the other and I hope shall not fail in it In order whereunto it will be necessary rightly to understand the true state of this Case There are two things which you seem to fear viz. Communicating in a mix'd Congregation and being thereby made partakers of other mens sins I shall consider these severally and do not doubt but to make it evident that this is a causeless fear and that those who have taught you thus to scruple have indeed made you afraid where really no fear was 1. As to the first part of the Objection which concerns Communicating in a mix'd Congregation an Assembly made up of good and bad the plain English of it is no more than this You have no mind to receive the Sacrament in the Company of those whom you think not to be so good and holy as your selves To cure which tumour I shall offer these Considerations 1. Whether there be any Society in this World without such a mixture i. e. Whether there be any such Assembly of men in which there are not some good and some bad 2. Whether for any one to entertain such high thoughts of himself and such low ones of others do not savour too much of Pharisaical Pride and Insolence and whether that be not as great a sin as any other 3. Whether such a temper of mind doth not bespeak a man as unfit if not more than those whom he judgeth to be so unworthy 4. Whether it be not the duty of all who address themselves to this holy Table to lay aside all proud and over-weening thoughts of themselves all low and mean thoughts of others and with lowly and humble minds to approach thereunto 5. Whether this lowly and humble temper of mind doth not principally consist in a deep sense of our own sin and unworthiness in a due apprehension of God's greatness in himself and his goodness towards us notwithstanding our unworthiness And if so Whether there can be any room left in such an one for low and mean thoughts of others 6. If those who thus object will deal truly and justly by themselves and others I appeal to their own Consciences Whether they do or can know so much unworthiness in any other man as they may and must know in themselves And if so then have they no more cause to scruple the Company of others than others have to scruple theirs 7. Whether the same reason will not hold in civil Conversation as well as sacred Communion And if so then must they not converse with any one who either is or whom they think to be in a lower form of godliness than themselves They must retire and live alone they must turn Hermits and forsake the Conversation of the World because there is no Society of men to be found in it in which there are not bad as well as good 8. Whether it be not a piece of great impertinence to say no worse for any one to concern himself with the worthiness or unworthiness of another Especially considering that plain and excellent rule which St. Paul hath prescribed in this Case Let a man examine himself not another and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this Cup 1 Cor. 11.28 These things well considered may suffice I hope to answer the first part of this objection and remove that scruple of receiving the Sacrament in a mix'd Congregation But 2. There is a greater danger yet they are afraid lest hereby they should be made partakers of other mens sins This if there were any thing in it would be a dangerous thing indeed For he that is a partaker of other mens sins shall certainly participate with them in the punishment due to those sins But I do not question but to demonstrate to you that even this also is a causeless fear For there are but these five ways that I know of whereby one man may be said to partake of another man's sins 1. By counselling or contriving an evil action Or 2. By consenting to the counsel and contrivance of others in an evil thing Or 3. By abetting and encouraging men in evil doing Or 4. By conniving at the wickedness of men when it is in our power to prevent it Or 5. By joining and co-operating with them in their evil doing Thus and only thus may one man become a partaker with another in his sins And how far these rules are applicable to our Case I appeal to your own Conscience But before you give your Verdict let me advise you to take these considerations along with you 1. That the action you are now required to join in is so far from being evil that it is good and very good being a duty incumbent upon you and all Christians by vertue of a Divine Command 2. That it is one thing to join with others in a known duty and another thing to join with them in a known sin These are cases so different that to think of confounding these together were not only to put a force upon our own but to offer an affront to the reason of all Mankind We may as well attempt to bring the two Poles together or to make Righteousness and Unrighteousness Christ and Belial Faith and Infidelity or the most contrary extreams and most palpable contradictions to agree in one as to make these to conspire together 3. That in the performance of a common duty every man is to be accountable for himself no one for another That Jewish Proverb is now out of Doors The Fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge Ezek. 18.2 For the soul that sinneth shall die the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the iniquity of the Son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself v. 20. 4. That a good man doing his duty well will be never the worse for the Company of one that doth it ill nor will he that doth it ill be ever the better for the Company of him that doth it well Judas was never the better for communicating with the Disciples nor they ever the worse for communicating with him 5. That unless a man do by some one or other of the ways before mentioned join with another in doing evil there is no fear of his being partaker with him either in his sin or punishment All which considered may I hope be sufficient to discharge your mind of this fear and guard you against such impressions for the future By this time I suppose you are sensible how much you have been imposed upon and that without any just cause you have been withheld from the performance of a known and necessary duty I pray God to forgive them who have thus misled you and direct you better for the time to come Parishioner Sir I am very sensible now how great an errour I have laboured under I bless God and thank you for it
I beg your Prayers and shall not fail to join my own that it may please God to pardon both me and them who have led me into it I am so well satisfied that I hope I shall not hereafter omit any opportunity of doing what I am commanded Sir I have given you a very great trouble though you are pleased not to think it so You have taken a great deal of pains and to good purpose for I am very well satisfied that all my scruples have been idle and ungrounded Cavils and that I had no just cause to separate my self from the Communion of the Church as I have hitherto done But Sir may I presume to give you a little more trouble You have removed my scruples and now I desire to be admitted into Communion with the Church and am resolved by the blessing of God to walk orderly and peaceably therein If therefore you will please to furnish me with some short rules which may direct me in my preparation for this holy Ordinance and instruct me how to behave my self both then and afterwards you will greatly oblige me and I shall make it my business to observe them Pastor I shall very readily and willingly comply with your desire and think it no trouble at all I am so far from thinking it so that I look upon it as my duty and am mighty well pleased when I meet with an opportunity of doing it so well that I could heartily wish that those whom God hath committed to my charge would often give me this occasion And to satisfy you that these are my real thoughts I shall now apply my self to answer your desire by giving you the best rules and directions that I can in this Case And to render them the more effectual I shall observe the method propounded by your self and endeavour to show you 1. What is required of those who come to the Lord's Supper 2. How they ought to demean and behave themselves when there 3. What will be expected from them afterwards 1. What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper Ans Our Church hath given a short but very full Answer to this Question which is this They are required to examine themselves Ch. Catech. whether they truly repent them of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life have a lively Faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all men Which Answer is founded upon that excellent Rule laid down by St. Paul in this Case Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this Cup 1 Cor. 11.28 To examine ones self imports a serious diligent and impartial Tryal in order to amendment and reformation A transitory glance upon the several Occurrences of our lives or a general survey of what we do or have done will not serve the turn but we must make a particular search and scrutiny into our several actions and the several circumstances wherewith they have been attended We must consider from what principle and by what rule we have acted and to what end our actions have tended and apply these to those several and respective duties we have been about For without the due consideration of these things an action though materially good may be formally evil This is to examine but whom are we to examine Not others but our selves Let a man examine himself God Almighty having endued man with reason and consideration having made him sensible of his duty and apprehensive of those hopes and fears that advantage and danger which usually attend the performance or non-performance thereof leaveth him to be his own Judge and remits him to his own Examination So that if men will flatter and deceive themselves in that which is their greatest concern they may blame themselves and none but themselves if danger ensue thereupon God would not have men either impertinently to meddle in the concerns of others or carelesly to trust others with what concerns themselves he would have every one do his own duty and take care of his own concern It may reasonably be supposed that every man either is or at least ought to be best known to himself and that he will be most just to himself And therefore God trusts man with himself and St. Paul in this very case refers man to himself saying Let a man examine himself But if after all this Men will be unfaithful to themselves and deceive their own Souls whom have they to blame but themselves Thus have I shown you both the importance of the word and the Subjects of the Duty what it is to Examine and who they be that are to undergo that Discipline There only remaineth to consider the end for which we are to examine our selves and that is In order to amendment and reformation God would not have us to ravel into our by-past lives on purpose to take pleasure in our former sins or from our impunity to take encouragement to go on still in the like iniquities but he would have us to understand wherein we have formerly transgressed our rule and done amiss to correct and amend it for the present and to resolve upon a more renewed course of living for the future This in the general is or ought to be the design of self-examination but to be more particular and bring it nearer to our present Case I shall endeavour to do these five things 1. To show you the reasonableness of this advice Let a man c. 2. The necessity of the thing we are advised to viz. Self-examination in order to a due participation of this holy Feast 3. What we are to examine our selves about 4. By what rules we are to proceed in examining our selves 5. For what end we ought to examine our selves 1. The reasonableness of this advice Let a man examine himself St. Pauls advice and counsel in this case will appear to be very reasonable if we consider either the excellency of the Feast we are invited to or the unworthiness of the persons who are invited It is no common and usual entertainment but a great and extraordinary Feast that we are invited to Nor is it only a bare Feast but a solemn Feast upon a Sacrifice and that Sacrifice no other than the offering up of the Son of God and our Saviour Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 5.7 The Master of this Feast or he who makes this great entertainment for us is none other save only the holy Jesus It was he who as a Priest offered himself as a Sacrifice unto God the Father who hath instituted this holy Feast in memorial of his Death and Passion and therein prepared for us not only common food for the refreshment and sustentation of our decaying Bodies but such as may suffice to nourish both our Bodies and Souls unto Eternal Life not only the food
can not only be content but with chearfulness abandon the ways of sin and wickedness and with eagerness pursue the principles of holiness and true righteousness Whether we be convinced in our Judgments of the unreasonableness and folly of the one and of the great reasonableness and equity of the other and whether these sentiments if any such be found in us be as yet formed into resolutions of better obedience for the future These are the things which we are to examine our selves about and that we may the better do it Let us in the next place consider 4. By what rules we are to proceed in this Self-Examination The rules by which we are to examine our selves are these two viz. The word of God and our own Consciences The one will shew us our duty and the other will either accuse or excuse us as to the performance of it Let us therefore carefully study the Book of God and make it our business to be acquainted with his Will made known unto us therein Let us keep a good correspondence with our own Consciences neither stifling the genuine dictates thereof nor suffering them to be groundlesly clamorous upon us Let them not strain at a Gnat whilst they swallow a Camel let them not start and boggle at things indifferent whilst they greedily embrace things unlawful A good understanding of the former will help to inform the latter and these two thus qualified will be the best rules to examine our selves by Let us therefore make use of these rules and for our further direction let us in the last place consider 5. For what end we ought to examine our selves The end of our Examination as I have already hinted to you in the beginning of this Discourse ought to be amendment and reformation In order whereunto several things will be requisite as 1. A serious Meditation of God's goodness and our own unworthiness The former of these will show us under what obligations we are and the latter may serve to humble us under the sense of our miscarriages and both these together may contribure much to our amendment and Reformation The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward us being duly considered cannot chuse but constrain us to live more holily and righteously and the consideration of our own unworthy and disingenious dealing must needs make us ashamed of what we have done and willing to do better Let us therefore often think of these things and endeavour to awaken those sentiments of duty and gratitude honour and honesty interest and advantage to perswade us to a good improvement of this Meditation 2. Repentance for sins past Reformation of life at present and a firm resolution of better obedience for the future In vain shall we examine our selves if after we have found what is amiss in us we do not repent of it and to little purpose will that repentance be if we do not reform and amend it and as little worth will that reformation be at present if we do not resolve and perform our resolutions too by living more holily and righteously for the time to come For this end therefore ought we to examine our selves 3. Prayer to God will also be highly necessary in this Case No Christian Duty can be successfully carried on without God's blessing and the divine assistance and God doth not ordinarily vouchsafe that to any but those who faithfully and fervently pray for it If therefore we expect any good Issue of our Self-Examination we must thereunto add Prayer When we have thereby discovered our sins we must pray unto God for the mortification and forgiveness of them When we address our selves to God's Table we must pray unto him to compose and settle our thoughts and to bless and direct us in what we go about And that our Prayers may be the more effectual we must add our hearty endeavours for the accomplishing of what we pray for Without thus doing we cannot hope for any good effect of our Examination 4. Watchfulness will be very necessary We must watch over our selves over our thoughts over our words and over our actions that nothing therein be displeasing unto God. We must watch against our Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil that they do not withdraw us from our duty and perswade us unto folly Without this our Examination will be to little purpose and our reformation and amendment will go but slowly on 5. Fear and reverence or an awful regard of that Deity with whom and upon whom we are invited to feast will also be very necessary For if the Examination of our selves and the consideration of what we go about do not produce in us reverential apprehensions of the divine presence if it do not make us more careful in what manner we make our approaches thereinto and how we behave our selves whilst there if it do not create in us a fear to displease or offend him with whom we are to feast if it do not make us very cautious of provoking that Deity whom we pretend to worship and adore in this holy action It is an evident sign that our pretended Examination hath no tendency towards amendment and reformation 6. Thankfulness for so great a mercy as is now offered us will also be highly necessary Can we consider what God our Saviour hath done and suffered for us and what advantages he doth daily offer to us without being deeply sensible and truly thankful If we can it will be a sad symptom of the deplorableness of our present estate and condition and give but little hopes of our amendment and reformation 7. Faith and confidence in God through Jesus Christ that our endeavours herein will be successful This also will be highly necessary For doubting destroys all the comfort which we might reasonably hope for from the performance of our duties and takes off the chearfulness with which we ought to prosecute our endeavours Let us therefore lay aside this and draw near unto God with full assurance of Faith. Let us believe that he not only is but that he is a Rewarder of all those that faithfully seek him Having duly performed those duties that are required on our parts let us not doubt but believe that he will accept of our so doing and bless us therein Thus have I endeavoured to make good the first part of my Promise by shewing you what is required of all those who come to the Lord's Supper viz. Self-Examination as also by shewing you the reasonableness and necessity of our so doing what we are to examine our selves about by what rules we are to proceed and for what end we ought to examine our selves And whosoever he be that doth seriously set himself to the performance of this duty and in so doing doth carefully observe these rules may with confidence approach and reasonably hope to be a wellcome Guest at God's Table Parishioner Sir You have very well acquitted your self in this first part of your Promise I am
Saviour's own Institution whose command we have not only to do it but to do it often and yet all this notwithstanding how few are there who seem to have any value and esteem for it Some scruple and say they are there not ready but never take care to prepare themselves for it Others pretend they are hindered by Worldly business and yet are readier to engage in more than to rid their hands of any they have already But the far greater part do utterly slight and neglect it as a thing not worthy their time and thoughts I appeal to all sober Christians whether this be not the case of Christianity at this day and if so how sad a symptom is it of its decay and languishment To prevent which what better expedient can we find out than to teach men the true worth and value of Religion and perswade them to entertain a regard and esteem for it sutable to the dignity thereof But because general discourses though never so excellent in themselves seldom prove very effectual not for any defect in them but for want of a due capacity in those to whom they are delivered who being for the most part either ignorant or prejudicate persons or cannot or will not apply them to the particular instances and duties of their Religion For this reason I have fix'd my thoughts upon one great and necessary duty viz. Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper A thing which by the command of Christ we stand obliged to do and do often in remembrance of him Wherein the dying love of the blessed Jesus is so lively represented to us as cannot chuse but mightily affect our minds Can we think of what he hath done and suffered for us and yet be wanting in those dutiful returns and grateful acknowledgements that are due to him Can we behold those wounds that our sins have given him without a transportation of mind and an holy indignation against our selves for it Can we see him in his gore blood praying intreating and beseeching us to be reconciled to him without melting into tears and humbling our selves in dust and ashes To make men in love with their Religion and particularly with this great and almost neglected part of it was my design in first framing this Discourse and for this very end have I suffered it to look abroad and do humbly and heartily pray that God Almighty would second my design with his blessing and make it serviceable to men for their good I have all along industriously avoided those knotty controversies which have made so much noise in the World about this Sacrament looking upon them as things fitter to amuse than edify I have endeavoured to entertain my Reader not with words but matter not with Rhetorical flourishes but plain truth I have endeavoured to represent this holy Sacrament in its native and primitive dress to acquaint my Reader with the true plain and genuine notion of it without the additions of Popish Superstition and Idolatry on the one hand or Fanatical misconceivings and misrepresentations on the other I have laboured to ease the minds of men of those fears and jealousies those scruples doubts and objections which they have been taught to make against their own happiness I have furnished them with some rules which may direct them in their preparation for this holy Feast I have acquainted them how they ought to behave themselves when they are at Gods Table and what will be expected from them after they have been there And all this with the greatest plainness in the World. This Reader is the substance of this little Book which I now commit into thy hands only begging this of thee That to the reading of it thou wouldst bring a sober and unbiassed mind void of passion and prejudice willing to be informed and ready to embrace truth for truth's sake being desirous not only to know but as ready to do thy duty when it is known If I can but obtain this of thee I do not doubt but that by God's blessing upon thine and my Endeavours thou wilt find comfort and advantage by it Which that thou mayest do now is and ever shall be the humble and hearty Prayer of the Author of it A DIALOGUE Between PASTOR AND PARISHIONER Touching the SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER Pastor GOod Morrow Neighbour Parishioner 'pray which way are you travelling this Morning Parishioner A good Morning to you Mr Pastor by so happily meeting with you my Journey is at an end for I was going to wait upon you Pastor Good Wits they say will jump sometimes and so I see will good intentions too for my design was to make you a visit this Morning Parishioner I thank you good Mr. Pastor for your kind intentions and 'pray let not my meeting with you divert them Pastor I am not willing to lose the end of my Journey nor would I have you lose yours and therefore when I know whether my going with you or your going with me will better serve the design of us both I shall readily comply with either Parishioner I do not know Sir what your design in coming to me may be though I am well assured it must be good and kind but mine in coming to you was not only to pay my respects but to receive a kindness from you Pastor I thank you for your Civility and if it be in my power to answer your desires you may rest assured that I will not be wanting in my endeavours You have nothing to do therefore but only to make known what kindness that is which you expect from me Parishioner That which I have to desire of you is a matter of great moment It is the greatest kindness that I can desire of or expect from any one in this World. Pastor The greater the better provided it be but in my power to do it and therefore 'pray be free to let me know it Parishioner Sir You are placed here by the appointment of Divine Providence as my Spiritual Guide to instruct me in the true Worship of God and direct me in the right way to Heaven and Happiness I am to presume that your Lips preserve Knowledge and therefore at your Mouth I am to enquire for it Your work I know is very great and your charge weighty you stand charged with the Salvation of all our Souls But as your concern is great so ours cannot be little Our Souls lie at stake it is our Salvation that is endeavoured and therefore it is certainly our duty to do what we can in order thereunto which if we refuse or neglect to do all your endeavours though never so great and good will as to us prove vain and fruitless I very well know that if you faithfully discharge your duty you may thereby please God and save your own Soul but if we in the mean time neglect ours notwithstanding all your diligence we may perish and our blood will be upon our own heads These thoughts for
some time have very much troubled me and I have long considered with my self what was best for me to do at length I found that all my hopes of happiness both here and hereafter did depend upon my Religion and that if I did not piously and devoutly serve and worship God I could have no reason to expect either his blessing and protection in this World or to have any part in that blessed state in the World to come Now seeing Religion is a thing of so mighty concern to the Sons of men there can be nothing surely the knowledge whereof ought more to be desired and endeavoured I have oftentimes therefore had it in my thoughts to wait upon you and to desire your direction and instruction therein and though hitherto something or other hath always prevented me yet finding of late one main duty of our Religion in a more than usual manner pressed upon us and believing that it did require our most sober thoughts and serious considerations this did revive and heighten my resolution of waiting on you But when I heard in publick your pious and charitable Declaration to all your People how ready and willing nay how glad you would be to spend your time in setting their minds right in this great affair I was thereby so encouraged that I was impatient of any delay and upon that very account and for that very end I was now coming to wait on you Pastor And for this very end I was now coming to visit you and I hope that good God who hath inspired us both with the same thoughts will bless both our designs and make that communication we are now about to enter upon to be in the end of great comfort and advantage to us both But this place not being altogether so convenient I will desire you to walk to my House where we will retire into my Closet and being there sequestred from all noise and disturbance we may calmly and quietly debate between our selves whatsoever is thought fit to be propounded by either of us Parishioner I thank you Mr. Pastor for your kind offer and invitation and do willingly accept of it and I do assure you that I come with a mind void of all passion and prejudice ready prepared with all humility and meekness to receive such wholesome instructions as I hope to receive from you Pastor I am glad to find you in so good a temper and that you have so great a sense of Religion and the duties of it This gives me good hope that before we part we shall both of us have occasion to bless God for this meeting Parishioner I am of that opinion too Sir and to that end do make it my hearty Prayer to God that he would be pleased to give his blessing to what we go about Pastor Well Neighbour Parishioner you are heartily welcome and the more welcome because you now visit me upon so pious and so religious an account And though you tell me that at this time you expect a kindness from me yet I most freely acknowledge you do me the greatest kindness imaginable For you give me an opportunity to do good and to do it in that place and station which God hath appointed me 'Pray therefore sit down and consider with your self what you have to propound be free in it and confidently expect all the sober satisfaction I am able to give you Parishioner I once more heartily thank you Mr. Pastor both for your welcome and the freedom you give me I have indeed much to say and more than I think will be convenient at this time I confess I am too too ignorant of my Religion and therefore should be very desirous to be instructed in all the principles of it But this I am sensible is a great work and will require both more time and more consideration than this occasional meeting and discourse will admit of That therefore which I shall now confine my self to and desire to be instructed in is that great Ordinance which you now invite us to I mean the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Pastor My good Neighbour There is nothing either in this particular nor in any other part of the Christian Religion which at fit times and due seasons I shall not be always ready to instruct you in to the utmost of my small abilities But since you confine your self to one only instance at present What is it I pray that you scruple at or desire to be better instructed in as to that particular Parishioner Sir You have of late invited us to this great Feast and that with all the earnestness imaginable you have told us that it is a duty incumbent upon us and that by vertue of a divine command you have endeavoured to make out the great and indispensible necessity of it And I do find that our Governours both in Church and State by their Sanctions both Civil and Ecclesiastical do what in them lieth to enforce this command and exact from us the performance of this duty Now Sir for my own part I must ingenuously acknowledge that I cannot conceive what design or interest you can have to impose a lie a falshood upon your people to tell them that it is commanded by God if it were not really so especially when I consider that the sacred Records are in the hands of all men and if it were not so the folly and falsity of such an assertion might easily be detected Nor can I believe that either God would command it or our Governours exact our compliance with and obedience to that command if it were not a thing both necessary good and fit to be done But Sir we have been of late times taught by other Ministers that though it be a duty yet it is a dangerous one who have so represented the thing unto us as the most frightful Mormo and the greatest Bugbear in the World who have given it such a Character and put it into such a dress as if they had designed thereby not to allure and invite but to deter and affright men from having any thing to do with it This I confess hath very much puzled my mind and not only mine but that of many others who I hope are very honest and well-meaning Christians This hath raised such a storm in the minds of men as hath made them so staggering and unresolved so fearful to do what perhaps they are satisfied they ought to do To take off this fright therefore and restore my mind to a calm quiet and peaceable temper again I desire you would inform my judgment in the true nature and notion of this holy Sacrament Pastor That I have of late with great earnestness invited you to this holy Feast and perswaded you thereunto as to a duty that is absolutely and indispensibly necessary by vertue of the institution and command of our blessed Saviour And that our Governours both in Church and State have taken cognizance of the great neglect of this
of this priviledge we are made partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ and all the benefits thereof We are strengthned and refreshed in all grace and goodness and the remission of sins is not only offered but conveyed to every worthy Communicant The consideration whereof as it ought to beget in us a grateful sense of all God's favours and of this in particular so ought it to be an Obligation or Bond of Union between all Christian People For If God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 John 4. v. 11. Thus have I performed the former part of my promise by shewing you what notion you ought to have of the Lord's Supper That it is a Sacrament properly so called having all the conditions that are or can be thought necessary to constitute such a thing That it is not only a Feast but a Feast upon a Sacrifice and which is more a Feast upon a Sacrifice for Sin. And under such a character as this I hope it will not appear to you with such a frightful visage as you tell me it hath been represented to you heretofore Parishioner No indeed Sir Instead of a dangerous and dreadful Precipice I have a plain path now before me instead of terrible and frightful objects I have a pleasant and delightful prospect instead of affrighting it doth now allure and invite me to it it seemeth to offer me such advantages as I once thought I could never reasonably hope for from it I confess Sir You have mightily relieved my mind by removing that pressure which prejudice and prepossession had put upon it I heartily thank you for the pains you have taken in it and am so well pleased and satisfied therewith that if it be not too great a trouble to you I would humbly beg the performance of the other part of your promise also Pastor No Neighbour Parishioner it will be no trouble to me I am better pleased with doing my duty than to think it so and therefore if you can but be contented to continue your Patience I shall not I hope grow weary of so good a work II. The other part of my promise was To make it evident to you That the Celebration of this holy Feast is a duty incumbent upon all Christians by vertue of a Divine Command And to do this I shall need only to have recourse to the words of institution as they stand recorded by St. Luke and repeated by St. Paul. In the Evangelist the words run thus He took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and gave to them saying This is my Body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me Likewise also after Supper he took the Cup saying This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you Luk. 22.19 20. The Apostle is somewhat more large taking in the account which the other Evangelists also give of it for he tells the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25 26. That he had received from the Lord that which he delivered unto them viz. That the Lord Jesus in the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take Eat This is my Body which is broken for you This do ye in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my blood This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye shew or shew ye forth the Lord's Death until he come These words as they are recorded by St. Luke are indeed directed to the twelve Apostles but then we are to consider that the Apostles in that holy action were the Representatives of the whole Church and therefore to be considered under a double capacity viz. either as Governours and Ministers intrusted by Christ with the power of dispensing and administring the Sacrament or as ordinary and Lay Communicants If we look upon them in the former capacity as Governours of the Church and Stewards of the sacred mysteries then the duty to which they are obliged by the express command of Christ is to take the Bread into their hands to bless and consecrate it to that mysterious and divine use to which he designed it to break it to give it to the Communicants as he gave it to them And so in like manner to take the Cup to bless it and give it to the people Whence it is plain That there is an unavoidable necessity upon them and their Successors to administer this holy Sacrament And if they stand obliged to give it then certainly there must be some who are obliged to receive it And if we look upon them in the other capacity as private men and Lay Communicants we have a plain evidence hereof For it is evident that in that capacity their duty in obedience to the Command of Christ was to take and receive the consecrated Elements of Bread and Wine to Eat and Drink and to do all this in commemoration of his wonderful love in giving his Body to be broken and his Blood to be shed for the sins of the World. But if we will suffer St. Paul who well knew it to explain the mind of his Master the matter will be yet more plain and evident For though he give the same account of the History of the Sacrament and the institution of it as the Evangelists do yet doth he not therein address himself to his Fellow-Apostles or their Successors but to the people of the Church of Corinth thereby plainly showing that the Command of our Blessed Saviour This do doth equally oblige both the one and the other That as the Priest is bound to prepare and give it so the people are bound to prepare and receive it and both by vertue of a divine Command For that these words Do ye this were not spoken by way of Counsel but Command will plainly appear if we consider that whatsoever may be thought requisite to render any expression preceptive and obligatory are to be found in this For 1. There was sufficient power and authority in the person commanding viz. Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God and our Saviour 2. The Terms in which he is pleased to signify his divine will and pleasure are imperative Do this 3. The obedience which he expects thereunto is to be perpetual till his coming again 1 Cor. 11.26 4. St. Pauls interpretation and application of this command to the Lay Communicants in the Church of Corinth doth plainly speak the design of our blessed Saviour which was to oblige them and all Christians to do this in remembrance of him i. e. to express their thankful acknowledgments of what he did and suffered for them by their dutiful obedience to this Command Thus have I performed the other part of my promise to you and I hope made it sufficiently
destructive to our selves This is to add sin to sin and by that means to heap up wrath against the day of wrath upon our own heads Now that to Do this is a duty incumbent upon us by vertue of a Divine Command I have plainly shown you and the want of opportunity you have no reason to complain of being so often and so earnestly invited thereunto And therefore unless you have some just impediment to hinder your present compliance with that command you have no reason to decline your duty nor any cause to fancy to your self such a liberty as you now enquire after 3. Consider That the solemn profession of our Christian Faith according to Gods Ordinance is a Duty which all Christians ought most readily and upon every just occasion to perform Luke 12.8 9. Whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the son of man confess also before the Angels of God. But he that shall deny me before men shall be denied before the Angels of God saith our blessed Saviour Thereby plainly intimating that whosoever shall be ashamed to own him and to confess their Faith in him in this World them will he disown and be ashamed of at the great and last day Now the Celebration of this holy Feast is one of the most memorable actions of our life wherein we are most solemnly to Commemorate the dying love of the blessed Jesus 1 Cor. 11.24 26. For this we ought to do in remembrance of him And as often as we do it we are to shew forth the Lord's death till he come i. e. We are herein to commemorate all that the holy Jesus hath done and suffered for us and not be ashamed to confess our Faith in a dying Saviour And that all this is according to God's Ordinance is plain because it is a duty incumbent upon us by vertue of a Divine Command Unless therefore you can dispense with your duty to God and content your self to dissemble your Christianity unless you can perswade your self that the profession of your Faith in Jesus a thankful acknowledgment of all that he hath done and suffered for you and a publick owning of all those favours and benefits which you have received from him be things indifferent to you It will be in vain to pretend such a liberty as you now enquire after By this time Neighbour Parishioner I hope you are satisfied that neither you nor any other who pretend to Christianity are left at liberty in this case That to Do this or leave it Vndone as they please is no part of that liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free Parishioner I thank you Mr. Pastor for the pains you have taken with me which by God's blessing upon them have not been in vain they have had their design'd effect for I am now very well satisfied that it is not a thing indifferent but a Duty But pray Sir be not offended if I trouble you with another Question Pastor No my good Neighbour I shall not pray be free and rest assured that you cannot better please me than by giving me an opportunity of offering you all the satisfaction that is in my power Parishioner My next Question Sir is this Obj. 2. If this command be so strict and general and our obedience thereto so indispensible are not all then who live within the pale of the Church whether good or bad without any exception to be admitted thereunto Pastor You may remember that in answer to your former Question I did intimate to you that there are some cases which though they do not lessen the Duty yet do limit the command as to our present actual obedience thereunto For as our Saviour forbade the casting of Pearl before Swine and the giving of the Childrens Bread to Dogs so hath he left power with his Church to make a difference between worthy and unworthy Receivers and where the case is so manifest as to come within her Cognizance to judge who are so and who are not And besides those cases before intimated there are some other wherein the Church doth with good reason take upon her to restrain and keep back some from prophaning this holy Sacrament and ruining themselves Especially these that follow 1. When men are grosly ignorant so little knowing in the things of God so much unacquainted with the Religious part of their duties that in this case what the Prophet Jonah said of many thousands in the great City of Nineveh is but too truly verified in them Jonah 4.11 They cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand And of this sort God knows we have too many in our days who are so sottishly ignorant of what concerns God and themselves at least the better part of themselves viz. their immortal Souls that though the light of the Gospel shine so gloriously yet still they sit in darkness though the glorious truths thereof be daily preached so plainly asserted and so frequently inculcated upon them yet are they no more improved in their knowledge of them than those poor Indians who never heard of the Gospel 'T is strange indeed there should be such but not so strange as true Now such as these till they are better instructed in their Religion in general and in this part of their Religion in particular ought to be withheld from being partakers of this holy Sacrament For Our Church supposeth all those her Members who either do or are fit to receive the holy Sacrament Rubrick after the Communion Service to be persons of discretion i. e. persons of some competent knowledge able to discern between the Table of the Lord and their own Tables between this holy Feast and a common Meal What measure of knowledge there ought to be seeing God hath given us no standard to judge by I shall not presume my self wise enough to determine But that there ought to be some and a competent share of knowledge too will appear if we consider what qualifications our Church requires in those whom she admitteth to be Communicants They must be such as truly repent them of their former sins They must be such as stedfastly purpose to lead a new life such as have a lively Faith in God's mercy through Christ such as thankfully remember the sufferings and death of the blessed Jesus for their sakes Ch. Catech. and they must be in charity with all men All which do presuppose a good share of knowledge and a godly practice of what they know Besides all who are admitted to the Lord's Supper by the Rules of our Church ought not only to be baptized but also after Baptism to be confirmed by the Bishop or at least to be ready and desirous to be confirmed Rubrick after the Order of Confirmation Now in order to Confirmation it is required that they be of a competent age able to say in their Mother tongue the Creed the Lord's Prayer Rubrick after the Catechism and the Ten Commandments and to answer
cannot do it to please you and therefore he will not go about to do it at all You command another to do the same thing and he answereth he cannot do it so well as he should but in obedience to your command he will do it as well as he can and he hopeth you will be pleased with his endeavours Which of these two would you account the better and more acceptable Servant I do not doubt but that you would prefer the latter Well this is your very Case God Commands you to Do this though you cannot do it so well as you should yet do it as well as you can by so doing you obey the Command of God who knows your infirmities and instead of punishing will pity them Though God expect all that we can do for him yet he expects no more than we can do For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 2. Whether it be not a thing certain that you and I and all men must once die and if so Whether we shall not then be called to an account for the doing or not doing of this duty There is an appointed time for all men once to die and after that the Judgment Hebr. 9.27 At which time all men must receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 3. Whether any of us know the time when we must die if not it may be this moment as well as the next and if we be not fit to receive the Sacrament we are not fit to die and if we be taken in the act of disobedience to a known command what can we expect but a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation to devour us 4. What is the reason that we are not fitted and prepared for this holy Sacrament Is the fault in God or Christ No they kindly invite and command us too to do our duties and this duty in particular Is it in the Sacrament it self No that is ready prepared for us Is it in the Ministers who are employed about these holy things No they in the name of God and Christ do earnestly invite and intreat us and are ready to deliver the same unto us If therefore we are unfit and unprepared the fault must be in our selves and what is this but to double our guilt by doubling our sin i.e. by disobeying the Command of God and persevering in so doing to contract a greater guilt When you have asked your self these Questions and seriously considered what answer is to be given unto them then be advised seriously to ponder Whether this Plea of unfitness and unpreparedness will stand you in any stead at the Day of Judgment When that great Day of the Lord shall come as none of us knows how soon it may come when the Books shall be opened and the Consciences of all men displayed when every thing shall be open and bare before the great Judge of Heaven and Earth then will you wish when it is too late that you had been more careful and conscientious in the discharge of your duties and more complying with God and Christ in the observation of their Commands Then will you wish that you had your Lives to live over again that you had once more those opportunities offered which you have so often slighted and neglected Then will you wish that you were but once more invited and once more admitted to feast with God and Christ How would you then improve the opportunity You would certainly so bestir your selves that every moment should be a step toward Heaven and Happiness Consider this therefore whilst you have yet time neglect not your present opportunities Remember Opportunity is bald behind it is not easily retrieved after it is once passed by us Let it therefore be your care whilst it is called to day so to improve every occasion offered that when God shall call you may be ready to go and take possession of that Eternal Inheritance prepared for you in Heaven Parishioner Sir I have with great satisfaction attended to your Discourse and have great reason to thank you for the pains you have taken to rectify my judgment in this particular I do plainly find I have been too much imposed upon and for want of considering so well as I ought have blindly swallowed that which I ought not But being better instructed I hope for the future I shall be more careful and make it my business to be always ready to do my duty when God shall please to give me an opportunity Pastor I shall think my self very happy Neighbour Parishioner if either this Discourse or any other weak endeavour of mine shall by God's blessing thereupon prove instrumental to reduce you or any of my People to your duties and to direct you in the right way to Heaven and Happiness To do all the good I can in this station wherein God hath placed me I know and acknowledge to be my duty and in the performance thereof I bless God I am willing to spend and be spent to lay out all my strength and all those abilities which he hath been pleased to endow me with I am never better pleased than when thus employed either in resolving the doubts or otherwise instructing those committed to my care and charge And therefore if you have any thing more to offer let us not lose the opportunity propound it freely and I will endeavour with as much clearness as possible to resolve you Obj. 4. Parishioner Sir I have heard some scruple the posture in which we are required to receive the Sacrament viz. Kneeling fearing lest there should be either Superstition or Idolatry or both in it And I must confess it hath very much startled me nor am I yet thoroughly satisfied about it Pastor Our Church in her Appendix to the Rubrick after the Communion-Service hath very well obviated this objection for she there declareth two things 1. That no adoration is hereby intended nor ought to be done either to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there Bodily received or to any corporal presence of Christ's natural flesh and blood For 1. She declareth that the Sacramental Bread and Wine do remain still in their very natural substances and therefore ought not to be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred by all faithful Christians 2. That the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here It being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to be at one time in more places than one 2. That this posture is only meant 1. To signify thereby our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers 2. To prevent such profanation and disorder in the holy Communion as might otherwise ensue Now after such a plain Declaration as this one would think there should be no