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A41110 A divine message to the elect soule delivered in eight sermons upon seven severall texts / by that laborious and faithfull messenger of Christ, Mr. William Fenner ... Fenner, William, 1600-1640. 1647 (1647) Wing F685; ESTC R177004 156,509 316

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one can hardly tell which is a Saint and which is a reprobate If a man deale with a Saint and deale with a wicked man he seeth no difference between them Let a Saint do any action either pray hear or conferre let a wicked man do the like there is such deadnes such carnality such worldly-mindednesse such luke-warmnesse of affection that one can hardly tell which is the Saint and which is the hypocrite Beloved if the Saints did live like Saints there would be as plaine a difference between a Saint and a wicked man in their lives and behaviour as is hetwixt the Judge and the Rogue that is to be judged by him Hast thou not con●dered my servant Iob saith God how that there is none like him in all the earth Iob 1.4.8 If a man come to be a Saint indeed there is never a wicked man in the Town and Countrey that lives and doth as he doth and walks as he walks nor prayes as he prayes nor hears the word as he hears it nor that conferres or meditates as he doth that beleeves and repents as he doth that strives against his lusts as he doth there is none like him in all the world Thirdly it condemnes the scandalousnesse of many Professors in their behaviours and actions Oh how do wicked men insult and exclaim hereupon to see a Professor led away and overcome by some lust What say they are these they that are led by the Spirit of God Are these your devout men why they can covet and scrape as well as others they can cousen and lie as well as others I those that are your great Professors and hot spurres they are as covetous as worldly as cruell as others though they will not be drunk nor swear yet they will cousen and lie as well as others The consideration whereof made the Prophets heart to bleed in him and to pray Oh purge me from my murder and adultery and all other my secret sinnes lest I cast mire and dirt in the faces of thy children causing them to beare the reproaches of my sinnes Oh let not those that seeke thee be ashamed for my sake Psal 69. For thy sake that livest scandalously and offensively for thy sake that livest covetously and scraping after the world that art so unjust in thy dealings and promises mire and dirt scandals and reproaches are cast upon the children For thy loosenesse yea for thy carnall liberty it is that the true professors of Religion are reproached suspected and hardly censured in the world What did Jacob when he was to walk with the people of the Land Gen. 35.5.6 he purged his house and saith the text the terror of God was upon all the Cities hee made them all to tremble at him I tell you all the wicked in Ashford would tremble at the Professors that live therein if they did live and carry themselves like Saints indeed Oh if all those that did professe themselves to be Christians were Christians indeed and that professe themselves to be Saints were Saints indeed living in the power and sanctification of holinesse then men would say of themselves of a truth God is in these men Christ dwels in them and the Spirit of God leads and governs them indeed If thou wouldst judge the world take heed so as the world judgeth thee and so thou with the world be condemned eternally It is said that Herod feared John because he● was a just man Mark 6.23 So if all thy neighbours did know that thou wert a just man a holy and conscionable man in all thy wayes and in all thy actions and that cannot indure swearing lying and deceit but did see that thou wast just and one that feared God truly they would all fear thee THE PUNISHMENT Of Unworthy COMMUNICANTS At the TABLE of the LORD DELIVERED In a SERMON Preached Decemb. 7. 1628. By that vigilant and painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS Upon this ensuing Text. 1 COR. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep THE Apostle in this Chapter taxeth two abuses which were then amongst the Corinthians First the unseemly habit of women in the Congregation from the first ver to the 17. Secondly the prophane usage of the holy Communion both of men and women from the 17. verse to the end of the Chapter And herein from the 23. verse to the end of the 25. he sets down the Institution of the Lords Supper and thence raised a point of Doctrine Doct. 1 That whosoever would come to this holy Communion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily else it were better that they never came So we read in the 28. verse But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup As if the Apostle had said Unlesse a man examine himself and search his own heart and find out his sinnes and dive into the secrets of his soul to bring out his hidden corruptions confessing them and judging himselfe for them before the Lord let him never presume to come unto this holy Sacrament And then he proves it by three Reasons Reas 1 The first is taken from the end of the Sacrament for it is the remembrance of the death and passion of Christ so it is in the 26. verse So oft as you eate of this Bread and Drink of this Cup you show forth the Lords death till he come It is a reason that the men of this world are not acquainted withall and therefore it was a good wish of a Reverend Father that the Sacrament should never be ministred but there should be a Sermon to teach men the nature of it and to instruct them in the Mystery thereof Wee approach unto the Sacrament hand over head living in our sinnes not showing by our coming that Christ is dead we say and we professe that Christ died for our sinnes and yet notwithstaning our sinnes live in us as if Christ had not died for us or as if we would proclaime that his death hath had no effect in us For were we dead with Christ then sin and the living occasions of sinne would be dead in us also My Beloved we should never come to this Sacrament but we should shew forth the Lords death thereby that is that Christ is dead or rather died for sinne and that sinne is also dead in us Reas 2 The second reason is taken from the damned wrong wee offer unto Christ if we come in our sinnes for we are guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is in the 27. verse nay thou sinnest against the Lord Jesus Christ not a jot lesse then Pilat that condemned him then Judas that betrayed him and the Jewes that cryed out Crucifie him crucifie him yea thou art as much guilty
come to Church draw neer unto the holy Communion Will you so saith the Apostle No first Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double-minded As if hee should say never think of drawing neer unto God or setting foot on this holy ground and handling those holy mysteries of Christ unlesse thou first purge thy heart and cleanse thy soule from all thy filthy lusts and cursed corruptions lest otherwise thou coming in thy sinnes with thy uncleannesse on thee and so receiving unworthily thou eatest and drinkest thine owne damnation as our English translation hath it damnation to thy selfe and not to another No God forbid that thou shouldest by thy unworthy coming eate and drink condemnation to another for thou that art a child of God and comest unto the Table of the Lord with repentance and a sound measure of preparation though others that sit in the same pew with thee for their prophanesse eate and drink their own damnation yet thou shalt be sure to receive the seale and assurance of thy reconciliation and salvation with free acceptance of God through the Lord Jesus Christ for every man shall bear his owne burden Reas 4 The last Reason is in regard of the end of the Sacrament which is Christ also For as he is the efficient materiall and formall cause so Christ is also the finall cause of the Sacrament So it is in the 26. verse As oft as you eate of this Bread and drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death untill he come Not that Christ may be eaten with the teeth or corporally received in the Sacrament or as if he were there productively or transubstantially as the Papists say no the Apostle shewes that the end of the celebration of this Sacrament is for to shew forth the death of Christ untill he come Object I but say the Romists unlesse we eate the body and drink the blood of Christ really and not the cons●crated bread and wine how can any man by this unworthy communicating eate and drink his own damnation and make himself guilty of the body and bloud of Christ Answ I answer a man cannot bring this guilt upon himself by eating a peece of bread or drinking a cup of wine but the Apostle hath an answer so fitted for this as that all the Papists in the world shall never be able to gainsay and therefore I pray you to mark it for he hath joyned these two verses together As oft as you eate of this bread and drink of this cup you shew forth the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoever eateth this bread or drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord even for this cause because it is the shewing forth of Christs death till hee come Therefore if thou eatest and drinkest unworthily comming in thy sinnes and resolvest to goe on in them that as thou wert proud before thou camest to the Sacrament so thou art still as thou wert cholerick angry and impatient before so thou art still as thou wert luke-warme and dead-hearted in Gods service before so thou remain●st sti●l remember I pray thee that as oft as thou hast come unto the communion in those thy sinnes thou hast made thy self guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Therfore I beseech you to look to it and in time to repent and pray with the Prophet David Ps 51. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord even from the blood of thy Sonne left one day it bee laid unto thy charge and required straitly at thy hands For for this cause many are sick among you and many weak Vse 1 Is it so then that the Lord doth so severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Take notice I pray you then from whence commeth all sicknesse weaknesse and mortality and the reason why the Lord doth send so many kind of sorrowes crosses and miseries upon men namely because of the unworthy receiving of the Lords Supper So saith Mr. Calvin why doe you wonder to see such warres and rumours of warres that there is so many bloodsheds so many Townes and Cities ruinated and so many Countries sacked and depopulated so many calamities come upon the Churches abroad so many plagues and scourges to over-run Christendome at this day is not the cause plain enough men come unto the Table of the Lord carelesly and unworthily And beloved we shall never see the Lord take away his judgements here from the earth untill we betake our selvs to a more diligent and holy receiving of the Sacrament For this very cause there are so many strange diseases amongst us never formerly known or heard of untill these dayes as the French Pox the English Sweat as they call it that even the Physitians themselves are blunted at them and as Peter Martyr well observes hence are all diseases as plagues pestilences which were late amongst us dropsies bloody Flux Agues Apoplexies Convulsies burning Feavers and impostumes c. and all for this cause One man hath fallen into a Feaver and we wonder at the cause whence he took it but in truth the communion hath cast him into his Feaver and the Lord will avenge himself on him for the same Another is sick and he thinkes that a cold hath brought it upon him but it is the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament that is truely the cause of it A third man dieth before his time even in his full strength before in the course of nature he hath ended halfe his dayes but the cause is unworthy comming to the Communion which hath taken hold of him and cut off the thread of his life Many there be that expound these words in a spirituall sense Many are sick and weak and many are fallen asleep that is to say many have their consciences seared and their hearts hardned c. and this is true also that because men come unpreparedly they have their hearts hardened and their consciences seared and their soules plagued with many spirituall plagues But it is as true also in temporall judgements thou hast had many afflictions and much sickness laid upon thee but thank thy self for it namely because thou hast come unworthily unto the communion thou hast had much weaknesse in thy body which hath cost thee much mony and weakned thy estate but thy unholy comming unto the Sacrament is that which thou mayest thank for it Thou hast been reproached and contemned and endured much shame but take notice of it that it proceeds from the fore-going cause and that is a speciall reason why the Lord hath brought these and many other evils upon thee Thou canst say the commandements for the most part by rote but thou didst never know the mystery of this one commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Beloved the Communion is one of Gods own names and how many thousands are there in the world that take this
drink of that Cup. In these words observe First the matter of the duty commanded that is to eat of that bread and to drink of that cup. Secondly the manner of doing the duty not only to eat of that bread but so to eat and not only to drink that cup but so to drink Thirdly the rule of direction how to come in a right manner to partake of it that is by examining of our selves Let a man examine himself and so let him eate of that bread and drink of that cup. Fourthly and lastly the benefit following that direction and that is in this word But But let a man examine himselfe He had said before He that eats and drinks unworthily is made guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord and he discerneth not the Lords body vers 27. But saith he as if he should say if a man would prevent this if a man would take order that he be not guilty of the body and bloud of Christ that he do not come undiscerningly to these heavenly mysteries but with comfort and title to the promises with hope and confidence and speeding there of the benefits of Christ exhibited then let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Now I will passe over some of these points namely that we are to eate that bread and drink that cup. There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords Supper I need not stand on this you know it is sufficiently proved by the Sacrament of the Law which was the fore-runner of this Sacrament that soul that did not partake of that was to die the death he was to be cut off from Gods people Num. 9.13 If the Lord was so careful of those Sacraments that were inferior to these and yet they were of the same substance as these that the man that neglected to come to them to partake of them was to be cut off to be excommunicated from the people of God and to be rent off from the Congregation of the Saints then how much more for these heavenly and weighty and glorious Ordinances of the Gospel which are far more glorious then them of the Law But I will not stand upon that I might here take notice too of the frequencie of the duty for so it hath dependance on those words formerly As oft as yee eat this bread and drink this cup yee shew the Lords death and so that is as oft as ye eate do it in this manner This is the command of God that we oft receive the Lords Supper In the Primitive times St. Basil observes that they ate it three or foure times in a week on Wednesdayes Fridaies and on the Lords day but that was a time of persecution I will not stand upon that I think it not needfull But it should bee often wee should not trust it only upon Easter and Whitsontide and Christ tide three or four times in the year Again I might observe here from this mystery received in that he cals it Bread I might observe against the Papists Transubstantiation that the bread received is not transubstantiated it is bread And against that of receiving in one kind So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup he doth not say so let him eat of that bread only but he directs the command in both kinds But I let this passe and come to the seceond thing that is the manner how we should do this duty So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. It is not first let him examine himself and then let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup But let him examine himselfe and then SO let him eate implying that examining a mans selfe helps or ought to help a man to a right manner and when he hath gotten a right manner then to eat that bread and drink that cup that he may do not only for matter that which the Lord commands but for manner as the Lords commands Beloved the Lord stands on circumstances as well as duties we are all racers wee run but we must so run that we may obtain 2 Cor. 9.26 So pray that we may speed so hear that we may be converted so reprove that we may be edified so behave our selves in our places and callings that we may glorifie God It is not enough for a man to run but he must so run if he mean to obtain Every man will be speaking and doing good things but so speak and so do Jam. 2.12 The Lord calls upon us to have a care of the manner of duties as well as of the matter of duties It is not enough that a man come to eate of that bread and drink of that cup but so to eat and so to drink of it he must partake of the Lords Table and so as the Lord enjoyns Now the Reasons of this are First because the same Lord that commands the matter commands the manner too The Lord he will have his service well done as well as done he will have the work well performed as well as performed It is not only the thing that the Lord stands upon but the right manner and kind of doing it When David perswaded his sonne Solomon to worship the God of his Fathers he bids him not only do the thing but do it in a right manner And thou my sonne Solomon know thou the God of thy fathers and serve him Is that all No but with a perfect heart and a willing mind 2 Chron. 28.9 He commands him to do it not only for the matter of it but in the right manner of it A man may serve God but if it be not with a perfect heart and a willing minde and with a chearfull spirit if he be not ready to every command if he do not open his eares to every rebuke a man doth not serve God at all The manner either makes all or marres all Secondly another Reason is because circumstances overthrow actions if they bee not rightly and duly observed As for example In Scripture prayer is an action commanded of God the Lord commands us to pray that we call upon his name duly every day in all our needs and necessities upon all occasions continually But now if we pray not aright not in that manner that the Lord hath perscribed if we pray either with a guilty defiled conscience with cold affections with a dead spirit or without departing from iniquity or without a pure heart if a man pray without the right manner of prayer he marres all his prayer it is a howling and not a prayer They did not cry to mee saith God when they howled on their beds that is when they prayed but because they did not pray in a right manner the Lord calls it a howling and not a prayer We roare as Beares in Isay 59.12 the Prophet nicknames it speaking in the person
punishment which is the unworthy eating of the Communion For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep Secondly the punishment inflicted for this sinne weaknesse sicknesse and mortality For it seems saith Peter Martyr that the Lord sent a sore plague and pestilence among them for to revenge himself of them for their abuse of the Sacrament for this cause Thirdly there is the delinquents which are you Corinthians Many are sick and weak among you and in them all others that come unpreparedly to the Sacrament Chrysostome notes here that our Apostle doth not fetch here an Argument or example of judgment from others as he had done in the former chapter but he brings it from themselves who sensibly felt the wrath of God upon them for this very sinne As if the Apostle should have said How is it O Corinthians that you dare venture to come unto the Communion so unpreparedly and that you have no more regard of so weighty businesse as is the receiving of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ See you not the wrath of God upon your dwellings and the curse of heaven to take hold of your towne you see it this very time that some are weak and very sick amongst you neer unto death and others have been struck with death before your eyes and the wrath of God is not removed but lies yet upon you What will you alwayes goe on and never cease to provoke the Lord to indignation and wrath against you for your sinnes untill his jealousie hath utterly consumed you and clean cut you off And howsoever many of you may think that this sicknesse weaknesse and mortality comes upon you by chance as from the infection of the aire or other secondary causes I tell you nay but it is for this cause onely even your unworthy comming to the Supper of the Lord. Whence we may observe this point of instruction Doct. 2 That God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper He punished the Corinthians here with sicknesse weaknesse feavers pestilence death temporal and God knows how many with death eternal Theodoret observes that the Apostle told them of a thing that was acted amongst them for if he had told them of such judgements as had been hid from them and not manifest before their eyes as if they had not felt the sicknesse in their bodies and heard the bels tolling daily in their ears they might have thought that the Apostle had but lied unto them So the people of Israel as we may read in 1 Cor. 1.2.3 verses they were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and they did all eat the same spirituall meat and drink the same spirituall drink yet as it is in the fifth verse with many of them God was not well pleased Nay God was so wroth with them that within the space of fourty yeares many thousands of them were destroyed by death here and God knoweth how many thousands of them in hell For God speaketh of hell as well as of death and their sin was so great that it made God confirme it with an oath that they should never enter into his rest And Saint Cyprian saith that the Lord hath shewed many miracles and declared many fearfull judgements upon the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Judas who Ambrose thought received the Sacrament though Hilary and others that hee did not but only that he did eate the Passeover and was coming to this Sacrament also but see his doome John 13. as soon as ever he received the sop the Devill entred into him and so it is with all such as come to the Communion in their sinnes without repentance and unfained resolution of walking ever after worthy of the Sacrament I say unto all and every one of them that as soone as ever thou receivest the Bread and Wine into thy mouth thou receivest the Devil together with it as soon as ever it goeth down into thy body the Devill goeth after it and taketh more full possession of thy heart and soul Reas 1 Now the reason why the Lord doth so severely punish both with temporall judgements and with spirituall curses the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament is in regard of the author of the Sacrament who is Christ and that not onely as he was man as the Papists would make us beleeve but Christ as he was God did institute the same So saith the Apostle in the 23. verse The Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betrayed ●ok bread and brake it when he had given thanks and said Take yee and eate yee for this is my body which is broken for you Now if the Lord Jesus did institute it what a cursed thing is it for any to defile it and so sin against Christ It is a damnable thing to sinne against God but to sin against God as he is God in Christ is damnably damnable The holy Ghost in the second Psalm exhorts to kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and so thou perish As if he should say Adore the Sonne Adore the Lord Iesus Christ and so come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup for if he be angry thou wilt surely perish and if thou sin against God and so go out of the way Christ upon thy repentance will set thee in again but if thou sinnest against God in Christ who is the Way the Life and the Truth thou shalt surely perish from the right way for there is no other way for to bring thee in again Acts 4.12 Therefore wofull is thy case and miserable is thy condition if thou sinnest against Christ prophaning his holy ordinances which he himself hath instituted and abusest and despisest that blessed Spirit of his that comes to seale unto thee the redemption that he hath purchased by his bloud Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born for if he be wroth blessed only are all they that put their trust in him and come preparedly unto his holy Ordinance and that by faith embrace the Lord Iesus Christ But woe unto all prophane persons that live in their sinnes if his wrath be but a little kindled then woe to all drunkards swearers and uncleane persons but blessed is that man that is come out of his sinnes For if his wrath be so terrible when it is but a little kindled O how much more fearfull will it be when it is deeply incensed Therefore if thou comest unto this holy Sacrament in thy sinnes without due preparation and examination what doest thou but even set the wrath of God burning upon thy soul and body from the very bottome of hell When the Lord Delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai he commanded the people to sanctifie themselves yea if a beast did but touch the mountain he must die for the same even be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Heb. 12. Much more then now when
inward man is not reformed there is s●me lust in thy heart some pride in thy will some stubbornnesse in thy spirit some Idoll in thy bosome First cleanse the inside of the platter Matth. 23.26 There is never an ordinance of God that can bee done but there must be somewhat done first a man must doe somthing before As in the choice of Officers as Ministers or Deacons other Officers in the Church first they must bee proved before they be chosen so in all the Ordinances of God Would wee come to the Sacrament There is somewhat must bee done first we must examine our selves and root out all unsanctifiednesse and indisposition that cannot stand with the right communicating in the Lords Supper And so in every other good duty The reasons of this are First because naturally we are not invited guests wee are not such as are invited to the Lords Supper we are children of wrath and as long as we are in such a estate we cannot come aright to the Communion This is childrens bread and it cannot be given to dogges Christ whensoever he sets his dainties before his people he tels us for whom they are Take eate this is my Body that is broken for you This is the Supper that is made for you as it is in this Chapter verse 24. First we must prove our selves invited guests It is true the Lord Christ invites every man to the Lords Supper but he invites him methodically he must bee in such an estate but every man is not so fitted a man must be a member of Christ that means to partake of Christs death he must be one that is in Christ he must be able to prove that he is ingraffed into Christ he must bee able to shew the mark of the Lord Christ on him As it is with some of your great dinners and feasts in this Citie you have tickets and all that are admitted to the feast must shew their ticket before they are admitted So thou must be able to shew thy ticket that thou hast an invitation from Christ thou must have a mark and token from Chtist that thou commest and commest with his warrant A second reason is though thou be invited it may be thou art not disposed If a man will doe a thing that hee is naturally indisposed to there must be somewhat done before of necessitie So the Lords Supper it is a thing that naturally wee are indisposed unto therefore somewhat must of necessity be done first Naturally we are unholy we are unthankfull and carnall we are in our sinnes strangers from God and the Covenant of God and from the seale of the Covenant all this indisposition must be wrought out before we can comfortably come hither If Christ would have the very Chamber first trimmed before he instituted the Passeover and the Sacrament much more will hee have the soule disposed for him and the heart cleansed from all filthinesse If hee that ate of the Peace-offering being indisposed having his uncleannesse upon him was to bee cut off from his people Levit. 7.20 what will God doe to such people as come hither in their uncleannesse and indisposition unsanctified and unqualified Thirdly suppose we were both invited and disposed yet this is not enough This is a solemn Ordinance of God and an ordinary disposition will not serve the turne Though every child of God bee ordinarily disposed to every good word and work to pray and to heare the word of God he is prepared and furnished to every well doing ordinarily and habitually but a man must be disposed further There is a solemne preparation required to the Communion as in Deut. 16.15 there were solemne feasts in the Law so there is this solemne feast in the Gospel and there are solemne preparations required thereto When we come to the Communion to eate the Lords Supper it is not eating and drinking in Christs presence for so may any reprobate doe and yet Christ may say to him Depart from me thou worker of iniquity It is not to come and sit in your Pewes and wait till the Bread come and take it and till the Cup come and drink it so many a reprobate may doe and the Corinthians did that did eate and drink their own damnation But there must be a solemne preparation to it to be sealed with the Spirit of Promise to be righteous by faith in the body and blood of Christ For a man to be humble and empty of his sinne to bee thirsty after the pretious blood of Christ to be fed and built up in the promises It is a weighty thing to come to the Communion a man must bee a worthy man or else he hath nothing to doe here As Solomon said of Adonijah If he be a worthy man not a haire shall fall from his head but if wickednes be found in him hee shall die 1. King 1.52 So if we be worthy men and women not a haire of our head shall fall to the ground none of the curses shall light on us that light on unprepared persons but if wickednesse be found in us if we be guilty of any sinne if we live in any lust not mortfied if there be any prophanenesse in our lives in our families in our courses and callings though we catch hold of the hornes of the Altar though we partake of these holy mysteries yet we shall be so far from having any mercie as that we shall hasten our own ruine we set a seal on our own judgment and make our case worse then it was before Let us take notice of it and never dare to rush on any of Gods ordinances You know what became of the foolish man in the Gospel that when they were invited to come to the marriage Supper he thought it was nothing but to come with them that came to crowd in with them and sit down among the rest he considered not what he went about that he might be prepared accordingly the event was this he was cast out into utter darknesse Matth. 22.13 It is dangerous rushing on any of Gods ordinances To rush upon prayer for a man to fall down upon his knees and to utter any thing before the Lord hastily with his mouth not considering that God is in heaven and he on the earth A mans word may damne his own soule and pull vengeance on his own pate his prayers may prove a curse his prayer for mercy may bee turned into vengeance So the higher the service the greater the danger As the servants of Abigail said to her Consider what you doe when evill was determined against them so consider what you doe when you come to the Sacrament you come to a weighty thing to that that will either set you neerer to the Kingdom of God or to hell and condemnation But I let this passe and come to the words themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and