that so he may be a worthy and welcome Guest in it and all of them This Repentance will restore him to the Favour of God and gain him acceptance with him and then he is fit for this and for every other part of Gods Worship and may worthily joyn in them And by this it appears who is unworthy of this Feast and what he must do to fit and prepare himself for it Every man that is Impenitent is an Unworthy Communicant but if he will Repent and Amend his ways he will find no difficulty in other Duties which make up a Believers worthiness but may then be a worthy and welcome Guest whensoever he has a mind to come to it And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed namely to shew wherein lies the worthiness of Eating and Drinking at this Feast which I have stayed the longer upon because both the irreverent approach of some men to it and the scrupulous abstaining of others from it do both take rise from this head so that it well deserves to be carefully Explained and clearly Stated And the Result of all that I have said upon this Point is this When we come to Eat Bread and Drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance that Christ dyed for us and in Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us and in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Neighbours we must be careful devoutly to Exercise and Act over these Tempers We must remember our Dying Lord with Honour and Love and Joy and Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and humble Sense of our own unworthiness and Detestation of our Sins which caused his Sufferings We must confirm the New Covenant which his Death purchased in consenting heartily to the Terms of it Repenting of all our Sins and Faithfully promising that intire Obedience which is required in it and then Believing that for Christs sake we shall be saved by it And we must Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World in laying aside all Envy and Hatred and forgiving those that have injured us and making just amends to those who have been wronged by us and giving Alms as our Ability and our Brethrens necessity requires and so being in Peace and Perfect Charity with all Persons If we are able to grasp so many particulars in our minds and to act them all over duly and as we ought at this Exercise it may be fit to Solemnize this Feast in all these instances of Virtue But if either our minds would be lost and burdened or our Devotions enfeebled by the Number of these particulars 't will yet be fit at least to express our selves Joyfully and affectionately Thankful for his kindness especially in Dying for us and Resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and Repent of all our Sins making him Faithful Promises that we will amend all our Faults particularly those which oftest win upon us and shew our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all Persons All these whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating they who have Books to suggest Thoughts or are able to supply them out of their own minds may exercise by themselves And they who cannot as also they who can may exercise them in joyning fervently with the Churches Prayers all these Duties as we have seen being so well led on and exemplified in the Communion Service Wherein because there will be some interruption whilst others are Communicating that that time may not lye idle upon their hands I think it very adviseable for them to joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the offering of the Bread and Wine to their Brethren as they will be sure to do when it comes to their own turn if their Devout Zeal is not otherwise taken up by the Psalm which at their Pastors Discretion is wont to be Sung at that time for the employment of those who have done Receiving These Virtues being in us and at the time of Receiving being thus exercised by us both in our own private or at least in our Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers make a worthy Communion And this no man who pretends to Religion ought to Complain of or think an hard Imposition For all these Duties which are necessary to a worthy Communion are as necessary to make every one of us a Good man or fit to Dye or to go to Heaven they are as necessary to a worthy Prayer Thanksgiving Vow or any other Act of true Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense Degrees and transporting Measures in this than in other parts of Worship and Devotion These things then are necessary to a worthy Receiving and no Good man can complain that they are so since they are equally necessary to all acceptable Goodness to all comfortable Hopes and to every other Ordinance to all the parts of Worship and Religion and to Gods being pleased with us in every thing that is either the Duty or Priviledge of a Christian. And as the Presence and Exercise of these Virtues makes us worthy of the Communion so doth the absence of them but especially of Repentance of all our known Sins which is the thing if any that will be wanting and which is the cause why others are Impenitence as we saw being at the bottom of all Unworthiness make us unworthy and most unwelcome If we continue Impenitent in many or in any one known Sin we are indeed unworthy to Communicate but then withall we are as unworthy to be thought Good men to go to Heaven to say our Prayers to make Vows or to have any Dealings with God in any other Actions of Religion And the way for any Wise man in that Case is not to take up with abstaining from the Communion for he ought as much to abstain from Prayer and Praise and every other Office of a Christian God being pleased with him in none of them but forthwith to Repent and Abandon such ill Course that so he may be a welcome Guest and worthy to partake of them And thus having endeavoured to give some help to all those who desire worthily to Communicate by shewing what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the worthiness of doing it I shall proceed now in the third Place to exhort and press men on to it by shewing them how much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make them seek to it of themselves were it not commanded of which in the next Part. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating The Contents To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which greatly recommend and
was a Covenant-Rite and the Bread Christs Body to the same intent the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2. From its being a Feast or Sacrifice for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we partake of it 3. From its conveying the particular Blessings of the New Covenant which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 3 End is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others This Chapter summ'd up Page 5. CHAP. II. Of the Worthiness of Communicating in the Sacrament To Communicate Worthily is to do it with such Tempers and Behaviours as are worthy of it and becoming Things which are meant by it The First End was to remember Christ both first As our Lord and Master which calls for Honour and Reverence in our selves and a care to maintain his Honour among others For mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience 2. As our most kind Friend and Benefactor which calls for Love and an hearty Affection for him For Joy and Gladness in what we receive from him For Thankfulness for all his Kindnesses particularly in Dying for us And as this Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins the Remembrance of it calls for a deep sense of our own unworthiness An utter Abhorrence of our Sins which caused his Sufferings A Resignation of our selves to his Vse as thereby we are become his own Purchase The Second End was to confirm the New Covenant with God which his Blood procured This calls for Sincerity and Faithfulness A Third End was to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians This calls for Peace and Charity to all Persons and particularly for Alms to the Necessitous A Summary Repetition of these Qualifications A Belief of these Things which carries us on to these Tempers and Performances is the Faith that makes us Worthy Communicants page 48 CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not at all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion Service page 87 CHAP. IV. Worthy Receiving not extraordinary difficult and of unworthiness to Communicate To silence the Complaint of extraordinary difficulty in coming worthily to this Sacrament three things noted 1. All the particulars of worthy Receiving are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required to fit us for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2. They are all necessary Qualifications of an acceptable Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more is required to it than to a worthy discharge of all other Acts of Religion 3. However they may be commended yet they are not necessarily required in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion The only unworthiness which can put us by this Ordinance is Impenitence if Repentance will go down with any man nothing else need stick with him This Point of Worthy Communicating summ'd up pag. 100 PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which reatly recommend and enforce it viz. It is such an Instance as best shews our peculiar Reverence and Love to him the whole yoke of Jewish Ceremonies is taken away and only it and Baptism two cheap and easie Rites imposed in stead of them it was his last Command he gave it the Night before he suffered in St. Paul's Commission to Preach the Gospel it was particularly specified without greatest Danger to our selves it cannot be neglected as appears from our Saviours Words Joh. 6.53 which are shewn to speak of it and from the Danger of Neglecting the Jewish Passover which answered to it 2. From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it viz. Because therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of greatest Love and enjoyment of present Graces and pledges of future Glory from him all which no Good man ought and no Ingenuous man will decline when he is call'd to them This Duty obliges those only who are of Age for it and them too only at such times as they have an Opportunity and a fit Occasion offered An Objection against its being a Duty from 1 Cor. 11.25 answered The Neglect of it is a great Sin This God may excuse in those good Souls who through Ignorance or Error are held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it think themselves unworthy to come to it whilst in the honesty of their Hearts they thus mistake it But he will not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and impenitent to receive it Page 126 CHAP. II. Of the Benefits of Communicating The Sacrament is full of Blessings which make it not only our Duty but our Priviledge In the general it is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them powerful and so is the likeliest way to attain all Mercies In particular 1. It seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2. It encreases and Confirms in us all Graces Those are ordinarily such as we bring along with us It confers Grace 1. By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it both exercises and excites in us 2. By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us Since on all these accounts it is so excellent a Means of Grace and New Life 't is the best Rule any Person can observe who would go on in the Work of Repentance All these Motives to Communicate both from Duty and Interest summ'd up Page 167 PART III. Of the Hindrances that keep Men from the Communion CHAP. I. Two Hindrances from Communicating One most general Hindrance that keeps men from the Sacrament is a Fear of their being Vnworthy and Vnfit to receive it This Answer'd by shewing 1. The Partiality of it because they are not so scrupulous about Neglecting as about Vnworthy Receiving though there be the same Cause for it 2. That every true Penitent is worthy of it Yea he that has only fully purposed Amendment though he has not had time to perform it 3. Impenitenee which unfits them for it is no Excuse for the Neglect of it 4.
to bestow him on you I have nothing better wherewith to present you but with him in this Holy Feast I do and what higher Tokens can I give of the unbounded Love I bear you He gives us present injoyment of many invaluable Graces For the Lords Supper is a Treasury of Blessings conveying to all those who worthily partake of it the Pardon of their Sins and Spiritual Assistances and Heavenly Improvements and growth in all Virtues and strength against all Temptations as I shall shew under the next Head And lastly He gives us the surest Pledges of future Glory For when he offers us his own Son we may be sure he will not stick at any thing else since he has nothing that is in any comparable Degree so precious and dear to him as he is This Gift is a Faithful Earnest and certain Pledge of every thing else which he can give us For he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things says St. Paul Rom. 8.32 Thus in the Blessed Sacrament are we vouchsafed the greatest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from Almighty God And what man now will refuse all these when he is invited to them Who can turn his back upon that Ordinance wherein God calls him that he may give Honour to him and shew by the highest Tokens how he Loves him and confer upon him present Graces and give him Pledges of future Glories and assure him what Regard he has of him and how happy he intends to make him Common Ingenuity and Good manners nay every mans own private Interest and Self-advantage oblige him most readily to embrace and not to sleight or so much as slowly to accept of such offers So that if any Person really believes that all this Honour is shewn this Love expressed these Graces given or these Glories assured to him in the Communion he must needs think himself highly obliged to come to it and never cast about to seek shifts and make excuses or express a backward and unwilling mind when he has an Invitation and an Opportunity so to do And thus we see that not only our Lords express Command for it but also the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by and of those employments which are imply'd in it are a strong and an indispensable Obligation on all grown Christians who are capable of it to frequent the Holy Sacrament For therein they are call'd by their Saviour Christ publickly to profess his Religion and their Communion with him and thankfully to remember him and to confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and to receive Vouchsafements of highest Honour and Tokens of greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which are things that no Christian man ought to stick at or decline but with all forwardness to close with as often as he has an Opportunity and sit occasion for them And thus it appears now much all the Disciples of Christ who are grown up to it and understand it for no Duty obliges an incapable Subject are bound to frequent this holy Sacrament It is their Duty to come to the Communion as it is to come to Church to be Chast Sober Humble Just or to perform any other Precept of their Religion For they have their Saviour Christs express Command for it who by injoining it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shews their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did the neglect of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and of those Employments which are to be exercised at it most straightly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him which are things that every Ingenuous man will and every Good man ought to do and no man when he is call'd to it can honestly decline that professes himself a Christian Thus is it a necessary Duty in every man to come to the Sacrament as it is to come to Church or to other parts of Worship And when once we are of Age for it and have a fit opportunity and occasion offer'd we are in strict Duty ingaged and by a bond of many Cords as we have seen obliged so to do 1 st I say we are bound to it when once we are of Age for it The Duty of this Holy Sacrament lies in such things as suppose a competent Understanding and due Knowledge of Religion in those who must discharge them For therein we are to remember Christ both what Commands he has left with us and what he has done and suffered for us and this we cannot do till first we have learnt them We must ingage to be at Peace to do Justice and shew kindness to all our Brethren and this supposes that we know first what Offices of Love and Acts of Justice are due to them We must consent to the Terms of the New Covenant and this implies that first we should understand them In Baptism indeed we enter'd into it before we had any knowledge of it but that was because God who deals with us after the most favourable manner of Men who allow grown Persons to bear the Parts and federally to undertake for Infants in things conducing to their Advantage admitted our Sponsors that knew it very well to stand as our Representatives and in way of Proxies to Covenant and undertake for us But the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is to be our own Act and an express assenting in our own Persons to what they undertook and this cannot be done till we are come to years and are able of our selves to judge of it Till we are grown up then to the Age of Competent knowledge in Spiritual Affairs we are not capable of discharging aright the Duty of this Sacrament And till we are so we are not obliged to it since no Duty obliges an incapable Subject
For 't is in this Duty as 't is in that of making Peace or giving good Advice or any others they bind us not till we are grown up to them and are come to know rightly how to discharge them For in all these Cases God exacts an account only of those Talents which he has entrusted with us as we are told in the Parable of the men who had received the Talents Mat. 25. and his Rule of proceeding is this unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more Luc. 12.48 2 ly When we are of Age for it we are bound to it only when we have an opportunity and a fit occasion is offered It is in the Communion at the Sacrament as it is in our Communion in Prayers and other parts of Worship we are bound to join in them when they can be had and we are not lawfully hindered and diverted from it But if either there is no place for them or we are justly hindered from attending on them we have no obliging opportunity for that time but may without sin omit them And thus it is when we are hindred by some call of Providence when at that time we are call'd away to do some necessary Duty of Justice or Charity in another place Or when we are detained at home by some Disease or bodily Indisposition under which it is not safe to go abroad or venture out beyond our own Chambers in which case God who prefers Mercy before Sacrifice when they thwart and interfere i. e. Essential Duties before positive Precepts will excuse us Or lastly when our minds are disturbed by great Grief that cannot presently be cast off or by sudden Anger or Discontent occasioned hard before which though ordinarily it be our own Fault may yet sometimes be innocent at which time since their Discomposure unfits them for so Divine a Service they may omit it as being indisposed for it This St. Peter intimates of Prayers and the Reason is the same of this Ordinance when he exhorts the Husband by a discreet compliance and patient bearing of his Wives Infirmities to prevent all Peevishness and Domestick quarrels that so they may have no need to omit or put by their Devotions which it seems they would if their minds were acted at that time by such undue Tempers Ye Husbands says he dwell with your Wives according to Knowledge giving Honour to the Wives or treating them with Lenity and Care as men do brittle Ware because they are the Weaker Vessels that your Prayers be not hindered by those Heats and Animosities which very likely might arise otherwise 1 Pet. 3.7 And this was once the case of St. Chrysostom who at the time of Administring the Sacrament being accidentally much discomposed in mind by an unseasonable demand of Justice made by Eusebius against Antonine in the Synod then Assembled went out and desired one of the Bishops then present to Officiate declining the Communion at that Instant because he had some Trouble upon his Spirit If then we either are not come to years to understand it or have no obliging opportunity for it or some just hindrance that would excuse it this Duty of the Sacrament may lawfully be omitted It is like in it as it is in our joyning in Prayers or going to Church it admits of the same Excuses and obliges in the same Cases But where these rare Contingencies happen not to exempt from it it is a strict Duty that is bound upon us as we have seen by a Bond of many Cords and a peremptory Commandment So that when we have an opportunity for it and no just hindrance to put us by it to Communicate is a strict Precept and in all Duty we are obliged so to do But against this expresness of the Command and strictness of the Duty to Communicate some perhaps may urge the words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me v. 25. which words as often seem to limit the precept only to the Remembrance of Christ when we do Communicate and to intimate as if we had no Command to do this and so with out sin might omit it when we please but only to remember him when we do Now in Answer to this I observe 1 st These words if we had no other proof of it would not of themselves prove it a Command and strict Duty to Communicate But 2 ly Neither do they infer the Contrary and prove against it 3 ly There are other Places enow which sufficiently evince it 1 st I say these words Do this as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me if we had no other proof for it would not amount to an obliging Command and prove it a strict Duty to Communicate For that which is plainly and indisputably expressed in them is not that we should Communicate but that we should Remember Christ when we do it and they might have their full Sense if nothing more than this were intended But as of themselves they do not amount to such a Precept so 2ly Neither do they infer the contrary and prove against it All that which they express is only that we must remember Christ when we do Communicate and this is done whether Communicating it self be a Duty or whether it be not and suiting thus equally with any side as it doth not prove it a Duty to receive the Sacrament so neither doth it prove there is no Duty in it And of this we have still a further Argument because if these words as often c. infer there is no Duty to Communicate the same may be infer'd of Prayer since in another Place they are spoke of it as here they are of the Sacrament When i. e. as often as ye Pray says our Saviour say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Luc. 11.2 So that if they prove we are not bound to Communicate but only to remember Christ when we do it they will prove we are not bound to pray but only when we pray directed to use this Form in Prayer too Thus are these words Do this as often as ye drink it c. neither an Argument that to Communicate is a Duty nor an Argument against it They are indifferent and equally incline both ways so that when that is the Question of themselves they are no proof on any side but other things must decide it And then 3 ly Although this place do not prove it an express Duty to Communicate yet there are other places enow that do sufficiently evince it For in this very Chapter the words of our Lord at the eating of the Bread are absolute and imply an express Command for it Do this says he i. e. Take and eat Bread as now ye do in remembrance of me where not only the remembrance is injoined but also this particular way of doing it viz. by eating Bread
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that in Dying for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and repent of all our Sins making him faithful and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
wherein he is to be remembred 1 Cor. 11.24 And so 't is also in St. Luke where the Words are Peremptory for the Apostles administring and so answerably for the Peoples receiving it without any intimation of the eating it self being indifferent and uncommanded which that Evangelist would not so unwarily have expressed if Christ had so intended it And our Lord shew'd us not only that he has commanded this Sacramental eating but that he has commanded it as a necessary thing when he tells his Hearers that except they thus eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man they have no Life in them Joh. 6.53 And this necessity of it is further manifested from the necessity of the Passover among the Jews which answered to it for at every Return of it they were to be cut off from Israel whosoever presumed to omit it Exod. 12.15 And if there were no express Command for it yet are the things we are call'd to in it all of that obliging Nature and such necessary Duties that without Sin they cannot be declined By all which as we have seen this Sacramental eating and drinking is evidently proved to be a plain Duty and under a peremptory Commandment When therefore in this place the Apostle says of our drinking of the Cup Do this as often as ye drink it he doth not intimate that we may do it as seldome as we please or as if it were under no Law or express Precept He uses the words as often not because 't is an Arbitrary Act and there is no Duty in it but because though it be a Duty we have not always opportunity for it and so cannot always be performing it For as has been shewn there is a Command to Communicate and that as all other Affirmative Laws binds us to it at all times when a fit occasion is offer'd When we eat and drink in the Sacrament we must remember Christ and when we have an opportunity to eat and drink in it we are obliged to it as the Jews we saw were to the Passover which answered to it who were to be cut off from Israel when at any time they omitted it So that to Communicate is no Arbitrary Act but an indispensable Duty and peremptory Command still And since it is thus necessary a Duty in every grown Christian to come to the Holy Sacrament it must needs be a great and dangerous Sin in any of us when we neglect and abstain from it We must not think it an indifferent thing but make Conscience of keeping off from the Holy Communion as we do of keeping off from Prayers of Swearing doing Wrong being Proud Incontinent or Drunken For it is expresly and straitly forbidden by God as well as they and we incur his Anger and till we repent and do so no more cannot regain his Favour when we are guilty of any of them A neglect of the Lords Table therefore is a Sin which although God may excuse in those good Souls who because of their over-high Veneration for it and Fear of their own Vnworthiness to partake in it in the honesty of their Hearts think they ought not to come to it Yet will he not excuse in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and Impenitent to receive it He may excuse it I say in those Good Souls who in the honesty of their Hearts through Ignorance or Error were held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it and fear of their Vnworthiness to partake in it thought they ought not to come to it An innocent Ignorance or mistake of an honest mind may plead our excuse before God in this as well as in other Duties For in all of them Christ has such a Sense of our Infirmities as that he can have Compassion on the Ignorant and those that err or are out of the way Heb. 5.2 So that if after an upright indeavour to be rightly inform'd in it some Good Minds shall happen to mistake their Error will not be imputed It may be through the loose Discourses of some or the general Practice of the World who by being so seldom at it seem to set lightly by it they think themselves not obliged to it Or again through the extream Rigidness of the Discourses of others who require such extraordinary things to it as very few have attain'd they think themselves always unworthy and unprepared for it and that they should sin and eat their own Damnation in it But if they fall into these mistakes about it which make them abstain from it after an honest indeavour to be rightly inform'd about it their Ignorance may plead their Excuse and make their Neglect to be connived at God will not account it to them as a sin because they knew it not but were mistaken For in this as well as in all other Cases to him that knows to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 4.17 But though God may bear with this neglect of the Sacrament in Good men whilst they are thus innocently misled Yet will he not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Impenitent to receive it He will not excuse it even in them when they are better informed Their only plea for their not doing of this Duty is that after the best search they could make they did not know they were bound to it or that with safety they could perform it and when once their Understanding is inlightned this plea is removed so that afterwards they can find no relief at all from it They abstain then when they know if they are truly Penitent they might and ought to come and that abstinence is wilful and unless they repent of it and amend it will end in their Condemnation For to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 5.17 And much less will he excuse it in others who are careless of it and too Impenitent to receive it If they are hindred from the Lords Table out of Slothfulness or are unworthy of it by Reason of their Impenitence those are not their Excuse but their own Damning Fault and they must expect to bear the punishment of it To tell God I did not come to the Sacrament because I would not Repent is to tell him I would not come and promise to be Good because I was resolved to continue Wicked and that is a very odd way of excusing it Impenitence is no excuse but a most damning Sin and therefore if we have no other cause to give why we did not come we must needs be liable to Condemnation If any of you therefore who shall peruse this Treatise have refused Gods invitation formerly and have kept back from this Feast by what I have here said you may see your Fault and
how nearly you are concerned as you tender your dear Saviours Honour or the safety of your own most precious Souls to amend it You have offended God in not coming to the Communion as you would offend him in not coming to Church in not saying your Prayers in not giving Thanks for Mercies in not being humble honest and upright in your dealings or in omitting any other Duties So that you must not think all is well with you when you keep away as if you had done nothing If the true Cause why you abstain'd was your well meant mistake about it and your not knowing after all the search you had opportunity to make that every Good man who Repents of all his Sins is worthy and fit for it God will wink at your Ignorance whilst it lasted but that will be no excuse to you now you are better informed so that now you will be Guilty of a Damning Offence if you still neglect it after you are told of it But if you have absented hitherto out of a careless Spirit which would not attend the times or be at the pains to come to it or because you have an Impenitent Heart which will not promise that Amendment and New Life that is to be undertaken for and ingaged in it Then has your Absenting been your Damning Sin which has provoked God against you as all other Acts of Disobedience and Irreligion If this is your Case you must look upon your selves all this while to have been in a great Fault which God will not forgive till you Repent and amend it For God will forgive you this Sin of neglecting the Sacrament upon the same condition whereon he will forgive all others namely when you forsake it and turn away from it and instead of absenting learn to frequent it So that if you would keep a Good Conscience towards God and dye in Peace and have no unrepented sins to answer for at the last Judgment Every one of you that has sinfully sleighted this Sacrament hitherto must come to it henceforward and according to your Saviour Christs Commandment readily partake in it when you are called thereto CHAP. II. Of the Benefits of Communicating The Contents The Sacrament is full of Blessings which make it not only our Duty but our Priviledge In the General it is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them powerful and so is the likeliest way to attain all Mercies In particular 1. It Seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2. It encreases and Confirms in us all Graces Those are ordinarily such as we bring along with us It confers Grace 1. By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it both exercises and excites in us 2. By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us Since on all these accounts it is so excellent a means of Grace and New Life 't is the best Rule any Person can observe who would go on in the Work of Repentance All these Motives to Communicate both from Duty and Interest summ'd up HAving shewn in the former Chapter how much it is every Christians Duty to frequent the Holy Sacrament who is of Age to come to it and how greatly they sin against God who neglect it both from the obliging Nature of the thing and Christs express Commandment I proceed now in this 4 ly To shew what great inducements we have to it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make us press to it of our sâ—lveâ— were it not Commanded The Holy Sacrament has Blessings enow within it self to recommend it to our choice if God had not interposed his Authority and laid that weight upon it which he has It is fully stored with Benefits which make it not only a strict Duty but an high Priviledge to come to it as the Christian Church has always thought whose great Penalty lay in a Separation or Exclusion from it It is not only a matter of Honour to God but also of highest Advantage to our selves so that in all Reason we ought to seek it and heartily thank God that we may be admitted to it out of a care of our own Happiness and pure Self-interest Of these Benefits I have mentioned some already such as its being a vouchsafement of highest Honour to us and a token of Gods greatest Love for us and a certain pledge of our Future Glories of all which I have Discoursed in the last Chapter But besides them it is full of many other singular Blessings and present Graces which I shall now treat of in this And those which I shall take notice of are these 1 st In the General It is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them Powerful with God so that 't is the likeliest way to obtain all Mercies 2 ly In Particular 1 st It Seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2 ly It encreases and confirms in us all our Graces 1 st In the General It is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them Powerful with God so that 't is the likeliest way to obtain all Mercies And this it doth by being a Commemoration unto him of the death of Christ which is the only Argument that prevails with him to bestow them on us It is the common way of all men when they sue for kindnesses from others and think they have not Interest enough themselves to use such Intercessions and suggest such things as have most Power with them and are likeliest to incline them to grant their Desires And as it is thus in our Requests to men so is it in our Prayers to God too We set those Considerations before his Eyes and suggest those things to his Remembrance which are fittest to move his Pity and to make him favourable towards us Thus the Holy men in the Old Testament in their Prayers are frequently putting God in mind of his Covenant and Promise and making mention of his Servant David or Abraham or Isaac or Israel for whom they knew he had an especial kindness and with their Prayers they used to joyn Sacrifice hoping to be the easier heard when they came with their Atonement in their Hands and that the Life of the Beast being offer'd up in Commutation and accepted instead of theirs God would be the easier appeased and more inclined to hear their Supplications Upon which account that their Prayers might have a Powerful Argument to recommend them going along with them they were careful to offer them up at the hour of Sacrifice as appears from the Prayer of Ezra and of David at the Evening Sacrifice Now that which Powerfully intercedes with God for us and which was shadowed out by all the Jewish Sacrifices is our Saviours Death For it was his Blood that merited so highly at Gods hands as
it makes us more unmoveable and settled in it if with Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours it fills us with a greater abundance of it It augments all the Virtues of a Good man which he brings to it making him more perfect in them and strong in Spirit to persevere and go through with them But these Effects it has not upon an ill man nor produces this increase of Virtue in those who bring nothing of it along with them So that 't is no disparagement to the Virtue of this Sacrament if wicked Men find themselves wicked still and not at all amended by their Receipt of it since it was not ordained for their Improvement It was not meant to give Grace to those that are Graceless or to give Repentance to Impenitent Persons but to carry them through in their Repentance who have fully set upon it and to enable them to lead a New Life who are resolved to do it and to strengthen them to amend a Fault who are wholly bent to strive against it and to confer Grace on those that have it and make them more Gracious still And this the Holy Sacrament is to every worthy Communicant It conveys Grace into his Soul and makes him stand more firm and increase in every Virtue of a Christian. It is an excellent means to make him a better man and to carry him on to improve in Duty and Holy living So that every one who comes worthily will gain a great increase of Grace and Strength and be much set on in Spiritual growth by Receiving Now this it doth two ways 1 st By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us 1 st A worthy Receiving conveys Grace into our Souls and confirms and increases us in all Virtues by the Natural Efficacy and Tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a good Life and set it forward and therein we bind our selves by solemn Vows and Engagements to go on in it both which are most powerful to effect and improve it 1st It excites and therein we exercise several Duties that help on a good Life and set it forward All the Duties of worthy Receiving are instances of an Holy Life as we have seen and parts of a Good man but several of them are not only particular Duties in theâ—selves but withall most powerful helps to the performance of all others So that in performing and improving them we do not only discharge and grow in some Virtues but make a way for our easier Discharge and fuller growth in all others also And these are a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs wonderful kindness to us especially in Dying for us an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and intire Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins all which as they are much improved in a worthy Communion so are they most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men 1 st I say these Duties are improved in us by the Holy Communion And this they are by being both exercised and excited in us at that time They are all exercised in every Worthy Communicant at that time because in them as we have seen consists the worthiness of Receiving And the more still they are exercised the more they are improved For all Habits come by usage and Custome makes those things which at first seemed strange to become not only Easie but Natural to us So that in exercising them at the Sacrament we shall improve and add to them and go away with a greater measure of them than we brought when we came And this we shall more especially do because therein they are not only exercised but mightily excited in us also The Holy Sacrament suggests such Powerful Motives to them and presents us with such obliging Reasons for them as we cannot have any where else so that we cannot take a better way than by coming to it to improve them For therein we most solemnly and attently remember how when our sins had made us utter Enemies of God and Heirs of Destruction Christ laid down his own Life in our stead and by that Ransome redeemed us from it And this is not only the highest but in a manner the sum total of all those inducements which can ingage us to these Virtues or possess us with them For what can possibly raise so warm a Love of Christ in an ingenuous Spirit that is sensible of what is done to it as to see how infinitely he has Loved us and when we were his bitter Enemies gave his own Life in exchange for ours What can ever ingage us to so great Thankfulness as to think that a Person so far above us and that stood in no need of us and that was not sought to by us and that was even thâ—n most highly disobliged and had received the greatest Provocations from us should most frankly give his own self to do us a kindness What can so powerfully move us to resign up our selves to any one as to see that he has bestowed himself on us first to buy us off from our implacable Enemies and that for no Self-Interests or By-Ends of his own but purely for our Eternal Happiness What can work in us so hearty a Repentance and provoke us into so utter an Indignation and Abhorrence of all our Sins as to behold in our dear Lords Agonies what they deserv'd and how unmeasurably mischievous they proved and what inexpressible Tortures they brought on him when he would put himself in our place and undertake to answer for us These things are most livelily set out and powerfully suggested to us in this Blessed Sacrament one chief business whereof is solemnly to Commemorate and make mention of them and they are the most effectual means to raise in us a constant mindfulness a zealous and intense Love of him that dyed for us and an hearty Thankfulness for all his kindnesses and a sincere Repentance and utter abhorrence of all our Sins and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Use anâ— Service that can be given us And the Sacrament being thus richly furnished with the most perswasive Motives and thus vividly suggesting to us the most Powerful Reasons for all these Virtues it must needs be the best Course to improve in them and we cannot lay out our time upon them better or to more effect in any other way Thus are the Duties of a fixt Remembrance and firm Faith of Christs dying for us of an intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves to his Service and true Repentance and Abhorrence of all our Sins very much set on and improved in all worthy Receivers by the Holy Communion They will be heightned and increased by receiving because they are both exercised and by an
objective Representation of most forcible inducements to them powerfully excited in them at that time And as these Duties are all improved by the Holy Communion so are they 2ly Most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men If we were but perfect in these Virtues and they had once got the Ascendant over us and ruled in our Hearts they would have an Universal influence on all others and govern our whole Lives For if when we are tempâ—â—d to any sin our minds being familiarized to it would at that instant readily suggest to us that Christ dyed for it and that it put him to all the pain and anguish he suffered we should not endure to come near it If we have any true Love and Zeal for him we shall shew no manner of Favour or Compliance with it if we are really Thankful for what he has done for his sake we shall withstand it if we are resign'd up to his use we shall have nothing to do with it because he is against it and if we abhor it for the pains it put him to when he answer'd for it and will at last put us to also if we continue in it we shall disdainfully reject and turn away from it If we Believe and remember always as we have need that Christ died for our Sins and procured us Pardon for them upon our Repentance and Grace to get quit of them upon our best indeavours that Faith will make us Obedient and carry us on to amend them If we truly Love Christ that Love will make us do something for him and cast to please and obey him If we are Thankful for what is done we shall never despite him by any Sin which for all his Benefits were to return the greatest injuries again If we are resign'd up to his use we shall Faithfully serve him If we are heartily Penitent and abhor our Sins we shall forsake them If we have this lively Faith and Remembrance of Christs dying for us and this intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and entire Resignation of our selves to his Service and sincere Repentance and utter Abhorrence of all our Sins If we have these Virtues I say and in these prevailing measures they will carry us on to an Holy Life and make us Obedient to all Gods Commandments And therefore since this Holy Sacrament when 't is worthily received doth so much improve these Virtues in us it must needs help us on and improve us in all others and in the whole course of a good Life too Thus doth a worthy receiving by its own Natural tendency confirm and increase us in all good Living by our exercising and its exciting in us such Duties as help it on and set it forward and so doth it 2 ly By our binding our selves thereat in solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it One chief end of our meeting at this Feast and prime part of our Worthiness in partaking of it is to confirm the New Covenant as we have seen and to make God our Faithful promises that from that day we will amend all our Faults 〈◊〉 so we may attain that Pardon and Happiness which upon our true Repentance he comes to offer and assure to us And these solemn Vows and Promises are a fast hank upon us to make us leave our Sins and do all that he requires of us For every man ought and thinks himself concerned to be as good as his word and to perform what he has promised especially when 't is to one who is too Wise to be deluded and too Just and Powerful to suffer any abuses of him to pass unrevenged which all men that understand any thing believe of Almighty God When we Promise and Vow to him we know that he cannot be deceived and that he will not be mocked so that we must needs see it stands us in stead and is our highest concern to perform with him And therefore since in the Sacrament we do in the most solemn manner Vow to amend our ways and promise an Holy Life to Almighty God in Regard none that are honest will and none that are wise and serious dare be unmindful of such sacred and solemn Compacts it must needs be an excellent way to bind it fast upon our Souls and fix it in our minds and so help very much to establish and imprint it in us And thus we see how a worthy receiving conveys Grace and confirms and increases in us all Virtues by the Natural tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it powerfully excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a Good Life and set it forward and bind our selves by solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it both which are most Powerful to improve and effect it And as it thus confirms and increases in us all Graces by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites in us so does it 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it ministers and conveys to us This Sacrament doth not only confer Grace by its Natural Tendency as other means but moreover by virtue of Gods Promise and especial Bounty to the Worthy Receivers of it as it is an Instrument in his hands He tells us that he will do great things at the presence of it and be liberal in Spiritual Blessings to all that duly partake in it So that besides what they do from the Virtues themselves which are exercised thereat they may promise themselves much Spiritual Grace and Strength from his Free Gift and immediate concurrence with it For in the Sacrament he offers them all that outward Grace and Spiritual strength which Christs Death procured and therefore if they come to it worthily so as their own unworthiness is no bar against it that offer will be sure to take effect and they shall undoubtedly receive it And this is plainly intimated to us when our Saviour tells us of his Flesh that it is Bread the true use and end whereof is for support and nourishment Joh. 6.51 And when St. Paul declares that the Cup of Blessing which we Bless is the Communion or Communicating to us the Blood of Christ i. e. those Benefits his Blood procured us and that the Bread which we break is the Communion or Communicating to us the Body of Christ i. e. those Graces which the offering of his Body obtain'd for us amongst which are these Spiritual Assistances 1 Cor. 10.16 And when our Lord himself tells us that the Bread he gives us is his Body and that the Câ—p he reaches out to us is his Blood Mat. 26.26 28. By which though he mean not that they are his Body and Blood in their Natures yet the least he can mean is that they are so in their Effects so that when we receive them we receive all the Blessings of his Blood-shedding and all that Grace which his Death has purchased for all Men. And thus the
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
thing whereat they are displeased if they have no Reason for it we must seek to inform them better and rectifie their mistakes about it but if they have we must give them all proper satisfaction and make a just amends for it If we have given them just Offence by Affronts or contumelious Carriage we must acknowledge our Fault and promise to do so no more and ask Forgivegiveness and if we have injuriously prejudiced them in their Estates Good Names or Business we must as far as in us lies repair the loss which they have sustain'd by us And this God expects from us before he will accept our Offerings or be pleas'd with us in any Ordinance When thou bringest thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. But if they hate us when we gave no Cause for it nor have in any wise deserv'd it of them yet must we still be careful to Love them though they will not be perswaded to Love us and not harbour any Enmity or Hatred towards them again We must Love them I say not with that Degree of Love indeed wherewith we embrace our particular Friends and those who have better deserved of us but with that which we owe in common to all Persons We must have so much affection for them as will restrain us both from doing and speaking Evil of them and make us exercise all that Justice and shew that kindness towards them in all Conversation which is due to the promiscuous multitude of other men For all these Instances of general Charity are due to our very Enemies as I have already shâ—wn so that when they are unmoveable in their Hatred and persist in their malicious ways yet must not that provoke us into any spiteful Returns or chase us into any hard Speeches or injurious or unkind Carriage towards them again And thus it appears what is to be thought of this Hindrance viz. the implacableness of some ill Neighbours and their unconquerable Enmity against us For when 't is our hard hap to fall among such Persons we must still Love them and be at Peace with them in our own minds though we never gave them any just Cause to be angred and if we did by confessing of our Fault and repairing of the Wrong which makes the Breach we must indeavour after a Reconcilement But if after all they are obstinate and unmoveable in their hatred that is their own Fault which may justly hinder them but ought not to detain us from the Holy Sacrament For although God requires a worthy Receiver to Love his Enemies yet he no where requires him to make his Enemies Love him and if no Person could Communicate worthily whilst he has an unreconciled Enemy our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles and all the first and best Christians had been most unworthy and could never have received at all An Eighth hindrance which holds back several Persons from coming to this Feast notwithstanding it is so much both their Duty and their Priviledge as I have shewn to join in it is because it loâ—ks like an high Presumption in us to Feast on the Body and Blood of our Sovereign Lord and to eat at the same Table with Almighty God and therefore an humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it I have already considered that unworthiness which respects the manner of receiving and answered those who urge that they are unworthy to Communicate meaning thereby that they want that height of Virtuous and Devout Tempers which they apprehend God has required to it But this unworthiness is not from the want of such due Dispositions or from the Indecency in the unsuitable Receiving but from the inaccessible height and greatness of the thing which they think is so far above us that fit or unfit no Person is worthy of it but that 't is boldness and presumption in any one to touch things so surpassing high and excellent But to satisfie these Persons who think it a piece of Arrogance and Presumption to come to this Holy Sacrament when their Lord not only Requests but Commands it I shall suggest to them these three things 1. It is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden But 2. It is a very great boldness and presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession 1. I say It is no Presumption to coâ—e to this Feast when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden If we should intrude of our own accord and come uninvited we might be too bold indeed and very rudely Arrogant But when we are particularly sent to and call'd to come especially if there be as in this Case there is great earnestness and importunity in the Invitation it is the part of an humble man to comply with it and he is not Guilty of the least shew of Arrogance and Ill-breeding in so doing There is Civility shewn sometimes in accepting as well as in offering kindnesses and it is Good manners to receive what God would have us yea indeed to accept any thing from the hands of our Betters So that in all Civility and inoffensive Carriage we were bound to come had we nothing more than a Friendly Invitation But besides that God has expresly injoyn'd as I have observ'd and peremptorily required it of us So that now we must approach to it not only out of Civility and Respect but also out of Obedience to his Commandment And true Humility is no hindrance but the greatest furtherance in the World to such a Service it being not the part of a Presumptuous but of a truly humble man to do what he is bidden and to please those whom he is bound in Duty to obey It is no Presumption then to come to the Sacrament when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden but 2. It is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone He is no proud man who accepts a kindness when 't is offer'd and he is earnestly invited to it but he may shew Pride and Haughtiness enough who slights and despises it And he is no bold man that doth what he is Commanded but he shews Boldness and presumes indeed that dare venture to Transgress it There are no men so bold and Presumptions with God as they who will act what he forbids and refuse to do what he injoyns them So that it is truly an high Presumption to stay away when he has expresly charged us both upon our Duty and our Love for him to joyn in the Communion 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be
indeed they would not be made by any Men if once they were convinced how much it is both their Duty and their Interest to come to the Communion For when they are detained by such frivolous Reasons as would not either be urged or admitted in excuse for any other Business they shew onely their great Indifference to it and how they esteem it less than any other Matters and this they could not do if they held it either as a valuable Privilege or as a Point of Conscience The best way therefore to remove these Hindrances from the Sacrament is to possess Men with a Belief that God has peremptorily injoyn'd it and that 't is infinitely their own Interest and high Privilege to be admitted to it And having shew'd these very largely in the Second Part I shall refer the Reader unto that as a very likely way not onely to answer these but also to prevent all other such like Pleas against it But that such Persons as are serious in these Hindrances may not think themselves slighted besides this general Answer I shall say something to the Particulars 1. One keeps away from the Sacrament because the day before either he himself has made a Feast or has been treated by his Neighbour at a Noble Entertainment But why I pray must this excuse it For if at the Feast he was guilty of any incapacitating Fault or any ways intemperate 't is not the Feast but such Offence or Intemperance which is to be alledg'd for it But if the Entertainment was Friendly in the Design Temperate at the Table and every way harmless and charitable hurting no Man's Fame nor disturbing any Man's Quiet in the Conversation wherein was his Lord offended or his Soul unfitted by it The Primitive Christians received it as a Friendly Treat for in those days their Love-Feasts always went along with it so that an Hospitable Entertainment the day before yea or the same day doth not unfit Men to Communicate but if in all things else they are duely qualified they may worthily receive still 2. Another abstains from this Holy Feast because his Child is sick or because he has taken Cold himself or has some aking in his Head or is otherwise lightly indisposed But what if his Child is sick Doth he attend it Or is it advisable for him to be so far disturbed at it till his Mind is unfit for those Religious Tempers which he is to exercise at the Holy Sacrament Perhaps his Child fares the worse because of some Sin that he has committed and will he not then instantly repent of it and come to the Lord's Table there to have his Pardon seal'd that so this Load being taken off it might be eased by it But whether that be so or no if he has any sense of Religion either in his Childs Case or his own he will be earnestly desirous to make God his Physician and call out to him for help and that he cannot do so effectually or prevail in it so certainly at any other time as I have shewed as in the Holy Sacrament For God is never more inclined to hear us nor are we ever more likely to have our Prayers granted for any thing that he sees fit for us than when we send them up along with this Solemn Commemoration of our Saviours Death which is the only Argument that has Authority and Power with him to obtain any thing on our behalf So that if a wise man longs to have his Child recovered he cannot do a more unwise thing than either to grieve so far till he is unfitted for this Feast or when he might be fit for it to neglect it since his Prayers there would a be most probable and prudent course to obtain it And then as for his own indisposition if indeed it has brought upon him such heaviness as unfits him for any Spiritual Act or if it is in that Degree that 't is not safe for him to stir abroad with it God prefers Natural and Essential Duties before Positive Institutions and Mercy before Sacrifice so that it will be a just excuse for it But if it cannot hinder him from looking after business and going among his Neighbours or venturing out upon any appearance of doing either himself or his Friend a kindness why must it excuse him from attending upon God and doing him this Service except that be thought sufficient to excuse our attendance upon him which excuses nothing else which is a thing I presume they would be loth to own who stay away by reason of this hindrance 2. Some again refrain the Holy Sacrament because their Wife or Husband cannot bear them Company and join in it One of them is either accidentally prevented that they cannot or sinfully negligent and unprepared that they will not come to it and therefore in Complyance and for Companies sake the other also keeps away at present and defers it to another time when both together can partake of it This I think is a popular but it is a very weak excuse For the receiving the Communion is an indispensable Duty concerning which every Person must give account of themselves unto Almighty God so that one near Relation can no more talk of neglecting it for the others sake than of neglecting to say their Prayers and serve God because the other doth it not or of being irreligious to symbolize with some dear Friends and casting away their precious Souls out of Complement Nay if he had not thus injoyn'd but only Friendly invited us to Communicate yet would it be a very rude and disobliging thing to refuse his Invitation upon this account because some others who are very dear to us have not either the opportunity or good manners to accept it For if an Husband or a Wife will not receive unless the other also will consent to joyn it it is a sign they come not so much for their Lords as for each others sake so that they and not their Saviour have the Service and the Honour of it and this is an odd account for any man to give to Christ of his neglecting this Feast when he is most affectionately and earnestly invited to it When any Persons stay away from the Sacrament then because they cannot have their Bosom-Friend to joyn in it they are Guilty of a great sin since they are bound to it whether the other come or not and pass a great affront and dishonour upon their Lord so that this is far from having any excuse in it Nay instead of being a Reason why they should abstain from it the neglect of one dear Relation lays a greater obligation on the other to Communicate For when one cannot come so that there must be a defect on that part that is too much already since neither ought to be wanting in it and therefore there is the more need the other should receive not only to shew their own Duty in it but also to supply their Friends defect as well
desire to be forgiven O Holy Jesus according to thy boundless Mercy accept of these small returns of thy poor Servant which though very mean alas are yet the best I have to offer thee and supply me with a more abundant measure of thy Grace that I may be able to pay back something more worthy of thee Let this Holy Sacrament be the Comfort and Refreshment of my Heart conveying Pardon and Peace to it and the Enriching and Establishing of my Spirit with all the Benefits of thy Blood make it a great increase of present Grace to me and a certain pledge of Immortality to assure me that I shall even live with thee and be near to that Heart which Dyed for me Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu Amen In these or such like words may we act over all those Virtues which are to render us worthy Communicants before the Holy Mysteries are brought to us And at the receipt of them we may lift up our Hearts to God in these or the like Expressions After the Receiving of the Bread we may say to our Dearest Lord with an Affectionate Heart I Receive this O! my Lord in remembrance of thy Death and thank thee most intirely for laying down thine own Life for me O! how I rejoyce in thy marvellous Love and in this Remembrance of it I will always live to thee and utterly renounce every sin whereby I have most ungratefully pierced thy bleeding Heart and am Friends with all the World for thy sake and will extol thy matchless Bounty whilst I have a Tongue to speak giving all Honour Glory and Praise to thee the Lamb of God who wast slain and now sittest upon the Throne for evermore And in like manner after the receiving of the Cup. THe Remembrance of thy Blood-shedding O! sweetest Saviour is dear to me I can never forget it since it was altogether for my sake and I owe my very Life to it In all the Affection of an infinitely obliged heart I humbly thank thee for what thou hast done and gladly consent to those Terms of Life and Mercy which were purchased by it and will never willfully yield to do any thing that is unworthy of so great a Benefit and embrace all my Brethren with open Arms since thou so requirest it and desire after this sort to fulfill thy will in all things and adore thy Glorious Goodness and shew forth thy boundless Praise to my Lifes end O! keep me unalterable in this mind may a Devout Soul then go on and never suffer my own Corrupt Lusts to turn me from it I have now O! Holy Saviour taken thee into my Heart O let thy Presence banish them away that they may never pretend to it again since now 't is Holy to the Lord nor ever appear to pollute that place wherein so Divine a Guest is lodged Now thou art pleas'd to enter under my Roof have me always in thy keeping for I am safe in no other hands Preserve the place thou hast taken possession of and let not thy Enemies and mine any more invade it Pour into my Heart all the Benefits of thy Crucified Body and Blood since now by thy wonderful Grace I am made Partaker of them Thy Blood was shed for the Remission of sins O! let me know and feel that mine are all forgiven It obtained the Assistance of thy Spirit and Grace O! let me ever enjoy that as I stand in need of it It was the Price thou payedst down for Eternal Life O! let that finally be my Lot since thou hast paid so dear for it Bid me hope assuredly O Blessed Jesu that all this shall be made good unto thy Servant because now thou hast given thy self to me and fed me with thine own Body whereby mayest thou ever dwell in me and I in thee Amen And when this is done whilst others are receiving we may employ our selves in some of the foregoing Devotions or when we have enough of them joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the Delivery of the Bread and Wine to others or strike in affectionately with the Psalm of Praise which for the ease and exercise of all but of those particularly who have already received is wont at that time to be sung in most Places After this sort then may we lift up our Hearts to God and discharge all those Duties which are required in every worthy Communicant When we have no other helps we may acceptably express them all in a Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers since in them as I have shewn there is an actual exercise of all these Duties But when we can do more either by the help of Books or our own invention we may act them over still more fully in these or such like forms of Devotion And when all this is done and this solemn Feast is concluded we must not think tho work of worthy Receiving is at an end for one thing still remains that must employ us always afterwards and that is a careful performance of all those Promises which we made to God in this Holy Ordinance In the Sacrament as has been shew'd we seek not only a Pardon for what is past but also vow and promise Amendment for the Future and these Promises must be made good afterwards and it must be our care whilst we Live to fulfil them This we are higly concerned to do and it will greatly increase our Guilt and Condemnation if we fall short of it For if we return to our former sins again after we have thus solemnly vow'd to forsake them We are false to our Word and treacherous where we seem to be most sincere and seek more especially to be trusted We break our Faith with God and go about to delude his Expectation had he been capable to be imposed upon and believed as we would have had him which is as great an abúse as we can well put upon him And this doubles the sin which we commit and sets God further off from being intreated for now we have not only the Fault it self to answer for but also this Perfidiousness and breach of Vows which adds a new one to it and makes it greater So that after every Sacrament if we still continue Impenitent our Guilt is aggravated and our Souls more endanger'd and we are greater sinners than we were before Thus highly are we concerned to perform the Promises which we made at the Table of our Lord. And this we shall be very like to do if we think often of them every day for some time especially after we are gone from it Indeed if we forget all we did and all the Vows we made there to Almighty God we are like to be the same men still and must not expect that it should amend us For the Sacrament as I have shewn doth not better us without our own Care but by helping and ingaging us to Good endeavours after it is over It works not as a
Tale-bearing Not satisfying for Injuries Contentiousness Division and Faction Heresie Schism Tumult Sins against our Brethren in Particular Relations Sins against Sovereign Princes as Dishonour Irreverence Speaking Evil of Dignities Refusing Tribute and Taxes Traitorousness Neglecting to pray for Kings Disobedience to them Resistance and Rebellion Sins against Bishops and Ministers as Dishonour of them especially for their Works sake Irreverence Not providing for them Sacrilege or taking away either by Force or Fraud those Just Dues which are given to God for their Support Not Praying for them Disobedience Sins of Married Persons as Vnconcernedness in each others Condition Not bearing each others Infirmities Provoking each other Estrangedness Publishing each others Faults Not praying for each other Jealousie Of the Husband against the Wife as Not maintaining her with convenient Supplies Not protecting her from outward Annoyances Imperiousness or a harsh and magisterial exercise of Commands Vncompliance with her Reasonable Desires and Vncondescention to her Pitiable Weaknesses Of the Wife against the Husband as Dishonour in inward Esteem and Opinions Irreverence in outward Carriage Vnobservance in not forecasting to do what may please him Disobedience to his just Commands Casting off his Yoke or Unsubjection Sins of Parents and Children as Want of Natural Affection Not praying for each other Imprecation Of the Parents against the Children as Not providing for them Irreligious and Evil Education Provoking them to Anger by Imperious Harshness and needless Severity in Governing Of the Children against the Parents as Dishonour in their Minds Irreverence in their Behaviour Being ashamed of them Mocking them Speaking Evil of them Stealing from them Disobedience to their Lawful Commands Contumacy or Casting off Subjection to them Sins of Brothers and Sisters as Want of Natural Affection Not providing for our Brethren Not praying for them Praying against them Sins of Masters against their Servants as Not maintaining them Not Catechising or Instructing them Vnequal Government or Injustice shewn in requiring Unlawful Wantonness in requiring Superfluous and Rigour in requiring Unmerciful things of them Immoderate Threatning Imperiousness or Contemptuous haughty treating of them Defrauding or keeping back the Wages of the Hireling Of Servants against their Masters as Dishonour Irreverence Publishing or aggravating their Master's Faults Not clearing when they can his injured Reputation Vnfaithfulness in what he intrusts with them shewn either by their Wastefulness i. e. Spending it for their Pleasure or Purloyning i. e. Diverting it to their own Profit and secret Enrichment Disobedience Non-observance Answering again Slothfulness Eye-service Resistance Not praying for him Praying against him To all which add two other Sins which are peculiarly so among Christians viz. The Neglect of Baptism and Absenting from the Lord's Supper When we are desirous to discover all our Sins that we may truly repent of them we may examine our own Hearts in all these Particulars trying our selves either by the former Catalogue when we have less or by this latter when we have more Time according to our own Discretion We may ask our selves at every one Whether we ever wittingly yielded to it and if we have Whether since that we have amended it And noting all those whereof we stand guilty before God affect our own Hearts with a sorrowful sense of what we have done from such Considerations as are before laid down and then renew our Vows and make God our humble Confession and Engagements that we will never have more to do with them For which end they who are not otherwise supplied may make use of the Devotion p. 448 which may serve as a Penitential Prayer and Confession A PRAYER Before the SACRAMENT O Father of Mercies who hast once given thy Son to die for me and art now ready in the Holy Sacrament to offer him to me again I humbly adore but am utterly at a loss when I would duely prize so invaluable a Mercy What am I poor wretched Creature that I should sit down to eat with my Blessed Lord when the Glorious Angels at a distance adore and pay him Homage Why should I be call'd to feed upon his Sacred Body and Blood when my Sins had a hand in all he suffered so that I deserve to be ranked among his Murderers who were guilty of that horrid Fact which nothing but the Blood they shed could ever expiate But since it is thy Glorious Excellency O Blessed Jesu to love those that hate thee and to save their Lives who barbarously took away thine and accordingly to call to this Heavenly Feast so unworthy a Wretch as I am I am ready to come at thy Command but would fain come Worthily and leave all my Sins behind me seeing it is no Feast for them Oh! I loath them and would never yield to commit them were they to do again and humbly intreat my Heavenly Father that for thy sake he would freely forgive me what is past and rid me of them for the time to come Slay them Good Lord for they have slain thee and will slay mee too in time if they are suffer'd to reign in me Meet me in this Heavenly Banquet with a full Pardon of all mine Offences and a perfect Cure of all mine Infirmities that I may be cleansed by thy Blood and quickned by thy Spirit and assured of that Eternal Life which for thy sake God has promised to all his Elect ones All this thou art ready to do for me if I come worthily and therefore my humble Request is That thou wouldst assist me acceptably to perform the Duties of this Feast that so I may enjoy all the Blessings of it and feel it a Communion of thy very Body and Blood I would gladly remember thy Dying Love with the most Devout Affections with a Heart that is full of Thanks and intirely devoted to thy Service and quite weary of my Sins and most desirous of thy Grace and throughly prepared to seal a lasting Covenant of Repentance and Reconciliation with thee and all my Neighbours All this I desire to do and to do it fervently But alas I cannot do it as I ought unless thou wilt graciously come and help me My Apprehnsions of this amazing Love are very low O do thou exalt them My Heart is still insensible of what thou hast done for me and my Affections dull and heavy O do thou quicken and inflame them Make me love thee as much as thou deservest and desire thy Grace as highly as I need it and be set against every Sin as irreconcileably as there is cause for it and love all my Brethren as I am beloved that I may be fit to receive the abundant Communications of thy Grace in the approaching Sacrament I earnestly ask and humbly hope for all this O Good God only because I infinitely need it and thy Grace is Infinite which will not suffer thee to see the Necessities of thy poor Servant unsupplied and unworthy as I am I am still the Purchase of thy Sons Blood O