and Thoughts and Prayer and Contemplation and should Christ dye a thousand times if these means be neglected his dying so often would signifie little to the inconsiderate Spectator This is the monstrous Fancy of some Men that they hope the Mysteries of Religion will or must change their Hearts without any trouble of their own which Conceit must needs make them contemptible in the sight of an All-wise God who sees them neglect the Powers and Faculties he hath given them The unworthy Receiver therefore finding no good by this Death of the Lord Jesus for it makes no alteration in his
Life for the better looks as it were for a new Sacrifice for Sin and since he will not be purged from his known Sins by the Blood of Jesus which hath been already spilt if he hath any hopes of being purified from his Sin in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness seems to desire a more effectual Death of that great Mediator which may against his Will drag him away from his sinful courses and thereby would have Christ suffer and be kill'd again and consequently makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 4. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily kills the Lord Jesus You will say This is impossible Christ being in Heaven and incapable of any such Act of Violence No more could Saul if you understand it according to the Letter persecute him after he was glorified yet the voice that came to him in his way to Damascus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. â— 4. The same may be said of an unworthy Receiver he cannot strictly speaking kill the Lord Jesus yet being unwilling to venture upon a change of Life under all the Abjurations of a bleeding Redeemer that stubborness is Death to Christ as God said to the Jews Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorssh Heart So may the Saviour of the World cry to the Communicant that comes to remember his Death and will not die to his known Sins Thou piercest thou woundest thou killest me by thy obstinate and refractory temper as we say of a tender Father that the ill course his disobedient Son takes is death to him because it is as grievous to him as if one should attempt to take away his Life The unworthy Receiver by being loth to conform to the Rules of the Gospel in his Practices even while he beholds as it were Christ Crucified for his Sins does an Act so unworthy so disrespectful so injurious that it is as much as if he made attempts upon his Life nay he kills the preventing Grace Christ affords him and slays the good motions whereby Christ lives in him Christ is said to be in us as we are Christians and the unworthy Receiver being desirous and willing to maintain and keep his darling Sins doth thereby drive Christ out of his Heart and kill him in his own Soul for Christ and Love to a sinful Life are inconsistent and incompatible things These destroy his Life in the Soul and therefore in this Sense also the unworthy Receiver makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 5. He that eats and drinks unworthily consents to the Murther the Jews were guilty of when they killed the Lord of Life and approves of that barbarous and inhumane Act and therefore is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He is supposed to consent to that Murther that is not sorry for if And how can he be sorry for it that is not sorry for his Sins which were the principal Cause of it The unworthy Receiver being supposed to be one that doth not heartily shake hands with a sinful Life and is loth so to renounce his known Sins as to tear them from his Heart we cannot imagine that he is heartily sorry for them for his Sorrow hath not those Effects which Godly Sorrow is said to have 2 Cor. 7. 11. For this same thing when ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation against Sin Yea what Fear i. e. of offending God! Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge The Tree is known by its Fruits And if Sorrow for Sin must be discovered by such Effects and these Effects appear not in the Communicant as he cannot be thought to eat and drink worthily so in not being sorry for his Sins he doth not appear sorry for the Murther the Jews committed upon the Body of our Saviour his Sins being the Cause of that Murther And doth not this look like Consent or Approbation of that Murther You will say How can any Man be sorry for Christ's Death when that Death is our greatest Comfort and what Consolations the pious Soul feels it feels by virtue of that Death Shall a Man be sorry for that which God had ordain'd appointed and design'd for the Relief and Redress of our Misery If Christ had not died we had been ever wretched and unhappy and must have looked for no Friendship from above and therefore to charge Men with being guilty of his Death because they are not sorry for it seems to be both against Scripture and Reason Is any Man sorry for a Treasure he finds in the Field Or sorry for an Estate that falls to him by the Decease of a Relation Or sorry for an Act of Oblivion which a gracious Prince imparts to Offenders whereof himself is the Principal But to this the Answer is very easie for the Benefit of Christ's Death and the Mercy God intended Mankind by it must be carefully distinguished from the Instrumental Causes whereby Christ was brought to his Death which were partly our Sins and the barbarous Cruelty of the Jews The Benefit that came by the Death of Christ a Christian most certainly ought not to be sorry for but hath reason to rejoyce in Day and Night But that he was so inhumanely murther'd by the Jews and that our Sins were such abominable things in the Sight of God that to expiate them God was moved to give up his own Son to the lawless Rage of those cruel Enemies this requires our Grief and Sorrow That the Jews did commit a very heinous Sin in crucifying Christ is evident from St. Peter's Discourse or Sermon to the Murtherers Act. 3. 17 18 19. For though God hath decreed that Death as an Expedient to reconcile Man to himself and decreed not to hinder the Jews in pursuing their wicked Designs and Purposes but to make that Death an Antidote against Everlasting Death yet that doth not excuse the Jews from the Guilt of Sin in killing of him whose Cruelty God was resolved to turn to the Good of all true Penitents and sincere Believers nor a Christian from an hearty Sorrow that his Sins were the deserving Cause of it So that a Christian may at once rejoyce in Christ's Death and be sorry for it rejoyce in the unspeakable Mercies procured by it and be sorry that those stubborn Wretches did with that Cruelty dispatch him or rather that his Sins did arm those desperate Sinners to put the Lord of Life to death for the Jews could have had no power to murther him but that the Sins of Mankind crying aloud for Vengeance enabled them and gave them Strength and ministred Occasion to do it So that he that is not heartily sorry for his Sins is not heartily sorry that the Jews did murther him and therefore the unworthy Receiver not being heartily sorry for the Sins he hath lived in consents to that Murther of the Jews and upon
Sacrament the Son of God doth not only offer to reconcile thee to thy God but shews thee the way too how it shall be effected to thy Content and Satisfaction Here he offers to enrol thy Name among the Friends of God but it is impossible to make thee God's Friend while thou maintainest thy Enmity against him To leave thy Sins and to come to this Sacrament are one and the same thing these two are inseparable to divide them is to divide Light from Fire which implies Impossibility Oh think therefore Till I come to this Ordinance God will be my Foe and should I be snatch'd away while God is so who will plead for me when I come to appear before God I will arise therefore and go to my Father c. IV. As squeamish as some Sinners are there are others that dare come and receive unworthily and be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and be no more concern'd than if they had committed any trivial or indifferent Action Such are they who are the same after they have received as they were before vitious before and vitious after revengeful lascivious unclean malicious proud Boasters intemperate Back-biters implacable unmerciful before and after too nor doth the threatning that they make themselves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus fright or discompose them Lord How stupid a thing is Sin How hard how insensible doth it make the Heart What Venom doth it shed upon the Soul Who would imagine that Men could be so perverse Men that live under the Gospel too as to be guilty of murthering Christ Murthering of Christ You will say Who can murther him now he is in Glory What Bug-bears are these to fright poor silly ignorant People with So easily do Men slide from Hypocrisie into Prophaneness and from Prophaneness into the Scorner's Chair But What if Christ be in Heaven and out of the reach of thy Baseness and Malice If Christ interpret thy Continuance in known Sins after thou hast been viewing his Death and Crucifixion in this Sacrament as murthering of him how great how heinous and of how deep a Dye must thy Sins be What Guilt what Loads what Mountains of Wrath must we suppose dost thou lay and pull down on thy Shoulders Who can tell so well the venomous Influences and Tendencies of thy Sins as he that perfectly understands the poysonous nature of it If he saith that it amounts to murthering of him Will thy laughing at the Conceit excuse thy Folly when his Anger shall be kindled Need he value thy Flouts and Jeers that hath Flames and Vengeance at command to lash thee into better Manners It is impossible he should be mistaken in his Verdict of things And wilt thou say he doth not speak what is true Art thou wiser than he Or dost thou see farther into things than he Must his Wisdom be modell'd by thy shallow Reason Or shall a Creature dispute the Oracle of its Creator If he sees and knows that thy wilful Impenitence runs so high as to make an Attempt upon his Life again wilt not thou believe him or darest thou charge him with a Lye The Holy Ghost speaking by St. Paul protests so much And wilt thou add sinning against the Holy Ghost to all thy Offences Believe it Sinner 't is Death to the Lord of Life to see a Creature for whom he took such pains wallow still in those Sins after Receiving which he was supposed to abjure in Receiving 'T is Death to him to see thee more tender of keeping thy Word with a Man that must die than with him that lives for ever 'T is Death to him to see thee wilful in breaking that solemn Promise thou madest under his Cross and didst seal with drinking of his Blood Thou dost in this Sacrament make a Covenant with him and oblige thy self as thou hopest to have a share in his Merits that thou wilt be guided and governed by him who to the Astonishment of Men and Angels died for thee and there cannot be a more sacred Tye and to see thee violate that Oath and break through that Vow into Damnation into that Damnation from which he came to rescue thee this is Death to him and a new Attempt upon his Life and if thou darest be so barbarous so inhumane as to do so Heaven and Earth will be Witnesses against thee and that very Blood which thou prophanest will be a Witness against thee and all the Saints that see thee prophane that Blood will be Witnesses against thee and it is enough to make the Lord repent that ever he died for such a Wretch O then play not with these Mysteries for it will be hard for thee to kick against the Pricks But V. Let the worthy Receiver rejoyce in the midst of all these Terrours These Thunder-bolts do not reach him These Threatnings do not concern him He is safe under all these Storms They will not fall on him to crush him These Hail-stones will not bruise his Head This Weight will not sink him He can pass through all these Messengers of Death and fear no Evil Even he who sees greater Comfort in a crucified Saviour than in this gaudy World and can admire the Mercies purchased by his Death while others stand gazing on stately Buildings and sumptuous Palaces Even he who makes Conscience of performing what he promises to a glorious God and feels Desires in his Breast to be more and more conformable to the holy Life and Example of Christ Jesus and to whom no Interest is so dear as that of a crucified Saviour who loves as he loves without Hypocrisie or Dissimulation Let such a Soul be glad in the Lord and believe that God will command his Loving-kindness in the Day-time and in the Night will cover him with the Shadow of his Wings Let him not be disquieted nor think God hath forgotten him when his Soul is bowed down to the Dust and his Belly cleaves unto the Earth Christ the Son of God will certainly manifest himself unto him be present with him pour Grace into his Heart and Comfort into his Soul give himself to him be his Hiding-place compass him about with the Songs of Deliverance and say unto him I will instruct thee and teach thee in the Way which thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine Eye Such a Person receives Christ indeed receives him with all his Blessings and with all the Spoils he recovered of the Enemy He receives him with all the Wealth he hath fought for and purchased with his Bâ—ood He receives him with all the precious things he hath laboured for in the Sweat of his Brows He receives â—im laden and abounding with glorious Promises which shall by degrees be all fulfilled in him for they belong to him they are his Right they are his Portion Christ will make him worthy to receive them He shall ask and his Master will give He shall seek and find too He shall knock and
molested them and stung them into strange and painful Distempers and most of them perish'd miserably And as it is with other Sacred Things so it is more particularly with the most Sacred Thing of all the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Bishop Morton upon this account tells us of one Booth in his time a Scholar in Cambridge who being Popishly inclin'd yet loth to own it would still receive the Sacrament in our Church and coming one day to the Lord's Table he seem'd to to take the Holy Bread with his Hands and put it in his Mouth but by an easie craft he thrust it into his Pocket and when the Devotion of the Chapel was ended he took the Bread he had hid and threw it over the Colledge Wall But see the pursuing Judgment of God soon after he threw himself over the Battlements of the Chapel broke his Neck and so ended his life St. Cyprian one of the greatest and most eminent Men in the Primitive Church relates that a Girl left by her Parents in time of Persecution to shift for her self and taken up by her Nurse was by that Nurse being timorous and loth to lose her own and the Child's lâ—fe for being Christians carried to the Heathen Magistrate and there made to Eat and Drink of the Bread and Wine offered to Idols and the Heathen Deities This Child afterward her Mother returning was by her conducted to Church and came to the Holy Eucharist with the rest of the Congregation for in those days they gave the Eucharist to Children as well as to adult Persons where St. Cyprian himself was then officiating The Deacon as his custom was carrying the Holy Wine about and coming to the Child offers her the Cup but finds a strange aversion in her to touch it with her Lips for through a Divine Instinct teaching her that the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils were inconsistent and incompatible she turn'd her Head away shut up her Mouth press'd her Lips together and refus'd it with obstinacy The Deacon however how prudent he was in doing so I shall not dispute using some force upon her poured some drops of the Eucharistical Wine into her Mouth which she had no sooner receiv'd but she fell a vomiting groan'd and sigh'd and as the Father expresses it The Drink sanctified in Christ's Blood broke forth from her polluted entrails And to this purpose he hath another passage of a Woman that kept the Bread of the Eucharist irreverently in a Chest. and when one day she went rudely to open the Chest a Fire flashing out of the Chest did fright her so that she durst not come near it any more All which Examples make it evident that he that Eats and Drinks unworthily Eats and Drinks or may Eat and Drink some extraordinary Temporal Judgment to himself III. It must be confess'd that the expression of Eating and Drinking Judgment is not very smooth and proper yet there is great Truth in the Metaphor and how the unworthy Receiver Eats and Drinks Judgment to himself will appear from the following particulars 1. By eating and drinking unworthily he prepares for some extraordinary Judgment which Judgment he takes and grasps and attracts and pulls to himself as Men do Bread and Wine or Beer when they are going to eat and drink The Apostle Rom. 9. 22. speaks of Vessels fitted for Destruction they fitted themselves for it by their Sins as a Thief by stealing and robbing upon the High-way fits himself for the Gallows or as an idle lazy Servant that neglects his Master's Business fits himself for his Master's Anger So the unworthy Receiver by eating and drinking irreverently and without regard to the Obligations the Sight of Christ's Love and Death lays upon him fits himself for Judgment makes himself ripe for God's Vengeance lays the Wood together and erects the Pile gathers Materials and combustible Stuff for the Fire that will certainly burn him and though he doth not do it designedly and the Judgment comes contrary to his Intention yet as long as he doth that to which such Judgments are annexed he fits himself for Judgment as much as he that will touch Vipers and handle Adders or let a Snake creep about in his Bosom though he may intend no harm by it yet actually prepares and fits himself for Mischief Eating and Drinking imports some Desire after and Delight in the Victuals before us So he that by unworthy Receiving prepares for Judgments seems to delight in Judgment threatned him because he will needs do that which will certainly end in some Judgment or other 2. The unworthy Receiver eats and drinks Judgment to himself by incorporating the Guilt of some extraordinary Judgment with his Soul Eating and Drinking unworthily at the same time he brings Guilt upon his Soul and appropriates the deserved Judgment to himself and as the Sin sticks to him so the Demerits of the Judgment which is threatned to the Sin sticks to him too He eats and drinks unworthily and the Effect it hath upon him is God's Indignation which he swallows with the Food unworthily taken God's Wrath goes along with his Sin and as he takes the one so he doth the other into his Bowels As Poyson and Death go together so unworthy Feeding at the Lord's Table and God's Anger go together and they both mingle with the Spirits of the unworthy Receiver as the Fish at the same time that he swallows the Bait swallows the Hook too and he hath that fastned in him which will be his Death So that Job's Expression is very suitable to the Subject in hand Job 20. 23. When he is about to fill his Belly God shall cast the Fury of his Wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him while he is eating To this purpose David saith of the Israelites in the Wilderness murmuring and speaking against God While their Meat was yet in their Mouths the Wrath of God came upon them So it may be said of an unworthy Communicant While he is feeding at the Table of the Lord the Wrath of God breaks forth against him becomes due to him and is his Portion falls to his Lot and he gets a Title to it We read of Henry VII Emperor of the Romans that he was poyson'd in eating of the Sacramental Bread given him by a Monk This they say was the Fate of Pope Victor II. who died of poyson'd Wine presented to him in the Eucharistical Chalice by his Sub-Deacon And the same is reported of an Archbishop of York that he fell down dead and swelled upon receiving the Sacramental Cup given him by a Priest that bore some Spleen and Malice to him These Men did without a Metaphor eat and drink their Death And though he that eats and drinks unworthily doth not just in the same manner eat and drink Judgment to himself yet the Fate that attends him doth very much resemble the Misfortunes of the other only here is the difference that
of the Old Testament did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of the Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. we must conclude that since under the New Testament Expiation of Sin is not allowed of without Repentance the Fathers under the Law could have no other Apprehensions of Expiation And though they mention the Removal of the Temporal Judgment as an External Sign of the Expiation of their Sin yet the Internal Mark of it and the principal was their Repentance and while they name the one they do not exclude the other The Jews at this Day lay the Stress of Pardon upon the Removal of the Judgment whether they repent of the Sin that caused it or not â—ay they go so far as to make their Death an Expiation for all their Sins By which Rule no Jew can be damned And this comes in a great measure from their mis-understanding of that Passage Isa. 22. 14. And it was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die saith the Lord of Hosts Which Words import no more than this That God with the Death of those wicked Men will put an end to the Scandal they have given to others by their Iniquities and that by their Death God will purge the City or the Land from such Abominations but not that their Death shall be an Atonement for their Sins And therefore 2. Nothing doth properly expiate Sin but the Blood of Christ and as without shedding of Blood there is no Remission so by the shedding of Christ's Blood Men are put in a Possibility of being pardon'd But Repentance is the Preparative for the Application of that Blood Till a Man repents he hath no Title to that Blood or the Benefits of it And though God may remove the Temporal Judgment yet if it works no Repentance the Sin shall be produced against the Offender in the last Day All Temporal Judgments though they speak God's Displeasure at Sin yet they are intended withal for the Offender's Reformation And to this purpose Elihu speaks excellently well Job 33. 19 20 27. He is chasten'd also with Pain upon his Bed and the Multitude of his Bones with strong Pain so that his Life abhors Bread and his Soul dainty Meat his Flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his Bones that were not seen stick out He looks upon Men and if any say I have â—inned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he will deliver his Soul from going to the Pit and his Life shall see the Light And therefore if this Judgment which falls upon an unworthy Receiver instead of softening and melting his Heart doth but harden him there the Judgment is so far from expiating his Offence that it hastens and aggravates his Everlasting Condemnation and this very Sin will be remembred in Hell and double his Shrieks and Agonies And this is rational to believe for when God by that Temporal Judgment cannot reclaim him the last Remedy that God makes use of to bring him to a better Mind is lost his Folly is incorrigible and as that Judgment was a Talent he should have improved into Repentance so dis-regarding it and making no other use of it than Pharaoh of his Plagues and becoming more setled upon his Lees he justifies God's Proceedings against him in the last Day which though they seem â—evere to the Sufferer who is loth to feel the pain yet they are reasonable and he whom Temporal Judgments could not reclaim must know at last to his Cost there is no jesting with the Anger of an Infinite Majesty The Preceding Considerations reduced to farther Practice I. THE Apostle is in the right when he tells us Heb. 12. 29. Our God is a Consuming Fire Indeed to the Tractable and Docile who consider his Providences and take notice of his Loving-kindness who see the Vanity and Uncertainty of the World and build their Nest among the Stars of Heaven who are sensible of the Danger of walking after the Flesh and deliberately chuse to walk after the Spirit who run away from Sodom get themselves out of Babylon will not be infected by the Sins of the World and earnestly desire to be strengthen'd in the Inward Man with all Might To such he is all Kindness all Love all Mercy all Light all Compassion all Charity as we see in the Parable of the Prodigal where the Father's Acts towards the penitent Sinner are so full of Sweetness so full of Affection and Tenderness that nothing can be imagined more kind or loving or favourable But Men who undervalue the Methods of Salvation will be happy their own Way make light of that which they ought to prize above their Lives are unconcern'd about the Sins that cost the Eternal Son of God his Life will needs dream of God's Mercy while they obstruct it by their Ingratitude and hope to enter into Heaven notwithstanding their Neglect of purifying their Hearts and Lives nay can come to this Sacrament and will not be divorced from those Sins which here they profess an unfeigned Sorrow for Such Persons shall know and feel that God is Jealous and that the Lord revenges that the Lord revenges and is furious that the Lord will take Vengeance of his Adversaries and reserves Wrath for his Enemies Nah. 1. 2. He is indeed slow to Anger and doth not wllfully afflict the Children of Men but Boldness in Impenitence wakens his Vengeance and where his Patience tempts them to greater Wantonness there is no dallying with their Errours These things hast thou done saith God and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine Eyes Psal. 50. 21. II. Because it is so dangerous to eat and drink unworthily yet that ought not to discourage any Person from eating and drinking in this Sacrament Worthy Eating and Drinking here is not dangerous at all so far from being dangerous that it is a Duty and beneficial and a Key to the choicest Mercies And if it were dangerous why should it fright any Soul from coming 'T is dangerous to go to Sea Yet doth the Seaâ—man therefore forbear his Voyage 'T is dangerous to climb a Tree Yet doth the Husband-man therefore let his better Fruit drop down without getting up to gather it 'T is dangerous to fight against a numerous Enemy But is the Soldier therefore dis-hearten'd from venturing into the Battel Danger helps us to look to our Steps and if there be Difficulty in an Attempt it whets our Courage and makes us fall on with the greater Force and Earnestness So that if worthy Eating and Drinking were dangerous it were an Invitation to an ingenuous Temper to apply himself to it But in this there is no Danger What Danger can there be in
day insomuch that if many a Man's sickness and weakness of Body and not living out halfe his days were throughly examin'd and look'd into it would be found to proceed in a great measure from this Cause even his unworthy Receiving of the Holy Symbols II. If we enquire into the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness and weakness of Body to lash the unworthy Receiver in this Life we must conclude that considering how all Afflictions and Judgments of this Life are curative and intended to work a change in the Offender for the better the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness particularly in punishing the unworthy Receiver are these following 1. Sickness weakens the Flesh abates and lessens its violent desires whereby it comes to pass that the Spiritual part gets from under the slavery it lay enthrall'd in while the Flesh prevail'd and puts the Sinner upon serious Thoughts for now it gets leave to exercise its Authority which before was over-aw'd and crush'd and oppress'd by the usurping Tyrant and thereby occasions terror and consternation in the whole Man about his unworthy Receiving While the Flesh is predominant and bears Rule Faith and Reason are mere prisoners and whatever they suggest is not hearken'd to The Flesh still baffles their Arguments and admits of nothing but what pleads in favour of its brutish Appetite Sickness coming and weakning the Flesh and rendring all the delights of the World insipid and unsavoury the Soul recovers her freedom and is now at liberty to think of her former Life to survey the Actions of her past Practices and among other Errors to reflect upon her unworthy Receiving to aggravate this particular Offence and thereby to incline the sinner's Eyes and Heaâ—t to penitential Tears for now the Man having no hurry of business no noise of vain company no external Gayeties no Musick of sensual Pleasures to call him away from minding the things that belong to the happiness of his Soul he is more at leisure to ruminate upon what he hath been doing and the dreadfulness of his Sin viz. feeding irreverently at this Table and not discerning that the Body of the Son of God was offered to his Soul and if any thing will melt or turn him this is very likely to effect it 2. Sickness puts the unworthy Receiver in mind of Death for he that falls sick knows not but his Illness may end in Death and there are few Men but are of this opinion when once they take their Bed fear that they shall or may dye makes them seek out for proper Helps and Remedies send for Physicians if they be able and sometimes for Divines too think of making their Wills set their House in order and after all leave nothing untried whereby they may prevent the stroak of Death Sickness being of that nature and having this influence on men may therefore be suppos'd to put the unworthy Receiver in mind of his Death and as it puts him in mind of Death so if he have any sense of Religion left it minds him also of an approaching Judgment and suggests to him that for ought he knows he will shortly be in another World be summon'd to give an account of his Life to God and appear before the Judge of Quick and Dead even before Christ Jesus the Son of God whose Death hath had no influence upon his Life whose Blood he hath trampled under foot whose Sufferings he hath not much thought of whose Love hath made no great impression upon him whose Charity hath wrought in him no considerable tenderness to his Neighbour whose Presence in the Sacrament he hath undervalued and whose entreaties to become Wise unto Salvation and meek and humble and serious and blameless he hath stopt his Ears against and how little Mercy he must expect of that Judge whom to please he hath not been much concern'd This Kindness Sickness may be supposed to do to the unworthy Communicant viz. to put him in mind of his Death and future account and the Judge whose Body and Blood he hath profan'd and his anger and indignation against such Profanation and what can be supposed more effectual to promote Repentance and Godly Sorrow and new Resolutions to awake from the Dead that Christ may give him Life And therefore God makes use sometimes of Bodily Sickness to afflict the unworthy Communicant But where Death seizes on the unworthy Commnicant either before he can bethink himself or before a previous lingring Sickness hath melted and wrought his Heart into a Spiritual Life there the Man's case is deplorable indeed for to think that God will accept of his Death as a Satisfaction for his Sin and save him however is to make a new Divinity and to erect Principles which the Scripture knows nothing of 'T is true in some Cases where God cuts off a young Man in 〈◊〉 Flower of his Age a young Man I mean whose Liâ—e hath been blameless attended with holy Fears and a Conscientious Behaviour at home and abroad his untimely Death may be said to be a Temporal Affliction for some accidental Miscarriages and single Inadvertencies such as never swelled into an Habit or setled Approbation by which Affliction he is saved and freed from the greater Condemnation according to the Apostle's Rule 1 Cor. 11. 32. But when we are judged i e. with Temporal Judgments such as Sickness Weakness and Untimely Death whereof he had spoken Vers. 30. we are chasten'd of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World In this Case i.e. in Accidental Miscarriages God may be said to accept of the lesser for the greater Judgment upon his Account who died and rose again for those who hear his Voice But where the Sin is habitual rooted in the Heart hath invaded the Complexion and is allowed of and thought harmless and void of Hurt there an Untimely Death is no Security against Condemnation no Shelter against the Wrath to come How far it may abate or qualifie the future Indignation I am not able to say but it is no Deletory no Fortisication no Charm against that Storm III. But here a Difficulty will arise How a Person may know that the Sickness or Weakness of Body that is upon him comes upon him for his unworthy Receiving To which I answer 1. There is not a more ready Way to know it than by ransacking our Life and particularly our publick Devotions If in our present Sickness we find upon Examination that when we came formerly to the Supper of the Lord we came without any sincere Intent Desire or Resolution to be wrought into Love and Obedience to Christ Jesus by the Sight of his Cross and Death and Charity that we came and went away unconcerned unmoved untouched at this Medicamentum Immortalitatis this Physick of Immortality as St. Dennis calls it or that we thought that the Blessings promised to the Faithful and to those who strive and fight the good Fight would fall to our share and
be conveyed to us in this Ordinance without a due Contrition and Endeavours to tread in our Master's Steps we may easily infer that we were unworthy Receivers and that among other Causes of our Sickness this is one and the principal too even our unworthy and irreverent Feeding at the Lord's Table 2. Is any sick among you Let him send for the Elders of the Church saith St. James Chap. 5. Vers. 14. In the Primitive Church the sick Person especially he that was doubtful of his Spiritual Condition sent for Seven Ministers or Presbyters of the Church as so many Physicians to consult about the State of his Soul before whom he faithfully spread his Case giving them as candid an Account of himself as he could and so left it to them to judge and give Sentence in his Cause And this also is a very rational Way to come to a satisfactory Knowledge whether the present Sickness proceed from unworthy Communicating or not And therefore he that falls sick after he hath been at the Lord's Table let him send for a faithful Guide and Director and impartially signifie and reveal to him the Constitution of his Soul what it hath been and what it is and the Actions of his Life the manner of his Worship in publick and private and how and which way he used to address himself to God what his Thoughts and Preparations were when he used to go to the Table of the Lord what he felt after Receiving whether it left an Awe upon his Spirit a Fear desiring his own Soul what his Design was in Receiving and how far he closed with God And a pious judicious Divine may be very helpful to the sick Person to direct instruct and inform him whether the Sickness be an Effect of his unworthy Receiving or not And lest any should cavil here and object What matter is it whether a Man know the Occasion of his Sickness and what it was that brought it upon him I shall offer by way of Answer these few Particulars 1. If there were nothing but Curiosity in the Case something might be said for a Man's being so inquisitive In Natural Causes of Distempers Men think no Curiosity great enough and if either we our selves or Children or Relations fall sick common Curiosity tempts us to ask the Physician what he thinks the Cause of our Illness is nay if the Cause be unknown both to our selves and others we have very often the Curiosity to have the Body of a Friend or Child open'd to know the Cause And why People should not be as curious in Spiritual Things as they are in Natural I know no Reason The Providences of God and his Designs in the various Accidents that befall us certainly deserve our Curiosity and Inquisitiveness much more than things of an inferior Nature Nor is it impossible to find out the particular Cause why God sends such a Sickness upon certain Persons when himself hath declared in his Word in what Cases and upon what Provocations he will send it 2. If the Sickness be found to be a Consequence or Effect of unworthy Receiving this helps to strengthen our Faith in the Promises and Threatnings of God and finding that what the Apostle hath said so many Hundred Years agone comes to pass still this is a very strong Argument that he spake by the Spirit of God and a Motive to admire the Veracity of God and Encouragement to believe the other Promises and Threatnings of the Word of God Nothing is a greater Confirmation of Faith than Experience and he that hath seen the things the Scripture speaks very frequently accomplished hath enough to turn his Faith into a full Assurance 3. If the unworthy Receiver knows that it is his Sin committed in the holy Sacrament that hath brought the present Sickness upon him if after that he recovers and escapes it will be an Obligation upon him to come to it with greater Circumspection For he that hath suffered in the Flesh saith St. Peter hath ceased from Sin 1 Pet. 4. 1. And therefore having suffered for his unworthy Receiving that Suffering will make him weary of his Sin which he cannot be except he comes for the future and draws near with a pure Heart holding fast the Profession of the Faith without wavering as it is said Heb. 10. 22 23. But IV. While we are discoursing of this particular Judgment another Doubt arises viz. How Sickness of the Body and an untimely Death can be said to be inflicted for unworthy Receiving when we see even the most worthy Receivers sicken and grow weak and die young many times in the Prime and Flower of their Age And nothing is more vulgarly known than that Sickness and Death are nothiâ—g but the Product of Natural Causes I answer 1. Though even very excellent Christians who may be supposed to have been very penitent and worthy Receivers ever since they frequented the Ordinances of God with any Sense and Understanding though even such do sicken and many times die suddenly and in the midst of their Race yet that proceeds from other Causes And these Accidents are either Trials of their Faith and Patience or Preparatives for Heaven or Preservatives from Sin or Occasions to glorifie God or Opportunities to promote the Honour of Religion or Chastisements for some rash and imprudent Actions to prevent their being condemned with the World According to which Rule we are to judge of the untimely Death of that Prophet 1 Reg. 13. 24. who cried against the Altar of Bethel A good Man no doubt but being persuaded by the crafty old Prophet who pretended a Counter-Inspiration he went back and ate Bread in the place against which he was warned for which imprudent Act a Lion found him and slew him And such was the Death of Uzzah 2 Sam. 6. 7. who out of a good intent put forth his Hand to uphold the Ark that was in danger of falling the Oxen that drew the Cart shaking it For which God struck him dead upon the place And this was the Case of Josiah a Man noted for his singular Piety yet going up rashly against Pharaoh Necho was killed in Battel though according to the Course of Nature he might have lived many Years longer Thus God chastised the impremeditated Errours of his Servants in this Life that they might not fall a Prey to the greater Condemnation hereafter One and the same Effect may have very different Causes and the Reasons of Things that happen in the World are various The same thing may be a Mercy to one which is a Judgment to another as the Pillar of a Cloud Exod. 14. 19 20. was Darkness to the Egyptians and Light to the Israelites And the Meat sent to Elijah was a Character of God's Love whereas that sent to the Israelites upon their murmuring was a Fore-runner of his Wrath and Anger And this may be applied to Sickness and Untimely Death In the unworthy Receiver it is a Punishment in the Worthy a
corruption so Christ taken and contemplated in the Holy Sacrament preserves the soul from various Diseases Health is best known by Fruits and Actions and as a sick Man cannot perform what the healthy doth so that Christian that doth not act like a healthy Man can boast of no great matter he hath receiv'd in this Holy Ordinance This is intended to give our Souls the strength of a Lion the swiftness of Eagles the alacrity of Angels and the temper which was in the incarnate Son of God and if we Receive worthily we shall certainly feel these effects in some degree at least For it 's plain that they are felt by others that are worthy Communicants and what should hinder us from feeling the same if we come furnish'd with the same qualifications Those that are acquainted only with Men as carnal as themselves may possibly think that when we talk of things of this nature we speak Spiritual Romances and tell them Stories next to Fables But those that have been conversant with Persons whâ—â—ave chosen the better Part must needs perceive what health and vigor worthy Receiving adds to their Souls For what makes them that they delight in the Law of the Lord in the inward Man of 〈◊〉 What makes them afraid of the very appearances â—y vil What makes them converse with God so often 〈◊〉 Prayer and Holy Thoughts What makes them contented under their Misfortunes and Disasters What makes them take such comfort in the Cross of Christ What makes them silent and patient under private injuries What makes them stand up for the Glory of God when they see it profan'd and abused What makes them so ready to deny themselves What makes them so solicitous about their Everlasting State What makes them kind and tender-hearted and so easie to be intreated to that which is Good What makes them forgoe their Interest rather than wrong their Consciences Is it not their worthy Receiving And what better signs can there be of the Spiritual health and flourishing state and condition of their Souls Christ in this Sacrament doth not only communicate to them an empty Name or a fruitless Title but makes them fruitful Trees and it must needs be so for they that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God saith the Psalmist Psal. 92. 13. II. Who that seriously considers the Spiritual Judgment we have spoken of must not deplore the condition of abundance of nominal Christians that Receive worthily The Persons upon whom this Spiritual Judgment is executed are not far from every one of us To find them out we need not send you to the Sands of Africa nor to the Lybian Desarts nor to Barbarians nor to Negro's and Americans No these very Persons you may see and know at home and in the midst of our mixt Congregations How many have I known that have come to this Holy Sacrament and after that have grown worse than ever Their Drunkenness and Lewdness their Selfishness and Covetousness their Extravagant and Ungodly Speeches and Actions which before were but Embrio's and Infants after Receiving have become Gyants and strong Men What an argument is this of their unworthy Receiving What an argument of God's Judgment What an argument that God hath withdrawn his Holy Spirit from them What an argument that they are left to the power of the Devil O that they were sensible what a Judgment this is O that they knew what a fearful State this is O that their Eyes were open to see that they are in the very suburbs of Destruction O that the Vail were taken away that they might behold the death the ruin the misery the wrath the indignation of God they run into O thou that openest the Eyes of the Blind and raisest them that are bow'd down and loosest the Prisoners open the Eyes of these unhappy Souls that they may see the precipice they stand upon and turn back and save themselves from this untoward Generation III. Let us all very seriously believe that our Souls are capable of sickness and misery and death as well as our Bodies Indeed they cannot die so as to cease or to be annihilated for they are not made of Earth and matter and contrary humours and principles as our Bodies are but certainly they can die to God's Favour and to a sense of Eternity This Belief if it be sound and strong cannot but have a mighty influence upon our Lives If we believe this as we ought with apprehensions of the danger we are in we shall be as much afraid of things that will cast our Souls into sickness or hurry them into death and misery as we are afraid of going to a Pest-house where People lye languishing under their Plague-sores Ah! sinful Man how couldst thou neglect coming to the Supper of the Lord if thou didst believe that this neglect will bring a Consumption on thy Soul How could'st thou Receive with an impenitent Heart if thou didst believe that thy impenitence will kill thy Soul How durst thou venture on those sins that are poison and venom to thy Soul How could'st thou be so careless of the approaching Judgment of God if thou didst believe that this carelesness will infallibly bring a Palsie upon thy Soul How could sinful delights be so charming to thee if thou didst believe that they will throw thy Soul into a violent Fever Why shouldst thou make thy Soul sick when the great Physician offers thee health and Salvation The sickness of thy Soul is much harder to be cured than the most Chronical distemper of the Body Not but that God can heal it as easily as the other and need say no more than Christ to the Paralytick in the Gospel Arise take up thy Bed and Walk and thou art presently whole but he will not except thou be willing too This thy Spiritual sickness is wilful that makes Christ backward to remove it and if ever thy Soul be cured it must cost thee great Mortifications Rivers of Tears strong Throws and Agonies and Troubles in the inward Man and who would make work for such a costly and laborious Cure that may be well without it Let the Physician be never so skilful if the Patient will not follow his prescriptions what hopes can there be of his Recovery If thou wert but willing to follow Christ's prescriptions thy Cure might be effected even after thou hast brought thy Soul to the mouth of the Pit and to the brink of the Grave and if you ask me what these prescriptions are I must tell you that they are these following 1. Like New-born Babes to imbibe the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is Gracious to whom coming as to a living Stone disallow'd indeed of Men but chosen of God and Pretious ye also as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual House an Holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by
some farther Prospect than this present Life and that he uses the Word not only to terrifie the unworthy Receiver with Sickness and Weakness of the Body and a Spiritual and Temporal Judgment but at the same time bids him take heed that in case any of the former doth not for Reasons best known to Providence light upon him or in case the Thoughts of the former do not work upon him and transform him into a better Man he doth not run himself into Hell-Fire and Eternal Misery It is plainly to tell him that since the Word includes both Judgments Temporal and Eternal he hath no reason to flatter himself that it will be only a Temporal judgment but may justly fear he shall in our God's Everlasting Indignation And therefore our Church retains both Significations of the Word in her Exhortation before the Sacrament So is the Danger great if we Receive the same unworthily for then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour we Eat and Drink our own Damnation not considering the Lord's Body we kindle God's Wrath against us we provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death II. How an unworthy Communicant eats and drinks Damnation to himself is the next thing we are to explain And this he doth this following Way 1. He makes himself obnoxious to the fierce Anger of the Judge that is to decide the Controversie of his Life and Death to all Eternity and this Judge is the Son of God Christ Jesus who hath protested that Not every one who saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven and therefore will say unto them in the last Day I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And there is nothing more certain than that the unworthy Receiver is resolved not to do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven whose Will is that Men should honour the Son as they do the Father Joh. 5. 23. i. e. believe in him as they do in the Father and come to this Sacrament like Persons redeemed from their vain Conversation resolved to war against the Lusts of the Flesh like Soldiers of the Cross and to remember the Death of the Son of God here with that Respect and Devotion they owe to God resolved to live and die with him like Persons who have listed themselves under his Colours with an Intent to fight against his Enemies and to take heed they do not dishonour the Son of God by an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the Living God This is the Will of God and since Christ the Judge of the World is the Person appointed to examine whether this Will of God hath been obeyed the unworthy Receiver dying in Impenitence and coming before him and it appearing that he hath nothing less than the Will of God professed indeed that he would do it pretended Service and Obedience to him and yet done his own Will though exhorted and moved to do the Will of God by numberless Arguments Arguments big with the greatest Charms what can his Obstinacy cause but Anger in the Judge Anger implacable since he would continue dead and unconcerned under the lively Oracles of Heaven and under the most lively Representations of the Love of God The Effect of which Anger is the Sentence of Everlasting Condemnation Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire c. Matth. 25. 41. And for this Reason the Psalmist calls to all Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the right Way when his Anger shall be kindled but a little Psal 2. 11. 2. He puts himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Sinners are in to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever And that State and Condition is Wilful Disobedience to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Consequence of this State is St. Paul explains 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power And that this is the unworthy Receiver's Condition is manifest from hence because he knows not God i. e. he will not know him nor obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He might know that God is an holy God and hath called him to Holiness and is not to be put off with blind lame and slovenly Devotion and yet he will not nor doth he obey the Gospel which obliges him by virtue of the Grace of God appearing to all Men to renounce Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. This Ungodliness and these Worldly Lusts he retains and cherishes and makes much of notwithstanding his coming to the Lord's Table and so putting himself in the same State and Condition that other ungodly Men are no wonder if he makes himself liable to the same Damnation 3. He makes himself fit Company for the Damned and the Sufferers in Hell Those that are in that miserable State did as he doth and he doth as they did They suffer'd the Profits and Pleasures of the World to justle out a serious Sense of Religion so doth the unworthy Receiver They had a Form of Godliness and denied the Power thereof so doth he They some of them at least came to this Sacrament with unmortified Lusts with unsubdued Passions of Anger and Pride and with ungovernable Desires after the World and had no real Intent to become Proselytes of Righteousness so doth he They did not think that the holy Sacrament was such an Inforcive to a Change of Life as Divines talked of so doth he They made no great matter of this Ordinance but thought it expedient to comply with the Custom of the Country and the Usages of the Church they lived in and that was all and so doth he They made nothing of promising and breaking their solemn Promises to God no more doth he And being like them in Manners no wonder if he be like them in Torments too Being their Companion in their Sins 't is just he should be a Companion with them in their Misery Having been their Associate in Hypocrisie 't is fit he should have his Portion with Hypocrites III. But here the Sinner I know will be apt to clamour and say What Justice can there be in it that God for eating a Piece of Bread and for drinking a few Drops of Wine irreverently and unworthily without observing some Punctilio's and Nicer Rules of Divinity should inflict Eternal Damnation upon a poor Creature To which I answer 1. Every supreme and absolute Law-giver hath liberty to set what Penalties he thinks fit upon the Breaches of his Law If he will appoint a Punishment that is very dreadful for a certain
Offence the Interest of the Subject is to keep the Law not to quarrel with the Sanction At this rate a Man might plead What great matter is there in opening a Window at Night to get into an House to steal some small inconsiderable thing in the House And shall this be made Felony without Benefit of the Clergy All wise Law-givers have their Reason why they inflict severe Penalties upon Offenders and 't is fit that an Infinite Majesty should both threaten and appoint Punishments suitable to his Grandeur Where the Law and the Sanction of it is sufficiently known Men do not accuse the Law-giver of of Cruelty if the Offender runs himself into Danger but rather blame the senseless and foolish Man who knowing the Severity of the Sanction might have easily denied himself in his sinful Purchase and secured his Life and Welfare And the less the Fault is for which a severe Punishment is appointed the more easily might it have been avoided and not to avoid it when the Forbearance was so easie is an Argument of strange Presumption so that the Contempt and Presumption are so severely punished and not the Fault it self Let us apply this to the Case in hand The Supreme Law-giver thinks fit to inflict Damnation on the unworthy Receiver Either this unworthy Receiving is a very littâ—e Sin or a very great one If a great one the Punishment cannot be thought too great for it is proportion'd to the Greatness of the Authority which is despised and to the infinite and incomprehensible Mercy which is slighted not to mention that unworthy Receiving is a Complication of many Sins and more than one go into the Composition If it be little it is more easily shunned and then the Presumption comes to be very great and that Presumption is justly punished with great Severity Besides Who can judge so well of the Contempt and the heinousness of it as he that knows all things and can best judge how great the Indignity is which is offered to God in the Sin Nay the Greatness of the Penalty discovers the Greatness of the Impiety the Foulness of the Crime the deep Dye of the Transgression and the dangerous Tendency of the Offence A Christian from the Greatness of the Penalty is to conclude there must be more in the Sin than appears to his Eyes and to infer that if the Offence were not greater than ordinary so severe a Penalty would not have been laid upon it So that at the same time the Greatness of the Punishment serves to fright the Sinner from continuing in his Sin against he comes next to the Table of the Lord and is a strong Engagement to him to take nobler Resolutions to come with greater Reverence and with better Purposes that he may escape Damnation 2. That which makes the Penalty just is the Reason the Apostle gives 1 Cor. 11. 29. Because he discerns not the Lord's Body And what is it not to discern the Lord's Body 1. The unworthy Receiver discerns not that the Bread and Wine in this Ordinance set apart for an holy Use and consecrated by the Words of Institution represents the Body and Blood of the Son of God Which Consideration should over-awe him into the greatest Reverence and Devotion He considers not that by laying his Hands upon the Body of the Son of God he vows Faith and Allegiance to him and therefore refusing that Faith and Allegiance in his Actions is supposed to look upon that Bread as common which God hath made representative of the greatest Mystery He considers not that by eating of this Bread his Soul at the same time pretends to feed on the Body of Jesus Christ and to apply the Mercies and Benefits of his Death whereby he brings himself under an Obligation to live as a Member of Christ's Mystical Body not according to the Lusts of the Flesh but according to the Will of him that bought him at so great a Price And being at the same time unresolved to do so he mocks the Lord Jesus Christ and plays with Vows made in a place where Angels give their Attendance 2. He discerns not he considers not what it is for God to take a Body upon him for a poor Sinner's sake to redeem him from Damnation For God to take a Body upon him is a thing so astonishing so miraculous that if the greatest Prince of the World should voluntarily make himself a Beggar and wallow in Dirt and Slime to deliver a Slave out of Prison in a Foreign Country it is not so much nor a thing of that great Consequence For God to take a Body upon him that he might die for the Sinner and make him capable of inheriting Everlasting Bliss is a Mercy which runs so high that Reason is at a loss and it is enough to make the Mind grow giddy at the Consideration and consequently it is so great an Engagement to devote our selves to the Service of that God who hath done this that no Obligation can be thought greater or more likely to prevail with Men of Common Sense and Ingenuity And therefore for the unworthy Receiver not to discern or consider this must be a Contempt that is without a Parallel 3. He considers not that it is the Body of his Lord and Master that is present in the Figure in this Ordinance even the Body of that Lord whose Servant he is and owns himself to be He discerns not that in eating of the holy Bread he acknowledges Christ Jesus to be his Lord and Master at whose Beck he means to run by whose Command he intends to act and by whose Will he designs to be ruled So that the unworthy Receiver runs himself into strange Contradictions He acknowledges at the Receiving of the Eucharist that Christ is his Lord and Master and yet is not willing to be govern'd by his Laws his Lust and sinful Desires still continue his Masters the Devil is still his Master the World is still his Master and Sin still reigns in his Mortal Body Christ is only his Master in shew these in good earnest he in Complement these in sober Sadness And when this Contempt hath all these Aggravations in it who can complain that God is unjust in inflicting Damnation on the unworthy Receiver if he turns not IV. But still they were only the prophane Corinthinians against whom this Judgment is denounced Men who came drunk to this holy Sacrament And since no Body in this Age can be presumed or supposed to come in such a Posture to this Sacrament why should the Penalty mentioned by St. Paul be enforced upon Men now living who are not guilty of the same Sin and in no possibility almost of committing it i. e. of coming drunk and disguised to the Lord's Table To which I answer 1. Not to mention that Whatever things are written afore-time are written for our Learning 't is a great Mistake that the Apostle restrains the Penalty to being drunk with Wine or any other
Seriousness what Protestations of Cautiousness and Fear of offending God for the future Yet when God hath restored thee when the Almighty hath been so favourable to thee as to give thee the Desires of thy Heart how careless hast thou been of thy strongest Promises How regardless of the strictest Engagements How negligent of thy Duty How hast thou returned to thy former Vomit and with the Swine that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire 7. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread when the Passover must be killed HOW many Easter-Days hast thou lived to see O my Soul Days when thou shouldst have risen with Christ from the Death of Sin and applied thy self unto a Life of Righteousness Yet thou art the same still thou wert so many Years ago What Lust hast thou mortified what Corruption hast thou killed what darling Desires hast thou sacrificed for Christ Art not thou as dull and as dead in God's Service as thou hast been heretofore The Sins that thou hast left was it the Love of God or the Change of thy Condition that made thee abandon them On the blessed Day of thy Saviour's Resurrection may be thou hast been devout and serious but what strange Liberty hast thou given thy self soon after How hath thy Piety and Goodness died again and thy Carefulness to please God given up the Ghost and expired 8. And he sent Peter and John saying Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat HOW often O my Soul hath God sent his Spirit and his Messengers to thee with an Order to prepare and meet thy God by a serious Repentance Yet thou hast either resisted his Spirit or disobliged his Messengers or undervalued their Summons How little hast thou regarded the Condescention of so great a God! How little hast thou minded the Favour God did thee in visiting so worthless a Creature Dost not thou remember how thou hast pretended that thou hadst either Farms to see or Oxen to buy or an House to look after and thus hast put off thy God that would fain have gathered thee as an Hen doth her Brood under her Wings 9. And they said unto him Where wilt thou that we prepare HOW careful are the Disciples that they may do nothing contrary to their Master's Will How do they enquire after the very place where he would have them prepare O my Soul How little hast thou been concerned whether thy God were pleased or not Thou hast been so far from observing the Circumstantials of Religion that thou hast not minded the Substance How hast thou rushed into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battel without being sollicitous or concerned about offending God! How little hast thou enquired what thy Lord and Master requires of thee How contentedly ignorant hast thou been of his Laws and how loth to know thy Master's Will that thou mightest not be obliged to do it 10. And he said unto them Behold when you are entred into the City there shall a Man meet you bearing a Pitcher of Water follow him into the House where he enters in HOW strangely doth Providence order things Just at the Disciples entring into the City God orders this Man to meet them How wonderfully O my Soul hath God made the Second Causes to meet for thy good How hath God turned such Men's Hearts towards thee into Mercy and Compassion How often when thou hast been in Trouble hath God sent thee a Deliverer How often when thou hast seen no probability of Help hath God come in with his Salvation Yet how careless hast thou been of his Providence How apt hast thou been to ascribe these Events to Second Causes Dost not thou blush to think thou shouldst be so dull as not to see God in such Dispensations 11. And ye shall say to the good Man of the House The Master saith unto thee Where is the Guest-Chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my Disciples HOW often O my Soul hath thy great Master attempted to enter into thy Heart and to make that his Guest-Chamber And how surly how ill-natur'd how impudent hast thou been in refusing so great a Guest whose Presence would have enriched thee with infinite Treasures Temporal Profit Honour Ease and Pleasure have but gently knocked at the Door and thou hast listen'd and heard and run to open to them See where thy Love and thy Treasure lies Christ hath stood without knocking and calling Open to me my Sister my Spouse for my Locks are wet with Dew But how loth hast thou been to rise from thy Bed of State or from thy Couch of Luxury to let in that Heavenly Friend Were it not just when thy Prayers knock at Heaven Gate that he should fling them back into thy Face and say As thou wouldst not hear when I called so shalt thou call and I will not hear 12. And she shall shew you a large Upper Room furnished there make ready AND O my Soul hath not thy Lord shewn thee very often a large Upper Room even Heaven it self where the Supper of the Lamb is to be kept and to which thou hast been invited Yet how hast thou preferred this Dunghil Earth before it How contemptible have those Everlasting Mansions been in thine Eyes How hast thou hugged thy Plenty here below and how contentedly hast thou lived without any Assurance that the Eternal Riches shall fall to thy share How little hath that Heaven affected thee How little have thy Affections been stirred with the Thoughts of it How often hast thou looked upon that glorious Place without any Longings to be there or to feast there with thy great Redeemer 13. And they went and found as he had said to them and made ready the Passover THis is the Property of God that he cannot lye If he saith or fore-tells things they must necessarily come to pass Yet how hast thou lived O my Soul as if thy God were false to his Word Thou hast lived in Sin and yet hast believed that God would receive thee at last into Glory Thou hast embraced Follies which he hath protested shall exclude thee from the Kingdom of Heaven and yet hast fancied that thou shalt be happy What is this but to make God a Lyar and to hope that he will not be so good as his Word When thou hast hoped for Heaven without Holiness for a Crown without Conquest for an Everlasting Reward without bearing the Heat and Burthen of the Day and for the same Felicity the Son of God enjoys without imitating him in his Meekness Patience Humility and Charity Hast not thou plainly flattered thy self that God would break his Word and act contrary to his Promises and Threatnings 14. And when the Hour was come he sate down and the Twelve Apostles with him SEE how the great Saviour of the World disdains not to sit down at the Table with a Company of Fisher-men Yet how scornfully O my Soul hast thou looked sometimes upon thy Neighbour What high Thoughts
Temptations were stronger than my Purposes and when they came I fell This Sickness Lord I am still apt to fall into and though by thy Grace I act sometimes according to my good Intentions and Resolutions yet how often do I miscarry in this point Lord give me not only good Inclinations but Courage to perform them too Oh let me not think it enough to entertain good Wishes in my Soul but make them so strong that the Good I intend and purpose may break forth like the Sun from a Cloud into a perfect Day 17. For of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast VVHen the Paschal Lamb was to be killed the Jews had a Prisoner released to confirm the Memory of their Deliverance from the House of Bondage O Lamb of God! When thou diedst thou openedst the Prison-door for all Mankind to come out Thou didst proclaim Liberty to all Men captivated by Sin and the Devil O wonderful Release This makes me admire how Men after this Liberty procured for them by thy Death should yet be fond of their Prisons still and delight in Slavery and the Bondage of Iniquity Oh Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy Name The Righteous shall compass me about when thou shalt deal bountifully with me 18. And they cried out all at once saying Away with this Man and release unto us Barabbas A Monstrous Choice To prefer a Man before God a Son of Death before the Lord of Life a Malefactor before Innocence it self a Murtherer before the Saviour of the World Darkness before Light a Villain before the Son of God! Yet blessed Jesu such a sad Choice I have made too often when I have preferred the Cares of the World before the better part and while I have condemned these wicked Men and been in a kind of Passion to see and hear of their Impiety have unawares sunk into this Sin my self by preferring a Trifle before thy Will and a foolish Satisfaction before Rest in thy Bosom and an Interest in thy Favour and the Things of this World before a more glorious Reversion in another Life Pardon my desperate Choice And let me henceforward prefer thee who art fairer than the Children of Men before all that my Flesh doth promise or the World give For one thing is needful even thy Love of Complacency and if I have that it shall not be taken away from me 19. Who for a certain Sedition made in the City and for Murther was cast in Prison PRisons are fit Places for Malefactors not only upon the Account of securing Humane Societies from Enemies but also because such Sinners being removed from Temptations and Objects that enticed them to do ill and under pressure may think of God and reflect upon their wicked Lives and come to a sincere Repentance Yet when they are delivered out of their Durance their Lives very often are the same that formerly they were O my dear Redeemer Thou hast made me a Prisoner sometimes by Sickness and other Disasters in hopes that the Affliction might work upon me and the Fire I was in would make me a new Man yet when thou hast freed me from this Prison I have re-assumed my former Liberty in sinning Oh let it be so no more And seeing I am made whole let me take heed and sin no more lest worse things happen unto me 20. Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus spake again to them HEre I see greater Charity and Tenderness in an Heathen than in those who had the lively Oracles of God What a strange Sight is this to see Uncircumcision which is by Nature fulfilling the Law judge them who by the Letter and Circumcision do transgress the Law How many excellent Acts of Vertue do I see and read of in mere Pagans that had nothing but the Light of Nature to direct them Acts which I do not come up to that have the Light of Heaven to shine upon me O Jesu make me ashamed of my Backwardness and let my Righteousness exceed that of Men which do not call upon thy Name lest it be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in that Day than for me 21. But they cried saying Crucifie him crucifie him THis was the most infamous Punishment that any Man could be condemned to Ah Wretches Did not your Hearts smite you when you said so Will nothing serve you but the most ignominious Death a Death which none but Slaves were destin'd to What a brutish thing is Wrath and Anger It stops its Ears against all common Ingenuity and Reason It doth things in haste which must be repented of by leisure Lord Jesu I remember what unreasonable things I have done when my Passion hath been up things I am ashamed of now Oh leave me not to these Winds and Tempests Oh let me learn of thee for thou art meek and lowly in Heart that I may find Rest for my Soul 22. And he said unto them the third time Why what Evil hath he done I have found no Cause of Death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go O Jesu 'T is very true thou hast done no Evil neither was Guile found in thy Mouth When thou wast reviled thou didst not revile again when thou sufferedst thou threatnedst not Thou wentest about doing good no Man could convince thee of any Sin Thou wast good and didst good even to those that now cried Crucifie him Thou camest to discourage Men from Evil it was thy Province to destroy the Works of the Devil and to make Men Partakers of the Divine Nature Goodness was in thy Nature and all thy Actions breathed of it Thou wast tender of Men's Good of the Good of their Souls and Bodies Oh make me conformable to thy Goodness Let me abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Let thy Goodness be my Pattern and let me ever rejoyce in thy Goodness Make me steadily and invincibly good good unto Death that I may receive a Crown of Life Thy Goodness endures for ever Give mine the same Duration Oh touch it with thy Light and it shall burn bright for ever 23. And they were instant with loud Voices requiring that he might be crucified and the Voices of them and the Chief Priests prevailed THE Devil was let loose in these Sinners and see how he rages He makes them leap Bogs and Ditches and a Thousand Precipices to get their Wills accomplished The Damned in Hell were not more outragious than these Men. Lord Jesu What are we when left to our selves or to the Power of the Enemy Thou camest to redeem me from this Power Oh let me come under it no more Once I dwelt under that Tyranny I now serve a gentler Master Oh let me serve thee not with Eye-service as a Man-pleaser but as a Servant of God doing the Will of God from the Heart 24. And Pilate gave Sentence that it should be as they required THese Brutes threaten to accuse him
this World may'st bid me enter into my Master's Joy 44. And it was about the Sixth Hour and there was a Darkness over all the Earth until the Ninth Hour THE Sun loses his Splendour at Noon The Deed was black and Heaven draws a Curtain over it Yet notwithstanding the Miracle the greatest part of the Spectators continue obstinate When Men's Hearts are set upon Sin and the World how little do even Miracles prevail O my Soul How many strange Providences hast thou seen and yet thou hast not mended thy Life upon it Thou hast seen Miracles of Judgment and Mercy yet thy Heart hath been hard Oh learn to take more notice of God's Dispensations and believe that the strange things that happen to thee and others are Calls from Heaven to the Inhabitants of the World to learn Righteousness 45. And the Sun was darken'd and the Veil of the Temple was rent in the midst WHat a Motive was this to Men to rend their Hearts This was a Sign that God would lay the Inclosure open and that Christ was to break down the Partition-Wall and make both Jews and Gentiles one To this Rent thou art beholden O my Soul Thy Father was an Amorite and thy Mother an Hittite thy Ancestors were Heathens and Idolaters by this Rent they were brought to the Light of the Gospel and upon that Account thou enjoyest the Gospel now Remember how unworthy of this Favour thou hast walked many Years and how thou hast dishonoured this Gospel with thy Life Oh learn to bring forth Fruits as become the Doctrine which is according unto Godliness and let thy Conversation be such as may promote God's Glory and thine Eternal Happiness 46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud Voice he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit And having said thus he gave up the Ghost NOW the Sacrifice is offered and this Death reconciles God to the sinful World This Death which had been so often foretold both by the Prophets and Christ himself is at last accomplished and Pardon of Sin and the Possibility of Men's arriving to Eternal Life by a true Repentance is hereby purchased This Death puts an End to the Curse of the Law And from this Death O my Soul date thy Happiness Though wicked Men who had an Hand in it were the Means whereby it was effected yet the Son of God would die and his voluntary Death is the meritorious Cause of thy Eternal Life Oh look upon it with Wonder and Admiration And while thou standest amazed at it see withal how thou thy self may'st end thy Days If thou livest like a Child of God thy Father in Heaven will receive thee when thou diest Thy Father will not send thee to Hell but being a Father he will stretch forth his Almighty Arms and receive thee to himself like a faithful Creator 47. Now when the Centurion saw what was done he glorified God saying Certainly this was a righteous Man TO make a right Construction of Things is the Way to Spiritual Wisdom This Man justly concluded that Heaven could not possibly shew it self so much concern'd about a Person if he were not an extraordinary Favourite He judged rationally and this brought him to a true Knowledge of Christ and to an open Confession and Declaration of the Sufferer's Innocence O my Soul Consider by what Miracles and Testimonies that Truth thou professest hath been confirmed and conclude it is Divine No Religion hath those Evidences of its Divinity and Celestial Original that the Christian hath and coming from God thou hast the greatest Reason to believe that all its Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled and seeing that all these shall be fulfilled what manner of Person oughtest thou to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness 48. And all the People that came together to that Sight beholding the things which were done smote their Breasts and returned SMiting their Breasts was a Sign of their Grief and Anger of their Grief because so excellent a Person had been so inhumanely butcher'd and of their Anger against those bloody Men that had condemned and executed him See here O my Soul what Entertainment thou art to give thy Sins In looking upon them divide thy Affections betwixt Grief and Anger Grieve that thou hast offered so many Indignities to thy Blessed Master Be angry with thy self for being so base and ungrateful Grieve that thou hast forgotten the End for which thou wast created and be revenged upon the Sins that caused it And the best Revenge is this to see and take care that thy Degrees of Sin be truly answered by thy Degrees of Sanctification and Heavenly-mindedness 49. And all his Acquaintance and the Woman that followed him from Galilee stood afar off beholding these things THough it is some Ages since Christ was crucified yet in imitation of these Religious Women thou may'st stand afar off O my Soul and behold the Spectacle still When the Circumstances of it are left thee in Writing and the doleful Story stands upon Record thou canst ascend Mount Calvary and see those things acted as if thou hadst been present And Oh little dost thou think how much this Sight will edifie thee Look often upon the Cross and thou wilt find what a Damp it will strike upon all thy sinful Pleasures and how little reason thou hast to hancker after those things whereof so many good Men after they have been sensible of their Errours have been ashamed 50. And behold there was a Man named Joseph a Councillor and he was a good Man and a just IN the midst of Temptations God preserves this Man though his Riches Greatness Reputation and Friendship of the Grandes did strongly entice him to consent to the Death of the Lord Jesus yet he would not and was resolved rather to hazard all than have an hand in the Condemnation This was an Argument of a generous Spirit to bear up under the strongest Assaults and Enticements in the World and to keep an uncorrupt Soul in the midst of Dirt and Filthiness Thou livest in a very evil Generation O my Soul Dare to preserve thine Integrity in the midst of all the Floods of Ungodliness that surround thee And the more thou art discouraged from Goodness and Righteousness the more vigorously stand up for it and maintain it and thy God will be with thee 51. The same had not consented to the Counsel and Deed of them He was of Arimathea 4 City of the Jews who also himself waited for the Kingdom of God TO wait for the Kingdom of God is the Way to resist and to overcome Temptations He that is resolved not to lose his Share in God's Kingdom hereafter will not stand upon his Losses and Crosses here for he knows that the future Kingdom will recompense all No Nan will venture so much for Christ as he that firmly believes the Kingdom of God and fixes his Eye of Faith upon it O my Jesus Give me a clearer Sight of
been guilty of before that Age were committed out of Ignorance so the Examination is more easily performed and as their Age and Religion advances so they will know more Their early Self-Examination makes way for early Gravity and helps to ripen their Understandings and is the only Way to prevent their falling into the Vices of the Age and if any thing next to the Grace of God can be a Charm against Infection from a debauch'd and irreligious World this is most likely to be it I mean this Self-Examination joyned with the holy Sacrament for which it is intended as a proper Preparative III. It is not enough that another Person hath examined us or doth examine us but we our selves must take pains in it Ministers and Parents and Friends by examining of us may be able to give us very good Directions and excellent Instructions how we are to order our Conversation but to all this must be added our own Labour and Diligence to see whether we observe those Directions whether they are acceptable to us how we relish them and whether we intend to act accordingly Up then Christian and try thy Ways Be not afraid of Labour Labour and Food saith Philo have the same Vertue for as upon Food a Man's whole Life depends so upon Labour also depends all that a Man can call good Therefore as they that will prolong Life do not neglect their Food so he that desires any real or solid Good must not be afraid of Labour As Meat is very troublesome and burthensome to a weak Stomach that hath but little Natural Heat so to him that hath but little Love to Christ this Labour of Self-Examination will be burthensome But Christian as thou hast the greatest reason to love the Lord Jesus so if thou lovest him to any purpose both this and other Labours will appear very easie for Love will make them so See therefore and enquire how Concerns stand betwixt God and thine own Soul Shall thy Reason lie useless Shall that excellent Faculty be employed in searching into the Accounts of thy Shop and not into the State of thy better Part Is it not worth knowing whether thou art of God or a Child of the Devil And whether thou hadst rather grovel in the Dust like a Muck-worm or elevate thy thy Soul and fix it upon Objects which Angels desire to pry into Hath God given thee Power to examine thy self and wilt thou neglect that Power Though thou canst not Read nor Write yet thou canst think and think whether thy Life be according to the Holy Rules which are observed by other conscientious Christians Through this examination thou mayst come to see what God hath done for thy Soul and if he hath planted there an abhorrency of that which is evil and a strong affection to that which is good how joyfully mayst thou come to this Holy Table and expect that God will pour Water upon him that is Thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground and that thou shalt spring up as among the Grass and as the Willows by the Water-courses Isai. 44. 3. 3. He that comes to be acquainted with himself at the same time comes to be acquainted with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. This is true Policy and as he is the greatest Politician in Temporals that sees afar off and considers the events of things and upon what causes they depend and gives counsel accordingly so he is the greast Politician in Spirituals that studies himself acquaints himself with his own heart for such a person looks further than his present profit and sensible how this self-acquaintance will be valued one day counsels himself to be expert in that Wisdom For it is certain that in the last day not the great Scholarship of Men not their improving of Arts and Sciences not their skill in various Languages not their Ability to Discourse well not their volubility of Tongue not their Rhetorical and Eloquent Speaking not their profound Philosophy nor their Diving into the secrets of Nature will be much admired These things did well for this World and might be serviceable to various Sorts and Degrees of Men But if Persons with all these Accomplishments about them overlook'd their own Hearts cherished Weeds and Vices there and would take no notice of them their Parts and Learning will not stand them in great stead in that Day of Retribution The poor Christian that ransack'd his Soul often turned over the Leaves of his Conscience that spiritual Book on purpose to see his own Spots and Stains and wash himself clean out of an holy Emulation of the Purity of the Lord Jesus he will be counted at last the most prudent Man that had the quickest Eye and a Sight sharper than an Eagle for as this gives him a Title to all that Christ hath purchased and the rich Blessings laid up for him in this holy Sacrament so in the last Day it gives him full Possession of all the Trophies of Christ's Victory The PRAYER O God! Thou seest the secret Recesses of my Soul Though I may hide my self from my self yet I cannot hide my self from thee whose Sight is not darkned by the Night nor stopped by an Object intervening nor hindred by Walls of Brass nor weaken'd with the greatness of the Distance O Lord Thou hast commanded me to examine my self and to search into the Sins and Errours of my Life What Foes I have and how many there be that rise against me that would swallow up my Soul and devour it that I may secure my self against their Rage by taking Sanctuary at the Death of my ever blessed Redeemer the Lord Jesus O Lord I am very apt to do thy Work negligently I am apt to do it by halves and superficially and without any regard to its weight and moment Thou that knowest my Dulness my Backwardness and my Hypocrisie deliver me I beseech thee from my self and make me Partaker of that Light whereby thou meanest to discover the Sins of Men in the last Day when they come to appear before thy Tribunal By that Light they will see every Deformity every Enormity every Exorbitance of their Outward and Inward Man That will discover to them what they have long ago forgotten and manifest to them what for many Years they have not thought of That will shew them every Errour of their Lives to their Confusion and Amazement That will make them see their Faults so evidently and so distinctly that they will not be able to deny them but be forced to render themselves Prisoners to thy Justice That will undeceive them in their fond Opinions of their Sins and pull away the Varnish they have put upon them and make them appear in their native Hue and Blackness Oh vouchsafe me that Light in some measure now that I may not deceive mine own Soul Make me Partaker withal of the Zeal of thy Justice and of that Hatred thou bearest against Sin that I may hate my Sins as