Eating and Drinking not being to satisfie Hunger but for Sacred Ends 't is fit we come to it with a suitable and a Sacred Carriage and in that consists the Worthiness of the Usage Were it onely a Feast on Common Food we should behave our selves worthily at it by thanking God for it and being Temperate But being a Feast wherein Religion is concerned and whereat we are to remember the Death of our Lord and to Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love with all the Christian World to the doing this worthily and as 't is fit we should there is more required For we deal very unworthily in remembring the Death of our Lord if we are not thankful for it and in ratifying the New Covenant with God if we are not sincere in it and in promising Love to all the Christian World if we are in enmity and hatred These Religious Ends must be answered with a Religious Temper and a Devout Carriage and then they are treated as they ought and as their Worth requires This is signified by several Copies which in 1 Cor. 11.27 read not barely Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup OF THE LORD VNWORTHILY but whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord VNWORTHILY OF THE LORD i. e. in a way unworthy of him which clearly shews the Unworthiness to consist in the want of those Tempers wherewith 't is sit our Blessed Lord who is commemorated in it should be treated And this the Apostle plainly intimates when he places the unworthiness of Eating in not Discerning or rather Discriminating the Lords Body and putting a difference between it and Common Food by a different Carriage and Behaviour at it He that eats and drinks unworthily says he eats and drinks Damnation to himself for such unworthy usage which lies in his not discerning or rather not discriminating the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 Thus doth a worthy Eating of the Sacrament consist in answering its Sacred Ends with Sacred and suitable Carriage and Dispositions And therefore that we may see what Behaviour is worthy of it 't is fit we run over those several Ends and inquire what Tempers every one of them requires of us Those Ends are Three 1 st To Remember Christ our Blessed Lord and Saviour and particularly his Dying for us which call for Love Joy Gratitude Obedient Resolutions and such like Tempers 2 ly To Confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God which is not worthily done by us unless we come to it in Sincerity and Faithfulness and with full Purpose and Performance of that Repentance and Obedience which we profess and promise 3 ly To Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren and Fellow-Christians which requires that we lay aside all Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Peace and Forgiveness of all that have any ways offended us If we Believe all these things which Christ our Great Prophet has revealed to us and our Faith shews it self in these Tempers and carries us on to these Performances we are Worthy Communicants and have that Faith which will render us welcom Guests at the Lords Table and acceptable to him at all other times 1 st One End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine at the Lords Supper is to remember Christ not onely as our Prophet and Teacher which I do not make a Distinct Head now because the Belief required to that is exercised thro' the whole Action and falls in at all the other but as our Blessed Lord Saviour and Benefactor and above all his Benefits particularly to remember his Dying for us and this to do it worthily calls for Love Joy Gratitude Resolutions of Obedience and other such like Tempers The Remembrance of any thing absent and long since past brings it back into our Minds and gives a sort of Presence to it And therefore when things are brought to our Remembrance they should work upon us and affect us as if they were before us When we remember our Saviour Christ then we must bear the same Mind towards him as we should if we saw him and were conversing with him and that will consist in these Things that follow We must Honour him and resolve to Obey him as he is our Lord and Master and Love him and Delight in him and give Thanks to him as he is our Friend and Benefactor and be humbled under the sense of our own Vnworthiness and abhor our own Sins as they brought him to bleed and die for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Vse as we are bought with his Blood and are thereby become his own Purchase 1 st In Eating and Drinking in the Lords Supper we are to remember Christ as our Lord and Master and to do that worthily we must remember him with Honour and Reverence and with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience which are Duties we owe and should pay to him were he present with us 1 st We ought to remember him our Lord and Master with Honour and Reverence These Tempers Lordship and Authority always call for whensoever they are lodged in any Persons A Son honoureth his Father saith God and a Servant his Master if then I be a Father where is mine Honour and if I be a Master where is my Fear Mal. 1.6 Honour the King says St. Peter and Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear 1 Pet. 2.17 18. And Render to all their Dues says St. Paul as Fear or Reverence to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour is due Rom. 13.7 But when this Authority is in the most absolute and full Degrees and is joyned with the highest Excellencies and tempered with the most Endearments and guided by the most surpassing Goodness as it is in Christ Jesus it calls for them most especially For he is every way wonderfully accomplished and has all those Endowments in their greatest Perfection which of right can challenge or are fit to excite them For he is boundless in knowledge he understands all things and infinitely wise in Counsel able to suit Means to every End and bring about every Purpose and surpassing in Might so that he may do what he pleases and holy in all his ways and faithful in all his Promises and just and equitable in all his Dealings and Glorious in his Divine Essence being the very Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person and Supereminent in Power having all Authority in Heaven Earth put into his hands and yet in the midst of all these Excellencies and the height of all this Greatness which are apt to puff us up with Pride and Contempt of others he is unspeakable in Love and wonderful in Condescensions vouchsafing to leave Heaven where he was Equal to God and be made in fashion of a mean Man for our sakes and unwearied in
sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion since his whole Religion is made up of high Characters and honourable Priviledges it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession What thinks he of Holy Baptism wherein he was made not only a Servant but a Child of God not only a Friend but a Brother and Joint-heir with Christ and an Inheritor not of a small Estate but of a Kingdome and that no cheap or fading one neither but of the Kingdom of Heaven What thinks he of the happiness of another Life wherein God will fill us with unutterable Joys and adorn us with Crowns and Scepters and take us as our Saviour says into the same Throne with himself What thinks he of his Redemption being purchased at so dear a rate which could not be obtain'd unless Jesus Christ Gods only Son would come down from Heaven and be made man and pay down his own Life for it Are not all these as superlatively high things and as much above us as Feasting with God in the Communion is Is it not as great a Presumption in us to become Gods Sons and to inherit Kingdoms and to hope for Crowns and Thrones and Scepters as it is to sit down with him as his Guests and to eat and drink in his own Presence Is it not as high Arrogance to admit that Christ should dye for us as it is to come and remember his Death and to accept those Benefits which are thereby convey'd to us All these things are infinitely above us and we could not have had the Face to have asked any of them if God had referr'd it to our own choice and bid us name what we would for our own selves But yet since in his unbounded Love and Kindness he has freely offered them we must have the good manners in all forward Thankfulness and Humility to accept and not out of a shâ—w of Modesty and unreasonable Self-abasement refuse them When God calls us then to Feast with him in the Holy Sacrament and to feed upon the Body and Blood of our dear Lord we must not hold back because there is so eminent a Priviledge and high an Honour in it For we receive no greater Favour or higher Honour therein than in being made Gods Children as we were in Holy Baptism than in Christs Incarnation Death and Suffering than in the offers of Crowns and Thrones and the other Glorious Priviledges of our Religion So that if the Fear of receiving too much honour from God ought to put us by the Communion it ought as much to the full to puâ— us by our Baptism and the whole Christian Profession As for those then who are hindred from the Sacrament by the fear of being too Bold and Presumptuous with God in coming to a Feast which has such height of Priviledge and Honour in it they are hindred without any just Ground and kept back by what they ought not For it is no Presumption but the part of humble men to come when they are call'd and to do what they are bidden but it is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone and if the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to keep back humble Souls from this Feast it must also keep them back from Baptism wherein the same Honours are conferr'd which are in it and carry them in the same guise of Modesty to refuse Christs dying for them and all the hopes of Heaven and in a word their Christianity and whole Religion too A Ninth Plea whereby several Persons are wont to excuse their not coming to the Sacrament is because many Good People are seldom or never seen at it and therefore they may be good too and have good Company if they keep away from it Now as for those who urgâ— this in excuse I would desire them to consider that when they are inquiring after their own Duty in any matter it is no right way to ask whether others Practise it but whether their Lord has any where Commanded it For mens Practice is not always fully answerable to their own Duty and so is a very false Rule whereby to judge of ours All Persons have their Faults and though no Good man can continue in any willful ones yet will even they be subject to several Ignorant slips and unadvised miscarriages But when at any time they either willfully break any Commandment or ignorantly mistake it that is no warranty for us to do so likewise So that if we would truly understand whether we are bound to Communicate our way is not to inquire whether others do it but whether our Lord has any where injoyn'd it for if he has we are certainly obliged to it whether others observe it or no. But in more Particular Answer to this Plea I must tell them 1 st That if any good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their goodness but their blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated 2 ly That although they might be acceptably good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better inform'd which will not be forgiven but upon their amendment of it 1. I say If any Good People keep away from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness but their Blemish so that therein they are not to be imitated For we have Gods express Command to come and that we cannot slight without being disobâ—dient and guilty of a plain Transgression We are call'd therein to shew our selves thankfully mindful of our Blessed Saviours Death and of all that he has done and this Call we cannot deny without proclaiming our selves most shamefully unthankful towards him We are summon'd in to profess Repentance and Amendment of all our sins and this we cannot honestly decline if really we are resolv'd to leave them We are invited to declare our selves at Peace with all the Members of our Lord and reconciled to all the Christian World and this Invitation no man can fairly refuse who in very deed is in Charity and an hearty Friend to them Gods Law peremptorily injoyns and the things therein imply'd straitly oblige us to partake of the Sacrament when an opportunity is offer'd so that every man who makes Conscience of his Duty and regards Obedience to his Lord must be careful to join in it And it is the Greatest means of a good Life and Obligation to Amendment that can be prescribed so that every one who has a just care of his own Soul and is earnestly desirous of Virtuous Improvements will seek to be admitted to it A Good mans Duty binds him and the care of his own Soul ingages him to Communicate so that there is neither Virtue nor Prudence shewn in staying away nor is it any part of Goodness to
thou throw back a Soul that would hang it self upon thee wilt thou disdain an Heart that is desirous after thee and would fain be no longer it s own but thine that thou mightest use it as it may best serve and honour thee O Blessed Jesu do not reject it for it is the Purchase of thy Blood Let not all that be thrown away which thou hast already done for it for want of thy further Care and Conduct of it Accept me Good Lord who here unfeignedly devote my self unto thee that both my Soul and Body and all I have may be employed as thou seest fit to order me I am nothing I have nothing and I desire nothing but to be with thee to be filled with thy Grace and obey thee perfectly that so I may have nothing of my self but do all things thro' Christ dwelling in me And when we thus Resign our selves to our Saviour's Use we must heartily repent of all our Sins faithfully promising never more to yield to them but to amend them all thenceforwards To Repent particularly of all our Sins we must first discover them by taking some Catalogue of Christian Duties and examining our own Hearts at every one Whether we have consented to transgress them And where we find we have there we must bemoan our selves and fully resolve That if God will be pleased to pardon what is past we will never yield to do the like again And what Man will not thus stedfastly resolve to leave all his Sins that has the patience to consider what will be the End of his Continuance in them For by that we shall infinitely offend our Saviour Christ who gave his own Life for ours and whom therefore we are bound to please above all Persons we shall certainly lose the Joys of Heaven and Eternal Happiness a Loss which the whole World put together cannot recompence we shall unavoidably be dâ—â—med to Hell-fire and Eternal Torments which is the utmost heighth of Misery that can possibly befal us This will infalâ—ibly be the Effect of our Perseverance in any Sins we find our selves guilty of And now let us ask our own Souls Whether we love them so well that we will â—ndure all this rather than forâ—go them Shall I prize my Sin to that degree as for its sake to act despite to my dearest Lord who died for me Must it be dearer to me than his Love that I should dishonour and offend him whensoever it bids me Is this the Return I make to my truâ—st dearest Friend to side with his professed Enemy Is this my Thankfulness for all his Kindness to stick to a Lust that aims at nothing but my Destruction rather than to him who gave his own Life to save mine Thou lovest it dearly O my Soul but canst thou value it at such a Rate as to part with Everlasting Life for it Hadst thou rather have it than enjoy the Face of God and be for ever Happy Art thou content for the short and unsatisfying Pleasures it affords to lose all the Joys and Glories of a Blessed Eternity Wilt thou die sooner than be divorced from it and accompany it even into the Flames of Hell and the midst of Eternal Torment God forbid will every May say whose Heart is thus particularly posed that ever I should be so desperately mad and unaccountably wicked I cannot despite so dear a Lord or throw away the Eternal Joys of the Heavenly State or endure the Smart of Hell and the insupportable Load of Everlasting Torment No Man can bear it and I stand amazed to think of it And therefore since this will be the Effect of my wicked ways I am resolved from this Moment to renounce them and by the help of God will never return to them any more Thus let the Drunkard think with himself on his Cups the Sâ—â—earer on his Oaths the unjust Man on his unlawful Gain the Contentious on his Quarrels the unclean Person on his Fornication and forbidden Pleasures the Revengeful Man on his spiteful Carriage the Slanderer and Evil-speaker on his reproachful Words Back-bitings and Defamations and every other Sinner on his particular Sins and when they seriously consider that this Saviour must be lost this Happiness of Heaven forfeited and this eternal Anguish and Extremity of Pain endured if they persist in it they will instantly resolve to forsake it and never yield to be guilty of it again O Blessed Lamb of God who hast redeem'd me with thy Blood will every Contrite Heart then cry out I am utterly ashamed to look thee in the Face considering all the cruel Usage I have brought upon thee I scarce know how to think of Feasting on thy precious Blood now I am most earnestly invited to it since mine own Sins have shed it I am alas a most polluted Creature who have daily offended in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty My Pride and contempt of God and Sensual Lusts and Covetous Desires and uncharitable Practices have cried aloud for Vengeance on me and that Cry would not be silenced unless thou my dearest Saviour wouldst die in stead of me Of all these Offences I am guilty and the horrour of that Guilt would fright me from thee were it not that thou freely callest me to accept of Mercy I come Lord in obedience to thy Word and with an humble and a penitent Heart most earnestly entreat thee to have pity on me I am sensible of these and all my Errours and utterly ashamed that ever I committed them I am weary of them and fully purposed by thy Graâ—e to become a New Man or else I durst not ask to be forgiven My Heart shall never more joyn with them nor will I ever hereafter yield to live in such ungrateful and wicked ways again They nail'd thy tender Hands and Feet to the accursed Tree and thrust the Spear into thy Side and can I then endure to see or any longer side with them They made God who is the Author of all I have and hope to enjoy my utter Enemy and shall I then be still a Friend to them They would bring me to eternal Destruction both of Body and Soul and whilst I consider this is it possible I should have any more to do with them No Blessed Lord I hate them and am utterly resolved from this time forth for ever to abandon them They have been the Shame of my Life and are now the Sorrow of my Heart as alas when thou enduredst such Anguish for them on the Cross once they were of thine I loath my self by reason of them and will never consent any more to live in them and with an humble and a contrite Heart beseech my Heavenly Father that thro' the Merits of thy Blood I may be forgiven And wilt not thou O God who sentest to seek after me whilst I was an open Rebel now meet me graciously as thou didst the Prodigal Son when I return again to my
a most awful one and therefore not to be perform'd with disrespect and an irreverent Carriage So that we must be careful both to partake of this Holy Feast when we are called to it and to come to it worthily when we do And this St. Paul prescribes concerning it 1 Cor. 11. Let a man examine himself says he and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. v. 28. Let a man examine himself i. e. let him approve himself as the word here rendered examin signifies v. 19 and Chap. 16. v. 3 let him so long try his fitness for it till he see cause to like and approve himself and think he is worthy of it for he would not call unworthy Receivers to the Sacrament but drive them from it as he doth by telling them the extream danger of it v. 27 29. But when once he is so approved and fit to come to it then says he let him not forbear the Feast but hasten to partake in it Let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Thus are both a careless Forbearance and an indecent unworthy Vsage of this Holy Feast great Indignities to our Blessed Lord and criminal Violations of it It suffers on either hand so that to secure it in its just esteem and due observance both are carefully to be removed And to do what Right I can to this Holy Ordinance and what Service I am able to all such as shall seek help from this Treatise I shall endeavour what in me lies to cure or prevent both in that which follows Now to do this with the greater clearness in Discoursing upon this Subject I shall do these five things 1 st I shall shew What is the meaning of eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament 2ly Wherein lies the worthiness of doing it 3ly How much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it 4ly What great inducements we have to it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make us press to it of our selves though it were not commanded 5ly I shall consider those Excuses and take off those Pleas which are most usually made against it And when all this is done I think I shall have said enough both to invite and press men to this Feast and also to a worthy partaking of it that so they may come to it when they are invited and be welcome and worthy Guests when they do PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament The Contents Three Ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 End is in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shown from the same thing being done in Baptism Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which was a Covenant-Rite and the Bread Christs Body to the same intent the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2. From its being a Feast or Sacrifice for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we partake of it 3. From its conveying the particular Blessings of the New Covenant which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 3 End is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others This Chapter summ'd up FIrst I shall shew what is the meaning of eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and what we are to understand by them and think of them when we do them When we come to eat Bread and drink Wine in the Holy Sacrament we must not come only for a Bodily refreshment or for eating and drinkings sake as we do to our common Food For this is to eat as St. Paul says not discerning the Lords Body but as if it were bare ordinary Meat 1 Cor. 11.29 But we must eat and drink with special ends and particular Intentions which may render our eating and drinking not an ordinary Repast but a Religious Feasting upon the Body and Blood of our Lord. And these ends are three 1 st In Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us 2 ly In Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us 3 ly In Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others First We must eat Bread and drink Wine in Remembrance and Commemoratioâ— of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us By these Actions we must be put in remembrance and call to mind our selves and commemorate or tell it out to others what a good Friend and Saviour Christ has been to us and how at last he died and gave his own Hearts Blood for our sakes And this our Blessed Lord expresly ordered at the time of Institution This do says he both of the eating Bread and drinking Wine in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. To Remember one is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but also to think of their particular Quality and Relation what they are to us or what they have left with us or what they have done for us which is worth Remembring If we bid a Servant remember us we intend he should be mindful of the Commands which we have left with him if a Friend that he should bear in mind the Great Love and Faithfulness which we have always expressed towards him if one we have highly obliged that he should gratefully resent and think of the kindnesses which we have done him or if one lastly whose favour we desire and of whom we have requested any thing that he would be mindful of the Good turn which he promises to do or which we ask of him In desiring any of these or any others to remember us we mean not barely that they should call to mind how once there were such men as we in being but over and above that that they be particularly mindful of the Relation wherein we stand and think of what we have done what we deserve or what we desire or expect from them And this our Blessed Lord intends when in this Holy Feast he Desires and Commands us to remember him He would have
Friendliness in Neighbourhoods and to beget Endearment and mutual Love in all Fraternities And this our Saviour intended it should be among us He invites us all to eat of the same Loaf and to Feast at the same Table that we may embrace as Friends and love as Brethren and be knit together in the same Fellowship and Communion We being many says St. Paul are one Bread and one Body for in the Sacrament we are all Partakers of that one Bread which is a firm Bond of Union to make us one also 1 Cor. 10.17 It links us together by the most Powerful Arguments of our being Servants of the same Lord and Sharers in the same Privileges and Members of the same Body which are all most strong Motives to Peace and mutual Kindness and besides all this by our own Solemn Covenant and Engagement also For in coming to this Feast we are not onely excited to it by mighty Reasons which suggest it but are to Covenant and Promise Love to all our Brethren and to plight our Troth for it And thus the Primitive Christians understood it and accordingly made use of it whose Judgment and Practice in this Point were so apparent that the Heathens themselves who looked any thing into their Religion took notice of it For Pliny in his Letter to the Emperour Trajan wherein he gives an Account of the Christians Meetings reports their Communicating to be a Religious Compact and Combination among themselves to do no hurt to each other but to love as Brethren and live as Friends together They assemble early in the morning says he and sing an Hymn to Christ as God and then bind themselves mutually in their Sacrament which is a sacred Oath not to commit any wickedness like a pack of lewd Conspirators but to be no Thieves Adulterers Injurious False and Perfidious Persons and having done these things and given these Assurances of mutual Honesty and Kindnesses to each other they depart home and meet again at a promiscuous and Friendly Treat where they innocently Feast together This then is a third End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament namely to be a Solemn Profession of our Communion and Fellowship with our Brethren and an Engagement of mutual Love and Friendship to those who Communicate with us and to all others So that when we come therein to remember our Saviour Christ and to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God we must enter into a League of Love with all our Brethren and promise an inviolable Friendship unto them too And thus we see what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Communion and what we must intend and understand by them that we may as the Apostle says discern the Lords Body in them When we Eat Bread and Drink Wine according to Christs appointment we must fix our thoughts upon him and remember what Love and Friendship he had for us what Lessons as our faithful Guide and Instructor he has taught us what Commands as our Lord and Master he has left with us and what inexpressible Things as our most Precious Saviour and Benefactor he has done for us in being made Man and leading a mean and necessitous Life but above all in dying a most ignominious and painful Death for our sakes and that he might purchase us the Favour of God the Graces of the Spirit and Eternal Happiness We must renew that Engagement which we made when we were Baptized and confirm again that New Covenant with Almighty God which his Blood procured professing that we do and will believe his Word and repent of every Fault and endeavour with his Spirit and obey all not wilfully transgressing any Commandment that so we may have Right to that Forgiveness Grace and Happiness which upon these Terms he has purchased And lastly we must confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren professing that we do and will forgive all that injure us and be kind to all about us and never fall into Hatred or cause Difference with any Persons but be at Peace and live in Charity with all the World The Bodily Eating is but the out-side and the least part in this Feast but the chief thing required is this Spiritual Work and Business which is to accompany it So that when our Saviour Christ calls us to Eat and Drink at his own Table he calls us not barely to Feast our Bodies for that is the least thing that he intends but chiefly and principally to employ our Souls in remembring him his Laws and Benefits and among them above all that of his Dying for us in confirming the New Covenant with God and a Covenant of Peace and Brotherly Love with his Members throughout all Mankind CHAP. II. Of the Worthiness of Communicating in the Sacrament The Contents To Communicate Worthily is to do it with such Tempers and Behaviour as are worthy of it and becoming the Things which are meant by it The First End was to remember Christ both first As our Lord and Master which calls for Honour and Reverence in our selves and a Care to maintain his Honour among others For mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience 2. As our most kind Friend and Benefactor which calls for Love and an hearty Affection for him For Joy and Gladness in what we receive from him For Thankfulness for all his Kindnesses particularly in Dying for us And as this Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins the Remembrance of it calls for a deep sense of our own Vnworthiness An utter Abhorrence of our Sins which caused his Sufferings A Resignation of our selves to his Vse as thereby we are become his own Purchase The Second End was to confirm the New Covenant with God which his Blood procured This calls for Sincerity and Faithfulness A Third End was to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians This calls for Peace and Charity to all Persons and particularly for Alms to the Necessitous A Summary Repetition of these Qualifications A Belief of these Things which carries us on to these Tempers and Performances is the Faith that makes us Worthy Communicants HAving shewn hitherto what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament I proceed now in the next place to shew wherein lies the Worthiness of Doing it And this had need be clearly stated not onely because the most considerable Scruple against Communicating lies in it but also because really 't is a Matter of great account and there hangs a great weight upon it For he that eats and drinks unworthily says the Apostle commits a Damning Sin which will destroy him unless he repent of it he eats and drinks Damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.29 and is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord v. 27. Now to Do this Worthily is to Do it with such Tempers and Dispositions as become it and are worthy of it For this
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that in Dying for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and repent of all our Sins making him faithful and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
that so he may be a worthy and welcome Guest in it and all of them This Repentance will restore him to the Favour of God and gain him acceptance with him and then he is fit for this and for every other part of Gods Worship and may worthily joyn in them And by this it appears who is unworthy of this Feast and what he must do to fit and prepare himself for it Every man that is Impenitent is an Unworthy Communicant but if he will Repent and Amend his ways he will find no difficulty in other Duties which make up a Believers worthiness but may then be a worthy and welcome Guest whensoever he has a mind to come to it And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed namely to shew wherein lies the worthiness of Eating and Drinking at this Feast which I have stayed the longer upon because both the irreverent approach of some men to it and the scrupulous abstaining of others from it do both take rise from this head so that it well deserves to be carefully Explained and clearly Stated And the Result of all that I have said upon this Point is this When we come to Eat Bread and Drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance that Christ dyed for us and in Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us and in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Neighbours we must be careful devoutly to Exercise and Act over these Tempers We must remember our Dying Lord with Honour and Love and Joy and Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and humble Sense of our own unworthiness and Detestation of our Sins which caused his Sufferings We must confirm the New Covenant which his Death purchased in consenting heartily to the Terms of it Repenting of all our Sins and Faithfully promising that intire Obedience which is required in it and then Believing that for Christs sake we shall be saved by it And we must Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World in laying aside all Envy and Hatred and forgiving those that have injured us and making just amends to those who have been wronged by us and giving Alms as our Ability and our Brethrens necessity requires and so being in Peace and Perfect Charity with all Persons If we are able to grasp so many particulars in our minds and to act them all over duly and as we ought at this Exercise it may be fit to Solemnize this Feast in all these instances of Virtue But if either our minds would be lost and burdened or our Devotions enfeebled by the Number of these particulars 't will yet be fit at least to express our selves Joyfully and affectionately Thankful for his kindness especially in Dying for us and Resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and Repent of all our Sins making him Faithful Promises that we will amend all our Faults particularly those which oftest win upon us and shew our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all Persons All these whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating they who have Books to suggest Thoughts or are able to supply them out of their own minds may exercise by themselves And they who cannot as also they who can may exercise them in joyning fervently with the Churches Prayers all these Duties as we have seen being so well led on and exemplified in the Communion Service Wherein because there will be some interruption whilst others are Communicating that that time may not lye idle upon their hands I think it very adviseable for them to joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the offering of the Bread and Wine to their Brethren as they will be sure to do when it comes to their own turn if their Devout Zeal is not otherwise taken up by the Psalm which at their Pastors Discretion is wont to be Sung at that time for the employment of those who have done Receiving These Virtues being in us and at the time of Receiving being thus exercised by us both in our own private or at least in our Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers make a worthy Communion And this no man who pretends to Religion ought to Complain of or think an hard Imposition For all these Duties which are necessary to a worthy Communion are as necessary to make every one of us a Good man or fit to Dye or to go to Heaven they are as necessary to a worthy Prayer Thanksgiving Vow or any other Act of true Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense Degrees and transporting Measures in this than in other parts of Worship and Devotion These things then are necessary to a worthy Receiving and no Good man can complain that they are so since they are equally necessary to all acceptable Goodness to all comfortable Hopes and to every other Ordinance to all the parts of Worship and Religion and to Gods being pleased with us in every thing that is either the Duty or Priviledge of a Christian. And as the Presence and Exercise of these Virtues makes us worthy of the Communion so doth the absence of them but especially of Repentance of all our known Sins which is the thing if any that will be wanting and which is the cause why others are Impenitence as we saw being at the bottom of all Unworthiness make us unworthy and most unwelcome If we continue Impenitent in many or in any one known Sin we are indeed unworthy to Communicate but then withall we are as unworthy to be thought Good men to go to Heaven to say our Prayers to make Vows or to have any Dealings with God in any other Actions of Religion And the way for any Wise man in that Case is not to take up with abstaining from the Communion for he ought as much to abstain from Prayer and Praise and every other Office of a Christian God being pleased with him in none of them but forthwith to Repent and Abandon such ill Course that so he may be a welcome Guest and worthy to partake of them And thus having endeavoured to give some help to all those who desire worthily to Communicate by shewing what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the worthiness of doing it I shall proceed now in the third Place to exhort and press men on to it by shewing them how much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make them seek to it of themselves were it not commanded of which in the next Part. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating The Contents To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which greatly recommend and
things by Anticipation in sundry places as from this last instance 't is plain he did in this which though his Hearers did not at that time fully understand yet they would afterwards so that when other Reasons evince him to have spoke in this place of the Sacramental eating of his Body and Blood the Sacrament's not being yet instituted is no good Proof or Argument against it Thus is this necessity of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood as ever we would hope for Eternal Life by it spoke of the Lords Supper wherein we Feast upon it And that it should be so has no wonder in it For it is no more than is expresly spoke of Baptism which is but of equal Rank with it both being alike Duties and equally required For of that 't is said He that Believes and is Baptized shall be saved Marc. 16.16 And except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 But besides this Proof of the danger of neglecting the Sacrament because our Lord tells us we have no Life in us without it it may also appear from the danger of neglecting the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it and was the same to them as this Feast is to us wherein Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us And as for the danger of neglecting that it was great indeed no less than of being cut off from Israel which was the punishment God had threatned to it Whosoever in the Feast of the Passover eats leaven'd Bread from the First day to the Seventh day that Soul shall be cut off from Israel Exod. 12.15 Thus necessary is it for all men who would please God to frequent this Ordinance and to come to the Holy Sacrament when they are call'd to it They have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an instance as best shews their particular Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it have the more effect has left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision All which shew the Greatness of the Duty and how much it is every mans Concern who would hope to have the Favour of God or go to Heaven And as this appears from the obliging Import and Expressness of the Command about it so doth it 2 ly From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it For therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which no Ingenuous man will and no Good man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them 1 st In the Sacrament I say we publickly own Christ and profess his Religion This was always understood to be the meaning of Feasts on Sacrifices both among Jews and Gentiles they that would eat of the Sacrifice offer'd to any God or Idol were looked on to have Fellowship and Communion with him and thereby to own their joyning in that Worship and Service which was paid to him Thus St. Paul tells us it was among the Jews for they that ate of their Sacrifices were partakers of their Altars And thus he tells us it was among the Gentiles and that they who Feasted in the Idol-Temples on the Sacrifices made to Devils did thereby declare their Communion with them and had Fellowship with Devils And the same is true of the Feast of the Lords Supper which upon this account he makes parallel to and compares with them In Israel after the Flesh says he they who eat of the Sacrifice are sharers in the Worship or Partakers of the Altar And in the things which the Gentiles Sacrifice to Devils they who Feast on the Sacrifices have Fellowship with Devils And therefore you that Feast with the Lord at his Table and thereby have Fellowship with him must not mix Light and Darkness Christ and Belial together and by Feasting with Devils at theirs have Fellowship with them too You cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils you cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils since that were to unite the most opposite Interests by holding Fellowship and professing your selves to be the Servants of Christ and of the Devil also 1 Cor. 10.16 18 20 21. Our joyning in the Holy Communion is our avow'd owning of Faith in our Crucified Lord and of our adherence to him By eating at his Table of broken Bread and Wine poured out which are the Representation of his Death we tell it out to all the World that we are the Servants of that Lord and Worshippers of that Jesus who gave himself to be Crucified and to Dye for us As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup saith St. Paul ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come Ye shew forth his Death i. e. ye tell it abroad and profess to all the World that he dyed for you and is Lord over you and that you own him so to be 1 Cor. 11.26 Thus is our eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table an open profession of his Religion and a Token whereby we give out to all the World who see what we do that we belong to him It is a most solemn sign of our Relation to Christ and a publick Badge of our being Christians And this sure no man will decline when there is a fit occasion who is not ashamed of his Lord nor Repents of his Profession But if he is really a Follower of Christ and would be thought one he will let all the World know it by joyning in this Feast which is the most Solemn Badge and Authentick Mark which Christ has appointed of it 2 ly In coming to the Holy Sacrament according to our Lords appointment we solemnly remember him and think of the Relation wherein we stand and of the benefits which we have received from him Do this says he in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. And when he is call'd to remember his most precious Saviour who has both lived and dyed to make God his Friend and to do him Service there is no man sure that has any thing of Shame or Ingenuity left in him who will shew backwardness and
objective Representation of most forcible inducements to them powerfully excited in them at that time And as these Duties are all improved by the Holy Communion so are they 2ly Most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men If we were but perfect in these Virtues and they had once got the Ascendant over us and ruled in our Hearts they would have an Universal influence on all others and govern our whole Lives For if when we are tempâ—â—d to any sin our minds being familiarized to it would at that instant readily suggest to us that Christ dyed for it and that it put him to all the pain and anguish he suffered we should not endure to come near it If we have any true Love and Zeal for him we shall shew no manner of Favour or Compliance with it if we are really Thankful for what he has done for his sake we shall withstand it if we are resign'd up to his use we shall have nothing to do with it because he is against it and if we abhor it for the pains it put him to when he answer'd for it and will at last put us to also if we continue in it we shall disdainfully reject and turn away from it If we Believe and remember always as we have need that Christ died for our Sins and procured us Pardon for them upon our Repentance and Grace to get quit of them upon our best indeavours that Faith will make us Obedient and carry us on to amend them If we truly Love Christ that Love will make us do something for him and cast to please and obey him If we are Thankful for what is done we shall never despite him by any Sin which for all his Benefits were to return the greatest injuries again If we are resign'd up to his use we shall Faithfully serve him If we are heartily Penitent and abhor our Sins we shall forsake them If we have this lively Faith and Remembrance of Christs dying for us and this intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and entire Resignation of our selves to his Service and sincere Repentance and utter Abhorrence of all our Sins If we have these Virtues I say and in these prevailing measures they will carry us on to an Holy Life and make us Obedient to all Gods Commandments And therefore since this Holy Sacrament when 't is worthily received doth so much improve these Virtues in us it must needs help us on and improve us in all others and in the whole course of a good Life too Thus doth a worthy receiving by its own Natural tendency confirm and increase us in all good Living by our exercising and its exciting in us such Duties as help it on and set it forward and so doth it 2 ly By our binding our selves thereat in solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it One chief end of our meeting at this Feast and prime part of our Worthiness in partaking of it is to confirm the New Covenant as we have seen and to make God our Faithful promises that from that day we will amend all our Faults 〈◊〉 so we may attain that Pardon and Happiness which upon our true Repentance he comes to offer and assure to us And these solemn Vows and Promises are a fast hank upon us to make us leave our Sins and do all that he requires of us For every man ought and thinks himself concerned to be as good as his word and to perform what he has promised especially when 't is to one who is too Wise to be deluded and too Just and Powerful to suffer any abuses of him to pass unrevenged which all men that understand any thing believe of Almighty God When we Promise and Vow to him we know that he cannot be deceived and that he will not be mocked so that we must needs see it stands us in stead and is our highest concern to perform with him And therefore since in the Sacrament we do in the most solemn manner Vow to amend our ways and promise an Holy Life to Almighty God in Regard none that are honest will and none that are wise and serious dare be unmindful of such sacred and solemn Compacts it must needs be an excellent way to bind it fast upon our Souls and fix it in our minds and so help very much to establish and imprint it in us And thus we see how a worthy receiving conveys Grace and confirms and increases in us all Virtues by the Natural tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it powerfully excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a Good Life and set it forward and bind our selves by solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it both which are most Powerful to improve and effect it And as it thus confirms and increases in us all Graces by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites in us so does it 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it ministers and conveys to us This Sacrament doth not only confer Grace by its Natural Tendency as other means but moreover by virtue of Gods Promise and especial Bounty to the Worthy Receivers of it as it is an Instrument in his hands He tells us that he will do great things at the presence of it and be liberal in Spiritual Blessings to all that duly partake in it So that besides what they do from the Virtues themselves which are exercised thereat they may promise themselves much Spiritual Grace and Strength from his Free Gift and immediate concurrence with it For in the Sacrament he offers them all that outward Grace and Spiritual strength which Christs Death procured and therefore if they come to it worthily so as their own unworthiness is no bar against it that offer will be sure to take effect and they shall undoubtedly receive it And this is plainly intimated to us when our Saviour tells us of his Flesh that it is Bread the true use and end whereof is for support and nourishment Joh. 6.51 And when St. Paul declares that the Cup of Blessing which we Bless is the Communion or Communicating to us the Blood of Christ i. e. those Benefits his Blood procured us and that the Bread which we break is the Communion or Communicating to us the Body of Christ i. e. those Graces which the offering of his Body obtain'd for us amongst which are these Spiritual Assistances 1 Cor. 10.16 And when our Lord himself tells us that the Bread he gives us is his Body and that the Câ—p he reaches out to us is his Blood Mat. 26.26 28. By which though he mean not that they are his Body and Blood in their Natures yet the least he can mean is that they are so in their Effects so that when we receive them we receive all the Blessings of his Blood-shedding and all that Grace which his Death has purchased for all Men. And thus the
And this is a state of such Horrour and Astonishment as no man that looks upon it can abide in it is a condition of such extream danger as no one in his Wits can willingly indure So that if any of those who are Impenitent will but be at the pains to lay to heart and consider of the sadness of their state they can by no means persist in it but will run with haste to Repent and instantly set about the amendment of their ways that so they may be delivered from it And as soon as ever they do so this hindrance is gone and they are worthy to come to the Holy Communion For that which fits us for it is not an high Pitch and Perfection in saving Virtues or Ecstatick Degrees and Transports in Devotion as I have shewn but such true Repentance and change of Life either in Deed or at least in Will and Purpose as makes us acceptable and honest Christians so that whatever we were before whilst we continued impenitently wicked we are meet Partakers of this Holy Feast now we have Repented and are fully resolv'd to become Obedient and need not scrupulously draw back but come to it gladly when we are call'd and expect a Friendly welcome when we do And thus I have consider'd this great and most common plea whereby so many are kept back from the Holy Sacrament viz. their thinking themselves unworthy of it and unfit to receive it and shewn plainly that no ill man can be excused and that no good man ought to be hindred by it And the Result of it is this If any Person tells me he cannot come to this Feast because he is unworthy to join in it I must tell him again That he must not only be afraid of unworthy coming to it but also of unworthy abstaining from it and that unless he is impenitent and still unresolv'd to leave all his Sins he is worthy of it and that if such Impenitence is the cause of his not coming it is no excuse for it and that he must consider of the danger and misery of that state and so Repent and get out of it and when once that is done he will be worthy since every Penitent is welcome to it If he is truly Penitent he is worthy and if he has not Repented yet he must instantly Repent that he may be worthy and then let him not hold off from this Heavenly Banquet but chearfully approach to it when he is invited 2 ly Others who cannot positively say they are unworthy of it are yet kept back from the Holy Sacrament because of the great danger of unworthy Communicating Damnation being said to be eaten in it which seems to make abstaining from it the safer side He that eats and drinks unworthily says St. Paul eats and drinks Damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.29 Now in Answer to this I shall observe that by Damnation is meant 1. A Damning sin which is deadly to any man till he Repent of it and such are both unworthy eating and sinful abstaining so that they are equal as to that Point 2. Temporal Death and Punishments which were inflicted on the Corinthians for their Intemperance at this Feast and other Disorders which were peculiar to those times and are not usual now in ours so that the Fear of them need not discourage us from it 1 st I say By eating his own Damnation the Apostle means not that he shall inevitably be damn'd for it but only that he commits a Damning Sin which will prove deadly to him unless he Repent of it and this is true not only of unworthy eating but also of sinful abstaining so that they are equal as to that Point He means not I say that he shall inevitably be Damn'd for it And this is plain because for Christs sake God has promised to forgive us all our sins upon Repentance and therefore this of unworthy receiving among the rest Nay as for this their unworthy eating the Apostle tells the Corinthians in that very place that when they are Judg'd or Condemned for it it is not to consign them to but to deliver them from Eternal Torment When we are Judg'd says he or Condemn'd for this Fault i. e. to be sick and weak which God inflicted because of it we are not in Anger Punish'd but in Mercy Chastned of the Lord by present Sufferings that we should not at the last day be Condemn'd with the World to Eternal 1 Cor. 11.30 31. But only that he commits a Damning Sin which will prove deadly to him unless he Repent of it He that eats this Bread and drinks this Cup unworthily says he shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. i. e. Unless his Repentance that Gospel Remedy for all sin prevents it he shall be liable to be punish'd not only for an abuse in Meat and Drink as if it were only Common Food but for violating and prophaning the Body and Blood of Christ which he should have discern'd in it 1 Cor. 11.27 29. And this is true not only of unworthy eating but also of sinful abstaining from it For that our Lord has expresly forbidden as I have shewn and that too in such sort as shews he lays a great weight upon it so that we most highly offend him in it and cannot expect to regain his Favour till we Repent and Amend it and therefore they are both equal as to that Point We shall be Condemned without Amendment for unworthy eating and so we shall too for sinful abstaining and therefore if the Fear of Damnation be of Force with us it must keep us off from both of them and neither suffer us to neglect this Feast nor to prophane it but ingage us to come to it worthily i. e. with Penitent Hearts whensoever we are call'd thereto 2 ly By Damnation the Apostle means Temporal Death and Punishments which God did then inflict on unworthy Communicants And this was not for all unworthiness but particularly for their Intemperance at this Feast and other Disorders which were peculiar to thâ—se Times and are not usual now in ours so that the Fear of them need not discourage us from it By Damnation I say he means Temporal Death and Punishments which God did then inflict on unworthy Communicants This he plainly intimates when he sets down weakness and sickness and death as the Penalties whereto they were Condemn'd for their unworthy usage He that eats and drinks unworthily says he eats and drinks Damnation to himself whereof you have many sad Examples now in Corinth for for this very Cause of unworthy eatting many now are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11.29 30. And this God inflicted not for all unworthiness but particularly for some high and heinous Disorders such as their open Schisms and gross Intemperance crept in by occasion of their Love-Feasts which Prophanations were peculiar to those times and are not now usual or any where to be seen in
thing whereat they are displeased if they have no Reason for it we must seek to inform them better and rectifie their mistakes about it but if they have we must give them all proper satisfaction and make a just amends for it If we have given them just Offence by Affronts or contumelious Carriage we must acknowledge our Fault and promise to do so no more and ask Forgivegiveness and if we have injuriously prejudiced them in their Estates Good Names or Business we must as far as in us lies repair the loss which they have sustain'd by us And this God expects from us before he will accept our Offerings or be pleas'd with us in any Ordinance When thou bringest thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. But if they hate us when we gave no Cause for it nor have in any wise deserv'd it of them yet must we still be careful to Love them though they will not be perswaded to Love us and not harbour any Enmity or Hatred towards them again We must Love them I say not with that Degree of Love indeed wherewith we embrace our particular Friends and those who have better deserved of us but with that which we owe in common to all Persons We must have so much affection for them as will restrain us both from doing and speaking Evil of them and make us exercise all that Justice and shew that kindness towards them in all Conversation which is due to the promiscuous multitude of other men For all these Instances of general Charity are due to our very Enemies as I have already shâ—wn so that when they are unmoveable in their Hatred and persist in their malicious ways yet must not that provoke us into any spiteful Returns or chase us into any hard Speeches or injurious or unkind Carriage towards them again And thus it appears what is to be thought of this Hindrance viz. the implacableness of some ill Neighbours and their unconquerable Enmity against us For when 't is our hard hap to fall among such Persons we must still Love them and be at Peace with them in our own minds though we never gave them any just Cause to be angred and if we did by confessing of our Fault and repairing of the Wrong which makes the Breach we must indeavour after a Reconcilement But if after all they are obstinate and unmoveable in their hatred that is their own Fault which may justly hinder them but ought not to detain us from the Holy Sacrament For although God requires a worthy Receiver to Love his Enemies yet he no where requires him to make his Enemies Love him and if no Person could Communicate worthily whilst he has an unreconciled Enemy our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles and all the first and best Christians had been most unworthy and could never have received at all An Eighth hindrance which holds back several Persons from coming to this Feast notwithstanding it is so much both their Duty and their Priviledge as I have shewn to join in it is because it loâ—ks like an high Presumption in us to Feast on the Body and Blood of our Sovereign Lord and to eat at the same Table with Almighty God and therefore an humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it I have already considered that unworthiness which respects the manner of receiving and answered those who urge that they are unworthy to Communicate meaning thereby that they want that height of Virtuous and Devout Tempers which they apprehend God has required to it But this unworthiness is not from the want of such due Dispositions or from the Indecency in the unsuitable Receiving but from the inaccessible height and greatness of the thing which they think is so far above us that fit or unfit no Person is worthy of it but that 't is boldness and presumption in any one to touch things so surpassing high and excellent But to satisfie these Persons who think it a piece of Arrogance and Presumption to come to this Holy Sacrament when their Lord not only Requests but Commands it I shall suggest to them these three things 1. It is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden But 2. It is a very great boldness and presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession 1. I say It is no Presumption to coâ—e to this Feast when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden If we should intrude of our own accord and come uninvited we might be too bold indeed and very rudely Arrogant But when we are particularly sent to and call'd to come especially if there be as in this Case there is great earnestness and importunity in the Invitation it is the part of an humble man to comply with it and he is not Guilty of the least shew of Arrogance and Ill-breeding in so doing There is Civility shewn sometimes in accepting as well as in offering kindnesses and it is Good manners to receive what God would have us yea indeed to accept any thing from the hands of our Betters So that in all Civility and inoffensive Carriage we were bound to come had we nothing more than a Friendly Invitation But besides that God has expresly injoyn'd as I have observ'd and peremptorily required it of us So that now we must approach to it not only out of Civility and Respect but also out of Obedience to his Commandment And true Humility is no hindrance but the greatest furtherance in the World to such a Service it being not the part of a Presumptuous but of a truly humble man to do what he is bidden and to please those whom he is bound in Duty to obey It is no Presumption then to come to the Sacrament when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden but 2. It is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone He is no proud man who accepts a kindness when 't is offer'd and he is earnestly invited to it but he may shew Pride and Haughtiness enough who slights and despises it And he is no bold man that doth what he is Commanded but he shews Boldness and presumes indeed that dare venture to Transgress it There are no men so bold and Presumptions with God as they who will act what he forbids and refuse to do what he injoyns them So that it is truly an high Presumption to stay away when he has expresly charged us both upon our Duty and our Love for him to joyn in the Communion 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be
seem sufficient to inforce a due Attendance on it And when once Men are so disposed and seriously resolv'd to communicate I shall add a few things to assist them in a right Discharge of it and so conclude this Subject When we come to the Holy Sacrament to commemorate the Death of our Bleeding Lord whose Body there is represented as broken and his most precious Blood as shed on our account we are to shew forth an affectionate and hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a Kindness and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Vse and Repentance of all our Sins fully purposing to amend them all thenceforwards and an universal Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours all which we must excite in our own Souls by due Considerations 1. We must shew forth an affectionate aâ—d hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a â—â—ndness And what Soul can be slow to 〈◊〉 this who considers how infinitely our 〈◊〉 Lord has deserved of us For he has got us the most precious and glorious things which Heaven it self could afford that all our Sins should be freely pardoned and that the Holy Ghost that Immense Eternal and All-sufficient Spirit should come in at all times to our help and that we should be in no less Quality than the Sons of God and Heirs of a Kingdom who are assured of eternal Joys and Glories in another World And ought not Gifts so august and superlatively excellent to be most affectionately acknowledged He has bought all these to bestow upon us at the dearest Rate not onely taking the most unwearied Pains but also paying the highest Price and laying down his own most precious Blood for the Purchase And must not such astonishing Kindness which was affrighted by no Hazards nor stopt at any Difficulties nor declined any Sufferings not the Suffering of Death it self for our sakes be always held in a most thankful Remembrance And in all this he had no Ends of his own to serve of us but was led on purely by the Pleasure he takes in our Happiness he was not won by our Deserts for alas we were his profest Enemies who had nothing to shew but highest Provocations he was not wearied out with the importunity of our Intreaties for it came as undeserv'd so altogether unask'd whatsoever he did for us he was â—ot moved by the Mediâ—tiâ—n of Friends â—or whom alas had we to intercede for 〈◊〉 And shall not such amazing Love and Goodness so frankly shew'd without any Eye at 〈◊〉 or Private Interests without 〈◊〉 or Deserts nay in spite of all Discâ—uâ—agâ—meâ—ts and highest Provocations be entertain'd with greatest Joy and grateful Acclamations He has been an infinitely endearing and entire Friend to us without any Inducement but his own most generous Kindness and against all Discouragements and beyond all 〈◊〉 and under the most frightful Hazards and at the highest Expences giving his own Soul even to Death for a Ransom to redeem ours And whensoever we hear or think of this I am confident it will not be difficult for any of us to embrace him with Hearts full of Love and high Desires and pay him most intire Thanks and burst out into Songs of Praise and find it a most joyful Business so to do What am I my dear Lord will a devout Mind then say that thou shouldest leave the Right-hand of God and come to visit me Hadji thou no Ease in thy own Breast so long as I lay plunged in Misery And couldst not thou be Happy in Heaven nor enjoy thy self amidst all the Joys and Glories of that Blissful Plaâ—â— unlâ—ss I were there too to bâ—ar thâ—â— Company How â—arnest thou being so highly exalted and the Eternal Son of God to have any Affectionate Concern at all for me Was nâ—t I a defâ—rred pâ—lluted Wretch and thy profest Enemy And werenâ—t either of these enough to turn away thy Face from me But if notwithstanding all this thy overflowing Goodness would put th◠〈…〉 something for my sake why must thou come thy self upon the Earth nay come to bleed and die to Redeem me Am I dearer to thee than thy own Life that thou shouldest part with it to save me Dost thou love me better than thou lovest thy self that thou wilt shed the last Drop of thy own Hearts Blood to make me happy Blessed Jesus how unfaâ—â—â—mable is thy Grace and what an unsearchable Depth of Love is this which thou hast opened to us O how happy do I think my self in it and how doth my Heart rejoyce at the Remembrance of it Lord I love thee dearly and long to love thee more Would I had the Heartâ— of a Seraphin that I might be all over Love and neither wish nor think of any thing besides thee Would I could feel my Soul affected to that degree which I desire and thou infinitely deservest of me I wish no greater Pleasure than to be found perfect in thy Love and to have thee so dear unto me that I can contemn all the gilded Vanities and Allurements of the World at the thoughts of thee O! do thou fill me with an Affection full and absolute like thine own that I may love thee infinitely as I am beloved by thee Possess me with such a Sense of thy Love and such Thankfulness for all thy Favours as is worthy of thee tho' should I offer the utmost Acknowledgments which the most affected and enlarged Heart can pay I should not give the thousandth part of what I owe thee Let all the Angels adore thy glorious Goodness and all the Sons of Men so long as they have a Tongue to speak set forth thy Noble Praise for thou O sweetest Jesu art the Son of the Blessed the Joy and Glory of the World the Lamb of God and the Saviour of Mankind who wast slain for our sakes and art alive again and sittest now for ever at the Right-hand of Power in the Glory of the Father that Angels may submit to thee and all the World may worship thee sing of thee and praise thy Goodness Power and Glory to all Eternity 2. We must shew our selves reconciled to all who have any ways offended us and that we are in Peace and Charity with all Persons And this we shall not think much to do if we consider how highly our dear Lord is concern'd for them and how earnestly he sues in behalf of them for then we shall be readily brought to it on his account tho we might be more averse to it on their own He has loved them so well as to shed his precious Blood for them and can we find in our Hearts to hurt any Person when we see him giving his own Life to save him He owns them as his Friends and Brethren and is not that enough to make us kind to see that he is so near akin to them He has made them Members of his Body and thereby Parts of his own self and can we study Revenge against them when he comes in at
last to bear the stroke and iâ— reach'd in so doing He becomes a Petitioner to us in their behalf and intreats us by vertue of all that he has done to be Friends again and can we have the face to deny him who has so infinitely obliged us and ought to command us in every thing Shall we refuse so small a Suit to him who died for us or stick to throw away a sinful Resentment for his sake who has parted with his own Hearts Blood for ours Tho' they are most unworthy to be pardoned yet is he most worthy of it so that when he intreats we must not be backward in it Nay we stand daily in a thousand times more need of his Pardon than they do of ours so that we block up the way to our own Forgiveness if we refuse it For what if they have injured us Have we been altogether innocent and have offered him no Injuries What if they have most ungratefully abused us after they had received the most endearing Kindnesses have we been duely thankful unto him and never offended against all his Mercies Do not we owe him Ten thousand Talents whereas their Debt to us is but a Trifle of an hundred Pence And since we are daily asking him the Forgiveness of these vast Sums can we at the same time stick at his Instance to remit these smaller Matters to our Neighbours Have we the Face to ask Pardon whilst we have not the Heart to grant it Or can we hope that Christ should give it us for the most heinous Sins at our Request when we deny it to our Brother for the smallest Trespasses at his Or rather since he most frankly forgives us and that too without upbraiding us shall not both our own Necessity and the Example of his Mercy engage us to forgive our offending Neighbour also Lo here my Blessed Saviour will a Devout Heart then say how I cast by all angry Thoughts and am Friends with all the World as thou requirest me They shall all be dear to me because I see they are so to thee who hast given thine own Life for their Ransom Thou ownest them all as thy Brethren and therefore they shall evermore be mine for I desire to have the same Friends and to go along with thee in every Relation No Member of thine whom before I had never seen shall ever be a Stranger to me but I will embrace him as a part of my own Body Nay even my bitterest Enemies shall have no hatred or hard usage at my hands but I am Friends with all the World since thou wilt have it so Shall not I forgive other men who am undone my self unless I be forgiven Shall not I have pity on their Souls as thou Blessed Jesus hast on mine and freely Pardon them when thou becomest their Advocate to sue and intercede for them O! my Dearest Saviour I do from my heart forgive them and will never yield to return their Injuries or Vnkindnesses upon them Nay I most humbly beseech thee and that by thy own most precious Blood that thou wouldest forgive them also Give them Grace to Repent of what they have done and impute not their Trespasses unto them but receive them I earnestly intreat thee into thy Favour as here I do truly and unfeignedly into mine Hear me O Blessed Jesu both for my self and them that we may all be one with thee and among our selves being united to thee by a Spirit of Holiness and to each other by a Spirit of mutual Charity and Brotherly-kindness that so all the World may know we are thy Disciples by that Spirit of Love which thou hast given us 3. We must Resign our selves up to our Saviours use and Repent truly of all our sins promising him Faithfully that we will amend them all thenceforwards We must Resign our selves up to our Saviours use that he may dispose of us as he pleases And what man can stick at this who considers that he has bought us and would put us to no use but what is infinitely for our own Advantage Has any Person a better claim to us than he who bought us with his Blood and gave his own Life for the Purchase Should not he have the benefit of all our Service who has paid so dear for it by dying himself instead of us But if we were at Liberty and he had no Power over us is there any better way to dispose of our selves or could we desire to be in other hands rather than in his Can we hope for more Wisdom in any one to direct or more Power to bring our Happiness about than in him who knows and governs all things Durst we trust more to the Faithfulness and Affection of any Heart than of that which dyed for us Or can we think our selves happier in any Hands than his who is in all things studious of our Advantage For our Blessed Lord seeks no other ends by us but our own Eternal Happiness he imposes no Duties on our Consciences but what he has done himself before us nay what had we the understanding to discern it we should all have imposed upon our selves So that in committing our selves to his Conduct we do not give but seek a Benefit and dispose of our selves in that way which is incomparably our highest Interest We are absolutely his own Right and 't is infinitely our own Interest to be wholly given up to him and govern'd according to his liking and therefore every considerate man will freely resign his Heart to Christ and never suffer the World or his own Lusts to pull it back again Come then my Dear and Rightful Lord will a poor Soul say and take Possession of me Thou hast bought me with thine own Blood a strange Price for so despicable a Purchase and here I come in all Humility to present thee with what thou hast so dearly got and without all reserve to give up my self unto thee I know O Lord I am a Deformed and Polluted Creature most unworthy to be offer'd to so excellent a Majesty But gladly would I be thine that thou may'st make me better and so adorn me with thy Grace that I may be sitted for thy self and therefore I earnestly beseech thee to accept me I humbly beg to be delivered from my self for I am my own most mortal Enemy O! that thou wouldest give thine Holy Spirit Power over me and not let my own Corrupt will any longer govern me nor my false heart any more deceive me nor my unbridled Passions any more to reign in me which alas have tyrannized too long already O! that thou wouldst purge my understanding from all foolish Principles and all darkness and Ignorance of Holy Things and cure my will and affections of all their stubbornness and opposition to thy Laws that thou wouldest first take them as thine own Propriety and then fit them for their Masters use that I may never hereafter live to my self but unto thy Glory wilt
then do not despise me for thine own Mercies and thy Sons sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray as he hath taught me Our Father which art in Heaven c. A Prayer and Thanksgiving After the SACRAMENT I Thank thee most intirely O! my God for calling me this day to thy own Table to shew me how thine only Son freely dyed in my stead and to assure me that now for his sake thou art fully Reconciled and wilt live in me by thy Grace now at present and raise me up to be Eternally happy with thy Self at last of all which thou hast given me the surest Pledges in his precious Body and Blood What can I render to thee Holy Father or to thee my dearest Saviour for so incomprehensible a Benefit I admire thy marvellous Love and magnify it above all things Thy Praise shall ever be in my Mouth and I will tell out thy wondrous works with Gladness And may all Hearts adore and every Tongue confess that thou Holy Jesus art the Saviour of the World and the Son of the Father whom Heaven and Earth must Honour and call Blessed for evermore Pardon O! Good God the unaffectedness of my dull Heart in the receipt of so inestimable a Treasure and fill me with Desires some way suitable to my needs and the richness of thy Mercies that whenever this Cup of Blessings shall again over-flow my Heart may run over with Joy and Thankfulness also Let me never forget the Love I have received and the Peace I have Seal'd and the Promises of New Life I have made this Day but as thy Grace has help'd me to them so keep me in a lively sense of them and inable me always to fulfill the same to my Lives end Now thou hast given me the Blood of Expiation to shew we are Friends O! never let me be guilty of any thing to break the Peace which is now so solemnly ratified betwixt us Now I have vow'd Obedience to thy Laws to be Humble Chast Temperate Just Charitable Patient Devout and entirely resign'd to thy Will and Pleasure O! let me not start back again from these Holy Promises for ever Now I have received my Blessed Lord never suffer me to do any thing unworthy of him now I am Partaker of his Body and Blood let his Holy Spirit go along with them and then I shall be what I ought when I am in his keeping My sins which I have renounced will return again except he chase them away and my false Heart which now seems fixt for God will revolt unless he establish it O! Sweetest Saviour let thy Body be my Food thy Strength my Guard thy Spirit my Life and the sense of thy Favour my greatest Joy and Comfort Go on Graciously to accomplish what thou hast now begun in me and let me ever be secure and happy in thy Custody Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu And then where there is time for it or afterwards where theâ—â— is not may they go on and say Give thy Grace O Holy Jesu to all the World and let all who were Redeemed by thy Blood acknowledge thee to be the Lord and become thy Worshippers and Faithful Servants Make all Christians Conscientious Practisers of that Holiness which they profess and above all inspire them with uniting Principles and charitable Hearts that by their loving one another as thou hast loved us all the World may know they are thy Disciples Let all Governours Rule with Wisdom and Justice and Subjects obey with Love and Chearfulness Let the Priests of the Lord be Exemplary in their Lives and Discreet and Diligent in their Labourâ— having a most compassionate Love for Souls and let the People be Humble and Towardly most desirous to hearken and fully bent to follow wise Instructions Be a help at hand to all that need and are afflicted Send supplies to all that are in want and assist them contentedly to depend upon thee Raise Friends to the Widow and Fatherless the Prisoners and Captives and all that groan under Oppressors who are thrown upon thy Mercy Give Repentance Patience and Resignation to all that are sick and Ease when thou seest it convenient for them Be a Comforter to all troubled Consciences helping them to an acceptable Holiness and enlightning their minds about all causeless Scruples that they may not fear where no Fear is Succour all that are tempted with such a measure of thy Grace as may inable them to stand in all their Tryals Think particularly on all my Friends who are especially indeared to me by their Kindnesses or Acquaintance on all my Relations in the Flesh on all that Pray particularly for me or desire my Prayers Teach us all to desire what thou approvest and then grant us whatsoever as desired Prevent us in all our Actions and Guard us against all Dangers and Relieve us in all Straights and grant that we may always make thee our Stay and Confidence and take all things well which thou orderest for us Shorten all our Sorrows and prevent all our Sins and fit us all for that Eternal Kingdom which thou hast prepared for us for Jesus's sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray unto thee Our Father c. Being sensible how plain minds who are ready to do it so far as they are inabled are oft-times at a Loss for their Daily Devotions and not knowing but this Treatise may fall into some such Hands I have added two Prayers which such Persons may say Morning and Evening in their Families A Morning Prayer FOR A FAMILY O God who art the Giver of all good Gifts and the Father of Mercies We thine unworthy Servants intirely desire to praise thy Name for all the Expressions of thy Bounty towards us Blessed be thy Love that gave thy Son to die for our Sins to put us in a way of being happy if we would obey thee and after all our wilful Refusals of thy Grace still hast patience with us and hast added this one Day more to all we have mis-spent already to see if we will finish the Work thou hast set us to do and fit our selves for Eternal Glory Pardon Good Lord all our former Sins and all our Abuses of thy Forbearance for which now we are sorry at our Hearts and give us Grace to lead more holy Lives and be more careful in improving all future Opportunities Make thy self present to our Minds and let thy Love and Fear rule in our Souls in all those Places and Companies where our Occasions shall lead us this Day Keep us Chaste in all our Thoughts Temperate in all our Enjoyments Humble in all our Opinions of our selves Charitable in all our Speeches of others Meek and Peaceable under all Provocations Sincere and Faithful in all our Professions and so Just and Vpright in all our Dealings that no Necessity may force nor Opportunity in any kind allure us to defraud or go beyond our Neighbours
AN HELP and EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating OR A TREATISE Describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from It. Together with SUITABLE DEVOTIONS ADDED By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Pâ—inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Sâ—eptâ—r over against St. Dunstâ—n's Church in Fleetstreet 1683. TO THE Right Honourable SIMON Lord DIGBY BARON OF GEASHILL MY LORD THe Holy Eucharist is a Rite of the greatest Honour and Endearment that ever God vouchsafed to Men and the most Sublime and Blissful Instance of our Communion with him For therein he calls us to his own Table not to attend as Servants but to Feast with him as his Friends He treats us with the most Magnificent Fare presenting That to us for our Food which one would think were not to be eaten but adored even the most Sacred Body and Blood of his own Son in which he conveys to us all the Benefits of our Redemption And being thus apt to excite in us the highest Devotion and to enrich us with the greatest Fulness of Grace and Blessing one would expect it should be had in Reverence and most Thankfull Received by every Christian. But yet in our Days what part of Religion doth so generally suffer or is so universally neglected among Men For the greatest Numbers have either little or no Reverence at all for it or too much which makes them afraid of it they Neglect it thro' Carelesness and Causeless Scruples or Prophane it by Unworthy and Disrespectful Usage So that among all the Professors of Christianity few pay that Honour to their Lord or secure that Benefit to themselves by Receiving which he intended All should do This My Lord is the Grief and Complaint of all who have any just Honour for their Dearest Saviour and this Venerable Ordinance or any generous Compassion for the Souls of others And that by the Grace of God I may help something to redress it I have endeavoured to describe a Worthy Communicating and to set out both the Duty and Advantages of it in this Treatise that thereby I may recommend it to the Choice of all who are Wise and to the Consciences of all that are Religious In the Management whereof I have shunn'd all fruitless Disputes and nice Speculations seeking onely to get it Authority among the Loose and Reverence with the Careless and to reconcile it to the Scrupulous and to make the Duty as Clear Easie and Useful as I can to all Particularly I have designed all along to make it not onely an Honourable Remembrance of our Dear Lord but a most Solemn and Strict Engagement to a Good Life in all that use it for then I am sure they will be infinitely Happy in it And this Discourse My Noble Lord I here humbly offer to Your Lordship desiring it may stand as a Publick Testimony of the great Honour and Affection I have for those Excellencies that shine so clear in You. God has endow'd Your Great Mind with a strong Love and a steady Choice of Virtue and what I have beheld with Pleasure with a Generous and as there is Place for it an Active Compassion for those that want it You have the True Wisdom upon Deliberate and Well-studied Reasons to be Religious and the Courage in this Audacious Age when Irreligion is set up for the onely Creditable Dress to own it and study to be thought so For 't is Your Lordships Honour to think that nothing can truly make You Greater than to be an humble Worshipper and Faithful Servant of Your Holy Saviour This Noble Piety and Zeal for Goodness will endear You My Lord to Almighty God and to all Good Men. And if by these Papers I may in any wise contribute to them I shall think my self happy in having serv'd to set on the Virtuous Growth of One whom I hope God has set out in a Time that so infinitely needs it for an Illustrious Example that may give both Ornament and Support to Religion But besides this My Lord I have another End in this Dedication and that is That these Sheets may remain a Lasting Monument of my Gratitude for the Endearing Favours I have received from Your Noble Hand They were Composed for the Benefit of a Place where I am now fixed and whereto I was design'd by Your great Generosity and Nobleness when I thought of nothing less For so truly Publick was Your Lordships Spirit in the Filling of that Church that You pitch'd upon a Person whose Face You had never known and who never knew of it only because You believed he would make it his Care to promote Religion and to Benefit those Souls which You had to commit to him And this My Lord I humbly beg Your Lordships Leave to mention not for Your own but for the Publicks sake For in this degenerate Age when either Filthy Lucre or at least some other mean and sordid End have made a Merchandise and bred Corruption even in the most Sacred Trusts I think the World has need of such Examples I have nothing more to add but to beg of Almighty God That he who brings about the Noblest Ends by the Weakest and most Unlikely Instruments would make this Book effectual to his own Honour and Service and also bless Your Lordship with a Continuance and Encrease of all Virtuous Excellencies Honour and Happiness in this World till at last he shall take You to shine in his own Immortal Glory in the World to come This is the most hearty Prayer of him who very much for Your Favours but more for the true Affection and Esteem You have for the God and Saviour he serves is in all sincerity My Honoured Lord Your Lordships most Affectionate obliged Chaplain and humble Servant John Kettlewell From Your Lordships House near Coles-hill Jun. 27. 83. THE CONTENTS PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament THree ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 〈…〉 in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most Gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shewn from the same thing being done in Baptisme Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which
are carried on by a sinful Management As they are when they make us transgress any of those Duties towards our Adversaries which oblige us towards all Persons To avoid all these in Suing is an hard Point So we must be slow in coming to it and very circumspect when we are forced upon it The Answer to this Hindrance summ'd up Page 304 CHAP. V. Of Three other Hindrances A Seventh Hindrance is because others are not in Charity with them so that they are afraid they want that Peace which is required to it As for other mens uncharitableness it is their sin and so unfits them but not being ours it unfits not us for Receiving If that ought to exclude any from the Sacrament it had excluded Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians since none had ever such implacable Enemies as they had Care to be taken that their Enmity be not continued through our Fault so that if we have given just occasion we must endeavour a Reconciliation and if we gave none be careful not to hate them again An Eighth Hindrance is because 't is a Presumption in us to come to it and therefore an Humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it But 1. 'T is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden 2. 'T is a very great Presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble man refuse the Communion it will also carry him to renounce the whole Christian Profession A Ninth Hindrance is because many good People are seldom or never seen at it so that they have good Company and may be good too if they abstain from it But 1. In inquiring after our own Duty we are not to ask whether others practise it but whether Christ has any where enjoyn'd it 2. If any Good People keep from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness so that therein they are not to be imitated 3. Though they might be acceptably Good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better informed which will not be forgiven but upon their Amendment of it Page 362 CHAP. VI. Of Two more Hindrances A Tenth Hindrance is because others who are unworthy of it are admitted to join in it But 1. They ought not to be forward in judging others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from joining in it For if it be a sufficient Hindrance it had equally hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession but 't is plainly of no Force for either of them since one man shall not bear anothers but every man his own burden 3. If still any are really offended at the Communion of the Wicked upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denied the Sacrament An Eleventh Hindrance is the Gesture of Kneeling which is required to it When any are absent upon this account there is no excuse from it Three things insisted on to prevent their being hindred by it 1. Kneeling is no unsuitable Posture in receiving so that if we were left at Liberty we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it 2. It is appointed by our Governours whom God Commands us to obey in all lawful Things so that every Good man ought to observe it But if it neither had Authority to injoyn nor Reason to recommend it but another Posture might be better used Yet 3. Since it may lawfully though not so well be used too for the Sacraments sake which is not otherwise to be had we should at least comply with it No Hindrance to this Complyance because the Gesture of Kneeling is different from what our Saviour used For so is sitting too and therefore they and we are equally concerned to answer it The Posture he used was no part of the Institution so that the Institution is not broken when the Posture is altered Neither it nor any other has any Command of God for it so that none is necessary but all are still indifferent When a Posture different from that at the first Institution was introâ—uced in Sacraments our Saviour himself and they too have submitted to it Again no hindrance to it from the fear of worshiping the Bread or its being a Popish Rite A conclusion of this point Page 381 CHAP. VII Of some other Hindrances An Account of some other Hindrances One abstains because the day before he was at a Feast Another because his Child is sick or he himself is lighty indisposed A third because his Wife or Husband cannot come along with him to joyn in it A fourth because he has a Visit to make or a Friend come in who in all civility must be attended A fifth because of a Showr of Rain or a sharp Air abroad so that he must endure a piercing Blast or wet his Foot to go out to it These are no Excuse from it but still Men are bound to Communicate Some Devout Meditations and Prayers to help them in a Worthy Discharge of it After they have received they must be careful to make good those holy Vows and Promises which they made to God in the Holy Sacrament Page 421 Heads of Self-Examination for the use of those who would find out what Sins they have to Repent of either before a Sacrament or at any other Times Page 465 A Prayer before the Sacrament Page 474 A Prayer and Thanksgiving after the Sacrament Page 478 A Morning Prayer for a Family Page 484 An Evening Prayer for a Family Page 487 AN HELP AND EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating The INTRODUCTION IN this matter of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper there are two great Faults which are every where incurr'd and which all that Love their Saviour or their own Souls ought most carefully to avoid and they are a Refusal or Neglect and an unworthy Vsage or Prophanation of it both which are most offensive to Almighty God and to our dear Lord. For our Blessed Saviour has appointed it and expresly commanded us to come to it and shew'd us by manifest Tokens that he lays a particular weight upon it so that we are greatly undutiful and disobedient if we keep back from it And he has appointed it for sacred Ends and solemn Purposes which call for a very Reverent and Devout Carriage so that we prophane it if we come carelesly and behave our selves unworthily when we approach thereto It is a most necessary part of our Religion and therefore not to be passed over and let alone through Negligence and
and bids them drink of it which was well known among them to be a Federal Rite he plainly shew'd his meaning was that they should ratifie and confirm the New Covenant by it 2. In the Words of Institution the Bread is called Christs Body to the same intent as the Paschal Lamb was in the Jewish Sacrament and this also shews it to be a Covenanting Rite because that was a Federal Conveyance of it The Bread I say or rather the taking and eating of it is called Christs Body to the same Intent as the Paschal Lamb was in the Jewish Sacrament Jesus took bread says St. Matthew and brake it and said Take eat this is my Body Mat. 26.26 Which Words This is my Body relate to the Paschal Lamb that in the ordinary Phrase of the Doctors was called the Body of the Passover and the Body of the Paschal Lamb to shew that the taking and eating of the Bread and Wine was to be his Body in the same sense now as the eating of the Paschal Lamb had been hitherto Which Relation to the Passover that he had then in hand and to their manner of expressing it I think is one very obvious and natural Account of his calling this New Feast his Body when he spake of it And this also shews it to be a Covenant-Rite because the eating of the Paschal Lamb among the Jews was his Body in a Federal sense as a Federal Conveyance of it For their Slain Lamb was a Figure of our Dying Lord as hath been proved and was accepted to all the purposes of his Blood and their Feasting on it as in all other Sacrifices was their Federal joyning in and partaking of it For to Feast on a Sacrifice was to joyn in the Covenant made by it and to partake of the Blessings promised to it as shall presently be shewed And since in the Words of Institution our Saviour says of the Eating of the Bread that it is his Body to the same intent as the Eating of the Paschal Lamb was in that Jewish Sacrament which was so in a Federal sense as a Federal Conveyance of it he plainly intimates his own Supper to be a Federal Feast and that we confirm the New Covenant by joyning in it And as this appears from the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is called the New Covenant and they are bid to eat and drink which is a Federal Rite and the Eating of the Bread is called Christs Body to the same intent as the Paschal Lamb was which was so in a Federal sense as it Federally conveyed it So doth it also 2 ly From its being a Feast upon Sacrifice which is a Federal Feast for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on the Sacrifice we joyn in and partake of it The Lords Supper I say is a Feast upon Sacrifice It was the way both among Jews and Gentiles that when they brought an Offering to God they who offered it were to come and Feast on some part of it Thus it was in the Worship of the Golden Calf and the Sacrifice which Aaron made to it Exod. 32 He built an Altar before it and offered Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings and the People sate down to Eat and to Drink i. e. upon part of what they had offered v. 5 6. And thus it was in the Sacrifice which Samuel blessed 1 Sam. 9 The People will not eat until he come because he doth bless the Sacrifice and afterwards they eat that be bidden v. 13. And to this Usage several Places of the Scripture allude as namely Psal. 106.28 they joyned themselves unto Baal-Pâ—or and ate the Sacrifices of the Dead And Exod. 34.15 lest thou do Sacrifice unto their Gods and one call thee and thou eat of his Sacrifice And several others And as it was thus in the Religious Feasts both of Jews and Gentiles so it is also in the Lords Supper Our Saviour gave his Body and Blood a Sacrifice for our Sins putting away Sin as the Apostle says by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 And having thus made the Oblation according to what was in use both in the Jewish and Gentile Sacrifices he institutes this Treat of Bread and Wine as a Feast upon it This I suppose is aim'd at when St. Paul brings in an Altar speaking of the Christian Feast which sufficiently intimates its relation to a Sacrifice as a Treat upon it We have an Altar says he whereof they have no right to eat that serve the Tabernacle i. e. wherein the strict Judaizers may not partake for Judaism excludes Men from the Communion especially and indeed from all Parts of the Christian Worship Heb. 13.10 And this he also shews concerning it when he compares it with the Jewish and Gentile Feasts on Sacrifices making them answerable and parallel to it 1 Cor. 10.16 18 20 21. And this he directly affirms of it when he says Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Eucharistical Feast i. e. upon this Sacrificed Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And Feasts upon Sacrifice are Federal Feasts i. e. Feasts that ratifie and confirm Covenants for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and Feasting upon it is the way of participating or sharing in it Sacrifice I say is one way of Covenanting with God When God would enter into Articles and bind himself in Covenants with Men he chose to do it in shedding the Blood of some Sacrifice that Typified the Blood of Christ his Son which is the onely thing that moves him to deal with us in any Concern that either implies or tends to Friendship and Reconciliation Thus he did with Abraham when he promised him the Land of Canaan if he would continue perfect and walk before him he ordered him to make a Sacrifice that therein he might covenant and engage it to him Take an Heifer says he and a she-Goat and a Ram c. And Abraham took them and divided them in the midst and when the Sun went down behold a smoaking Furnace and a burning Lamp that passed between those Pieces wherein 't is like God Consumed and Feasted on Abraham's Sacrifice and in that same day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham saying Vnto thy Seed have I given this Land c Gen. 15.8 9 10 17 18. And thus he did with the Jewish Nation when he ratified that Covenant with them which Moses gave them he chose the Blood of Burnt-offerings that therein he might seal it tâ— them For when Moses told the People all the words of the Lord and they answered with one voice saying We will do them he built an Altar of twelve Pillars according to the twelâ—e Tribes and offered Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings and then recited the Book of the Covenant in their â—ars that they might give their Assent to it in the Solemnity of this Sacrifice the Blood whereof is therefore called the Blood of the Covenant because it was thus solemnly
entred and established by it Exod. 24.3 4 5 6 7 8. And thus he did in other Compacts but particularly in all those wherein he promised Pardon of Sin for without shedding of Blood i. e. of some Sacrifice says the Apostle there is no Remission Heb. 9.22 Thus did God in all Contracts of Pardon and Reconciliation require the Blood of some Sacrifâ—ce that therein he might ratifie and confirm them And this was the great Use whereto all Sacrifices of Expâ—ation such as our Saviour Christs is in most signal manner whereon we Feast in the Lords Supper served among the Jews they were solemn Compacts and Stipulations wherein he promised Pardon and they Amendment after any Offences He ingaged to accept the Life of the sacrificed Beast in lieu of theirs and to exempt them because it had suffered and they engaged to amend the Fault which they sought to have atoned and never more to repeat it This 't is plain they did from that Form of Penitential Confession in use among them when they brought an Expiatory Sacrifice to the Lord O Lord I have sinned and dealt wickedly and rebelled against thee in doing this or that now I am sorry for it and ashamed of it and will never more return to it and therefore beg this Sacrifice may atone for it And if they had not thus repented of it the Sacrifice would have been of no avail to the Forgiveness of it For to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord so long as you shew no Repentance with them But wash you make you clean cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together tho' your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow Isa. 1.11 16 17 18. The Sacrifices of God says the Psalmist are a broken Spirit i. e. they must be offered and presented with it a broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise Ps. 51.17 Thus were Sacrifices a mutual Stipulation and Engagement consisting of a Promise of Pardon on Gods part and a Promise of Repentance and Amendment on Mans so that they were in the nature of a virtual Contract and Covenant between them And this God plainly intimates concerning them when he tells of his Saints making a Covenant with him by Sacrifice Gather my Saints saith he who have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Ps. 50.5 and calls Salt wherewith every Oblation of Meat-offering was to be seasoned the Salt of the Covenant because it was to season all those Sacrifices wherein the Covenant was confirmed Levit. 2.13 And as Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God so is Feasting upon it the way of sharing and partaking in it He who joyned in the Feast was looked upon by God himself to joyn also in the Offering to promise all the Duty which it engaged and to partake in all the Blessings which it procured for them They which eat of the Sacrifices says St. Paul are Partakers of the Altar 1 Cor. 10.18 And therefore he forbids them to joyn in the Gentile Feasts where they sacrificed to Devils because that were to partake and have Fellowship with Devils v. 20 21. And thus from this also viz. the Lords Supper being a Feast on Sacrifice it appears to be a Federal Rite because Sacrifice is the great way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we joyn in and partake of it In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table agreeably to what the Jews and Gentiles did at their Religious Feasts we feed on the Sacrifice of Christ and that Sacrifice confirmed the New Covenant with Almighty God that being as he says sealed in his Blood so that by our Feasting on it we are made to share in it and give our full Consent thereto 3 ly That our Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table is a Covenant-Rite appears from all the particular Blessings of the Covenant being conveyed by it which otherwise than by Federal Promises and Performances are not to be had The Particular Blessings promised in the Covenant I say are all conveyed by it Our Saviour tells us of the Bread we eat and of the Wine we drink that they are his Body and Blood This is my Body says he and this is my Blood of the New Testament Mat. 26.26 28. By which altho' we are not to understand that they are so in their Natures yet the least we can understand is that they are so in their Effects i. e. that they convey to us all those Blessings which the piercing of his Body and the shedding of his Blood procured for us Those Blessings are contained in the New Covenant and as I said are chiefly these three viz. the Forgiveness of Sins the Assistance of Gods Spirit to aid and strengthen us and Eternal Life and Happiness and all these the Eating of Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament are designed to convey to us They convey to us Forgiveness of Sins and assure us when we perform them as we ought that God is in Favour and at Peace with us Of this we have sufficient Assurance because we Feast upon a Sacrifice which is Gods Meat and are entertained at his own Table as his Guests whom he has invited and the least which that can mean is that he admits us into a State of Love and Friendliness since we do not invite those we will not be Friends with to our own Tables When any one calls another to a Treat it is a plain Sign he either would be or is or at least makes shew of being reconciled It is a most Natural Sign and now every where is and always was a Note of Friendship and Endearment And as such the Scriptures are wont to speak of it When those whom he had shut out should knock at the door to be let in and claim Acquaintance our Saviour tells us they will say to him We have eaten and drunk in thy presence Luc. 13.25 26. And when he shews his Apostles how high Favour and what great Interest they shall have with him he tells them they shall eat and drink at his Table in his Kingdom Luc. 22.29 30. And when he declares how kind he will be to those that hear his voice and open unto him he â—ays he will come in and sup with them and they wâ—th him Rev. 3.20 So that when God entertains us at his own Table and invites us to Feast with him as he doth in the Holy Communion we may be sure if we come worthily as we ought he is in Friendship with us and our Sins are forgiven And this our Saviour plainly intimates when he tells us at the giving of the Cup that it is his Blood shed for the Remission of Sins and bids us drink of it that so we may have it in our selves and be assured we have received the Atonement And this we must observe is a Privilege which God never
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
wherein he is to be remembred 1 Cor. 11.24 And so 't is also in St. Luke where the Words are Peremptory for the Apostles administring and so answerably for the Peoples receiving it without any intimation of the eating it self being indifferent and uncommanded which that Evangelist would not so unwarily have expressed if Christ had so intended it And our Lord shew'd us not only that he has commanded this Sacramental eating but that he has commanded it as a necessary thing when he tells his Hearers that except they thus eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man they have no Life in them Joh. 6.53 And this necessity of it is further manifested from the necessity of the Passover among the Jews which answered to it for at every Return of it they were to be cut off from Israel whosoever presumed to omit it Exod. 12.15 And if there were no express Command for it yet are the things we are call'd to in it all of that obliging Nature and such necessary Duties that without Sin they cannot be declined By all which as we have seen this Sacramental eating and drinking is evidently proved to be a plain Duty and under a peremptory Commandment When therefore in this place the Apostle says of our drinking of the Cup Do this as often as ye drink it he doth not intimate that we may do it as seldome as we please or as if it were under no Law or express Precept He uses the words as often not because 't is an Arbitrary Act and there is no Duty in it but because though it be a Duty we have not always opportunity for it and so cannot always be performing it For as has been shewn there is a Command to Communicate and that as all other Affirmative Laws binds us to it at all times when a fit occasion is offer'd When we eat and drink in the Sacrament we must remember Christ and when we have an opportunity to eat and drink in it we are obliged to it as the Jews we saw were to the Passover which answered to it who were to be cut off from Israel when at any time they omitted it So that to Communicate is no Arbitrary Act but an indispensable Duty and peremptory Command still And since it is thus necessary a Duty in every grown Christian to come to the Holy Sacrament it must needs be a great and dangerous Sin in any of us when we neglect and abstain from it We must not think it an indifferent thing but make Conscience of keeping off from the Holy Communion as we do of keeping off from Prayers of Swearing doing Wrong being Proud Incontinent or Drunken For it is expresly and straitly forbidden by God as well as they and we incur his Anger and till we repent and do so no more cannot regain his Favour when we are guilty of any of them A neglect of the Lords Table therefore is a Sin which although God may excuse in those good Souls who because of their over-high Veneration for it and Fear of their own Vnworthiness to partake in it in the honesty of their Hearts think they ought not to come to it Yet will he not excuse in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and Impenitent to receive it He may excuse it I say in those Good Souls who in the honesty of their Hearts through Ignorance or Error were held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it and fear of their Vnworthiness to partake in it thought they ought not to come to it An innocent Ignorance or mistake of an honest mind may plead our excuse before God in this as well as in other Duties For in all of them Christ has such a Sense of our Infirmities as that he can have Compassion on the Ignorant and those that err or are out of the way Heb. 5.2 So that if after an upright indeavour to be rightly inform'd in it some Good Minds shall happen to mistake their Error will not be imputed It may be through the loose Discourses of some or the general Practice of the World who by being so seldom at it seem to set lightly by it they think themselves not obliged to it Or again through the extream Rigidness of the Discourses of others who require such extraordinary things to it as very few have attain'd they think themselves always unworthy and unprepared for it and that they should sin and eat their own Damnation in it But if they fall into these mistakes about it which make them abstain from it after an honest indeavour to be rightly inform'd about it their Ignorance may plead their Excuse and make their Neglect to be connived at God will not account it to them as a sin because they knew it not but were mistaken For in this as well as in all other Cases to him that knows to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 4.17 But though God may bear with this neglect of the Sacrament in Good men whilst they are thus innocently misled Yet will he not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Impenitent to receive it He will not excuse it even in them when they are better informed Their only plea for their not doing of this Duty is that after the best search they could make they did not know they were bound to it or that with safety they could perform it and when once their Understanding is inlightned this plea is removed so that afterwards they can find no relief at all from it They abstain then when they know if they are truly Penitent they might and ought to come and that abstinence is wilful and unless they repent of it and amend it will end in their Condemnation For to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him 't is Sin Jam. 5.17 And much less will he excuse it in others who are careless of it and too Impenitent to receive it If they are hindred from the Lords Table out of Slothfulness or are unworthy of it by Reason of their Impenitence those are not their Excuse but their own Damning Fault and they must expect to bear the punishment of it To tell God I did not come to the Sacrament because I would not Repent is to tell him I would not come and promise to be Good because I was resolved to continue Wicked and that is a very odd way of excusing it Impenitence is no excuse but a most damning Sin and therefore if we have no other cause to give why we did not come we must needs be liable to Condemnation If any of you therefore who shall peruse this Treatise have refused Gods invitation formerly and have kept back from this Feast by what I have here said you may see your Fault and
stay away and not receive at all But that they may not be kept back by this hindrance I shall observe to them these three things 1. That they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from it 3. If it happen that any are really Scandaliz'd at the sight of such as are notoriously Wicked or have done any wrong to their Neighbours either in word or deed upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denyed the Sacrament 1. I say they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy to communicate lest they be mistaken in it For every Penitent Man who is fully Resolved to leave all his Sins is really worthy to receive the Sacrament and whether the Person they think unworthy be so resolved or no is very hard for them to judge since no Man can see into anothers Heart and only God and his own Soul are privy to it When he comes to the Lords Table every Communicant professes to Repent and promises to lead a New Life thenceforward and when he solemnly declares he is thus resolved 't is hard for another Person who cannot see into his Soul to say he is not but is still impenitent Tho all Good Men therefore may be free in judging of themselves yet ought they to be very wary how they pass a Judgment on the unworthiness of others They must not be forward to pronounce of it because 't is hard for them to know it so that when they give Sentence against their Brethren in this point 't is venturously done and they are liable to be deceived in it 2. When some others who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do Receive the Sacrament yet ought not that to hinder them from joyning in it Our Business should not be to move Questions and Disputes about the preparedness of others but to be careful duly to prepare our selves and when once we are sitly qualified for it we ought to come whether they be so or no. Their unworthiness will have all its effect upon themselves but will not hinder our acceptance nor ought to put us by from doing both our Saviour and our own Souls this Service To shew this I shall observe these three things 1. If the company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians 2. It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession But 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they we unworthy we are safe and may freely come and they alone are to be debarred from Receiving 1. If the Company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it is not so barely unto us but would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians For when our Lord eat hiâ— own Supper it was not with a Select Company of worthy Receivers but with a mixt multitude of Saints and Sinners Thus he found it in the Jewish Passover for all the Congregation of Israel both good and bad were to eat of it and none but Foreiners and hired Servants were excluded from it Exod. 12.45 47. And the like mixture of Guests he allowed when he instituted this Feast instead of it For in great likelyhood Judas who as the Scripture says was a Thief and the Son of Perdition was one of the twelve that Communicated with him Mat. 26.20 25 26. Luc. 22.20 21. And in the first times all Christians as I have shewn who came together to pray to God met also to receive the Holy Sacrament that being then a constant part of their Publick Worship The Number of Communicants in those Days was the same with the number of Christians or Baptized Persons for all Men then met in the Communion who were made Members of Christs Mystical Body the Church by Baptism and were not cut off again by Excommunication as St. Paul plainly intimates when he says of all those many who make up the one Body that they are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and of all those who have been Baptized into one Body that they have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 So that their Communions as well as ours were mixt Assemblies which were made up of worthy and unworthy Receivers and therefore if other Mens unworthiness ought to be our hindrance it should also have hindred our Blessed Saviour Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians who if this be a good Reason for it should all have forborn the Sacrament because Judas a lost man and other unprepared and unworthy Persons met also with them at the same time to partake in it 2. If the Company of unworthy Persons be a just impediment from the Communion it ought to hinder us also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession For the Church it self is a mixt multitude of fit and unfit of holy and unholy Persons It is compared to a Net wherein Fish of all sorts are caught both good and bad Mat 13.47 48 to a Field where both Wheat and Tares spring up and wherein both must grow together till the Harvest v. 24 25 30. All Christians are not such as their Saviour Christ was and such as their Religion requires they should be and therefore if we refuse to share in any holy thing whilst some unworthy Persons pretend to it and will not joyn in any Act or State wherein ill men participate we must not only shun the Communion but cease also to be members of the Church or Profess the Christian Religion Nay I might add further since all Communities have some Corrupt Members and in every Body of Men there are some Vicious as well as Godly Persons if we decline all Society and fellowship which has ill Men to partake in it we must not stop in avoiding the Communion and leaping out of the Christian Church and Profession but if we run on so far as this Principle will lead us become Out-Laws to Families Townships Kingdoms yea to all Mankind 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they are unworthy we are safe and may freely câ—me and they alone are debarr'd from receiving God will not punish one Soul for anothers fault or be angry at this because that Person has deserv'd it But every Man shall stand or fall by his own Work and either be approved or â—â—jectâ—d as it prepares him for it Let every Man prove his own Work saith the Apostle for every Man shall bear his own Burden Eph. 6.4 5. So that if we take care to come worthily our selves
indeed they would not be made by any Men if once they were convinced how much it is both their Duty and their Interest to come to the Communion For when they are detained by such frivolous Reasons as would not either be urged or admitted in excuse for any other Business they shew onely their great Indifference to it and how they esteem it less than any other Matters and this they could not do if they held it either as a valuable Privilege or as a Point of Conscience The best way therefore to remove these Hindrances from the Sacrament is to possess Men with a Belief that God has peremptorily injoyn'd it and that 't is infinitely their own Interest and high Privilege to be admitted to it And having shew'd these very largely in the Second Part I shall refer the Reader unto that as a very likely way not onely to answer these but also to prevent all other such like Pleas against it But that such Persons as are serious in these Hindrances may not think themselves slighted besides this general Answer I shall say something to the Particulars 1. One keeps away from the Sacrament because the day before either he himself has made a Feast or has been treated by his Neighbour at a Noble Entertainment But why I pray must this excuse it For if at the Feast he was guilty of any incapacitating Fault or any ways intemperate 't is not the Feast but such Offence or Intemperance which is to be alledg'd for it But if the Entertainment was Friendly in the Design Temperate at the Table and every way harmless and charitable hurting no Man's Fame nor disturbing any Man's Quiet in the Conversation wherein was his Lord offended or his Soul unfitted by it The Primitive Christians received it as a Friendly Treat for in those days their Love-Feasts always went along with it so that an Hospitable Entertainment the day before yea or the same day doth not unfit Men to Communicate but if in all things else they are duely qualified they may worthily receive still 2. Another abstains from this Holy Feast because his Child is sick or because he has taken Cold himself or has some aking in his Head or is otherwise lightly indisposed But what if his Child is sick Doth he attend it Or is it advisable for him to be so far disturbed at it till his Mind is unfit for those Religious Tempers which he is to exercise at the Holy Sacrament Perhaps his Child fares the worse because of some Sin that he has committed and will he not then instantly repent of it and come to the Lord's Table there to have his Pardon seal'd that so this Load being taken off it might be eased by it But whether that be so or no if he has any sense of Religion either in his Childs Case or his own he will be earnestly desirous to make God his Physician and call out to him for help and that he cannot do so effectually or prevail in it so certainly at any other time as I have shewed as in the Holy Sacrament For God is never more inclined to hear us nor are we ever more likely to have our Prayers granted for any thing that he sees fit for us than when we send them up along with this Solemn Commemoration of our Saviours Death which is the only Argument that has Authority and Power with him to obtain any thing on our behalf So that if a wise man longs to have his Child recovered he cannot do a more unwise thing than either to grieve so far till he is unfitted for this Feast or when he might be fit for it to neglect it since his Prayers there would a be most probable and prudent course to obtain it And then as for his own indisposition if indeed it has brought upon him such heaviness as unfits him for any Spiritual Act or if it is in that Degree that 't is not safe for him to stir abroad with it God prefers Natural and Essential Duties before Positive Institutions and Mercy before Sacrifice so that it will be a just excuse for it But if it cannot hinder him from looking after business and going among his Neighbours or venturing out upon any appearance of doing either himself or his Friend a kindness why must it excuse him from attending upon God and doing him this Service except that be thought sufficient to excuse our attendance upon him which excuses nothing else which is a thing I presume they would be loth to own who stay away by reason of this hindrance 2. Some again refrain the Holy Sacrament because their Wife or Husband cannot bear them Company and join in it One of them is either accidentally prevented that they cannot or sinfully negligent and unprepared that they will not come to it and therefore in Complyance and for Companies sake the other also keeps away at present and defers it to another time when both together can partake of it This I think is a popular but it is a very weak excuse For the receiving the Communion is an indispensable Duty concerning which every Person must give account of themselves unto Almighty God so that one near Relation can no more talk of neglecting it for the others sake than of neglecting to say their Prayers and serve God because the other doth it not or of being irreligious to symbolize with some dear Friends and casting away their precious Souls out of Complement Nay if he had not thus injoyn'd but only Friendly invited us to Communicate yet would it be a very rude and disobliging thing to refuse his Invitation upon this account because some others who are very dear to us have not either the opportunity or good manners to accept it For if an Husband or a Wife will not receive unless the other also will consent to joyn it it is a sign they come not so much for their Lords as for each others sake so that they and not their Saviour have the Service and the Honour of it and this is an odd account for any man to give to Christ of his neglecting this Feast when he is most affectionately and earnestly invited to it When any Persons stay away from the Sacrament then because they cannot have their Bosom-Friend to joyn in it they are Guilty of a great sin since they are bound to it whether the other come or not and pass a great affront and dishonour upon their Lord so that this is far from having any excuse in it Nay instead of being a Reason why they should abstain from it the neglect of one dear Relation lays a greater obligation on the other to Communicate For when one cannot come so that there must be a defect on that part that is too much already since neither ought to be wanting in it and therefore there is the more need the other should receive not only to shew their own Duty in it but also to supply their Friends defect as well