Vniversal and Vniform or that we habitually live according to the whole Will of God because where we come short of this Vniformity there we come short of that Perfection and by consequence of that Happiness which is the great scope and design of Christianity This is the meaning of Divines when they tell us that there must be in us a Perfection of Parts though we are not capable of a perfection of Degrees that is there must be the presence of every Virtue though there be at the same time such a mixture of Corruption with our noblest Endowments that we cannot exercise them in that high pitch as we shall do in the next Life when we shall be of perfect Stature even as a Child in the Womb hath all the necessary Parts and Lineaments of a Man though it will be long before he comes to a full Growth and Proportion CONSIDER then I beseech you and you especially who have been Partakers of the Blessed Viands of Immortality what strict Obligations ye have entred into and what manner of Persons ye ought to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness You are now to fulfil all Righteousness you are now to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts you are now to do as the Combatants in the old Olympick Games to lay aside every weight that might oppress and every Incumbrance that might intangle you and to run with Perseverence the race that is set before you and you are to remember what the Apostle tells us Jam. 2. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is become guilty of all that is Guilty of Disobedience and Obnoxious to Punishment as well as if he had violated all THAT you may not miscarry therefore through the Wilful neglect of any necessary Duty or by the presumptuous Commission of any heinous Sin lay daily before your Eyes the perfect Law of Liberty which our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles have left us as the Infallible Rule of a perfectly Christian Life And for your more easie performance I shall now briefly represent to you a Scheme and Platform of Virtue agreeable to those Precepts which are scatter'd up and down in the Holy Scriptures as a very fit and proper Undertaking to come at the close of this whole Subject I begin with that which is the source and Principle of our Actions whether they be good or evil the inner Man Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life Prov. 4. 25. As a good Man cut of the good Treasure of the Heart bringeth forth good things so an evil Man out of the evil Treasure bringeth forth evil things Matth. 12. 35. For out of the Heart proceed evil Designs Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies Mat. 15. 19. It is a good thing therefore that principally in this sense the Heart be established with Grace Heb. 13. 9. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. THE good things which come out of this hidden Treasure are usually divided into three general kinds as St. Paul hath reckoned them Tit. 2. 12. Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness Under which three Heads are comprehended all the several Duties which relate to our selves and to our Neighbours and to God himself According to which Division I shall proceed FIRST to lay before you those Virtues which more immediately relate to your selves in a separate and Personal capacity as I find them proposed in the Holy Scriptures LEARN of Christ in the very first place to be lowly in Heart Mat. 11. 29. God hath respect unto the lowly Ps 138. 6. He giveth Grace unto the lowly Prov. 3. 34. Be ye therefore cloathed with Humility 1 Pet. 5. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men and being found in Fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became Obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. That no one of you be puffed up 1 Cor. 4. 6. That ye be not high minded but fear Rom. 11. 20. That ye mind not high things but condescend to Men of low Estate Rom. 12. 16. That ye think not of your selves more highly than ye ought to think but think soberly according as God hath dealt to every Man the Measure of Faith Rom. 12. 3. And that ye trust not in uncertain Riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 1 Tim 6. 17. NEXT of Kin to this Virtue of Humility is that of Meekness such a Beauty of the Mind that it is called the Ornament of a meek and a quiet Spirit which even in the sight of God is of great Price 1 Pet. 3. 4. To recommend it unto us God requires us to be as he himself is slow to wrath Jam. 1. 19. To cease from Anger Ps 37. 8. Not to be angry without a cause Mat. 5. 22. Nor to be angry in such a measure as to Sin or to let the Sun go down upon our Wrath Ephes 4. 26. But to put on Bowels of Mercy Kindness Meekness Long-suffering Col. 3. 12. And to let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and Evil-speaking be put away from us with all Malice Ephes 4. 31. THESE two Virtues being deeply radicated Patience will naturally produce in us great Temper and Firmness of Mind in any grievous Circumstances God himself though he be provoked every day is long-suffering towards us The Blessed Jesus endured all the Contradictions of Sinners against himself Heb. 12. 3. And when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. And all this to leave us an Example that we should follow his Steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. That we should possess our Souls in Patience Luk. 21. 19. That we be patient in Tribulations Rom. 12. 12. That we endure Afflictions 2 Tim. 4. 5. That we endure to the End 1 Pet. 1. 13. And when any fiery Tryal comes that we should not wonder or be troubled as if some strange thing hapned but rejoyce inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed we may be glad also with exceeding Joy 1 Pet. 4. 12 13. THIS leads on the slighting of all Mortification things here below when they stand in competition with the love of God and a good Conscience Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15. Therefore let your Conversation be without Covetousness Heb. 13. 5. Lay not for your selves Treasures upon Earth Matth. 6. 19. If Riches encrease set not your Heart upon them Ps 62. 10. Neither take
kind and friendly Eye upon his Vices and cherisheth that Uncleanness in his Bosom which by the Laws of God he is bound to cast away For it is no easie matter for any to lead a Lewd Life without some trouble and unquietness of Mind and for a Man first to Sin and then Confess and then Sin again is nothing else but to drive a circular Trade of Hypocrisie for all this is very consistent with a Wicked Life Because after this rate there is no necessity of entire and universal Holiness without which St. Paul saith there is no seeing of God but People may give themselves up all their days to all manner of Wickedness and Villany and may think to be Saved nevertheless What a smooth and pleasant way would this be into the Kingdom of God were it but true How easily after this rate is the Sinner and the Saint reconciled But what a Scandal is it to Christianity and what a fatal prejudice is it to a good Life when Men are taught such an Artificial Method how to Save their Souls and their Sins too For who will undertake that troublesom and painful task of Mortifying his Lusts of parting with a right Eye of cutting off a right hand and of being Crucifyed to the World if he be perswaded that he cannot possibly miscarry as long as he hath at hand such a present and easie Remedy as this is Confess and be Absolved Be not therefore deceived in a case of such huge moment and weight True Repentance is not a thing of such quick and superficial dispatch it must reach to the very Heart and Marrow it must alter and transform the whole Man it must bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance it must express it self by an Universal Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel it must have that good effect upon Mens Spirits as to make them follow whatsoever things are Just and Honest and Pure and Lovely and of good Report 2. THE Nature of Repentance being thus Explained I shall not need to spend much time upon the next point touching those Special Grounds and Reasons which render Repentance necessary before we go to the Communion For every Man's Conscience cannot but tell him that he ought to come to so Sacred a Mystery with clean Hands and a very pure Heart However that Discourses of this kind may not seem fantastical and groundless the Necessity of this thing will plainly appear from these following Considerations 1. From that Analogy which this Evangelical Christian Feast beareth unto those Antient Sacrifical Feasts of which I have formerly Discoursed at large At those Solemnities as Gyraldus observes even the Heathens thought it the most necessary part of their Religion to be free from an Evil Conscience In Sacrificiis rite celebrandis majorem nullam ceremoniam fuisse videmus quam nil sibi conscire bonos ac pios esse Gyrald Hist deor synt 17. They were wont at those times to Confess their Guilt to Profess Repentance for all their Faults and by their dejected Countenances and Id. ibid. modest Behaviour to express their great Sorrows for what was past They would wash their Bodies in Rivers and present themselves at the Altars of their Gods in pure and clean Apparel with washen Hands and naked Feet as significations of the Purity of their Minds and when the Solemnity began as the Priest asked with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is here So the People answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Men and Good esteeming Sanctity and Goodness to be absolutely necessary in such as were to Feast before their Deities Among the Jews it was customary to use several Ritual ways of Sanctification such as the cleansing of their Bodies and the scowring of their very Cloaths before they presented their Oblations unto God or durst to feed upon the remains of their Sacrifices They had divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed upon them until the time of Reformation saith the Apostle Heb. 9. 10. One eminent instance we have 1 Sam. 16. there Samuel goes to Bethlehem to Sacrifice unto the Lord and to Feast with Jesse and his Sons upon part of the Oblations but before he would either slay the Heifer or sit down with them at Meat he commanded them to Sanctifie themselves according to the Custom v. 5. Now these legal Purifications were so many Notices and Indications of that inward and Spiritual Purity which is necessary in all who present themselves before the Lord and profess to be of his Houshold and Family For which Reason the Prophets who were Expositors of the Law called upon the People at every turn to mind that Sanctity of Heart and Spirit which was signified by these External Rites and without which all their Services were so many vain Oblations So God himself calls them Jer. 1. 12 13. When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations that is Heartless Sacrifices such Sacrifices as were without the Heart not of the Beast but of the Man empty Services that were without a broken and contrite Spirit To this purpose 't is said Isa 66. 3. He that killeth an Ox is as he that Slew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as he that cutteth off a Dog's neck he that offereth an Oblation as he that offereth the Blood of Swine and the Reason follows because they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their own Abominations 'T is Holiness that God requires rather than Sacrifice and so much was intimated to them when they were appointed to wash before they entred into the Sanctuary To which purpose saith the Psalmist Psal 26. 6. I will wash my hands in Innocence and so will I compass thine Altar Meaning that by cleansing the outward parts Men were taught to Cleanse and Sanctifie their Minds chiefly and that Innocence is mainly necessary in such as go about to meddle with Holy things And this is particularly observable from the Ordinance concerning the Passover which was a Type and Shadow of this Christian Ordinance Though every Jew that was rightly Qualified was bound under pain of Death to bring the Offering of the Lord in his appointed Season yet if he had any Legal Impurities upon him if he were a Leper or had a running Issue or had been Defiled by touching a Dead Carcass then he was severely bound to forbear the Passover for a time he was to defer it for the space of a Month because it was a general Rule the Soul that eateth the Flesh of the Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings having his Uncleannesses upon him even that Soul shall be cut off from his People Lev. 7. 20. Philo the Jew hath rightly observed that God Instructed Men by these Rites and Forms and outward Symbols how they ought to make their approaches unto his Altar either to Pray or to give thanks unto him that they should bring no latent Diseases no
many infirmities then it is time to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit to enter at least upon a Life of Holiness to wash our hands and hearts in Innocence and so to compass the Altar of God BEING thus rightly disposed we are then to behold the Fountain which is opened to us for Sin and for Uncleanness I mean the blood of Christ which purgeth our Consciences from all dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. Now 't is a seasonable time for us to call to mind the coronary Thorns the Scourge the Nails and the Spear which opened this Fountain To remember our blessed Lord's Agony in the Garden his bloody Sweat his Buffetings and Stripes his dolours and most bitter Death upon the Cross To consider that all this was for us sinful Men and for our Salvation to reconcile us to his Father to Redeem us from all Iniquity and to beget us again to a lively Hope to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us because he so loved us all that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Everlasting Life These Holy Meditations are not only proper and seasonable when we are now at the Supper of the Lamb but they are moreover naturally apt to enflame your Affections with the love of Jesus to dissolve and melt you into Penitential showers to ravish your Hearts with a sense of his infinite Goodness to fill you with Divine Extasies and Raptures and to fix your Resolutions of obeying for ever the Author of your Salvation of following his blessed steps with all Meekness and Humility and of bearing not only his Yoak but even his Cross too and in all things of being made conformable to his Image NEXT to the love of God and of Christ let the love of all Mankind replenish and possess your Hearts God forbid that Malice or Uncharitableness or Bitterness and Rancour of Spirit God forbid that any of these or such unclean things should ever be brought before the Altar of Peace and Reconciliation If he so loved us we ought to love one another because he tasted Death for every Man he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance he is the Saviour of all Men especially of them that believe and seeing every Soul is precious in his sight every Soul should be dear to us and our Love to all Mankind should be extensive and unlimited as his was And to express this Love we should be ready to do good to all desire and endeavour the Salvation of all and devoutly pray as the Primitive Christians did whose Hearts were so warm with the Blood of Christ for the whole Race of Mankind not only for the Church of God and for every part and Member thereof but for all too that are as yet without the borders of the Sanctuary and for all Estates and Conditions of Men that no corner of the Universe may be too remote for our Charity and that however the Uncertainties and Chances or the Evils of this World may sever or distinguish us yet nothing may be able to separate us from the love of those for whom Christ died THESE are Divine things to exercise and employ your Minds at this great Solemnity And as touching your outward deportment there are these particulars which I would recommend to your Christian practice at the time of Ministration 1. THAT ye dispose of your selves as near as may be to the Lord's Table that you may behold what is transacted there For besides the Decency which is in the thing it self when the Children of God humbly present themselves round about his Table this is apt to exalt and heighten your Devotion still and to give your Affections a new warmth when you see as it were Jesus Christ crucified before your Eyes 2. THE Mystery of his Passion being thus visibly represented by the breaking of the Bread the Symbol of his Body and by the pouring out of the Wine the Symbol of his Blood then sursum corda as the Exhortation was in the Primitive Ages of Christianity lift up your Hearts to him who was dead and is now alive for evermore and offer unto him privately these or the like holy Ejaculations O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World grant us thy Peace O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us 3. THROUGHOUT the Prayer of the Church wherein you are concern'd be sure to bear your Parts with Heart and Voice too For this doth not only help to preserve a Man 's own Zeal in a due Fervour and to keep his mind fixt and intent and free from distraction but it is moreover an excellent means to raise the Devotion of other Communicants When every one assisteth and all jointly mingle their Devotions the common flame is very much increased every one bringing sparks to the Altar to kindle in each others Heart the love of Christ For the confirmation of this I appeal to every sensible Mans experience who desires to serve God in the Beauty of Holiness How lovely how delightful a thing is it when People meet together to Worship God to send up their Prayers and Praises to him with one Lip And how apt is this to inspire every good Heart with Fervency and to heat every ones Affections each Man catching some fire from his Neighbour How like then is the Church to Heaven and how transported do we seem to be as if we were among that blessed Quire above where St. John in his Vision saw the four and twenty Elders falling down before him that sat on the Throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 10 11. And where should we imitate this blessed and Heaven-like Harmony if not at this Divine Solemnity where we celebrate the memorial of our Redemption too of our Redemption I say the great work of God a work so worthy of God so stupendious so full of the Riches of his Grace that to be unconcern'd among the common Thanksgivings of the Church must needs be an Argument of a Mind very dull and insensate very deeply possest with a Spirit of Slumber 4. WHEN you are now to receive the Divine Food and Jesus as it were coming under your Roof receive with all Humility let every lofty imagination fall and every Knee Bend Not that we may adore the Sacramental Bread and Wine that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians but as an humble Profession of our own great unworthiness and as a grateful Acknowledgement of those infinite Mercies werewith God is pleased to crown us at this time it is no more than what is decent and becoming us to be prostrate
to our progress in Virtue it is the first thing necessary to stand upon your Legs and to be in a moving and walking posture 2. THE second thing therefore we are to be careful of is to remember the Promises and Resolutions we have made and to pursue them so as to transmit them into a settled Practice of all manner of Virtue This Direction consists of several Branches 1. WE are to keep our Vows of Amendment as fresh in our Memories as 't is possible For the Understanding being the original Principle of Action which governs the Lower Faculties of the Soul according to those Idea's and Notions that it works by it self it is impossible to act with any certain regularity when a Man doth not Apprehend or doth not Remember what he is to do Notions that are quite lost have no more Power and Influence upon us than if we had never entertained them And this is one great cause of the Decay of Religion that Men do not sufficiently charge their Duty upon their Memories nor revolve their Obligations in their Minds as they should do but lay aside the thoughts of their former Engagements like those unfruitful Hearers St. James speaks of who though they find by the Precepts of Christ how Undefiled and Pure their whole Man should be yet inconsiderately drop all care of cleansing themselves from their Pollutions as those who behold their natural face in a glass and then go their ways streightway forgetting what manner of Men they were that is what Spots there are in their Faces which are necessary to be wiped off Jam. 1. 23 24. when the consideration of those Resolutions we made at the Lord's Table doth slide so soon out of the mind it is impossible to conceive how they should bring any Fruit unto Perfection though many were serious and strong for the time because they are not rooted enough in the Heart to spring up like Corn cast into the Bosom of a Kindly Soyl but are lost presently for want of deep digestion like Seed scatter'd by the way side upon stony ground which lies a little to be picked up by the next Bird that comes Due Consideration is very powerful to Invigorate the Faculties of the Soul and to make them productive of a New Life because it keeps the mind in such a constant motion as maintains the whole Soul at its daily Work Be sure therefore often to renew the remembrance of those Vows which you made to God at this Covenant-Feast consider and meditate upon them every day as you should upon your Latter End or that I may allude to Moses in another case Lay up those Vows in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as Phylacteries before your eyes and think of them when you sit in your Houses when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up Deut. 11. 18 19. 2. THE next business is to transmit them into Practice For neither are lazy Wishes to any purpose nor can feeble Resolutions or faint Endeavours ever answer the great Ends of Christianity As Virtue is acquired by single Acts so is it Improved by repeated exercise and Perfected by the assiduous Discipline of Perseverance 'T is a mistake to think that Christ's Spirit works after such a Physical Manner as to Transform a Man perfectly in a moment or to make him compleatly Religious all at once by a sudden and uncontroulable Infusion of Habitual Holiness His Operations are successive alluring stirring and strengthning Men to perfect Holiness in the fear of God gradually and by helping them to Rectifie and Refine Humane Nature more and more just as evil Custom helps to deprave it Therefore the Practice of Virtue is absolutely necessary because it cannot be thought how the frequent Lusts of the Flesh can otherwise be mortified or how a crooked Disposition can otherwise be Reformed and streightned or how inveterate Habits can otherwise be eradicated to the full 3. THIS Thirdly must be a setled Practice a State a Tenour a Life of Virtue To resolve one Day upon a regular Progress and then to let those Resolutions go off with ones first Sleep is but a parting with ones Sins in a kind of pet like the parting of Lovers whom the next opportunity reconciles Many things may provoke People to fall out with their Lusts for a while either the penetrating faculty of the Word of God or a sudden and surprising prospect of Hell or the snubbings and lashes of a restless Mind or some outward Calamity that reneweth the smart of an old Sore and revives the sense of former Guilt as the Imprisonment of Jacob's Sons in Egypt brought it into their fresh remembrance how guilty they had been concering their Brother Gen. 42. Nor do I deny but such Passions are sometimes preparatory to a true Repentance if right reason steps in before the fit be over and obtains full Liberty of Audience But if these motions of the Soul do not settle into a composed State of Virtue but are only Temporary and Transient things like a Morning Cloud and the early Dew that goeth away to use the Prophet's comparison Hos 6. 4. They cannot profit as to the main because they fall short of the Ends of our Religion being not effectually perfective of our Natures 4. FOR Fourthly our Resolutions should pass into the practice of Vniversal Holiness The Perfection of God himself consists in the Infinite Glory and Rectitude of his Nature that he is most perfectly Wise Just Good Pure True and the like and that there is such an entire Harmony within himself that there cannot be the least Aberration or Declension of his Will from the Infinite Reason of his Mind but that in all his Actions his Power is conducted by Reasons that are suitable to his own Perfections that is by reasons that are perfectly Just and Good And upon this account it is that he is perfectly happy in himself because he hath the Possession and Enjoyment of the most Excellent and Infinite Good Now this shews that as our Happiness doth consist in our drawing near unto God by a Rectitude Goodness and Purity of Nature as far as it is consistent with our Finite and Mortal condition so our Perfection doth consist in an entire and Vniversal Conformity of our Wills and Affections to His when we chuse and refuse Love and Hate in every Particular just as he commands us This I say is our Perfection because hereby we are conducted as he himself is by the Infinite Reason of his Mind only indeed we are Govern'd by it at Second Hand For as His Will goes along by the prescriptions of his own Reason which is the Law of all his Actions so we go along by the Prescriptions of his Will and then we are perfect as God is I mean still according to the capacities of Humane Nature It is necessary therefore that our Practice of Virtue be