Promises at his hands THIS is enough to shew what a becoming and suitable posture Kneeling is at this Great Solemnity and how Naturally it follows where People entertain right Notions of it and come unto it with humble Minds Nor can I sufficiently admire that of all the Usages in the Christian Church this so Significant so Decent a Ceremony should ever become a stumbling-block and matter of Dispute Certainly it must be an ill sign of very Lofty Imaginations when there is such stiffness in Mens Knees BUT it is high time for me to proceed CHAP. XII Of our Behaviour after Receiving WHEN we have thus devoutly employ'd this blessed hour we must not imagine that our great Business is at an end that we may now drop those Religious Considerations which hitherto took up our time and thoughts that we may now go home leaving our Vows and Resolutions behind us in the Church much less may we think our selves free to fall afresh upon our former course of Life I must tell you the greatest part of our business is yet before us and to stop and rest here in the performance of those things which have hitherto employ'd our minds is the ready way to unravel our whole work and to defeat the design of this Heavenly Ordinance For this Rite of Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table though it be of admirable use yet it is not naturally and intrinsecally good as those Acts and Dispositions of the Mind are wherein the Substance and Excellence of Religion doth consist but it iâ— a Relative thing instituted by our Saviour as a Means to promote and carry on that Noble End for which the Grace of God hath appeared unto all Men that denying all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2. 12. Here indeed we lay the Foundation of a life of Virtue by devoting unto God the Powers and Faculties of our Souls and the Members of our Bodies but as the Ground-work is in order to a Superstructure so are our Actions now in order to the further edifying and perfecting of us that we may be built up more and more in our most Holy Faith and being sitly framed together and compacted may grow and rise up by degrees to an Holy Temple for the Lord to be an Habitation of God through the Spirit THIS you will easily perceive if you observe 1. The Nature of the Ordinance it self It is first a Representation of the very Death of Christ a Representation exhibited to our Sences by the breaking of the Bread and the effusion of the Wine And what doth this mean but to awaken our Fears by shewing us the Terror of the Lord who for the expiation of the World's Guilt spared not his own Son nor would be reconciled to the World at a lower rate than by delivering him up to Torments and Death for us all What doth it mean but to set our Zeal a work upon mortifying all our Lusts and Affections and upon perfecting Holiness in the fear of God because Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and Purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works What doth it mean but to make us ever watchful and circumspect lest we tread under foot the Blood of the Son of God Because if we sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin Heb. 10. 26. It is secondly a Memorial of Christ's Love Love stronger than Death that made him give his life a ransom for the ungodly And what doth this mean but to kindle in our Hearts the most ardent Affections to Him again who so loved us as to die for us The greatest Affection this that 't is possible for any Mortal Man to express to lay down his Life for the Brethren But yet infinitely short of that which the Son of God expressed upon the Cross for his Enemies In this he commended his Love towards us above all proportion and comparison in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us the Just for the Vnjust It is thirdly a foederal Solemnity whereby we renew the Covenant we entred into at our Baptism Vowing Promising and Engaging over the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood and Swearing as it were with our Hands laid upon the Redeemer of our Souls that we will henceforth walk in Newness of Life And what doth this mean but to bind us with the most Solemn Securities and under the most dreadful Penalties to renounce the Devil and all his Works to deny all the Lusts of the Flesh so as not to follow or be led by them and not only to offer up our Hearts and Spirits unto the God of Purity but to present even our Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy and Acceptable to him And for the farthering of all these Noble Ends this Mystery is in the Fourth place the very Means of Grace and Salvation an Instrument that conveys to us the present Possession of all necessary and suitable Assistances and a Title under Seal to all the Evangelical Promises and particularly to this that he that persevereth unto the end the same shall be saved and that to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality God will render Eternal Life Rom. 2. 7. And what doth this mean too but that we should grow in Grace that we must not grieve the good Spirit of God whereby we are Sealed to the day of Redemption but that we should be strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might and give all manner of diligence to make our Calling and Election unto Grace sure and effectual by adding to our Faith Virtue or Courage and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity Charity in the highest degree to all Mankind and even to our Enemies Thus you see the nature of the Ordinance it self is such that it is not only highly useful for the present but of mighty Importance for the future it hath a tendency forward and it drives at mighty Ends which our endeavours are to be employ'd about after the Celebration of it is over that we may be more and more Partakers of the Divine Nature and come every day nearer and nearer to the Life of God TO confirm this still we may observe Secondly That those very Preparations which are required in order to our worthy Communicating do all look the same way and have a direct tendency to the same purpose Thus Faith or the hearty belief of the truth of our Religion upon those Evidences and Motives it carries with it is naturally productive of constant Obedience to the Precepts of it throughout the whole course of our lives For as it discovers to us the Folly the Shamefulness and the bitter Fruits of Sin so it shews
us on the other hand the excellence of Virtue and the beauty of Holiness It proposes Christ's Yoke as an easie thing especially to such as make a due use of the Spirits Assistance and accustom themselves to the familiar practice of Religion And though at the first entrance upon a Life of Holiness there may be many difficulties for us to grapple with Affections to be regulated evil Habits to be eradicated Pleasures and secular Advantages to be denied when they stand in competition with our Duty and though in the progress of our life many temptations from within and without us are to be resisted many hardships and tryals to be expected and abundance of discouragements of several kinds to be met with before we die yet we learn from our Religion that the present satisfactions which attend a course of Virtue are so great and the future Rewards which are to crown it are so endless and unspeakable that upon weighing the one against the other we cannot but conclude that neither the Pleasures nor the Sufferings of this life are worthy in the least measure to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed Now if we bring such a Faith as this with us to the Sacrament if we be strong and stablish'd in it this alone will naturally serve to defend us as with a Shield from all Fiery Darts of the Devil and to render us puissant enough to overcome the World 1 Joh. 5. But to prepare us the better still for an uninterrupted course of Virtue we are moreover to repent us throughly for all our past Sins and to present our selves before God with new Hearts and new Spirits which is not required as a Temporary Disposition to be brought only at this time before the Altar there to languish and die with Vows that are Abortive and that yield either no Fruits at all or at least no perfect Fruits of Repentance No this is to be the beginning of a new life the first rise and starting towards the Race that is set before us and as we run it our Repentance must improve and grow from Shame and Sorrow for Sin to an Hatred of it from this Hatred of it to strong Resolutions against it and from those Resolutions against it to an utter abandoning and forsaking of it abstaining not only from all sorts but as far as 't is possible from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. In like manner those Bowels of Mercy and Kindness which we put on at this time are to entender our Nature for ever and to produce in us such large and generous Affections as may extend not only to our Brethren and Friends and to the Family of Christ but to the whole Offspring of Adam to whom we are so to open our Compassions that such as are within our reach may participate those of our Bread those of our Instructions all of our good Wishes and Prayers in imitation of that most blessed Pattern and Idea of Charity who went about doing Good Heb. 10. 38. Briefly all other Spiritual Graces as Humility Meekness Patience Self-denial Heavenly-mindedness and the like wherewith our Souls are to be arrayed and adorned at this Solemnity if we consider the tendency of them they are so many initial Virtues to be improved and heightned still by the continual practice of them so that from Acts they may turn into Dispositions and from Dispositions may grow into Habits which will quite change purifie and raise our Nature till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4. 13. I have the more particularly insisted upon this to shew you the necessity of your Watchfulness and Industry after this blessed Solemnity is over You must not by any means sit down presently as if the work of the Day and the business of your Souls were quite done You must ever bear it in your minds that Christianity requires a life of Virtue You must carry a steddy Eye upon the Scope and Design of our Holy Religion and employ all your utmost endeavours in the vigorous pursuit of its noble End Brethren saith the Apostle I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things wich are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3. 13 14. And as it follows there Let us as many as be perfect be thus minded still running and stretching as hard as we can towards the end of our Faith and Hope by an earnest pursuit of whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good Report Phil. 4. 8. Remember I beseech you that this and other instituted Ordinances though they bring great Peace and Comfort to pious Souls by the present Administration of them they are still instrumental Helps to carry on the main Purpose and Will of God even our Sanctification So that if we do not use this Ordinance as an Instrument of improving and perfecting Holiness and as a Means pursuant thereunto whatever Relish and Pleasure it carries with it for the present it will not avail us as to the main FOR the benefits which are conveyed to all well-disposed Hearts by this Sacrament are not only the enlivening Influences of Christ's Spirit called Christ's Spiritual Body and Blood because they flow and are derived from him as he is the Head of his Church and the Disposer of all those Blessings which are the Fruits of his Intercession but moreover the Pardon of Sin past and a Title to an happy Resurrection and Eternal life to come Now as the First of these the Influences of Christ's Spirit are intended to transform us into the Image of God and to con-naturalize our Spirits to the Nature of God so are the latter the Effects of his pure Love and Goodness whereby he rewards those that resemble him by a similitude of Nature I speak now not of God's general love of Benevolence which moves him to do good to us as we are meerly his Creatures without any regard had to our probity or improbity in which sence he is said to have loved the World Joh. 3. 16. But of that particular Love which Divines call Love of Friendship and Complacency the formal Object whereof is Righteousness or a Rectitude of Nature conformable in a great measure to his own as the Psalmist tells us Ps 11. 7. The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his Countenance doth behold the upright This is a ray of his own Glory and the Correspondence thereof to his own Divine Perfections is the true Ground and Reason of that especial Love he bears to some more than he bears to others because it is impossible but he must love the Image of
any anxious thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Matth. 6. 25. But use this World as those that use it not for the Fashion of this World passeth away Heb. 7. 31. INSTEAD of this set your Affection Heavenly-Mindedness on things above Col. 3. 2. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Matth. 6. 33. Let your Conversation be in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. Walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called and put off concerning the former Conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind Ephes 4. 22 23. For to be carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 6. FROM this Heavenly-mindedness naturally Contentment springs another great Duty viz. to be satisfied with such a share and Portion of this World as it shall please God to dispense to us to be pleased with such things as we have Heb. 13. 5. And with that Food which God shall judge convenient for us Prov. 3. 8. And having Food and Raiment therewith to be content 1 Tim. 6. 8. WHOSOEVER will come after me Self-denial let him deny himself saith our Saviour Mark 8. 34. And these are necessary Acts of Self-denial to cast down Imaginations and every thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and to bring into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. To count all things but loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus Phil. 3. 8. Not to trust in your selves that ye are Righteous Luke 18. 9. But to renounce your own Righteousness Phil. 3. 9. To deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts Tit. 2. 12. To part with a right Hand and right Eye Matth. 5. 29 30. that is with every the dearest and most useful thing when it is an occasion of Sin or an hindrance to Virtue and to forsake Houses Lands Father Mother and all that a Man hath for the sake of Christ Luke 14. 33. TO this add that other Evangelical Grace of Purity of Heart which is Purity of Heart when you mortifie your Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection and evil Concupiscence and when laying aside all Naughtiness and all Guile and all Hypocrisie as new born Babes you desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. IN order to this Temperance is a very Temperance necessary Virtue Every Man that striveth for the Mastery is Temperate in all things 1 Cor. 9. 25. And to this purpose are those Directions that we should cast off the works of Darkness that we should walk honestly as in the Day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness Rom. 13. 12 13. Not in Excess of Wine Revellings and Banquetings 1 Pet. 4. 3. Not to suffer our Hearts to be overcharged with Surfeiting Luke 21. 34. But to abstain from such Fleshly Lusts as War against the Soul 1 Pet. 2. 11. To add to our Knowledge Temperance 2 Pet. 1. 6. To keep under the Body and bring it into Subjection 1 Cor. 9. 27. AND for the Improving and perfecting Fortitude of all these Virtues we are to arm our selves with Resolution and Courage to watch to stand fast in the Faith to quit our selves like Men to be strong 1 Cor. 16. 13. To resist the Devil Jam. 4. 7. To endure Temptation Jam. 1. 12. Not to fear them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather to fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell Mat. 10. 28. Finally to be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might and to put on the whole Armour of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil and having done all to stand Ephes 6. 10 11 13. AS for those Christian Virtues which have reference to others they are of great Variety according as we stand related differently unto them SOME more immediately concern our Virtues concerning private Families respective Families So Husbands are to love their Wives even as Christ loved the Church Ephes 5. 25. Not to be bitter against them Col. 3. 19. But to dwell with them according to Knowledge giving Honour to the Wife as to the weaker Vessel and as being Heirs together of the Grace of God that their Prayers be not hindred 1 Pet. 3. 7. Wives are to submit themselves to their own Husbands as unto the Lord Ephes 5. 22. Not learning to be Idle or to wander about from House to House neither to be Tatlers or Busie-bodies speaking things which they ought not 1 Tim. 5. 13. But to be in Behaviour as becometh Holiness to be Discreet Chaste Keepers at home Good Obedient to their own Husbands that the Word of God be not Blasphemed Tit. 2. 3. 5. Parents must not provoke their Children to Wrath but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Ephes 6 4. And to lay up for them 2 Cor. 12. 14. Children on the other hand to obey their Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandment with Promise that it may be well with thee and thou may'st live long on the Earth Ephes 6. 1 2 3. Servants to be subject to their Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward 1 Pet. 2. 18. Not answering again not purloining but shewing all good Fidelity Tit. 2. 9. 10. Being Obedient with Fear and Trembling in singleness of Heart as unto Christ not with Eye-service as Men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the Will of God from the Heart With good will doing service as unto the Lord and not to men And ye Masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of Persons with him Ephes 6. 5 6 7 9. SOME Virtues relate to larger Societies Larger Societies Justice as Righteousness and Equity in your Dealings He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly Mich. 6. 8. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even the same to them Matth. 7. 12. To do violence to no man Luc. 3. 14. Not to make haste to be rich Prov. 28. 20. By divers Weights and Measures both which are alike abomination to the Lord Prov. 20. 10. Not to go beyond or desraud our Brother in any matter 1 Thes 4. 6. Not to do wrong but rather to take it 1 Cor. 6. 7. But to have an honest conversation 1 Pet. 2. 12. In sâ—mplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. Because he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and