that was ever vouchsaf'd to the Sons of Men was the coming of our Saviour to restore us the hopeful possibilities of Salvation to establish a new Covenant between God and us and to seal it by his Blood As in our Baptisin we were received into this Covenant of Grace and Mercy so have we since stained and polluted these white Robes by unholyness and disobedience and broken our part of the Covenant But now that we should refuse when we are called and invited to come and renew it in the Holy Sacrament that we should refuse to come with the rest oâ— our Brethren and commemorate the dying Love of this our Lord is equally strange and deplorable I shall therefore upon this consideration and because the great Festival set apart in memory of our Saviour's Resurrection from the Grave is at hand offeâ— you some Meditations touching that Holy and Comfortable that Divine anâ— Heavenly action that so we may coâ—â— to our Lord who has already invited uâ— willingly and chearfully faithfully and charitably humbly and penitently with Loâ—â— and Devotion and be found by him 〈◊〉 have that Wedding-Garment on whâ—â— may be accepted by him now and in 〈◊〉 day of Judgment Though there are some and thâ—◠†Dr. Hammond and Gomar Camero Synop. great Men that suppâ—â— the words of the Text 〈◊〉 not directly and propeâ—â—â— spoken of the Holy Saâ—â—â—ment because it was not then institutâ—â—â— yet because * Pro Carne Corpus habet Syrus quae vox in Euchar institutione legitur ad quam hic tanta quaedam allusio est Grot. in v. 53. others doubt not but there is a respect had to it being shortly after to be instituted and there are †Luc. Brugensis Mal. citant Synop. some that say expresly that it is to be understood and meant of the Sacramental eating and a * Dr. Sherlock of Religious Assemblies great and excellent persons sayes he does not in the least doubt of it I shall not therefore question to understand and take the words in the same sence also From which I might offer this Doctrine That worthily and with a due preparation to eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of our Saviour shall by placing him in our heart and us in his unite us more closely to him and is an happy earnest of Eternal Salvation For the Proof and Confirmation of which I might instance in St. Jo. 6.54.57.58 1 Cor. 10.16.17 and many other places of Holy Scripture But to make the Text more useful to our present designs I shall from it speak to 4 things First I shall briefly shew you that this is a necessary holy and Christian Duty to be frequently performed by us and the neglect of it infinitely dangerous Secondly I shall consider to what end it was instituted or appointed by our Blessed Saviour Thirdly Shew how we are to come prepared to partake of these holy Mysteries Fourthly and Lastly insist upon 4 or 5 Considerations after Receiving First that this is a necessary holy and Christian Duty to be frequently performed and the neglect dangerous For whatever we have an express Command of our Saviour unquestionably it requires our obedience and is ouâ— indispensable duty to be obeyed by unâ—â— readily and willingly with Sincerity and Constancy And this was one of the lasâ— injunctions which our dear Redeemer a little before his Death was pleas'd to leave with us Lu. 22.19 This do iâ— remembrance of me And that we might have the more full assurance of the truth of it the blessed Apostle when he speakâ—â— of this institution and command of ouâ— Saviour sayes I have received of thâ— Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread c. 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25 26. I have sayes he received of the Lord as if he had said though I were not my self present when our Lord ordained and appointed this Memorial of his death and suffering by which we that name his Name are to shew forth his death till he come yet I do assure you Grot. that I received it that is either by the other Apostles who were both Ear and Eye-witnesses or by immediate Revelation from Heaven from our Saviour that the very same Night in which he was betrayed soon after to be buffeted reviled scourged spit on crucified for our Salvation that he instituted this holy Feast to be continued to the end of the World But then as this is a necessary and unquestionable Duty so is it to be performed not only once in the whole Course of our Lives once in this our present State and no more or once at the hour of Death as some of us are too apt to suppose and as willing to shew by their practice but a holy and heavenly Duty to be performed more frequently And for a Confirmation of this let us see First what the holy Scriptures say to the frequency of this action Secondly what was the Practice and the Custome of the first Worthies of the Christian Church shortly after our Saviour's time Thirdly Lay down some Reasons for our frequent attendance on those holy Mysteries And if from all these we find cause for our often Communicating at the Lord's Table if from Scripture from the practice of the first and purest ages of the Church of Christ and from Reason too then I hope that each soul present will lay this home to his own heart and take it into his most serious consideration and then ever for the time to come endeavour to make up his former too great neglects by his future frequency in this holy Duty First let us see what those Scripture are that either countenance or imply the frequent performance of this holy action for this let us consider Act. 2.42 They continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine in breaking of bread and prayers We read Act. 2.7 that on the first day of the Week they usually came together to break Bread So also 't is said 1 Cor. 11.25 Do this as often as ye shall drink it is remembrance of me The word stedfastly as is observed by a * Dâ—â— P. Christian Sacrifice Pious and Learned Person denotes the frequency of the action and the words as often may imply it also Oh here then before we pass any further let us six our thoughts and consider if those who first named the Name of Christ continued in it so stedfastly if at least on the first day of the week out of their flaming Love and Affection to their dear Lord and Master they remembred his Death with praise and thanksgivings how ill Copiers out of so holy and blessed an Example are some of us They were it seems so ready to commemorate their dying Lord so full of Zeal so willing and forward to go forth to meet him at his Table that they scarce ever put off their Wedding Garment but their whole lives were a constant and
habitual preparation for this holy Feast Whereas in this declining Age of the Gospel in which holiness so visibly decayes how loath are we to approach him how uneasie when we are there how joyful when we are gone So unwilling that alas we must be even hal'd and drag'd to it And it may be feared that some of us could even wish it over and at an end already Why what 's the Reason of this unwillingness this backwardness this loathness to go to meet the Lord of life in the most holy and sweet and pleasant Duty in the World Is there so much charge or difficulty in it or is it so hard to be performed O what is there in this holy Action that any Soul that professes the Religion of the ever Blessed Jesus should have such an aversness to it Say are there any expensive chargeable Sacrifices to be offered any Firstlings of our Flocks to be slain No why what 's then the Cause that we should not be as ready and forward and when any opportunities are offered us to remember the death of our Great Master in this holy Mystery as constant too as the Sun is to run his race Alas our great Reason is That the Wedding-Garment of Religion and Holyness Repentance and Reformation of our Lives Charity and Devotion does not please us We are loath to put it on it sits uneasie about us we are hugely unwilling to put off the old spotted rayment of Sin and Iniquity of Wrath and Malice and Irreligion We find no tast no relish in the Sweets and Delicacies of Piety and Vertue We are willing enough doubtless to meet our Lord that is if we thought he would receive and welcome us with our sins about us and with our old affections to them then would we continue as stedfastly in breaking of bread and prayers as ever the first Worthies did Id. ibid. p. 9. though it were twice a day as is with great reason supposed they did of old Were those arms that were once stretcht upon the Cross and still are open to receive the true-penitent were they but as open too to receive the habitually disobedient and impenitent then would we frequent the Lord's Table But does not the Wedding-Garment of Faith and Repentance and Charity and Devotion and the like does not this please us Give me leave to ask as the Apostle did in another case unto what then were ye Baptized have ye put on Christ for this And was it for this that we were early dedicated to him in Baptism and received into the Covenant of Grace and Mercy that when we with the Disciples of old should have continued stedfastly to renew this Covenant in the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and to ow̄n what was then done for us when we could do nothing for our selves and come and declare our willingness to stand to those Engagements then made for us to come and in person to shew our readiness and our willingness to follow him in the ways of his Commands and holy Religion that then we should refuse it or if we do not refuse it yet come so seldom as if we desired to be excused from it Whither Oh whither will our Indevotion our Lukewarmness our Inconsideration carry us Is this to act as they who now sit at Peace and rest in the Mansions of Glory have done before us And has not our Lord shed as much blood for us as for them And are not our hopes and Promises and Expectations the same which they had why then Cur non possumus quod isti istae as the pious Father said of old Why cannot we at least in far better measures than now do as they have done before us whence is it then that our Practice is gone so far off from their frequency in this Heavenly action their zeal and their fervour Certainly this must of necessity proceed from a great and most deplorable want of Love to our Religion or of Zeal for our Saviour from a stupid unconcernment for a joyful Resurrection or as was before hinted because we find no tast or relish in this heavenly food this sood of Angels or from intolerable inconsideration Hence O hence is it in a great measure that our Lives are so unholy our Actions so uncharitable and unchristian our thoughts so impure and prophane and inconsiderate and the whole frame of our Live so disordered and discomposed and as this chiefly for want of a more frequent and devout use of these holy Mysteries Whence sayes one came the Sanctity and Holiness of the first Christians Whence came their strict observation of the Divine Commandments whence was it that they persevered in holy Actions with a comfortable hope and unweary diligence from whence came their despising the World their universal Charity whence came these and many other Excellencies but from a constant Devotion and frequent Communion They who every day represented the Death of Christ every day were ready to dye for Christ We look upon that body to be sickly distempered and diseased and dangerously ill that allways loaths it's wholesome food and has no appetite to that which would be its only or it 's best nourishment Thus O thus it is in the Case of the Soul how sickly and distempered how diseased and disordered must that Soul needs be that loaths it's most wholesome food the food of Angels this nourishment of the holy Sacrament which if duely and devoutly taken would so nourish it up to Salvation as to make it more healthful and holy more chearful and religious more just and upright more pure and devout and Angelical 'T would make it much more ready for the performance of any other Duty more full of zeal and fervour more constant and unwearied in all Religious actions In short 't would make it more ready for Death and Immortality The holy Sacrament is call'd by St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing and surely if we do not thirst after this Cup of Blessing Blessing may be far from us Neither is it imaginable That that man should love Heaven and his Soul or felicity or his Lord that desires not frequently to bath in that wholsome stream the blood of that immaculate Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World Having thus seen what these texts of Scripture are that imply a frequency of Communicating we shall briefly consider the second thing Secondly let us see what was the custom and the practice of the first Worthies of the Christian Church shortly after our Saviour's time and if in a few Instances we find them frequently meeting and representing the death of their and our Common Lord and Master Let us remembring he has done and suffered as much for us as he had done for them ever hereafter fit the Soul to take all opportunities we are able to do in some degree as they have done before us The first Instance I shall produce shall be of a great and holy man
our Baptismal Covenant when our Lord is yet so willing to renew it with us No longer let it be said of us that we should be so inconsiderate as to live in the omission and neglect of a duty which if frequented would convey so many benefits and advantages to us as we have mentioned O let it no more be said of us that we should ever hereafter live in the constant neglect of that solemn act of Christian Worship which if frequently performed would be so evident a sign of our great love to Religion and Piety and of our deep apprehensions of another World and our concernment for a joyful Immortality Never never let it be said of us in the day of Judgment that while we dwelt upon Earth we were alway loath and backward and unwilling to present our selves whenever we were invited to that holy and heavenly and pleasant duty by the frequenting of which we might so plainly have shewn our greater love to Jesus by our readiness to take all opportunities of commemorating his dying bleeding affection to us And then O let it never be said of any of us that the only reason why we should or could be supposed to refuse it was because we would not be at the pains of putting on the Wedding-Garment or endure the thoughts and consideration of stripping our selves of the old spotted rayment of Sin and Irreligion No the old acquaintance must be parted with the old Dalilahs divorced the darling Iniquity that has long been near and dear to thee must be thrown off But may it be henceforth never said of us that we had rather part from the sweet Communion with the holy Jesus than renounce our fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Why shall any of these things be ever said of any one of us in the hour of death or day of our Accompts May they never be said to us or remembred in that day and hour when it shall be impossible to reform them To conclude this head O that sometimes we would withdraw our selves from the World and look beyond the Grave and then look upon our selves as those that are hastning to Eternity and then in that serious thought let us consider that e'r long we shall find it to have been the best and most satisfactory imployment in the World to have been frequent and devout Communicants O that sometimes we would shut our Eyes or take them off from the World and then think how vast that Eternity is that depends upon the holy management of this moment and having so done then tell me how great the necessity and advantages of this holy Duty do begin to appear O that sometimes we would look upon our selves only as Strangers and Pilgrims here and that two or three ages hence we shall all be forgotten that then nothing shall be remembred of us any more but either our horrid unreformed Iniquities or our sincere holiness and Conformity of heart and life to the Gospel of our Saviour and then upon such a close and piercing thought as this instantly consider how does this holy and heavenly Duty appear to thee and wouldst thou not willingly have it then remembred of thee that thou wert here below a devout frequenter of these holy Mysteries O that Sometimes we could seriously fix our eyes in a holy Meditation on that glorious day in which our Lord shall come to place his faithful Servants beyond all further doubts or fears possibility of sin or temptations infelicities or Scruples of Conscience Tell me in such a thought as this would it not be a blessed consideration to be in a State in which we could be truely able to love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 why never shall it be thus with us 'till we come to be devout and frequent attenders on these holy Mysteries Nay I will appeal to thine own Soul in the Case when wert thou ever able so heartily and truely to love the thoughts of thy Lord 's appearing as when thou wert but just come from his holy Table Couldst thou not have been willing then that all thy business in this World might have been over and that he might have then come and taken thee into the air with him and set thee down in the Mansions of eternal Holyness and why then should not thy frequency in this holy action be such as that he may almost even at any time come and not fail to find thee so doing O that sometime we would look upon this life as a state and condition in which we are plac't by the eternal God to fit and trim the Soul for the society of those holy Worthies that are gon up before us and then in that thought consider how far short our practice comes of their daily and weekly communicating Or that lastly we would sometime look back too and consider again that among all our former days that are slid away from us those only shall shortly be remembred with joy in which we have done something in order to a joyful Resurrection and a safe Eternity Say now would we not in such a thought as this wish heartily that we had a better accompt in the Registers of Heaven than we yet have more especially that we had many more devout performances of this holy and heavenly duty recorded there than we have and if we find Reason thus to think of our past dayes Oh why should we henceforward have reason to think the same of our future days then when they also shall be over and we shall be brought to the Neighbourhood of the Grave I shall therefore in the name and words of our dear and holy mother the Church earnestly beseech you no longer to continue so much strangers to so wilful neglecters of this holy Duty and if any man neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a Publican St. Mat. 18.17 and she invites us thus I bid you in the name of God I call you in Christ's behalf I exhort you as you love your own Salvation that you all be partakers of this holy Communion And as the Son of God did vouchsafe to yield up his Soul by death upon the Cross for your Salvation so it is your duty to receive the Communion in remembrance of the Sacrifice of his death as he himself hath commanded Which if ye shall neglect to do consider with your selves how great injury you do unto God and how sore punishment hangeth over your heads for the same when ye wilfully abstain from the Lord's Table and seperate from your brethren who come to feed on the Banquet of that most heavenly food And thus much of the first general head to shew that this is a necessary holy and Christian Duty to be frequently performed and the neglect of it infinitely dangerous CHAP. II. This do in remembrance of me SEcondly we come now to see to what end it was instituted or appointed by our blessed Saviour First it was instituted
God inwardly calling us often by his holy Spirit or outwardly by his Embassadors should so long have been in vain Oh that we should not have been perswaded by them to come sooner and to tast and see how gracious the Lord is That we should scarce ever till now find by our own Experience that the wayes of Religious Wisdom are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 But blessed be God that he has at last opened our Eyes to behold the wonderful things of his Law Ps 119.18 and enclined us to experience and try the sweetness pleasure and satisfaction of being in a good measure qualified to have his merits applied to us that he has given us Grace to experience somewhat of the blissful apprehensions of being in his Favour And now O my Soul what infinite reason have we to say Blessed be the day that ever we came acquainted with our Saviour Blessed be the day that ever our disobedient heart was melted into Love of thee O our dear Redeemer And I beseech thee keep it filled ever with this love fortified ever with these Resolutions ever fixt and constant in this temper and if there be any thing in it that yet may displease thee O make me to know it and assist me to throw it off for ever And when will our Lord come again that we may again Sup with him and feast our selves upon his sacred Body and Blood and tast this pleasant most delicious food again May he make no long tarrying may it not be long O may it not be long before we again either meet him at his Table meet him in the Air or meet him in his Kingdom O what will it be to be always with him where there is so much secret joy and peace in this small glymps of him and at so great distance too And now my Soul seeing we have given up our heart to our dearest Lord in this temper let us live and in this disposition let us dye and we hope by Death we shall come nearer to him never more to be pulled back again or in danger to be drawn off from him by the violence of any temptation for these shall be done away And being thus united to him the great Lover of Souls we shall at last at his glorious coming not much dread the heavens being rolled into a Scroul or the Crack and flames of the dying World or the Trump of the Arch-angel but with infinite joy hear the words Arise come up hither awake and arise and come Take your Crowns your place on my right hand Arise and come and see your new State and new Condition your unknown felicities and unknown Glories your endless peace and safety Arise and come hither up to me your Jesus the Captain of your Salvation Come and be above the reach of Infelicities and Miseries Sin and Death for all ages and sit down in your Immortality and Rest for ever Arise come and partake of those Glories that cost me your Lord Sighs and Groans and Blood and Wounds pangs and Life it self to purchase it for you that cost you also so many Dutys the Strugling with so many temptations the combating so many Enemies before you got the Victory so many difficulties discouragements so much shame and reproach self-denials and the like before you were intitled to my Merits and qualified to receive the bene t of my purchase Come now and sit down in their Enjoyment for above millions of years and ages In a word O my Soul say May these hopes be ever in our view ever in our heart thoughts And as we have lately begun for Eternity upon the Stock of this Hope so let us by this square and order all the Actions of our lives That so at last when we shall come to leave Mortality our Passage hence may be peacefull safe and holy our Resurrection joyfull safe and holy and through him who is the foundation of our hope we may not fail to be remembred with mercy in the day of judgment After which we may with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven laud and magnify his glorious Name ever more praising him and Saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Glory be to the O Lord most◠High Amen A Prayer before the holy Sacrament O My dearest Saviour who wert pleased to suffer death upon the Cross to purchase Heaven and Salvation for me and now callest me to a remembrance of that thy dying Love so fit and trim and adorn my Soul I beseech thee that I may not fail to be now and ever an acceptable guest at thy holy Table Let the consideration of my state and the remembrance of my past sins lead me to a deep humiliation and contrition for them and that contrition to intire hatred a sincere reformation of them and fixt resolutions of future Love and obedience O my Saviour let my Faith and Charity and Devotion be by thy gracious assistance raised to a Heavenly pitch and temper that so whatever thou please to deny me in this lower World I may never be denied a participation of all the benefits of thy meritorious death and sufferings I come dear Jesu I come to renew my Covenant with thee which I have so miserably broken by my Sins of Omission and Commission by my Iniquities of thought word and deed †Here you may mention those grosser Crimes which upon Examination you find your self to stand guilty of particularly by my Sins of For these and all other my impieties known and unknown be pleased to receive a reconciliation and let this holy Sacrament prove a sealing of my Pardon in the Court of Heaven and may I not fail O my Saviour together with thy body and blood to receive new Grace and strength against them O my Jesu who hast done and suffered so much for me and now invitest me to come and see it represented to me be pleased to do this further for me to grant that it may not be in vain and lost as to me by mine own default O let it never be said or remembred of me in the day of Judgment that I ever appeared before thee in this holy action without such a wedding Garment as thou didst mercifully accept or that I did eat and drink my own damnation And though my Iniquities are great great like thy Sorrows and great like thy sufferings which I am coming to commemorate yet because they are infinitely less than thy Mercies and thy Merits Pitty me O Lord pitty me accept me O my God accept me for lo I come to do thy will and grant that I may ever hereafter live the life of Grace in a state acceptable to thee that so by thine Agony and bloody sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious death and burial by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascention which I am coming to remember my past Iniquities being done away I may now at length be more closely
powers of my Soul for this first admittance of me to the mercy and the priviledges of the Holy Sacrament of thy Body and Blood for my having lately partaked of some of these joyes and comforts that are alone to be found with thee and in thy Service and till now were unknown to me O that having had the mercy and advantage of renewing my Covenant with thee I may now at least begin to spend my days as far as ever the necessary business of this present life will permit me in thy Service in all the parts of piety and virtue in works of Mercy and Charity and Devotion in meekness and humility in self-denial and Repentance in Chastity and Temperance in all that 's holy just and good O my Lord 't is the serious desire and resolution of my Soul thus to do that so early beginning to lay up my treasure in Heaven I may by thy Grace have a good account there in the Records of Eternity at the end of my sixty or seventy years O my Jesu whatever thou pleasest else to deny me here deny me not a grant of this my request I beseech thee that those desires and resolutions of mine may in some good measure be accomplished and effected Let not the allurements and perswasions of my Companions ever entice me from my Duty or the jeers or reproaches of any man whatever fright me from my Innocence O let me never suffer my self to be laught out of my Religion or be ashamed or affraid to perform my holy Duties before the face of any man but be ever looking unto Jesus and let me in view of him be content to endure the Cross and despise the shame or whatever else shall befal me for the sake of Piety and Virtue or obedience to any one Command of thine Let my youthful heart be never much inflam'd with any Loves or passions or desires but those of thee and thy holy Religion O my Lord grant that I may be perswaded to understand and consider what a great advantage I have of devoting and giving up my first and best dayes to Religion and Piety and that now is my time to shew that I am lead to Religion by Love and by my choice and not driven to it only by the fears and horrors of an approaching Grave and that I may often and betimes consider with how much greater comfort I shall leave Mortality if I may be able then to remember an early Love and Obedience to thee O Jesu Let me who have liv'd in thy family ever since I was baptized now at least begin to feel my self more powerfully drawn to thee than ever O make me in the beginning of my dayes to be truely serious and considerate to begin to withdraw from the World betimes and to love to be sometime alone to look into the state of my Soul and provide for a joyful Resurrection Make me to think it the greatest happiness in this World to choose thee O blessed Jesu betimes for my Lord and Master and to look on Religion as the Rest and Delight and Satisfaction of my Soul O fill my Soul with such a Love to thee and to those holy Mysteries in which I commemorate a dying Lord that I may be able to think it long before I have an opportunity to come to feast upon thy Body and Blood again and that as I grow in years I may in some measure grow in Grace and in the Divine favour To this end O that I may pass safely through this dangerous state of life freed from the Intemperance and Lusts the folly and vanity the heedlesness and inconsideration that often attends it and that I may the better be able thus to do Lord I now deliver up to thee all my Affections and Desires to be guided and directed by thy Holy Spirit I am willing to submit them all to thee that so as I have lately begun for Eternity I may go on and prosper and in an acceptable measure now keep up to the purity and Innocence of my first sanctification and never more give out till I come to the end of my hopes and the beginning of my joyes and be presented to my Father pure and spotless in the great day of Rewards and Punishments by thee O holy and merciful Jesus Amen A Prayer which may be used by them who before they come to the Sacrament set apart something to be then offered up to God in Alms. O Merciful Lord from whom every good gift comes and by whose bounty alone it is that I enjoy any thing which I possess I humbly offer up this small return of it to thee for the use of them whom thou hast made thy receivers the poor and the needy Let not the smalness of the offering or any unworthyness of mine I beseech thee keep it from being an acceptable Alms and Oblation to thee and let not the abuse of any of my possessions that have been laid out on Sin and Folly Gluttony or Vanity Lust or Intemperance Revenge or Malice be ever charged or remembred against me in the day of Judgement And O my God take from me a Covetous and Illiberal heart and teach me the truely Christian measures of Charity in Giving and Forgiving for Jesus sake Amen A Prayer for the Grace of Charity in forgiving with particular reference to that petition in our Lord's Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive c. which may be used either before the Sacrament or any other time O Blessed and holy Jesus who wert the great Example of Giving and Forgiving dying for Enemies ready and willing to forgive Iniquity and Sin and to give Heaven and Glory to all true Penitents Give me Grace to write after all this blessed Copy of thine in an acceptable measure And if there be or has been any offender or trespasser against me whom I have not forgiven according to thy Will and the measures of the Gospel forgive me O blessed Jesu and let me not fail to receive a full pardon of that Iniquity for thy mercies sake O let my desires and Petitions of being forgiven as I forgive never be answered according to that instance whatsoever it were or ever shall be wherein I have not heretofore or through the frailty of humane nature or any sudden surprize or inconsideration should not hereafter at any time keep up to thy sacred Rule and Will And O Lord guide and direct me for the Remainder of my dayes in the true measures of Patience and forbearance and take from me all malice and hatred and grudgings and heart-burnings and desires of Revenge on any that has injured me and plant in my Soul I humbly and earnestly beseech thee the true Charity and forgiveness O Lord for thy mercies sake thy Love's sake to mankind so pitty me and pardon all my former gratifications of my revengeful humour that they may never be so charged on me or remembred as to hinder thy forgiveness of me And
Mediator Jesus Thus 't is called the blood of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mat. 26.28 or of the new Covenant Now this new Covenant between God and us made by our Saviour is as was before said that God will give pardon of our Sins sanctifying Grace and everlasting Glory upon our Conditions of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience Our Lord in those Mysteries Seals this to us and assures us as he is the God of Truth and cannot lye or deceive us that he will perform his part We on the other hand seal back this to him that we will sincerely and heartily endeavour to perform our part We are then to remember that thus it was promised for us in our Baptism when we knew nothing of it but here we come in our own persons to take those advantageous Conditions on our selves to renew them by our own hand our own act and our own choice This is my Blood of the new Covenant says our Saviour to this our Lord invites us to shew first his death till he come and next to renew our Covenant with him to Seal it again and to declare our resolutions to labour more effectually and diligently for the remainder of our dayes to stand to our engagements and discharge our Conditions of it O my Lord say now upon this consideration who am I that thou shouldest leave thy Fathers bosom to be the compassionate Mediator of a new Covenant between God and me but oh who am I that after so many breaches of it thou shouldst call and invite me once more to come and renew it with thee again who am I that thou shouldst speak to me to come and enter again into a further confirmation of it what a tender mercy is this how blest a priviledge is this that thou art pleased to call me once more to come and receive my Pardon if but yet for the future I do in an honest sincerity perform my part of the Covenant What long-suffering is this that thou shouldst still bid me to approach and have my Pardon sealed too if my terms be but yet performed and how far have I been from deserving any thing of this at thy hands And O my Jesu shall I refuse to come and humbly accept of those mercies which thou art yet pleased to offer me and though I have broken my part of that Covenant which this Sacrament is a seal of shall I not thankfully come and accept of thy desires to make good thine if after all this I am not yet wanting to my self Shall I not rejoyce in an opportunity of confirming and ratifying in my own person that which was done for me without my knowledge in my Baptism shall I not come and declare my desires to be found now and ever within the Covenant of Grace Or shall I voluntarily withdraw my self from it and not come and put my hand and seal to it with others of my Christian Brethren shall I by my refusal to renew it declare for Sin for the World Flesh and Devil Far be it from me say O my dear Redeemer far be such thoughts as those No I come willingly and readily and chearfully with a Soul and Heart and Mouth full of Praises and Adorations to renew this gracious Covenant to own my self thy Disciple thy Servant thy follower I come to see thy dying bleeding Love and to imprint it afresh upon my memory I come to see thy earnest desires of accomplishing my Redemption represented to me I come to behold thy Agony and bloody sweat thy Cross and Passion thy Body broken thy Blood poured out for me I come freely and openly to own my unworthyness to come at all to own how undeservingly I have walked of those benefits I come to sue a Pardon for my breaches of my terms of the new Covenant I come to seal it again with thee and humbly and thankfully adore thee for this mercy that thou callest me once more to do so O that instead of ever entertaining a thought of absenting our selves we would imploy it in some such meditations as these Dr. Sherlock Relig. Assemb or with the words following of that excellent person before mentioned That frequent Communions are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holyness to repair the decays of our Graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of Sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their Souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food And if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing on the commission of any Sin when we have with tears bewailed our Sin and renewed our Repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are Sinners yet we are not Apostates that is we are not fallen from the Faith or the Christian Religion but that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live CHAP. III. Of Examination of our Selves I Come next in the third place to shew briefly how we are to come prepared to this holy Sacrament The chief parts of preparation are these First Examination of our selves Secondly To enter then into a holy Course of Life by Repentance and Resolutions of a future sincere Obedience Thirdly To bring with us a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ Fourthly To bring with us Charity to our Brethren Fifthly To bring with us Devotion and a pious frame of Soul Of each of these briefly First of Examination of our selves to this St. Paul adviseth Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 And here we are to examine as far as our memory can inform us what our breaches have been of that Covenant which we entred into with God and our Saviour in Baptism We told you that our part of the Covenant is Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience But alas we have most miserably gon astray and have often knowingly wittingly and willingly broken all these parts of that holy Covenant As to our Faith first how dull lifeless and unactive has that been how little have we shewed it by our works by works of Mercy Piety Charity or Devotion How little have we shewed our Faith by our Conformity of heart and life to those Gospel duties to God to others and our selves by which we should have shewn it St. Ja. 4.18 Again as to Repentance how unsincere has that been how have we return'd soon after our beginnings of it to our old iniquities like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet.
Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Secondly labour to imprint a deep remembrance of any promises or holy resolutions there made between God and thy Soul and be watchful in the keeping of them Thirdly earnestly beg of God to assist thee in the keeping them and in the walking for the future in the wayes of Religion and Holyness Fourthly meditate on the danger and the guilt thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those thy pious purposes and thy felicity if thou do Fifthly and Lastly by looking back on this divine and heavenly and pleasant duty think and meditate how lovely and chearful and pleasurable a Religious life must needs be First thankfully meditate on the infinite mercy and long suffering of God that he has been pleased to give thee this one opportunity more of renewing and sealing again the Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Upon this Consideration who is there but must needs say with David Ps 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is good We that have lately tasted and have seen how good the Lord is how gracious to have given us one opportunity more of renewing our Covenant with him shall we can we forbear to publish it Can we ever cease to be thankful No surely rather let us be ready to encourage others ever hereafter to go from whence we have come and tast and see how good the Lord is However let each particular Soul be deeply sensible and considerate of this goodness of the Lord which he hath tasted O my Soul say has our Jesus admitted us once more to his Table and permitted us to seal our Covenant again to renew our resolutions and purposes of obedience and would he do it after so many old breaches of it and is he willing yet to be reconciled upon our reformation and future sincerity in Holyness and has he confirmed this to us in the Sacrament O infinite Mercy and Compassion of our God! Well my Soul let us never forget it but say with David Ps 103.1.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Let us consider a little might not God have snatcht away and have called us presently before him in the midst of such or such a crying Sin which we can easily remember and not have given us one call more one opportunity more of a reconciliation he might very justly Might he not have call'd us to our particular judgment in the middest in the very act of such or such an Impiety of this or that Lust or Intemperance injustice or perjury Oath or Execration Debauchery or uncharitableness Might he not have done so after our long and wilful neglects of this holy Duty before ever we approacht to it and how might it have been now with us had he taken that advantage against us Might he not have hurried us away to eternal unknown woes without giving us these advantages which we now by his Grace may improve to the purposes of a blest Eternity And shall we not my Soul shall we not improve them to the uses of Immortality when our Lord is thus willing we should Let us do so then and do it heartily chearfully and constantly and let this goodness of the Lord lead us to Repentance and Reformation and invite us to holyness and Religion that 's the first Secondly after receiving labour to imprint a deep remembrance of thy Promises or holy resolutions then made or before between God and thy Soul and be diligent in keeping of them O let not the old Love the former affection to Iniquity return any more but if the temptation do return stay and remember how odious how deformed and ugly the Sin appeared then to thee when thou wert at the Lord's Table and then it was that it appeared most truely as it is and then next let this engage thee to recal thy pious purposes there for alas these are not to abide with thee only for an hour or a day or a week but to the end of our dayes and how hypocritically should we deal with our God should we instantly forget that we have renewed our Covenant and our purposes of obedience with him upon the Alarum of a Sin that promises much and shows fair However Consider before-hand the temptation will come again whatever thy resolutions now are and do thou expect no other and 't is likely thou wilt not always be in this temper of Soul that thou now art in The opportunities for thy Sin will be fair again but dost not thou now resolve against it I suppose thou dost But alas this thou hast done heretofore perhaps often also and promised universal obedience to this Saviour and yet hast fallen again as surely as a man falls that is struck with a Thunderbolt and thus it may be thou hast gone round all the dayes of thy Life Sin'd and repented received the holy Supper and yet still fallen as frequently and as surely as ever and hitherto remain'd in a State of Sin and Death Thus I say it may be thou hast run on in this Course many years and doubled thy guilt with thy dayes and always upon the next occasion and opportunity forgotten that ever thou didst repent and resolve amendment of life Remember this is a very ill sign yet of thy Condition and it is extreamly dangerous Much perhaps above half thy days have gon round in this Circle And now if thou wouldest thou hast not half of them left to dedicate to Religion and the service of the holy Jesus and to the blessed Severities of Piety and virtue And what 's now to be done then O at last now be more strictly watchful and diligent in keeping thy Resolutions against it and against all occasions of it also whatever self denial or shame or reproach or difficulty it cost thee Get at least som tolerable ground against it now never leaving till thou hast crucified and subdued all known habituall wilful sin whatever and laid it dead at thy feet Remember too that now is thy time that now thou hast yet fair advantages but if thou imploy them not to the uses of Eternity and in order to the conquest and victory over thy darling Sin that has so often born thee down before it thy Lord may e're long bid thee lay aside all thy business here and come and appear before him and find it uncrucified unreformed and unmortified in thee Consider further if so why when thou art laid on the borders of the Grave and coming to the Neighbourhood of Death thou wilt then with sorrow perceive and find that by that hour all thy pains about it would have been over and all thy trouble at an end and would have been as if they had never been and nothing left to do but to sit down in eternal peace all thy combats
frequently and earnestly to sue for it at the Throne of Grace and then if we are not wanting to our own Interest but with diligence and sincerity and watchfulness and honest endeavours we set our selves to the performance of them the day will e're long be ours the Victory and the Crown ours Say then who would be so imprudent as not earnestly to sue for that which he may certainly have for the asking and the using and who would not diligently use and husband it when the so doing will not fail to procure more and then again who would not industriously imploy that More when like Interest upon Interest it would bring in more yet St. Mat. 13.12 and 25.29 St. Lu. 8.18 and 19.26 O let not the Grace of God be in vain and lost on us only for want of our own Diligence in imploying and using it and then let not our own watchfulness and labours and pious endeavours be all in vain only for want of suing for the assistance of divine grace frequently and devoutly beg of God therefore to aid thee in all thy holy purposes and desires and Resolutions that he will please to keep thee constant to them as thou art passing over this World to him and to a better that he would increase the hatred of thy Sins and the Love of Religion in thee both which he has lately graciously begun in thee Say to him O my Lord I have nothing I am nothing I can do nothing without thee These my Resolutions and purposes of amendment of life of piety and virtue will upon the next violent Temptation be wavering and tottering again without thee and thy aid By that be pleased to keep them warm and stedfast in me so warm that no length of time may cause them to grow cold again no violence of a Temptation break through them Fourthly Meditate on the guilt and the danger thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those pious purposes and thy Felicity if thou do I do not say so to keep them as to live without Sin and in an absolutely perfect Estate To live wholly without Sins of frailty and meer infirmity ignorance or sudden surprize that is those that may sometime or other rush on us e're we are a ware No but of not keeping thy Resolutions of Reformation of all known customary wilful Sin whatever and to retain no one such known Iniquity Remember the Sin if entertained again at least as familiarly as heretofore and returned to with as much love as ever will now ever be a Sin against more Mercy against more Love and against more purposes and resolutions of returning from it O run not thy Soul then upon this increase of Guilt and Danger But rathey say O my Soul shall we so soon forget our Lord our Master Jesus to whom we lately vowed obedience and swore Allegiance as to entertain and cherish a known Enemy of his within our heart and bosome Shall we soon forget whose sighing groaning bleeding dying Love we have seen represented to us lately and shall we add disingenuity and ingratitude and a vow-breach to the Sin it self And shall we thus keep our integrity and thus shew our endeavours to keep to our pious resolutions as tamely to yield up all lay aside all those considerations at the return of the next Sin that looks pleasantly and that comes with fair opportunities for the committing it shall we do this not only after so much love but after having our Covenant renewed and sealed again with Almighty God And after he has graciously declared that he is willing to be reconciled to us for what is past if we heartily give up our selves to him for the future and when we have promised so to do to our uttermost and to give up the whole man to him In sum shall we say in spight of so much Love so much mercy and Compassion such gracious offers on God's part and then in spight of many advantages purposes and resolutions on ours shall we return to our Lusts and Intemperance as frequently as ever to our old Oaths and Execrations our Revenge and Malice our Covetousness and Injustice our Pride or Ambition our Inconsideration or Uncharitableness to our darling Sin whatever it be No my Soul we will now at last more seriously weigh the Guilt and Danger of so doing We have begun and let us go on for Eternity whomsoever we displease by it whatever becomes of it as to this present life Let us now once more consider that possibly this may be the last opportunity that our Saviour may give us to be reconcil'd to him before we go hence and be no more seen the happy union and agreement between us has been lately sealed let us never more wilfully and knowingly break it lest all the old account be charged on us again Let us therefore now make the best advantage the best use of it we are able and return no more to the former state lest our Lord come and find us in such a breach of our part of our Covenant and never more permit us to renew it again till the day of Judgment And as now we have by our Lord 's infinite mercy got a good advantage to try once more for a Crown of Life and Glory let us be watchful and diligent unwearied and constant in our Race that our Lord when he comes may find us so doing Adieu then say once more my old Dalilahs farewel to ye and welcome Religion welcome my holy Duties ye that once seemed irksome and tedious to me Welcome now as the way and means by which I am to be qualified to have my Lord's merits applyed to me to keep me in his favour and to meet him in his Kingdome Welcome my Devotions ye that once seemed too tedious to me and to take up too much of my time the actions I once was even ashamed to be found imployed in Welcome though purchased at never so dear a rate or expence of time I am sure I can be no loser by you Welcome my Solitudes and Retirements from the World and my frequent being alone I find I can best see and consider the state of my Soul in ye and though ye were once very disagreeable to me I now perceive you are advantagious Welcome ye Christian Temperance and Sobriety and Purity and Chastity whatever self-denials or reproaches ye may possibly cost me no matter so I may sit at the Feet of Jesus to all Ages And welcom Alms and Charity though ye once seemed expensive to me and ill bestown I now see Cause infinite Cause to think otherwise when ye are laid out in order to the Inheritance of a Kingdome Welcome Humility Charity and Forgiveness and Love of Enemies ye that once seemed unreasonable and of all other Duties most disagreeable to flesh and blood and a heavy yoke but I now think otherwise of you when I consider how excellent an imitation ye are of that blessed Jesus
united to thee That I may come back again from thy Table with joy and thanks and Love and adoration and comfort and satisfaction O that at last my Resolutions may be fixt and stedfast the conquest of these Sins which I can easily remember have often foiled me may be such that they may no more prevail against me and get the Dominion over me And that now thou mayest abide with me forever and the holy Spirit may guide me into the paths of a cheerful sincere and persevering Holyness that so having past my days that are to come in the watchfulness and diligence and Labours of Repentance and a holy Life I may live with thee and dye with thee and rise again with thee and then ever sit at thy Feet in the mansions of Glory O my dearest Saviour Amen A Thanksgiving and Prayer after Receiving OHoly and Eternal Jesu I praise thee I bless thee I worship thee I glorifie thee I give thee thanks for those invaluable mercies from the participation of which I lately came for these representations of thy bleeding dying love to me Love infinite Love unspeakable Love eternal Love for me before I was born O compassionate Jesu who am I that thou shouldest please to receive me to renew my part of the Covenant of Grace with thee who have so frequently so miserably broken it O let the return which now I may ever hereafter make for so much love let it be Love and Obedience Love in some measure great like thine even to death it self and let my Obedience be as early as I can now make it and as chearful and universal sincere and constant O let the deep remembrance of this Love of thine constrain me to such an obedience Let neither the Love of the World the allurements and baits of the flesh or the temptations of the Devil ever force or draw me off from such an obedience O my dear Redeemer though I have now again resolved against all wilful known Sin particularly against the Sin of †Here you may mention the Sin to which you are most tempted and promised thee an obedience yet without the continuance of thy gracious aid and assistance I shall most certainly fall again upon the very next temptation Secure me therefore O Lord by that secure me save Lord or I perish Whatever thou pleasest to deny me here deny me not I beseech thee O Lord I beseech thee the assistance of that Grace of thine without which my Spiritual Enemies will soon prevail over me again Make me to see and consider the necessity of avoiding all appearance of evil all those occasions of my falling and to get instantly out of the way of Sin whatever I am like to lose by it whatever the disadvantage be in this World Let O let my Sacramental vows and promises and Resolutions be never so broken again as they have sometime been formerly but O my Jesu let my Sins and Iniquities ever hereafter appear so odious and hateful to me as they did then when I was at my Lord's Table O let them still be as vile and deformed as they then seemed to me Let none of my pious purposes and holy Resolutions be ever forgotten by me particularly †Here again if you think fit you may mention any holy Resolution made by you Let neither the cares of the World nor the disappointments of my expectations in the affairs of it nor the malice of my Enemies the charitable reproofs of my friends the trespasses of my Neighbours the hardness of my Labours the Importunity and earnestness of my Creditors the neglects and injustices of my Debtors any fears of being poor any distrusts concerning a provision for my posterity or my being despised or reproached by any man or my Losses of the World nor that World of Temptations through which I know I am to pass ever put my Soul out of frame or lead me to a discontented inconsiderate and troubled Spirit or put my holy purposes out of my mind but that in the midst of these and all other tumults of the World I may alway fly to Religion and take Sanctuary there and be safe and rest there and delight to do thy will and be ready to offer up my Soul and Body to thy Service That so the rest of my dayes that are yet to come in this World may be passed away in Humility and Charity in righteousness and holiness in mortification and self-denial in love and obedience to thee O holy and Eternal Jesu Amen A pious Resolution which may be solemnly made on their Knees by them who since their Baptism have had no opportunity to be confirmed by the Bishop but yet being ready and desirous to be confirmed are willing to receive the Holy Sacrament DRead Majesty of Heaven and Earth Forasmuch as thou hast received me in my Baptism into the Covenant of Grace sealed by the blood of Jesus when an Infant Lord I being now come to the knowledge of it do on my bended knees humbly and thankfully own and acknowledge that infinite favour and adore thy mercy And do really and heartily take upon my self what was then engaged for me and by the help of thy Grace which I earnestly beg do resolve to perform with an hearty sincerity my part of that Covenant to the end of my dayes I believe what was then promised I should believe Lord help my unbelief I renounce in my own person what was then promised I should renounce And for the conditions required on my part to wit a joynt performance of all the Gospel-Graces and Duties as Faith Hope Charity Self-denyal Repentance and the rest and an obedience to all of them in sincerity thô with weakness and Imperfection Lord I humbly and thankfully embrace and accept of them and declare my hearty desires and resolutions to discharge them acceptably through the holy Jesus And before thee O holy Trinity and the whole Court of Heaven I do solemnly make this Declaration and renew my Baptismal Covenant Promise and Engagement Amen If you are able to write you may write out a Copy of these Words and having repeated them before God with a deep humility and pious affections you may add these words to it and sign it on my bended knees And then before you rise subscribe your name to it and the day of the month January 1. 1681. N. N. Ever after remembring that now you have dedicated your self to God and that if you live the rest of your life according to these beginnings your passing over the World shall be safe and holy and you be intituled to the Merits of your Redeemer and qualified to receive the benefits of his death and sufferings An act of Resolution which may be humbly and devoutly made on their knees by those who since their last receiving the holy Sacrament have through the violence of a Temptation and it 's daily solicitation though constantly resisted sometime fallen into some one act of known