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of our own when we place our Devotion in them And no less unworthy of God and unbecoming our selves is the other Extreme of rejecting all Order and Decency in Religious Exercises It deprives him of that Publick Honour and Homage which 't is fit the Lord of Heaven and Earth should receive from his Creatures and his Vassals and quite takes away all Face of Religion out of the World Which yet when in Conjunction with the Religion of the Mind he has often declar'd himself well pleas'd with and expresly commanded his Peculiar People to pay him and was their Director in the manner how and never has forbid to any since And nothing certainly more unbecoming us poor Sinful Dust and Ashes and who had been extremely miserable but that the Mercies of our God were Infinite nothing more unbecoming us in our Addresses to him especially in Publick than to confine within our Breasts the Sence we have either of his Majesty or of his Mercy Rather with all humble Postures of our Bodies and grateful Expressions of our Lips should we declare to all the World and glad of an Opportunity to do so that there is an Infinitely Excellent tho' to us Invisible Being to whom we owe all that we are and have and hope for and to whom all possible Adoration and Praise is due And till of late this was the Sence and Practice of all the World But one Extreme generally produces another and too much of outward Religion in some has been the occasion of none at all in others Both equally unreasonable and far from true Devotion As for Familiarities and Intimacies with God they are likewise utterly condemn'd for the same Reasons as before being only an Argument of Mens unmeasurable Boldness and Confidence and that they very little understand or will not understand either God or themselves True Devotion is the most Humble Modest Decent thing in the World and is always attended with Reverence and Godly Fear And therefore such Men would do well to consider that Passage Luke 13.25 26. where we find the Door is shut upon those who with great Assurance could knock and cry Lord Lord open unto us and plead great Intimacy too We have eat and drunk in thy Presence and thou has taught in our Streets but still the Door continues shut and this Killing Answer given 'em Depart from me I know you not whence ye are ye workers of iniquity And then it follows There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets Persons peculiarly remarkable for their Great Modesty and Humility and profoundest Awe and Dread of the Divine Majesty and that tho' the Highest Favours were shown to them by God when ye shall see these in the Kingdom of Heaven who were far short of you in their Pretences to it and you your selves thrust out as Bold and Confident Intruders There is one more Mistake in this matter which it will not be amiss to take notice of and that is of those who are mightily for Blending Religion with common Conversation putting every thing into a Religious Dress and make this a great Argument of a Devout and Heavenly Mind Now tho' I readily grant that where there is True Devotion innumerable Hints and Opportunities will be taken to dart up Pious Thoughts to God and Holy Aspirations and nothing more acceptable to him nor a more becoming and grateful and beneficial Employment of a Christian's Mind and which I would therefore earnestly recommend to the Practice of all good People as the Beginning of their Heaven upon Earth Yet Devotion being a Rational thing all the outward Expressions of it to Men must be guided by Discretion and made use of only in proper Times and upon just Occasion But now every Time certainly is not proper nor every Occasion just for things of so Sacred a nature as is this we are speaking of And at every turn right or wrong to wedge in a Religious or Scripture-Sentence and affect to speak nothing but the Language of the Temple is the ready way to cloy Men with Religion and make them nauseate the most Holy Things And what has such a Tendency as this is a Strange kind of Devotion very Indiscreet if not much worse Having thus Consider'd the Description we gave of true Devotion in order to the preventing several great and dangerous Mistakes which are often made about it before I proceed to Recommend the Practice of it to young Persons from the great Benefit and Pleasure that attends it I can't but take notice how true the Devotion of the Church of England is and how infinitely to blame and without Excuse those of her Communion are if not truly devout Her Doctrine relating to it is what we have now explain'd and 't is founded on the Nature of God and the Nature of Man consisting in what is highly agreeable to each and excluding Mens Private Fancies and Humours Superstition and Enthusiasm and every thing that is unbefitting either God or our selves And as for the Manner of expressing it in Private we are left to our Liberty provided we keep within the Bounds of Decency and Reverence And in Publick there is every thing that is needful to raise and increase true Devotion and fix it upon its due Object and make it look like it self but nothing to divert the Mind from its Holy Employment and divide and weaken its Attention or make it degenerate either into Sordidness and cold Indifferency or an unbounded Liberty of Expression and Behaviour How few and how comely are her Ceremonies Such as an humble Devotion would choose were they not enjoyn'd such as express with Decency tho' without Pomp the Inward Sentiments of a Pious Mind and distinguish our Religious from Common Assemblies and that 's all So careful is our Church not to give Offence that altho' something more of this nature would not be too much yet less than she prescribes would be indeed too little Her Service I may truly call Divine it being for the main collected from the Holy Writings and the rest taken out of the best Liturgies of the Primitive Church Compil'd it is with excellent Judgment express'd in plain but very proper Language divided into short but comprehenfive Collects with variety enough to entertain the Mind and prevent its tiring but not so much as to scatter its Thoughts and tempt it to lose it self in unprofitable Wandrings And where all we have to do is to bear our part in it with all the Warmth and Fervour that we can and to which the Brevity of each particular Prayer does very much conduce As for the Musick of our Church in Declaiming against which many are so strangely Religious as to place a great part of their Devotion and Zeal who really are Objects of our Pity as well as Indignation no Man can express to what a Pitch it wings Devotion what Holy Flames and Ardors it excites how
but be so since 't is order'd by him who is infinitely Wise and Good and withall so Powerful that no Affliction can be too great for him to remove when his Wisdom and his Goodness see it fit to do so Infinite Wisdom knows best when and Infinite Goodness will not suffer it to last a Moment longer and Infinite Power can remove it with a Word Again as is evident at the first Glance excessive Trouble is very unbecoming a Christian because 't is utterly inconsistent with Patience which is that Temper of Mind whereby a Christian calmly and quietly bears all Pressures however heavy and afflicting with entire Submission to the Divine Will as being assur'd that God's great Design tho' by various Methods is to make us compleatly happy He that thus evenly behaves himself under the Discipline of Providence and will not be tempted to think ill of God or Desert his Service tho' he smarts under his Corrections nor take Ill Courses to remove his Trouble this is the Patient Christian And the more he may be sensible of Affliction in other respects the greater is his Patience if he thus calmly and quietly submits Very remarkable are our Saviour's Words to his Apostles when he foretold them what they should suffer for his sake and such as bespeak this quiet submissive Temper to be the Great Security of all our other Duty Luk. 21.19 Possess ye your Souls in Patience As if without it ev'n a Man's Soul all the Powers of it not only his Will and Affections but his very Vnderstanding could not be his own but perfectly at the Command of any other who could lay more Troubles on him than he had Patience to bear And therefore the Scripture frequently joins Faith and Patience together Heb. 6.12 10.36 as each others Mutual Support And indeed in a World so thick set with Troubles and Vexations Eccl. 2.15 Woe be to him as the Wise Man says that has lost Patience and what will he do when the Lord shall visit him That is when God shall lay any great Calamity upon him how will he do to bear it who can bear nothing with any tolerable Temper not so much as common Crosses and Disappointments Another great Duty of our Holy Religion is Contempt of the World or at least such an Indifference to it as that we may hang loose from things below and employ our chief Care and Endeavour to make sure of our Glorious Reversion above 〈◊〉 19.26 Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth says our Lord but in Heaven for where your Treasure is there will your Hearts be also What shall we think then of their Religion who are so inseparably fastned to the World in their Affections as not to be able to bear any of its Frowns without an excessive Concern as if their whole Happiness was torn from them and nothing worth their Notice left to hope for or expect What we lightly esteem we can easily part with and live contentedly without especially if what we value most of all be secure and safe If therefore we had Religion enough to fix our Hearts there where our Heavenly Treasure is and set a due Estimate upon it and believed it as certain to the Sincerely Good as it is Glorious and Everlasting and look'd upon the World as empty in Comparison and of no Esteem we should with much less Regrett part with the Enjoyments of it than we do and bear its Troubles with more Sedateness and Evenness of Temper I don't say with no Concern at all for that 's Impossible and during our Abode in the state of Mortality there are many things so necessary to our Support and Comfort in it that as we may and ought to Pray for 'em and be thankful when we receive 'em so may we in Due Degree desire to keep them and be Loath to part with 'em and when they 're gone resent their Loss But then all this must be Temper'd with so prevailing a Mixture of Heavenly-mindedness as may soon make us lose our Resentment of any Worldly Crosses in the cheering Thoughts of what a Glorious Reversion we have in the Kingdom of God This is the True Noble Spirit of Christianity which makes a Man so much Above these little things of Earth as to permit no more than a Transient Uneasiness to affect him at the â—â—ss of any of them reflecting presently upon there Immense Treasures of Eternal Happiness which are Reserv'd in Heaven for Him and which his Comparatively Light Afflictions Here do only serve to raise his Value of and increase his Desire of enjoying Nothing more demonstrates the Strength and Power of Religion than this nor does any thing more betray the Weakness and Infirmity of it than the contrary In the Last Place Immoderate Trouble removes a Man to a vast distance from the Temper and Example of Jesus our Blessed Saviour For if we enquire how he behav'd himself under those almost continual Troubles which he met with we shall find no Turbulency of Passion no Murmurings and Repinings but a quiet Resignation of Soul a Calm Sedateness of Demeanour an entire Trust in God and an Admirable Charity to the worst of his Enemies This the Story of his whole Life will Witness and when his Days grew near their End with what incomparable Patience and Submission to the Divine Will did he receive the bitter Cup of his approaching Sufferings Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me there are express'd the feeling Resentments of relucting Nature Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt there is his entire Acquiescence in God's Will concerning him And when he Actually Sufferd what was so Dreadful to him in the Expectation with what Meeâ—â—s and Silence and Wondrous Deâ—ency and Presence of Mind did he demean himself and that under the sharpest Afflictions both of Body and Soul And when in the midst of his Agonies upon the Cross he was Barbarously Insulted by the Meâ—ciless Spectators all they could Provoke him to utter was this strangely Good Prayer Father forgive them they know not what they do This is our Lord's Example in this matter and which in some measure at least he expects that we should Imitate and 't is a great part of our Religion to do so But now if we 're so far from this as to Indulge that Passion to Excess which our Lord's Practice as well as Precept engages us to keep under and Controul if we lose all Patience when we 're afflicted tho' our Lord when he was so was a Perfect Lamb if we can bear nothing when our great Master with admirable Temper did bear so much and that too for our sakes and in our stead If Christ and Christians are so very much unlike in this Respect what is their Religion Such Considerations as these if we go no further will let us see both how unreasonable and unchristian a thing it is to suffer Trouble to proceed without
Jesus come quickly Having thus Conducted Young Persons to the Holy Altar which unless they are extreamly wanting to themselves is next to Conducting them to Heaven I shall leave them there to the blessing of God and our Saviour who is ready to embrace them with the Arms of his Mercy and seal them with his life-giving Spirit to the Day of Eternal Redemption Only to their own Pious Meditations and Prayers they may if they please add the following Litany A LITANY FOR Young Gentlemen O God the Father of Heaven of Angels and of Men have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O God the Son who hast Redeem'd the World with thy most Precious Blood have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O God the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Spiritual Heavenly Life have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity whose Wisdom and Power and Goodness is Infinite have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners Remember not Lord the Sins and Offences of our Youth nor be extream to mark what we have done amiss Spare us good Lord spare us a little that we may recover our strength and according to thy Mercy think thou upon us for thy goodness Spare us good Lord. From forgetting our Creator in the Days of our Youth from wasting the flower of our age in vanity and folly and reserving our decrepid Years for the Service of God Good Lord deliver us From valuing the Blessings we enjoy more than the Giver of them from trusting in any thing more than in Providence and from loving Pleasure more than thee our God Good Lord deliver us From dishonouring our Bodies with Intemperance and Vncleanness from polluting our Souls with impure Imaginations from defiling our Mouths with prophane and impious or obscene Discourses Good Lord deliver us From abusing our Reason in opposing Religion from debasing our Wit to the service of our Lusts from living like Beasts when thou hast made us Men and Christians Good Lord deliver us From excesses of Passion and a turbulent Spirit from tormenting our selves because others misuse us from the guilt and the misery of Malice and Revenge Good Lord deliver us From Conceit and Pride Envy and Ambition from foolish Rashness and inconsiderate Heat from despising our Guides and following our own Counsel only Good Lord deliver us From stubborn Obstinacy and deafness to Advice from contempt of Reproof and anger at the Reprover from a blinded Mind and a seared Conscience Good Lord deliver us From deadness in thy Service and a formal Religion from obedience that is fanciful humoursome and uncertain from a superstitious use or neglect of the Ornaments of Worship Good Lord deliver us From forgetting Thee or our selves in raptures of Enthusiasm from pretending to Piety for the sake of the World and from all the Paths that lead to the Portion of Hypocrites Good Lord deliver us From conforming to the World in the Arts of Deceit from fawning and flattery Censure and Detraction from false Smiles and treacherous Friendship Good Lord deliver us From impatience in Trouble and excessive Dejections from distrust of thy Providence and Desperate Courses from fretting against God for what we bring upon our selves Good Lord deliver us In all time of Temptation by Prosperity or Adversity in all sudden Surprizes and imminent Dangers in the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment O Blessed Jesus by all that thou hast done and suffered for us then succour and deliver us And tho' unworthy as we are and miserable Sinners yet encouraged by thy boundless Mercy and Goodness we beseech thee farther to hear us and as the Guardian and guide of our Youth shew us the way that we should walk in for we lift up our Souls unto thee Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us O that our ways might be directed by thy Commandments and our footsteps never wander from them that we might meditate upon thy Precepts and delight our selves in thy Service and never forget thy Word Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us Thy Hands have made us what we are from thee comes all we have or hope for O give us the Vnderstanding that we may entirely Praise and Love thee and not be stupid and insensible as the Beasts that perish Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That it may please thee to inspire us with Affections becoming Christians that we may live worthy of that most Holy Profession as Disciples of Jesus and design'd for Glory We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That our Saviours life may be the rule of ours that we may tread in his steps and become like him in temper and spend our days as he did in advancing thy Glory and doing good in our Generation We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That we may employ our Youth and our Strength in the great work of our Salvation and run the way of thy Commandments with vigour and spirit and the warmth and fervour of a chearful Mind We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That Religion may be esteem'd by us as our chief good that all things else may be subservient to it as the delight and the joy of our hearts Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That our Faith may be irreproveable steady and modest such as may work by Love and purifie our Hearts and bring down every thing that exalts it self against obedience to Christ Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That with our whole Heart we may devote our selves to thy Service and be sincerely what we do Profess and value the Joys of a quiet Conscience above thousands of Gold and Silver We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. That our Baptismal Vow may be kept Inviolate the Promises we have since made to thee faithfully perform'd and all our Pious Resolutions made good We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. O let us not go wrong thou guide of our steps O let us not fall thou that art our Support Discover to us the snares that are laid for our Souls and grant that we may ever escape them Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us And when we are down Lord do thou raise us up When we go astray like Sheep that are lost O seek thy Servants pity our sad state and bring us back unto thy fold again Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us We will think on our ways and turn our feet unto thy Testimonies we will make haste without delay to keep thy righteous Judgments with thy assistance which we humbly beg and Beseech thee to hear us good Lord. But who can tell how often he offendeth Cleanse thou us therefore from our secret faults and keep us from presumptuous Sins lest they get the Dominion over us Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us May we never despise the Riches of thy long-suffering and forbearance nor by our continu'd impenitence treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath but be intirely softned
it withdraws the Soul from Earth and mounts it up to Heaven Indeed it gives the Highest Relish to Religion and prepares the Mind for a due Reception of every thing that 's good The Pleasure it creates is so Refin'd and Spiritual that Flesh and Blood can't bear it long but faints and almost dies away as overcharg'd with Heavenly Delight In short where there is never so small a Spark 2 Tim. 1.6 either of Natural or Religious Fire this will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 awake and blow it up into a vigorous Flame And now 't is time to recommend to young Peoples greatest Care the cherishing and more and more increasing that Natural Disposition which they generally have to Devotion from the Consideration of the great Benefit and Pleasure that attends it To begin with the Latter And indeed True Devotion must needs be extremely Delightful because the chief Ingredient of it is Love T is a willing Dedication of ones self to God and a Warmth and Fervour in his Service as a Being above all others infinitely Lovely and both to our selves and all the Creation infinitely kind and good Now there is no Passion so pleasing and delightful to the Soul as Love It carries Pleasure in the very Notion of it and all Delight does necessarily suppose it And therefore Devotion and Pleasure are as Inseparable as Pleasure and Love Indeed by Accident Love may have some Mixture in it of Vneasiness as when 't is plac'd upon and Object empty and undeserving and which at length does therefore balk and disappoint the Soul or when the Object lov'd as yet can't be enjoy'd which gives a Dash of Perplexity and Fear But the Proper Act of Love is Complacency and which when God is the Object must needs be Vnallay'd and Pure When therefore a Man has so Lovely an Idea of God as entirely to Devote himself to him and finds that the closer he views him and the more he knows of him the more Beauties he still discovers and has his Devotion and Love still more and more encreas'd How will his Delight Proportionably grow with ' em How will he applaud his happy Choice and say with the Seraphick Psalmist One day in thy Court is better than a Thousand Especially when he reflects with what Tenderness and Endearment all his Addresses are receiv'd and repaid with the most Affectionate Returns No forbidding State and Pride no unreasonable Reserves nothing that will damp and chill the Votary's Affection but all the Sweetness and winning Charms that are apt to encourage and invite and then to crown the highest Pitch of Love So that Devotion is Love Triumphant 't is both Desire and Fruition Desire that is sure of Success and Fruition that fully satisfies but never cloys And were the Object is so infinitely lovely the Love so entire so pure so reciprocal and the Enjoyment so compleat How truly Heavenly must the Pleasure be For what are the Felicities of that Glorious Place but the Result of Devotion and Love So true is that of Holy David Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the Desires of thine Heart Ps 37.4 But Secondly the Benefit of a Devout Temper of Mind is as great as the Pleasure of it and that First Because 't is so delightful No doubt but whatever will fix and root Religion in the Soul and make a Christian stedfast and unmoveable in it always abounding in the Work of our Lord ought to be esteem'd as highly Beneficial but now nothing more certain to do that than the Pleasure and Satisfaction we receive from it when we find by our own happy Experience at present that our Pious Labours are not in vain and are assur'd that the delight we now have in Religion tho' it be very great is but as the First Fruits of the full Plenteous Harvest of Happiness which we shall reap from it to all Etenity in the Kingdom of God Devotion therefore making Religion so delightful will make it lasting too and when its Pleasures have been so fully tasted by us that the divine Relish of them is quick and lively upon our Spirits all Attempts to remove us from it will be as ineffectual as the Dashes of a Wave against a Rock But further This devout Temper of Mind is highly Beneficial to us because 't is the Living Fountain under God of every good Thought and Word and Work It warms the Heart with Seraphick Affections sends up Heavenly Breathings and Aspirations to God and fills the Mouth with Halleluja's It furnishes the Closet and the Church with Prayer and Praise and joins us to the Angelick Choir above 'T is this supplies the Penitent with Groans that can't be utter'd with Holy Sighs and Tears and lays him prostrate in the Dust and then raises him up to New and Heavenly Life This 't is enkindles Zeal for the Glory of our Beloved and engages our best Endeavours to promote the Interest of his Kingdom In fine this is the Life and Spirit of Religion and derives it self from no less Principle than the Spirit of God He is the great First Mover and this his Powerful Instrument So that the Devout Person is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly prepared and dispos'd to Eternal Life and has the Seed of God abiding in him that blessed Principle of Spiritual Growth and Improvement which will in due time exert it self till he comes to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ and is throughly furnish'd and instructed to every Good Work Nothing therefore is of greater Consequence to all People but more especially to those who are beginning their Christian Course than by forming in their Minds true Apprehensions of God and Religion and a frequent Retreat from the World spent in Meditation and Prayer and Conversation with Books of Piety and Practical Religion to preserve and encrease such a truly Devotional Temper of Mind as will make 'em pursue with Life and Spirit the great Business of their Salvation The Fifth Advice BUT lest Warmth of Temper alone should be taken for Piety and Devotion as it too often is and Religion by this means degenerate into Hypocrisie and outward Shew and become Wordly and Designing or at best humoursome and uncertain 't is highly needful to advise Young Persons carefully to take heed of Insincerity That their Affection to Religion be True and Hearty fix'd and deep Rooted in their very Souls and not made up of sudden Flashes of Passion and a few Fits of natural Enthusiasm which are often made use of to the worst of Purposes And first in General let them confider That whoever is Religious indeed his Aim and Design in the Practice of Religion is sincerely the same with that of our Lord in Teaching it which was no other than to Advance God's Honour in the present and eternal Happiness of Mankind By making them Holier and Better to render their Lives easy and comfortable while upon Earth and capacitate
'em for the Happiness of Heaven when this short Life shall end Thus the Apostle 2 Tit. 11. c. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all Men hath appear'd teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a Peculiar People zealous of good Works For this purpose then our Holy Religion was taught us by the Son of God and True Religion no doubt will effectually bring to pass that for which it was design'd And he that is Religious indeed is therefore so that the design'd Effect may throughly be wrought upon him in full perswasion that unless it is so his Pretences to Christianity however warm and forward they may be will signify nothing and he must never expect to be really Happy here or to give a good Account of himself at the day of Judgment And consequently his great Care is to be Master of the Power and Substance of Religion without which the Form of it tho' manag'd with never so much Decency and Constancy and seeming Zeal and Earnestness is really but a Piece of Mimickry a Holy Stage-play an excellent Part Acted by an Ill Man in Masquerade Which tho' perform'd never so much to the Life is still without Reality and therefore indeed puts an Abuse upon Religion and robs God of his Honour defeats all his Gracious Intentions for our Happiness and will be very Tragical in the Conclusion This in General But more particularly in the first Place Let young People have a care of putting on Religion either as a thing of Custom only an Ornamental Dress to recommend them to the Good Esteem of the World and get them Reputation or to bring on Business and Preferment or which is still worse as a Cover to vile Practices which must be disguis'd before they can be put in excution If only the first of these be a Man's End in his Religion Math. 6.2 our Saviour assure us He has his reward a few empty Commendations will be all his Recompence But what a strange Religion is he of who values the Praise of Men more than the Applauses of his own Conscience and the Praise of God! Our Lord's Directions are quite otherwise Thou says he to every one of his Disciples shalt not be as the Hypocrites are whose Character we have Matthew 6. Take heed let Secresie and Sincerity be mingled with all thy Religious Performances which is the Sum of what is there diliver'd in this matter and then Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly But if he further designs it as an Instrument of Wordly Gain and Advancement or a Disguise for those Ill Methods which he intends to take in order to them this is rank Hipocrisie indeed And not only the Pharisees of Old but very many since have ruin'd Kingdoms as well as private Persons by Prayer and Fasting and the Semblance of an extraordinary Devotion In short he whose Religion is not at least as great in secret in his Closet and his Bed when only God can see it as 't is in Publick when in the Eye of Men ought to look upon himself as a Diessmbler in it especially if Gain he his Godliness and Religion only made use of as a Hook to draw it to him Secondly Let the employing our Zeal about the Circumstantials of Religion only be carefully avoided whether in observing or not observing 'em is all one as was touched before when we neglect and it may be violate the Greatest Duties of it For can any Man be so weak as to believe that the observing or not observing such and such Modes of Worship can cleanse the Soul and make it like to God and fit for Heaven They serve indeed for Decency and Order when used with Judgment and Moderation and ought not to be slighted and neglected when enjoyn'd by Lawful Authority but 't is those Duties that will renew us in the Spirit of our Mind and work our Souls into a Divine Frame and Temper which should be a Christian's chief Care to practise in Sincerity of Heart Was it not Gross Hypocrisie in the Pharisees to be more careful and diligent in Titheing Mint and Cummin and Annise in their Washings and Fastings and Attendance at the Publick Offices in the Temple and the like than in performing the weightest matters of the Law Justice Mercy and Fidelity nay indeed to Act quite contrary to them Would not the cleansing themselves from Extortion and Excess have been a much more becoming Employment for them than to be always taken up with washing their Hands and their Garments and Scouring the Cup and the Platter These things ought ye to have done says our Lord and not to have left the other undone Let us beware therefore of Depending too much upon our being of this or that Party for or against such and such Ceremonies going so often to Prayers hearing so many Sermons and the like For 't is not this that will stand us in any stead unless we follow the Example of the Holy Jesus walk as he walkâ— and adorn our Souls with the Graces of his most excellent Religion And if we still are Envious and Malicious Furious and Revengeful Intemperate and Unchaste Unjust and Uncharitable and the like and find our selves very little careful to mortify these vile Affections spending our Zeal and Warmth upon things of infinitely less Consequence it must be concluded that we are not yet Christians in Sincerity Our best Performances at this rate are but as a Sacrifice without a Heart which was always esteem'd as one of the worst of Omens and an Argument of God's great Displeasure Thirdly 'T is a very Ill sign when People pick and choose the Instances of their Obedience to the Christian Law and make a great Shew of and Stir about some Particular Duties which are agreeable to their Natural Temper and which they have no Temptation or it may be Ability to Transgress and all the while Indulge themselves in the Sins they Love and Delight in tho' never so expresly forbidden in the Gospel As if for Instance Because a Man's Constitution inclines him to be Temperate and Chaste he should therefore place the greatest Part of his Religion in Chastity and Temperance and in the mean time allow himself to be Censorious Malicious Covetous Unjust or the like or on the Contrary because he is honest and good natur'd tho' he Whores and Drinks and lives like a Brute yet shall imagine he may fare well enough because he has no Gall in him wishes no body any Harm and is no ones Enemy but his own But this is a Religion of every Man 's own making not that which our Saviour taught the World 't is as various as Mens Tempers and at
and upon such easie terms we may thank our selves if we are as we deserve to be Diseas'd and Miserable I hope we are Sensible that without God's Grace and Divine Assistance we can do nothing that is Good which Grace being His free Gift 't is necessary that we make use of those Means and observe those Times and Seasons which he hath made choice of in order to our Receiving that his Charity and Bounty Now the Chief of these is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by which we are made one with Christ and Christ with us and he dwelleth in us and we in him as our Church expresses it in the Exhortation at the time of the Celebration That is 't is the great Conveyance of every thing that is needful to the Strengthning and Refreshing the Soul of a Christian and making him run with chearfulness the Race that is set before him This then being the great Dispensatory of the Riches of God's Goodness hither must we come if we would be Partakers of it and wilfully to Absent our selves is so great a Slight both of the Dying Institution of our Saviour and the Blessings that will attend the due observance of it as is utterly inexcusable and will be of very Melancholly consequence But I shall not Proceed further upon this Particular either in giving an Account of the Nature of this great Duty or the Manner of Performing it and the Preparation requisite in order to it there being so many excellent Books already written upon this Subject Only give me leave to make one Observation or two For the true meaning of which Words See Archbishop Tillotson's Seventh Sermon Volume the third Printed before his Death in Answer to the usual Plea for Mens neglect of this Holy Sacrament viz. That they are unfit for and unworthy of it and fear therefore that if they do Receive it they shall Receive it unworthily and eat and drink their own damnation As for the latter part of this Plea it proceeds from a great Mistake namely the confounding these two very different things being unworthy to Receive and Receiving unworthily And which when rectified the thing will stand in a clear light 'T is True every Man as a Sinner is unworthy not only of so great a Favour as the Sacrament at the hands of God but of every breath of Air he breaths of every Crumb of Bread he eats in short of every the least Blessing he enjoys and 't is very fit he should be intimately sensible of this his Vnworthiness but yet for all this he that uses any of these Blessings soberly and gives God thanks may very Worthily partake of and enjoy them So here in this Case of the Sacrament the best Man living can't say he is Worthy to Receive it but yet may nevertheless Receive it Worthily or in a manner becoming so sacred a Duty Nay the more deeply sensible he is of his not being Worthy to Receive the more Worthily no doubt he will Receive it And 't is he that Receives Vnworthily not he that is Vnworthy to Receive that incurs the Guilt and the Punishment which the Apostle mentions 1 Cor. 11.29 As for Mens being unfit to Receive or unprepared not to take Notice of the oddness of the Excuse which is in effect the same as to make carelesness and idleness a Plea for Disobedience I only desire they would ask themselves upon what terms they hope to go to Heaven If they know any thing of Christianity they must answer thus I hope to arrive at that happy place thro' the Merits of Jesus my Saviour upon Condition of my own true Faith and sincere Repentance Now if this be thus absolutely necessary to our Salvation we must either quit our Hopes of being sav'd or else sincerely Believe and Repent that is have such a Faith as purifies the heart and works by love and resembles us to Jesus and makes us partakers of a Divine Nature and so Repent as thoroughly to amend and reform our lives and entirely to turn from Sin to God This we see is indispensibly requir'd of us in order to our future happiness and was so before the Sacrament was Instituted and would have been so had it never been Instituted at all Now that which is so necessary as on our part to bring us to Heaven is the very Preparation that is requisite to fit us for the Sacrament the Qualifications for both are exactly the same And therefore he that hopes to be Saved must so Believe and Live as to be fit to Receive the Sacrament unless we 'll say that more is requir'd to our Receiving the Sacrament Worthily than to Eternal Salvation and he that makes his Vnfitness the Excuse of his neglect of it either knows not what he says or else must know that he must cure that Fault or be for ever miserable A Good Life as we all must own if we believe the Scriptures is absolutely necessary to the Happiness we hope for in the other World for without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord and a Good life is without doubt the best Preparation for the Sacrament So that he that lives like a Christian is fit to Communicate and he that does not is fit for nothing but ruine How strange an Excuse then is this which is so often made for Peoples neglect of the Sacrament For with the very same Breath they conclude themselves to have no reasonable Hopes of being Sav'd And so long as they continue unfit for the one they are uncapable of the other And dare they continue in such a state as this Would not such thoughts as these therefore be more becoming every one that names the Name of Jesus I am unfit for Heaven therefore will I frequent the Sacrament Tho' I am Young and probably may live for many Years to come yet since 't is so uncertain whether I shall or no and I can't begin too soon to fit and prepare my self for a happy future state therefore will I address my self to the Receâ—tion of those conveyances of the Divine Grace and Assistance without which I can do nothing and with which I shall be able to do every thing that 's needful to be done to my Salvation thro' Christ that strengthneth me This will compleat my Repentance confirm and enliven my Faith and in every respect make my Obedience more sincere and full the more Defects therefore in each of these I am sensible of the more need have I to approach that Holy Table where all my Spiritual wants shall be supplyed To thee therefore Blessed Saviour I humbly come for help that my sinful Body may be made clean by thy Body wounded and torn for my Offences and my Soul washed by thy most precious Blood which thou didst shed for the remission of my Sins I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my polluted Roof but prepare for thy self an Habitation by the Influences of thy Blessed Spirit and then come Lord