of the Ordinance is praising him that lives for ever and ever fall down at the same time rejoycing at the blessings and the Manna which falls down from Heaven on the Children of Men so that here we may cry out as the Patriarch did of Bethel How dreadful is this place The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THIS Sacarament being a Feast prepared by the Greatest Prince for his Servants those Servants must needs be inexcusable that refuse to give their attendance here I do not deny but their may be just excuses and lawful causes of our absence such as Sickness Weakness Faintness and Distempers Pains Aches and some sudden Accidents and Disasters which will not suffer us to fix our thoughts on so reverend an ordinance but these hapning against our Wills and importing no wilful neglect God bears with us under such circumstances but to act as if we did not hear our Master call and to suffer the World to put a stop to our coming to be so enamoured with our Profits and sensual Satisfactions as not to think our selves concerned in the Duty to refuse approaching because we are loath to be at the pains of searching our Hears and trying our ways to neglect coming because we are loath to sequester our Thoughts from sublunary Objects and to part with our Sins to absent our selves because we relish the enjoyments of this life before this Celestial Food this is to slight what God esteems and to spurn at the greatest Mercy this is to thrust away Salvation as if it were worth nothing and to â—ndervalue the pains God takes to bring us to himself and what God must think of such Scorners I need not tell you for your selves may guess except you believe God to be a Stone or Stock how he must resent it and one would think it should cause some sad thoughts within you if you believe what he saith 1 Sam. 2. 30 They that love me I will Honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed II. When the Church invites us to this Feast we must suppose that our Lord himself makes an Address to us as it is in Matth. 22. 4. Behold I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready come ye to the Marriage This Holy Ordinance is the Marriage Feast which declares our being joyned to the Son of God the King immortal invisible blessed for evermore Hearken therefore O daughter and consider forget also thine own People and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him This Feast requires suitable Garments not Tyrian Purple not Persian Silks not that outward adorning with broider'd hair or gold or pearl or costly array but the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great price A Garment of Sackcloath is a more glorious sight in the eyes of him who is the Master of This Feast then all the bravery of the tinckling Ornaments of the Daughters of Sion and a Contrite Heart invites his gracious aspect and this the Primitive believers were so sensible of that before their coming to this Feast they humbled their Souls with Fasting and as course and uncomely as this Garb appears to sensual Men yet He that is the lofty and Holy one who inhabits Eternity hath declared his liking and approbation of it For to that man will I look that is of an humble a and contrite Spirit and trembles at my word Es. 66. 2. Es. 57. 15. We read of a Garment of Praise too Es. 61. 3. a Garment which the Angels of Light are adorned and deckt withal a Garb so pleasing that the Eternal Father smiles on them and it smells sweeter than that of Esau God like old Isaac takes notice of it and blesses them St. Paul understood this and wore it constantly Hence it is that we find him so liberal in praising the Cross of Christ with this he seems always transported and he seldom talks of Christ without Raptures an object upon which he though he could never say enough Being rapt up into the Third Heaven he had heard the melodious voices of the four and twenty Elders and the new Song they sung to the Lamb that was slain Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Rev. 5. 9. and he could not have a better Pattern And now that we speak of Garments that make us welcome Guests at this Table we must not forget the Garment or Ornament of good Works which St. Paul takes notice of 1 Tim. 2. 10. These are the Shining Robes our Souls must be ambitious of these adorn our Profession charm spectators attract followers and are apt to make People in love with goodness and what is more change us into the same Image with the Author and Finisher of our Faith whose province and imployment was going about and doing good as we are told Act 10. 38. and consequently this cannot but be a proper Ornament to appear in at this Banquet And of this nature is the white Garment we read of Eccles. 9. 8. or the Garment of Innocence and Purity whereby we hate the Garment spotted by the flesh and keep Consciences void of offence toward God and toward Man In these Garbs we may boldly shew our selves at the Table of our Lord and expect the same welcome that the Spouse received in the Canticles Cant. 4. 10 11. How fair is thy love my Sister my Spouseâ— how much better is thy love than Wine and the smell of all thine Ointments than all Spices Thy Lips O my Spouse drop as the Honey-comb Honey and Milk are under thy Tongue and the smell of thy Garments is like the smell of Lebanon The PRAYER O Holy and merciful Saviour merciful beyond example who treatest me as thy Child hast prepared a Table for me and made my Cup run over Be thou my Shepherd let me want no Grace no Mercy no Assistance that 's necessary for me in the prosecuting of mine Eternal Happiness Dress me with thy Robes adorn me with the Ensigns of thy Favour Let me rejoyce at the Supper thou hast prepared for me Teach me to entertain thy Call with gladness Let me see clearly what thou hast prepared for them that love thee Thou knowest my stubborn and lazy Heart rouze it from its slumber melt it by the fire of thy love breath upon these dry Bones and they shall live Let me not with Esau prefer a morsel of Bread eaten in secret before my Birth-right to Eternal Glory Let me consider thy Condescension in inviting such a Wretch to sup with thee Let not the evil examples I see before me be any temptation to me Uphold me by thy right hand Let me dread thine anger and count it a greater disgrace to be
and Lye and Cheat no more and yet forgets the Oath of God that is upon his Soul and dares fall to his old Sins again that Man's last Estate is worse than the first and he slights him by whom he must be saved despises him who alone can make him happy refuses that Blood which alone can cleanse him undervalues the only Champion that can secure him against the Rage of the roaring Lion loses and rejects the Prop which alone can support him against the wrath of an offended God and affronts that Friend which alone can help and comfort him in the day of Vengeance II. This Sacrament being a standing Ordinance and a notable means of Grace as much as Prayer and hearing the Word of God it must necessarily follow that Men who look for Grace and Salvation must make as great Conscience of this as of any other and if they account it a Sin to neglect Prayer and hearing the Word they must look upon it as sinful too to neglect this Ordinance If this be a means of Salvation as well as the rest he that hopes to be saved must seriously make use of this means else he can have but little hopes of arriving to the end without the means Surely this Sacrament is a means whereby you and I must come to love the Lord Jesus Christ a Duty of that consequence that he that love him not in sincerity lies under a severe threatning and is liable to a dreadful Curse 1 Cor. 16. 22. But how shall we ever love him to any purpose except we use the means whereby that Love must be raised and kindled in our Breast Doth any Man hope to thrive in the World that will not bestir himself become active in his profession and apply himself to Labour Does any Man hope ot arrive to Learning and Scholarship without Books or Reading Does any Person hope to keep himself warm in Winter that puts on no Cloaths Or was ever any so foolish as to hope to come to his Journies end if he sits still in a Tavern or Alehouse by the way If this Sacrament be a means of obtaining Happiness will that Happiness fall to our share without using the proper means If thou refusest to come to this Ordinance how can God be kind to thee how can he visit thee with the Favour he bears to his own People How can he wash thee with the Blood of the Lamb How can he make thee Blessed and a companion of Seraphim and give thee a right to the Treasury of Christ's merits when thou neglectest the means whereby these Mercies must be consigned and applied to thy Soul And therefore III. How wretched how sad must be the case of that Soul which neglects to shew forth the Lord's Death in this Ordinance when the Lord shall come to Judgment When the Son of God shall appear in all his Glory and the Sinner who neglected this Holy Sacrament shall be brought before him it will not be an ordinary fright the wretch will be in especially when the King of Glory shall accost and ask him How canst thou hope to share in my Glory that didst not think my Death worth remembring in the Congregation of my Saints How canst thou hope to participate of my Happiness that wouldst not weep at my bitter Passion How canst thou hope to be advanced to my Throne who wast ashamed to look upon me hanging on the Cross How canst thou hope to enter into thy Master's Joy that would'st not by lively representations of my suffering in the Sacrament I ordained be melted in Tears How canst thou hope for a seat in the Eternal Mansions where no defiled thing must enter that wouldst not cleanse thy self from filthiness Or how couldst thou hope to be cleansed that wouldst not make use of my Blood to wash thy self Here none can be happy that were not Holy upon Earth and how couldst thou expect to be Holy that didst neglect the means which was intended to enrich thy Soul with Holiness Such an Address of such a Majestick Person and to an offender too that knows and cannot but know that all this is true must necessarily strike the Malefactor dumb fill him with horror and make him cry out though too late O that my Head were Water c. Expostulations of displeased Princes with their Servants that have acted contrary to their Will in things of far less moment have cast them into Grief and Swoons and fatal diseases and we must needs conclude that in the case we speak of as the Person offended is greater than the most puissant Prince in the World and the neglect greater than if a Man had neglected to provide for the security of a Temporal Kingdom so the Expostulations will be more terrible and the Sinner's Heart to whom they shall be spoken in far greater consternation IV. This shews with what temper and disposition we ought to come to this Holy Table even with the same temper we would or desire to be in if within a few hours we were sure to be summoned to Judgment Were any of you to appear to Morrow Morning before the Bar of God and had you all imaginable assurance of it that by such a time you must certainly attend there would you lie or swear or dissemble or break out into a passion or pray carelesly or be backward to do good or be averse from Holy thoughts and discourses c. I trow not and as you would not appear before the Judge with an unmortified temper of Mind so neither can it be adviseable to appear before him at this Table with such a disposition As the appearing before his Judgment Seat would make you call your most serious Thoughts together and make you loath the charms the inticements and the alluring temptations and suggestions of the Flesh and of the World so your appearing at this Table requires the same inclinations for as in the day of Judgment the King will come forth and behold the persons cited into that Court to see whether they are qualified for Heaven and Happiness so in this Feast he comes to look upon the Guests and to see who comes with a worldly and carnal disposition and takes as much notice of the frame and temper of your Hearts as he will do in the last day Here thy great Master comes and takes a view of thy Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions whether they proceed from a principle of Love and Submission Happy the Soul that sits down at this Table with a sense of her duty and the greatness and goodness of the Master of the Feast for such a Soul anticipates her future bliss and feels in some measure the sweetness and comfort of the joyful Absolution which shall be pronounced upon her with greater solemnity in the last day even this Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom c. The PRAYER O Thou Eternal Wisdom who alone knowest what is best for me who hast established this
to the Emperor of Mis-government and of Unfaithfulness to his Master and that turns the Scale and tempts him to change his Resolution In this Misdemeanour Lord I read mine own Thus hath Profit and Gain and Fear of losing the Favour of Men changed my good and pious Purposes When I have thought to reprove a Person greater than my self Fear of drawing his Frowns upon me hath made me give over those Religious Thoughts When I have resolved not to comply with a sinful Design or Proposal made to me how hath the Temptation of a considerable Advantage turned the Byass Oh make this Fickleness and Inconstancy very odious to me And let me count nothing Gain that is accompanied with the Loss of thy Favour Let that be dearer to me than Gold yea dearer than fine Gold and let me hate every false Way 25. And he released unto them him who for Sedition and Murther was cast into Prison whom they had desired but he delivered Jesus to their Will HOW pleased is sinful Nature when its wicked Desires are gratified when it obtains its Wishes and gets possession of what it craved with Eagerness It fancies it drinks Nectar and Cordials though in good truth it is nothing but Poyson No doubt the Apple or Fruit our first Parents ate of seemed very delicious but it appeared soon after that they had swallowed Death and God's Indignation Such Sweetness have I dreamed of in committing Sin And how have my Senses been tickled when I have enjoyed the dangerous Meat my Appetite longed for But it hath proved very bitter in my Bowels Thus the unwary Fish swallows the Bait but knows not that the Hook which will certainly kill it lies under it O Jesu My Desires never move more orderly than when they move within the Sphere and Circle of thy Law Oh charm them to that Circle and I shall never perish 26. And as they led him away they laid hold upon one Simon a Cyrenian coming out of the Country and on him they laid the Cross that he might bear it after Jesus HAppy Man that was counted worthy to bear the Cross with the Lord Jesus How light did the burthen seem to himâ— when Jesus was at one end of it So thy Holy Apostles my dearest Lord thought themselves bless'd that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for thy Name How contented should I be under any affliction did I believe that thou art with me and helpest to bear my load Surely thou art not far off when the Cross is laid upon my Shoulder In all my afflictions thou art afflicted O let me think of it and be chearful under it I know thou layest it on me for my good and art touch'd with the feeling of my infirmities Let me have no hard thought of any trouble for I suffer in thy Company Shall I think much of the burthen when thou enduredst far greater for my sake In all my distresses be thou with me and convince me that thou art so that I may never repine never murmur never fret but may bear thy yoak with a willing Mind being confident I shall not be a loser by it but when I am tryed receive the Crown of Righteousness which thou hast promis'd to all that love thy Name 27. And there follow'd him a great company of People and of Women which also bewailed and lamented him TEnderness and Compassion to persons in distress is a Tribute that nature requires And to have denied it thee in thy sufferings my Blessed Lord had been barbarous Those that follow'd thee and wept did not know how great and good thou wert If they had their Tears had been turn'd into Blood They believed thee innocent that makes them wet their Cheeks but had they known that thou wert the Son of God the dearly beloved of the Eternal Father they would have wish'd that their Heads were Fountains of Water O that I could never think of thy Cross without Tears in mine Eyes O that I could never behold thee bleeding in the Holy Sacrament without deep compunction Lord Touch the Rock of my Heart that the Waters may flow to the everlasting comfort of my Soul 28. But Jesus turning unto them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children LOrd Jesu Thou sawest what miseries were coming upon that Nation and art concern'd for them more than thou art for thy self In all thy sufferings thou didst not consult thine own welfare so much as ours It was for our sakes it was for my sake that thou didst endure the Torments which fell upon thee Thou wast loth I should perish and therefore wouldst rather dye than I should be undone Thy Father's wrath was levell'd at me and thou stepst in and tookest the blow that I might escape The curse of the Law was pronounc'd against me who was the Offender Thou wentst into the midst of the Fire that I might not be burnt The Floods went high and their Commission was to drown me thou venturedst into that Sea and didst divide the Waters that I might go through the midst and be safe and if this Mercy does not melt my Affections and make them thine how unexcusable must I make my self O let these Thoughts for ever dwell in my mind that I may live as becomes the Gospel of Christ and may think no service so sweet as thine 29. For behold the days are coming in the which they shall say Blessed are the barren and the Wombs that never bare and the Paps which never gave suck THese were the days of Jerusalem's destruction than which never worse times were seen and Men and Women wish'd that they had never been born Lord thou wouldst have me prepare for the worst of times that when they come I may not be surpriz'd but know where to flee for refuge Sweet Jesu Teach me how to prepare for the evil to come that it may not touch me or if it touch me it may not hurt me To be always good always watchful always doing thy Will is the way to be always safe even then when the Earth is moved and all things are turned upside down when the Sea rages when the Waters thereof roar and be troubled and the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Let me ever preserve a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned that however thou disposest of things in this World I may not lose the felicity of that which is to come 30. Then shall they begin to say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us VVHen Men have forsaken God and his Judgments break forth upon them how do they lay hold on every bull-rush to save themselves from ruin What good can Hills or Mountains do when God is angry They cannot hide from the wrath of God Thus it will be in the great day of Judgment of which the Destruction of Jerusalem was an Emblem When Men shall see the frowning Judge whom they have
yet still these Spirits as bright as they were were Creatures and as Creatures mutable and as mutable subject to falling and falling might expect Mercy and Compassion from an All-merciful Master yet in the great Work of Redemption no Regard is had to them but to Man only and he alone with his Race and Posterity is put in a Possibility of being saved and pardon'd a Mercy fit to be remembred in this Sacrament but not to be remembred without Thanksgiving and Praises 4. For the Opportunity we have of remembring Christ's Death in the holy Sacrament That we have Liberty to meet in the House of God to behold his Power and Glory to speak of his Love and Compassion and to come to his Table and to come of often and so freely without Disturbance or Molestation without Fear of Danger from the Tabernacles of Edom or from the Ishmaelites from Moab or the Hagarens Though these are Things which seem to be no great matter to an Eye that looks on Things superficially yet to a Person that knows how in the Greek Church the holy Sacrament is consecrated but once a Year how in Heathenish Countries where Ministers of the Word are scarce this Ordinance is used but seldom and how great an Hindrance to Goodness the celebrating it but rarely is how apt the Inward Man in such Cases is to faint and languish and grow sick for want of it will think himself obliged to open his Heart and Mouth in Praises at this holy Table and adore the Divine Bounty which hath given him Will and Strength and Opportunity to come to this comfortable Ordinance 5. For feeling our Hearts affected with the Mystery of Reconciliation or finding in our selves those happy Qualifications which make us worthy Receivers at this Table To feel in our Hearts a lively Faith a Faith which with Moses sees him that is invisible a Faith that overcomes the World a Faith that purifies the Heart a Faith that with Abraham moves us to sacrifice and offer that to God which is most dear to us a Faith that makes us patient under Reproaches and Injuries a Faith that is fruitful in good Works To find in our selves an Hope that makes not ashamed an Hope that makes us wait for the Kingdom of God as the Husbandman waits for the Fruit of the Earth an Hope that upholds our Hearts in Afflictions an Hope that makes us look upon that within the Vail into the Sanctuary of Heaven and counts the Troubles of this present Life not worthy to be compared with the Glory which ere long shall be revealed in us To find in our selves an holy Charity which believes the best of our Neighbours and thinks no Evil except there be very great Cause for it a Charity which suppresses Revenge and Malice and not only suppresses it for the present but labours to destroy it too a Charity which moves us to Kindness and Compassion not only verbal but actual a Charity which makes us tender-hearted forgiving one another and forbearing one another To find all this in some measure must needs fill our Hearts with strong Desires and Endeavours to be thankful VII This Praise and Thanksgiving cannot but be essential to this holy Sacrament not a mere Ornamental Thing without which the blessed Effects may be perceived and felt For 1. Is it possible to behold God's bleeding Love and not cry Praise the Lord O Jerusalem Praise thy God O Zion Is it possible to see the surprizing Humiliation of the Son of God and not to say Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Is it possible to see God offer himself for his Enemies and not to sâ—ng Lord what is Man that thou so regardest him and the Sons and Daughters of Men that thou hast such Respect to them Is it possible to see Innocence nailed to the fatal Cross not for any Sins of its own but for our Transgressions and not to break forth into Admiration with St. John Behold what manner of Love the Father hath shewn to us that we should be called the Sons of God The Heart must be of Stone that can survey these Wonders and be silent or dumb to joyful Praises 2. What Comfort or Consolation can be supposed to flow into the Soul without it Praise is the Gate of Mercy The Soul that praises the Divine Love much will have a greater Sense of his Love and feel the Power of it and feel how it melts the Heart supples the Spirit softens the Inward Man and makes it fit for the Impress of the Image of the Son of God As the Jews say of the Spirit of Prophesse That it rests on valiant and chearful Men so it may be said of the Divine Love Where the Soul is much and often engaged in Praises of it there it loves to dwell there it is ready to build Tabernacles and take up its Residence The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. EVen the meanest Capacities from hence learn the Way to arrive to holy Thoughts viz. by making the most ordinary Blessings Occasions of Praise and Thanksgiving Nothing is more common than Bread yet for this the Son of Man gave Thanks and in doing so bid us imitate his Practice when the like familiar Mercies come before us or present themselves to our View About the Time of the Council at Constance two Cardinals as they were travelling upon the Road not far from the City saw a poor Shepherd weeping and thinking that some sad Accident might have befallen him either his Dog lost or some of his Sheep stolen had the Curiosity to ask him the Reason of his Tears who answer'd I am looking here upon a Toad and cannot but weep to think what an ungrateful Beast I have been to my God to whom I never before in all my Life gave Thanks that he â—e did not make me so homely and so odious a Creature The Truth is you and I can hardly walk the Street but we meet with Men either ragged or lame or maim'd or blind or dumb or some other way deform'd and extreamly miserable Can we look on such Objects and not think with our selves what a Favour and Mercy it was in our great and gracious God not to plunge us into that wretched State but to give us Necessaries and Conveniencies a right Shape and Soundness of Limbs c. These 't is true are but very ordinary Blessings yet if we consider how many Thousands want them and that God who can do all Things and whose Hand is to be seen in all Things might as easily have reduced us to such a miserable Condition as he hath done others and that it is nothing but his Infinite Goodness and Wisdom that hath made this Distinction this cannot but quicken our Understandings And if so none of us can complain that we have no Faculty of furnishing our Minds with holy Thoughts To this purpose certainly was our Reason given us that we might
beautifie the Meek with Salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their Beds let them praise the Name of the Lord for his Name alone is excellent his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven III. See here how rich a Meal God the Father prepares for our Souls even the crucified Body of his Son Shall we look upon that Celestial Food with dull and careless Thoughts Can we behold this costly Bread and forbear crying out Lord for ever give us that Bread Christian if thou meanest to be saved by the crucified Body of thy Lord thou must needs eat of it Not only thy Mouth must eat the Sacramental Bread and chew it but thy Soul must ascend and employ her self in eating of the crucified Body represented by that Bread Thy Soul thy Mind thy Will thy Affections must have the greatest Share in eating at this Table Thy Body hath little to do here that is only the Chariot that brings thy Soul to this Banquet Thy Soul not being engaged and busie here in Thinking Admiration Resolution Love and Joy the Cringes and Bowings of thy Body will be insignificant The End of our common Eating is Assimilation and in our ordinary Meals we therefore eat Food agreeable to our Bodies that it may be united to our Substance mingle with our Blood and become one with our Bodies So here our Souls must feed on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus that we may become one with him All Creatures may be said to be one with Christ as he is God as he is their Creator in which respect he fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence and is not far from every one of us and in him we live and breath and have our Being Nay in a more particular manner every Professor of Christianity may be said to be one with him as he professes the same Religion which Christ taught his Disciples But this is not the Union aimed at in this Sacrament nor can the Union which respects our Profession only give any great Comfort to a Christian. The Union designed by this Sacrament is effected by the Spirit of Christ Jesus and the Soul that unfeignedly see◠here on the crucified Body of her Master gets the same Spirit that dwelt in her crucified Lord which produces the same Graces in her that shined in that great Shepherd of Souls and the same Mind the same Temper the same Disposition in substance at least though not in the same Degree is effected and produced in her by this Spirit as we see Rem 8. 11. Phil. 2. 5. And this is that Union every true Communicant is to aim at and from hence flows a Communion with Christ in all his Privileges and Glories whereby the Soul is raised up together with Christ and made to sit together with him in Heavenly Places though not by way of actual Enjoyment as yet but by getting a Right and Title to those Privileges as the Apostle informs us Ephes. 2. 6. By feeding on this crucified Body the Soul is nourished and gathers Strength against her spiritual Enemies becomes bold in Temptations resolute in Dangers couragious in spiritual Enterprizes The Soul that comes to feed on this crucified Body and comes not with this Intent comes in vain comes only to stare upon the Cross but not to be refreshed by it The Soul that after the Sacrament yields wilfully to the same Temptations it did before is ensnared by the same sinful Pleasure that ruin'd it before is led Captive by the same Lusts that intangled her before certainly feeds not on the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus because the Contemplation of that Crucifixion works no suitable Effects which if it did the Soul would unfeignedly destroy the Body of Sin according to the Apostle's Rule Rom. 6. 6. and offer up her Body a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God as it is said Rom. 12. 1. Make the Body obedient to Reason and Sense to Faith and the Flesh to the Spirit and it would keep under the Body and bring it into Subjection as St. Paul did 1 Cor. 9. 27. i. e. it would deny the Body those Satisfactions which are manifest Hindrances to the Things of the Spirit it would force it to Temperance to Hardships to Industry and Laboriousness in God's Service it would strive and take care that the Body might become a Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. 〈◊〉 what the Soul doth in this Ordinance would leave such a Sense upon us as would not only enable but constrain us to glorifie God both in Body and Soul as the Scripture requires 1 Cor. 6. 20. These are the blessed Effects of eating the crucified Body of the Lord Jesus And the Soul that feeds on that Body will find these happy Consequences it will not go away empty from this Meal and though for the present it doth not see all these Effects yet there is that Impression made on her by this Eating that these Effects will afterward discover themselves in her Life and Conversation The PRAYER O My God! What Care dost thou take of my immortal Soul that it may not starve Thou hast made large Provision for my Body in the Earth in the Air and in the Water The Earth brings forth Herbs and Roots and Cattel to feed it The Air affords Fowl and Feather'd Creatures to nourish it The Water provides Fish for it But none of all these can satisfie my Soul that must have a spiritual Diet and rather than it shall want thou hast given thine own Son to be her Food O mysterious Love Can I after tbis have low and mean Thoughts of thy Goodness O sweetest Jesu if my Soul feeds not on thee if must die and be separated from thy glorious Presence for ever If it feeds on thee it is made for ever Oh! be thou my most beloved and most delightful Food Thy crucified Body alone can keep my Soul from fainting Thy Death must yield me Life Thy Sufferings must give me Joy Thy Agonies must afford me Comfort Thy Torments must work mine Ease Thy Nails and Thorns must be my Bed of Roses Nothing else can give my Soul Rest. When the Snares of Death and Hell encompass me I will lay hold on these Horns of the Altar here I shall be safe safer than in the Arms of Angels Thou that diedst for me livest for ever to intercede for me and having such an Advocate I may come boldly to the Throne of Grace O let me not survey this glorious Provision made for my Soul with carnal Eyes O let me ponder seriously not with flying and transient but with steady and fixed Thoughts how thou hast favoured how thou hast loved how thou hast dignified this miserable Soul of mine that I may rejoyce in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. XII Of remembring Christ in this Sacrament or doing what we do here in remembrance of him The CONTENTS The Death of Christ Jesus the principal thing to be
remembred in this Sacrament What kind of Death it was shewn in four Particulars How this Death is to be remembred The Benefits of this Remembrance laid down Though the Death of Christ be the principal thing that is to be remembred in this Sacrament yet that puts no stop to other Remembrances Christ's Example makes it lawful to preserve the memory of any signal Mercy or Providence we meet with Those that do not remember Christ's Death in this Sacrament do very much forget themselves The remembrance of his Death a Motive to forget the World and the Vanities of it This Remembrance the best Defensative against Sin The Prayer I. AS these words Do this in remembrance of me do necessarily import the Bread in this Sacrament to be a Memorial of Christ's Crucified Body or that which is to put us in mind of it and consequently suppose that Christ's real Body is absent so how Christ is to be remembred here must needs be worth our serious enquiry What Christ calls Doing in remembrance of him the Apostle the best Interpreter of his words stiles Shewing forth his Death 1 Cor. 11. 26. So that his Death is the thing that is to be remembred here by all the Communicants And that this Death is worth our serious remembrance will easily appear if we consider what Death the Death of Christ Jesus was For 1. It was the Death of God According to the Quality of the Person dying so his Death is more or less surprizing hence the Death of a King makes a greater noise in the World than that of a Peasant The Death remembred here is the Death of the King of Kings and though as God he could not dye yet it may truly be said that he that was God did die not in his Godhead but in his Humanity not as dwelling in a Light inaccessible but as dwelling in a Tabernacle of Flesh. Plutarch relates that he had heard his Master Epitherses tells this Story How in the Emperor Tiberius's time under whom Christ suffered intending to Sail into Italy he went aboard of a Ship laden with many Goods and Passengers One Evening coming near certain Islands call'd the Echinades the Wind slackening and the Ship being becalm'd with a slow pace they arriv'd at last at the Isle of Paxae Several of the Seamen and Passengers sitting up that Night and drinking on a suddain from off the Island came a Voice calling to Thamus the Master of the Ship thrice When you are come as far as the Palodes proclaim that the Great PAN is dead The Master and his Company doubtful what to do whether they should do according to the import of the Voice or no resolved at last if the Wind favour'd them to pass by the Palodes and say nothing but if they were becalm'd about that place then to cry as they were directed So sailing on and coming to the place they found themselves strangely becalm'd whereupon Thamus call'd aloud That the Great PAN was dead which words he had no sooner spoken but great Howlings and Sighings and Lamentations were heard By PAN the Heathens meant the God of the Universe or him that rul'd govern'd and influenced all and it 's probable this Voice had relation to Christ Jesus who suffered about that time at Jerusalem and that upon the news of this Death Howlings were heard it 's very likely this noise was made by Fiends and Devils whom the Death of the Son of God filling all in all put into those excesses of consternation and sorrow And lest any Man should object That the Furies of Hell had no reason to mourn at his Death but might rejoyce rather that their great Antagonist was gone it must be noted That they feared the Power and Virtue of that Death such Virtue as in a short time would make all the Powers of Darkness tremble and destroy their Empire When Abner Saul's General was carried to his Grave King David follow'd the Herse and said Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great Man fallen this day in Israel 2 Sam. 3. 38. If such a death as Abner's deserv'd to be taken notice of what must we think of the Death of the Lord Jesus Not a Great Man only but one of whom it was said Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy Hands Heb. 1. 10. How justly is this death remembred by his Followers And what a mixture of Passions Amazement as well as Gladness Trembling as well as rejoycing ought it to cause in all Christian Hearts to think that our God died for us A Captain hath his like a General his Fellow a Prince may be parallel'd with others a King may meet with others of his Rank and Quality but God hath no equal 2. It was the Death of a Person higher than the highest for his Enemies Regulus Codrus Mutius and among the Jews Moses had courage to die for their Country and the good of the People they were related to but still they were their Friends but here a Person ador'd by Angels worshipp'd by all the Host of Heaven the Comfort of Paradise the Joy of Seraphim the Terror of Devils the Lord of Life the Eternal Son of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person dies for Men for Men miserable and wretched for Men that were Sinners for Men that were proper Objects of his Justice for Men that were haters of God acted like Enemies had affronted their Maker Crucified their Redeemer came out against him as against a Thief who took pleasure in trampling on his Laws rejoyced in their Disobedience had made a Covenant with Hell conspired against him who had given them their Being laugh'd on the brink of Destruction were Heirs of Hell and had no other Inheritance but Damnation for such this wonderful Person dies and this makes his death miraculous and astonishing Rom. 5. 8. 3. It 's Death that Nature and all the Elements were confounded at and Heaven and Earth seem'd to be at strife which of them should be most concern'd at it insomuch that we are told of Dionysius the Areopagite the Person mention'd Acts 17. 34. when he was yet under the Clouds of Paganism that beholding the stupendous Eclipse of the Sun which happen'd about the time that the Saviour of the World died brake forth into this memorable saying That certainly either Nature was going to be dissolv'd or the God of Nature suffer'd If ever Nature endur'd a Convulsion-Fit it did now The Sun disdain'd to look upon the barbarity of the Murther and hid his Face that he might not see his Creator die The Earth trembl'd as if it were asham'd to see Men stupid at the dreadful Spectacle The Rocks broke as if they would testifie against the Sinners that could stand under the Cross without broken Hearts The Vail of the Temple was rent as if it would chide the Wretches that could see the
preferr'd before the lesser and Mercy many times comes to be a greater Duty than Sacrifice Ordinarily a Duty of God's Worship we have resolved upon ought to be preferr'd before a Duty of Civility and a customary visit is not to dash or hinder our intended Devotion God must first be pleas'd and then Man in things lawful and convenient yet Charity is of so great a value in the sight of God that many times he bids us prefer that before Devotion When my Neighbors House is on fire I am bound to run and endeavour to quench that though the hour is come that I use to enter into my Closet to pray to my Father in secret and my sick Neighbor wanting my help and assistance I may justly prefer a charitable Visit before my accustomed Suplications Nor is this all the Order that is to be observ'd in Duties The business of our calling must be begun with Prayer and concluded with Thanksgiving and he that when first he awakes in the Morning lets his first Thoughts be of God and when he is up and dress'd applies himself to singing of a Psalm or to meditating in the Law of God by reading a Chapter in the Bible with attention then kneels down to Prayer either by himself or with his Family and afterwards goes to his lawful employment and in the midst of that imployment forgets not that God sees and hears him but runs up often with his Thoughts to Heaven takes notice of God's Providences and before he goes into company arms himself with Holy Ejaculations against Sin and Infection and at night reviews what he hath been doing in the day-time such a person acts orderly and draws a Blessing down upon the work of his hands not to mention the Peace he thereby procures to his Mind and Conscience 2. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew that after the Jewish Oeconomy another and much nobler Dispensation was to follow a Dispensation not of Shadows and Types and Images but of Truth of Reality and Accomplishment a Dispensation not requiring Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks but such as press'd Spiritual Sacrifices and Oblations a Dispensation not of Bondage and Slavery but of Freedom and Liberty a Dispensation which should be large and diffussve not confining its Priviledges and Influences to a single Nation but spread them abroad to the comfort of all the Inhabitants of the World None drank of the Cup of the Passover but persons circumcised but the Cup Christ takes here all Nations both circumcised and uncircumcised were permitted to participate of all Penitents what Kindred People Tongue or Nation soever they were of 3. He took this Cup after the Paschal Cup to shew there was greater Virtue and Excellency in this last than there was in the first After me comes a Man saith the Baptist John 1. 30. that is preferr'd before me for he was before me So it may be said of the Paschal Cup after that came a Cup which was far more Excellent and Glorious and Beneficial than the other Christ came after Moses after the Law after the Prophets yet went beyond them all in Light in Knowledge in Virtue in Goodness and in bringing glad Tidings And so the Passover tho' it was before the Lord's Supper yet doth this Supper of the Lord transcend the other by many degrees and both represents and confers sublimer Mercies than the roasted Lamb could do for here the Blessed Trinity manifests it self in greater charms than it did in the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in which St. John saw the Heavens open and the Holy Ghost descending on the Son of God in the shape of a Dove and the Father compleating the stupendious Scene with an Acclamation This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased For in this Sacrament the Holy Ghost falls on the Souls of sincere Believers as Rain on the Mowen Grass and as the Showers that water the Earth The everlasting Father not only tells us which is the Beloved Son but by setting his Sons death before us shews that he loved us in a manner better than his Son in giving that Son to dye for us than which nothing can be more kind nothing more surprizing the Son himself invites us and offers to wash us from our sins with his own Blood and assures us That being sprinkled with his Blood we are fafe and secure against all the Curses of the Law and the Thunders of Mount Sina These things were Mysteries and Paradoxes in the Passover but this Sacrament which came after it opens the door and lets us in to see this Glorious Representation and consequently is a Richer Greater Holier Sublimer and more Heavenly Ordinance than the Passover The Preeeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. AMong the Heathen Poets there is much talk of Circe's Cup which transform'd Men into Brutes and Swine a Fable whereby they represented how sensual pleasure transform'd Men into Creatures void of Reason and Discretion But the Cup we speak of hath contrary effects and Fire and Water are not more opposite than the operations of these two For this Sacramental Cup transforms Brutes into Men again and changes Beasts into the Image of the Son of God Sinner make but a trial of it thou I mean that hast not had so much understanding as the Swallow and the Turtle and the Crane for they know their appointed times whereas thou hast not known the time of thy return thou that hast rusht into Sin as the Horse rushes into the Battle thou that hast wallowed in the Mire with the Swine and acted like a Creature made of Earth and Dung. Take courage prepare thy self for drinking of this Cup purifie thy Soul for profane Hands must not touch it confess thine iniquity make War with thy Lusts Fight with thy carnal Desires and drink of this Cup and thou wilt find how thy Reason will clear up how thy Understanding will be enlighten'd how thy beastly Qualities will die The Blood in this Cup hath such Virtue in it that it will transform thee by the renewing of the Mind and make thee prove what is the Holy Perfect and acceptable Will of God It 's true the bare drinking will not do it but drinking it with Contrition with contemplation of the Person whose Blood is in the Cup with consideration of the Cause viz. the Sins that spilt it with thankfulness for the infinite Mercy of him that thus freely parted with it and with resolutions to love him that did not think his own Blood too dear to let it flow for the good of his enemies Petrus de Natalibus tells us of a Woman who having labour'd many years under very great infirmities of Body was brought exceeding weak but drinking one day accidentally out of the Cup that a Holy Man Scion by Name did use to drink of she was restored to perfect health Though we cannot promise that this Sacramental Cup will work such a Miracle of the Diseases of the Body
Such present Declarations of our consent admit us to the Blessings of this Covenant so that he who enters into this Covenant and is not willing presently and without delay to discharge the Conditions of it uses Tergiversations and equivocates with God and though a Man may intend that some time hereafter when he is freer from Business more clear in the World hath fewer Divertisements and is more at leasure he will not fail to perform all that is required of his part yet that will not satisfie nor answer the design of this Agreement for who knows what he shall do hereafter The present time is only in our Power and he that is not presently resolv'd is not likely considering the Temptations he may meet withal to do any great matters for God or for his Soul hereafter 5. This content must be absolute or which is all one without Reserves Secret Conditions have no place here And that Man is not fit for the Kingdom of God that desires first to bury his Father or to take his leave of his Friends and Relations and then to follow Christ Luke 9. 59. To consent to this Covenant and to reserve any one darling Sin to consent to the performance of the Conditions with exception of a single Lust which our Place Calling or present Circumstances will not let us part withal is a sign the Heart is not upright with God and a Man that hath not that high esteem of God's Grace and Favour he ought to have The Soul must come naked to the Cross of Jesus Here must be no Bargainings with a Tremendous Majesty no Proviso's as Pharaoh made with the Children of Israel when he was to let them go He was content the elder People should march and sacrifice to their God but the little Ones he would have staid God must not be told in this Covenant Lord If thou wilt let me enjoy this piece of Pride or give me leave to vindicate my Honour by avenging my self If thou wilt let me comply with such a sinful Mans humour wilt let me flatter him or dissemble with him for my Profit and Interest or if I thrive and prosper in my Trade Profession aud Imployment if I may enjoy temporal Felicity and live as happily as my Neighbours I freely consent to all the rest that thy Power and greatness expects at my Hands For this is to contradict the design of this Covenant which is to make us entirely his And that no Man may stroak himself with a Fancy that he never made and never intends such formal exceptions in his consent I must add that where a person doth actually reserve such things whether he doth formally and expresly except them or no the case is the same and is as much as if such formal exceptions had been made in our entring into this Covenant whatever our lot or fortune may be in the World whatever inconveniencies may happen in the strict observance of this contract those must be overlook'd for the greater benefits offer'd us on God's part in this Covenant VIII But here a question will arise If this Covenant be broken after it is thus ratified or establish'd in the Lord's Supper whether and how it may be renew'd To give a satisfactory answer to this point I shall lay down what is fit to be said to it in these following particulars 1. By Breaking this Covenant I mean to make it null not only on our side but also on God's part so that we can have no assurance no hope no rational confidence that God loves us any longer as his Confederates as his Friends and Children or with a love of complacency or that he is our reconciled Father or that we are dear to him and Heirs of Heaven or that the Promises of the Gospel belong to us in a word so to make it void as to put our selves in the same condition we were in before ever we had any thoughts of giving our selves up to Almighty God in a formal Covenant so as to become objects of God's Wrath and Indignation to whom is reserv'd the blackness of darkness for ever This being premised 2. Every thing that clouds or darkens the comforts arising from a sense of our being in Covenant with God cannot must not presently be interpreted a total breach of it There are many sincere Christian Israelites indeed in whom there is no considerable guile who either through weakness of understanding or through some bodily distemper seizing on their nobler parts or for want of consulting with some conscientious Divine or through vehement assaults of the Devil may not feel the streams of consolation which formerly used to flow into their Souls from the chearful apprehensions they had of their being united to God by a solemn Covenant who yet still go on to fulfil the conditions of this Holy Contract and are exceeding cautious of offending or acting against the Laws of it and most certainly the Mists and Fogs which obscure and dull the brightness of their comforts are no arguments of their having made void this Covenant or that God's Paternal affection to their Souls is gone For though they may even complain with Zion that the Lord hath forsaken them and their God hath forgotten them yet still they are Children of Light in the midst of Darkness and were but the noise of temptation over or the distemper which discomposes them abated they would soon hear God speaking to them in the Language of a Father Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have Compassion on the Fruit of hâ—r Womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have engraven thee on the Palms of my Hands Es. 49. 15. 3. No unallowed of Miscarriages I mean Miscarriages against the settled bent and resolutions of our Souls can be said to null this Covenant For God promising in this Covenant to be a tender and gracious Father to us in Christ Jesus we must needs suppose that as a Father pities his own Children so the Lord takes pity on them that fear him as we read Ps. 103. 13. Therefore as a Father who hath an obedient Son if he hear him speak a rash word or see him do an imprudent act he was never guilty of before and perceives him blushing as soon as he hath done it which shews the Error was not in his Nature or the effect of an evil Habit but caused by some accident or before he was aware and consequently doth not thereupon presently cast him off or turn him out of Doors or withdraw the affections and inclinations of a Father from him so neither doth God from his dear Confederates if sometimes by surprize they are overtaken in a fault upon which their Hearts immediately smite them and they take shame to themselves for this shews that it was not temper but temptation that caused this fall and that it was against the bent and settled inclinations of their Souls 4. Neither do blasphemous Suggestions null
and Feet and Gestures and Behaviour thy Reason Memory and Passion should all be at his beck move by his prescription act according to his appointment be seasoned with his Grace and conducted by his Wisdom If thou art content that all shall go rather than his Favour if his Love or a share in it be dearer to thee than the dearest of all outward enjoyments be of good cheer it 's a good sign and thou mayst rationally infer that thou art in Covenant with thy Lord and hast a right to all the priviledges that are annex'd to it for thy encouragement V. And here we may justly reflect what a mercy it is to be in Covenant with God a mercy indeed which no Tongue can express nay no Apollos neither as eloquent as he was can describe no Tertullus no Cicero no Demosthenes represent according to its worth a mercy which no Man knows save he who receives it a mercy weich fills the Tongues of departed Saints with praises a mercy which unhappy Souls that groan among Devils would give Millions for if they had them a mercy which sweetens all Conditions makes Sickness easie and Iron Chains sit soft mitigates pain and tempers grief and anguish A mercy which made the penitent Publican stand confounded amaz'd the humble Magdalen caused St. Paul to go chearfully through Stripes and Imprisonment and encouraged the Believers of old to defie death and torments He that is in Covenant with God enjoys all that Son of God enjoys though not as yet in fruition and possession yet in title and reversion God the Father carries him on his Wings as the Eagle doth her young the Eternal Son of God is his faithful Friend The Holy Spirit of God speaks to him in the still voice of peace and comfort He that is in this Covenant is safe in the midst of Spears and Arrows safe when he goes through the Water safe when he passes through the Fire safe when the Waves do roar safe when Hell gapes upon him safe in a Storm safe at Sea safe on the Shore safe in his Life safe in his Death God is concern'd for him in all his afflictions He is afflicted The Lord Jesus is touch'd with his infirmities and the Spirit of God makes intercessions for him with groans that cannot be utter'd In a word there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus to them that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. The PRAYER O God! whose pity is infinite whose compassion knows no bounds How shall I extol thy Humiliation How shall I admire thy condescension to this poor Worm Will God the Great the omnipotent God look upon such an one as I Wilt thou enter into a Covenant with this lump of Clay wilt thou tye and oblige thy self to do me good The Favour is wonderful I could not have thought it possible but that thou hast most graciously revealed it to me I believe Lord help my unbelief Behold I am Servant the Son the Daughter of thine Handmaid Be it unto me according unto thy Word I accept of thy offer I count my self happy that I may be admitted into Covenant with thee I renounce the Devil and all his Works Thou shalt be my Master my Father my Guide my Director my King and my God my Master to command me my Father to counsel me my Guide to lead me my Director to conduct me my King to rule me my God to dispose of me as thou pleasest I will know no Will but thy Will By the Blood of the Covenant unite my Will to thy Will Grant me to desire what thou delightest in desiring to search after it searching to know it and knowing it to fulfil it Make me O Lord for thou alone canst do it make me Obedient without contradiction Holy without defection Chast without corruption Patient without murmuring Humble without dissimulation Chearful without licentiousness Sorrowful without dejection Grave without affectation nimble in Religion without lightness Fearful without despair Upright without Hypocrisie and fruitful in good Works without presumption Give me a watchful Heart a Heart not easily drawn away by vain imaginations a Heart unbroken by afflictions unaffected with the vanities of the World that may not swell with prosperity nor sink in adversity Grant me understanding to know thee diligence to seek thee wisdom to find thee a readiness to please thee perseverance to wait for thee and confidence at last to embrace thee O Holy and Eternal Spirit I depend upon thy assistance Make me faithful to my God faithful to my Neighbour faithful to mine own Soul faithful in my Calling faithful in the discharge of my Duty faithful in my Promises faithful in my Conversation faithful in my Love faithful in my Obedience faithful in thy House faithful in mine own faithful unto Death that I may obtain a Crown of Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. XV. Of frequent receiving the Holy Communion and the necessity of it The ONTENTS Frequent coming to the Lord's Table the Practise of the Primitive Christians Receiving every Lord's Day an universal observance Different Customs in different Churches Decay of a good life the cause of Communicating seldom The necessity of frequent Communicating shewn in four particulars as the Eucharist is a great preservative against Sin an engagement to emulate Christ's Virtues a Motive to Charity and the frequent coming a thing very pleasing to God Inquiry made how often a conscientious Christian is bound to Communicate The measures of that Obligation to be taken partly from the Orders of the Church we live in and partly from the fervency of our love to Christ. An Objection drawn from the danger of contempt and disesteem of the Ordinance if we come often answered Arguments to prove that lawful business in the World is no just impediment of Communicating frequently An Expostulation pressing frequent Receiving The frequent Communicant an Object of Divine Mercy The Prayer I. THough the Example of the Primitive Believers is not properly a Law yet we may have leave to infer so much from it that being well acquainted with the Will of Christ and his Apostles in those Practises especially which were universal we ought not without very urgent reasons to depart from that Pattern and if this Rule hold frequent communicating at the Lords Table will become if not absolutely necessary yet highly useful and expedient since it was the practise of the best of Men in the best of Ages and of this the Acts of the Holy Apostles give us a very large account particularly Ch. 2. 42. 46. which place being generally understood of the Eucharist it must follow that the Believers did daily participate of it But this seems to have been a custom peculiar to the Church of Jerusalem for though St. â—yprian St. Chrysostom and St. Austin speak of some places in their time where the daily Sacrifice was celebrated yet even in the Apostles days we find other Churches did
or suffer my self to be enticed by it Every Man's Sin is a personal thing except in case of Scandal and the Offender only shall feel the Smart of it He that is free from the other's Offence shall be freed also from the Penalty due to the Offence and then what hurt do I receive by an ill Man's communicating in my Company I may eat with a Leprous with a diseased with a Gouty Man at a common Table and yet not participate of his Distemper And why should I share in his Guilt at the Lord's Table when I both abhor it and keep my self from the Infection The Soul that sins shall die is God's standing Rule Ezek. 18. 20. The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the Iniquity of the Son the Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him If therefore I approach with a practical Faith and another with Unbelief or which is all one with a Faith without Works shall his Unbelief make the Faith of God of no effect Rom. 3. 3. 2. What Hurt did the Guests receive at the Wedding-Feast Matth. 22. 11 12. by eating with the Man who had no Wedding-Garment Were they rejected by the Master of the Feast because they feasted in his Company No All that came adorn'd with a suitable Temper and in whose Spirit there was no Guile received the Caresses of the King and none but the profane Wretch felt the Thunder of the Prince's Anger of him alone 't is said Bind him Hand and Foot and take him away and cast him into Outer Darkness there shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth As he was singular in his Sin so he was singular in his Punishment His coming unprepared did not divest others of their Garments nor did his Misery reach those that sate down with him Their own Faith saved them while the other's Infidelity condemned him The Master doth not so much as frown upon the rest doth not so much as give them an angry Word nor doth he expostulate with them why they would bear him Company They charitably believed he was a good Man because he was invited with them and their Charity made their own Sacrifice acceptable while the other's was Abomination to the Lord. 3. If I see another Man whom I know to be or to have been a notorious Sinner kneel down by me at this holy Table he must not therefore be an Object of my Scorn but of my Pity and Compassion I can make an excellent Use of seeing him in my Company for I can pray for him and beg of God that he would over-awe his Spirit with a Sense of the Death of Christ and strike him into Repentance and Humiliation I can intreat my Heavenly Father to give him a Sight of the Errours of his Ways and Resolutions never to profane that Cross again on which the great Redeemer of the World suffered I can pray that his Sight of the Bleeding Jesus may work upon his Soul and fill his Heart with holy Compunctions and his Eyes with Tears I can pray that after this Communion he may take heed and sin no more that the Solemnity may leavâ— such a Fear upon his Spirit that he may dread to offend God more than putting his Hand in the Fire And where I do so I do at once exercise my Pity and raise mine own Devotion I imitate Christ on the Cross praying for his Murtherers and with him become a Sollicitor for those that have derided and spit upon him And this sure cannot make me an unworthy Receiver 4. Who hath given me a Key to other Men's Hearts whereby I can judge at the Receiving of the Eucharist that my Neighbour receives unworthily How do I know but that he who was vicious a Week ago may become a Penitent that Day Or Who assures me that he who did cast God's Laws behind him Yesterday may not this Day cry out O wretched Man that I am Who bids me trouble my Head about another's Receiving when I have enough to do with mine own Heart And while I give my self liberty to judge another is it not a very great Sign that I am not very sensible of mine own Vileness If I am truly concern'd about mine own spiritual Welfare I shall not be at leisure to dive into other Men's Lives and Consciences My own Sins will be Burthen enough to me that I shall not need to concern my self about another's Business If I give my self to Censoriousness at such times I lose my Charity and Humility And if the Rule be to esteem others better than our selves I do not very heartily obey that Precept while I suffer my Mind to dwell upon other Men's Faults and Errours Christianity bids me to have humble Thoughts of my self and if I think that all that receive with me may be for ought I know better than my self I assuredly prepare for God's Favour who ever gives Grace to the Humble 5. If Judas the Traytor was present at this Sacrament as well as the other Apostles and his being present did not make the rest unworthy Receivers why should I think that a wicked Man's coming with me to this Table should make me one That Judas was present at this Sacrament we have the concurrent Testimony of three Evangelists for they all confess that Jesus sate down with the Twelve to the Eating of the Passover and while they were eating Jesus administred the holy Sacrament to them So St. Matth. 26. 26. As they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body So St. Mark 14. 22. And as they did eat Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to them and said Take eat this is my Body Nay St. Luke is more express 22. 19 20 21. And he took Bread and gave Thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my Body c. But behold the Hand of him which betrays me is with me on the Table c. St. John indeed tells us that Judas having received the Sop in the Passover he went immediately out Joh. 13. 30. But since the Evangelist mentions nothing of the Sacrament his Silence about Judas's being present at the Sacrament can be no Argument and his Words may justly be construed thus Having received the Sop in the Passover and stay'd till the Sacrament was administred to him and the rest of the Disciples he immediately went out For the Sacrament being administred by Christ while they were eating the Passover by the Sop St. John must needs be supposed to understand both the Passover and that which was without Delay subjoyned to it i. e. the Sacrament And whereas it is objected that the Sacrament could not have been conveniently administred if the Traytor had been present that is a Supposition which contradicts the Matter of Fact recorded by the Evangelists And who
importunity Not the later but the former makes the Communicant an unworthy Receiver For 1. Hereby the Holy Spirit is excluded from taking possession of our Souls a Guest the Soul hath reason to make preparation for and from whose Presence it may date its fruitfulness and happiness Serious Thoughts invite him to our House and are the best attractives of that Glorious Light These are the Bed where he sows his noble Seed and on these he moves more powerfully than he did on the Waters of the first Creation by these we caress illapses and court his kinder irradiations As God's Majesty is described Psal. 104 3. That he makes the Clouds his Chariot and walks upon the Wings of the Wind so it may be said of Holy Thoughts in this Sacrament they are the Chariot and Vehicle on which the Spirit of the Holy Jesus makes his entrance into our Soul These dispose the Soul for his Gracious Communications and put her into a capacity of being Blessed and Enlightned by him where he spies these he addresses himself to the Soul in the language of the Spiritual Bridegroom Cant. 5. 1. I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my Myrrhe with my Spice I have eaten my Hony-comb with my Hony I have drank my Wine with my Milk Eat O friends yea drink abundantly my Beloved Which are nothing but Rhetorical Expressions of the Gracious Influences the Spirit of God is willing to confer on the Soul that makes preparation for him sweeps the House of the Rubbish of vain Imaginations and by Pious Contemplation makes the Chamber ready for his Entertainment and tho' these Expressions run all in the strain of the Perfect Tense yet in Holy Writ the Perfect and the Future Tenses are used promiscuously and as the Future many times stands for the Perfect so the Perfect Tense very often stands for the Future and the future Blessings are expressed by what is past to assure us of the certainty of them and that the Soul hath no more reason to doubt of them than if it did already actually enjoy then 2. Want of serious Thoughts is a kind of prophanation of this Ordinance Profanation of Holy Things consists not only in reviling and reproaching or actual perverting them to what is ill and forbidden but also in not using of them with that decency and seriousness which ought to be the proper Concomitants of them The Jews therefore Mal. 1. 12 13. are said to profane the House of the Lord not because they turned it as their Fore-fathers into a Den of Thieves or Mansion of Idolatry but because they did not bring suitable Oblations and those they brought were brought with an unwilling Mind and they look'd upon the Service of God as tedious and wearisome and did not offer such Incense as was pure nor such Sacrifices as were whole and sound and without blemish And certainly not only he prophanes God's Name that tears it with his Oaths and Curses and Blasphemies but he also that gives it not the Honour that is due to it Profanation of the Lord's Day is not only to sit Drinking and Revelling at home or to spend it in Play and Sports and Pastimes and Rioting and Drunkenness but not to sanctifie it by publick and private Devotion and if so not to bring Holy Thoughts to this Ordinance to the Altar of God and to the Cross of Christ must be a Profanation of these Mysteries as he that puts no Oil to the Lamp extinguishes its Light as much as he that blows it out Holy Thoughts are part of that Honour and Veneration we owe to this Ordinance and as Men count it an affront not only to be beaten but not to have that respect given them which is due to their Rank and Quality so God hath for greater reason to look upon it as a profanation of this Sacrament where Men bring not with them Thoughts pertinent to the Majesty and Holiness of the wonderful Things manifested and represented here and he that profanes this Ordinance cannot be supposed to Eat and Drink worthily IV. But it is not enough to give an exact description of the Sin the danger of it is the next thing we must speak of And this St. Paul says 1 Cor. 11. 27. is making our selves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. A great guilt certainly to be counted a murtherer of the Son of God and to be reckon'd among Jews and Infidels that embru'd their hands in the Blood of the ever Blessed Jesus for so much the Apostle's words import and if the unworthy Receiver incurs this guilt he needs no other argument to discourage him from his Sin and Impiety The Charge is dreadful nor must we therefore think that it is only spoke in Terrorene to fright People as we terrifie Children with strange things not that there are such things in being but to make them desist from their unlucky Enterprize or Frowardness No God need not make use of Bugbears nor must we imagine that what he saith hath the least shadow of untruth As dreadful as this Charge is he means what he says and speaks what he thinks and unworthy Receiving is neither more nor less than making our selves guilty of the Body and Blâ—â—d of the Lord Jesus And how this is done by him that Eats and Drinks unworthily deserves consideration 1. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of denying that the Body and Blood of Christ was sacrific'd for him As they that dishonour the Christian Râ—ligion by their covetousness and unrighteousness and lewd practices are said To deny the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1. because they live as if Christ had not bought them or had not redeem'd them from Iniquity So the unworthy Receiver being loth to mortifie his known and voluntary Sins even in the act of Receiving denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him His unwillingness to reform is a tacit denial of the Mercy and a Sign that he doth not believe it heartily For the Holy Ghost supposes that he who believes it with any seriousness will be affected with it and stand amaz'd at this Act of God even at this infinite immense unsearchable and incomprehensible Love that he who needs not the society of Men or Angels and can be Etenally happy without them should yet have that value and respect for Mankind who were his Prisoners and had forfeited their Lives to his Justice were the objects of his Wrath and had justly deserv'd to be banish'd from his Gracious Presence for ever as to find out a remedy whereby they might be restored to his Favour freed from their slavish Condition and admitted to his Bosom and such a Remedy as might at once assert his Justice and declare his Mercy and in order thereunto freely generously and without compulsion part with the Eternal Son of his Bosom prepare a Body for him a Body which might be capable of Dying and fall a Sacrifice at once
assert God's just Anger against Sin and keep off the fatal blow from Man at once defend God'ds Right and establish Man's Felicity and thereby put the poor miserable Worm in a capacity of becoming Heir to the Riches of God who was an Heir of the Treasures of Wrath and a companion of Blessed Spirits who had deserv'd to howl with Apostate Spirits a Child of Light who was a Son of Darkness and a Servant of Righteousness who was a Slave of Sin I say the Holy Ghost supposes that he that seriously believes all this will think nothing too good for God will not stand out against so great a Mercy will fight no more against so great and so good a Master but will submit to him be ready to run at his Commands give himself up to the Will of so great a Benefactor and will be hearty and sincere in serving him Now the unworthy Receiver being so far from doing this so far from turning to God with all his heart and with all his mind that he refuses the Dominion of God will be a Slave to his Sin still and had rather obey the Devil than this most bountiful Master who hath done so much for him by doing so denies that Christ's Body and Blood was sacrific'd for him for if he believ'd it he could not do as he doth and tho' he may protest by all that 's Good and Sacred that he believes it yet Words and Compliments will not absolve him and if talking were believing no Man that professes Christianity would ever be damn'd What doth a Malefactor's pleading at the Bar that he is not guilty signifie when the Evidences are strong and the Matter of Fact is prov'd against him Belief that doth not touch the Heart or renew the Mind or spiritualize the Affections is mere Infidelity and where this Belief is not to be found the Sinner is accused of denying the Mercy he pretends to believe And to this purpose saith the Apostle They profess that they know God but in their works they deny him Tit. 1. 16. So that the unworthy Receiver i. e. He that receives and yet will not reform whatever his Profession may be in his Actions he denies that Christ was Sacrific'd for him and therefore makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 2. He Eats and Drinks unworthily makes himself guilty of jesting with the Body and Blood of Christ As the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis speak He plays with the most tremendous things for in coming he seems to confess that by the Death of the Son of God his miserable Soul was redeem'd and a Pardon purchas'd for him and the Heavens made to bow to him and the good Will of God procur'd to save him for ever and yet he doth not think all this worth forsaking a sinful Lust or shaking a pleasing Dalilah from his Bosom and what is this but playing with the Body and Blood of Christ Should a Man make a very curious Harangue in commendation of his Neighbour compare him with Salomon for Wisdom with David for Sincerity with Jonathan for Faithfulness with Josiah for Piety for Generosity with Moses for Chastity with Joseph for Patience with Job with St. Paul for Courage with St. Peter for Zeal with Absolom for Beauty with Zacheus for Charity with Abraham for Hospitality nay with Angels for clearness of Understanding and for Purity of Life with Seraphim And when he hath done abuse and reproach him or do that which he cannot but know must be offensive and irksome or prejudicial to him gives the Spectator just occasion to think that all that flanting Panegyric was only a jocular thing design'd rather as an essay of Wit than as any real affection to the Virtues of the commended Party The unworthy Receiver doth in effect the same for his coming to this Sament is a tacit Commendation of Christ's Crucified Body and Blood whereby he seems to applaud the wonderful Works that Christ hath done for him and to proclaim to all the standers by what an Obligation that Death is to mortifie the body of Sin and to be true and faithful to him that did not count his Life dear to do him good and yet having no real purpose within whatever external Declaration he may make to become a new Man but after he hath been at this Table when temptations assault him temptations to his former sins yields to them as easily as ever plainly declares he was in jest when he seem'd to magnifie this Munificence of his Saviour and from hence it must follow that he is guilty of playing with the Body and Blood of Christ. 3 He that Eats and Drinks unworthily seems to wish that Christ may dye again and upon that account is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord for in that Christ's Death is not efficacious to pull down the strong holds of Sin in him or rather in that he will not let that death prevail with him to the mortifying of his sinful Lusts he seems to wish for an iteration of that Death which may be more powerful and have a greater influence upon the destruction of his Sin It is a Declaration as it were that the Death of Christ as the case stands doth no good upon him and therefore since the Death of the Son of God must be the means to break the power of Sin in him he stands in need of another death of that Saviour which may do greater miracles upon his Soul or sinful Temper Christ's Death indeed must break the reigning power of Sin but then a Person in whom this effect is to be wrought must apply that Death think upon it warm his Heart with the Consideration of it ruminate upon the Motives of it and upon the greatness of his own Sin that occasioned it and upon the vast Advantages that flow from that Death and be restless with God to make it effectual to his Soul For to think that this Death will do the work without our Labour or Industry or pondering the weight and moment of it is to imagine that God will deal with us as with Brutes that have no understanding As Christ died once in the end of the World so his Death spreads his Virtue to all Penitents from the beginning to the end of the World But wherever it works a serious Reformation it must be improv'd by Faith and Thoughts and Prayer and Contemplation and should Christ dye a thousand times if these means be neglected his dying so often would signifie little to the inconsiderate Spectator This is the monstrous Fancy of some Men that they hope the Mysteries of Religion will or must change their Hearts without any trouble of their own which Conceit must needs make them contemptible in the sight of an All-wise God who sees them neglect the Powers and Faculties he hath given them The unworthy Receiver therefore finding no good by this Death of the Lord Jesus for it makes no alteration in his
Offence the Interest of the Subject is to keep the Law not to quarrel with the Sanction At this rate a Man might plead What great matter is there in opening a Window at Night to get into an House to steal some small inconsiderable thing in the House And shall this be made Felony without Benefit of the Clergy All wise Law-givers have their Reason why they inflict severe Penalties upon Offenders and 't is fit that an Infinite Majesty should both threaten and appoint Punishments suitable to his Grandeur Where the Law and the Sanction of it is sufficiently known Men do not accuse the Law-giver of of Cruelty if the Offender runs himself into Danger but rather blame the senseless and foolish Man who knowing the Severity of the Sanction might have easily denied himself in his sinful Purchase and secured his Life and Welfare And the less the Fault is for which a severe Punishment is appointed the more easily might it have been avoided and not to avoid it when the Forbearance was so easie is an Argument of strange Presumption so that the Contempt and Presumption are so severely punished and not the Fault it self Let us apply this to the Case in hand The Supreme Law-giver thinks fit to inflict Damnation on the unworthy Receiver Either this unworthy Receiving is a very littâ—e Sin or a very great one If a great one the Punishment cannot be thought too great for it is proportion'd to the Greatness of the Authority which is despised and to the infinite and incomprehensible Mercy which is slighted not to mention that unworthy Receiving is a Complication of many Sins and more than one go into the Composition If it be little it is more easily shunned and then the Presumption comes to be very great and that Presumption is justly punished with great Severity Besides Who can judge so well of the Contempt and the heinousness of it as he that knows all things and can best judge how great the Indignity is which is offered to God in the Sin Nay the Greatness of the Penalty discovers the Greatness of the Impiety the Foulness of the Crime the deep Dye of the Transgression and the dangerous Tendency of the Offence A Christian from the Greatness of the Penalty is to conclude there must be more in the Sin than appears to his Eyes and to infer that if the Offence were not greater than ordinary so severe a Penalty would not have been laid upon it So that at the same time the Greatness of the Punishment serves to fright the Sinner from continuing in his Sin against he comes next to the Table of the Lord and is a strong Engagement to him to take nobler Resolutions to come with greater Reverence and with better Purposes that he may escape Damnation 2. That which makes the Penalty just is the Reason the Apostle gives 1 Cor. 11. 29. Because he discerns not the Lord's Body And what is it not to discern the Lord's Body 1. The unworthy Receiver discerns not that the Bread and Wine in this Ordinance set apart for an holy Use and consecrated by the Words of Institution represents the Body and Blood of the Son of God Which Consideration should over-awe him into the greatest Reverence and Devotion He considers not that by laying his Hands upon the Body of the Son of God he vows Faith and Allegiance to him and therefore refusing that Faith and Allegiance in his Actions is supposed to look upon that Bread as common which God hath made representative of the greatest Mystery He considers not that by eating of this Bread his Soul at the same time pretends to feed on the Body of Jesus Christ and to apply the Mercies and Benefits of his Death whereby he brings himself under an Obligation to live as a Member of Christ's Mystical Body not according to the Lusts of the Flesh but according to the Will of him that bought him at so great a Price And being at the same time unresolved to do so he mocks the Lord Jesus Christ and plays with Vows made in a place where Angels give their Attendance 2. He discerns not he considers not what it is for God to take a Body upon him for a poor Sinner's sake to redeem him from Damnation For God to take a Body upon him is a thing so astonishing so miraculous that if the greatest Prince of the World should voluntarily make himself a Beggar and wallow in Dirt and Slime to deliver a Slave out of Prison in a Foreign Country it is not so much nor a thing of that great Consequence For God to take a Body upon him that he might die for the Sinner and make him capable of inheriting Everlasting Bliss is a Mercy which runs so high that Reason is at a loss and it is enough to make the Mind grow giddy at the Consideration and consequently it is so great an Engagement to devote our selves to the Service of that God who hath done this that no Obligation can be thought greater or more likely to prevail with Men of Common Sense and Ingenuity And therefore for the unworthy Receiver not to discern or consider this must be a Contempt that is without a Parallel 3. He considers not that it is the Body of his Lord and Master that is present in the Figure in this Ordinance even the Body of that Lord whose Servant he is and owns himself to be He discerns not that in eating of the holy Bread he acknowledges Christ Jesus to be his Lord and Master at whose Beck he means to run by whose Command he intends to act and by whose Will he designs to be ruled So that the unworthy Receiver runs himself into strange Contradictions He acknowledges at the Receiving of the Eucharist that Christ is his Lord and Master and yet is not willing to be govern'd by his Laws his Lust and sinful Desires still continue his Masters the Devil is still his Master the World is still his Master and Sin still reigns in his Mortal Body Christ is only his Master in shew these in good earnest he in Complement these in sober Sadness And when this Contempt hath all these Aggravations in it who can complain that God is unjust in inflicting Damnation on the unworthy Receiver if he turns not IV. But still they were only the prophane Corinthinians against whom this Judgment is denounced Men who came drunk to this holy Sacrament And since no Body in this Age can be presumed or supposed to come in such a Posture to this Sacrament why should the Penalty mentioned by St. Paul be enforced upon Men now living who are not guilty of the same Sin and in no possibility almost of committing it i. e. of coming drunk and disguised to the Lord's Table To which I answer 1. Not to mention that Whatever things are written afore-time are written for our Learning 't is a great Mistake that the Apostle restrains the Penalty to being drunk with Wine or any other
satisfactions hath not this been counting the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing 21. But behold the hand of him that betrays me is with me on the Table AND didst thou never approach the Table of thy Lord with a treacherous Heart O my Soul Hast not thou pretended Friendship when thou hast been an Enemy while thou hast been loth to part with a darling bosom sin or to examine what secret sins thou wert guilty of that thou mightest not be forced to part with them Hast not thou shewn much love with thy Lips while thy Heart hath gone astray from thy Redeemer Thou hast it may be confessed thy self to be a sinner in general and so hast joyned thy self to the croud of God's People and come to the Supper of thy Lord But while thou hast been loth to descend to any particular sins hast not thou thereby discovered thy secret love to sin and thy feigned and counterfeit love to the Holy Jesus 22. And truly the Son of Man goes as it was determined but woe unto that Man by whom he is betrayed HOW dreadful a thing is it to be instrumental in a Sin And yet thou hast made nothing of it O my Soul How hast thou suffer'd thy self to be imployed by others in things which have been apparently unlawful How apt hast thou been to tell a Lye after another especially for a near Relation or a Superiour How apt hath thy Conscience been to dispense with Offences against a Gracious God to please those from whom thou hast expected some benefit and advantage Hath not the Word of God been Blasphemed by wicked Men through thy neglect of thy Saviours Commands How often hast thou scandalized and given offence to other Men by thy unchristian And how little hast thou minded the threatnings of the Holy Ghost in this case And while thou hast not only sinned thy self but holpen to draw others into sin hast not thou thereby made thy self lyable to the Righteous Judgment of God 23. And they began to enquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing INdeed Self-examination is the only way to come to a right knowledge of our selves Yet how careless O my Soul hast thou been of this Duty How easily mightest thou have found that thou wert guilty of such a sin and didst transgress such a Command but thou would'st not How much better is it to be acquainted with our own Hearts than to be strangers to our selves And what danger dost thou involve thy self in for want of this Holy search How dost thou prepare for Self-delusion And how impure must thy Heart grow what a Dunghil what a sink what a stye of filthiness where it is not purged by such explorations The Disease being known it may be cured but lying hid it kills and destroys when we think all is safe How easie a matter were it to enquire whether thou art that Hypocrite that unprofitable servant that loiterer that slothful Person that busie body which the Holy Ghost condemns Yet thou hast shunned this search and been afraid of it as of Poison Whereas it is the only Medicine from which thou may'st promise thy self an happy recovery 24. And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted greatest SEE how worldly Thoughts will croud in if we do not watch even when we are engaged in the most serious acts of Worship And hast not thou found such worldly sensual Thoughts enter into thy Mind O my Soul when thou hast been employed in the greatest Duties even at the Holy Sacrament it self And have not they come in with thy allowance and approbation and when they have surpriz'd thee hast not thou harboured them made much of them and been loth to expel them How reverend should thy Thoughts be upon such occasions How free from such Extravagancies How sequestred from a vain World How should they be taken up with the love of God! How should the Glory of God ingross their strength and power See by this which way thy Byass leans Behold by this how strongly thy Heart bends to things below O when will it fix upon the things which are above 25. And he said unto them the Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors HOW unfit and improper is it for a Christian to conform to the Word As improper as for a Man of reason to imitate Children or Mad-men Yet how fond hast thou been O my Soul of the pomp and glories of this World How hast thou admired the Riches and the Grandeur of it How hast thou wished thy self in such a great Man's place Though the Apostles were somewhat ambitions before Christ's Ascension into Heaven yet after the effusion of the Holy Ghost they saw with other Eyes and despised these sublunary Honours and Dignities as much as they esteemed them before O my Soul when wilt thou follow this great example By the Rules of thy profession thou art to despise the World and though thou art in the World yet not to love the World Notwithstanding this Command how dost thou hancker after these Onions and Garlick those certain Marks of the House of Bondage How strong is thy Appetite to follow the fashions of the World And how apt art thou to make the humour of the age thy pattern 26. But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve AY Self-denial is that which doth best become a Christian that 's the best Ornament he can put on and which makes him look most lovely in the Eyes of God Yet how inconsiderable hath this dress been in thine Eyes O my Soul How loth hast thou been to deny thine Eyes such a dangerous object thine Ears such a Syren's Voice thy Mouth such a delicate dish thy Feet such vain company thy Tongue such a smutty jest thy Hand such a lustful touch and thy Mind such a lascivious or covetous thought How hast thou thought thy self undone when thou hast not had what thy sensual appetite did crave and how raging have thy desires been after that which would ruin thee How loth hast thou been to deny thy self in superfluities and to bestow them on the poor How hard hast thou thought it to shun such a place where thou knewest thou shouldst be tempted and be perswaded unto Sin 27. For whether is greater he that sitteth at Meat or he that serveth Is not he that sits at Meat But I am among you as one that serveth HOW beautiful is Humility The Son of God himself is enamoured with it tho' his business was to Command not serve yet he chuses to serve rather than to exercise Authority How unlike thy Saviour hast thou been O my Soul How Proud How Self-conceited How apt to prefer thy self before others And how apt to think better of thy self than others How apt to
Temptations were stronger than my Purposes and when they came I fell This Sickness Lord I am still apt to fall into and though by thy Grace I act sometimes according to my good Intentions and Resolutions yet how often do I miscarry in this point Lord give me not only good Inclinations but Courage to perform them too Oh let me not think it enough to entertain good Wishes in my Soul but make them so strong that the Good I intend and purpose may break forth like the Sun from a Cloud into a perfect Day 17. For of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast VVHen the Paschal Lamb was to be killed the Jews had a Prisoner released to confirm the Memory of their Deliverance from the House of Bondage O Lamb of God! When thou diedst thou openedst the Prison-door for all Mankind to come out Thou didst proclaim Liberty to all Men captivated by Sin and the Devil O wonderful Release This makes me admire how Men after this Liberty procured for them by thy Death should yet be fond of their Prisons still and delight in Slavery and the Bondage of Iniquity Oh Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy Name The Righteous shall compass me about when thou shalt deal bountifully with me 18. And they cried out all at once saying Away with this Man and release unto us Barabbas A Monstrous Choice To prefer a Man before God a Son of Death before the Lord of Life a Malefactor before Innocence it self a Murtherer before the Saviour of the World Darkness before Light a Villain before the Son of God! Yet blessed Jesu such a sad Choice I have made too often when I have preferred the Cares of the World before the better part and while I have condemned these wicked Men and been in a kind of Passion to see and hear of their Impiety have unawares sunk into this Sin my self by preferring a Trifle before thy Will and a foolish Satisfaction before Rest in thy Bosom and an Interest in thy Favour and the Things of this World before a more glorious Reversion in another Life Pardon my desperate Choice And let me henceforward prefer thee who art fairer than the Children of Men before all that my Flesh doth promise or the World give For one thing is needful even thy Love of Complacency and if I have that it shall not be taken away from me 19. Who for a certain Sedition made in the City and for Murther was cast in Prison PRisons are fit Places for Malefactors not only upon the Account of securing Humane Societies from Enemies but also because such Sinners being removed from Temptations and Objects that enticed them to do ill and under pressure may think of God and reflect upon their wicked Lives and come to a sincere Repentance Yet when they are delivered out of their Durance their Lives very often are the same that formerly they were O my dear Redeemer Thou hast made me a Prisoner sometimes by Sickness and other Disasters in hopes that the Affliction might work upon me and the Fire I was in would make me a new Man yet when thou hast freed me from this Prison I have re-assumed my former Liberty in sinning Oh let it be so no more And seeing I am made whole let me take heed and sin no more lest worse things happen unto me 20. Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus spake again to them HEre I see greater Charity and Tenderness in an Heathen than in those who had the lively Oracles of God What a strange Sight is this to see Uncircumcision which is by Nature fulfilling the Law judge them who by the Letter and Circumcision do transgress the Law How many excellent Acts of Vertue do I see and read of in mere Pagans that had nothing but the Light of Nature to direct them Acts which I do not come up to that have the Light of Heaven to shine upon me O Jesu make me ashamed of my Backwardness and let my Righteousness exceed that of Men which do not call upon thy Name lest it be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in that Day than for me 21. But they cried saying Crucifie him crucifie him THis was the most infamous Punishment that any Man could be condemned to Ah Wretches Did not your Hearts smite you when you said so Will nothing serve you but the most ignominious Death a Death which none but Slaves were destin'd to What a brutish thing is Wrath and Anger It stops its Ears against all common Ingenuity and Reason It doth things in haste which must be repented of by leisure Lord Jesu I remember what unreasonable things I have done when my Passion hath been up things I am ashamed of now Oh leave me not to these Winds and Tempests Oh let me learn of thee for thou art meek and lowly in Heart that I may find Rest for my Soul 22. And he said unto them the third time Why what Evil hath he done I have found no Cause of Death in him I will therefore chastise him and let him go O Jesu 'T is very true thou hast done no Evil neither was Guile found in thy Mouth When thou wast reviled thou didst not revile again when thou sufferedst thou threatnedst not Thou wentest about doing good no Man could convince thee of any Sin Thou wast good and didst good even to those that now cried Crucifie him Thou camest to discourage Men from Evil it was thy Province to destroy the Works of the Devil and to make Men Partakers of the Divine Nature Goodness was in thy Nature and all thy Actions breathed of it Thou wast tender of Men's Good of the Good of their Souls and Bodies Oh make me conformable to thy Goodness Let me abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Let thy Goodness be my Pattern and let me ever rejoyce in thy Goodness Make me steadily and invincibly good good unto Death that I may receive a Crown of Life Thy Goodness endures for ever Give mine the same Duration Oh touch it with thy Light and it shall burn bright for ever 23. And they were instant with loud Voices requiring that he might be crucified and the Voices of them and the Chief Priests prevailed THE Devil was let loose in these Sinners and see how he rages He makes them leap Bogs and Ditches and a Thousand Precipices to get their Wills accomplished The Damned in Hell were not more outragious than these Men. Lord Jesu What are we when left to our selves or to the Power of the Enemy Thou camest to redeem me from this Power Oh let me come under it no more Once I dwelt under that Tyranny I now serve a gentler Master Oh let me serve thee not with Eye-service as a Man-pleaser but as a Servant of God doing the Will of God from the Heart 24. And Pilate gave Sentence that it should be as they required THese Brutes threaten to accuse him
Midnight at other times working day and night for the support of themselves and Companions which we must suppose was not consisting with great prolixity in set Meditations The PRAYER O My God and Saviour I am very sensible that I have great Obligations to love thee upon the account of my Creation Preservation and daily Blessings I receive from thy liberal Hand But that which even forces me works upon me powerfully and as it were pushes me forward and compels me to love thee is the bitter Cup of thy Sufferings which for my sake thou didst drink off and the mighty work of Redemption which renders thee altogether lovely to my Soul That admirable and incomparable Testimony of thy Love is a stronger attractive makes a greater impulse and it a sweeter and a softer Cord to bind any Heart to thy Service To effect this Work thou hast taken more than ordinary pains When thou didst first create me it cost thee no more than a Word speaking but to reinstate me in that Bliss I had lost and forfeited thou wast at the greatest expence and charge imaginable Of the Sovereign Lord of the World thou becamest a Servant of Rich extremely Poor of the Eternal Word a Man and of the Son of God the Son of Man so that though I was made of nothing yet I was not Redeem'd by nothing Thou spentest but Six days to Create and frame the World but Three and thirty Years were spent to accomplish my Ransom and Restitution to God's Favour and O what trouble what misery was this thy Life fill'd withal Thou didst humble thy self to Flesh to Death to the Death of the Cross and to effect this Glorious Work wast content to be clad in Flesh to be punish'd with Death and to be disgraced by the Cross for this miserable Worm Thou didst do much and suffer much that I might love thee much and because the Facility of my Creation did not move me much thou therefore wast content to be at an excessive trouble in my Redemption thereby to charm my Soul the more and to plant in me greater Resentments of thy Charity To this end thy Side was opened with a Lance that all Men might look into thy Wounds and into thy very Heart and see how it bled for Love To this end thy Sacred Head did bend to the East thy Feet were extended to the West and thine Arms spread ' to the North and South to let People in all parts of the World see how much thou lovedst them and thereby to draw their Hearts and unite them to thy self for ever O let not mine be cold under this wonderful sight and while I see my God buffeted my God crown'd with Thorns my God struck on the Face and my God giving up the Ghost let all that is within me be touch'd and quickned and enliven'd and encouraged to cleave and to cling to thee for ever Amen Amen CHAP. XXIII Of Self-Examination the Second Act of Preparation for this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS A wonderful thing that this Sacrament works no greater Effects One great Reason of it Want of Self-Examination The Necessity of Self-Examination proved by three Reasons How it must be managed The Rule of it the Word of God A Catalogue of Sins and Duties These to be considered with respect to our Temper and Inclination The great Objection about the Intricacy Difficulty and Tediousness of this Task answered and a Way laid down whereby it may be made facile and easie and delightful Some Rules to be observed in the Practice of this Self-Examination that it may become effectual The Errour of some Churches in the Primitive Times who gave this Sacrament to Children and Infants As soon as Persons are able to examine themselves they are bound to come to this Sacrament Another Man 's examining of us is not enough without Self-Examination The Prayer I. ONE of the most wonderful things in the Christian World is that such a Sacrament as that of the Eucharist should be instituted by the Great Saviour of Mankind A Sacrament wherein the most stupendous Blessings are offered to Men and that Men should receive it so often and no greater Effects should appear upon their Lives and Tempers after their Participation of it Which is as much as to say that Fire gives no Heat and the Sun no Light Health affords no Cure Abundance keeps Men poor and the most wholsome Meat produces no Nourishment That which makes the thing the more strange and astonishing is this That God makes nothing no not the least Drop of Rain nor the least Grain of Sand but for some excellent End and therefore must be supposed to have ordained this Sacrament for the most noble Ends imaginable And if the Effects he designs by this Ordinance be such as our Liturgy tells us For then we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we are one with Christ and Christ with us If these be the designed and intended Effects of this Ordinance as certainly they are it must be Matter of Astonishment to see so little of these Effects produced in the many Communicants that appear at this holy Table And what can we ascribe these Defects to but to Men's Indisposition In Natural Things Philosophers tell us the Causes of Things how excellent soever are determined in their Effects by the Disposition of their Subjects For which Reason we see that the Sun melts Wax and hardens Clay makes some things pure and white and others black and the same Meat being eaten by different Persons causes Health in one and Sickness in another And no doubt the same Rule will hold in Grace too and therefore that this Sacrament works not those admirable Effects intended by Christ in abundance of Persons must be for want of a suitable Preparation Vessels hold more or less Water according to their Capacity if the Vessel be little it will hold but little And according to the Disposition of our Souls so we receive much or less or nothing at all in this Sacrament And one of these excellent previous Dispositions is Self-Examination expresly enjoyn'd by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. II. Though it be in a manner needless after I have laid down the Apostle's Command to prove the Necessity of this Self-Examination yet for a â—uller Satisfaction of the Reader I shall enquire into the Reasons of the Necessity which are these following 1. All great Actions require Deliberation This is a Maxim all Mankind agrees in 'T is a common Principle And we count that Man a Fool that attempts an Action of great Concernment without it And Christ himself hath taught us to do so Luk. 14. 28 29. For Which of you saith he intending to build a Tower sits not down first and counts the Cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after
mighty Hunger and Thirst after thy Love in my Soul Such an Hunger and Thirst that I may be unsatisfied with any thing but thy Love Let thy Love work upon me with that Efficacy that I may think my self afflicted and poor and miserable till I love thee fervently VI. Blessed Jesu Who would not love thee Who would not wish to be enamour'd with such Charity as thine is to the Sons and Daughters of Men If we love thee not it is because we do not know the Vehemency and Power of thy Love Had we a clear Sight of it our Souls would run after thee and nothing could stop them from clinging to so amiable an Object Lord give me that lively View of thy Love that nothing may charm me more than thy Love VII Great King of Saints pity me I would love thee but thou seest what Impediments come between thy Love and my blockish Heart Innumerable Temptations my perverse Will my Self-love my Passions and my other Imperfections Oh how these hinder me from loving thee O my Gracious Master Let me detest and abhor all these Enemies that would hinder me from loving thee Stretch forth thy mighty Arm and destroy these Foes that I may entirely love thee VIII O Jesu Thou art all Love all Goodness all Charity And Oh what Opposition do I find in my self to love thee O Love Divine Where is thy Strength thy Force and thy uncontrollable Power O my Lord Why dost not thou shew it Why dost not thou exert it for my Help Why do not thy Celestial Flames consume in me all that is contrary to thy Love Oh! When wilt thou establish the Life of Love even that Divine Life in my Soul IX O Omnipotent Love I leave my self to thy Management Enter enter into this frozen Heart and erect thy Kingdom and thy Empire there Undo what thou pleasest and build up what thou pleasest Let every Desire of my Soul become subject to thee Subdue every Imagination that would refuse to be at thy Command And make me willing to submit to any thing so I may but love thee X. Most lovely Saviour Shall any thing hinder me from loving thee Shall my Body I will subdue that Beast Shall my Sins I will drown them in thy Blood Shall the World or the Creatures here below No no I will renounce my Love to them I will despise them all They have too long excommunicated thee from my Soul I will make no more Account of my Praises of my Pleasures of my Vanities I will look upon them all as Dreams and Smoak and I will hate them as much as they have hated thee Great Centre of my Soul XI Great Sovereign of my Love Thou hast sent me into the World on purpose to love thee What a noble what an excellent what an holy End is this Think of the Honour think of the Favour think of the Dignity O my Soul that God hath laid upon thee That he that could have eternally enjoyed himself in his own Love should speak a Creature into Being and ordain that Creature to love him Oh how happy am I that God hath given me an Heart to love him O my Jesus Let me die a Thousand Deaths rather than lose thy Love XII O Love Divine Be thou the Life of my Life the Soul of my Soul the Spirit of my Spirit Let me think of thy Love and speak of thy Love and do Acts worthy of thy Love and let all my Conversation savour of the Love of Jesus Whatever I do let me do it for thy sake Let thy Love put me upon Acts of Charity and let every Vertue I exercise be the Product of thy Love XIII O Jesu Thou art my All All other things are nothing in comparison of thee And I would love nothing but in thee and for thee I would see thee in all things and love thee in every thing I do Thou art my greatest Friend my only Friend Thou art my Brother my Father my Husband and my Chief Thou art All in All to me And Oh that my All might be consecrated to thy Service XIV My dearest Saviour There is nothing in Heaven or in Earth so worthy to be loved as thou Oh how amiable art thou Yet the World doth not so much as think of thee They think of nothing but offending thee They hope to be saved by thee and yet do what they can to dishonour thee Let this very Consideration inflame my Love to thee Oh that I could love thee as the whole World ought to love thee XV. Great Son of God! I was bound to love thee as soon as I came to the Use of my Reason Yet how long hath it been before I thought of loving thee O my Lord how late do I begin to love thee How long have I hated thee How many Years together have I despised thy Love When I think of this I have reason to wish for a Sea of Tears nay for Tears of Blood to wash away my monstrous Ingratitude XVI O Beauty Eternal and Infinite If I were to live eternally here on Earth I were bound eternally to love thee How much more then during my short Stay here on Earth O my Lord consecrate my Life to thy Love Let every Day and Hour of my Life be employed in thy Love and make me ambitious of nothing more than to love thee to all Eternity XVII O thou Everlasting King At the Price of thy precious Blood thou hast bought every Moment of my Time that I might employ it in loving thee How much of that Time have I employed in loving the World and the Creatures How much of that Time have I lost in loving things I should not love 'T is time that I begin to employ my Hours about that for which they were designed And since they were given me to love thee Oh transform all my Desires into Aspirations and Breathings after thee XVIII O my Jesus Thou art so perfect and so lovely that if all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth should joyn their Forces together to love thee they could not love thee sufficiently and if I had a Thousand Hearts they would all be little enough to sacrifice to thy Love O then how am I oblig'd to employ that little Strength I have to love thee Oh that all Mankind might love thee Oh fill them all with a Sense of thy Love Draw them attract them unite their Hearts that they may love thy Name XIX O God of my Life Thou hast been always employ'd in loving me Thou didst create Heaven and Earth to testifie thy Love to me All that thou ever didst in this World for me was to shew how thou lovest me All the Spiritual and Temporal Blessings thou hast sent upon me tell me that thou lovest me But what greater Testimony of thy Love can there be than thy Dying for me As thy Love is perpetually exercised towards me so let mine be continually exercised towards thee And let me glory and
rejoyce in nothing so much as in this that I love thee XX. O my bountiful Saviour O my loving Redeemer When when shall it be that I shall love thee perfectly Here on Earth I must not hope for this Happiness but in Heaven I shall O Heaven Heaven How desirable art thou Where the Love of Jesus shall eternally reign in my Soul Where my Love shall be perfectly pure perfectly Seraphick perfectly Extatical and Eternal Ages shall not alter it At present I am in Prison encompassed with a Mortal Body and must sojourn in a wicked World Oh when will that Day that Hour that Minute that happy Time come that I shall be delivered from this Dungeon and translated to that place where Love is all in all where Love knows no End no Decay no Period where it is pure without Mixture invariable without Changes eternal without ceasing Come Lord Jesu Come quickly Particular Acts of Devotion at the Acts of Consecration and Receiving of the Consecrated Bread and Wine At the Minister's pouring out the holy Wine into the Cup. O Jesu Who can think of the flowing of thy Blood without being desirous to be washed with it Or I fancy I do at this present stand under thy Cross and see thee bleeding for my Sins Or Oh. Let thy Blood flow upon my wounded Soul that I may become a sound Member of thy Mystical Body At the Minister's laying his Hand upon the Bread O Blessed Saviour Lay thy Hand upon my Soul that all my Distempers may depart from me Or Oh lay hold on my Soul as the Angel did on Lot Save me from the Flames and let me escape into the Mount of God that I perish not At the Minister's Breaking the Bread Lord Jesu In suffering thy Body to be broken for my Sins I see the Vehemence the Strength and Fervour of thy Love Oh make me all Love all Fervour all Charity Or Oh break the united Forces of my Sins scatter them by thy mighty Arm. Gather the broken Planks of Vertue in my Soul unite them make them whole and strong and secure against the Fury of Winds and Tempests At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Body Lord Let me look off from these material Things and shew me Things invisible and Heavenly Or O Lord The Benefits of thy wounded Body my Soul longs for Oh say They shall be thy Portion At the Minister's touching the Cup. Lord Touch my Soul that it may feel the Power of thy Super-abundant Charity Or Oh! Touch me as thou didst the Blind of old that I may see the Bowels of thy Compassion and rejoyce in the glorious Sight At the Minister's pronouncing the Words This is my Blood Lord My Soul wants Wine of another nature than is in this Cup Oh wash it and cleanse it and purifie it in thy Blood Or Lord Speak thou to my Soul and say I will be thou clean At the Receiving of the Bread Lord Let thy Death be my Life And the Bread represented by this Bread feed me into Everlasting Life Or Lord As thou hast provided Food for my Soul so give me a Taste and Relish also of this Food and a Tongue to praise thy Name for ever Or Lord As thou hast given thy Body for me so I freely offer my Soul and Body as Living Sacrifices to thy Majesty At the Receiving of the Cup. Lord Nothing is more precious than thy Blood Oh! Let it warm my Heart that it may comply with thy Will wlthout wavering Or Lord Bid me look upon thy Blood and in thy Blood upon the Reconciliation wrought by it to the Comfort and Edification of my Soul Or O Lord I am heavy laden and my Pollutions are great And as thy Blood alone can remove that Burthen so free me from those Spots and Wrinkles which make me look deformed in thy Sight CHAP. XXVIII Of the proper Acts of Devotion after we have Received The CONTENTS The Time that is left after our Personal Receiving before all have Communicated not to be spent in Gazing or Looking about Acts of Devotion to be used after Receiving and relating to the Wisdom Mercy Liberality Love Goodness Greatness and Majesty of God to our own Vileness and Unworthiness c. IT falls out so often that when we have Communicated and our Souls have been fed at this Table a considerable Space of Time remains before the united Praises and Thanksgivings of the Congregation begin again This Time be it more or less must not be spent in looking about or in sitting still or in thinking of what Objects our Fancy is pleased to offer and present to us but in holy Aspirations And that the Communicant may know how to employ himself in that Interval it may not be amiss to set down some pious and proper Ejaculations whereby he may exercise his Mind according as Time will permit I. O God! Thy Love in Christ Jesus deserves to be praised admired and magnified There is all that in it which can engage a Soul to break forth into Praises and Hallelujahs There is Beauty Wisdom Condescention Mercy Liberality Sweetness Power Greatness Majesty in it and all these in the highest Degree which would force even a dumb Man to speak of thy Glory II. I adore thee O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity for that infinite Care of my immortal Soul which I see in all thy Proceedings and Transactions and particularly in the Cross of my dearest Redeemer Here thou seemest to empty all thy Stores and pourest out thy Grace abundantly upon the Heads and Hearts of thy Servants Behold Bless ye the Lord all ye Servants of the Lord which by Night stand in the House of the Lord Lift up your Hands in the Sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made Heaven and Earth hath blessed us out of Zion III. O Charming Son of God! I alone am not able sufficiently to praise thee and therefore I wish that every Drop of the Ocean every Grain of Sand every Leaf of the Trees of the Field and every Sprig of Herbs and all the Creatures that ever were or are or shall be might be turn'd into Seraphick Tongues to praise thee IV. O Jefu When I behold thy wonderful Love how it hath bowed how it hath stooped to so mean a Creature as I am the Thoughts of it force my Soul into the humblest and deepest Prostrations Thou art Beauty I am Deformity Thou art Wisdom I am Ignorance Thou art Light I am Darkness Thou art Omnipotence I am feeble Thou art Purity I am Filth and Dung Thou art rich I am Poverty it self Thou art happy I am Misery it self Thou art Perfection I am Weakness Thou art All in All I am nothing V. O Blessed Saviour When I see how Men fall in love with a mortal and fading Beauty which to Day shines bright as the Sun to Morrow by Sickness or Death is all tarnish'd and decay'd how do I blame my self that I do not love thee better whose
Word As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God Psal. 42 1. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord Psal. 84. 1 2. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy righteous judgments at all times And though I grant something of an Hyperbole in those Phrases yet still they import that his desires were strong hearty and vehement and such must be the desires of the Soul in eating the Lord's Supper to be conformable to her Lord and Master 3. It is to eat with unfeigned resolutions to resist all known temptations to those particular this we are most prone and inclined to this shews that we eat with an 〈◊〉 to grow strong and that this is a true Sacrament to us or a Vow whereby we tie our selves to be faithful to our General and to fight against his Enemies Many a man that comes to the Lord's Supper feels some faint resolutions against Sin in general but that works upon him no more than sparks of Fire serve to warm a frozen man and therefore it 's necessary that in eating a Christian should feel invincible resolutions to subdue those particular sins he is most apt to fall or rush into and to which his Calling Employment Converse and Figure in the World doth most solicite and tempt him else he beats the Air and fights with shadows and if he doth not single out those Enemies that are most apt to do him mischief resolution to fight against the powers of Darkness in general gives these unregarded sins that do him most hurt opportunity to live secure and to keep possession of what they have already got into their clutches The Preceeding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THE manner of any Religious performance makes it either pleasing or displeasing to God This turns the scales and two acts of Piety which seem to be the same many times are not because the manner of the performance makes a vast difference in the value The examples of the Publican and the Pharisee praying in the Temple and Abel's and Cain's offering Sacrifices are notorious instances of this truth David pays his Vows Psal. 66. 13. So doth the Harlot mention'd in Prov. 7. 14. The former is precious in the sight of God the later odious the reason is the former proceeded from a sense of gratitude and a relish of the Sweetness of God's Service the other from a base design to compensate God for the sins the strange Woman lived and delighted in It is so in eating the Lord's Supper and as St. Paul saith of the Jews They are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all children Rom. 9. 6 7. so all that seem to eat of the Lord's Supper do not therefore eat to the same purpose some eat as Enemies others as Children some as Strangers others as Domesticks some as Slaves others as Heirs of the Promise Look to the manner of thy Eating Christian. Eat like a person that is sensible he sits down at the Table of the greatest Prince the Prince himself being present Eat like a person sensible that the King in whose presence thou art is thy best and greatest Friend Eat like a person sensible that thou hast deserved to sup with Devils to feed on Flames and to drink the Dregs of the Cup of God's anger Eat like a person sensible that from the condition of a miserable Slave thou art advanced to the Dignity of a Child and Son of God Eat like a person sensible that no merit no desert of thine nothing but the incomprehensible Goodness of God hath brought thee to this Honour and Prerogative and it 's impossible thou canst eat amiss for this sense will oblige thee to eat with joy and trembling which is the most proper Devotion for a Creature to express in the presence of his Creator II. Conversation is a great means to do things as we ought He that converses with men of his own Trade will learn how to manage it to his advantage He that converses with great Persons learns how to please them He that converses with ingenious Workmen learns to do things to his and other's satisfaction The same Rule is to be observed in eating the Lord's Supper and he cannot but eat it to God's liking and his own comfort that before he eats converses with himself and while he is eating converses with God and after he hath eaten converses with the holy Angels 1. Conversing with our selves before we eat consists in asking our Hearts What have I done What sins are those that I am apt to lodge in my Bosom What evil desires am I ready to entertain What disorders what corruptions find countenance or approbation in my Soul Is it revenge Is it rendring railing for railing Is it frothy discourses Is it vain Romantick Imaginations Is it weariness of God's Service Is it backwardness to Holy Duties Is it unwillingness to to know the Will of God Is it discontent in the condition I am in Is it intemperance in Eating and Drinking Is it a desire of Vain-glory Is it sudden Anger Is it Impatience or Worldly sorrow Is it Grief and vexation that I cannot have my Will in such outward things as my Appetite desires Is it Lov◠and Affection to the Vanities of this World What dangerous Guests are those And shall I entertain them What are these but Enemies to the Cross And shall I make much of them or let them go out and in without controul Either these Corruptions must be gone or my Saviour will not stay with me Shall I with the Jews refuse my great Redeemers company and desire a Barabbas I am now going to the Cross of Christ and shall I approach with these Ensigns of Rebellion in my Soul Will Christ vouchsafe a favourable Look to me where he sees such Satyrs dance I am going to Mount Calvary and shall these menstruous rags be my Attendance No no I will not loose Heaven for this I will set my Face against these Foes I will let them see that there is something dearer to me than their Presence or Company even he who laid down his life for me These Bryers and Thorns shall not stop my way Away ye evil Spirits you have haunted me long enough I 'll be afraid of you no longer I 'll take courage and fight against you for God is on my side Why should I fear in the day of Trouble 2. Conversing with God when we Eat imports contemplating what God hath done for us in Christ Jesus how God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them for in this Contemplation the Soul addresses her self to God O my God what cost and charges hast thou been at to redeem such a Wretch as I am How hast thou bow'd the Heavens Lord thou didst make thy self a Curse for me that
I might be advanc'd to bliss I see what a costly thing my Salvation is since to purchase it the Son of God did die Yet how light do I make of Heaven O God what moved thee to love me thus And shall I think any thing to dear to part with for thy sake Into what Labyrinths do I run my self while I am mine own Keeper Thou hast paid dear for thy right to rule and govern me and shall I after all be loath to be govern'd by so Gracious a Master Here I make an offering of my Heart if thou wilt but vouchsafe to accept of it it is a Present unworthy of thy Greatness and Majesty yet thou art pleased to require no other sacrifice Hence forward speak Lord and thy Servant will hear and when the Characters of thy Mercy wear out or decay in my unconstant Soul Lord write them there afresh write them with the Blood of Christ that they may be everlasting and may be an Eternal fence to me against the suggestions and persuasions of thine Enemies 3. Conversing with the Holy Angels after we have eaten requires imitation of them in their Praises and Obedience Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearken to the voice of his word saith the Psalmist Psal. 103. 20. Praise and Obedience are inseparable Virtues the one without the other makes dull Musick in the Ears of God Let no Man think that because Angels are invisible Spirits and afar off there is no conversing with them He that doth their work is their Companion their Brother and their Familiar with such they love to be such persons they love to visit and he that doth so may be as confident they are on his right hand as if he saw them for God hath said so Psal. 34. 7. and therefore it must be true whether our carnal eyes behold them or no. Praising is not only to offer up a Psalm or Hymn after we have eaten but living in a sense of the love of God and he that doth so cannot but be obedient and faithful to him that hath so signally manifested his mercy in his Misery The PRAYER O Thon who art the Bread of Life who canst feed Souls and nourish Spirits into Immortal Life who hast food the World knows not of and by secret influences canst enrich and enlighten those that wait at the Pool for the stirring of the Waters O bring my mind in frame O teach me to eat in this Sacrament of thy Love to the satisfying my Soul Make the food of sin odious and bitter to me I have fed too long on that stolen Bread Open mine Eyes that I may see how miserable I am if I do not relish what thou hast set before me Thou hast given me a Soul and thou would'st have it thrive In this Sacrament is that which shall strengthen my Heart I want only a mighty hunger and thirst O thou who hast given me an Appetite after the meat which perishes give me a Holy greediness after that which endures to everlasting life O let the Benefits of thy death prove life to my Spirit Raise it above this dull and Corruptible Flesh that it may triumph over its base desires Bring thou back my Captivity and let my Chains fall off Let the Liberty of thy Children which consists in a chearful going on from virtue to virtue be my delight and ornament so shall the King take pleasure in my Beauty and my Soul shall rejoyce in Thee for ever Amen CHAP V. Of the various abuses of this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS The most Sacred things in all ages have been abused Instances drawn from the brazen Serpent Gideon's Ephod and the Love-Feasts of the Primitive Christians Abuses of Holy things rise from several causes The Lords Supper hath undergone the same fate The Holier any thing is that is abused the greater is the Crime A great abuse of this Holy Sacrament is to fancy that like a spell it will Charm sin out of our Souls without strong endeavours The abuses committed in this Sacrament no just Temptation to neglect the use of it The Prayer I. THere is nothing so sacred or holy but hath been and may still be abused by sensual Men. Moses Numb 21. 8. by God's special Appointment erects a fiery Serpent or a Serpent of Polished Brass shining bright as Fire a symbol of God's Presence and Power to heal the tormented Israelites who had been stung by fiery Serpents insomuch that if any of the persons thus stung look'd upon the Figure he actually recovered So remarkable a History depending upon this brazen Serpent it was laid up for a Monument yet in process of time this became an object of Idolatry which moved Hezekiah to break it in pieces and call it Nehushtan 2 Kings 18. 4. The very same happen'd to Gideon's Ephod Judg. 8. 27. a thing innocently enough contrived and in all probability piously intended as a standing testimony to future Ages what a signal Victory God had given his People over the barbarous Midianites yet after his Death when with his Life his Power and Authority over the bruitish People were gone they went a whoring after it i. e. fell to worship it an accident which proved the ruine of Gideon's Family and of thousands besides in Israel What could be more innocent than the Love-Feasts in the Primitive Church Mention is made of them Jud. vers 12. They were Feasts made in the Oratories or places where the Primitive Christians used to assemble for the Celebration of Divine Worship and at the charge of such as were well to pass or richer than the rest to these the poorer sort were invited and sat down at the Table with the rich ate with them and carried the Leavings or Fragments home and this being done with great expressions of Love and managed with singular Meekness Charity and Humility with brotherly Familiarity and with holy Discourses without Excess or Intemperance and all sanctified by Prayers and Psalms and reading the Holy Scriptures the Apostles both permitted and encouraged these pious Collations and after them their Hearts being thus impregnated with Charity they applied themselves to the Use and Celebration of the Eucharist That which gave occasion to these Love-Feasts was either Christ's eating the Passover with his Disciples immediately before the Communion or the custom of the Jews who used to eat and drink together in some Chamber or Building adjoyning to the Temple when they offered their Sacrifices or which is more probable from the antient custom of the Grecians who having brought rich Guifts they intended for their Gods to the Temple converted them into Feasts of Charity to which the Poor as well as the Rich sat down and all ate together no respect of Persons being observed at that time which Practice not a few Christians being lately crept out of the darkness of Heathenism it 's like retained changing only the Object of their Worship and doing that to