rejoyce in nothing so much as in this that I love thee XX. O my bountiful Saviour O my loving Redeemer When when shall it be that I shall love thee perfectly Here on Earth I must not hope for this Happiness but in Heaven I shall O Heaven Heaven How desirable art thou Where the Love of Jesus shall eternally reign in my Soul Where my Love shall be perfectly pure perfectly Seraphick perfectly Extatical and Eternal Ages shall not alter it At present I am in Prison encompassed with a Mortal Body and must sojourn in a wicked World Oh when will that Day that Hour that Minute that happy Time come that I shall be delivered from this Dungeon and translated to that place where Love is all in all where Love knows no End no Decay no Period where it is pure without Mixture invariable without Changes eternal without ceasing Come Lord Jesu Come quickly Particular Acts of Devotion at the Acts of Consecration and Receiving of the Consecrated Bread and Wine At the Minister's pouring out the holy Wine into the Cup. O Jesu Who can think of the flowing of thy Blood without being desirous to be washed with it Or I fancy I do at this present stand under thy Cross and see thee bleeding for my Sins Or Oh. Let thy Blood flow upon my wounded Soul that I may become a sound Member of thy Mystical Body At the Minister's laying his Hand upon the Bread O Blessed Saviour Lay thy Hand upon my Soul that all my Distempers may depart from me Or Oh lay hold on my Soul as the Angel did on Lot Save me from the Flames and let me escape into the Mount of God that I perish not At the Minister's Breaking the Bread Lord Jesu In suffering thy Body to be broken for my Sins I see the Vehemence the Strength and Fervour of thy Love Oh make me all Love all Fervour all Charity Or Oh break the united Forces of my Sins scatter them by thy mighty Arm. Gather the broken Planks of Vertue in my Soul unite them make them whole and strong and secure against the Fury of Winds and Tempests At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Body Lord Let me look off from these material Things and shew me Things invisible and Heavenly Or O Lord The Benefits of thy wounded Body my Soul longs for Oh say They shall be thy Portion At the Minister's touching the Cup. Lord Touch my Soul that it may feel the Power of thy Super-abundant Charity Or Oh! Touch me as thou didst the Blind of old that I may see the Bowels of thy Compassion and rejoyce in the glorious Sight At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Blood Lord My Soul wants Wine of another nature than is in this Cup Oh wash it and cleanse it and purifie it in thy Blood Or Lord Speak thou to my Soul and say I will be thou clean At the Receiving of the Bread Lord Let thy Death be my Life And the Bread represented by this Bread feed me into Everlasting Life Or Lord As thou hast provided Food for my Soul so give me a Taste and Relish also of this Food and a Tongue to praise thy Name for ever Or Lord As thou hast given thy Body for me so I freely offer my Soul and Body as Living Sacrifices to thy Majesty At the Receiving of the Cup. Lord Nothing is more precious than thy Blood Oh! Let it warm my Heart that it may comply with thy Will wlthout wavering Or Lord Bid me look upon thy Blood and in thy Blood upon the Reconciliation wrought by it to the Comfort and Edification of my Soul Or O Lord I am heavy laden and my Pollutions are great And as thy Blood alone can remove that Burthen so free me from those Spots and Wrinkles which make me look deformed in thy Sight CHAP. XXVIII Of the proper Acts of Devotion after we have Received The CONTENTS The Time that is left after our Personal Receiving before all have Communicated not to be spent in Gazing or Looking about Acts of Devotion to be used after Receiving and relating to the Wisdom Mercy Liberality Love Goodness Greatness and Majesty of God to our own Vileness and Unworthiness c. IT falls out so often that when we have Communicated and our Souls have been fed at this Table a considerable Space of Time remains before the united Praises and Thanksgivings of the Congregation begin again This Time be it more or less must not be spent in looking about or in sitting still or in thinking of what Objects our Fancy is pleased to offer and present to us but in holy Aspirations And that the Communicant may know how to employ himself in that Interval it may not be amiss to set down some pious and proper Ejaculations whereby he may exercise his Mind according as Time will permit I. O God! Thy Love in Christ Jesus deserves to be praised admired and magnified There is all that in it which can engage a Soul to break forth into Praises and Hallelujahs There is Beauty Wisdom Condescention Mercy Liberality Sweetness Power Greatness Majesty in it and all these in the highest Degree which would force even a dumb Man to speak of thy Glory II. I adore thee O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity for that infinite Care of my immortal Soul which I see in all thy Proceedings and Transactions and particularly in the Cross of my dearest Redeemer Here thou seemest to empty all thy Stores and pourest out thy Grace abundantly upon the Heads and Hearts of thy Servants Behold Bless ye the Lord all ye Servants of the Lord which by Night stand in the House of the Lord Lift up your Hands in the Sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made Heaven and Earth hath blessed us out of Zion III. O Charming Son of God! I alone am not able sufficiently to praise thee and therefore I wish that every Drop of the Ocean every Grain of Sand every Leaf of the Trees of the Field and every Sprig of Herbs and all the Creatures that ever were or are or shall be might be turn'd into Seraphick Tongues to praise thee IV. O Jefu When I behold thy wonderful Love how it hath bowed how it hath stooped to so mean a Creature as I am the Thoughts of it force my Soul into the humblest and deepest Prostrations Thou art Beauty I am Deformity Thou art Wisdom I am Ignorance Thou art Light I am Darkness Thou art Omnipotence I am feeble Thou art Purity I am Filth and Dung Thou art rich I am Poverty it self Thou art happy I am Misery it self Thou art Perfection I am Weakness Thou art All in All I am nothing V. O Blessed Saviour When I see how Men fall in love with a mortal and fading Beauty which to Day shines bright as the Sun to Morrow by Sickness or Death is all tarnish'd and decay'd how do I blame my self that I do not love thee better whose
reproaches on Christ himself as if the motives he was come to give the World were impotent and unable to effect that mighty change the Gospel speaks of and which the Son of God used to Glory in while the World was so happy as to enjoy his Presence The Devils rejoyce to see Christ thus defeated in his grand designs of Reformation and though he is in Glory at this time yet the Hypocrites actions raise a Persecution against him and put the Devils upon new insolencies against his Honour and Majesty what say they are these thy Servants and Disciples are these the Men that are changed from Glory to Glory What do they more than the disciples of Hell And if the little pleasures of the World I hold out to them can preponderate and do more with them than the Arguments of thy death and the motives drawn from a Glorious endless life where is thy power or wherein hath thy Kingdom the advantage of my Empire III. He was betray'd partly for filthy Lucre partly for his unchangeable Integrity 1. For filthy Lucre. The love of Money the root of all evil was the cause of it The Thirty Peices of Silver invited the Traitor to this Enterprise So powerful is Gold and Silver that at this day it tempts Men to betray the Son of God for we see they care not what becomes of Religion so their Purses swell and are indifferent whether Gods Honour be maintained or no so their Corn and Wine and Oyl increaseth This makes Men venture on the foulest sins and draws them into actions which should not be so much as named among Christians This tempts them to oppress to cheat to flatter to dissemble to lie and to forswear themselves to comply with the sinful humours of Men and to debase their Souls to the dirtiest and most disingenuous Actions yet all this while such will be counted Christians and Protestants and of the true Religion against which the Gates of Hell shall not be able to prevail 2. For his unchangeable Integrity He would not allow Judas to profess himself his Disciple and cherish base and covetous desires the Lord Jesus that knew his heart we may suppose bid him either leave his profession or with his profession cleanse the inside of the Cup and Platter convinced him that the love of God and that of the World were incompatible and did mutually destroy each other This the illnatured Disciple could not brook and because his Master would not give him leave to enjoy Gods favour and his own sins together he betray'd him This is the case of Counterfeit Christians at this day because Christ will not permit them to blend his Religion with their delight in vanity will not allow them to serve God and Mammon they expose his Religion to that contempt and scorn we have mention'd as if they would be revenged upon God for being so unkind to them as not to permit an alliance to be made betwixt the Temple of God and Idols betwixt Christ and Belial betwixt Light and Darkness IV. Why Christ would Institute this Sacrament that very Night in which he was betray'd will appear from these following Reasons 1. To shew that he delighted not in the death of the Sinner therefore the same Night that he was betray'd he provided a remedy that Sinners might not die and whereby the Offenders might be restored to life and happiness if they did not wilfully reject it That Pardon and Deliverance and freedom from everlasting Death is offer'd tender'd convey'd and sealed in this Sacrament to every Sinner that is unfeignedly resolv'd to be Friends with God upon his own terms is confess'd by all the Christian World It was therefore Instituted that Night that Judas did betray him to shew that if even Judas and all such Traytors that should some way or other imitate him in his Actions either had come or should for the future come and throw away their Weapons their Enmity and their Arms quit their Hostility and humble themselves before their offended Father that they shall not miss of Mercy and Forgiveness than which there cannot be a greater sign that he delights not in their Ruin That Night when he was persecuted to provide a Refuge for his Persecutors That Night when his Enemies were like to practise Treason to think on a way how that Treason might be pardoned That Night when they were going to undo themselves to provide a Pool in which they might wash and be clean This surely spoke his desire that they might not die Wonderful Goodness He foresaw the Wounds they would give to their Souls and before they give themselves those wounds he prepares a Plaister to heal them He saw how fierce and violent the Poison was they were going to take and at the same time provides an Antidote He saw they were going to starve their Souls and at the same time orders Meat and Drink to be made ready to preserve them from expiring 2. He Instituted it that very Night to admonish us that when we come to receive these Holy Elements we should remember with grief and sorrow how often we have betray'd his Glory to his Enemies and by the heinousness of the sin be frighted from attempting the like again and what can be more reasonable at such times than to reflect Ah Wretch that I am How like a Bruit have I lived under the Name of a Christian I have called my Master Lord and have done mine own Will I have called him Father and when he hath bid me work in his Vineyard have run away I have profess'd love to the Lord Jesus and been asham'd of him and of his Gospel I have seem'd a devout Worshipper of him and been a stranger to self-denial And when my Profit Ease or Credit have been in danger how have I left him with the Disciples and fled How have I betray'd him by such cowardice What occasion of reproach have I given to his Enemies How have I harden'd others in their sins by such doings How have I made sensual Men despise that noble Religion the Son of God sealed with his dearest Blood And shall I betray him any longer Shall I still deliver him up to be mock'd Shall I dare to do such a barbarous thing again No No I 'll confess Thee before Men my Dearest Lord that thou mayst confess and own me in the last day before thy Father and his Holy Angels 3. He Instituted this Sacrament that Night to teach us that we must do good for evil Judas betrays him and that very Night he is contriving how Judas if he would have accepted of the offer might be saved from Everlasting ruin this was his method and course of living in the World to reward unkindnesses with tenderness and compassion to the Offenders The Jews cry Crucifie him and he prays for them Father forgive them for they know not what they do Malchus who came out against him to apprehend him and as 't is probable was
Axes no noise of War no Armies of Aliens to fright us from the Publick Ordinances that we can meet and remember our Crucified Master without fear without disturbance without danger and that instead of being discountenanced in the Service we have all the encouragement that Authority can give and our Magistrates are nursing Fathers which not only allow of our frequenting the House of God but also compel us to come in How did the excellent David bemoan himself when through the Malice of Saul his Antagonist he was forced away from the Publick Offices of the Church How much happier did he think Swallows and Sparrows to be than himself which had liberty to build their Nests about the roof of the Temple and there to lay their Young Psal 84. 1 2 3. While he must be content with wishes and breathings after the Courts of the Lord and strangers cast it in his Teeth of often Where is now thy God! Psal. 42. 2 3. We that have all the external advantages of Religion and are even cloy'd with the plenty of Spiritual Provision cannot imagine the lamentable condition that persecuted Christians are in who are forced to serve the Lord with fear and to attend his Ordinances with trembling who are not permitted to sing the Songs of Zion in a strange Land and therefore must hang their Harps upon the Willows sit weeping by the Rivers of Babylon and hear the Enemy roar in the midst of the Congregations of the Lord. Yet if the liberty we enjoy makes us wanton and the plenty God gives us tempts us to licentiousness if instead of growing better it makes us worse and the Glory of our Temple proves an occasion of dishonouring that God who dwells in them if our going up to Mount Zion makes us proud and the means of Grace whereof we have such store are improved into quarrels and dissentions if instead of Glorifying God for this affluence we fall out among our selves and instead of letting our Light shine before Men espouse the works of Darkness if instead of being obedient to the Faith we disgrace it by our infidelity and instead of the power of Godliness content our selves with the Form of it if the Manna we have doth not make us Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness and the great Truths God hath vouchsafed us do not make our Lives great and exemplary we have reason to fear God will remove our Candlesticks from us and send a Famine of the Word God did so to Jerusalem and did so to the Eastern Churches and we being like them may justly expect the same Judgments II. The Church is the House of God keep therefore thy foot when thou goest to the House of God Eccles. 5. 1. As Men that walk in danger look to their steps and take care where they set their Foot so he that enters into the House of Prayer had need enter with great cautiousness and watchfulness for the comes before a God who sees his Thoughts takes notice of his Designs and knows the secret recesses of his Soul observes his Looks and Postures and Behaviour and will at last call him to an account for his carelesness and irreverence Were these things seriously thought of how could the generality of us come into this House with no greater awe and with as loose Affections as if they were going to a Play How durst we stare about in Prayer How could we let our Thoughts rove and wander while we seem to be engaged in Devotion How could we hear with that indifferency How could we apply our selves to the Duties required of us with that coldness which is so visible in most Congregations How could we turn our Services into mere Formalities and stand before the great God unconcerned and return from his House without a relish of the Mysteries of Godliness To see what decency and gravity Men observe in the Presence of a Prince and to think how little regard we have to the Presence of a Glorious God in the House which he is pleased to call his Tabernacle and Dwelling-place is enough to make the Holy Angels conclude that in the midst of his Temple we are Infidels to see how supinely some sit at their Prayers as if they were praying to a Stock or Stone to see how others compose themselves to sleep as if the God they come to worship with Baal were asleep too and they came to honour him with that posture to see how some come to shew their Bravery here and to be seen and taken notice of and to be admired by Spectators to see how others strive for Places for Superiority and the chief Seats in these Synagogues and there vent their Pride their Anger and their Malice where they ought to express their greatest Humility and Charity to see how others talk here of their worldly Concerns or if they do not talk of them act and behave themselves as if they thought of nothing else where they are to mind only the great concerns of their immortal Souls to see all this what can we infer but that Men have no Sense of the Tremendous Majesty on High No sense of the Mysteries the very Angels desire to look into These things My Brethren ought not so to be When therefore thou goest to the Temple of the Lord remember the Magnificence of that God at whose Footstool thou goest to worship When thou enter'st in at the door of this House leave there thy Worldly thoughts and Carnal desires and come fill'd with the Spirit into the Tabernacle of the Lord Sit and Stand and Kneel there as before the Searcher of all Hearts resolve to come away from thence edified and with greater store of Spiritual Blessings than thou hadst before In praying fix thy Thoughts upon Him who heareth Prayer and if thou dost thou canst not but appear in such a posture as doth best express thy inward sense of his Greatness and Holiness In hearing apply the general Admonitions and Exhortations and Reproofs to thine own Soul In Reading make some spiritual reflection on the Examples Precepts Promises that are before thee In singing mind the Matter more than the Tune and let thy Heart bear part in the Exercise In receiving the Supper of the Lord let not the outward humble posture be all the Service thou performest but fix the eyes of thy Understanding upon the Cross and there contemplate the Mercy that flows from it and from thence take Fire and Courage to abound in love to God and Man At thy going in beg of God to prepare thy Heart At thy coming out beg that thou may'st not lose the things that have been wrought in thee and this is to keep thy foot when thou goest into the House of God The PRAYER O Thou in whose Temple every Man speaks of thine Honour whose Glory no mortal Man can sufficiently express whose Goodness no Tongue is able to display whose Holiness transcends all the Perfections we see here below Overawe my Spirit when I go
yet still these Spirits as bright as they were were Creatures and as Creatures mutable and as mutable subject to falling and falling might expect Mercy and Compassion from an All-merciful Master yet in the great Work of Redemption no Regard is had to them but to Man only and he alone with his Race and Posterity is put in a Possibility of being saved and pardon'd a Mercy fit to be remembred in this Sacrament but not to be remembred without Thanksgiving and Praises 4. For the Opportunity we have of remembring Christ's Death in the holy Sacrament That we have Liberty to meet in the House of God to behold his Power and Glory to speak of his Love and Compassion and to come to his Table and to come of often and so freely without Disturbance or Molestation without Fear of Danger from the Tabernacles of Edom or from the Ishmaelites from Moab or the Hagarens Though these are Things which seem to be no great matter to an Eye that looks on Things superficially yet to a Person that knows how in the Greek Church the holy Sacrament is consecrated but once a Year how in Heathenish Countries where Ministers of the Word are scarce this Ordinance is used but seldom and how great an Hindrance to Goodness the celebrating it but rarely is how apt the Inward Man in such Cases is to faint and languish and grow sick for want of it will think himself obliged to open his Heart and Mouth in Praises at this holy Table and adore the Divine Bounty which hath given him Will and Strength and Opportunity to come to this comfortable Ordinance 5. For feeling our Hearts affected with the Mystery of Reconciliation or finding in our selves those happy Qualifications which make us worthy Receivers at this Table To feel in our Hearts a lively Faith a Faith which with Moses sees him that is invisible a Faith that overcomes the World a Faith that purifies the Heart a Faith that with Abraham moves us to sacrifice and offer that to God which is most dear to us a Faith that makes us patient under Reproaches and Injuries a Faith that is fruitful in good Works To find in our selves an Hope that makes not ashamed an Hope that makes us wait for the Kingdom of God as the Husbandman waits for the Fruit of the Earth an Hope that upholds our Hearts in Afflictions an Hope that makes us look upon that within the Vail into the Sanctuary of Heaven and counts the Troubles of this present Life not worthy to be compared with the Glory which ere long shall be revealed in us To find in our selves an holy Charity which believes the best of our Neighbours and thinks no Evil except there be very great Cause for it a Charity which suppresses Revenge and Malice and not only suppresses it for the present but labours to destroy it too a Charity which moves us to Kindness and Compassion not only verbal but actual a Charity which makes us tender-hearted forgiving one another and forbearing one another To find all this in some measure must needs fill our Hearts with strong Desires and Endeavours to be thankful VII This Praise and Thanksgiving cannot but be essential to this holy Sacrament not a mere Ornamental Thing without which the blessed Effects may be perceived and felt For 1. Is it possible to behold God's bleeding Love and not cry Praise the Lord O Jerusalem Praise thy God O Zion Is it possible to see the surprizing Humiliation of the Son of God and not to say Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Is it possible to see God offer himself for his Enemies and not to sâ—ng Lord what is Man that thou so regardest him and the Sons and Daughters of Men that thou hast such Respect to them Is it possible to see Innocence nailed to the fatal Cross not for any Sins of its own but for our Transgressions and not to break forth into Admiration with St. John Behold what manner of Love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Sons of God The Heart must be of Stone that can survey these Wonders and be silent or dumb to joyful Praises 2. What Comfort or Consolation can be supposed to flow into the Soul without it Praise is the Gate of Mercy The Soul that praises the Divine Love much will have a greater Sense of his Love and feel the Power of it and feel how it melts the Heart supples the Spirit softens the Inward Man and makes it fit for the Impress of the Image of the Son of God As the Jews say of the Spirit of Prophesse That it rests on valiant and chearful Men so it may be said of the Divine Love Where the Soul is much and often engaged in Praises of it there it loves to dwell there it is ready to build Tabernacles and take up its Residence The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. EVen the meanest Capacities from hence learn the Way to arrive to holy Thoughts viz. by making the most ordinary Blessings Occasions of Praise and Thanksgiving Nothing is more common than Bread yet for this the Son of Man gave Thanks and in doing so bid us imitate his Practice when the like familiar Mercies come before us or present themselves to our View About the Time of the Council at Constance two Cardinals as they were travelling upon the Road not far from the City saw a poor Shepherd weeping and thinking that some sad Accident might have befallen him either his Dog lost or some of his Sheep stolen had the Curiosity to ask him the Reason of his Tears who answer'd I am looking here upon a Toad and cannot but weep to think what an ungrateful Beast I have been to my God to whom I never before in all my Life gave Thanks that he â—e did not make me so homely and so odious a Creature The Truth is you and I can hardly walk the Street but we meet with Men either ragged or lame or maim'd or blind or dumb or some other way deform'd and extreamly miserable Can we look on such Objects and not think with our selves what a Favour and Mercy it was in our great and gracious God not to plunge us into that wretched State but to give us Necessaries and Conveniencies a right Shape and Soundness of Limbs c. These 't is true are but very ordinary Blessings yet if we consider how many Thousands want them and that God who can do all Things and whose Hand is to be seen in all Things might as easily have reduced us to such a miserable Condition as he hath done others and that it is nothing but his Infinite Goodness and Wisdom that hath made this Distinction this cannot but quicken our Understandings And if so none of us can complain that we have no Faculty of furnishing our Minds with holy Thoughts To this purpose certainly was our Reason given us that we might
or equivocation declare themselves willing ready and resolved to perform the things agreed upon God what he promises and Man what he engages to do For God consider'd as the Father Everlasting promises here to treat us as his Children to be tender of our Spiritual and Eternal Welfare to seek our good and turn all things to our good to pass by the Unkindnesses and Indignities we have offer'd to him to forgive and throw them into the depth of the Sea to impute them no more to count us innocent to justifie us here and like a Father to provide an Eternal Inheritance for us i. e. to glorifie us for ever The Son of God consider'd not only as the Eternal Wisdom of the Father but as Mediator and Redeemer of the World promises to be our Intercessor and Advocate with his Righteousness to cover our Infirmities with his Wounds to cherish our Souls to answer all the Arguments and Objections of the Devil against us and to be our Friend our Brother our Shepherd â—nd our New and Living Way to his Father's Bosom The Holy Ghost doth promise to enlighten us to be our Guide in the dark to comfort us in all our Tribulations to teach us how to pray to assure us of God's love to fill us with joy in believing to increase our Graces to strengthen us in all Difficulties to support us in our Spiritual Dangers to arm us with Arguments against Temptations and to give us a Right to a future happy Resurrection This is the mighty promise God makes to poor Sinners in the Sacrament On the other side we that come to the Table of our Lord and do not intend to come in vain do solemnly promise particularly to the Eternal Father that we will own that relation with joy and walk as his Children not fashioning our selves according to our former Lusts in our ignorance but be holy as he that hath call'd us is holy that we will no longer live like Rebels and Prodigals under the Name of Children but make good that Glorious Title by our Lives shine as Lights in the World and endeavour to be spotless and blameless and by our Lives and Actions and good Works glorifie our Father which is in Heaven We promise here to God the Son and the Great Redeemer that we will not only accept of his purchas'd Blessings but submit to his Scepter too and that he shall be not only our Saviour but our Sovereign King and Master also to whom we will think our selves obliged to submit in all things that he shall say unto us in his Gospel that his Life shall be the pattern of ours and his Example and Command shall do more with us than our Gain or Appetite or Interest that we will be loyal to him who redeem'd our Lives from Destruction and will act as Spiritnal Subjects in his Spiritual Kingdom We promise also to God the Holy Ghost That we will not only expect his Benefit and Comforts but be guided by his Motions That we will not reâ—â—st his Checks and Reproofs but hearken to them whenever our Hearts do smite us That we will not prefer the Dictates of a Lying Devil before his Lively Oracles nor joyn with the Motions of our Fâ—esh against his Intreaties and Obtestations That we will make much of his gracious Visits and take heed we do not by our Sins and Follies defile the Temple of the Holy Ghost That we will cherish his kinder Influences and take care that the Grace and Talent he confers upon us be not buried in the Earth or laid up useless in a Napkin And this is a Scheme of the solemn Covenant a Believer a Receiver a Communicant enters into with the Holy Trinity in this Tremendous Sacrament a Covenant that ought to be more sacred than the Leagues of Princes and more religiously observed than the Treaties and Engagements of the dearest Friends VI. This Covenant we enter into first of all in our Baptism when our Age is Tender our Desires Innocent and our Souls like soft Wax fit for any Impression and consequently fit for the Impress of the Divine Image and though that Age be not capable of entering actually into a Covenant with the Lord of Heaven and Earth yet it 's enough that our Parents and Friends who have Power over us do then make this Covenant with God for us dedicate us to his Service appoint us Candidates of Holiness and consecrate us early to the performance of the Conditions required in this Covenant a Charity just and a genuine effect of Paternal Care which as it loves the Child should share in their Temporal Enjoyments so it cannot but desire it should participate of the Blessings of this Covenant And since these Blessings are not to be had without the Obligation of Faith Repentance and Obedience though the Child cannot actually exercise these Virtues yet being offer'd to God upon these Conditions the Parents do not only shew their good Will to have the Child enrol'd in the Book of Life but lay the strongest Obligations on the Child to stand to the Terms of the Covenant when it comes to display the Glory of its Rational Faculties and therefore may expect an actual Conveyance of the Spiritual Blessings of this Covenant to the Child by the secret Operations of the Holy Ghost which Blessings the Child hath a Right to till enticed by Lust and the Vanity of the World it grows proud rebellious and shakes of the conduct of its Guide viz. The Spirit of the Holy Jesus For God knows the World and the Devil watch the first rising of the Sun I mean the first Appearances of Reason and seek to obscure and darken them by Mists of Sensuality into which Pit the Young Man that was in his Infancy dedicated to God too often falls and there lies and sleeps and many times awakes not till Death summons him to the dreadful Bar of Heaven Where it is so that the Covenant we enter'd into in the Morning of our Days is forgotten slighted and polluted with Filthiness and superfluity of Naughtiness what can we think but that the intended Blessings of the Covenant cease and die and are withdrawn from the degenerate Creature and the Promises of God being our Father our Saviour and our Comforter are null'd at least the performance of them suspended till the Apostate comes to himself again This early perfidiousness too common and too general discovers the absolute necessity of renewing this Covenant when we are able to understand the greatness and importance of the Contract and to enter into that Bond in our own Persons especially in the Supper of the Lord and there solemnly to engage our Souls to the performance of the Conditions required on our side upon which what God hath graciously promis'd will effectually be perform'd again an offer not to be slighted for it is an argument of infinite Patience and Goodness that God will give the Backslider leave to enter into the broken Covenant and