but that you would continue in his love and friendship by keeping his Commandments as he said to his Disciples Joh. 15.9 10. c. remember that he adds presently This is my Commandment that you love one another as I have loved you v. 12. which he repeats again v. 17. These things I command you that ye love one another And so take them all into your heart with as much affection as if the embracing each other in our arms and giving the holy kiss of charity were still in use among us And let the Memory of Christs death for his Enemies and of this divine feast together with him and your Brethren ever kill all your Enmities extinguish your anger compose your differences sweeten the harshness of your Spirits c. and make you live together as loving Friends that hope to live in endless love and immortal joys in the highest heavens Of which you may also look upon this Feast as an earnest and begin those joys in such thoughts as these at the holy Communion that one day you shall keep an eternal Feast with our Saviour in the happy company of the Saints and Angels who will all joyn in the chearful praises of the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Tim. 6.15 16. who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see to whom be honor and power everlasting Amen PART IV. Containing several other Meditations together with Prayers sutable to this Action BY this time I hope you see that it is good for you to draw near to God at his holy Table if you have any desire to be good Christians or any savour of spiritual pleasures You must wholly cast away all remembrance of your duty and be lost to all sense of rational satisfaction or else be strongly inclined considering what hath been said to take the pains to prepare your selves or rather to keep your selves in a constant preparation for frequent Communion there with our blessed Saviour An innocent holy and useful life cannot but commend it self to you if it be but on this score that you may be intertained with such a comfort as to know the love of God in Christ to you and be fit to be feasted continually with such delightful pledges of it How is it possible for any considerate persons to despise or neglect such means of their contentment The Table of the Lord methinks should be more acceptable to them than a stage and they should run more greedily to this Divine feast than they do to the Theatres He should have more guests and a greater croud to attend upon him than those so much frequented places For what do they see represented there but some of the follies of mankind the passions and misfortunes of a miserable lover the wiles and subtle contrivances of some ingenious person or such like things some of which never were But here is represented the great wisdom of Almighty God the manifold wisdom of our Creator into which the Angels desired to look and of which they are gladsome spectators The incomparable kindness of our blessed Saviour that ardent love which offered him up to God upon the Cross and which he still continues now that he is in the Heavens as we see by these remembrances which he hath left us of it The rare method of our Salvation the wonderful way which Heaven hath contrived to bring lost souls again thither the glorious conquest which the Saviour of the world hath made over sin the grave and Hell All which we here behold his Captives and our selves the prize which he desires to win by all his labours Do not men then extreamly betray their infidelity is it not plain that Christian piety lies languishing and dying when such numbers will spend a great deal of time to prepare and dress themselves to be seen in the Theatre and we cannot prevail in some places with any considerable company to meet us at this glorious representation which we make at the Table of the Lord They that will be at the pains to go to the former every day content themselves nay think it a great trouble to put their souls in a posture to come to this holy place once in a whole year And God knows how many there are that will not put themselves to that pains neither who rarely appear before God at this holy Solemnity and whose faces are scarce ever seen in the presence of our Saviour O shameful ingratitude which you that read these things if you are believers can never endure I should think to be guilty of If you give any credit to this history of the love of God in Christ Jesus recorded in the Gospel you will spend some time sure to dispose your selves to make frequent acknowledgments to him by receiving these holy Mysteries You will be ashamed that so much time should be consumed in trimming up your selves to see and to be seen in other places and little or none that you may come before God and behold the great things that he hath done for your souls For the love of God consider at what charge he hath furnished this Table for you how often he hath invited you to it how desirous he is that you would shew him so much love as not to refuse him your company there Think how ill he must needs take it if you will not accept of his singular kindness nay that you your selves will not be pleased when you reflect and consider of how much joy you have deprived your souls by denying him so much of your duty For there is no compare between all the jollities in the world and this one single pleasure of giving hearty thanks to God for his unspeakable mercy to us in Christ Jesus Do but come and see Satisfie your selves by waiting on him at his Table with such thoughts as become his presence If you have the least spark of goodness you will find it shine and glow and spread it self to your infinite joy and contentment of heart Among all the various degrees and conditions of Christian people there will none be found that come hither with sincere affection to do this in remembrance of their Saviour but may go away rejoycing loaded with many divine benefits For we may apply to this heavenly nourishment what the Jews say of their Manna sent down by God from Heaven to them which contained in it as their tradition affirms all the tasts that any man desired and longed for it being so suted to every pallate and constitution that none could fail to be both fed and pleased though they were of never so different tempers This is not only a common story in the Books of the later Hebrew Doctors but we meet with it in one of the Apocryphal writings which is very ancient Thou feddest thine own people with Angels food saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom chap.
seem to me to arise from one or other of these four Heads It is either thought to be no necessary part of a Christians Duty at least not so necessary as others are or else the Meaning Use and Benefit of it is not understood or men are loth to be at the pains of disposing themselves to be worthy Communicants or lastly having sometimes Communicated they found no good by it and so left it of It is the design therefore of this small Treatise which a desire to quicken and promote Christian Piety hath brought forth to shew as briefly and plainly as I can devise First that all those who are called by the name of our Lord have a strong tye upon them to address themselves to his Holy Table and Secondly that the ends and purposes for which it is prepared are such as both invite and ingage them to come thither Thirdly to direct the Readers to an easy and familiar way of disposing themselves to do this duty with Profit and Pleasure and Lastly to furnish them with some Meditations and Devotions sutable to the Action for want of which I conceive many reap so little good from it These are the Four parts of the insuing Discourse PART I. Of the Obligations we have to Communicate For the First of these to make you sensible of the necessity and weight of this Duty there are these Six things to be considered THAT we have an express Command for it from our Lord and Master to whose service we were solemnly devoted when we were Baptized And lest there should be any room for shifting and excuses this Command is so ordered that it hath respect both to the Officers and Ministers in his Church and also to the People under their Care to the former that they might prepare this Holy Table to the other that they might come to pertake of it First he requires his Apostles Luke 22.19 to do this in remembrance of him Which words it is plain refer to what our Saviour then did who took Bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave it unto them saying this is my body which is given for you thiâ— do in remembrance of me And therefore it is as much as if he had said Do you take bread give thanks break it and give it to all my family hereafter Now if they were bound to give it then all Christians no doubt must be bound though there had been nothing more said to receive and eat it But the more to inforce the Duty they are requirâ—d so to do according as S. Paul hath declared the mind and intention of our Lord in this business and he is the only person beside S. Luke who makes mention of these words Do this in remembrance of me though two other Evangelists mention the Institution of this Sacrament He tells us 1 Cor. 11.24 that when our Lord had given thanks he brake the Bread and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you Do this in remembrance of me Here these words DO THIS immediately refer to take eat which are not in S. Luke And therefore DO THIS in his Gospel immediately refers as I said to taking bread giving thanks breaking it and giving it to them In that the Apostles and their Successors were more peculiarly concerned and none can Do this i. e. take bread give thanks break it and give it but they But in the other taking eating and drinking all Christians are concerned and are bound to do this as long as the world lasts Which appears sufficiently from the whole discourse of S. Paul to the Corinthians who were as he tells them v. 26. to shew forth the Lords death as often as they did eat that bread and drink of that Cup which the Ministers of our Lord gave to them As they were not to neglect their duty in making ready this holy food inviting the Lords people to pertake of it offering it and giving it to them so it behoved them who were called to be careful not to neglect theirs but to come and eat and drink at the Table of the Lord that by the whole action performed by both the Lords death might be declared and solemnly commemorated with Thanksgiving and Praise And to make this Command appear more weighty let me cast in two or three considerations more before I proceed any further 1. That our Lord not only gave it to the Twelve Apostles but to S. Paul also after he was added to the number From which we may clearly gather his intention of having this duty every where performed not only by the Jews but all others For when he appeared to this person and revealed his whole mind to him that he might be an Apostle and preach to the Heathen world he left not out this precept but gave him particular instructions about it For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you that the Lord Jesus the night in which he was betrayed took bread c. v. 23. 1 Cor. 11. He had not this from the Apostles nor was taught it by man but Christ himself delivered it to him as he had done to the rest of his Apostles that he might teach men to do this if they had any regard to the express Command of their dearest Lord. And it is very hard if they have not a great reverence to it considering 2. That it is the very last Commandment which he gave before his Death When he was parting with his Disciples and taking his farewel of them till he should see them again after his resurrection he left this charge with them that they should do as they had seen him do just before he went away Read the verses going before those now mentioned out of S. Luke ch 22. v. 16 17 18 c. and you will find the sense of our Saviours whole discourse to be this This is the last Supper we shall eat together in this world I shall keep no more Feasts with you till we meet in Heaven But I would have you meet often and Feast together upon my broken Body and my Blood shed for you according to the pattern which now I set before you As you see me take bread give thanks break it and give it to you so do ye This is my Will and Testament if you have any respect to the words of a dying Master and Saviour if you love me and bear me in mind when I am gone from you Do not forget to do this in remembrance of me And what he said to them we are to take as said to us for 3. S. Paul saith this is to be done till his coming again 1 Cor. 11.26 It is not a Temporary Command like those given to Moses but layes a perpetual obligation upon us till Christ who appeared to put away sin by this Sacrifice of himself which we commemorate shall appear the second time without sin unto Salvation From whence it necessarily follows that not only the
Breaking giving and receiving of that Bread was to commemorate and more strongly imprint on their minds the whole History of our Lord Jesus Which we are not to reflect upon in an idle and ineffectual manner but with such passions as we feel when we think of the sweet conversation the good offices and the solemn departure of the dearest Friend that we ever had Whom no good natur'd man can seriously call to mind without Love Delight Gratitude and a great forwardness to fulfil his Will and Testament and to follow his admired example Now that we may be made able to do so in respect to our Lord Christ he is pleased to set before us this Holy Food which the Christian Church hath always lookt upon as a Spiritual nourishment to strengthen and encrease in us all goodness And for that purpose we are to address our selves to the Table of our Lord that by affectionate meditation on his condiscending kindness in becoming a Man for our sakes and by laying to heart the whole story of his wonderful Love from his Birth to his Grave and fixing our eyes on the glorious hopes he hath given us by rising again from the dead and ascending to the Throne of God we may feel a greater strength derived to us from him enabling us to our several duties and be enlivened to a greater freedom and chearfulness in denying all our own appetites and desires and submitting them to the Will of Christ Say therefore to your selves before you come thither some such words as these We are invited to a Feast our most Gracious Lord is the Master of it yea He himself is the cheer that is provided for us With what Humility with what thankfulness ought we to accept of his invitation Let us fit up our selves and make our souls ready to appear before him in as holy and becoming a manner as we are able Let us go with such joy as if we were called to the richest entertainment in the world Let our Meditation of him be sweet and let us be glad in the Lord * Psal 104.4 Isa 63.7 Psa 45.17 Let us mention the loving kindness of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us And let us make his name to be remembred in all generations Let us resolve to feed on him in our hearts by Faith with Thanksgiving as his Minister exhorts us to ruminate so long upon his love till we feel our hearts burn with love to him Let us meditate on his holy life his bitter passion his bloody and shameful death his glorious Resurrection and Ascention his Power and Authority at Gods right hand the great benefits we justly expect from thence and the pretious promises he hath by these means sealed to us till we feel all the powers of our souls quickned and stirred up with a mighty heat and zeal to do the will of our ever blessed Redeemer even a new life and spirit coming into us and making us Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Which vertue we shall certainly find flowing into us and spreading it self through our hearts if we believe and enter into a serious consideration of the more particular intention and design of this holy Feast whose general meaning I have briefly described Having surveyed therefore in your thoughts the whole Gospel of our Saviour Christ I shall proceed to shew you on what you are more principally to fasten them You must not consider this holy Action only as a Feast in remembrance of him but as a Feast upon a Sacrifice wherein you are more particularly to commemorate his Death Our blessed Lord the High-Priest of our profession was pleased himself to be offered upon the cross where he gave himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 A kindness that as it ought never to be forgotten so it ought to be mentioned with the highest and devoutest praises And therefore after the manner of those Feasts among the Jews and Gentiles too in which the people had some portion of the Sacrifice to entertain themselves and their friends withal he makes us pertakers of the Sacrifice which he made to God by admitting us in these representations of his body and blood to feast upon it Which Action is a grateful commemoration of his death to his everlasting praise and glory Therein we set forth that Sacrifice of his for us and signifie the thankful sense we have of his love and our high esteem of those benefits which his bloody Death hath purchased to us This we learn first from those words of our Lord and his Apostle S. Paul which teach us to do this in remembrance of him Which phrase doth not signifie our calling him to mind but our making mention of his dying love with due praises and acknowledgments which is best expressed by the word Commemorate We declare by doing this that we indeed bear that remarkable testimony of his kindness in the remembrance of a thankful heart and will endeavour to make it be remembred in the succeeding generation That this is the meaning appears more fully from a second expression of S. Paul's 1 Cor. 11.26 where he saith as often as they did this they shewed forth the Lords death till he came We declare and publish by this Action his bloody Death We proclaim and abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness which he would have made known to all by this solemn Feast till his second appearing This is the import of that word shew forth only it carries this further notion in it as appears by the use of it in the Psalms * Ps 106. â— Ps 145.4 5 6 7. That we hereby publish his mighty Acts with praise extol and magnifie his marvellous love and celebrate the Memory of those divine benefits he hath obtained for us with a desire that they may be acknowledged in the same manner to the Worlds end And here now we may consider that this Commemoration and shewing forth looks two ways towards men and towards God First We shew it forth and tell it to the world We openly declare to all those that see or know what we do that the Son of God dyed for the Children of men that he freely gave his body to be broken and his blood to be shed for our redemption We proclaim Jesus to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World and shew how God hath commended his love to us in that while we were sinners he gave his only begotten Son for us that we might live through him In this riches of his grace we make our boast and glory a great deal more than if we possessed the Treasures of the whole Earth Secondly And then we Commemorate also and shew forth his Death unto God the Father We set before him this free-will Offering of Jesus as a sufficient Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world We magnifie his
bounty in this invaluable blessing and make mention of this which his Son hath suffered for us as a compleat satisfaction for all our offences against him We must approach therefore to the Table of the Lord with affectionate acknowledgments of his infinite goodness extolling and praising his merciful kindness in bestowing on us so great a gift professing we will never forget the tender love of our Lord who laid down his life for us and beseeching the Father of Mercies to receive us into his grace and favour for the sake of his dear Son whose Death we shew unto him We should resolve to express the sense of our hearts in some such words as these Psal 92.1 2 3. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name O thou most high To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hand 66.16.86.13 Come and hear all ye people I will declare what the Lord hath done for our Souls For great is his mercy towards us and he hath delivered our souls from the lowest hell Glorious things are spoken of thee John 1.14 29. Colâ—ss 1.15 Joh. â— 12 O Jesus thou lover of Souls The word made flesh the Image of the invisible God the light of the world the Lamb of God that takes away its sin the first begotten from the dead the heir of all things Rev. 1.5 the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Heb. 1.3 Heb. 8.1.9.24.7 25. an high Priest who is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens who appears in the presence of God and lives for ever to make intercession for us Psal 89.6 Who in the Heaven can be compared to the Lord who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord For thou Lord art highly exalted thou art exalted far above all Gods 9â— 9 In this most powerful name O Father Almighty we humbly cast down our selves before the Throne of thy Glory Give us leave to mention before thee the Death of him who said behold I come to do thy will O God Behold O Lord the bleeding wounds of thy well-beloved in whom thou hast testified by a voice from Heaven that thou art well pleased Remember how his Body was broken for us and his Blood poured out In him we believe thou art perfectly satisfied and therefore are bold to hope that thou art reconciled to us on that account O hear his dying groans regard his Agony and Bloody sweat by his Cross and Passion let our sins be blotted out and by his glorious Resurrection and Ascension let us feel every evil affection and lust perfectly killed and crucified We have nothing to plead if he have not done enough and fulfilled all thy will But since he hath laid down his life in obedience to thee O let us by vertue of that voluntary Sacrifice which now we represent before thee obtain thy mercy and grace We cannot be content to lose our share in so great a Love And since thou hast bid us to Commemorate it we hope we shall as certainly pertake of it as we do of this Feast to which thou hast invited us Ps 79.13.145.1 2. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever We will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation We will extol thee our God O King we will bless thy name for ever and ever Every day will we bless thee and will praise thy name for ever and ever In such Meditations as these when we shew forth the inestimable value of Christs Sacrifice we do as it were offer it unto God or rather make before him a commemoration of his Offering And in this sense the Ancient Christians did call this Sacrament a Sacrifice and every Christian they lookt upon as a Priest and a Sacrificer when he came to the Table of the Lord. Because Christ not only bad his Apostles do this in remembrance of him but S. Paul requires every one of us to do the same and to shew forth his Death till he come There is none mentions this Sacrifice more frequently than S. Chrysostome but to explain himself after he had said we do not make another Sacrifice as the high Priests of old but always the very same he adds or rather we make a Commemoration of a Sacrifice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heb. 10. p. 523. edic Savil. And in the very same manner Eusebius writes in his first Book of his Evangelical Demonstration Christians cannot think fit saith he to return back again to the first and weak Elements he means the Mosaical Sacrifices which were but Symbols and Images not the Truth it self ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. cap. 10. p. 37. since they celebrate every day the Commemoration of his Body and Blood and are made worthy of a better Sacrifice and ministery than the Ancients were And a little after speaking of Christs wonderful oblation and most pretious bloody Sacrifice to the Father he adds that he delivered also to us a Remembrance instead of a Sacrifice to offer up continually unto God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 38. By which words it is manifest he took the Remembrance or Commemoration of Christs death to be that Sacrifice which we make to God And again he saith in the very next page to celebrate the remembrance or commemoration of that Sacrifice upon the Table by the Symbols or representations both of his Body and saving Blood we have received according to the ordinances of the New Testament Hither he applies those places out of the Psalms offer to God Thanksgiving Let the lifting up of our hands be as an evening Sacrifice The Sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit c. So that they thought of no other Sacrifice in those days but that of praise and Thanksgiving together with the offering of our selves our Souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto him as it is admirably expressed in our Communion Service * Prayer after all have Communicated With which the Author now mentioned perfectly agrees and delivers his mind almost in the same words We Sacrifice ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ib. pag. 40. saith he a divine venerable and most holy Sacrifice We Sacrifice after a new manner according to the New Testament a pure Sacrifice c. we both Sacrifice and offer Incense too Celebrating the remembrance of that great Sacrifice according to the Mysteries delivered by him to us and offering Thanksgiving for our Salvation by godly Hymns and Prayers to God consecrating our selves also wholly to him and to our high Priest the word devoting to him both our Souls and Bodies It would be easy to add much more to the same purpose but
frequently say as much concerning the sanctifying of the Water in Baptism by the holy Spirit and yet it remains Water still though it serve to the mystical washing away of sin So do the bread and wine remain bread and wine after the sanctifying of them and their becoming the body and blood of Christ to us They are both bread and wine in their substance and the body and blood of Christ the Spiritual use to which they are appointed To that use when once they are consecrated we have no regard at all to the substance of bread and wine but only to the body and blood of Christ which by doing this are communicated to our souls in the remission of sin the sanctification of the Spirit and eternal life To conclude what Gregory Nyssen saith concerning Baptism * Tom. 2. in Bapt. Christi p. 802. Do not contemn the divine washing nor undervalue it as a common thing because of the Vse of the Water for that which it works is great and there are wonderful effects of it we may say concerning the Supper of the Lord Bread and Wine are but small things but in this holy use of them they are great and produce admirable effects Nay he himself immediately mentions this very thing among others for an example of the great benefit that may be received from common matters when they are applied to a divine use This Altar saith he at which we stand is in its Nature but ordinary stone nothing different from those you tread upon but being dedicated to God â—ervice it is an holy Table c. And this bread also is in the beginning but common bread but when the mystery hath offered it then it is called and it is the body of Christ So the mystical oyl and so the Wine which are little worth before the blessing after the sanctification of the Spirit have another kind of operation And thus a Priest who the other day was a vulgar person being separated by blessing becomes a guide a Governour a teacher of piety c. And these things he doth without any change at all in his body or form By these examples any man may see that he thought the bread and wine in the Sacrament become the body and blood of Christ with no more change in their substance than there is in the water with which we baptize or in the Priest who ministers there or at the Eucharist But that they are called the body and blood of Christ in regard of the Use to which they are sanctified and are his body and blood in regard of the wonderful effects which are communicated to the faithful in the use of them viz. remission of sin and all other benefits of his passion Now what greater favour can we desire at Gods hands than to be admitted to such fellowship with him and with his son Jesus Christ what is there of equal power with this to possess our hearts with the love of God was there ever any so treated by him as we are did the friends of God in ancient time receive such pledges of his grace and favour were they ever made thus one with him and joyned to him by pertaking of his Sons body and blood who would not give up himself soul and body eternally to him that thinks of these things who can think he makes a dear purchase if he give his life in exchange for such invaluable blessings we should go to the Table of the Lord and say How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! How pretious are thy thoughts towards us how great is the sum of them who would not fear thee who would not love thee and glorifie thy name For thou hast given us exceeding great and pretious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 that by them we might be pertakers of a divine Nature Thou hast sealed them with the blood of thy Son and hast made a new Covenant with us in that blood Heb. 10.16 17. to put thy laws in our hearts and write them in our minds and our sins and iniquities to remember no more Thou hast made him an high Priest for ever to make intercession for us and given him power and glory at thy right hand 1 Thess 5.24 that he may be able to perform all his promises Faithful is he that calleth us who also will do it For ever O Lord thy word is setled in Heaven Psal 119.89 90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations But thou hast given likewise farther assurances of thy merâ—y and thy Truth by entertaining us at thy Table and making us pertake of that body and blood which was offered for our sins Enough Enough O most merciful Father We see the love thou bearest to us We cannot desire greater tokens and testimonies of it than these thou hast given us 2 Cor. 1.20 All thy promises in Christ we believe are Amen certain faithful and true We know and are sure 1 John 2.1 2. that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins I will never doubt any more of thy good will towards us for I taste and feel that the Lord is gracious Psal 111.4 5 9. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion he will ever be mindful of his Covenant He hath sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever Holy and reverend is his Name Psal 103.17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them I wait therefore for thee O Lord Ps 130.5 my soul doth wait and in thy word do I hope Mine eyes shall be ever towards the Lord Jude 2. that Mercy and peace and love may be multiplied unto me that I may walk in the light as thou Lord art in the light for so shall we still have fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1.7 and the blood of Jesus Christ thy son shall cleanse me from all sin Amen The natural consequence of what hath been said concerning the love of God towards us in sending his only begotten Son that we might live through him and he might be the propitiation for our sins is drawn to our hand by S. John 1 Epist 4.11 Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another This is so certain a fruit of an hearty sense of Gods merciful kindness to us that no man ought to think he loves him or hath any fellowship with him or with his son Jesus who doth not feel in himself an unfeigned affection and readiness to do good to all his Christian Brethren By this we know that we dwell in him and he in us which we pray for at the Lords Table because he hath given us of his spirit v. 13. That is indued us with his own kind and gracious Nature and disposition Of which that
clearly discern that I may touch on this by the way that he did not believe the Wine in this Sacrament was turned in substance into the blood of Christ but only in representation and use For it begun to be his blood when it was offered to God just as the water begun to be the people and flock of Christ He uses the same words of both And therefore if we say he thought the wine was changed from its own nature into the very substance of Christs blood we may as well say he believed the water to be changed from being water and to be made the very substance of his Church or people In the like manner we may discourse concerning the bread which in his opinion is so made Christs body that it is also the body of the Church For that is represented he saith together with Christ by the flour and water made into one Bread But not to trouble our selves any further with disputes let us therefore when we pertake of the Table of the Lord think that as thereby we are made one with Christ so we are joyned in the closest Union one with another And let us remember when we are making our selves ready for this heavenly Feast that as we are going to commemorate the dearest love of our Lord and to profess our love to him so to engage our selves to the heartiest love towards all the members of the same body to enter into a Covenant one with another as well as with him by eating of the same bread and drinking of the same Cup that we will never fall out any more much less hate maligne or do despite and injuries one to another but live for ever in the peace of God in unity and godly love O that this holy use of this Sacrament were more seriously regarded and laid to heart It would make a marvellous change in the face of Christs Church if all that pertake of his Table did cordially embrace as loving friends and resolve to remain in an inseparable affection For Love or Brotherly charity is the fulfilling of the Law and would certainly secure all thoses duties which we owe to our Neighbour as S. Paul shews Rom. 13.8 9 10. If our hearts were filled with it we should not only be preserved from doing of him harm but it would make us do him good By giving and communicating to his necessities * Which is joyned with breakinâ— br◠〈…〉 us â—ship and by forgiving him and passing by his injuries trespasses and offences under which two heads are comprehended all the offices of brotherly charity We have our Saviours word for it that if this heavenly vertue were but planted in our breasts all other Christian vertues would presently shine in us and adorn our souls For he compares this loving and kind disposition free from all base selfishness and covetous desires which look only at their own particular profit to the eye in our head which when it is clear and pure the whole body is full of light Matth. 6.22 And therefore the oftner we come to the Lords Table with this end among other in our aim the better Christians we shall grow We shall preserve this light that is in us from growing dim and renewing our friendship at this feast to which the Lord invites both high and low rich and poor we shall neither despise nor envy nor bear ill will nor be hard hearted one to another any more Nay our light will so shine before men that they seeing our good works will glorify our Father which is in Heaven It is a maxim I observe among Politicians that a great person or Governor should Feast or entertain but seldom upon some special occasions because it is uncertain whether he shall procure by it favour or envy Some may think themselves neglected and others think themselves disparaged who are not able to give the same entertainment But our Lord upon the quite contrary reasons invites us frequently to his house and Table because he invites all and makes no difference upon account of mens outward estates and expects nothing at all again but that all his Guests would love one another with a sincere heart and unfeigned affection The great he would ingage not to scorn the meaner sort and the meaner sort not to envy the great He would oblige the rich to be merciful and liberal and the poor to be thankful and contented The weak in knowledge not to judg the strong and the strong not to despise the weak but all to live together as loving Brethren and members of the same body That so they may have the same care one for another And whether one member suffer all the members may suffer with it or one member rejoyce all the rest may rejoyce with it And whatsoever differences may arise he conjures them by all that is sacred and dear to them that they fall not out nor make any quarrels much less divide and separate themselves one from another or do any thing that may spoil the harmony and consent of their affections together with the comfort of their lives and the beauty of his Church O how good Psal 133.1 4. how pleasant it is should every one say when he is at this feast for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Heaven and Earth are pleased with this happy agreement and sweet accord Here the Lord commandeth a blessing even life for evermore Never will I make any jars in this heavenly consort Nothing but love nothing but Love shall possess that heart in which thou O Lord of love art pleased to inhabit I willingly enter into these holy bonds of friendship and peace I ty my self here inseparably to all my Brethren I embrace them all in every place with an open and inlarged heart I will ever endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and will love not in word nor tongue but in deed and in truth And O that we could see that holy Spirit which gathered so many Nations and tongues and people of sundry sorts into one body of the Church descending once more to joyn together all Christian hearts Come holy Ghost and draw us all to unity concord and peace That as there is one Lord and one spirit and one Baptism Ephes 4.3.4 5. Act. 4.32 and one hope of our calling so the multitude of believers may be of one heart and of one soul O blessed Jesus who when thou ascendedst up on high gavest gifts to men yea to the rebellious also renew thy ancient bounty to thine Universal Church Visit our minds and inspire us with heavenly grace that we may be like minded Phil. 2.2 having the same love being of one accord and one mind That so at last there may be but one voice also that we may all speak the same thing 1 Cor. 1.20 and that there be no divisions among us but that we be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in
man Purifie me from all remaining filthiness either of the flesh or of the Spirit Bring in all thy heavenly graces along with thee into my soul And be my perpetual defence by giving me a fuller communication of thy holy Spirit and more mighty aids to do my duty towards thee and towards all men And for that end compose mine unsetled thoughts before I approach to receive the holy Mysteries That I may attend thee with a full and clear conception of their meaning with an actual belief of thy whole Gospel with most sensible love to thee and desire to be more like thee with thy high praises in my mouth and joy unspeakable in mine heart May I presume most gracious Father to ask such tastes and rellishes of thy wondrous love that I may never be able to delight in any thing so much as in the remembrance of it But mine eyes may be ever towards the Lord and I may hunger and thirst perpetually after thy righteousness till I am perfectly made pertaker of thy divine nature and rendred meet to be translated to that high and holy place where I shall see thee not as now in mysterious representations but openly and face to face Amen Lord Jesus who art able to save to the uttermost all them that come to God by thee In thy most blessed name and words I continue my humble prayers Our Father c. A Meditation after the Sacrament WHen you come home or some time after ask your soul what wentest thou out to see where hast thou been and what hast thou been doing Bid it never forget that thou hast been with the Lord of life and that before God Angels and Men thou hast acknowledged him and devoted thy self to his obedience That he hath vouchsafed to represent unto thee his marvellous love the pains he hath taken for thy salvation and the great desire he hath to see thee with him in immortal glory Of which he hath given thee such earnests and pledges by making thee pertaker of his body and blood that thou mayst say of that place where he was pleased to meet thee This is no other than the gate of Heaven I have been in the porch of his dwelling place and begun to enter into the joy of my Lord Here you may read over again that which I said our Lord might be conceived to speak unto you there and then go on and say How shall I escape if I should neglect such great salvation God forbid that I should receive this grace in vain As I have received Christ Jesus the Lord Col. 2.6 so will I walk in him I will endeavour to keep my self holy and unblameable before him in love and to have my conversation as becomes the Gospel There are no joys like to the joys of God No pleasures comparable to those of Christian piety All his Commandments are sweeter than the hony and the hony-comb and in keeping of them there is great reward Shall I cease then to delight my self in the Lord and to do good Shall I leave off to do the rest of his will now that I have done this in remembrance of my Saviour Shall I go away from him now that I am gone from the place where his honour dwelleth Alas whither shall I go thou Joh. 6.68 Lord hast the words of eternal life Thou art the author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey thee Heb. 5.9 I will go in the strength of the Lord God Ps 71.16 I will make mention of thy goodness even of thine only 1 Thess 4.1 As I have received how I ought to walk and please God so I will abound more and more Ephes 4.15 24. I will grow up into him in all things who is the head till I perfectly resemble him in righteousness and holiness of truth Here you may meditate upon all the parts of his holy life and the compleat example he hath set us of all divine vertues more especially those which shone at his death And as I have known some do you may single out one or two for your daily meditation all this month that you may bring your self to an habitual imitation of him suppose in his great HUMILITY and tread in his steps who did no sin 1 Pet. 2.22 neither was guile found in his mouth And as you have begun the New year well so resolve you will continue it and become a new man by leading a more exactly holy course of life Mat. 26.41 Watch therefore and pray that you fall not into temptation And often represent to your self the great love of Christ that it may constrain you because you thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead 2 Cor. 5.14 15. And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again The Prayer O Most Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of the glory of thy Majesty I most heartily joyn with all the Saints on earth with the Angels in Heaven and the holy ones that are above in giving blessing honour and praise unto thee Glory be unto thee O God most high thou great Creator and possessor of Heaven and Earth thou preserver of all things thou spring of an eternal Mercy who hast made Angels and men to know thee and acknowledg thee and praise thee and love thee and be beloved of thee for ever who hast so loved mankind that thou hast opened thy bosom and sent thy dear Son to convey thy charity to us All laud and praise and thanksgiving be to thee O Father of Mercies who hast now made me taste how gracious and good thou art And glory be to the Son of God who took on him the form of a servant who died for us upon the Cross who purged away our sins by his blood who hath left us so many remembrances of his love and given us his body and blood to preserve our souls and bodies to eternal life who lives for ever to make intercession for us and hath promised to come again and take us up unto himself And blessed be the holy Spirit the mighty power of God the Author of all good thoughts the inspirer of all heavenly desires the light and comfort of our minds the purifier of our hearts the guide and strength of our life who hath given us the earnest of the eternal inheritance Thus will I praise thee whilst I live Psal 63.4 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever Psalm 86.12.89.1.71.23.86.5 My lips shall greatly rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee I have now tasted of the abundance of thy grace and dearest love the savour of which O that it may remain fresh for ever in my heart
that I may live for ever in thy love and be ready to die for thy love that I may delight to do thy will O God and be content to suffer it as the blessed Jesus did And O that I may never forget to feed on him daily by faith and love till he indeed live in me and I in him and all the powers of my soul and body be imployed by his counsels and not my own O that my life may be an exact imitation of him and express his perfections and shew forth his vertues and declare to all how much I love him Especially endue me with great humility and modesty of Spirit that I may live in a constant remembrance of thee my Creator and considering that thou art the author of every good gift may never be puffed up nor do any thing through strife and vain-glory Phil. 2.3 4 5. but in lowliness of mind esteem others better than my self O that the same mind may be in me which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and humbling himself became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross That so thou mayst exalt me in due time to glory and honour as thou hast highly exalted him and when thou shalt call me from this delightful imployment of worshipping praising and serving thee here on earth I may pass into the company of Angels and Saints whose work it is with eternal joy to glorifie thee our Creator and Redeemer Let thy way be known upon earth Psal 67.2 3. and thy saving health unto all nations Let the people praise thee O God Let all the people praise thee Let the earth rejoyce and the multitude of Isles be glad because the Lord Jesus reigneth and governs the world in righteousness and truth O that all the kingdoms of the earth may become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ That Turks Jews and all Infidels may be converted unto thee and that all who name the name of Christ in every place may depart from all iniquity Communicate especially to all Christian Kings Princes and Governors a large measure of wisdom justice and goodness That they may think it their greatest Crown and glory to be thy faithful Ministers and imitate the charity of our Lord Jesus by imploying their power in doing good to all that are under their charge O that thy Priests may be clothed with righteousness and thy Saints shout aloud for joy That the poor may be satisfied with bread the fatherless find mercy with thee the widdows be comforted and protected the disconsolate refreshed the sick eased and restored the prisoners delivered the captives redeemed the oppressed supported and relieved and all men in every estate and condition of life contented bettered and amended Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Ephes 3.20 21. according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen February The Meditation before the Sacrament THink with your self it is now a month since our Lord did me the honour to entertain me at his Table Where have I been ever since that happy time What have I been doing Have I never gone to return him thanks for that grace bestowed on me Have I been a perfect stranger to him who loves me so much who spake so kindly then unto me and gave me such assurances of his everlasting kindness O shameless ingratitude How shall I be able ever to look him in the face any more I shall sink and die under the load of such a fearful guilt But I hope the case is not altogether so bad with me Have I not sometimes reflected on his incomparable love Have I not endeavoured to preserve some memory of the benefits he hath done unto me Is there not still a little sense of them remaining in my heart I would fain incourage my self to wait again upon my Lord. Pardon me O God if I presume again to enter into thy gates with thanksgiving and into thy Courts with praise to eat of the bread which came down from Heaven to shew forth the Lords death to represent to my God the Sacrifice he made for the atonement of our sins and by vertue of it humbly to expect the continuance of his pardon to renew my Covenant with him and to receive new confirmations of the truth of his promises to me Awake Awake O my soul all thy holy thoughts thy Faith thy Love and every other grace till thou canst say with David My heart is fixed Psal 57.7 O God my heart is prepared I will sing and give praise Go and shew him how thy heart hath been wounded with the thoughts of his love how all thy sins have been bleeding to death how ready thou art to offer up thy self again in Sacrifice to him Shew him how resolved thou art to walk on still more steadily in his holy wayes to employ all the renewed strength thou shalt receive in his hearty service and to go forth in the joy of the Lord to do his will with greater freedom and cheerfulness of Spirit Then thou mayest think thou hearest that voice of wisdom which saith Prov. 9.5 Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled Or that of the divine Lover Eat O Friends drink yea Cam. 5.1 drink abundantly O beloved Let your soul be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 and your mouth praise him with joyful lips For Christ himself saith Blessed are the poor in Spirit Matth. 5. for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they which do hanger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven As he will one day say to such Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world So now he authorizes his ministers to say come ye blessed souls receive the tokens of his love some earnests of future bliss and rejoyce in hopes of his heavenly kingdom He hath not only prepared for you a kingdom but as the Psalmist speaks in another case he hath prepared a Table for you and anoints your head wish oyl that gladness where with our royal high-Priest is crowned and makes your Cup his coelestial blessings poured on us to run over Let us go then and humbly receive that Cup of blessing to which he invites us Let us bless the Lord and
Christian Kings and Rulers may be employed to be a terror to all evil doers and to give praise and incouragement to all that do well That all the servants of the Lord in holy offices may be gentle unto all men apt to teach 2 Tim. 2.24 patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves And all those that are under their care 1 Thess 5.13 may have the grace to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and laying apart all filthiness Jam. 1.21 and superfluity of naughtiness receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save their souls I recommend to thy mercies all the poor the sick the fatherless and widdows and whosoever are in any distress that they may remember the words of the Lord Jesus Luk. 21.19 and in their patience possess their souls And the Lord deliver us all from every evil work and preserve us unto his heavenly kingdom 2 Tim. 4.18 to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen May. Meditation before the Sacrament CAst your eyes now on the beautiful face of the earth and see how all things smile upon you How God hath crowned the year with his goodness and cloathed the pastures with flocks the gardens with flowers and fruits and the vallies with corn How the little hills as the Psalmist speaks are girded with gladness Psal 6â— and every creature shouts for joy and sings And then think with thy self how uncomly it is that thou shouldst be the only dull and silent thing whom the Lord hath adorned with greater riches and honour and set over all the works of his hands Think what nobler beauties he hath made thee to behold and set before thy mind even himself in all his glory which shines upon thee in the face of Jesus Christ Think how he calls thee to a Paradise of delight now that he hath invited thee to his holy Table where he represents unto thee the Son of his love the express image of his person and all the happy fruits of his manifestation in our flesh Bid thy soul therefore awake and meditate on his humble descent from Heaven for our sake with the acclamations of all the heavenly host on all his miraculous works of charity his holy and useful life his bitter passion his bloody and shameful death his glorious resurrection and ascention his power at the right hand of God and all the benefits he hath by these means obtained to us and crowned our nature withal Bid it sing aloud and give praise and shout for joy Stir up all that is within thee to bless his holy name That while all things round about thee are fresh and spiritous and full of life thou mayest not remain the only dead and heartless creature but spring up together with the rest in all the acts of spiritual life Say to thy self what a new world do I see God dwelling here among men God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses unto them Friendship made between heaven and earth Death swallowed up in victory The gate of heaven set open to all believers Jesus our fore-runnner there already inthroned waiting for all his faithful followers and filling them now with good hope peace and joy in the holy Ghost O what a glorious sight is this which the Angels themselves admired what a new heaven and new earth should this have made wherein dwelleth righteousness what ailes us that we do not all become new creatures And beholding as in a glass the glory of our Lord are not changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord I am ashamed of my barrenness in the knowledge of Christ Jesus into whom I was ingrafted long ago It is high time to be more fruitful in all good works For he hath said that every branch in me that beareth not fruit John 1â— 2 8. my Father taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit And herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples I will go therefore and open my heart to him who is the root and fountain of life that I may derive new spirit vigour and strength from him I will go and declare that I believe in him that I have placed my hope my comfort and satisfaction in his love and value his favour and blessing more than all the world I will shew him how I long to be changed more and more into his divine image and am resolved to abide in him v. 7. and that his word shall abide in me I will give him all the assurance of it I am able by renewing my covenant with him and making a chearful oblation of all that I am and have and can do unto his service Then sure he will communicate more of himself unto me I shall feel his divine power and vertue quickning me and because he lives John 14.19 I shall live also The Sun when he returns to visit us with his warmth doth not more revive all things and renew the face of the earth than I shall find him inlivening and renewing me that I may have my fruit unto holiness Rom. 6.22 and the end everlasting life For he himself hath said Joh. 15.7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you Be it unto me O Lord according to thy word I ask nothing but that I may still have the grace to continue in thy love by keeping thy Commandments That I may grow and increase in wisdom and Holiness and be filled with all the fruits of the Spirit With love joy peace Gal. 5.22 long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance and that they may abound in me more and more to thy praise and glory Amen The Prayer before O Most blessed God who art most lovely in thy self and in all thy works and full of love and kindness to us whom thou hast made to understand thy glorious perfections Thou art beloved of all those that seriously fix their eyes on the beauties of thy holiness wisdom and goodness and observe thy bounty to all thy creatures Thousands of Angels and Saints thou hast whose hearts burn continually with love to thee and thou hast had many faithful servants that have dyed for the love of thee I am one of those fools and senseless wretches that have loved every thing better than thee my Creator and merciful Saviour While others have burnt in the fires for thee I have been unwilling sometimes to take the pains of a few serious thoughts about thee And my mind at best is apt to start away from that most heavenly employment it is hard to think even of thy surpassing kindness to me without interruption but for a few moments I am too unlike the ancient Disciples of the Lord Jesus being
promise that he hath promised us 1 John 2.25 even eternal life And these things saith the AMEN the faithful and true witness the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 20 21. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward I Return unto thee O most great and glorious God all praise and thanks for thine infinite unspeakable Mercies to us the children of men It is but just and reasonable that I should acknowledge thee with the heartiest affection and the greatest chearfulness or Spirit who hast made us and redeemed us and sent thy holy Spirit to sanctifie us and designed us to immortal glory All the host of Heaven is continually praising thee The Thrones the Dominions the Principalities and Powers the Apostles the Prophets the Martyrs and all the blessed rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Rev. 4.8 Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Thou ever wast and ever wilt be the fulness of wisdom power bounty holiness and truth and therefore it is not only my just duty but my happiness to unite my heart with all that glorious company and to bless thee O Father of Mercies who hast brought me forth out of Nothing and made me such an excellent Creature and sent thy Son to seek and to save me when I was lost and purchased me to thy self by his Bloud and washed me in the laver of regeneration adopted me for thy child instructed me in thy holy Gospel guided me hitherto by thy faithful Ministers admitted me to the Communion of Saints and fed me with the Body and Bloud of my dearest Saviour Blessed be that Goodness which hath sent the Holy Spirit so often to visit me to comfort assist and conduct me through the dangers of this world and which still continues its grace unto me though I have not always given that reverence attention and obedience to its heavenly motions which I ought Every day gives me new occasions to speak good of thy Name And now particularly I am bound to render thee my thanks for the sweet refreshments of that holy Feast of which I have been partaker for the new resolutions thou hast wrought in my heart for the fresh pledges of thy love for the assurances thou hast given me that thou art my Father who wilt ever take care of me * Here pause a little that your heart may be transported and overjoyed in the thoughts that God is your Father for the joys I feel in thy Fatherly love for the comforts of Brotherly kindness for all the pleasures of thy House the fore-tastes of Heaven and the hope of Everlasting life I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth yea Psal 109.30 I will praise him among the multitude 116.1 I will love the Lord because he hath inclined his ear unto me I will call upon him as long as I live 119.164 Seven times a day will I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments I will trust thee and commit my self entirely to thee I will always hope in thy mercy and depend on thy power and faithfulness and satisfie my self in thy kindness care and fatherly Providence and glory in this Jer. 9.24 that I know and understand that thou art the Lord which exercises loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the Earth for in these things are thy delight And therefore I wait on thee from whom cometh my help and my salvation for the constant supply of thy Holy Spirit which I believe thou wilt give to those that ask it to strengthen and enable me to pay thee my vows continually Maintain good Lord such a sensible remembrance in me of thee and of thy love that my heart may always be inclined to thy testimonies â—sa 119.36 and not unto covetousness That I may serve and please thee in all purity heavenly-mindedness simplicity charity humility contentedness of spirit faith hope and joy in the Holy Ghost 56.10 In the Lord will I praise his word 119.114.38 In thy word do I hope Stablish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear And I heartily desire the Salvation and welfare of all mankind especially that all Christian people may understand their happiness and walk worthy of the Lord 1 Thess 2.12 who hath called them to his Kingdom and Glory And as thou hast given Kings and Princes a Supream Authority over others so their spirits may be raised to a greater height of Christian wisdom that they may think it their truest glory to be like unto thee in doing much good to all their subjects Bless our Sovereign with a happy and prosperous reign that in his days the righteous may flourish and abundance of peace Psal 72.7.12 that the needy may be delivered when he crieth the poor also and him that hath no helper A Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 Thou O God hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor Thou givest food to the hungry and loosest the prisoners and preservest 〈◊〉 strangers and raisest them that are 〈◊〉 down I recommend them and 〈◊〉 â—serable people unto thy 〈…〉 and protection who reg◠〈…〉 all for ever and ever Let 〈…〉 seek thee rejoyce and be glad in the 〈…〉 such as love thy salvation say continua◠〈…〉 God be magnified Blessed be the 〈◊〉 the Lord from this time forth and for 〈◊〉 more Amen and Amen July The Meditation before HOW can I think that I love my Saviour so dearly as I ought And without love who can be welcome guests at his holy Table They are often in my thoughts whom I love with a sensible passion My mind is perpetually looking towards them I delight in their company and conversation and ever labour to recommend my self to their affections by conforming my self to their will and humour How do I study to please them And if they will tell me what will please them O how glad am I of the opportunity to serve them Nay I can cross my self and my own inclinations to follow theirs I love they should be honoured and esteemed by all I am much cast down if I have given them any disgust and not a little troubled that others have offended them or done them any wrong O that I felt but this little sign of a tender love and regard to my sweet Redeemer that my heart were wounded now that I am going to behold his wounds for the just offence I have at any time given him and the great forgetfulness and ingratitude of most of those that are called by his Name He may well be displeased if it be but for the defects
Merciful Father the Fountain of all life and happiness who bountifully communicatest thy blessings and every where overflowest in thy mercies to all thy creatures More especially to the sons of men who are surrounded with an Ocean of them the bounds of which we cannot see and the depth whereof we cannot fathom And the more thirsty any Souls are and humbly desirous to receive them the more it pleases thee to pour out thy mercies upon them the more thou delightest in the issues of thy bounteous goodness to them I thine unworthy servant encompassed about with thy salvation come to make my humble acknowledgments and such returns of love and dutiful affection as I am able to thy Divine Majesty If I had the Spirits of all Creatures united in me I could not conceive or worthily express thy loving kindness Who hast raised me out of Nothing to an excellent degree of being indued me with reason and wisdom instructed me in the Christian faith and therein let me see such things as eye never saw 1 Cor. 2.9 ear never heard Psal 68.18 nor did it enter into the heart of man to conceive that the Lord God should dwell among us Ephes 1.20.21 and our Nature be exalted at his right hand far above all Angels Principalities and Powers and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Blessed be the infinite wisdom and goodness of God which sent his Son Jesus born of a woman to die for us and to be a propitiation for our sins and by means of death hath crowned him with glory and honour that we might have a blessed hope of glory honour and immortality together with himself I ought to be overwhelmed with the thoughts of thy mercies which I cannot comprehend The great load of them The exceeding great load of them ought to press my heart continually to send them all back again in eternal love and obedience Accept good Lord I beseech thee of such poor expressions of them as I have now made unto thee and of my vows at thy holy Table to render unto thee better There thou hast been pleased to give me a sweet remembrance of thy past loving kindness and assurance of the future Bestow upon me likewise such a wise and considering heart that I may sink my thoughts deeper and deeper into the vast Sea of thy mercies and think my self happy when I am filled with such a great sense of them that all my thoughts desires and actions are under the power of Heavenly love O that the love of God my Saviour may be ever admirable in mine eyes that I may delight to think of thy love to speak of thy love and to imitate thy love so that all inordinate affections may die in me and I may perform most ready and easie obedience to all thy commands Thou hast laid also great ingagements upon me in that whilest thou makest this extraordinary provision for my Soul thou hast not neglected my Body but taken care that a world of good things should serve my needs and pleasure continually O that my heart were but duly sensible of all thy goodness I know then that I could not deny thee any thing thou desirest who hast opened thy hand so liberally to me even beyond my desires I could not but trust thee and resign my will wholly to thee and be contented with what thou orderest for me and in every thing give thanks which is thy will in Christ Jesus concerning me All that I have and can do is too little to give thee I can love thee but a little and therefore I desire that all the world would love thee and worship thee and glorifie thy name For thou art great and dost wondrous things Psal 86.10 thou art God alone O that all the Kings of the Earth would praise thee O Lord. Yea 138.4 5. that they would sing in the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. That they may think it their greatest honour to be the Subjects of our Saviour and their greatest security to obey him and observe his Laws That being intrusted with thy divine power they may imploy it to right those that suffer wrong to ease the oppressed of their burdens supply the wants of the poor defend the fatherless and widow and comfort all mankind in their miseries I recommend this Church and Kingdom our Sovereign and all his Subjects to thy most powerful Protection beseeching thee to endue us all with thy Heavenly grace to dispose us to love thy true Religion and to be zealous of good works that our Lord and Master may be honoured by us and all men may know we are his Disciples by our loving one another Now to the most High God Dan. 4.34 35. who liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom from generation to generation before whom all the inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as Nothing and he doth according to his will in the Army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the Earth be blessing and honour and praise rendred by me and by all Creatures now and eternally Amen August The Meditation before DOTH it not seem long my soul since thou wast at the Table of the Lord With what thoughts with what affections then dost thou receive this new invitation to it See what joy what delight it raises in thy heart that thou mayst know whether indeed thou lovest him or no. His love is so great that one would think it should never slip out of thy mind Our Lord hath done such great things for us that we may be tempted sooner not to believe them than to forget them But this is one piece of the greatness of that love that it hath taken care it should be alway remembered He hath not thought it enough to die for us but he hath left us a representation of it and a command to shew forth his death until he come What dost thou think of that command Is it a burden to thee to yield obedience to it Dost thou unwillingly hear the motion to go and do this in remembrance of him What Is it a sad thing to think of declaring the goodness of the Lord To magnifie the love of God our Saviour To celebrate his praises To profess our selves his servants and to ingage to him our fidelity Doth it make thee sigh to think of going to receive the tokens of his love To represent the death and satisfaction of Christ Jesus for thy sins To wait on God for the pardon of them And to be put in assured hope of immortal life Thou art not such a stranger sure to thy own happiness but knowest better things even things that accompany salvation Give glory therefore to the Lord that he calls thee again so graciously to shew forth his death Let him know that thou meanest to obey him to attend him at his holy Table and thank
keep my body inâ—eâ—perance soberness and chastity Not to coâ—â— nor desire other mens goods but to learn aâ—â— labour truly to get mine own living and to 〈◊〉 my duty in that state of life unto which it shâ—â— please God to call me I desire also the good of all mankind that they may partake of the knowledge of the Lord and enjoy the fruits of his Death and Resurrection especially that all Christian people may walk worthy of the Lord who hath called them to his Heavenly Kingdom And particularly all Kings Princes and Governours may be as careful to observe his Laws as they are desirous others should observe theirs That they may remember the honour thou cast done them in exalting them so â—igh to the end they may imitate thee 〈◊〉 doing good to all below them Purge out of thy Church every thing â—hat dishonours the Religion of our Lord and endangers Souls Unite â—ll the members of it in the profession of the true Faith and in sincere Charity that the poor may be relieved the sick comforted the fatherless and widows visited in their affliction sinners â—eclaimed the obstinate softned and all that are in unbelief brought into the â—â—ock of Jesus Christ And grant unto us all that havâ— Communicated together this day thaâ— peace which passeth all understanding humility meekness obedience fortâ—tude contentedness patience longinâ— desires after Heaven and willingneâ—â— to die that we may rest in an hoâ—â— Hope and have a blessed Resurrectioâ— with the just Amen December The Meditation before the Sacrament NEed I be told after a whole years service at least of my blessed Master Jesus what that duty is I am now going to perform unto him Am I not preparing my self according to his command to make a solemn commemoration before God Angels and Men of his unheard of love in dying for us To make a profession of my sincere love and affection to him To engage to him my fidelity To renew the Covenant that is between us To open my heart to him and to confirm to him the most absolute possession of my Soul and Body To wait on him for his continued grace and that I may feel the â—ower of his Death and Resurrection To â—â—ow him my willingness even to take up â—is Cross and to be his Disciple and follower to the very death To testifie the â—ove I bear unto and the Communion I desire to hold with all the Christians that â—re throughout the world To exalt the â—ame of the Lord and to speak his praises who would give his Son for us and who hath condescended to a treaty of peace with us and upon such easie terms to become friends with us yea reward us and do great things for us O how sweet is the remembrance of these blessings How happy am I that he will not let me forget them But with a continued kindness invites me again to this delightful employment I will go and give him thanks for all his benefits and for this among the rest that he hath made me so often partaker of his blessed Body and Bloud and now gives me a new opportunity to celebrate in this manner the memory of his love And O that my heart were lifted higher than ever after so long acquaintance with him in admiration of his grace in faith in love in joy in praise and thanksgiving in strong and vehement desires and in cordial resolutions to be his devout and faithful Disciple O that the hearts of all men else who shall approach his Table may be disposed to the like zeal and fervent affection to his service and so many Souls as there are then present so many living Sacrifices there may be to God so many wills resigned into his hands with ardent love That so those holy Spirits which the Apostle tells us were present in their Christian assemblies may be invited to come into ours And beholding nothing but what is reverend serious pure and full of true devotion they may be excited to rejoyce and praise God together with us for our sincere affection to his Religion And they may make report among their Heavenly company above that Christian piety is still remaining in the world and that we have made a great increase in growth in it this year by our frequent remembrance of the Lord Jesus which may stir them up all to bless the great and glorious name of our God which is exalted above all blessing and praise The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all Psal 103. Bless the Lord ye Angels of his Bless him all his hosts Bless him all ye works of his in all places of his dominion Bless the Lord O my Soul Stir up thy self to bless the name of God our Saviour who hath not cast us out of his sight when we threw off our obedience to him but sent his Son to gather us again to him to invite us by precious promises to endear himself to us by shedding his heart bloud for us to open the gate of Paradise again and restore us to immortality to make us equal with the Angels and rank us among the eldest sons of glory Let us go and if it be possible excite a greater love in our heart toward him than ever we felt before Let us offer up our selves to him with a stronger flame of devotion which may always burn and rise up higher and higher till it touch heaven and lift us up thither where our Saviour is in the high and holy place God blessed for ever Amen The Prayer before ETernal God whose omnipotent word brought me and this whole world of creatures into being Out of the fulness of whose goodness we are all fed and maintained and by whose rich and abundant grace it is that our souls are not in a desperate and forsaken condition but may approach with some confidence to thee our Maker who in thy Son hast revealed thy self unto us a most merciful Father I fall down before thee in an humble reverence to perform that Religious duty which I owe thee as thy creature and much more as thy redeemed one through the purchase thou hast made of us by the blood of Jesus I admire adore and love all that I know of thee I extol and praise thy wisdom thy bounty thy holiness and truth which endureth for ever I acknowledg my self beholden to thee beyond all my words or conceptions either I reproach my self for my base ingratitude and all the wrongs I have done thee I confess the justice of thy proceedings shouldst thou strip me of all those good things thou hast bestowed on me I give thee the glory of thy ineffable and never enough to be valued love in thy Son Christ I disclaim all opposition to thy will as base unjust and unaccountable I vow to thee my intire service and obedience and approve all thy Commandments as righteous wise and good I lay new bonds upon my self to keep and
THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE A TREATISE Shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy COMMVNION TOGETHER With suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed SAVIOUR In Four PARTS Ecclus. 14.20 21. Blessed is the Man that doth Meditate good things in wisdom and that reasoneth of holy things by his understanding He that considereth her ways in his heart shall also have understanding in her secrets LONDON Printed by R. N. for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty in St. Pauls Church-yard 1671. MVNIFICENTIA REGIA 1715. GEORGIVS D.G. MAG BR FR ET HIB REX F.D. J. Pine sculp TO THE READER THE Reasons that moved me to write this Book together with its design I have declared in the beginning of it and given Directions also in their proper places how to use it I have little therefore here to advise the Reader of but that I am much indebted for what I have writ in the Second Part about the Nature and End of this holy Sacrament to a Treatise called MENSA MYSTICA unto which I refer those that desire a larger discourse on that subject It is possible that I may not only have followed the sense but used also some of the expressions which you find there But if I have it is more than I know for I have not read it of many years nor had either that or any other Book on this Argument by me when I composed these Meditations And to say the truth since I comprehended as I thought what belonged to this matter I was not willing to look into any meerly lest they should hinder the free conceptions of my own mind and their very words should cleave too much to my Imagination I hope the Reader will think fit to bring the like free and unprejudiced mind to the perusal of what I have writ especially an heart seriously desirous to have holy Devotion wrought in it to our Creator and Redeemer and then neither of our pains I presume will prove unprofitable But I do not mean by Devotion only some transient thoughts and passions arising at certain seasons when we more solemnly address our selves to God our Saviour But a setled love to him disposing us to present him alway with an heart humble pure just and charitable which is the oblation that all our other Sacrifices are to prepare for him and the greatest honour that we are capable to do him For this expresses the high esteem we have of him that above all things we study to be like him and conform our selves whatsoever it cost us to his holy Nature and will This indeed glorifies him before men and all the praises we can bestow upon him without this are but words which we revoke and unsay again when we cross his Commands And for this end Christ instituted this Commemoration of the Sacrifice which he made of himself to God that we might be moved thereby to offer up our selves freely and chearfully as he did to do and suffer what our heavenly Father pleases For it is rank hypocrisie to commend and praise his obedience to the death whilst we will not imitate it but follow our own humours rather than the will of God And that is the scope of this Treatise to excite those that read it to worship the Lord with holy Worship that is saith one of the Ancients by purged thoughts and reasonings right and true opinions composed passions and quiet affections and by likeness to God in vertue to the utmost of our power They are the words of Eusebius * L. 3. Praepar Evang. cap. 13. to which you may add these of Lactantius There are two things that ought to be offered to God a Gift and a Sacrifice the Gift for ever the Sacrifice for a time and both the one and the other is incorporeal The Gift is integrity of mind the Sacrifice is praise and hymns Therefore the most excellent manner of worshipping God is praise directed to him out of the mouth of a just man ‖ L. 6. Instit Div. cap. 25. The Eucharist consists of both as you will find in this Book The help of which if the Reader will be pleased to use till he hath made himself such a thankful oblation to God he will not want a reason why I call it The Christian Sacrifice nor fail to grow in wisdom and spiritual understanding For as the Son of Syrach saith The love of the Lord passeth all things for illumination Ecclus. 25.11 he that holdeth it whereto shall he be likened The candor also of such men I know is incomparable which will make them charitably pass by the defects that they may espy in a work well intended And if there be any that shall dislike the design it self or slight my performance I shall not concern my self in their censures but rest in this as well as other cases in the judgment of the same wise man which they may do well to consider Blessed is the man whose conscience hath not condemned him Ecclus. 14.2 and who is not fallen from his hope in the Lord. 1.26 For it is an easy thing unto the Lord in the day of death to reward a man according to his wayes THE CONTENTS THe First part treats briefly of the obligations we have to Communicate Page 1. The Second shews the Ends and purposes of this Holy Action and contains Meditations or Addresses to God suitable to each p. 15. You may find the first Meditation p. 19. The Second p. 24. The Third p. 34. The Fourth p. 49. The Fifth p. 56. The Sixth p. 69. The Seventh p. 81. The Last p. 92. Directions for the use of them p. 95. A more compendious form of Devotion after receiving the Bread p. 96. After the Cup. p. 99. The Third part shews how to dispose our selves to receive with profit and pleasure p. 105. Several Meditations after the Consecration of the bread and wine and whilst the rest of the company is receiving from p. 113 to p. 134. A compendium of them p. 135. Directions how to use them p. 136. An Introduction to the last part of this Discourse p. 141. Which contains Meditations and Prayers before and after the Communion For January p. 153. For February p. 175. For March p. 199. For April p. 219. For May. p. 239. For June p. 259. For July p. 279. For August p. 299. For September p. 319. For October p. 341. For November p. 361. For December p. 381. For Christmas-day p. 399. For New years-day p. 423. For Easter-day p. 437. For Ascension-day p. 463. For Whitsunday p. 485. Imprimatur Sam. Parker R mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no. Gilberto Archiep. Cantuar. à sac Dom. Ex Aedib Lambeth Mart. 3. 1670 1 WHEN I consider whence it is that they who otherwise frequent the Christian assemblies are generally so negligent in Communicating at the Table of the Lord the Reasons
refusing this to withdraw his blessing from other means of our spiritual growth and nourishment The very names as you shall hear whereby it is called suppose it to be Food And since for the Body it is not intended it must be Christian Food part of the plentiful provision which Christ hath left in his House for the Souls of his Faithful Servants that they may be well maintain'd and able to do their work And truly as long as we have any need to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to increase in strength and power to master all temptations and do our several duties to renew the sense of our obligations to God and bind our selves faster to him to heighten our Love and Gratitude and to stir up delight and joy in God our Saviour so long will there be a necessity of Doing this which serves for all these ends and purposes And did we but seriously consider this one thing that a principal end for which both this and the other Sacrament was instituted is that by these outward signs we might express our hearty consent to the new Covenant made by Christ in his Blood and ingage our selves to stand to the terms and conditions of it we should be extremely afraid to refuse to come to this holy Communion because that is the same with refusing to be of his Religion For he that made the New Covenant with us and is the Author of the Christian Religion hath made these outward Rites and Solemnities to be Instruments of stipulation whereby they who are willing to enter into that Covenant and be of that Religion should express their agreement and submission to it and openly declare that they own Jesus to be the Lord and will perform due obedience to every one of his Commands Which when they have once done they are to signifie their continuance and stedfastness in that Religion to which by these means they have addicted themselves by the repeated use of the same things Otherways they live as if they repented of the contract which they have made and renounced our Blessed Saviour who hath made the doing this to be a special testification of our Devotion to him and his Service This is a thing to be sadly ponder'd and might prevail much were it laid to heart as it ought To which if you add all the other purposes and ends for which it was ordained they would still make it appear more necessary if either the will of Christ his special Command the practice of all Christians our own wants our respect to the Christian Religion or the great Benefits we may receive by doing this in remembrance of him can make us judg any thing so And that is the second part of my Discourse to which I now proceed PART II. Concerning the Ends and Purposes of this Holy Action IF the Reader be convinced by what hath been writ that he is as much bound to do this as he is to be a Christian I hope it will have a double effect upon him First that he will endeavour to quicken and stir up himself to a serious and constant performance of this duty by often pressing these considerations hard upon his heart Secondly that he will be very desirous to understand the full meaning end and use of this holy Action that so he may reap the profit which is therein designed to him He must stifle his Conscience or else it will move him to the Former and the more resolved he is in that the more solicitous he will be about the other Leaving him therefore to attend to the voice of his own awakned mind I shall give him no further encitements to this duty than will arise from what I am now going to say about the Nature of it From whence he may draw a great many Arguments to perswade him to be ready prepared to this as well as every other good Work First then the very words of the Institution of this Sacrament and the whole discourse of S. Paul about it prove that it is to be considered as a Divine Feast which our Lord hath appointed in commemoration of himself That it is to be lookt upon as a Feast or repast provided for us the Bread and Wine the eating and drinking sufficiently declare But it is more fully expressed in the names of Breaking bread and of the Supper of the Lord which are given to this Action And as it is expresly ordained to be in remembrance of our Blessed Lord so I think it not amiss to add it was no unusual thing in the world to institute Feasts and entertainments to preserve the memory of famous Persons It is recorded by Athenaeus * L. 5. Deipnosoph cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that there were such set meetings of several sects of Philosophers in Athens to commemorate their Founder Some on a certain day celebrated the memory of Diogenes others of Antipater others of Panaetius And the great Philosopher Theophrastus left a sum of money at his death for such a meeting not that they might there debauch themselves as his words are but manage their discourses soberly and learnedly in that Compotation So the Greeks called their Feasts which took their denomination from the Wine as among the Hebrews they took their name from the Bread * Gen. 43.25 They heard they should eat bread i. e. dine with Joseph and v. 31. he said set on Bread And so Constantine I remember calls the Christian Feasts in Memory of the Martyrs ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. ad Sanct. coetum cap. 12. where the Poor were comforted and those that had lost their estates mercifully relieved At these most sober Tables they discoursed of their memorable sayings their worthy actions their patient sufferings and rehearsing the History of their life and death excited themselves to tread in their steps For this as Germanicus said excellently on his death-bed * Quae voluerit Meminisse quae maâ—daveâ—â—t exequâ— Tac. l. 2. Annal is the principal part of Friendship not to follow the dead with tears but to remember his Will and to execute his Commands Which is the general design I make no doubt of this most holy Feast where we meet to preserve an eternal Memory of our glorious Redeemer and to fix more deeply in our minds all that he did and suffered for us that thereby we may be disposed with the greater chearfulness to perform his Will and obey his Precepts For this end I find ‖ Caâ—â—â—â— ex Mosaraâ— â—aturâ— Exerc. 16. n. 38. that the Gothick Churches which long continued in Spain having comprehended the History of our Saviour under these nine words Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Appearance Passion Death Resurrection Glory Kingdom were wont to divide the holy Bread in the Sacrament into just so many parts on which they imposed those nine names Whereby they have let us know what their conceptions were of this Action and that they thought the
this is sufficient to shew what the Sacrifice is which we make when we do this and that our Church now doth that which the Ancient did By feasting upon this Sacrifice we not only commemorate that oblation of himself with the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving but likewise offer up our selves to him to be intirely his As will appear more fully in the next consideration which is this By this Action we make a solemn Profession of the Christian Religion and declare our selves to be the Disciples and followers of Jesus to whom we joyn our selves in fellowship So much is the rational consequence of what hath been said For by eating of the Sacrifices offered at the Altar both Jews and Gentiles professed themselves to be the Worshippers and Servants of that God to whom the oblation was made And secondly it may be rationally drawn from that discourse of our Saviours with the Jews in the Sixth of S. Johns Gospel Where eating his flesh and drinking his blood v. 51 53 54 c. signify nothing else but believing * See v. 29 35.47 the word and keeping the Precepts which Christ published in our flesh and sealed with his Blood This is honestly acknowledged by a Learned Person in the Church of Rome who gives the sense of those verses in these two lines They are nourished with the flesh of Christ to eternal life who keep the sayings of Christ incarnate ‖ Carne Christi nutriuntur in vitam aeternam qui Sermones Christi incarnati servant Rigaltius in Cypr. Epist 1. Which he expresses more largely in another place The words of eternal life which Peter acknowledged our Saviour had are the Commands saith he which he gave when he was in Flesh among men For therefore he was made Flesh that in the Flesh or Body of man he might procure their Salvation and form them to eternal life Therefore the words which Christ spake in flesh the Gospel of Christ is the flesh of Christ These words this flesh this meat Christ would have us eat ruminate and digest that being nourished thereby we may profit to eternal life * Idem in Epist 55. Annot. a. Thus S. Peter understood our Lord when he answered at the end of that discourse to his Question will ye go away To whom should we go thou hast the words of eternal life v. 68. And thus Christ explains himself v. 63. where he saith his discourse was not to be understood so grosly as the Jews apprehended it but in a more spiritual and divine manner His meaning was to be conceived as if he had said unless you really receive me notwithstanding my being crucified as God speaking to you in flesh and so conform your selves to my Doctrine you cannot be saved And indeed this eating and drinking which now he call'd them unto could be nothing else but receiving him and his Doctrine for the Sacrament of his Body and Blood was not yet instituted But when it was then I make account they who did eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup in Commemoration of Christ were to look upon it as a devout Profession of that Faith in him and Obedience to him without which we cannot inherit eternal life We declare by this Action the intire assent of our minds to the Truth of all that he preached when he was in our flesh and the unfeigned consent of our Wills to be ordered and governed according to it Hence perhaps it was that this Action came to be called the Sacrament which was the ancient name for our whole Religion * As may be seen in S. Cyprian Lactanâ—ius c. in innumerable places because here we make the most solemn Profession of the Christian Religion as the Jews did of the Mosaical when they did eat before God of the Sacrifices offered on his Altar Thus much I am sure of in the third place that the whole discourse of S. Paul is to this sense when he calls the Cup of blessing which we bless the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Bread which we break the Communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 That is an Holy Action whereby we declare our Society and fellowship with Christ and that we are of his Religion in opposition to all others Which we shall easily discern to be the Apostles meaning if we take but the pains to consider what it is that he goes about to prove in those eight verses from v. 14. to 22. It is nothing but this That if they did Communicate with Christ in the Cup of Blessing and Breaking of Bread then they must flee from all Idolatrous Services and not pertake in them The consequence saith he is manifest to any understanding person as I take you to be For to Communicate with him in that manner is as much as to acknowledg Jesus only to be the Lord to honour and worship him to profess that you belong to him and to joyn your selves in fellowship with him Which he proves first from the intention of the Feasts upon the Jewish Sacrifices of which whosoever did eat he thereby became of that Religion and professed to worship that God at whose Altar which Malachi calls his Table Mal. 1.7 that meat was offered in honour of him And secondly from the Religious Feasts among the Gentiles whose Sacrifices being offered to Daemons whosoever did eat of them thereby he made an acknowledgment of their Deity and that he was one of their Servants and Worshippers Which instances carry in them this general reason that the eating continually of any ones meat signifies us to be of his Family or his Friends and familiar acquaintance and so this Religious eating at their Tables and of their meat was a token and a declaration of Friendship and Society with God or with Daemons and by consequence this must be the meaning of our pertaking of the Table of the Lord. From which premisses the Apostle concluds with the greatest force of reason that all those who made this profession of being Members of Christs Body and belonging to the Christian Society or Corporation v. 17. by pertaking of Christs Table and eating of his Meat must have nothing to do with the Tables of Daemons For this would be to jumble the most contrary and inconsistent things together to worship God and Baal too to be the servants of Christ and the servants of the Devil Whereas in truth by honouring them in eating of their Sacrifices they did in effect renounce Christ And by Communicating with Christ at his Table they did re-renounce them For he came to destroy the works of the devil 1 Joh. 3.8 and Idolatry in the first place wherein that worship and service was paid to the devil which was due to God alone You must address your selves then to the Table of the Lord as the friends of Jesus Christ on purpose to profess that you believe on him and are of his Religion and mean to cleave unto him and
be of mighty force to make us thoroughly good And therefore can be neglected by none that understand it but those who are unwilling to be tyed to their duty and are afraid to be ingaged to use their best diligence to keep the Commands of Christ And what such persons think of themselves I cannot tell It is like they put away all sober thoughts of other matters as they thrust by the thoughts of this But it is certain they are in a most dangerous condition They have broken their Baptismal vow and Covenant and they have no mind to repent amend their lives and be bound to keep it better hereafter They do the works of their Father the Devil and will not come and renounce them once more because they are of opinion that if they should they shall return to them Were their hearts right towards God they would be forward to come and dedicate themselves anew to him And they would not out of fear of breaking these bonds too refuse to renew their Covenant with him but in hope to be assisted by the Holy Ghost make a sincere protestation of their purposes of holy living And suppose they should be guilty of any failing afterward it would only move them to make the more hast to sue out their pardon and to bind themselves more strictly by renewed vows to their duty that at last by the help of Gods Almighty grace in the use of this and all other means they might get the mastery over their sins and perform an uniform obedience to Christs Commands There is a Fable goes among the Romanists concerning a Lord in Provence how that he being extremely sick and earnestly desiring the blessed Sacrament intreated the Priest when he brought it to him to lay it upon his Breast because he durst not eat it for fear of vomiting it up Immediately saith the Legend his breast opened and receiving into it self the Heavenly food closed its mouth again The moral of it if we please may be true in every one of us Did we but come to the Holy Table with fervent desire and great devotion of Spirit did we apply our thoughts strongly to meditate on our Saviours wondrous love and lay our hearts as I may say to his to feel how full of affection it was to us in dying for us we could not chuse but set our hearts our Wills I mean wide open to admit him for our Lord and Governor Our hearts would leap for joy to entertain such a gracious Master and they would not easily open again to any thing else that would rob him of our love and oppose it self to his Commands We should hate that which tempted us to break our faith with him The world would seem little in our eyes and we should find all our inordinate affections to it languishing and dying that we might live to him who dyed for us So S. Basil I remember describes the meaning and intention of this Sacrament * L 1. de Baptismo cap. ult What is the profit saith he of those words Do this in remembrance of me I 'le tell you That eating and drinking we may always remember him that dyed for us and rose again and so may be taught necessarily to keep before God and his Christ that Ordinance delivered by his Apostle in these words for the love of Christ constraineth us judging this that if one dyed for all then were all dead and he dyed for all that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again He that eateth and drinketh to the indelible memory of Christ Jesus who dyed for us and rose again but doth not fulfil the reason of that memory of the Obedience of our Lord even unto death according to the aforesaid instruction of the Apostle the love of Christ constraineth us c. hath no profit at all according to the declaration of our Lord who saith that the flesh profiteth nothing He adds a great deal more to the same purpose and repeats it over again in fewer words in another place if the Book * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 3. Reg. 21. be his The reason of eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ is for a Commemoration of his Obedience unto death that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed and rose again Let us always then have this in our mind when we are making our selves ready for this holy feast that we are going to consecrate our selves again to the obedience of Christ unto the death To renew our protestations of friendship with him and confirm the Covenant that is between us Utterly to disclaim all emnities and opposition to his will and to profess our selves heartily his confederates that will never forsake him In short to promise and vow in the most sacred manner that we will henceforth live unto him and not to our selves and remain his servants in truth and fidelity for ever Let us say to him some such words as these Thou O Lord hast redeemed me by thy own most pretious blood I see the wounds thou hast received for my sake I behold how thy holy flesh was rent and torn for my sins O the Agonies O the pains and sorrows which thou hast endured for my salvation I will never willingly grieve thy heart any more Far be it from me to pierce thee again by slighting thy Commands I had rather die than wound thee by my unkind unfaithfulness to thee Rather had I be torn in pieces my self than break thy Laws and violate thy Covenant wherein I am ingag'd I forswear all confederacy with thy enemies and all opposition to thy will and pleasure I vow most sincerely that I will endeavour to live in all good Conscience towards God and towards all men So help me God as I mean to be true and faithful to thee to my lives end I have sworn Psal 119.106 112 113 c. and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God Hold me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually But the Obedience of Christ to the death which we here remember puts me in mind to add another consideration which we are to have in this Action that belongs to this which I have now handled It is such a Covenant wherein we stand engaged that by doing this we covenant even to die for him rather than deny him We promise to be obedient to him as he was to his Heavenly Father so that if he demand our lives to be laid down to do honour to him we cannot honestly refuse it For as we offer the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving in this Commemoration of him
so we offer I told you and present our selves our Souls and Bodies to God to be a lively holy and acceptable Sacrifice unto him Now the very life of the Beast which was offered in Sacrifice was given to God its Blood being shed at the Altar And therefore the compleat meaning of this phrase and of this action of offering our selves to be Sacrifices to God is this that we part with our selves so intirely and are so absolutely devoted to him that it shall not be in our power afterward to recal this gift no not though we die for it As the beast that was offered to God was no longer the owners and the Blood which is the life saith he himself became appropriated wholly to his uses so the grant we make of our selves to God at his Altar is irrevocable we are no longer our own but his and cannot resume our selves any more into our own disposal but if he will have our very life it must be at his service This was one reason I make no doubt of receiving the Sacrament so oft in the beginning of our Religion that they might fortifie their holy resolution of following Christ to his Cross and dying for the testimony of his Truth to which they expected continually to be called I have the authority of an holy Martyr S. Cyprian for it who tells us in his Book upon the Lords Prayer that in his Church they Communicated every day which custom remained till S. Hieromes time at Rome and in Spain One great end of it was that they might be well appointed against the assaults of their enemies and have courage as good Souldiers of Christ Jesus to march after him even unto the death For the same person giving an account in one of his letters * Epist 54. Cornelio why he would receive to the peace of the Church certain persons that had faln away in time of persecution but now bewailed their fault and resolved to be more constant hereafter saith that he saw a new storm arising and was assured by divine admonitions and tokens that a more furious conflict would be renewed And therefore it was necessary to receive them into Communion again whom he exhorts to fight valiantly and play the men that so they might not be left naked and unarmed but be strengthned by the protection of Christs Body and Blood For since the Eucharist is designed for that end that it may be a defence or safeguard to them that receive it we arm those with the Ammunition of the Lords fulness ‖ Munimento Dominicae Saturitatis whom we would have to be safe from the adversary For how can we teach and provoke those to pour out their blood in the confession of his name to whom we deny the blood of Christ when they are about to fight Or how can we make them fit for the Cup of Martyrdom if we do not first admit them by a right of Communication to drink the Cup of the Lord in the Church He cannot be fit for Martyrdom who is not armed by the Church for the war That heart will fail which by receiving the Eucharist is not lifted up and inflamed By which last words it is clear that the minds of believers were raised up by the Eucharist and had a holy zeal inkindled in them to follow Christ in sufferings The Priests who celebrated the Sacrifices of God every day as he speaks in the same Epistle prepared Sacrifices and Victimes to be offered to God For remembring the blood of Jesus and being touched with a sense of his love to them they went full of heat and courage as those who had made a sworn agreement to suffer death valiantly which Christ underwent for their Salvation And in his next Epistle but one which is an exhortation to Martyrdom he calls upon the people of Thibaris to arm their right hand with the spiritual sword speaking according to the manner in those days when they received the Eucharist into their hand as we do now and not into their mouth as the fashion is in the present Church of Rome that they might never stretch it forth to Idolatrous sacrifices but being mindful of the Eucharist that hand which received the body of the Lord might embrace him and hold him fast and receive hereafter the reward of coelestial Crowns The like we read in his Book concerning those that fell away in a time of suffering when other mens mouths sanctified with the coelestial meat after the body and blood of the Lord refused to taste the profane infections and reliques of Idols I shall add no more but the words of another Writer * de Cardinal operibus Christ Cap. de Coena Dom. under his name which are very significant When we celebrate the Sacrament saith he we are admonished to ruminate and chew over and over again the example of our Lord that his passion may be alway in memory and the punishments of death may not terrifie the Heirs of the Crucified but they may feed and refresh themselves with the joyful solemnities of a timely resurrection O how excellent is this Cup How religious is the excess of this Drink by which we are divinely out of our selves and forgetting the things that are behind reach forward to those that are before And losing the sense of this world and contemning the delights of the purpled rich man we cleave to the Cross and suck the blood and lay our tongues in the wounds of our Redeemer They were transported he means by the thoughts of Christs death beyond themselves and thought of nothing but dying for him if he called them to it preferring his Cross which they carried always in their mind before the greatest riches and glory in the World And with the same affections should we be inspired when we make the same Commemoration of him professing we had rather die than dishonour him and his religion by denying them Vowing our very life to be expended upon his account if there be occasion for it This being a Feast as I told you upon a Sacrifice we ingage by doing this that we will become a bloody Sacrifice to him if his will be that we should be offered up for his service It being a Communion participation or fellowship with him if he will have us to pertake and have fellowship with him in his sufferings we here express our selves to be well contented We Vnite and joyn our selves to the Crucified Jesus and so profess that if he will have us bear his Cross we will not deny him Nay we declare that we will glory in nothing so much as in the Cross of Christ that we will rejoyce in tribulation and think it is given to us as an honour to suffer with him For a feast is a joyful meeting and therefore our eating and drinking at this feast shews that we will not think he feeds us with gall and wormwood when we induce any thing for his names sake but that
he gives us the Wine of joy and gladness when the same Cup is put into our hand which our blessed Saviour drank of This is the very height of Christianity to which noble pitch we should earnestly strive by all means to arrive Every drop of our blood should be ready to be poured out for that Religion which Christ sealed with his own And indeed what better use can we make of our life than to give it for him from whom we received it and who gave his life for us And how much better is it not to live at all than to live with the mark and brand of cowards and fugitives from the Prince of life and the Lord of glory Let us say therefore when we come to the Table of the Lord O how much do we owe thee most blessed Redeemer How great is the price which thou hast paid for the ransom of us miserable sinners Tongue cannot express it nor thought conceive it What shall I render unto thee for the incomprehensible benefits thou hast bestowed upon me I can give thee no less than my self which here I resign intirely into thy hands Do thou dispose of me according to thy pleasure It is but reasonable I should follow thee whithersoever thou leadest me Though it be to thy Cross I refuse not to obey thy orders Though I should die with thee I hope I shall not in any wise deny thee For there is no better use I can make of my life than to spend it for thee I esteem all things but loss for the excellence of thy knowledg I account not my life dear unto my self Act. 20.24 so that I may finish my course with joy It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us Rom. 8.34 35 c. Who shall separate me from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Psal 44.17 18. Though all this should come upon me yet will I not forget thee nor will I deal falsly in thy Covenant My heart shall not be turned back neither shall my steps decline from thy way Nay in all these things I shall be more than a Conqueror through him that loved me For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And great reason there is that we should cleave to him to the very death if we consider the inestimable benefits which he by his death hath purchased for us and by this Commemoration of it confirms unto us Especially that of remission of sins through his blood which he for his part covenants to grant us if we for our part be faithful to the death For We are not to consider this Action merely as a Feast or only as a Feast upon a Sacrifice but as a Feast upon a Sacrifice for Sin Wherein we agreeing as I said to be his constant Disciples profess our belief that God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood and he gives us a part in that propitiation and promises to be merciful to our unrighteousness and to remember our sins and iniquities no more It was not permitted to the Jews you know no not to the Priests themselves to taste of the blood of any Beast that was slain in their Sacrifices to God but it was to be poured out at the foot of the Altar after some part of it had been sprinkled thereon And as for the flesh of the Sacrifice if it was an offering for sin that was to be wholly burnt also and they were not allowed the least portion of it at any of their Feasts This is a priviledg belonging to Christians alone at the Table of the Lord where they not only eat of the Bread which represents the body or flesh of Christ but drink of the Cup which represents his Blood We have an Altar i. e. a Sacrifice whereof they had no right to eat that served the Tabernacle that is Heb. 13.10 which the Jewish Priests themselves who ministred at the Altar could not pertake of We are admitted to the injoyment of more singular priviledges than they were invested withal As we are pertakers of a better Sacrifice which is of greater efficacy and vertue than any of theirs were so God receives us into a nearer familiarity with himself and by setting before us not only the body of that Sacrifice which was offered to him but the blood also which was his own proper food plainly tells us that he intends to make us pertakers of the highest blessings even of his own joy and happiness Of which he gives us strong assurance in that he lets us pertake not only of the blood of the Sacrifice in this figure and representation but of the blood of that Sacrifice which was offered for the sins of the world This bids us rest assured of his abundant grace and not doubt of our acceptance with him to a participation of his highest favour There is nothing now to hinder it nor to make us call in question his merciful kindness toward us For we have such a token and pledg of forgiveness of our sins by this Sacrifice as the ancient people of God had not of the forgivness of their offences by the blood that was offered at Gods Altar They were not admitted to taste of that blood as we are of the blood of Jesus and so could not have that boldness and access with confidence to God which we have through the faith of him Luk. 22.20 1 Cor. 11.25 compared with Mat. 26.28 This seems to be one great secret of this Sacrament as appears from the words of S. Luke and S. Paul who tell us that this Cup which we drink of is the New Covenant in Christs blood which was shed for the remission of sins We are received by doing this into that gracious Covenant which assures us of forgiveness through his blood He gives us a right to those benefits of which that is the first which he obtained by his obedience to the death Which is the import also of the word Communion used by S. Paul to express the effect of this Sacrament 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ In its full signification that phrase denotes not merely our being made of his Society but our having a Communication of his body and his blood unto us * So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred in other
we may not fail to be pertakers he hath ordained this Sacrament to be a bond of Vnion between all Christians who believe in one common Saviour and all pertake of his Sacrifice There is no doubt but this is one of the ends for which he invites us to this Feast that we may profess charity to all our Brethren and joyn our selves in a league of Friendship with them as well as with himself This was the intention of publick feasts in all Cities of the world Athenaeus mentions such among the Athenians Lacedaemonians and Cretians * L. 5. Deipnosoph cap. 1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whose Law-givers had appointed common entertainments at which the Citizens met in one place that they might be more firmly linked together and not espouse any private interest Many other besides these he there remembers at which they thought it of great import that all should appear and present themselves For he immediately adds the saying of an ancient Poet who admonished them that Friends and companions should not long abstain from these Feasts because this was a most lovely Commemoration ‡ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word used by our Saviour at the institution of this Feast of his They commemorated I suppose the common benefits that had been bestowed on them the famous Acts of their ancestors and the marvellous victorieâ— and deliverances which they had obtained whereby they were ingaged to love and unity without which they could never hope to remain so happy Such meetings besides those ordained by the Law there were among the Jewes that lived in the same neighbourhood who maintained society and friendship by eating of the same food in the evening of the Sabbath Which was as much as to say as Maimonides his words are * Mentioned by Dr. Lightfoot in 1 Cor. 10 we are mingled together or associated there is one food for us all no man intrenches on his neighbours property But as there is one equal right to us all in this common place so there is a several right to every one in the place which is peculiar and proper to himself Thus our Companies and Fraternities have their Common Halls and Feasts also which were appointed for nothing else but that they might the better maintain love and kindness among the Brethren of the society In like manner this Divine Feast of our Saviours institution was attended with that of charity in which the poor were entertained as Christian Brethren together with the rich for the continuing and promoting of friendship Unity and peace among them all Nay this Feast it self was designed without all question for this purpose as well as others that all those who met at the same Communion might be joyned together in the strictest bond of holy friendship by pertaking all of one bread and drinking of one Cup. So S. Paul teaches us 1 Cor. 10.17 For we being many are one bread and one body for we are all pertakers of that one bread As the bread was broken to commemorate the sufferings of Christ whose body was broken for our sins so it was broken also to be distributed among all the Communicants in token that they were but one body members of the same Christ and members one of another As it was a Feast their eating at the same Table declared their friendship and charity but their eating there of one and the same loaf which represented the body of Christ more effectually declared it and ingaged the holy Brotherhood to greater Unity and intireness of affection It is well observed by S. Chrysostom * Hâ—mil 18. in 2. Cor. p. 647. that it was not lawful for the people among the Jews to pertake of that part of the Sacrifice which was given to the Priests But they had their portion to themselves and the Sacrificer with his Friends another portion different from the Priests But now it is not so saith he one and the same body and one and the same cup is given to all To teach us that we are one body differing no more one from another than member doth from member in the same body And therefore we are not to throw all upon the Priests but every one is to take care of another and contrive as much as he is able the good of the whole Church I will only add the words of S. Cyprian * Epist ad Magnum p. 151. Edit Regal who saith the Lords Sacrifices declare the Christian Vnanimity knit together in a firm and inseparable charity For when our Lord called the bread which is kneaded together and made up by the union of many corns his body he denoted Christian people And when he calls the wine which is pressed out of many grapes and gathered together in one his blood he signifies also our flock coupled by the mingling together of an united multitude From whence it is manifest to all that will not shut their eyes that he took the bread to be Christs body not only as it represents Christ but all the faithful together with him Which appears more fully from the long discourse he makes in another place ‖ Epist ad Coecilium 63. p. 103. concerning the mixing of water together with wine in the Cup of the Lord as the custome then was Waters saith he in the holy Scripture signifie many people and Nations which we behold also contained in the Sacrament of the Cup. For since Christ bare us all who likewise bare our sins we see the people to be understood by water as the wine shews us the blood of Christ Now when the water in the Cup is mingled with the wine the people is made one with Christ and the multitude of believers is coupled and joyned together with him in whom they believe Which conjunction of water and wine is so mingled in the Cup of the Lord that they cannot be separated one from the other c. So that in Sacrificing the Cup of the Lord the water alone cannot be offered * He is disputing against those who used only water in this Sacrament no more than the wine alone For if one offer wine alone it begins to be the blood of Christ without the people if water alone it begins to be the people without Christ But when both are mingled and joyned together by such an union that they cannot be known one from the other then the spiritual and heavenly Sacrament is perfected It is just so likewise in the other part the body of the Lord cannot be meal alone or water alone but both must be made one and coupled together and make up one solid loaf By which Sacrament also our people is shewn to be made one That as many corns being gathered together in one and kneaded and mixed together make one loaf so in Christ who is the bread from Heaven we may know there is one body to which our number is joyned and united From which words we may
grateful mention of all the benefits he hath bestowed on us and intends unto us and to all our Christian Brethren whose concernments should be very dear unto us as well as our own And truly the ancient Church were so much in love with this duty that they gave thanks to God for all good things the benefits we enjoy by all his creatures as well as for our redemption by his Son Jesus Because this feast accompanied that of Charity in which their bodies were fed as in this their Souls and because of the offerings they then made of some of the fruits of the Earth as we do now of money in lieu of them for an acknowledgment to God that he was the Author of all the blessings which they enjoyed But this alwayes made the principal part of their acknowledgments that God had sent his Son into the world to save sinners And therefore as our Church teaches us in the exhortation just before the Communion above all things we must give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the redemption of the world by the death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and man who did humble himself even to the death upon the Cross for us miserable sinners who lay in darkness and the shadow of death that he might make us the children of God and exalt us to everlasting life Without which thanksgiving to speak the truth we do not do that which Christ commanded and so cannot hope for the blessing he hath promised Hear S. Chrysostom in stead of all that treat of this matter who excellently declares the manner and reason of this Thanksgiving Homil. 25. in Matth. p. 178. Edit sav in a Sermon of his upon Eighth chapter of S. Matthew A perpetual memory saith he and thanksgiving for a good turn is the best way that can be found to secure and preserve it to us And therefore the dreadful mysteries and full of Salvation which we celebrate in every assembly are called the Eucharist because they are a commemoration of many benefits and shew forth the principal piece of divine Providence and dispose us always to give him thanks For if to be born of a virgin was a great wonder what was it to be crucified to shed his blood for us and to give himself to us for a Feast and a Spiritual banquet what shall we call this where shall we place it we can do no less than give him thanks perpetually Let this precede both our words and works and let us give him thanks not only for our own good things but for those of others For by this means we shall destroy envy and bind charity faster and make it more genuine and of a kindly nature For a man will not be able to envy them any more for whom he gives thanks unto his Master And therefore the Priest when this Sacrifice is in hand bids us thank God for the whole world for what is past and what is present and for those things that are to come This sets us free from the Earth and translates us to Heaven and of men makes us Angels For they making a Quire gave thanks to God for the good things he bestowed on us saying Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men Thou wilt say perhaps what are they to us they live not upon the earth nor are men like unto our selves It is all one for that this signifies very much to us For we are taught hereby to love our fellow servants so as to account their happiness to be our own Let us do so then giving thanks perpetually for our own blessings for others for little for great or rather there are none little that come from God And that I may pass by other things which are more than the sand for multitude what is there comparable to this dispensation For that only begotten son of his who was more pretious to him than all things besides hath he given for us enemies And not only given him but after that gift set him before us for our Table doing all things himself for us both to give and then to make us thankful for his gifts For mankind being generally ungrateful he undertakes throughout and doth all things for us himself And what he did for the Jews putting them in mind of his benefits from PLACES and TIMES and FEASTS that he hath done here from a kind of Sacrifice casting us into a perpetual remembrance of the good he hath wrought for us None labours so much that we should be approved and great and ingenuous as God who made us And therefore he doth us good oftimes even against our will and gives us many good things which we know not of It is but reason then that whatsoever we do in word or deed we should do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God and the Father by him Coloss 3.17 which Theodoret refers to this business There being those saith he that required them to worship Angels the Apostle enjoyns the contrary that they should adorn their words and deeds with the memory of our Master Christ and send up thanksgivings to God the Father by him and not by Angels To him we should address all our Services in a grateful remembrance of his love in Jesus and as our Communion Book excellently expresses it we should give him as we are most bounden continual thanks submitting our selves wholly to his holy will and pleasure and studying to serve him in true holiness and righteousness all the days of our life But especially when we go to this holy Communion we should enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise we should be thankful unto him and bless his name Saying Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised Psal 145.3 his greatness is unsearchable Great and marvellous are thy works Rev. 15.3 O Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of Saints Psal 106.2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise 100.3 He made us and not we our selves 116.8 we are his people and the sheep of his pasture He holdeth our souls in life and keepeth our eyes from tears and our feet from falling 66.9 36.6 Thou Lord preservest man and beast 145.15 16 Thou givest food to all flesh The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing 34.3 O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Psa 136.1 2 23 24. O give thanks unto the God of Gods for his mercy endureth for ever 138.1.149.6 Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for
40.8 11. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Withhold not thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me Vnite my heart to fear thy name Fill me with all thy fulness O God and above all things with fervent charity This I pray that my love may abound yet more and more in knowledg and in all judgment that I may approve things that are excellent Phil. 1.9 10 11. that I may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto thy glory and praise I am thine save me Multiply grace mercy and peace upon me unto eternal life For it is thou O God Psal 68. ult that givest strength and power unto thy people Blessed be God Immediately after the receiving of the Cup they may lift up their hearts and say Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1.3 7 8. who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence O Lord how manifold are thy works Psal 104 24 c. in wisdom hast thou made them all The earth is full of thy riches and so is the great and wide sea wherein are creatures innumerable These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season Thou openest thine hand and they are filled with Good But eye had not seen 1 Cor. 2 9 10. Eph. 3.5.11 nor ear heard neither did enter into the heart of man the things which thou hadst prepared for them that love thee and hast now revealed to thy holy Apostles and Prophets by the spirit according to thy eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who for us men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was manifested in flesh to destroy the works of the devil 1 Joh. 3.8 and dyed for our sins Rom. 4.25 rose again for our justification ascended up on high to give gifts unto men Eph. 4.8 and is at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 1 P i. 3. ult Heb. 1. ult Angels authorities and powers being made subject unto him and sent forth to Minister for them who shall he heirs of Salvation Eph. 3.8 Col. 2.3 O the unsearchable riches of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg I submit my self unto thee O thou Prince of life and Lord of glory unto thee I will live henceforth and not unto my self and if for thee I must die the will of my Lord be done Ps 16. ult Thy favour is better than life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Luk. 17.5 Lord increase my faith strengthen my hope raise my love to a greater height and make patience to have its perfect work that I may not love my life unto the death But the trial of my faith Rev. 12.11 though it be tried by fire 1 Pet. 1.7 Col. 2.2 may be found unto praise and honour and glory at thy appearing And O that our hearts may be comforted being knit together in love Eph. 4. ult that we may be ever kind tender-hearted forgiving one another as thou O God for Christ's sake hast forgiven us That so with united minds and affections we may be still praising thee and saying Blessed be the Lord of Heaven and Earth who only doth wondrous things Psalm 72.18 19. And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Or thus O the breadth and length Eph. 3.18 19. and depth and heighth O the love of Christ Jesus our Lord which passes knowledge Phil 2.7 8. who made himself of no reputation but took upon him the form of a Servant and humbling himself became obedient unto death even the death of the cross for us miserable sinners Rev. 5.12 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Re. 1.5 6. 1 Pet. 2.5 For he hath washed us from our sins in his blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus Behold O Lord an heart that offers up it self unto thee in love unfeigned I absolutely resign my will to thy holy will and pleasure Not my will but thy will be done And praised be God who hath made a new covenant with us in the blood of Jesus Col. 1.20 who hath by him reconciled all things to himself both in heaven and in earth and hath now renewed unto us the assurance of his continued love Psal 75.1 Vnto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thou art near unto us thy wondrous works declare Psal 20.3 4. The Lord remember all our offerings and accept our Sacrifices Grant us according to our hearts desire and fulfil all our petitions Col. 1.9 10 11. That we may be filled with the knowledg of his will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding and may walk worthy of him unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in knowledg strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness giving thanks continually to the Father of mercies who hath made us meet to be pertakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light 1 Tim. 1.17 Psal 106. ult Now unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever And let all the people say Amen But when you have eased your hearts a little in these expressions of faith love and grateful remembrance of our Saviours kindness you will still find room for more devout effusions of your soul in some holy passion or other while you are at this feast Either before or after you have been at the Table of the Lord while the rest of the company is communicating there will be time to entertain your selves with sundry pious thoughts and meditations which I shall briefly suggest unto you in the next part of this Treatise that now follows The intention of which I told you in the beginning should be to instruct you in a plain and easy method how to pertake of this holy food with the greater fruit and delight also PART III. Containing a familiar way of disposing our selves to Communicate with Profit and Pleasure HAVING shewn you what is the Nature and Use of this Feast you will expect perhaps that I should tell you who are the persons whom our Lord invites and calls unto
it Which is a question so easy to be resolved from what hath been said that I have assigned no part of this discourse for the discussing of it If you are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus and seriously believe his Religion if you take upon your selves to make good that promise vow and Covenant which was made in your name when you were baptized if you understand the ends of this holy Communion which I have named and are willing and desirous to perform them if you lie not under the censures of the Church for any violation of those sacred vows which you have made to our Saviour You are the persons whose company he waits for and would gladly see at his Table Nay he will take it ill and account it a neglect of him and of your duty a breach of your promise to obey all his holy commands if you accept not of his kindness in inviting you thither because this is one of his Commands as I have proved that you should do this in remembrance of him Do not intangle your selves therefore in endless doubts and scruples about the qualifications that are required in those that come to this Supper of the Lord but only examine your hearts by this plain and certain rule Do you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be the truth of God Do you consent to be governed by his Laws Do you remember and will you stand to the Vow that was made in your name when you were baptized Are you desirous to renew that Covenant in the manner that I have described Do you value his favour and grace declared in his pretious promises above all earthly things Would you pertake of this holy Communion that you may commemorate your Saviours dying love that you may own and acknowledg him to be your Lord that you may devote and unite your heart unto him in stricter friendship that you may bind your self in the bond of peace to all your brethren and that you may receive more of his grace and greater assurance of his love as the most invaluable blessing Then lay aside all your fears and humbly approach unto him to render him the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and to receive fresh tokens and pledges of his unchangeable good will and affection to you I shall make no more words of this matter but only add that you may know sufficiently by the invitation which the Minister makes to you at the Communion in Christs name according to the order of our Church who are persons qualified for this feast And it is expressed in such plain and pregnant words that better cannot be devised for your direction and satisfaction They are these Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins and are in love and charity with your neighbours 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 Which that you may be able to do I shall now proceed according to the method I have propounded in my endeavours to put you into such a temper of mind when you are at this holy Sacrament that you may perform all that which hath been said with more ease and edification also to your selves And that I may the better raise those affections in you which are sutable to this action it will not be amiss to remember you a little of the excellency and dignity of the feast to which you are invited To make a true Feast these four things in the opinion of the most learned of all the ancient Romans must conspire and meet together Varro lectis viris lecto loco lecto tempore lecto apparatu Chosen and select persons a choice and delicate place a choise time and season and choise provision proportionable to the quality both of him that makes it and of those that are invited to it Now in all these regards if we reflect a while on them this Supper of the Lord which he makes for us will be found to be incomparably beyond the noblest entertainment which the world ever saw For as concerning the persons that here meet together they are our blessed Lord the Master of the feast and those that believe on his name to whom he hath given the right or priviledg to become the sons of God Joh. 1.12 A company of souls that are larger than the world heirs of a Kingdom rich in faith as full as they can hold of love and charity towards each other and towards all men So that there cannot be either more honourable or more sweet society found under heaven Then for the place you see it is prepared in the house of God where we give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name and shew forth his salvation from day to day where we pay our vows unto him in the presence of all his people and make a joyful noise unto him by singing of his praises where the Angels as I may say are waiters and the heavenly host are glad to attend upon us according to those words of the Apostle in that very chapter where he treats of this Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.10 the woman ought to have a covering on her head because of the Angels As for the time you see likewise it is commonly the Lords-day on the day when he rose from the dead when he trampled under his feet the great enemy of mankind when the Angels not so glistering as he brought news that he had accomplished our redemption when the host of heaven was at a gaze to see mortal man made immortal and restored to the state of paradise again when we have nothing else to do but to rest and rejoyce to declare the works of the Lord to give thanks unto his holy name and triumph in his praise And lastly for the provision it self I have told you already what it is the body and blood of the Lord of life bread that excells the Angels food a cup of blessing of which those sons of glory never tasted To these our Lord calls us nay beseeches and intreats us to come that we may feast our selves on his Sacrifice of himself and be filled with his love and satisfie our selves with his joyes and everlasting consolation Now what soul is there that can be willing to lose his share in such divine food that would be shut out from such society or absent from such a place or desire to spend his day better than in near communion with our Lord Either men do not believe these things or they do not reflect on them and lay them to their hearts for otherwise there is none that reads this writing but will be moved to make one at this holy feast But then as you cannot chuse if you seriously consider but judg it very desirable to be admitted to it so you cannot but think in what manner it becomes you to be adorned and how
you and all that I desire of you is that you would continue in my love If you keep my Commandments you shall abide in my love Joh. 15.9 10 14. even as I have kept my Fathers Commandment and abide in his love This is the token I would have of your kindness to me Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you Nothing else do I request of you but that you would not hurt your selves by sinning against my love that you would henceforth live unto me who dyed for you Come I beseech you now and assure me that you love me Renew your covenant of friendship with me By taking eating and drinking this that I give you plight me your faith that you will be ever true unto me And then I will be your security against the curse and the condemnation which you dread I will undertake for you that all your sins shall be pardoned Nay I will present you fair and beautiful before my Father as if you had been always innocent Take my word for it that I will deliver you from the wrath to come and give you the blessing of eternal life If you doubt at all of it come hither take this bread and drink this cup as sure as you now receive these your sins shall be blotted out and never remembred in the great day of judgment By these tokens I give you an interest in my death and sufferings I oblige my self by these sensible signs to perform all my promises I seal to you that gracious Covenant which was made in my blood As certainly as I dyed I assure you that you shall live for ever Only as I said do not deny me your hearty love Grant me this small request to correspond with me in sincere affection And by eating and drinking here at my Table tye your selves to be my faithful servants Then I allow you to begin now the joys of Heaven Nay I require you to rejoyce in my salvation to comfort your selves in my promises to solace your souls in the hope of my glory and to sing the Song of Angels which shall end and be completed in eternal Hallelujahs Praise ye the Lord. It is no dream and mere imagination I assure you Christian Readers no vain fancy that you entertain your selves withal if you conceive our Lord thus discoursing to you at his Table For all this is in effect pronounced by the Bread and wine which represent his pretious body and blood When they are broken and poured out before your eyes and offered to you to eat and drink in commemoration of of his death they report unto you his great love and declare the agonies and pains which he indured and give you assurance by authority from him that he will never cease to bless you and do you good And therefore you cannot better affect your hearts and raise your devotion to him in my opinion than by expounding their meaning to your selves and thinking you hear him uttering by them such words unto you as I have now mentioned And will it be possible then that you should be altogether silent and answer never a word unto him Can you find nothing to return to so kind and gracious a declaration of the bowels of his mercy towards you Or will it be hard to tell him your heart who hath so freely opened his unto you No man sure can be mute unless he be astonisht and struck dumb at the power and mightiness of his incomprehensible charity This may indeed justly strike us all with the greatest admiration and hold us a while in wondring thoughts that we should be thus beloved of God It will well become us to be amazed and lost in our thoughts to be unable to do any thing at the first hearing of all these things but only marvel that he should be so kind to such wretched sinners We cannot begin this action better than in a soul-full of thoughts not to be expressed In a silent admiration that the God of Heaven should thus graciously visit us manifesting himself in our flesh giving his Son to die for us and inventing so many ways to make us rest assured of his love towards us But when you have recovered your selves out of this passion how many other shall you feel strugling in your souls which shall first present themselves unto him Do but stay and pause a while upon every part of the foregoing words and you will find all sorts of resentments in your heart which you may cast into this order and thus address your reply unto him You may be very much ashamed that you should give him so great trouble and put him to such pains First to die and then to find out so many ways to remember you of his death and perswade you of his never dying love You may say to him in your heart O my Lord I blush to see my soul so foul that nothing less than thy pretious blood would serve to wash and cleanse it I am confounded to see thee in such a case for us who cared not how vile and base and miserable we were What have we done that we should bring thee to a Cross O what wretches were we that we should understand the love of God no better than to stand in need of such an instance of it with what confidence can we behold thee thus battered and bruised thus wounded and bloody thus full of pain and anguish as thou representest thy self unto us I am asham'd to think that we have exposed thee to such ignominy and shame I am grieved at the heart that we have made thee a man of sorrows And our infidelity O how great is it that after thou wast pleased to indure all this for us we should stand in need of such frequent remonstrances of it and be in danger to forget thee or distrust thee unless thou didst continually thus present thy self unto us and assure us of thy good will towards us O my Lord how shall I present my self before thee who am one of those that have occasioned all this care and pain this agony and passion this sweat and this blood I sigh to remember the many groans which we have made thy heart ake withal It wounds my ears to hear those words My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I am ready to ask thy pardon even that thou art come at such a rate to pardon us It is too much too much but that thou art love it self to spend all this love and kindness upon such insensible and ungrateful sinners Thus having begun to make your addresses to him you may proceed in the second place Humbly to acknowledg your unworthiness to be guests to so great a person as he is Though we cannot if we understand the nature of this feast but come with as thirsty a desire to it as the chafed Hart to the streams of water with as hungry an appetite as a poor man to a full Table or a covetous
man to an heap of gold yet still we must remember that we are but beggers and those desires must be temper'd with much modesty lowliness and humility of Spirit Though our Lord say to us as David to Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 9.7 thou shalt eat bread at my Table continually thou shalt alwayes feast with me yet it becomes us to bow down our selves and say as he there did what is thy servant that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am It is too high a favour to sup with thee since I am not worthy to pick up the crums that fall from thy Table The least offal of thy common mercies is too good for me how shall I dare to approach to this fulness of heavenly blessings to which thou invitest me I have sinned I have sinned and am not worthy to be called thy son or to bear thee company In my very best attire I am so ragged that I am ashamed to see my self and therefore how shall I appear before thee O my Lord I come merely in obedience to thy call I should not have presumed to appear in thy presence but that thou hast hidden me And been affraid to be seen in this condition but that I was more afraid not to be seen here at all My comfort is that you will not be angry with us when we obey thee nor be offended that we shew our selves ready to execute thy commands And here You may call to remembrance those sins which are the cause of your fear and brought our Saviour to his Cross Excite in your heart an unfeigned sorrow and grief that he hath been so affronted and wrong'd by you and all the world Declare freely the sense of your heart to him and let him know by an humble and ingenuous confession how the case stands with you Say to him O my Lord thou dost but call to mind by this remembrance of thy dying for us the foulness and polution of all mankind All our iniquities stare me in the face as the people gazed and stared on thee I see our deformities by seeing thee thus vilely and despitefully used It was our covetousness that stript thee naked Our pride that crown'd thee with thorns Our intemperance that gave thee gall and vinegar to drink Our contempt of Religion that put upon thee all those scoffs and taunts Our coldness in devotion which put thee into that agony and sweat Our want of love to God that made thee hated and rejected of men I see as in a glass now that I look upon thy blood the abominable state of sinful men which never seemed so foul as now How shall one of that wicked race be bold to look up unto thee especially since that I have known thy love I have so little valued it and sinned even against thy pretious blood * Here you may remember your particular offences Canst thou indure to enter into familiarity with such a soul as this that here presents it self unto thee may I hope to be admitted into thy holy fellowship and to dwell with thee I abhor I loath I am weary of my self desiring nothing more than to be made like to thee in purity and holiness in truth and justice in love and charity in lowliness and humility in meekness and patience in compassion and forgiveness in intire resignation to the will of God From hence Proceed to stir up in your selves the greatest hatred against your sins and all the wickedness that hath overspread the world Which nothing can so effectually demonstrate to be odious and intollerable as this that it hath made the nature of man capable to act such a villany as to put to death after a most shameful manner the most innocent and harmless nay the most loving and kind the most obliging and charitable person that ever was Continue your addresses to him and represent your extreamest detestation of that covetousness and worldly mindedness that pride and vain glory that ambition and love of the praise of men that envy and ill will that wrath and bitterness of spirit that hippocrisy and partiality which betrayed and killed him the Prince of life Shew him how much you abhor these and all that is evil resolving to cleave to that which is good Destroy O Lord may you say all these thine enemies and root them perfectly out of my heart Pierce through all these evil affections by a stroke from thy cross and passion I have brought them to be slain by thine hand for they are too strong for mine If there be any life remaining in them O that they may be quite mortified and never able to stir any more They are offensive to me as well as unto thee Would I might never see them more but crucified and dead Would I might never behold them unless it be drowned in thy blood And then Excite in your heart the mightiest sense of his love which as it is never to be forgotten so here it is more particularly to be pondered and affectionately commemorated You may say to him O my Lord was manner of love is this wherewith thou hast loved us that we should be called the sons of God! How great was thy goodness which brought thee down from Heaven and made thee one of us And was it not enough that thou shouldest come to dwell among us in the likeness of sinful flesh but thou wouldest also lay down thy life for us Would nothing serve to testifie the height of thy affection to us unless thou sufferedst the death of the Cross to redeem us O Love O the infinite riches of thy grace For a Friend one might be content to die but what should make thee so in love with enemies with the very worst of enemies with Idolaters with us Gentiles who were without God in the world Yea with us who now that we know the greatness of thy love have so little or no love to thee What am I O Lord that thou shouldest command me to love thee Nay shouldest take such a course to deserve my love What am I to thee that thou shouldest so much desire me And now thus graciously visit me and come to entertain me What made thee being in Heaven with them who know so well how to love and serve thee descend to us who know so ill how to do either couldst thou not be satisfied unless we enjoy thee nor be contented to be without us who have such low thoughts of thee and of thy love Is it possible that thou shouldst still continue it to such ill-natur'd and insensible wretches Art thou still desirous of our friendship and come to give us new assurances of thy grace by making us pertakers of thy body and blood O how pretious are thy thoughts to us how great is the sum of them I can do no less most blessed Saviour than set my soul wide open to thee and accept thy kindness with the most inlarged affection of my heart How glad should I be
if it were a thousand times larger to correspond with such a love How happy should I think my self if I could think of nothing and delight in nothing but only thee O that a perfect image of thee in all divine vertues may be formed in me and be ever dearer to me than life it self that I may live no longer but thou O blessed Jesus mayest live in me And the life which I now live in the flesh Cal. 2. â—â— I may live by the faith of thee the son of God who lovedst me and gavest thy self for me And then Feeling the flames of his love in your heart it will be a fit time to offer up your self intirely in the greatest devotion to his Service Pray him to accept of a poor Sacrifice now at your hand Though it be worth nothing at all yet intreat him to receive it since it is the oblation of the heartiest affection to him Say to him O sweet Saviour 1 Joh. 4.16 I have known and believed the love that thou hast to us I see here the excessive greatness of thy dying love No heart is able to hide it self from the heat thereof One cannot come near it and not be made like the whole burnt-offerings to the Lord. Never was any thing bought so dearly as this sinful soul Never was so great a price paid for any creature as thou hast laid down for my sake If I was as big as the highest Angel I should be an oblation too little for thee The flames of those heavenly fires are not strong enough wherewith to offer to thee But that I may be just for it is no more I humbly lay my self here at thy Altar and present thee with all I have I Sacrifice soul and body without any reserve to thy holy will and pleasure though I must be beholden to thy great love and not my own to procure acceptance for me I know how vile and unworthy I am that thou shouldst have any respect to my oblation All that I can say is that I offer my self for this end that I may be made better and so have every day more and more to return unto thee For that purpose ingage your selves in a covenant to him that you will never rob him any more of that which you have so solemnly offered to him I look O Lord may you say upon my self as an holy and devoted thing I have consecrated my self to thy service and so I will ever remain Never will I be so sacrilegious as to employ my self to any other uses but only thine Thou hast been pleased to make me thy Temple and therefore I will not willingly suffer thy holy place to be defiled I am sealed to thy self and have thy mark upon me I will never consent my soul should be broken up by any temptation and stoln away from thee I promise thee my faithful obedience I bind my self by these presents in a firm and everlasting tye of duty to thee I am not my own but bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 Therefore will I glorifie God in my body and in my Spirit which are Gods I will love the Lord my God with all my mind and with all my heart and with all my soul and all my strength And my Neighbour as my self And then Humbly beg leave of him that you may believe in his Name for the remission of sin Continue to say to him since thou hast so graciously dyed for me since thou hast invited me hither to represent thy death and sufferings to me and assure me of thy love since thou hast bidden me to commemorate it at this holy Feast be not angry if I call thee my Lord and my God Suffer me to claim an interest in the Merits of thy pretious blood which was shed to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world Look on me O thou that sittest at the right hand of God with the favour thou bearest to thy people Joyn thy powerful intercession with my humble suits to the Father of mercies that for thy sake I may be accepted with him I believe thou appearest in the presence of God for us and as we shew forth thy Sacrifice of thy self here on earth presentest it in the most high and holy place before the mercy seat Bless me O Lord from that throne of thy glory and raise up such a holy hope in thee as if I heard that voice founding from thence I am thy Salvation And here Beg of him his mighty grace to confirm you in your resolution that so you may alway maintain in your soul this hope of his pardoning love Since thou O Lord may you say to him art so forward to do us good to bestow thy blessings unasked to die for us when we desired it not to institute this feast which we never expected to send thy Ministers to call us to it let me take the boldness now to ask something of thee O do not deny me the continuance of thine almighty grace Take not thy holy Spirit from me but let it be my constant companion my guide my helper my comforter for ever Is it not the purchase of thy blood Is it not thy own promise hast thou not received it of the Father and art thou not possessed of it and of glory and power to bestow it on us Thou thy self hast told us that it shall be given to those that ask it and that because thou livest we shall live also O do not lose what thou hast done already for want of doing something more Psa 138.8 Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thy own hands Hold me up and I shall be safe 119.117 133.58 and I will have respect to thy statutes continually Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquitie have dominion over me I intreat thy favour with my whole heart be merciful unto me according to thy word Now because there must alway be some mirth and joy at a feast conclude all in praises to our Lord and rejoyce in his holy Name As he said to his Disciples when he washed their feet Joh. 13.12 so think you hear him speaking to you now Know ye what I have done to you Are you sensible what grace it is that I have bestowed on you Do you know what I did for you upon the cross and what I have done unto you at my Table O dear Lord that a man could but understand and conceive what thou hast done for us It would melt and dissolve our hearts and make them burst out into the highest expressions of joy and gladness All that is within us would be roused up to bless thy holy Name We should be fill'd with triumph and exaltation of Spirit in thy love and the very furthermost parts of our soul would feel that it is a most blessed thing to be thy servants All the Musick and Songs and Melody that the feasts of sensual men are
attended withal are not worthy to be named with the joys of those that sing continually and say Blessed be the Lord our God for ever Neh. 9.4 5 c. blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Thou even thou art Lord alone thou hast made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their host the earth and all things that are therein the Seas and all that is in them and thou preservest all and the host of Heaven worshippeth thee Eph. 1.4 1 Pet. 1.21 Thou art the Lord the God and Father of Jesus Christ who hast chosen us in him before the foundation of the world and redeemed us by his blood raised him from the dead and given him glory that our faith and hope might be in thee our God Thine 2 Chron. 29.11 O blessed Jesus is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the Majesty for all that is in the Heaven and in the earth is thine thine is the kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as head above all In thy hand is power and might and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious Name Psal 115. ult We will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Yea bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandments hearkning to the voice of his word Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord O my Soul Thus if we did converse with him and such holy communication did heartily pass between us it would be so pleasant and delightful that we should cry out with the Jews in another case Joh. 6.34 Lord evermore give us this bread We should long for such another repast and be desirous every day to wait on him at his Table At least we should greedily embrace the next invitation that he gives us to come unto it And because we cannot every day do this in remembrance of him we should secretly retire unto him in our own heart as into his holy Temple and there call to mind what he hath done unto us commemorate his love maintain our acquaintance preserve our friendship and renew to him our vows that by all these ways we may prepare our selves for his fellowship and society in the eternal world It may happen indeed that there may be but a few communicants at the Table of the Lord and so you may not have time there to do all this In which case you may use only some part of it or thus in brief open your heart to him when you see how he declares his love to you Adored be thy condescending love O merciful Saviour to thine unworthy servant who blushes to lift up his eyes towards thee even when thou invitest me unto thee For besides my other guiltiness this most gracious representation which now thou makest of thy self to me doth but little move my dull and heavy affections to love and rejoyce in thee I am heartily ashamed of my self only I desire and resolve to become better And here I prostrate my self before thee as a humble worshipper of thee presenting thee with a poor oblation of my soul and body which I dedicate again with the most dutiful affection I am able to excite unto thee Do thou O Lord excite a greater that when I shall appear before thee again I may present thee with a soul more pure humble meek merciful and improved in all other fruits of thy holy Spirit In thy mercies alone are all my hopes For as the Heaven is high above the earth so great is thy mercy toward them that fear thee As far as the East is from th West Psal 103.11 12. so far hast thou removed our transgressions from us O be merciful unto me be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee 57.1 Looks thou upon me and be merciful to me as thou usest to do to those that love thy name 119.132 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said 57.173 that I would keep thy word Let thine hand help me Ephes 3.16 for I have chosen thy precepts Strengthen me with might by thy spirit in the inner man that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 I may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and thee our Saviour Jesus Christ Now unto him that is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty Jude 24 25. dominion and power both now and ever Amen But when there is time to do the whole you will not spend it I hope in any thing else but such Meditations as these Which that they may be disposed in such order as every one of them may come in its season you may make use of in this manner Think you hear our Saviour speaking to you by the Bread and the Wine when you see the one broken and the other poured out Then you may immediately imploy your thoughts in the four first together with the second Meditation set down in the second part while the Minister is Communicating himself and others with him The V. and the VI. will be seasonable after you have received the Bread and the VII and VIII after the Cup together with those mentioned before in the same place And the two last in like manner after you have withdrawn your self from the holy Table or before according as you can find room for them And if your spirit be not able to hold out in so many thoughts and expressions of the inward sense and affection of your heart you may single out those which you find to give you the most lively touch and lift up your heart highest toward the Lord. And at some opportunity the rest perhaps may be as acceptable or more welcome meditations nay you may feel your soul inlarged and run out in more pious thoughts and affections than I can suggest or excite by all that I am able to say on this subject But I desire you never to omit one meditation when you behold the rest of the company receiving which is that all those and the whole Church who pertake of this holy Communion are your Brethren To whom you must stir up as I directed you before the most fervent charity and the readiest disposition to relieve counsel assist comfort or admonish them as there shall be occasion And with whom you must resolve to live in the strictest Unity and peace as those who are Members of the very same body When you think therefore that our Lord tells you there is nothing he desires of you
and work They do with this as S. James saith many do with the Gospel who like a man that beholds his natural face in a glass and taking but a short glance of himself goes away and straightway forgets what manner of man he was Whereas if he would not only look into the perfect Law of liberty but continue to look therein being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work he would be blessed in his deed Jam. 1.23 c. It is the design therefore of this last part of my discourse to furnish you with some apt matter for your Meditation and with sutable Prayers whereby you may both quicken your selves in your private closets when you are preparing to go to the Table of the Lord and likewise preserve alive those godly affections and resolutions which are excited there after you are come home again That so by continuing to look upon what you have done and what your Saviour hath done unto you and beholding as in a clear Mirror the great love of God in Christ Jesus and your great obligations to him you may never forget him nor the duty you owe him but be blessed in a faithful observance of both And that no man may have the excuse which the wanton Israelites pretended who were cloyed with the same thing repeated over and over again I have taken the pains to compose variety of Meditations and Prayers some longer some shorter for every Month in the year and the principal Festivals in remembrance of our Saviour Which you may either make use of if your infirmity require it or else stick constantly to such as you like best and find most apt to move your hearts No mans thoughts are alwayes alike neither his that writes nor his that reads and therefore sometimes one may be most agreeable to you sometimes another but there will be no time I hope wherein you may not be able among them all to fit your self with a Meditation and a Prayer that may stir up and further your Devotion towards God And he that will be at so much pains with himself as to follow some such method as this will never be able to say hereafter as too many wretched souls have done that they have frequented this holy Sacrament but were never the better for it January Meditation before the Sacrament COnsider with your self some time before you intend to Communicate that you are invited to come not only into the presence but unto the Table of God to be one of the guests of the Lord of the whole world What a grace what an honour is this Shall any business any pleasure on earth put by the thoughts of it It is impossible if you remember what the great God is who calls you to him and that he sets the body of his Son before you upon your Table and that your Cup is filled with his Blood That the Angels think it not below them to waite on you and minister to you and the divine Spirit will be ready to breath upon you and fill you with such holy love that you shall send up your soul in joyful hymns of Praise and Thanks to God our Saviour With what admiration should you receive the news of this invitation With what reverence ought you to approach him With what forwardness of love with what gladness of heart should you go to meet our blessed Lord Was there ever any kindness should you think with your selves like unto that of his Did there ever such a furnace of Love if I may so represent it burn in any heart could he do more than die the bloody and shameful death of the Cross for to save sinners How is it possible that the remembrance of this tender love and compassion should ever die or that any heart should freeze over such a fire unless we be willfully careless I see that he will have our love he will not suffer any thing to rob him of the purchase of his blood For lest we should prove so ungrateful as to let him slip out of our mind he hath left himself still among us in sensible signs and representations By these he shews us his bloody death and passion he makes himself present to our faith and we may see that he is desirous to do more than die for us having contrived a way to live for ever in us and be firmly united to us What manner of love is this that Heaven hath manifested unto us who can refrain from tears of grief and sorrow to think of his own ingratitude and from tears of joy to think of the wonderful kindness of the Lord can you look on him who was pierced for our sins and not lament and mourn can you see his bleeding wounds and not be troubled no pious heart can be so hard And yet when you consider that by those stripes you are healed that he hath washed us from our sins in this blood that faithful souls may take sanctuary in his wounds and be secure and safe you cannot chuse but rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in his Salvation Call to your Soul then and bid it awaken in it self the liveliest thoughts of him and the devoutest affections to him Call to it to put it self in tune to string as I may so speak the instruments of joy and praise and to stir up all the graces of the holy Spirit That so you may go with a deep humility a godly sorrow a perfect hatred of all sin both of the flesh and of the spirit a strong resolution against them with a lowly faith and in the heights of love with enlarged desires and great longings to this holy Feast Ask your Soul what dost thou think of what dost thou love what dost thou long for with what intentions art thou going to the Lords Table are the Treasures of Christian wisdom and knowledg more in thine account than thousands of gold and silver Dost thou heartily believe the holy Gospel of Christ Jesus and love him and his Religion in sincerity Is all sin already bleeding to death in thee and hadst thou rather die than willingly offend thy Saviour that died for thee Art thou going to hang all remaining affection to them upon his Cross that there they may be perfectly crucified and never taken down till by continued Meditation on it they be quite dead Resolve then to go and tell him as much to declare and shew to him that this is the sense of thine heart Only ask thy self again what appetite dost thou feel in thee Art thou going as a thirsty man to his drink or a hungry man to his food or a Bride to the marriage of a chosen soul dearer than all the world beside or dost thou feel something like these things in thine heart what is it that thou hungrest and thirstest after Is it the tasts of the love of God Is it his Divine Grace and holy Spirit Dost thou long to be more like him and made pertaker of his
divine Nature Art thou going to make a new resignation of thy self to him to be made one Spirit with him never any more to depart from him Then think how the Bride-groom will welcome thee how our Saviour I mean will declare and set forth his love to thee and give thee assurances that his mercy indureth for ever and bid thee rejoyce and be exceeding glad in what he hath done already and in the hopes thou hast of what he will do hereafter And here you may call to mind how the word was made flesh and dwelt among us how he manifested forth his glory by his wonderful works how he taught us the way to eternal life and at last was betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men and was crucified and dyed for us with all the rest that concerns the knowledg of Christ That so you may have it more ready in your thoughts when you come to his Table to do this in Commemoration of him In this manner also you may bewail the sins of your former life sue for a pardon of what is past and beseech the grace of his holy Spirit to assist your resolutions of well doing for the time to come The Prayer O Eternal and most blessed God the fountain of being and bliss infinite in perfection and highly exalted above all our words or thoughts I am astonished at the thoughts of the brightness of thy glory and justly afraid to present my self before so great and holy a Majesty Even that abundant grace which invites me to thee abashes me too when I reflect upon my shameful ingratitude to such undeserved love It becomes me to ly down in dejection of Spirit and mournful silence rather than confidently to lift up mine eyes towards Heaven to speak unto thee But since thou art so rich in Mercy as to require repenting sinners to draw nigh to the Throne of Grace I prostrate my self in the humblest reverence before the searcher of all hearts Not to excuse thou knowest but to aggravate my faults to acknowledg the justice and equity of thy Laws to condemn my self for opposing thy Soveraign authority and to vow to thee the most sincere and hearty obedience for the rest of my life I have done so much evil and so little good been so eager in the pursuit of the things of this world and so cold and unconcern'd many times about those of eternity so unmindful of my promises unthankful for thy benefits and unfruitful in the knowledg of the Lord Jesus that it is a wonder of thy patience that I am still alive and not cut down like a barren tree that cumbers the ground For ever adored be thy sparing Mercy which hath born so long with an unprofitable servant who hath so many ways offended in thought word and deed against thy divine Majesty * Here reckon up those perticular sins you are conscious of I have not given thee that honour worship and service which I owe to my Almighty Creator Nor laid to heart as I ought thine infinite love in Christ my Redeemer Nor duly followed the godly motions of thy holy Spirit which thou hast sent to renew and sanctifie my affections and draw me to thine obedience I have not lived according to the faith which I continually confess But behaved my self too oft as if I dreaded not the threatnings and valued not the promises of my Lord Christ as if I feared not his vengeance nor cared for his glorious rewards and as if he would not come to judg the world and render to all men according to their works The stupid insensibleness of mine heart even now that I remember these things brings new accusations against me It testifies that I know not as I ought the terror of the Lord but am apt rashly to mention thy Name without an awful and considerate regard to thy infinite greatness power and holiness before which I approach I am no more worthy to be called thy servant much less to present thee with any offering or receive the least of thy blessings Nothing but shame and confusion of face belong to me and it is only of thy tender mercy that I am not lamenting those follies in weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth which I speak of now with so little grief and bitterness of Spirit Mercy Mercy still more Mercy good Lord I most humbly beseech thee O that a greater fear and dread of thee may now fall down mightily upon me and overspread me O that I may feel such a strong sense of thine incomprehensible Majesty pressing upon my heart that may bear down all other thoughts and sink me low and make me abhor my self in thy sight I know the Sacrifices of the Lord are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise And Jesus hath also offered himself a sacrifice for us in whom thou hast declared that thou art well pleased For Jesus his sake dispose me now to offer unto thee that acceptable Sacrifice And give me grace ever to fear thee and to walk humbly with thee to preserve a tender sense of my duty toward thee and conscientiously to obey thee that so by vertue of his Sacrifice of himself all my sins may be done away and remembred no more Blessed be God that I have any hope of that great mercy Blessed be God who by him hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through his grace By him I will offer up to thee continually the sacrifice of praise giving thanks to thy Name Yea the mercies of thee my God move me to present my body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto thee which is my reasonable service I dedicate my self absolutely to thy obedience I vow that I will never willingly depart from thy precepts Assist and strengthen me mercifully with thy grace that I may perform my vows and never be so unreasonable as to return to those sins which are the burden of my heart and grieve thy holy Spirit which rent the flesh and shed the blood of the Lord Jesus and which I have so often and so solemnly protested against And now that I am going to thine holy Table to commemorate the Sacrifice of my Saviour to give thee farther testimonies of my love to thee and receive new tokens of thy love to me O Lord vouchsafe to make thy self powerfully present to my mind Represent thy self and thy Son Jesus so lively to my thoughts in all thy wisdom power goodness holiness and truth that I may never forget thee any more but most seriously reverence thee and love thee and rejoyce in thee and trust thee and obey thee all the dayes of my life Imprint the very image of thy Son upon me that I may carry him ever in mine heart and have his life and death continually before mine eyes and in all things conform my self to his will and fashion my self after his holy example Come Lord Jesus and possess thy self of my whole
the flesh and the Devil and serve thee without fear in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of my life Hear my words O Lord consider my meditation Psal 5.1.17.1 Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips And make me to know and feel that Jesus who dyed for me Rev. 1.18 is alive from the dead and liveth for evermore and that he is an eternal fountain of life and strength of comfort and refreshment to all those that by him believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 who raised him from the dead and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God In his most powerful name I sue unto thee for all that is comprehended in his own holy words saying Our Father c. Meditation afterward SOmetime that day and as often as you can after reflect upon your own thoughts resolutions and vows and consider that there may be but a few dayes perhaps hours remaining before you must appear at the Tribunal of him who hath now entertained you at his Table The next sight you have of him may be upon his throne 1 Pet. 5.5 as one that is ready to judge the quick and the dead Put your soul in mind of the great account you must then give of all that you have done in the body and of your sacred actions no question as well as of the rest And therefore ask your self in the most serious manner and bid your soul tell you with what affection hath the death of the Lord been now remembred Hast thou as sincerely renounced all thy evil wayes and consecrated thy self to the life of Christ as thou hopest to be saved As God shall judge the world in righteousness art thou resolved and determined to become a new Creature and to pass the time of thy sojourning here in fear O how dreadful will he then appear to those who return with the dog to his vomit after they have eaten of this holy bread and drunk of this holy Cup who can stand before him that hath known and remembred his transcendent love and yet loved his ease his pleasure his money or any other thing better than him and his eternal life It concerns me nearly O my soul to keep him ever in my thoughts and to express him in my life That when he comes he may see himself in me and behold his own image in righteousness and true holiness fairly ingraven on my heart For many will say unto him at that day Lord Luke 13.26 27. We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets But he will say I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity Most dismal changeâ— now he invites now he saith come but then he will say depart if we come not to his Table with hearts to entertain him to suffer him to dwell in us and to be the sole disposer of all our actions God forbid that ever that terrible voice should sound in mine ears This one word DEPART from me how confounding will it be It must needs strike the stoutest soul into eternal sorrow The searcher of my heart knows that I went unfeignedly thither to give him possession of it and here again I confirm the gift Let him command what he pleases and I will obey it Let him bring his Cross along with him I will submit unto it Come poverty come reproaches come imprisonment come pains and torments come death it self rather than be so miserable as to depart from the living God Depart from me Psal 119.115 rather ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God Psal 101.2 3. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart No wicked thing will I set before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me All my delight shall be upon the Saints that are in the earth Psal 16.3 and upon such as excel in vertue And that you may preserve these good purposes let your heart be often there where they were conceived and made though your body cannot Look often back upon the Table of the Lord and say with the same holy Psalmist O when shall I come and appear again before thee 42.2 Early will I seek thee O my God Psal 63.1 2 c. my soul thirsteth for thee that I may see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy name My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and with fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips And to furnish your soul with greater plenty of good thoughts you may often reflect upon the example which Christ hath set you in his death as well as in his life And perticularly resolve to spend this month in meditating every day upon his great CHARITY 2 Cor. 8.9 who though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that by his poverty we might be rich In this God commended his love to us Rom. 5.8 that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 But we when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 and therefore shall much more be saved by his life Excite in your self hereby a great and compassionate love to all mankind especially to your Brethren with whom you are knit in one body That you may be strongly inclined to do good as occasion is offered to refresh the bowels of the poor and needy to comfort and support the feeble minded to live with all in unity and peace till your Christian friendship be perfected in endless love in the other world Remember that God is the God of peace and Christ is the Lord of peace Often meditate on the words of our Lord that it is better to give than to receive and upon these words of a good man that He is the best Merchant who layes out his time upon God and his money upon the poor The Thanksgiving and Prayer I Cast my self down before thee O Lord in the deepest humility of soul to worship and praise thee together with all the heavenly Host saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of thy glorious goodness Thou art the joy of all those happy creatures above who continually behold the brightness of thy glory and thy presence and the light of thy countenance makes Heaven upon earth to us thy servants whom thou admittest thus near unto thee Glory be to God in the highest who to all other blessings hath added the gift of his dear Son and delivered him up for us all Glory be to the Son of God
no more till the same solemnity come about again How wilt thou be able then to appear before him at that time with what face wilt thou look upon him whom thou slightest so much as to love any company better than his Will it not confound thee to think that thou art but a stranger to him though thou hast been so often with him and that he can find nothing of himself in thee no not after so many professions of the greatest love and friendship to him O let him see that he hath not bestowed himself on one that knows not how to value so divine a guest Preserve an everlasting memory of his dying love Never fail to thank him for it every day with the greatest passion thou art able to excite Look on him seriously and study to be like him Never take off thine eyes from his beauties till all his lovely qualities be imprinted on thy heart Imitate his humility and great condescention to us of low estate Learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart â—atch 11.20 〈◊〉 5.2 â— Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Purifie thy self 1 Joh. 3.3 even as he is pure Heb. 13.5 Let thy conversation be without covetousness Psal 37.3 and be content with such things as thou hast Trust in the Lord and do good make him thy hope and thy portion That as long as thou livest Christ Jesus may be seen among men O what a goodly sight would it be to behold our Lord still walking up and down in the world To see the loving the peaceable the meek the merciful the holy Jesus again upon the earth Do thou resolve to be that blessed man in whom he shall appear Let not his Image and likeness be lost whilst thou art in being and labour to leave it upon others when thou art dead and gone Particularly thou mayst resolve all this month to meditate often on the PATIENCE of our Lord under ah the rude affronts and cruel pains he endured from his enemies and the great dulness untowardness and slowness to believe which he found in his Disciples That so Patience may have its perfect work in thee to the end thou mayst be perfect and entire Jam. 1.4 wanting nothing For we have need of Patience Heb. 10.36 that after we have done the will of God we may receive the promise Rest in the Lord therefore and wait patiently for him Psal 37.7 fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass Resolve not to be discouraged in thy Christian course whatsoever it be that thou art to do or suffer Warn them that are unruly â— Tâ—â—ss 5.14 comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient toward all men Remembring that this is the character of those who received the heavenly seed with honest and good hearts Luke 8.15 that they brought forth fruit with patience And we know that the fruit of patience is experience Rom. 5.3 4. and experience worketh hope and hope maketh not ashamed The Thanksgiving and Prayer ALL thy works praise thee O Lord they proclaim thy greatness thy wisdom thy power and goodness throughout the world There is no place in heaven or earth where their voice is not heard But the mouths of rational creatures ought most to be filled with thy praises whom thou hast made to understand the wisdome and majesty of all thy works We our selves O Lord are fearfully and wonderfully made Thou hast adorned mankind with most noble perfections and given us dominion over the works of thy hands And after we had despised this honour which thou didst us chusing to become like the beasts that perish thou wast pleased to do us a greater and to demonstrate an infinite wisdom power and charity in our recovery by Christ Jesus I bless thee O God for that abundant grace and for that part and portion which thou hast given me in it That thou wast pleased to come so lovingly and dwell among us and appear in the likeness of sinful flesh to what can I ascribe it but thine incomprehensible love and readiness to do us good I most heartily thank thee that thou wouldt so mercifully comfort us by thy divine presence among us and incourage us to hope in thee that wouldst not destroy us And that thou hast proclaimed as much by thine eternal Word and bidden us to hope in thy mercy Above all that thou hast assured us by his Death and Passion that thou wilt pardon our sins and by his Resurrection that thou wilt bestow on us eternal life There is no end O Lord of thy loving kindness For thou continuest to give us new assurances and tokens of thy good will towards us and hast now entertained me at thine own Table with his most pretious body and blood It is too little O God of all grace to give thee my self if I had any more to give All that I can do is again and again to give my self to thee And as I have at thine Altar offered my whole soul and body to be employed according to thy holy will and pleasure so I continue here to renew my devotion to thee and to oblige my self by repeated vows to be thy servant I hope I shall never suffer thy love to slip out of my mind nor forget the promises wherein I stand ingaged to thee Yea that thou in thine abundant goodness wilt always accompany me by thy holy spirit which our Lord hath bid me expect from thee to preserve alive his memory in my heart that I may ever be a follower of him in poverty of Spirit in meekness in mercifulness in purity of heart in peaceableness and studying to be quiet 2 Thess 3.5 And the Lord direct my heart to the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ That I may endure all the troubles of this life with a composed constant spirit and never repine at any thing that befalls me That I may chearfully suffer for righteousness sake and taking up my Cross Heb. 12.1 2. run with patience the race that is set before me looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of thy throne of glory Rom. 15.5 6 7. Now the God of patience and consolatiâ—â— grant us all to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That aâ—â— Christian people may with one mind aâ—â— one mouth glorifie thee our God and receivâ—â— one another as Christ also received us unâ—â— thy glory Unite our hearts in love and charity and give us grace to follow afteâ— those things which make for peace Rom. 14. â—â— and thing wherewith one may edifie another O that the power of all
of it forced upon thee by the meer greatness and power of his love Think that thy love to him will grow faint and cold without these endeavours so that it will be a doubt to thy self O how uncomfortable is that whether thou lovest him or no. And the better to preserve it thou mayest resolve particularly to Meditate often all this month upon this piece of Christs love in instituting and ordaining just before he died these HOLY MYSTERIES at this Divine feast as pledges of his love and for a continual remembrance of his death to our great and endless comfort O what a kindness was this mayest thou think with thy self what wonder of love which is here fairly represented to us and set before our eyes what a pleasure is it to see our selves thus beloved of the Sovereign of the world to behold our selves in the arms of the Almighty the only wise and all-sufficient good who will never fail to take care of us provide for us direct support assist comfort and protect us yea and eternally bless us This is love indeed that we have such pledges given us of his everlasting kindness that we shall see him in the other world where we shall know him and love him as much as we can desire Nay what an happiness is it that we can love him at all And that he will take such care to excite our love to so great an height in this world O what pleasures have I felt in loving him and offering my heart with sincere affection to him How doth my will sweetly melt into his when I think how good he is and how much I am obliged to him We should never have praised him so much if he had not thus represented his love to us And that together with intire friendship and concord to which he also here ingages us is the happiness of Angels and glorified Spirits I will never cease to think of these pleasures that I may never cease to injoy them but be still more and more praising thee till I come to praise thee in the company of the Blessed The Prayer and Thanksgiving afterward O Most holy and ever blessed God Thy name alone is excellent thy glory is above the Earth and Heaven All the heavenly powers continually proclaim thy greatness and raise themselves not thee by admiring loving and praising thy eternal Majesty I most humbly adore and extol thy unsearchable Wisdom thy uncontroulable Power thy boundless Goodness and thy unspotted Holiness and Truth It is a shame I acknowledge that ever I should think of esteeming or loving any thing like to thee who art so infinitely above all the world and it being so impossible for me to be safe or happy but in thy love And it is no less shame to make mention of thy Name without the greatest joy and satisfaction of heart in thy love and favour For thy wisdom is the surest guide and most certain director thy Power is our strength and safeguard thy good Providence is our all-sufficient treasure thy holiness and truth is our security thy goodness is our hope and comfort thy unerring will is our satisfaction in all events that here befall us I cannot wish when I seriously recollect my self to live in a world without thee It would be better not to be at all than to be forsaken of thee and left to the conduct of my own childish thoughts and desires and to the protection and provision of my own weakness How much do I owe thee even for this knowledge of thee And I have had daily yea minutely experience of thy loving kindness ever since I had a being A great number of thy creatures serve me and minister unto my content and comfort by thy command And thy own Son is become a Servant to me and submitted himself to the vilest state and condition for my happiness I deserve not to live if I should not love thee intirely For thou art every day adding new fuel to my love and taking care that it may never go out What tokens of thy love hath this day brought along with it to my Soul Thou hast given me leave to wait upon thee and feast with thee at thy own Table To see the love that the Lord Jesus bare and still continues to me that I may be still more induced to love thee and strongly ingaged to be so happy as to continue in thy love by cordial obedience to thee Who can look on thee O blessed Lord and not love thee Who can think of what thou hast done unto us and not devote himself eternally to thy love and service But alas our eyes are weak our thoughts are short and transient we are soon weary of beholding and thinking even on thy love Direct my thoughts therefore by thy mighty power more strongly towards thee Fasten in my mind a more lively remembrance of thee that I may at least be often looking back unto thee and delight to reflect upon thy wondrous love Psal 119.37 Turn mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way And O that all my love may be changed into obedience that I may be ever very fearful to displease thee and careful to omit no part of the duty I owe thee but I may spend my days in acts of holy love towards thee and towards all men 1 Thess 5.15 16 17 c. That I may rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing in every thing give thanks prove all things and hold fast that which is good never rendring to any man evil for evil but ever following that which is good both among our selves and to all men And I desire the happiness of all mankind especially that the Faith of all Christian people may grow exceedingly 2 Thess 1.3 and the Charity of every one towards each other may abound That so they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Tit. 2.10 and recommend his Religion effectually by their good and innocent lives to all the world Give the King thy judgments O God Psal 72.1 2 c. that he may judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment That the greater powers may bring peace to thy people and the lesser also by righteousness That they may judge the poor of the people and save the children of the needy and break in pieces the oppressor That we may all fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endure throughout all generations Now unto him that hath chosen us tâ— Salvation 2 Thess â— 13.1â— â— through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he hath called us by the Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ be thanks and praise and love and obedience rendred world without end Amen June The Meditation before the Sacrament IS it possible that the great God should be manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Act. 20.28 And that he should purchase those
of my love and the coldness of my affection to him who hath deserved to be remembred with the greatest passion For I have long professed love to him I have received many testimonies of his special kindness to me and given many assurances of mine to him And yet how pale and dim are those marks of a great love to him which are plainly visible in me to others Am I ever casting mine eyes towards him Doth he often present himself before my mind and feelingly touch my heart Am I never better pleased than when I am going to him Is the question rather what will please him than whether I shall do it He hath declared his will in his holy Gospel Am I glad to hear of it and read it and very desirous to know it in all things Can I forsake my own will chearfully to follow his And doth it grieve me much that his excellent laws are not observed and that all Christians do not love and honour him O Lord thou knowest our weakness and how hard it is to keep our minds and hearts so stedfastly fixed upon invisible things And in great pitty therefore hast ordained holy mysteries for a frequent remembrance of thee and to represent thy self and thy love more sensibly to us By this means I hope to grow in time to a perfect love ever bearing thee in mind and delighting to give thee thanks and praise and conforming my self to thy blessed will and desiring and studying that thy name may be hallowed and honoured by me and by all men else throughout the world This hope incourages me to go to thy Table though very unworthy to be entertained by thee There I hope also my Lord will meet me and speak kindly to me as one that loves him at least a little better than any thing beside and is resolved and determined to love him more and more He invites us thither to increase our faith and to nourish our love and to strengthen our hope and excite our gratitude and exercise all our graces and therefore I will not refuse his kindness even because I desire and long to love him so much But first my soul let us examine our selves whether we be sure that this indeed is the very sense of our heart that we really love to please him in every thing and heartily mean to proceed in this love to the most ready and willing obedience to all his Commands And doth it not become us humbly to confess the foolish wandrings of our affections from him to blush for shame that we fall so short of our own resolutions and to excite our selves to greater watchfulness and diligence in well doing Ought not the very remembrance of our former coldness to put a greater heat into us And our former backwardness make us to be more forward and zealous Should we not vow our hearts again to him And let him know that we shall not think we live when we do not love him and that we shall be willing to die that we may more love him But how can we hope to grow still better by these new expressions of his love to which he invites us without his gracious assistance which ought to be faithfully implored Let us go then to him before-hand and desire him to raise up those thoughts and affections in us which we cannot produce in our selves that we may bring an heart full of love to him and carry it away full of joy to find it more inlarged to love and serve him The Prayer before O Most holy and ever blessed Lord of heaven and earth who art good and dost good to all thy Creatures and to us above all the rest who are most unworthy of thy loving kindness It is but a part of my duty to admire and praise thy great and glorious perfections to reverence thee to worship thee to love thee and with heart and tongue both here and eternally to acknowledg my dependance on thee to give thee thanks and speak good of thy Name But it becomes me no less to debase my self in the lowest manner before thee because all that I speak in thy praise declares my foul ingratitude to thee my Creator and constant benefactor There is nothing that I can justly call my own without thy leave and I have received exceeding much from thy bounty and thou hast made me that I might enjoy satisfaction in thee the most Soveraign good and taken care to bring me acquainted with thee which ought now to be remembred with the greatest humility thankfulness and joyful resignation of my self and all that I have to thy obedience But alas how little do I feel thee though I live and move and have my being in thee Though I have tasted of thine abundant goodness every moment how late was it before I seriously thought of my obligations to thee Now that I see thou hast sent thy son the express image of thy person among us how little is it that I know of thee and what a stranger am I still to thee I have been too willing to receive but small benefit by his appearing and to content my self with a little measure of that purity wisdom and goodness which he came to impart unto us Thus foolish and ignorant have I been and it was but fit that we should sink into the greatest stupidity when we were such fools as to leave thee and follow the counsels and desires of our own hearts For ever adored be thy infinite charity who art not willing to lose us when we are so forward to lose thee and our selves Blessed be the exceeding abundance of thy grace in Christ Jesus which continues to invite even such senseless wretches to come unto thee who have so little esteemed it or know how to value the unsearchable riches of it The marvellous greatness of thy forbearing and pardoning mercy if nothing else will incline and excite my heart I hope to love thee much above all things That so at last I may love thy blessed nature and perfectly understand that it is my happiness to have thy image renewed in me in righteousness and true holiness Thou hast often convinced me praised be thy goodness that it is impossible for me otherwise to be happy Thou hast wrought many strong resolutions in my soul to be guided and governed by thine unerring wisdom and holy will And I have felt the comforts of a pure humble meek merciful peaceable and loving disposition of heart Perfect good Lord what thou hast wrought in me that all the pious inclinations of my soul may settle in a firm and lasting habit of well-doing Our righteousness I know cannot profit thee but thou delightest to communicate thy self to thy creatures especially to those who think it the greatest treasure to be inriched with thy wisdom and to be made partakers of a divine Nature O thou who hast given me this knowledg who hast given me a will to chuse thee for my portion make me compleatly happy
him too But with what blushing should we look there upon that love which we have sometime slighted With what hatred upon those sins which murdered the Lord of life With what joy should we think of the hope there is that they may be pardoned And how should we stand admiring at that wise goodness which made that blood which sinners shed to be the expiation for their sins Sure we do not believe these things or else we shall begin already to feel our heart burn with love to him and ready to offer it self in Sacrifice before we come to his Altar Excite thy Faith that it may stir up thy Love and that may carry all the passions of thy heart along with it to him Shew him that the desire of thy heart is to the remembrance of his Name that thy care is to please him thy fear to offend him thy joy to do his will and thy sorrow that thou canst do no more for him Let it be a great comfort to thee that he knows thy sincerity and sees into the very secrets of thy heart how affectionately thou studiest to be like him what a pleasure it is when thou canst stedfastly think of him how it grieves thee when thy thoughts are broken thy affections heavy and dull and thy power falls so short of thy will and desires And be assured that he pitties thee that notwithstanding this he will kindly entertain thee and receive the poorest oblation thou art able to make him at his Table Eat and be satisfied and bless the name of the Lord. He hath invited thee he expects thee he loves to see thee there and will make thee know that he loves thee and delights to do thee good Let us go my soul and declare before Angels and men that we are Christians and mean to live and die in his holy Religion And let us now take shame to our selves that we have at any time contradicted our belief Let us acknowledg the breach of that Faith into which we were baptized and declare before we go how great a trouble it is to us that we love him no more and how desirous we are and fully resolved to love him better and better The Prayer before O Eternal God the Lord of life of grace peace and all our comforts It is of thy great mercies alone that I am not consumed or that I lie not now groaning on a bed of sickness but am invited to feast at thy holy Table I might have distasted and loathed even the ordinary food of my body and thou continuest an opportunity and some appetite to receive the pretious food of my soul The grave might have been my dwelling the worms my companions and I been turned into rottenness and corruption but now I am going to thy house to be the companion of thy people and to communicate with thee and my blessed Saviour that I may be nourished to a blessed immortality This is nothing else but thy marvellous Mercy and because thy compassions fail not For I have too many ways violated thy holy Laws broken thy covenant resisted thy grace and unvalued thy eternal life Thou hast adopted me early for thy child sown the immortal seed of thy word in my heart sent thy holy Spirit to further its growth and increase to that never dying happiness and bliss But how little have I recovered of thy image in wisdom righteousness and holiness which hath been miserably defaced How coldly have I sometimes entertained the motions of thy holy Spirit And been barren and unfruitful in the knowledg of Jesus Christ How often have I heard of that great and dreadful day of reckoning and been prone to follow the little pleasures of this life as if I lookt neither for joy nor misery in the other world That Faith which should save me might justly condemn me and Jesus my most compassionate Redeemer without infinite mercy become only a severe Judge towards me Adored be thy patience and long-suffering to sinners For ever magnified be that Grace which gives me the least hope in thee and presents me with another opportunity of humbling my self before thee of intreating thy favour of deprecating thy displeasure and vowing my self again to thy service which I have covenanted to pay thee O merciful God have mercy upon me have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy mercies in Christ Jesus blot out all my iniquities I have not offended thee beyond the heighth and depth and length and breadth of thine incomprehensible love in him declared to us And there is still remaining in my heart some esteem of that love and an inclination to love thee above all things with an hearty desire to be purified and sanctified throughout both in body and in soul and spirit Though not by works of righteousness which I have done yet by thy mercy I hope to be saved through the washing of regeneration and more perfect renewing of the holy-Ghost That renewing vertue from above I most humbly wait for and earnestly desire to be more abundantly poured on me Deal with me according to my unfeigned resolutions to study to purifie my self even as thou art pure to walk before thee hereafter in all sobriety righteousness humility meekness peaceableness charity indeavouring to perfect holiness in thy fear Vouchsafe me some earnests of this grace when I present my self before thee to commemorate the death of thy Son Jesus who was wounded for our iniquities and bruised for our transgressions That my heart may be deeply wounded with a sense of sin and hate the very thought of every evil way and chuse to endure any misery rather than offend thy dearest love again O that I might then feel my thoughts carried away from this world that I could think then of nothing but thee and the dying love of my sweetest Saviour and the greatness of that love which I owe to him that died for me Replenish my soul with holy thoughts lift me up in heavenly meditations and fill me with a multitude of devout affections that I may be able hereafter to do and suffer all things for his sake and never forget how good he is and how good I have resolved to be Without thee I cannot ascend up unto thee and therefore I look for thy holy inspirations to accompany me in all my Meditations and prayers and praises and thanksgivings and resolutions That attending upon this sacred service with love and zeal and delight and devotion of spirit there may be an happy meeting between me and my Saviour and such an inseparable Union contracted as may be at last consummated in eternal Love and Joy in his heavenly Kingdom To which I humbly hope to be brought by thy infinite Mercies in him who hath taught me to call thee Father and to say when I pray Our Father which art in c. The Meditation afterward SEeing it hath pleased my Lord to tye me to himself by one bond more and I have added a new
resolution to all the rest and made choice of him again for my only Master how careful ought I to be that I prove not a false Disciple Hast thou never read or heard of an holy man who never used the name of Jesus but he immediately added not without the appearance of singular pleasure MY MASTER This was his glory this he thought the highest honour on Earth that he served such a Master Let this be one of thy thoughts every day Let it work in thy mind till the sense of these words be ingraven on thy heart My Master JESVS Consider that when thou wast baptized thou wast dedicated to his holy service That if thou hast owned confirmed that Sacred Covenant thou hast renounced all other Masters the Devil the World and the Flesh and professed thou wouldst be a Servant of Jesus And every time thou hast been at his Table thou hast done this over again and protested thou wilt have no other Master but only him Is there any cause dost thou think to repent of thy choice of following his service Is it not a great preferment to be one of his family who is Lord of Heaven and Earth the Heir of all things the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth the Lord of Life and the King of Glory Dost thou not profess in thy daily Prayers that his service is perfect freedom Can any reward their servants like to the blessed and only Potentate who only hath immortality Do any servants in the world serve in such hopes or enjoy such promises or receive such earnests as he is pleased to bestow on his Is not death the wages of sin but the gift of God eternal life What servants are admitted to such familiarity with their Lord as thou art at his Table Who are entertained with such a Feast or live upon such delights as they that receive his Body and Bloud And yet how zealous how diligent how forward are they to do their Masters will who serve only for the wages of unrighteousness How proud is a man of the honour to follow the Court of an Earthly Prince But if he should be advanced to eat continually at his Table the world would envy his too great happiness What a shame will it prove then if thou art not fervent in spirit serving the Lord If thou dost not think thy self honoured enough and art not well contented in any condition who followest such a glorious Master Thou wilt not pardon thy self if thou art unfaithful to him or disgracest his service by murmuring repining dejection of spirit or any other unworthy behaviour toward him For what Master ever merited so much at his Servants hands We have heard of Servants that have died for their Masters but where did we ever read or hear of a Master that freely died even for his rebellious Servants The business was Jesus would purchase us to himself by his own Bloud and make us if we have but any good nature in us to be most entirely devoted to his chearful obedience Ask thy self therefore every morning whose Servant am I What did I promise my Master such a day If I call him Lord and Master why do not I do the things that he saith And shall I go about my Masters business with a drooping countenance and an heavy heart Shall I sigh when I hear his voice though he bid me deny my self and take up my Cross and follow him Shall any of his Commandments seem grievous to me after so many so solemn professions of love to him God forbid that I should cast such reproach upon him I have not so learned Christ Jesus whose I am and whom I serve who hath said Joh. 12.26 If any man serve me him will my Father honour Can there be words of greater grace than these God be thanked Rom. 6.17 18. that I was the servant of sin but have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered me It is a favour to be the servant of righteousness I ought to account it an honour to receive his commands and to study to do his will on Earth as it is done in Heaven How comfortably then shall I live how comfortably shall I die How will it make my heart leap for joy to hear that voice of his Matth. 25.21 Well done thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Here you may resolve to meditate all this Month how our Lord and Master himself took upon him the form of a SERVANT and being found in fashion like one of us became obedient unto Death Phil. 2.7 8. even the Death of the Cross That absolute OBEDIENCE of his you should set always before your eyes for a pattern that you may not live as if you were ashamed of his service or thought any thing below you or too mean to submit unto which he requires at your hands Never suffer your reputation your ease your wealth no nor life it self to stand in competition with his commands But presently remember that though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5.8 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him And remember again that The Disciple is not above his Master Luk. 6.40 but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward FOr ever hallowed be thy great Name O Father of mercies the God of love the fountain of all good and blessedness All the heavenly host delight continually to praise thee They never cease to ascribe wisdom power dominion riches honour and glory unto thee who livest for ever O how great is thy goodness who invitest us that dwell in houses of clay to bear them company in their praises and thanksgivings They can add nothing at all unto thy fulness but it is our happiness to spend our days here in loving thee in speaking good of thy Name in doing thee honour and service and to pass the life of the other world in the perfection of admiration love thanksgiving and obedience to thee Psal 126.3 who hast done such great things for us of which we are glad Blessed be the Name of God our Father who hath raised us out of Nothing and hath not appointed us unto wrath 1 Thess 5.9 but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ And of God our Saviour who hath redeemed us from the hands of all our enemies and purchased us with a great price unto himself And of God our Sanctifier strength and assister the God of our Salvation who keeps us every moment from ruine and destruction I thank thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth for that liberal portion which thou hast given me thine unworthy servant in thy grace and favour For the knowledge of thy holy Gospel which hath brought life and immortality to light For all the good instructions I have received
from thy Ministers and the tender care * You may mention these and others if you have had this benefit religious education of my Parents Tutors and Governours For all seasonable reproofs wholsom counsels good admonitions and every truth I have received from my Friends or Enemies For the pious examples and good conversation of any of my Neighbours for all holy opportunities and the leisure I have to attend upon this heavenly employment For thy merciful chastisements and thy wonderful deliverances For all the good Books thou hast brought to my hands and the good advice which I have any way received For all my Benefactors all those that love me and pray for me And above all for thy gracious inspirations from above the holy thoughts thou hast put into my mind and the pious desires and purposes thou hast stirr'd up in my heart with all the furtherances helps and assistances thou hast vouchsafed me in my way to Heaven particularly now at this holy Feast where thou hast made me know and feel how good thou art beyond the compass of all our thoughts What shall I return unto thee for all thy love What shall I give unto my Lord who hath given himself for me I have given thee my whole self and now devoted all the powers of my soul and body to thy service that all my thoughts my words my desires my passions and actions may be disposed according to thy will and not my own And I think my self happy O blessed Jesus in the choice I have made of thee for my Lord and Master I rejoyce in the disposal I have made of my self to thy service and obedience For a world I would not revoke my consent to be absolutely ruled and governed by thee as long as I live Sin shall not reign in my mortal body Rom. 6.12 that I should obey it in the lusts thereof But here I come again to yield my self unto thee my God and to profess thy service to be the most perfect freedom and the noblest employment To beseech thy pardon for all mine unfaithfulness and the constant power of thy Holy Spirit to assist me in the doing thy will here on Earth as it is done in Heaven that all my resolutions may be persevering my endeavours successful and my obedience perfect and compleat in all things Lord Jesus do what thou pleasest in me and what thou pleasest with me Truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and I will make my boast continually in this that I serve the Lord Christ May I but ever love thee and stedfastly cleave unto thee and chearfully obey thee and faithfully live to honour thee I desire nothing else Come prosperity or adversity come sickness or health life or death so that I may but glorifie thee and be made conformable to thee and bear thine image in holiness here and in glory hereafter And let all the Earth stand in awe of thee thou Lord and Ruler of the whole world Let the hearts of all people submit themselves to thy Kingdom and Authority Psal 45.3 4. In thy Majesty ride on prosperously O thou most mighty because of truth and meekness and righteousness till all thine enemies fall under thee and think themselves happy in thy most just and merciful government I commend thine own family to thy gracious and powerful protection and this part of it especially in these Kingdoms That we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church and triumph in thy praise saying Psal 48.14 This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto Death Now unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Rev. 1.5 6 to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen September The Meditation before the Sacrament SHall we not be too bold in going so oft to the Table of the Lord May we not offend him by our forwardness to approach into his presence No sure not if love carry us thither and accompany us there And who can want that who knows and considers how forward he was to do that which we remember When he came to offer himself a Sacrifice for us he saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 8. in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O God And when he eat the last meal with his Disciples he said again Luk. 22.15 with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer Behold what a hearty vehemence there was in his love what an ardor in his desire to be made an offering for us and to be remembred by us With what love should we commemorate his dying love with what desire should our souls approach to his holy Table in remembrance of him who took such content in dying for us and was so desirous to institute this holy feast for a perpetual remembrance of his death With the same joy that children use to welcome a Festival with such an hunger and thirst as a labouring man goes to his supper ought we to go to the Supper of the Lord that we may chear and refresh our souls with the memory of our Master and only Saviour with praises and joyful thanksgivings with the love of God and of our Brethren with the hopes of his Mercy here and eternally Awake awake then thy Faith call up thy love quicken thy desires excite all that is within thee to bless the Lord and speak good of his name Say with a great joy Lo I come according to thy command and delight to do thy will O God With desire I have desired to do this in remembrance of my Lord to declare thy mighty acts and shew forth the greatness of thy love to profess my self thy servant and to glory in the holy name of my Master Jesus to offer up my self unto thee an oblation of love to renew my covenant with thee and with all my Brethren to give thee thanks that I am one of thy family and for all the benefits I received and thou hast still in store for thy faithful servants But who is able to tell how much he hath done already for us Or find out all that he designs unto us Who can praise him according to his excellent kindness and his wonderful works for the children of men The thoughts of Angels are not wide enough to comprehend them And if we had their spirits and could love him and acknowledg him with their inlarged affection it would be too little a present to make unto him O give thanks therefore unto the Lord for he is gracious for his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto him who is so desirous of us such narrow souls such little hearts that can hold so little love unto him Let us go to him and desire that he would
wilt sooner part with it than not perform his holy will in every thing Vow to him again that thou wilt be true and faithful to him Embrace all thy Brethren there assembled with a kind affection because they are his friends and followers Desire that all the world should know him and be acquainted with him and that a perpetual memory of him may be preserved by doing this as long as the Sun and Moon endure And canst thou do it without those passions which the thoughts of a Friend are wont to raise up in thy heart None of them sure will be absent upon this occasion They will all attend thee in this holy action and thou wilt feel the greatest gratitude to thy Saviour who hath done so much to deserve thy love which is so little worth to him Then thou wilt hear him as good as say unto thee Son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee All that I have is thine I will be an everlasting friend to thee and make thee inherit all things It is my Fathers good pleasure to give thee a kingdom and here I give thee the earnest of that purchased possession What reason hast thou to doubt of the injoyment if thou art my friend by doing whatsoever I command thee Do not friends partake in each others goods My power which I have over all things in Heaven and earth shall assist thee My Angels shall be thy guardians My spirit shall be thy guide and director My comforts shall incourage and support thee Because I live Joh. 14.19.10.10 thou shalt live also For I came that my sheep might have life and that they might have it more abundantly The Prayer before O Most holy and eternal God who art good and dost good the whole earth is full of thy goodness Thy mercy reacheth unto the Heavens and thy faithfulness unto the Clouds Thou art great in power wisdom and all other perfections and therefore greatly to be feared honoured and loved by all understanding creatures When I consider how much thou hast done for me or how much I have often promised to do for thee I am on both hands confounded and ashamed in my own thoughts Thou art my Creator my Father my Saviour deliverer and constant Benefactor the God of my life of my health of all my present comforts and future hopes I have promised often to be thy faithful servant and thy dutiful child to honour and glorifie thee both with body and soul and all the good things thou hast bestowed on me In my Baptism I was dedicated unto thee and have many times confirmed that gift and renewed my engagements to continue in thy obedience In my promises protestations and vows I have been very liberal but how sparing in performance thou who art acquainted with all my ways knowest And I my self know so much of my negligence that I may justly wonder thou still retainest me in thy family and lettest me enjoy the priviledg of thy children Adored be thy great long suffering and patience towards me and all mankind Thanks be to the name of the Lord who after our abuse of so many blessings hath added the gift of his dear Son and sent him to pay a ransome for us O the unconceivable greatness of that love which hath so much befriended the most ungrateful enemies I humbly mention the blood of his Cross as a sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction not only for my sins but the sins of the whole world I lift up my hands unto thee in his name to receive that gracious pardon which he hath purchased for me hopeing thorough him that thou wilt still continue thy love unto me who am stedfastly resolved to love thee above all things Far be it from me to think that the love of our Lord should maintain me in any rebellion against thee or countenance my contempt of thy holy Laws No love me so much good Lord as to change my will and renew my nature into thy own likeness that I may be truly a friend of God I wish for no greater happiness than to feel my soul at peace and friendship with thee by an intire and unchangeable love to all righteousness goodness and truth And I am going to remember his dying love that with the heartiest affection I may devote my self wholly to thy love and service I do as unfeignedly desire that all my sins may die as I am glad that Christ died to be a propitiation for them And I as sincerely offer up my self my understanding my will my desires and passions and all that I have unto thee as I really believe that he offered up himself for me O that the power of the holy Ghost may accompany me and unite my thoughts and affections to make a most thankful commemoration of his loving kindness Represent unto my mind most feelingly all that Jesus hath done and endured for our sake Fix my mind and heart upon the inestimable benefits he hath obtained to me That I may not only behold the outward figures of him but receive those pledges of his love with the humblest reverence with such a lively faith and vehement love and ready submission of my will to him that Christ Jesus may be inwardly formed in me I long for the happiness of knowing assuredly that I am a friend of his by my delighting greatly in his Commandments and trusting my self and all my concerns intirely in his hands and contenting my self in his love and good will toward me and rejoycing in the Soveraign Dominion power and glory which thou hast given him with most earnest desires that all the world may love and obey him Amen Our Father which art c. The Meditation afterward WIth what unwillingness are we wont to leave the company of a Friend in whom we delight How doth the remembrance of him stick unto our mind How often do we think of the kind words we heard from his mouth and view the tokens he hath left with us of his love Do we not use to cast our eyes behind us when we go from him and look after him as long as he is in sight Are we not glad to see but his back when we cannot behold his face O sweet Jesus then shouldst thou say to thy self who can be content to part with the thoughts of thee when he sees the love thou bearest to us and all the blessings thou impartest to thy friends and followers What heart can endure to lose the sight of such happiness or suffer thy remembrance to die out of its mind I should look as far as heaven rather than suffer thee to go out of my thoughts and always be casting mine eyes to thy dwelling place that I may behold at this distance though never so little of thy most excellent glory So one would think in reason But this dull flesh begins to complain that it is tired and cannot thus follow thee any further It makes me sigh to think that I must lose
this clear and lively sight which I have of thee And yet as heavy as it is I will not cease to be often looking after my Saviour What though I cannot always see him so as I have now seen him in the sanctuary yet I will never forget him And the darkest apprehensions of his love and favour shall ever be dearer to me than any object in this world Blessed be his goodness which hath given me such pledges of it as engage me to remember him I will he ever mindful to keep the Covenant I have made with him and remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103.18 And as long as I do his will though I cannot always lift up my thoughts and affections as I would unto him I hope I am his friend O sweet words which I have heard from the mouth of my Saviour whosoever shall do the will of God Mark â— 35 the same is my Brother and my Sister and my Mother I have no other will O Lord but thine And I will prove continually what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of thine that we may be eternal friends by the constant union of our wills in one Let my Lord command what he pleases it shall be obeyed Let him do what he thinks good my will shall be done as well as his Psal 16.2 3. O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord but my goodness extendeth not unto him but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight They are his friends and what thou dost to them he accounts it as done unto himself Think thy self happy that thou wilt never want him whilst thou enjoyest them Thou feedest him when thou feedest them Thou goest to see him when thou visitest them in their need and misery Verily I say unto you they are the words of thy Lord in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren Matth. 25.40 ye have done it unto me Resolve therefore all this Month to endeavour to excite BROTHERLY KINDNESS which is the fountain of Charity And look on it as a great part of the riches of the divine grace that he is not only content to love us himself but hath contrived wayes and means that all men else may love us and commands them so to do as they hope to be saved Begin this Brotherly kindness then thy self that so thou mayst be able to say every day O how great is thy mercy O Lord that thou lovest me thy self and wouldst have all the world to love me O how great is thy goodness that thou not only chargest them so to do but ingagest them to love me by thy love Yea to love me so as thou hast loved me and them and so as they love themselves How full how incomprehensible is the love of my God who would have me hated by none but every man to be my friend if I am in need every man to do me good How can I want who have such a Father who hath made all men to be my Brethren How happy would he make me who labours to set all hearts open to me that as many men as I see so many lovers I may behold Thou dwellest O God in love and wouldst have me to do so too by loving and being beloved of all What returns shall I make to the Lord for his love He tells me that it is love Love thy Brethren love them with a pure heart fervently This is the thing which I would have thee do And this will make thee blessed for ever by loving me and all others and by being beloved of me and of all men else that love me The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Lord God Almighty which is which was and is to come Who art the happiness of men and Angels and hast an innumerable company of beautiful Creatures always beholding thy glories satisfied with thy love delighting themselves in thy praises and to eternity can desire no higher pleasure than to be thy Friends and Servants I cast down my self before thee to joyn as well as I am able together with all that Heavenly Host in lauding and magnifying thy great and holy Name and rejoycing in thee with thanksgiving Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Thou hast redeemed mankind by the Bloud of thy Son and raised us out of the dust that we might sit with him in Heavenly places Thou hast sent the Holy Ghost the Comforter in signs and wonders and divers Miracles in gifts of knowledge wisdom and prophecie and in abundance of thy grace to renew and sanctifie the hearts of thy faithful people The Apostles and Ministers of reconciliation were thy gift by whom thou hast brought the glad tidings of Salvation into these parts of the world The Sun of righteousness praised be thy goodness hath inlightened our eyes who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death I have been thy constant care from my first conception and entrance into the world until this moment Innumerable blessings thou hast bestowed on me and still I hear the voice of joy and gladness I behold my guides and instructors and have the liberty to go into thy house and I see my Saviour himself in the remembrances and pledges he hath left me of his dying love I will never cease to adore and extol thy mercy who hast kept me from going down into the pit and saved my Soul from the nethermost Hell Blessed be thy goodness for the constant provision of thy House the comforts of thy Holy Spirit the society of thy children the hopes of Heaven and the tastes thou hast given me of immortal joys in this holy Feast with my Saviour As thou hast begun good Lord out of thine own undeserved love to make me happy so continue thy loving kindness to me till it be finished in perfect friendship with thee Preserve in me though never so weak yet a constant and prevailing sense of thy goodness that I may most willingly obey thee and chearfully do thy will in all things That the very same mind may be in me which was also in Christ Jesus Whose meat it was to do thy will Joh. 4.34 and finish the work of thee that sent him O that God would count me worthy of this calling 2 Thess 3.11 12. and fulfil in me all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power Coloss 4.12 That I may stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God and the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in me and I in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ I have given my self now again unto thee and professed the strictest friendship with thee Lord help me to keep it without spot and unrebukeable until the appearing of the Jesus That both body and Soul being
preserved pure and undefiled as the Temples of the Holy Ghost it may be my constant guide strength and comfort and lead me safely through all the difficulties and dangers of this world the enticements of the flesh and the crafts and subtilties of the Devil to a place of peace and safety in the regions above where I may for ever dwell in thy love and sing thy praise O that all the people did praise thee O God that all the people did praise thee That the whole Earth were filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea and all those that know thee did walk worthy of thee as children of the light and of the day having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Bless thy Church planted in these Islands that we may not receive in vain that grace bringing Salvation 2 Cor. 6.1 Tit. 2.11 12. which hath appeared to us teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world But from the highest to the lowest have grace Heb. 12.28 whereby we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear Comfort all my Friends forgive all my Enemies relieve those that are in any misery draw all sinners to repentance and help all good men to perfect holiness in thy fear that at last with one consent we may all unite our hearts and tongues in thy everlasting praises Now the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God 2 Cor. 13. ult and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all Amen November The Meditation before WIth what wonder and admiration do we entertain those things which are strange and unusual The very news of them carries great numbers to see them and the sight of them fixes their eyes on them as if they could never have enough of them Behold here the wonder of wonders which thou art called to see and seed thine eyes and heart withal God is come to dwell in Flesh This flesh is made a sacrifice for the sins of the world And he invites thee now to a Feast upon that Sacrifice that thou mayest dwell in him and he in thee O marvellous love what eyes ever saw such a sight as the Son of God dying on a Cross The only begotten of the Father bleeding as a malefactor The glorious King of Heaven laying down his life freely for his own subjects Rebels I should have called them and enemies to him Where are all my thoughts Where is my admiration What is become of my love Whither are all my desires gone It will be a new wonder if they do not all assemble themselves together at the commemoration of such love which doth me the grace to make me partaker of that Body and Bloud which was so offered up to God Strange that my thoughts should be so heavy and my affections so cold that my hunger and thirst should be no more excited at the very motion to go to the house of God to make a thankful remembrance of his death We think the Angels lead an happy life in their blessed employment of giving continual Praises to God why do I not go then with a more forward joy into the Courts of the Lord to do this in remembrance of Christ which those Heavenly creatures do not do For he hath not taken hold of the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but of the seed of Abraham for whom he hath prepared also this Sacred food of which they never tasted Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 13 this day have I begotten thee or sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Art thou not desirous of honour and greedy of gainful preferment Art thou not prone to seek great things for thy self What greater honour or dignity can there be than to be so nearly related to the Lord of all to be members of him that is Head of all Principalities and Powers Behold the treasures of grace and glory which he offers thee and by these signs of his Body and Bloud would make over to thee Is not Love the very life and Soul of the World Is it not the â—oy and satisfaction of hearts Behold here the worthiest object of it that ever was See how he would fill and possess thy whole Soul with perfect contentment And lest thou shouldest be so unhappy as not to dwell in love see how he would engage thee by these bonds in which thou â—rt going to tye thy self to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul and strength and thy neighbour as thy self How doth he comply with thy most natural inclinations How doth he study to gratifie thee in thy most noble desires Call up thy best and purest thoughts Strain thy self to the heighth of admiration Endeavour to forget all other things and only to look at present upon Jesus If any thing can make thee love God it must be his love If any thing can make thee hate sin it must be this Sacrifice for it If any thing can make thee willing and obedient â—it must be his obedience to the death Think then when thou comest into his presence that thou seest him hanging on his Cross Think thou seest him spreading out his arms and resigning himself to the will of God That thou beholdest hiâ— gaping wounds and the Bloud trickâ—ling down his Sacred body That thou hearest him cry unto thee Did I not love thee when I bled to death for thee Did I not love thee when I endured this painâ— and sorrow to redeem thee Could I do more than give my self to deliver thee from death and open the Kingdom of Heaven and Eternal life And then what heart iâ— there that need be taught what it should say and what it should do on this occasion Who can refrain himself from giving blessing and praise and glory in the highest to him Who can want thanks to render him for such invaluable benefits Oâ— find in his heart to deny him his serviceâ— Nay who would not rejoyce to think oâ— serving one that hath merited thus of him and intends to reward his duty with that very glory which the Father hath given him Our Lord cannot but expect to see thy mind fraught with Heavenly thoughts and a most high esteem of him thy hearâ— mighty full of love and vows and resolutions ready to be presented to him thy will bowing and submitting it self wholly to his disposal And to all such he saith by his Ministers Come to my Supper for all things are ready Come and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort Rejoyce with me and be exceeding glad for I love you and will love you to the end The Prayer before O Most holy Lord of Heaven and earth the greatest and most desirable good the only rest and satisfaction of our souls Whom to know is the beginning of life whom
his dearest blood in thy service and all this freely without any motive but his own love and to procure us the greatest blessings no less in conclusion than immortal life What heart can think of this and not be over-powered by it And need he entreat thee not to forget the love he hath shewn unto thee to spend a few thoughts every day on such a Friend that hath deserved so much of thee A mean request which should be granted one would think without the asking And wilt thou be at no pains to preserve his memory Shall he slip out of thy mind unless he force himself into thy company It is easie to be warm by a fire side It is almost impossible not to be moved when the person we love is before our eyes But when we are gone from the fire we must exercise our selves not to grow cold again And when a friend is at a distance from us we must look upon the tokens we have received of his kindness or some other way bring him to our remembrance Or rather our great love to him will often present him before our imagination Do but love 〈◊〉 Saviour then in an hearty manner and 〈◊〉 canst thou fail to love him more 〈◊〉 little thing is all that he desires of 〈…〉 thou wouldst love him best and 〈◊〉 do even what thou wilt For you may consider that it is the nature of all love not to let our heart be joyned to any other object which shall in any degree prejudice that which is principally loved What never is esteemed honoured and admiâ—â—ed by us above all others will not permit any thing to be entertained that shall any wayes â—njure it in our thoughts and affections We are naturally averse to any such objects and reject them with disdain as those which are inconsistent with our better desires If thy Redeemer therefore be advanced and seated in thy heart by an unfeigned love to him above all things on earth it will render every thing despicable which wo ld draw thy heart from him or in the least abate thy devotion to him Thou wilt look upon it as a base temptation and an unworthy offer which is not only to be slighted and rejected but hated and loathed Thou wilt say I am dead to sin I cannot live any longer therein I have done with all your adulterate pleasures Jesus is my joy my life and my crown what pleases him pleases me His love is a Law within my heart and therefore I delight to do thy will O God And the more to fortifie thy self thou mayest often meditate all this month upon the COURAGE and CONSTANCY the Fortitude and Magnanimity of Jesus in asserting the truth of God For this is particularly remembered by S. Paul as a part of his character that he witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good confession 1 Tim. 6.13 By which we should excite our selves out of love to him Ib. v. 11.12 to follow after righteousness godliness faith charity patience and meekness whatsoever it cost us Let the dangers be what they will we should still fight the good fight of Faith to lay hold on eternal life For herein is our love made perfect that we have boldness in the day of judgment 1 Joh. 4.17 18. because as he is so are we in this world There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward I Humbly offer unto thee O Lord together with the whole company of Heaven the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which is eternally due to thy most bounteous goodness The whole world was made by thee out of nothing The Heavens the Earth the Seas and all that are therein confess themselves the work of thy infinite wisdom and power Out of the dust thou hast framed our comely Bodies and inspired into them immortal Spirits on which thou hast ingraven thy own image Thou didst put thine own Majesty upon us that all thy creatures here should be obedient to us and we be obedient only to thee the great Lord and Governour of all O how great was the honour which thou conferredst upon us And how much more wonderful the grace thou hast given us in Christ Jesus after our disloyalty and shameful disobedience to thee Thou hast sent him to redeem us from Hell and Death by his precious Bloud And given thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie our hearts and aâ—◠〈◊〉 our duty thy Gospel to be ou◠〈◊〉 thy self to be our Example thy â—â—â—â—sters to be our remembrancers â—â—y Sacraments to be the Signs and Seal of thy blessing I have now tasted oâ— thy great and abundant love Thou hast feasted me at thy Table and satisfied me with thy good will toward me and filled me with joy and gladness in thy favour more than if all thâ— riches on Earth had been encreased What shall I render unto thee and dâ— for thee who hast done all this for me who am less than the least of all thâ— mercies My heart burns within mâ— â—ll I have offered up my self again unto thee and resolved to spend my â—ays in praising loving and serving â—hee to the best of my power O that this holy sense of thee may never quite â—anish out of my mind But I may be â—lways inclined to think of thee to declare thy loving kindness to approve my self to thee by studying and doing thy will with chearfulness of heart I have now knit my self to thee by new â—onds and engagements which I desire may be never loosed O that my â—ows and promises may stand as fast as â—hine everlasting Covenant That nothing may make me break my Faith which I have now and in my Baptism given to thee but I may always as I stand bound most heartily continue to believe in thee to fear thee * The words of the Church Catechism which excellently expresses the duty we owe to God and our Neighbour to love thee with all my heart with all my Soul and with all my strength to worship thee and give thee thanks to put my whole trust in thee to call upon thee and to honour thy holy Name and Word and to serve thee truly all the days 〈◊〉 my life And assist me by thy Heavenly grace to do my duty also faithfullâ—g towards my Neighbour to love him 〈◊〉 my self and to do to all men as I would theâ— should do unto me To love honour and succour my Father and Mother to honour anâ— obey the King and all that are put in Authoriâ— under him To submit my self to all my Gâ—vernours Teachers Spiritual Pastors anâ— Masters To order my self lowly and revâ—rently to all my betters To hurt no body 〈◊〉 word or deed To be true and just in all 〈◊〉 dealing To bear no malice nor hatred in 〈◊〉 heart To keep my hands from picking anâ— stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering To
observe them with my whole heart and rejoyce in thy pretious promises accounting them better than thousands of gold and silver My hope my satisfaction my comfort is in thy word which incourages me to wait on thee for the grace of thy holy Spirit blessing thee for that portion of it which I have already received I thank thee for all thy other goodness to me and trust thee for the continuance of it as far as thou seest profitable in thy wise providence to which I heartily refer my self I hope thou wilt accept of these poor but sincere acknowledgments and not condemn me out of my own confessions but pardon my errors and miscarriages confirm my holy purposes pitty my infirmities and strengthen my pious endeavours That I may perfectly mortifie all sinful lusts and desires faithfully discharge my dutie in my several relations thankfully and soberly use all thy mercies patiently bear the heaviest afflictions and improve my soul in wisdom and goodness by all the helps thou affordest me by thy holy Gospel by the good counsels of others the inspirations of the holy Ghost thy many remarkable providences about me and whatsoever courses thou takest with me to bring me safe through this world into an happy eternity And now that I am about to address my self to the Table of the Lord O that I might have such a sweet remembrance of his love as may revive my spirit encourage my hope excite me to all my duty and put an humble confidence in me to look up unto thee again for thy pardon and for the grace of thy holy Spirit to enable me to please thee better ever hereafter Thou who knowest all things seest that my soul waits for thee O God and longs to be more like thee and is ready to offer up its understanding will and all its affections unto thee That I may remain stedfast and unmoveable in justice and charity meekness and humility temperance and purity contentedness and patience devotion and piety with all other fruits of thy good Spirit Suffer nothing to appear in my soul before thee but reverend thoughts of thee most zealous love to thee passionate desires that Christ Jesus may live in me and appear in all the actions of an innocent harmless and useful life That so the day when I approach unto thee may be a day of good tidings of great joy a day of peace and reconciliation of feasting and refreshment of comfort and incouragement to walk before thee with a perfect heart as long as I live Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Phil. 4.8 9 19. whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise help me alwayes to think on these things And the God of peace be with me and supply all my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus In whose name and words I still recommend my self to thy grace saying Our Father which art c. The Meditation afterward THou art my portion O Lord Psal 119.57 I have said that I would keep thy word Why should I repent me of my choice or start from my resolution Thy Counsels and commands are the surest guide thy power the strongest defence thy good providence the fullest store-house thy eternal justice and holiness the best security thy promises the richest treasure and good hopes in thee our highest happiness It is enough enough O Lord to be beloved of thee the all-sufficient good who comprehendest all things in thy mind and canst do all things by thy power and delightest in raising such monuments of thy wisdom and greatness as thy almighty love may dispense endless blessings unto I am well satisfied now that I can say Psa 142.5 thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living The Lord is my portion whom shall I envy The Lord is my portion for what shall I be discontented The Lord is my portion of whom shall I be afraid Why art thou cast down Ps 42.11 O my soul why art thou disquieted within me How can his friends fail to partake of his bounty who treats even his enemies with so much kindness 62.5 My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him Trust in the Lord and do good 37.3 4 34. and verily thou shalt be fed Delight thy self also in the Lord and â— he shall give thee the desires of thy heart Cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee 55.22 he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved Wait on the Lord and keep his way For the eyes of the Lord are upon them that love him Ecclâ—â— 34.16 17. He is their mighty protection and strong stay A defence from the heat and a cover from the Sun at noon a preservation from stumbling and a help from falling He raiseth up the soul and lightneth the eyes He giveth life and health and blessing Judeth ult 16. All sacrifice is too little for a sweet savour to him and all the fat is not sufficient for his burnt-offering but he that feareth the Lord is great at all times Ecclus. 34.13 The spirit of those that fear the Lord shall live for their hope is in him that saveth them My heart shall rejoyce in him because I have trusted in his holy name Let thy mercy O Lord Psal 33.21 22. be upon me according as I hope in thee And I hope that I shall never forget thy word which I have said that I would keep the revelation of thy wisdom the declaration of thy will and the description of thy most holy and happy life My God I have taken thy precepts as my heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Psal 119.111 112. I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end This day I have added one vow more of consecration to thee I have made over my self intirely to thee to be thy portion Whom shall I love whom shall I serve to whom shall I resign my will and wayes but only to thee the Father of lights and the Father of mercies who hast not thought thy Son too much to give to me Never will I forget this happy day which hath brought me a taste of the joy and peace and serenity which spring from the very beginning of a God-like nature I will alway be devoted to him Let his will be done on earth as it is in heaven for it is the will of my heavenly Father Let these words remain upon record against me if I endeavour not to make him my pattern and not only in that place where I have now been but in all my behaviour in this world that great Temple of his demean my self holily and purely with that humility reverence meekness and submission which becomes his presence What have I here to
do but to shew forth the glorious perfections of righteousness mercy and truth which I behold in him and to declare the esteem I have of him and my satisfaction in my portion by modesty contentedness thankfulness faith patience hope joyful resignation of all my concernments with an equal mind to his wise disposal This is my will this is my resolution And I will declare from year to year that this I take to be my happiness And here it may be very fit to resolve often all this Month to reflect upon our Saviours CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD when he had chosen to come and do the will of God Riches honour glory and pleasure were nothing in his account in compare with the satisfaction of doing the pleasure of God though it were by sufferings He did not regard the esteem of men nor what they said of him Though he dyed an ignominious and disgraceful death as well as lived a poor and despicable life he was not ashamed nor dejected but rather gloried in both Because his business was not to please himself but as it is written Rom. 15.3 the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me Let the same mind be in us that was in him Ib. v. 2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to his edification But overlook the censures and vain opinion of this world with all the honours and preferments of it so we may but approve our selves to God and his will be fulfilled by us For it is a faithful saying 2 Tim. 2.11 12. if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Most high and holy Lord of Heaven and Earth the Author of every good and perfect gift Who art for ever to be humbly acknowledged worshipped loved and obeyed by me and by all that know thee I have often made thee my acknowledgments for my being and all the comforts of it for the hopes I have both in this life and hereafter And now I come to renew them that I may be more firmly united to thee in hearty love and entire affection I cast down my self before thee being even oppressed with the great load of thy mercies and benefits which will not suffer me to dispose of my heart other-ways than to thy obedience As I owe my very being to thee so all those good things which have made it not to be a burden and uneasie to me I have enjoyed a long measure of health and cannot tell that ever I wanted my daily bread yea plentiful provision both for my necessity and my pleasure The days of pain and sorrow which I have endured have been but few in compare with the many years of ease and joy which thou hast vouchsafed me I find now all my senses entire and perfect and I have a great many Friends and kind Neighbours and also a great deal of time to think of all this and to prepare my self for thy eternal favour How much am I indebted to thee for the continued use of my understanding reason and memory that I can take notice of all thy goodness whereby my heart may be excited to love thee which is the greatest happiness and pleasure of all * You may acknowledge what you may owe him also for good education civil breeding and that he hath perhaps enclined your heart early to be Religious whereby your Conscience hath been kept from many wounds and both Soul and Body from much dishonour c. This this O Lord is the greatest of thy mercies that thou hast given me the knowledge of thy love in Jesus Christ which cannot but constrain me to the greatest love of thee And that thy holy Spirit hath shone so often into my mind and breathed so often on my will and affections that thou hast pardoned so many faults and waited so long for my amendment and so earnestly importuned my return and afforded me so many helps and such a long time to perfect my repentance Thou hast added also now new pledges of thy love and earnest of that immortal life wherein I may compleat my praises and thanksgivings to thee in the company of the blessed O how precious are thy thoughts towards me how great is the summe of them If I would go about to number them they are moe than the sand I cannot count the least part of them nor ever see any end of thy goodness for even whilst I am thinking of it I receive new favours from thee Every moment is big with abundance of thy mercies both to my Soul and my Body for this life and that which is to come But I know enough to make me admire and love thy goodness and to make me ashamed of my forgetfulness and ingratitude enough to oblige me eternally to thee enough to make me fully contented and to rejoyce in thee as my portion Behold O Lord I here again sincerely devote my self to observe thy commands and keep thy holy word I have chosen it as the rule and the comfort of my life and I will ever cleave unto thy testimonies with my whole heart I would not abuse thy mercies nor grow careless wanton and secure under the abundance of thy goodness but look upon them as engagements and mighty arguments to love acknowledge and obey thee for ever Blessed be thy goodness that I have such thoughts and am so inclined Accept of my good desires purposes and vows which I have made and accompany me alway by thy gracious assistance that I may accomplish what I have begun and perfect holiness in thy fear To thee I recommend all mankind especially thy Church and chosen People all the Rulers and Governours of them that they may remember thou art higher than the highest the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who wilt judge all men without respect of persons Give pure zeal and knowledge to thy Ministers the grace of contentedness to the poor of the flock and of an open heart to the rich wisdom and discretion to those that are in their younger years and an holy hope to comfort the aged And endue them all with an humble meekness that laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil-speakings 1 Pet. 2.1 2 5. as new born Babes they may desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby and offer up continually spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to thee by Christ Jesus Amen On the Feast of the Nativity OR Christmas-Day The Meditation before WHat amazing News is this What an astonishing piece of love That the King of Kings who needed nothing and is able by his Omnipotent word to command more Creatures into being if he wanted any subjects than we can think of while we live should send a kind Embassage of peace to us vile worms sinful dust and ashes To us who were unworthy of a gracious look from him
should we have besought his favour to us that had highly affronted his Sovereign Authority and Sacred Laws he hath dispatched a glorious Message as if we were the greatest persons and so many little Gods And had it not been too great an honour for us to think of if he had sent one of his meanest servants in the Heavenly Court to visit us Or if he had bidden an illustrious Seraphim to come and comfort and chear us by his bright appearance or one of the Cherubims to flye all over the Earth and make proclamation in their ears that the King of Heaven would be reconciled to his rebellious subjects Would it not have filled the whole world with wonder and made all mankind stand at a gaze to see themselves so highly favoured O what a grace then was it that God should send his Son his only begotten Son the Prince and Sovereign Lord of all that Heavenly host upon this business of reconciliation See my Soul that which astonishes not men only but Angels themselves who proclamed the birth of this Prince of life with the loudest shouts of joy saying Glory be to God on high Luke 2.14 and on Earth peace good will towards men Towards men do they say Lord what are they that thou shouldest put this honour on them What are the greatest and noblest men on Earth What is their excellency and worth that such addresses should be made unto them O joyn thy self my Soul as well as thou art able with those bright morning-Stars that sang for joy when the foundation of the new world was laid and say Glory be to the eternal majesty of Heaven and Earth who possesses all things and can suffer nothing that he would deign to send to us his poor subjects Glory be to his Almighty love who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish Joh. 3.17 but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved O blessed Jesus how ardent how powerful was that love which brought thee down from the Heavenly company above to us here on Earth yea Ephes 4.9 Psal 139 15. to the lower-most parts of the Earth To be cloathed with our rags to dwell in our mortal flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh Mightest thou not at least have been apparelled like the best of men and been found in the habit and fashion of the noblest of us but thou wouldest also condescend to the form of a servant that the most despicable of all mankind might never suspect they should be despised by the King of glory O what an humble love was this to us most wretched sinners What heart can conceive the infinite force of it How infinitely is it above all words We do but declare that we know little of it if we are able to talk much about it It is fit for our wonder and silent admiration for adoring thoughts and devout exstasies of love Only I will go and declare in the assemblies of his people these wonderful works of the Lord and publish his goodness with the voice of thanksgiving and praise Lord what new wonder is that which there I behold This glorious person murdered by his subjects The new born Prince of the world the Heir of all things caught Matth. 21.39 and cast out and slain by those to whom he was sent to demand their obedience O the miraculous wisdom of this love That he should be born and come among us to die for us and take our flesh that he might offer it on the Cross and make peace and reconciliation by being slain and shedding his bloud Go my Soul and shew forth his death to Angels and Men. For this is the up-shot of his love that while we were yet sinners Christ would die for us By this he hath made an atonement for us by this he hath obtained an Eternal Redemption with this offering God is well satisfied and by this he hath exalted our Nature to the right hand of God that he may always appear in his presence for us With what love and joy and zeal should we commemorate this never to be forgotten love With what hearty affection should we offer our selves to him How glad should we be of this new opportunity to vow to him our obedience With what tender love should we embrace all our Brethren who are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone as he is And how comfortably may we hope that God will be gracious to us who hath not only sent his Son to make his abode among us but also to lay down his life for us Let us go and bless his name that to us a Son is born to us a Child is given even Christ the Lord that he hath â—aised up a mighty Salvation for us and hath redeemed us out of the hands of all our enemies that we might serve him without fear all the days of our life And let us receive these earnests and pledges of his good will as hopeful assurances that he will never end his love till he hath conveyed us thither where Jesus is But how shall we come there unless it be in those steps whereby he ascended from Earth to Heaven Go therefore and offer to him an heart of flesh to be moulded and framed into what figure he pleases Desire him to form his own image in thee to subdue thee perfectly to his will that it may be thy meat and drink to do it and to finish the work he hath for thee in the world Think thou hearest him say as Abimelech to the men of Schechem to move them to elect him for their King Remember that I am your bone and your flesh Judg. 9.2 Behold my body which I took for your sake See here how dear you were to me and how nearly related I stand to every Soul of you Will you not suffer me to rule over you Such a Lord as is so much concerned for you Will you not be governed by me that am your Brother as well as your Lord And then me-thinks we should all answer with one accord other Lords have reigned over us but now none but thou O Christ none but thou O Christ Rule and reign over us for ever for we are thy Servants The Prayer before O Eternal God the Soveraign Lord of all creatures both in heaven and earth who art before all things and on whom they all depend To whom we owe all honour and homage all love and dutiful affection all praise and thanks service and obedience throughout our whole life I acknowledg O Lord that I am never more unjust than when I do not render all this most freely and chearfully unto thee I cannot deny the debt wherein I stand engaged though I have too often denyed to pay it For thou hast raised me out of the dust and preserved me from
resurrection These are the beauties of Jesus which I admire This is the Image of him which I have vowed to carry always in my heart This is the glory of humane nature the honour and dignity to which I would be preferred I desire to be great in nothing but his humility to be rich only in contentedness patience and good works to be glorified in meekness and sweet condiscention to have the pleasure only of pleasing God and my Brethren to their edification to rejoyce that Gods will is done though mine be crossed And it is no small joy to see the beginnings of this beauteous image drawn upon my heart He that did not despise the Virgins womb will not despise the humble oblation I have made of my self to him nor that little likeness he sees in me of himself Dost thou not see my soul what great things come from mean beginnings How a poor Babe that lay in a manger came to be the King of glory Hope in God then that thou shalt grow to a greater stature and more exactly resemble thy dearest Saviour He hath given thee assurance that he will not over-look thee now that he sits on the Throne of his glory It is a Throne of grace too unto which thou mayst address thy self and find grace to help in time of need Do but let him see how much thou honourest him how pretious his memory is unto thee how thou art in love with his purity and he that was manifested in our flesh will manifest himself in thee He will adorn thee with all his graces and make thee shine as a light in the world in humble charity in meekness of wisdom in chearful patience and devout obedience Blessed be God for this hope I have no cause to envy the greatest persons No not her that carried him in her womb and then in her arms if there had been nothing more For though we are apt to say as the woman among the multitude did Blessed is the womb that bare thee Luke 11.27 28. and the paps that thou hast sucked yet Jesus saith yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it They that hear or believe his word conceive him in their heart and they that do it bring him forth in their life Blessed be Jesus for the least share I have in this blessedness I will spend this holy day in praising him for the hope I have to partake of more of it What can there be more delightful to those who know what it is to believe in him and obey him And in what shall we spend the rest of this time wherein we commemorate his coming into the world Shall we be so uncivil to our Lord as to go more willingly to feast with our neighbours than to feast again with him Shall we go to their houses with more chear than unto his I will never so dishonour him God forbid that I should feast my body more than my Soul I will rather imitate the ancient Christians who could find in their heart to meet every day before the morning light to sing Hymns to our Saviour I will at least be able to say with David O that all others may bear me company in it I have gone with the multitude Psal 42.4 I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept Holy-day The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth the Father of mercies by whom all things were made out of nothing whose Almighty hand supports them from falling back into nothing again and whose good providence keeps them from being miserable Thy Wisdom is past finding out thy Power is irresistable thy Love and Goodness is unmeasurable and thy tender mercies over all thy Works O how great are thy tender mercies to us O Lord How large a portion hast thou given us in thy love Thou hast not dealt so with any Creature as thou hast done with Man on whom thou didst instamp thine own image and cloathed him with immortality and made him Lord over the works of thy hands And so great is thy goodness that when he had lost himself by departing from his obedience to thee thou wouldest not so lose thy sinful Creature but chose rather to do wonders that he might not perish Thou hast sent thy Son to seek after him and restore him to thy self Thou hast not abhorred our Nature but loved us so much as to manifest thy self in our flesh and honour us with the glorious title of thy Sons the Brethren of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus I have remembred with all thankfulness this day his humble and loving descent from Heaven that he might be born and dwell among us to comfort us in this sinful and troublesome world with his Divine presence to assure us of thy good will to us and invite us friendly to return to thee to instruct and encourage us in our duty to put us in hope of endless felicity and at last to die and give himself a ransom for us that he might be touched with a sense of our infirmities being in all points tempted like as we are without sin I again adore O Lord thy most glorious Majesty I reverence thy Power and greatness I wonder at thy wisdom and am astonished at thy goodness I have neither words nor thoughts befitting the inestimable benefits thou hast bestowed on us O that the Holy Spirit which was in our Saviour would inspire my heart with devout affections towards thee O God of all grace that I may love thee more than I can express more than now my heart can think and I may joyn chearfully with all the Heavenly Host above that are still giving honour blessing glory power and dominion to thee for ever and ever For unto us a Child is born Isa 9.6 7. unto us a Son is given the mighty God the Prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily And we are members of his body Coloss 2.9 10. of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 In him we are compleat which is the head of all Principality and Power and hath redeemed us by his bloud Rev. 5.9 and made us Kings and Priests unto God to offer unto him Spiritual Sacrifices 1 Pet. 2.5 and we shall reign with him for ever Amen I confess O Lord that I am less than the least of all thy mercies And though I have been ungrateful even for the greatest yet thou continuest the course of thy goodness and hast now newly admitted me to the Communion of Christs precious Body and Bloud Thou pitiest also my weak and childish thoughts my heavy and dull affections and all the wandrings of my foolish imagination and dost not estrange thy self from me though I am so little moved by thy miraculous love O thou who
off Who compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my wayes ever since I was born There is not a word in my tongue Psa 19.12 but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether Such knowledg is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it Who can understand the errors of his whole life And with what trembling ought I to approach thee though I knew nothing by my self But alas my own heart condemns me and thou art greater than my heart and knowest all things I am ashamed to think that I lived so many years before I seriously thought of all my duty to thee And that since I have known thy will and devoted my self to thy service I have made such small improvement in wisdom and virtue Many years are passed and innumerable blessings in them have been received but alas the God in whose hand my breath is Dan. 5.23 and whose are all my wayes how little have I glorified I have reason to blush that now I have brought an heart before thee with so little sense of that love which I have so often remembered and praised and acknowledged with the largest expressions of devotion to thee But it is some comfort O Lord that thy all-searching eye which pierces to the bottom of my soul sees a sincere desire there to become better and a stedfast resolution to endeavour to grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ It is in my heart to renew my covenant with thee to ingage my fidelity once more to thee trusting that I have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly Heb. 13.18 I hope thou wilt graciously accept and encourage whatsoever thou beholdest of thy self in me and when I go to offer my self again most solemnly to thee at thy Altar make me feel thy divine presence with me enlightning my mind with a clear sense of thee raising in me worthy thoughts and affections towards my dear Saviour ingaging my will more firmly to thine confirming all my pious resolutions exciting my Faith love hope and joy that this holy Communion may be to the continuance of a holy life in greater care diligence zeal and fervency in all well doing Assist me I beseech thee in every part of this duty that I may remember the sufferings of the Lord Jesus so as to be crucified with him and his great love so as to love him with all my soul and my neighbour as my self and the new covenant he hath made in his blood so as to have his laws written on my heart and all the the pretious promises he hath thereby sealed to us so as to place my entire contentment and satisfaction in them till I come to possess that perfect happiness which I wait for through thy mercies in Christ Jesus Amen Our Father c. A short Meditation after WHat hast thou now received from our Lord Are they not the most sacred pledges of his love And what doth the Lord require of thee but only love But how great a thing is love Love brought him down hither to us and love will carry us up to God Love made him like to man and love is able to make thee like to God O the power of heavenly love How shall we get it planted in our heart How But by love The frequent meditation of this admirable love of God in his Son Jesus will not suffer us not to love him with all our heart and soul and strength Let us resolve then that the remembrance of his love shall lie perpetually in our heart As we have begun the year with the thoughts of his love so let us continue it What more welcome thought can there be to thee every morning when thou awakest than this I am the beloved of the King of Glory With what canst thou open thy soul more chearfully What will brighten it and chase away the darkness of melancholly sorrow sadness cares and fears like to this If thou hast not lost an hour and wasted this pretious time which thou hast spent at the Table of the Lord thou canst not but feel the mighty force of his infinite love Let us try my soul what it will be able to do in a whole years thoughts upon it Let the morning light bring Jesus ever along with it to thy mind and enkindle in thee a new devotion to him And let us take all occasions to celebrate his memory that so our holy resolutions may be more quickned and strengthned and when the flame begins to burn dimm we may blow it up again and add more fewel to it If a friend had left thee a token of his love whereby to keep him in mind wouldst thou throw it into some blind corner and never look upon it But suppose he was a dying friend nay a friend that dyed for thee to save thee from death could he ever go out of thy mind or wouldst thou let the thing he left to remember him by be long out of thine eye Let us not deal more unkindly with our Saviour Did he think when he went to heaven that those whom he hath so obliged would remember his love so seldom and so coldly That they need be so much entreated to come and have communion with him Is it not a grief to him now if he be capable of any to see that he hath so few lovers And that they who profess love to him testifie it so rarely and in so poor a manner Let us vow my soul again that we will henceforth shew our selves his hearty friends by keeping his holy Commands and never forget that this is one Do this in remembrance of me I will remember thee O Lord and in this manner lift up my hands in thy name till I have finished my dayes and come to see thee as thou art in all thy Majesty and Glory And this Thanksgiving and Prayer may be added afterward O Lord I thine unworthy servant whom thou art pleased to call thy child most devoutly humble my self before thee in new adorations of that love which I can never fully understand The highest of our praises is most heartily to acknowledge that thou art exalted above all blessing and praise And our most grateful acknowledgments to be very sensible of the weakness of our love when it is advanced to its greatest and strongest pitch Thy love is like to thy self and we cannot search it out to perfection It is higher than the Heavens Job 11. what can we do It is broader than the Sea what can we know I have enjoyed many years of mercies and thou hast been loading me with a multitude of inestimable benefits both for Soul and Body ever since I came into this world Every day brings me fresh tokens of thy goodness and this day the dearest of all the tokens of thine everlasting love Psal 139. O how precious are thy thoughts towards us how great is the summe
hands the Earth stands fast by thy appointment and every thing keeps the course wherein thou hast set it with admirable constancy Thou governest all things without any trouble because at once thou knowest and canst do what thou pleasest and thou dost all things with the greatest reason justice mercy and pleasure to thy self Man was raised by thee out of the dust of Earth and thou didst inspire him with a wise and understanding Spirit and placedst him in a Paradise surrounded with thy blessings and Lord over the work of thy hands And when he had degraded himself and forfeited by his disobedience his garden of pleasure thou didst not leave him without a remedy but openedst the way for him into the Paradise above Thou didst send thy holy Prophets and messengers in all ages to thy people and in the fulness of time thine own dear Son the brightness of thy glory whom thou hast made Heir of all things and to whom thou hast graciously committed the care of us Blessed be thy unspeakable goodness who hast made him in all things like unto us sin only excepted so that we know and are sure that he will take care of us and pity us and relieve us I adore thy unparalell'd love in giving him to die that he might make expiation for our sins and that he hath overcome death by his rising again and is set down at thy right hand because he was obedient to the death From thence we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost thanks be to thy Grace to confirm us in the belief of his Resurrection and of all his promises by signs and wonders and mighty deeds and to give us power to perform our duty towards thee and towards all men Thou hast spread this Gospel of Salvation into the furthermost parts of the Earth and the light of it hath long shone upon this Kingdom where I live I was born into this light as well as into the light of the Sun and had early assurances given me of thy love In my very infancy I was devoted to thee and all the engagements I was capable of laid upon me to be happy by being a faithful Disciple of Christ Jesus Thou hast not failed since to breath on me by thy Holy Spirit and to move me to my duty that I might be able to make the answer of a good Conscience towards thee 1 Pet. 3 21. and so be saved by his his Resurrection from the dead Many happy opportunities hast thou put into my hands to improve my self in Christian wisdom and vertue and engaged me to thee in many solemn vows only to seek the glory honour and immortality which Christ hath brought to light by patient continuance in well-doing I have now received the pledges of it and commemorated his love in dying for us and thy love in raising him to life again that he might perfect our Salvation and assure us he hath obtained an eternal redemption and comfort us against the fears of death and take care of us for ever and receive the power and glory thou promisedst him that he may be able to bless us and do us all good O how hath thy love abounded in Christ Jesus Besides a world of outward blessings which thy bounteous hand hath poured on me and still continues merely out of thy goodness and liberality How can I praise thee for all thy mercies to all mankind who cannot comprehend all those which thou hast bestowed on my self alone None can understand how much we are beholden to thee but those that know what thy Son Jesus was and what the blessing of the Holy Ghost and what the Resurrection of the dead and the unsearchable riches of thy Kingdom and Glory are Accept blessed Lord of such acknowledgments as I am able to make thee Accept of my whole self which I yield up unto thee with love unfeigned Thou whose infinite understanding pierceth into the greatest depths and secrets knowest that I love thee Do even what thou pleasest with me for it is but just and reasonable that I should not live unto my self henceforth but unto him that died for me and rose again I am twice thy Creature Thou hast given me life a second time by Christ Jesus through whom thou hast created me to good works in hope of a blessed Resurrection from the dead Inspire me good Lord with such a strong and lasting sense of thy love that I may alway live in sincere obedience to him and never forfeit the new title thou hast given me to life immortal But believing the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead I may most heartily acknowledg him to be the Lord and stedfastly believe his Doctrine obeying his commands hoping in his promises and fearing his threatnings and endeavouring thereby to prepare my self in all purity and holiness of life for the joys of the World to come And * The words of the Church Catechism explaining the Lords Prayer I desire my Lord God our Heavenly Father who is the giver of all goodness to send his grace unto me and to all people that we may worship him serve him and obey him as we ought to do And that he will send us all things that be needful both for our Souls and Bodies and be merciful to us and forgive us our sins and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness and from our ghostly enemy and from everlasting death Which I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Now the God of peace Heb 13.20 21. that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen This short acknowledgment may be used sometime that Week Acts 4.24 25. LOrd thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession Thy word is true from the beginning Psal 119.160.89.90 For ever O Lord thy word is setled in Heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations For thou hast sent thy holy Child Jesus Rom. 1.4 and declared him to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead Though he was Crucified through weakness 2 Cor. 13.4 yet he liveth by the power of God Thou wouldest not let thy holy one see corruption Acts 2.27 28. But hast made known to him the ways of life and made him full of joy with thy
countenance Thou hast given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Adored be thine Eternal love which appeared in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that followed after Adored be thy love 1 Pet. 1.3.11 2 Tim. 1.10 1 Cor. 15.20 Joh. 11.25 which hath given us a lively hope through the Resurrection of Christ Jesus who hath brought life and immortality to light being the First-fruits of them that slept and the Resurrection and the Life I rejoyce in the consolation which thou has sent unto us and that we in this furthermost part of the Earth are become his inheritance I praise thee I bless thee I most heartily devote my self to the obedience of Jesus as is but just and meet For to this end Christ hath died Rom. 14.8 9. and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living I reverence his Soveraign authority I submit my self to his Laws and depend upon his care and good providence I refer my self to his wise will and pleasure in all things desiring nothing more but that whether I live or die I may be the Lords O that thy Spirit which raised up Jesus may dwell in me guide and govern me Rom. 8.11 that thou who raisedst up Christ from the dead mayest also quicken my mortal body by thy Spirit dwelling in me O that the rest of the World may become his possession too and all with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee the God and Father of Jesus Christ Who is the faithful witness and the first-begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1.5 6 to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Ascension-day or Sunday The Meditation before AH how duskish are my thoughts in house of Clay How dull my affections under this load of flesh My Saviour is in Heaven crowned at Gods right hand with glory and honour Heb. 2.9 Ephes 4.10 1 Pet. 3.22 He is ascended up far above all Heavens Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject to him And I can scarce cast a look thither but am instantly pulled down to this Earth again Blessed be his goodness who hath left us a lively Image of himself to help our infirmities To represent his dying and departure from this World and to be a pledge likewise unto us that we shall one day ascend up to Heaven and be for ever with the Lord. O blessed news 1 Thess 4. ult the hope of it fills me with joy already and raises me up a little toward that high and holy place where Jesus dwells I will go and bless the Father of mercies for his great charity towards us that he would accept of an offering for sin and that he would be satisfied without demanding of us the debt That he would grant new and easie conditions of Salvation for us through the Bloud of his Son and seal a gracious Covenant in that same precious Bloud I will go and testifie my love to him even by my joy that he is gone unto the Father Joh. 14.28 and hath triumphed over his enemies Coloss 2.15 after he had overcome them and spoiled Principalities and Powers Ephes 4.8 He hath led captivity captive Acts 2.33 and received the promise of the Holy Ghost and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb. 12.2 and made the Lord of all All the Angels of God worship him Acts 10.36 and in the Heavenly Sanctuary attend upon him where he is an High-Priest for ever Heb. 1.6.8.2 holy undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the Heavens 〈◊〉 6.10.13 There he makes intercession for us from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foot-stool And we have boldness also by the Bloud of Jesus 10.19 6.20 Joh. 14.2 3. to enter into the holiest whither he the fore-runner is for us entred and gone to prepare a place for us and will come again to receive us unto himself that where he is there we may be also Psal 24.3 ◠5. But who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord And who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his Soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his Salvation I will go then and offer him my heart that it may be formed to his likeness Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth I will go and submit my self to him as the Lord of all and renew my Covenant of love and friendship with him I will vow again that I will fight valiantly under his banner who is the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 made perfect through sufferings against sin the world and the Devil I will be faithful to him unto the death and no suffering shall deter me from following the Prince of life For I doubt not but the Sacrifice he made was most acceptable to God and that he by himself having purged our sins Heb. 1.3 H b. 2.13 sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and will help and succour all his faithful followers 1.14.2.10 and send forth his Angels to minister unto them and bring them to glory Rev. 2.10 and reward them with a crown of life O lift up thy self my Soul when thou comest to the Table of the Lord. Now if ever listen to the Priest of God when he calls saying Lift up your hearts Now is the season above all others to answer with the whole Quire of pious Souls in that joyful voice We lift them up unto the Lord. Rear thy self aloft my Soul and look beyond these shadows Fix thine eyes on the splendor of that Majesty wherewith thy Saviour shines and think thou hearest him calling unto the whole company of believers saying Come come my beloved for whom I died Come and dwell with me It is still my will and desire that you may be where I am and that you may behold the glory Joh. 17.24 which my Father hath given me Come on therefore Whither I am gone you know 14.4 and the way you know Tread upon all the glittering temptations of the Countrey where you are as dirt and dung in compare with the Kingdom which I will give you Make haste unto me and let nothing hinder you for I expect you and long when you are meet for it to see you The travel of my Soul will not be satisfied till you be with me O my Soul why do we linger Why do we look after any thing so much as his Eternal life Why should we be discouraged or faint in our minds This Lord of glory came to his Throne out of as low a condition as we can possibly be in He was once a servant the
meanest of servants He humbled himself to be subject to the basest usage and to suffer the greatest despite and publick reproach Let us be assured then that he will not despise the poorest wretch now that he is in his glorious state And let us not think it strange if we be despised and reproached for righteousness sake But rejoyce in as much as we are partakers of the sufferings of Christ 1 Pet. 4.13 that when his glory shall be revealed we may be glad also with exceeding joy The Prayer before O Most blessed God who dwellest in the highest heavens and art adored by the highest creatures who blush before the brightness of thy majesty but dost not despise us poor worms that dwell upon the earth Who art happy in thy self and yet makest sute to us that we would love thee who commandest us to do good to our selves and entreatest that duty from us which thou mayst command who takest it kindly when we give thee thine own and rewardest us for that which by thy grace only we can perform and pardonest us also when we fall short in our performance and givest us repentance that thou mayest pardon us and receive us into favour and hast sent no less person than thine own Son to obtain a pardon for us and exalted him at thy own right hand that he might be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins Before thee O Lord most High I humbly prostrate my self desiring to be admitted to thy holy Table that I may adore the riches of thy grace and beg forgiveness for my unworthy returns to such great love Give me leave O Lord to come and make at least my acknowledgments to thee of the duty I owe thee Yea I would take thy yoke upon me with the greatest thankfulness and tye those bonds faster wherein I stand already engaged to thee and bless thee for such easie and gracious terms of reconciliation as thou hast propounded to us and express my hearty consent unto them and declare my belief of thy pretious promises and acknowledg thy goodness in making me so certain of their truth by the resurrection of Christ from the dead and his ascension to heaven that he might sit down at thy right hand to make good all that he hath said Blessed be the Lord who hath rewarded his obedience with such honour power dominion and authority that we might be incouraged to follow him and depend upon him and have a setled hope of immortality by him I rejoyce in the glory which thou hast with the Father of all O Lord Jesus whose throne is for ever and ever A Scepter of righteousness is the Scepter of thy kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity Hâ—b 1.8 9. therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows O God that I could forget all other things when I present my self before thee and ascend up in my thoughts and desires and resolutions to heaven where Jesus is that when I come down again to converse with these things here below I may look upon them as objects of my contempt or as proofs of my vertue or as incitements to praise thee the Creator of all and as occasions to manifest how much I love thee by quitting the dearest thing in this world if thou requirest it for thy sake who hast raised man to such an height or glory and honour above all O that I may hate every thing that would not let me love thee better than it That I may fear to offend thee and be very sollicitous to please thee and studious in all things to approve my self to him whom thou hast raised from the dead promoted unto glory so that he is able to prefer all his faithful servants to that glorious place where he is Shew me O Lord that he is not held by death but reigns with thy self for ever by the power of thy holy Spirit in my heart raising me above my self and enabling me to comply with those high and heavenly thoughts desires and designs which thou hast wrought in my heart O blessed Jesus who sittest at the right hand of the Father and hast said thou hast life in thy self and all power in heaven and in earth John 5.26 Matth. 28.18 that I and all others who prostrate themselves before the throne of thy grace might find thy power still to remain as great as ever chasing away the darkness of our minds warming and thawing our frozen affections melting and dissolving our wills into the will of God inspiring us with might and strength to do that which we cannot but desire lifting up our hearts to have our conversation in heaven and to live above the love of riches pleasures and honour a contented humble sober and thankful life O that we may ever demonstrate our belief of thy ascension up on high by our living and walking in the Spirit and no longer fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and by improving all the grace thou sendest down to us till we be fit to be translated from hence and come to see what we now believe and behold thee in the glory of the Father Amen Lord Jesus where thou art let us be also rejoycing with thee for ever and while we stay here I will alway say most heartily Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven c. The Meditation afterward O The height of that glory wherein my Saviour is inthroned 1 Pet. 3.22 Heb. 7.26 Eph. 4.8 Eph. 1.21 Who is gone into the heavens and made higher than the heavens nay is ascended up far above all heavens far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come What a comfort is it to dust and ashes to see their nature shining brighter than the highest stars of glory To behold their flesh the greatest beauty of the Paradise of God Where should my conversation be but in heaven Where should the members and the heart be but where their head and their treasure is What should I seek but those things above Coloss 3. where Christ is at Gods right hand O ye little vanities How contemptible are all your pleasures How â—ow are all your dignities and honours How base and vile the rest of your temptations when I look up to heaven where my Saviour sits in unmatchable glory and majesty Never speak to me any more never perswade me to follow worldly lusts thy thoughts are not now so mean I am dead to all those things and my life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is my life shall appear then shall I appear with him in glory But is that eternal life with Jesus the thing thou seekest Is thy heart indeed set on things above where he is at Gods
Soul only but most bountifully providest for my Body too not only thy Son but a great number of thy Creatures losing their lives continually to preserve mine There is all reason that I should serve thee with unwearied diligence who hast made so many things constantly to serve me And here I present my self again before thee to tender thee my hearty service to beseech thy acceptance of the vows and promises I have already made to thee and to express my hope in thy mercy for power from on high to assist and further my pious desires and resolutions I believe in thee O God through Christ Jesus who hast raised him up from the dead 1 Pet. 1.21 and given him glory that our faith and hope might be in thee our God I live in a full perswasion that thou designest to make me everlastingly happy and therefore humbly look to receive from thy Divine bounty the communication of thy Holy Spirit to help me to fit and prepare my self for such a glorious state with Christ in the Heavens That there my thoughts and my heart may be where my hopes are treasured up and all things may seem little and mean in compare with the glory to be revealed and I may think my self exceeding high and great in the humility meekness goodness patience and contentedness of the Lord Jesus and in the holy hope he hath given me of Eternal life Preserve in my mind a constant sense of that blessed hope as incomparably beyond all possessions on Earth that so I may walk worthy of my High and Heavenly calling chearfully doing and suffering thy will and believing that thou who hast done so much for us as to advance our nature to such glory in the Heavens will take care of us while we are here on Earth and conduct us by humble submission to thee and patient continuance in well-doing to that place whither Jesus the fore-runner is entred for us Psal 98.4 And let all the Earth make a joyful noise unto the Lord make a loud noise and rejoyce 97.1 and sing praise For the Lord Jesus reigneth 29.10 He sitteth King for ever Let them praise his great and holy name For the Kinds strength loveth judgment 99.3 4. he doth establish equity He executeth judgment and righteousness in the Earth Psal 5.11 And let all those that love him be joyful in him Rejoyce in the Lord 97.11 12. ye righteous and give thanks to the memorial of his holiness For light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself 2 Th ss 2.16 17. and God even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace Comfort our hearts and establish us in every good word and work Amen Whitsunday The Meditation before O Holy Spirit of grace what news is this that thou blessest our ears withall What glad tidings are these that thou art come to tell us What means the sound of so many various tongues the gifts of prophecy of wisdom of knowledge of faith and miracles with all the rest which thou dividedst severally to every man as thou wouldest Doth Jesus yet live hath he indeed conquered the grave and is he exalted at the right hand of God and invested with all power in Heaven and Earth It is enough I will go then and see him when I die That word is no longer dreadful to me I am not afraid of the King of terrors since Jesus lives and is the Lord and King of all Witness the Holy Ghost the Comforter which he hath sent down from the Throne of his glory to assure us that he not only lives but reigns in Majesty and Power and is mindful of us and of his promises Those fiery tongues that came with the noise as of a might rushing wind tell me that he is able to transport us when he pleases in fiery Chariots unto Heaven I hear them call my thoughts up thither Heb. 2.9 and bid me see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour and scattering his royal gifts among his servants I am thy servant O blessed Jesus Psal 119.125 135. make thy face to shine upon me Let thy mercies come also unto me O Lord even thy salvation according to thy word Ver. 41 49 Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope That WHERE I AM Joh. 12.26 THERE SHALL ALSO MY SERVANT BE. What words of grace and life are these It is enough O thou that dwellest in the Heavens that I be there where thou art Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel Psa 73.24 and afterward receive me to glory And till I go to see that glory which the Father hath given thee I will go and see the representations thou hast left us of thy self and receive the pawns and pledges of thy Eternal love I will go and remember thy obedience to the death for which cause thou art highly exalted and made most blessed for ever 21.6 And O that the Holy Spirit of grace which fell on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost would fill my heart with a sense of that love and swell my Soul with a full apprehension of all the blessings that it contains that so I may burst forth into thy praises as they did and speak the wondrous works of God Acts 2.11 Marvellous are thy works O Lord Ps 139.14 and that my Soul knows right well I see by the light of the Holy Ghost sent down on them that Jesus indeed was the Son of God holy and without fault that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily Coloss 2.9 that he hath made peace by the bloud of his Cross and reconciled Heaven and Earth Coloss 1.20 that he is ascended up far above all Heavens Ephes 4.10 Ephes 2.6 that he might fill all things and that thou O Lord hast raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus I see what a powerful Advocate we have in the Court of Heaven Joh. 17.2 and that thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him I see that all thy promises in him are yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 22. by whom thou hast also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit One tongue is too little to speak the praises of the Lord. I will go therefore into the Assemblies of thy people that they may magnifie the Lord with me Psal 34.3 and we may exalt his name together I will declare the exceeding greatness of his love and the superlative bounty of Heaven in sending him to die for us Yea My Soul shall make her boast in the Lord Psal 34.2 and glory in his
my soul I only bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 c. of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that I being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg that I may be filled with all the fulness of God Amen The Thanksgiving and Prayer afterward O Lord the fullest and most bountiful good who art rich in mercy to all that call upon thee never weary of our importunities nor weary of importuning us to dispose our selves to receive thy blessings Eccluâ— 2. ult Thy power is the beginning of righteousness and is guided by the greatest wisdom and the greatest love As is thy Majesty Wisd 12.16 so is thy mercy and because thou art the Lord of all it maketh thee to be gracious unto all Thou lovest all things that are 11.24 25 26. and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made for never wouldest thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it And how could any thing have endured if it had not been thy will or been preserved if not called by thee But thou sparest all for they are thine O Lord thou lover of Souls It is of thy mere goodness that I am not consumed Lam. 3.22 and because thy compassions fail not That I have so much liberty as to recount thy mercies which keep me in life and let it not be as wretched and miserable base and vile sickly and uneasie troublesome and tedious as it might have been according to my deservings is for ever to be remembred with most humble thankfulness I cannot forget unless I cast away all care and consideration of my self from how many dangers thou hast delivered me in what extremities thou hast succoured and relieved me and what friends lovers and kind acquaintances thou hast bestowed on me But the greatest of thy mercies are those which thou hast expressed to us in the Lord Jesus without which all the rest might have made our life in the next world to have proved more miserable and intolerable to us Thou hast sent him in the tenderest and most endearing manner in our own flesh with the most moving and compassionate entreaties and the strongest and most obliging arguments to surrender our selves to thy obedience to whom of right we belong And he hath laid down his life so great was his love the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 that he might bring us to thee our God And thou hast rewarded his obedience to the death with a glorious Resurrection and set him at thine own right hand and given him the promise of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.33 which he hath shed abundantly on his Apostles to guide them into all truth Joh. 16.13 that they might go and Teach all Nations and Baptize them into his Religion Matth. 28.19 20. and teach them to observe all things that he hath commanded I remember with most grateful acknowledgments the manifold gifts which thou bestowedst on thy Church to confirm the faith of Christ and propagate it in the world till it came to these Regions where I live Blessed be thy goodness that I was born of Christian Parents and without my knowledge very early by their care dedicated unto thee Blessed be thy goodness that ever since I have been thy care and that thou hast brought me up to the knowledge of thy holy Gospel wherein I read this story of thy marvellous love and am instructed in my duty towards thee and towards men and encouraged by exceeding great and precious promises being put in hope of immortal life the pledges of which thou hast ordered and appointed thy Ministers to provide for me and give unto me I have now by thy goodness received them and tasted that the Lord is gracious full of compassion and of great pity not desiring the death of a sinner but that he should return and live This raises thy mercy to the greatest height that thou hast done all this for those who are so dull and insensible cold and careless inconstant and uncertain apt too soon to forget these benefits and great obligations which thou layest on them But thou hast done all this and continuest thy kindness to make us better Which is the thing O Lord that I most heartily desire and labour after and shall ever account it the greatest blessing when I am overcome by thy merciful kindness and am willing to part with my self and all my own desires to gain thee and thy love by being led and ruled in all things according to thy will To that I unfeignedly again submit my self and humbly vow all the powers of Soul and Body to thy obedience I own thy blessed Gospel for the rule and direction of my life and thy Son Christ Jesus for my pattern and example and thy good Spirit for my guide and governour in whose holy comforts I rejoyce more than in any thing in this world For ever magnified be thy love that thou hast exalted one mighty to save and hast sent him not only with a pardon but with the power of the Holy Ghost to renew sanctifie and advance our Nature by changing it into the likeness of thine own I hope in thee O Lord for the continued influences thereof to quicken my Faith and render it more and more effectual in all the actions of an holy life That I may have high and adoring thoughts of thee and humble thoughts of my self overlook the little things here below and labour for those above do good with what I have and lay up treasures in Heaven be contented with my portion and sober and discreet in the use of it live peaceably with all men but not be partaker in their sins and that it may alway be part of my employment in this World thus to worship thee and reflect upon thy goodness and the rest may be to live according to my prayers and acknowledgments Amen and Amen O that all Nations whom thou hast made would come and worship before thee Psal 86.9 10. in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.23 O that they would glorifie thy Name for thou art great and dost wondrous things thou art God alone But let all Christians especially 1 Cor. 12.13 who by one Spirit are all baptized into one Body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit glorifie the Name of their Lord Ephes 4.3 by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and agreeing together in Godly love And do thou O Lord the God of Peace direct their hearts into the more excellent way that though tongues and prophecies and miracles are ceased yet that humble kind meek and long-suffering Charity may remain and abound more and more which will bring us all to live in endless love and peace and joy together in the Heavens The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13. ult and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with me and with all my Friends and all thy Servants every where Amen THus by the help of God I have brought this Treatise to a Conclusion which I hope will not be unwelcome to those that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Ephes 6. ult And I most humbly beseech the Divine Majesty graciously to accept my weak endeavours therein to serve this Church and stir up every Member of it with hearty love to offer up themselves to him in its Publick Service Which so gravely and pathetically expresses the sense of pious hearts at the Holy Communion that these Private Prayers which I have composed to wait upon it can only serve to excite those who will make use of them to joyn with more fervour in the Common Devotions and to continue those holy dispositions which they declare to be in their hearts if they sincerely unite them with these words * In the Prayer after the Communion 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 Which that we may ever be we cannot in a few words better implore the Divine assistance than in those of that incomparable Prayer at the end of our Communion-Service PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen THE END ERRATA PAge 53. line 19. read went away p. 179. l. 1. r. heart l. 2. r. mouth p. 320. l. 27. 1. have received p. 357 l. 12. r. Lord Jesus p. 362. l. ult r. a member p. 383. l. 10. r. and growth p. 396. l. 13. r. earnests
holy Name Let the wise man if he please glory in his wisdom and the rich man glory in his riches and the mighty man in his great strength But I will glory in this that I understand and know thee that thou art the Lord the God and Father of Jesus Christ Jer. 9.23 24. which exercises loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the Earth for in these things are thy delight I will glory in this that I am the Disciple and Heir of the crucified Jesus that I know the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 and the fellowship of his Sufferings that he hath made a new Covenant with us of grace mercy and peace that we have received the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 whereby we call him Father and that I am taken into the fellowship of the Saints and have hope to be numbered with them in glory everlasting I will send up my heart to Heaven where he is in holy love and engage my self to be ever mindful of his Covenant especially of that new Commandment to love one another even as he hath loved us By this shall all men know that I am his Disciple because I love the Brethren Ephes 4.4 5 6 7 8 c. For there is one Body and one Spirit even as we are called in one hope of our calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Who gave to every one grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men And he gave some Apostles blessed be his bounteous goodness and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the fulness of Christ From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and coâ—â—acted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the body unto the edifying of it self in love The Prayer before O Lord who livest for ever and changest not Whose power made me and all the world before whom the whole world is as a little grain of a ballance Wis 11.22 or a drop of the morning dew that falleth on the Earth Whose wisdom governs and orders all things both in heaven and earth whose goodness and bounty provides constantly for their comfortable support under whose Soveraign and everlasting dominion we live and unto whom we owe all homage service and fidelity which ought most readily and heartily to be paid by every one of us I adore thee in the humblest reverence of my Soul and body I acknowledge my dependance on thee and subjection to thee I desire above all things to live in thy fear and in thy love and obedience as long as I have any being Blessed be thy goodness that I may love thee and that I am alive to worship and acknowledg thee Blessed be thy goodness that thou hast not been provoked to cut me off in my forgetfulness of thee nor now to open the gates of death for me and command me to dwell in silence but the doors of thy house that I may enter in and praise thy holy Name To thee belongs all blessing honour worship and service to me nothing but shame and confusion of face which ought to cover me when I approach thy presence I thank thee most humbly for the good news thou hast sent us that thou art in thy Son Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 reconciling the world to thy self I rejoyce in thy love who hast delivered him up for our offences Rom. 4.25 and raised him from the dead for our justification that we may know thou hast accepted of his death as a sufficient satisfaction for us and believe that all his words are faithful and true and that we shall be accepted in thy beloved I thank thee O God that thou hast exalted him to sit in thy throne of glory that he may be able to perform his own promises and enable us to obey his Commands That thou hast given us such good hope in thee by patient continuance in well doing to come to the resurrection of the dead and to be made partakers of life immortal Blessed be the Lord for the assurance we have of this that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour by the descent of the Holy Ghost which is the earnest of that eternal bliss that thou hast sent thine Apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature and that when they went forth thou wroughtest with them Mark 16. ult confirming their word with signs following and that I my self have felt the effects of his royal power in the heavens by the breathings of thy holy Spirit in my heart perswading me to love thee and thy Son Jesus who hath shown all long-suffering towards me and waited with great patience upon me that I might return to thee and live I thank thee O Lord and desire to be admitted to thy holy Table that I may thank thee better and renew my acknowledgments to thee in the most solemn manner laying my self at thy feet to tender thee my hearty service resigning my self to thy will recommending Soul and body to thy wisdom submitting to thy government approving all thy laws and devoting my self to the constant observance of them I hope thou wilt mercifully accept and own me in all these acts and stand by me to guide assist and encourage me and to work in me whatsoever is well pleasing in thy sight That I may be such an one as thou canst love and delight in and reward and I desire nothing else in heaven or in earth I do most freely give my self up to the conduct of the Holy Ghost and stedfastly depend on thee for its continual presence with me to possess my mind with such a strong sense of these things which it hath revealed unto us that they may operate powerfully on my will and affections and make them conformable unto Christ O that by walking in love and shewing all meekness to all men by patience and peaceableness gentleness and goodness uprightness and fidelity temperance and moderation contentedness and joy in every state and condition and by all other fruits of the spirit I may so resemble my blessed Lord and Master Jesus that I may nothing doubt to bear the image of his glory in heaven as I bear the image of his holiness here on earth O that the eyes of my understanding may be opened more and more to see the wondrous things which thou hast written to us in thy Gospel that apprehending and believing and following the wisdom given to us by thine Apostles through the