his lusts he that despises riches and conquers himself does works as pleasing to God and as profitable to himself as he that removed Mountains and cast them into the Sea Nay such works as these are better for us and more acceptable to God than the power of doing the greatest Miracles He that lives well does more than he that wrought Miracles It was not the power of doing Wonders that made men Christians Their Christianity did consist in the obedience of there lives He that obeys the Gospel and our Faith teacheth us to do so receives the grace mercy which it offers If we could do wonders and yet remained void of the love and image of God we would not be in the state of Salvation The lives of the Apostles made them dear to God and not their miracles And St. Luke when he writes the story of what the Apostles did does not give his Book the title of the Miracles of the Apostles but the Acts or Practices of the Apostles is the title which it bears Our Saviour bids the Disciples not to rejoyce that the spirits are subject to them but rather says he rejoyce because your names are written in Heaven Luk. 10.20 Our obedience does intitle us to Gods favour but so does not our power to do wonderful works If we work iniquity it is not the gift of working Miracles that shall stand us in stead Many says Christ will say to me in that day Lord Lord have not we prophesied in thy name And in thy name have cast out Devils And in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Matth. 7.22 23. That Faith which wrought Miracles endured but for a time but the Faith which works righteousness is to abide for ever If our Faith cleanse and purifie our hearts we shall not need be troubled that it does not remove Mountains If we be condemned at that great day it shall not be because we did not work Miracles but because we did not feed the hungred and cloth the naked c. Matth. 25. Jam. 2.15 16. 'T is our sincere obedience to the Gospel which God requires and will reward hereafter We must shew our Faith by our works as Abraham did or else we shall have no reason to judge Faith saving If it be such a Faith as cleanseth our hearts if it enable us to forgive our enemies if it help us to overcome the World if it make us strong against Temptations patient under Afflictions constant under Trials and careful to obey God then it is such a Faith as God requires of us But if on the other hand it be but a lazy belief of the truth of the Gospel and a confident expectation however of grace and pardon it is not such a Faith that will save our Souls And let us never so much vaunt our selves that we magnifie the free Grace of God when we profess a recumbency upon Christ and a resting upon him for Salvation yet if we remain idle and disobedient this Faith will not avail us He does savingly believe that does assent to the truth of what God hath revealed and is so far in love with it also that he does sincerely and heartily give himself up to the obedience of it And he that does this as he ought is so far from depressing the freeness of Gods Grace and exalting himself that when he hath done all that he can and which is commanded he can say from the bottom of his heart that he is an unprofitable Servant and hath done that which was his duty to do Luk. 17.10 CHAP. IX BUT as we must examine our Faith towards God so we must try our love towards one another For the Eucharist is a feast of love and a Sacrament of Charity And was not only designed for our renewing our most solemn Covenant with God but also for the maintaining a fervent Charity with one another as hath been shewed before Now as we are too forward to profess a Faith which we have not so it is to be feared we do commonly profess a Charity when we are devoid of it And therefore it will very highly concern us to enquire diligently whether or no we have a fervent Charity and Love to one another For the Holy Scriptures commend to us a Love without dissimulation Rom. 12.9 a Love that is fervent and with a pure heart 1 Pet. 1.22 A Love which does not lie in Word and in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth 1 Joh. 3.18 Now though we do make pretences of Love to one another yet it is much to be feared that we do frequently but pretend it and that under this great pretence of kindness there does frequently lurk a secret root of bitterness Now notwithstanding Charity be a most extensive Grace yet I shall consider it at this time as it does import these two things First a readiness to do our Neighbour good Secondly to forgive evil For where there is a true Love we shall be ready to give and forgive to do all the good we can and forgive all the evil which is done against us These two will make our love to one another like the love of God to us who does not only forgive our offences but does also load us daily with his benefits First we shall be ready to do our Neighbour all the good we can if we do love him as we should And if we would make a right judgment of the sincerity of this love which we bear our Neighbour we must judge of it by that love which we bear our selves for we are strictly obliged to Love our Neighbour as we love our selves Mat. 22.39 Now before we can be said to do this we must 1. Wish our Neighbour the same good which we wish to our selves We must have the same sincere affection to our Neighbour which we have to our selves This must be the standard by which we are to measure our love And as it is very easie to discern that we do very sincerely wish well to our selves so must we do by our Neighbour also before we can be said to love him as we love our selves And this must be understood in the greatest latitude Certain it is that we wish well in the general to our own souls to our Bodies our Credit and Estate though we many times use not the means which tend to their welfare we must do thus as sincerely by our Neighbour also And 2. We must in all our actions do by him as we in the like case should or may reasonably desire that he should do by us This we must inviolably observe before we can be said to love our Neighbour as we do love our selves And it is a very plain case that we would not that our Neighbour should invade our just rights and therefore if we love him as we love our selves we shall be as careful not to invade his If
glory that he might shew us the way to it And by his sufferings and death hath become the Author of Eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Indeed God wrought many deliverances for his people the Jews by the hands of his servants Moses and Joshuah and the Judges and Kings of Israel but all these together did not work so great a deliverance as our Blessed Saviour did when he made his soul an offering for sin when he despised the Cross and the shame of it and wrought an Eternal Redemption for us They delivered Gods People from their ill Neighbours our Saviour hath delivered us from our sins and from the evil men our selves They delivered them from Tyrants he hath delivered us from the power of the devil and from an eternal slavery They saved their bodies from slavery and bondage Our Saviour saves our souls from sin and death They fought for their people our Saviour suffered and dyed They delivered them for a time our Saviour for ever They saved the Jews but our Lord is the Saviour of mankind Jacob in his last words to his sons tells them what shall befal them in the last dayes and when he comes to Dan he tells him â—e shall be a serpent by the way an Adder in the path that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward Gen. 49.17 This the Jews understand to be foretold of that great deliverance which Sampson of this Tribe of Dan should be an instrument of who wrought a great deliverance of his people from the Philistines V. Targ. Hierosol Jonath in locum But then Jacob presently adds in the next words I have waited for thy salvation O Lord v. 18. The meaning of which words according to the same Jews is this as if Jacob when he had foreseen the deliverances which should be wrought by Gideon and Sampson had said thus I do not expect the deliverance of Gideon and Sampson which will be but a temporal deliverance but thy salvation O Lord is that which I expect for thine is an eternal salvation They were indeed deliverers of Gods people but none of them could do that which our Saviour does who saves his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 And blâ—sseth us in turning away every one of us from our iniquities Acts 3.26 So great a salvation hath our Saviour wrought for us so great a love hath he shewed in laying down his life for us that it ought never to be forgotten as long as the World endures And that it might never be forgotten our Saviour hath appointed the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be a standing memorial of his great love in dying for us Do this says he in remembrance of me We are indeed ready to receive mercies and also very ready to forget that they are bestowed upon us And therefore God hath taken this care that we might never forget them He did so with the Jews who were a very unthankful people and very prone to forget him that had done so many kindnesses for them Lest that people should forget their Creator God appointed the Sabbath-day to be observed in memory of the Creation of the World Exod. 20.11 When he brought the Israelites out of Egypt he ordains the Passe-over in memory of that deliverance Exod. 12. And besides that he obliges them severely to observe that feast and frequently by his servants puts them in mind of that deliverance and over and above appoints the Sabbath-day also which was at first commanded upon another score as a weekly remembrancer of that great deliverance Deut. 5.15 But he that delivered them out of Egypt did also carry them through the Wilderness and in memory of that mercy in redeeming them from the travels and pilgrimage of the desert he appoints an Anniversary feast viz. the feast of Tabernacles Lev. 23.43 Other Festivals there were and divers memorials of the mercies of God shewed to that people and to their fathers They who were so apt to forget Gods mercies were provided with such services as should put them fairly in mind of them God hath done thus mercifully with us also He hath not only given his Son to die for us than which there cannot be a greater mercy but he hath ordained this Sacrament as a perpetual memorial of so great a love And as among the Jews those services which God required were very proper remembrancers and monitors of the mercies they had received so it is in the case that is before us Their Sabbath which did succeed their six days labour put them in mind of Gods creating the World and ceasing from those works Their Pass-over brought to their mind the mercies of God in their Redemption from Egypt Their feast of Tabernacles plainly shewed them the estate of their Fathers in the Wilderness And so the Sacrament of the Lords Supper does after a lively manner represent unto us the Death of our Blessed Saviour He died indeed a great while since and at a place far remote from us there could be but few that were eye-witnesses of what was then and there done but few in proportion with those that would be concerned in his death And therefore God out of his great mercy to us hath ordained this service that what we could not see done at first we might see repeated in the Sacrament afterwards Here we have Christ crucifyed represented to us The Bread and Wine put us in mind of his Body and Blood And when we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured forth we are taught to remember the Passion of our Lord how his body was broken and bruised and his blood was shed for us God would have us lift up our hearts from these symbols and signs to that which is signified and represented by them And if we do so we may by our Faith see Christ crucified before our eyes And that which was done so long ago and so far off will be anew represented unto us The Apostle tells his Galatians that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth and crucified among them Gal. 3.1 Yet certain it is that Jesus Christ was crucifyed at Jerusalem a place very far remote from the Country of the Galatians But yet he that was crucified at Jerusalem may well be said to have been evidently set forth before the eyes of the Galatians Vers Syriac and crucified among them also i. e. Jesus Christ crucified was as it were painted and most lively represented unto them They did not see him indeed hanging on the Cross at Jerusalem but yet by the preaching of the Gospel and celebration of this Sacrament they might behold Christ crucified and that which was done at so great a distance would by these means become as if it had been done before their eyes But it is not a bare historical remembrance that will serve our turn neither It is no hard thing to be able to remember the history of the passion of our
profess that Jesus is risen from the dead and that he is the Christ without any molestation And therefore this profession is no argument now that we have a saving Faith But were it now with us as it was with the first Christians it would be indeed an argument of our sincerity If it would cost us our lives or estates to confess the Faith of Christ then we might hope well of our selves if we retained our confidence unto the end This would argue us to be the faithful and genuine followers of our Lord. It is an easie thing to profess the Faith when we lose nothing by this profession But we cannot be his Disciples till we do prefer him before our Houses and Lands and our Life it self This was that which the first Martyrs or Witnesses of the Resurrection did They durst own Jesus to be the Christ though they paid their blood and sacrificed their lives for him No terrors or torments could make them deny the Lord that bought them The Faith of the Gospel was dearer to them than all the best things of this present life They that did this were indeed born of God And their patient sufferings for Christ were an evident argument of the sincerity of their Faith Secondly it is very certain and this follows from what was said before that the confessing of Christ the saying that he is the Lord the believing that Jesus is the Christ and confessing that he is come in the flesh do imply a life agreeable to such a profession 1 John 5 4 5. If the belief of these things have an influence upon our lives if it regulate and form them to a due and proportionable obedience then indeed we are born of God and shall be saved If we believe that Christ is risen and do which such a belief should teach us to do also rise with him to newness of life If we believe Jesus to be the Christ and accordingly submit to him in all his offices if we call him Lord and then do whatsoever he commands then indeed we are Gods Children and shall be saved It is very evident that no less than this can be meant by those expressions which are before named we cannot imagine that it is enough to call him Lord though we obey him not To believe that he rose from the dead when we lie in the grave of our sin and filthiness Certainly these expressions import the belief and profession of these truths and a life answerable to such a belief Were it not so it would be a most easie thing to be a Christian and our Faith were very reconcileable with our evil lives And therefore I add 4. A true and saving Faith is productive of a good life We must not only believe that what God hath revealed is true but we must consent to it and yield our selves obedient The Gospel may be looked upon either as an History of things that were done and said or as a tendry and offer of mercy upon terms and conditions which are therein specified and propounded And accordingly he that believes to Salvation does not only assent to what is therein revealed and made known but also consent to embrace the mercy that is there offered upon those terms upon which it is propounded For a man may believe what is revealed to be true and to have come from God and yet refuse to give up himself to the obedience of those precepts and rules which are there injoyned him in order to his eternal Salvation The holy Scriptures require of us such a belief as is accompanied with obedience And when it commands us the belief of the Gospel it requires that we should shew by our actions that we do believe it That is that we should so behave our selves as we do in other things which we do believe and how we do in other things it is easie to observe If men do upon rational grounds believe that they may attain their ends be it riches or honour c. by using such or such a method and course they do diligently set themselves to work that they may accomplish their designs Nay a very small assurance will set men to work in these cases The Merchant out of the uncertain hope of wealth will venture himself and what he hath upon a rough and a doubtful Sea The Ambitious man of Wars for the hope of a victory and a triumph will adventure his life upon the chance of battel The Husbandman that believes he shall fill his Barns and Coffers by his labour and pains will rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of carefulness He will spare nor cost nor pains he will not be dismayed with the burden of the Summers heat nor the keenness of the Winters cold he will do and he will suffer no pains or care are thought too much that he may obtain his end Men do this when they have no assurance of success and when the thing which they aim at is not worth their while Yet these pains they take because they beleive their success is possible and that their labour may not be lost If men did believe the Gospel at this rate what would they not do that they might lay hold of eternal life Here 's a sure word of promise and here 's a great promise too here 's all the encouragement that can be imagined here 's eternal life before us that unspeakable gift and the greatest assurance of it upon the terms offered God himself who cannot lie or repent hath promised if we did believe this as much as we do other things which we have not such reason to believe we should not be idle and lazy but we should give all diligence we should always abound in the work of the Lord knowing that our labour would not be in vain in the Lord. Certainly thus it would be with us if our Faith were as it should be if it were genuine and of the right stamp But if we sit still and be unconcerned in the great affair of our Souls if we be lazy and without devotion we may indeed boast of a Faith but it is a dead Faith and we may please our selves with a good opinion of our estate but sure it is we are not risen with Christ but we are dead in our trespasses and sins Then we do indeed savingly believe the Gospel when this belief of it begets in us a good life Unless it have this effect upon us we are infidels and unbelievers For we cannot think our selves better then the Heathens for our Faith if our works be not better than theirs If we know these things and do not do them we are worse than they who know them not He believes as he should do that lives as he does believe The Gospel tells us that without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 Who can imagine that the man believes this who does confidently expect to go to Heaven and yet takes no care to pâ—â—ge and
cleanse his heart He that believes it as he ought endeavours to be holy as God is holy Again the Gospel tells us that we must not swear at all Matth. 5.34 Nay more than that that we shall give an account at the day of judgement for every idle word we speak Matth. 12.36 Now certain it is that there are many who swear in their ordinary conversation and others also who forswear themselves and whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness And who can think that such men as these are do believe the Gospel as they should do He believes aright who does practise those precepts which he professes the belief of He that does not that is an unbeliever He may profess that he knows God but in works he denies him Tit. 1.16 and they that do so the Apostle reckons among the unbelieving ver 15. Our Saviour tells us that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life i. e. he that obeyeth the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he presently adds he that believeth not the Son or he that obeyeth not the Son as those words may well be rendred shall not see life Joh. 3.36 And when the Apostle tells us that God sware to some that they should not enter into his rest he adds that it was to them who believed not so we render the words but they might be rendred to them who obeyed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then he presently infers we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3.18 19. To believe on the name of Christ is to receive him Joh. 1.12 But if we receive him as we should we must receive him and acknowledge him in all his Offices as our Prophet Priest and King That is we must believe the truth of his Doctrine as he is our great Prophet and that Teacher who came from God and then we must obey his Precepts as he is our Lord and our King as well as expect pardon from him as he is our Priest and our Atonement We must receive him as he is offered to us in the Gospel and not only confidently expect our pardon from him but we must receive him as God hath sent him and God hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Act. 3.26 Now that it is such a Faith in Christ as I have been speaking of which the Scriptures require of us in order to our eternal Salvation will appear 1. If we consider the great end of the manifestation of Jesus Christ or the great purpose for which he was sent into the World Now we must not think that Christ came into the world and did and suffered those great things which we read of him only to procure our pardon and indemnity we must not think that the only end of all this was that we might be delivered from the evil effects and bad consequents of our sins he would be certainly a welcome Saviour to the worst of mankind upon this score For provided we may enjoy our sins we are content that he should suffer for them We are very willing that he should bear the blame provided we may but have the liberty to commit the fault Though we love our sins well yet are we not fond of the sorrows which they bring with them We are willing enough that Christ should pay our scores and well pleased to live in our sins and take it kindly that Christ would die for them But certain it is that Christ appeared and suffered for us too that he might deliver us from the power and dominion as well as from the guilt of our sins He did not die for sin that we might live in it He never came to discharge us from our duty we think unworthily of our Saviour and of our Religion if we think thus He came to plant the divine life in our hearts to make us better and more like unto God Let the holy Scriptures speak in this matter His name is called Jesus because he should save his people from their sins Matth. 1.21 It is ridiculous to say that by sins is meant no more than the punishment of them Nor can we think that Christ came into the world for no other end He would then have taken away the effect and left the cause remaining This would be to remove the less evil and to let the greater continue as if a Physician should only project how to remove or abate the symptom and take no care to suppress the disease and remove the morbifick matter which is the cause of it Certainly we think meanly of our Saviours design if we think this was all his business in the World He came to save us from our sins and they are a greater evil sure than the effects of them This is a nobler conquest than to deliver us from death And this sure was the great purpose of our blessed Saviour When God promised the Messias no less blessing was contained in that promise than this that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life Luk. 1.74 75. The Apostle certainly understood the great end for which Christ appeared He tells us that for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 And that this was one great end why our Lord laid down his life no man can deny that gives any credit to the Holy Scriptures There we are told that he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Again it is said that he gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil World Gal. 1.4 And that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 He dyed for his Church indeed but then he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be Holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26 27. The same Apostle tells his Colossians that Christ hath reconciled them in the body of his flesh through death to present them holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight Col. 1.21 22. Besides what hath been said we are from the death of Christ exhorted to an Holy Life 1 Pet. 4.1 2. Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Which certainly we could not so effectually have been had our Saviour only dyed for our Indemnity and to procure our pardon But since he dyed for sin that we might not live in it well may we from his death be exhorted to an Holy Life and Conversation Which if we do not lead we do then frustrate and make void the
once VVe shall find Death here if we do not cleanse our hearts from malice and ill-will More might be said to shew what reason we have to forgive our brother before we partake of this Sacrament but I shall say no more only adding the words of our Saviour Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Mat. 5.23 24. CHAP. X. I Should now proceed to shew how we are to behave our selves when we do Communicate when we have first examined the state and condition of our Souls But yet before I do proceed to that because we may stand in need of some farther supplies before we do actually Communicate I shall not omit to add something for our assistance that way 1. Perhaps a man after the perusal of what hath been said before may not be able to determine whether he be fit to receive or not And in case he doubt of himself it may be asked what he is to do in that case If he proceed under his doubt he may involve himself in a farther perplexity and if he do not receive he may fear that he neglects his duty towards God in letting slip so excellent an opportunity of becoming better and omitting so great a precept of the Gospel In this case then it is very adviseable that he should make use of a Spiritual guide for his farther direction This will be his safest course certainly and well it would be if this course were taken more frequently than it is It might prevent many of those miscarriages which men now fall into It is of great advantage to the Souls of men not to conceal their doubts and scruples The hiding of them tends to their great trouble if not many times to their eternal ruin God hath provided us with the Ministers of his Word to conduct and guide us in the way to Heaven This is the great end for which they are sent and we ought accordingly to make use of them We do very readily consult the Physician and the Lawyer where our Lives or Estates are in any danger And certainly were our Souls as precious to us as our Bodies and our Wealth we should as readily take advice for them as we do for these Our way to Heaven would not be so perplexed would we use the means which the mercy of God hath provided for us Now certain it is that God gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes 4.11 12. If we love our Souls we shall do well to shew our utmost care of them which we cannot be said to do if we suffer our doubts to remain and do not use those appointments which God hath so plentifully furnished us withal 2. We must be careful that when we examine our selves we take accounts of our selves for those amisses which are not punishable by any Laws of men We are not to absolve and acquit our selves because the severest Laws of Men cannot censure us We do greatly amiss when yet the best Laws of Men cannot punish us for doing so We ought to consider how we spend our time to examine whether we spend it either idly or unprofitably We are also to enquire how we spend our Estates whether in works of mercy and necessity or upon vain and gawdy things We are to remember that we must hereafter account for every talent which we have received of our Lord and though we may so live that the best Laws of men cannot condemn us nor yet the best men justly censure us yet however we may be liable to a greater and more impartial Judg. We are at such a time to examine and search into all the secrets of our hearts We must indeed be favourable in our judgement of others but it becomes us very severely to judge our selves And we must not only abstain from evil but from all appearance of it not only from things that are in themselves evil but that are of evil report Such things as these are frequenting of Taverns very gawdy and fantastick attire great merriments and jollities costly feasts and entertainments spending beyond our income and revenue as well as above our rank Spending great portions of our time in Drollery and mirth setting off our beauty with artifice and curiosity an extraordinary niceness in our dress and a great forwardness in following the mode and fashion Such things as these are must come under our Examination for it is very much to be feared that in them we do transgress and that our hearts may go astray from God Indeed we are by no means to condemn one another we may not too hastily judge our brother in this case but yet it will well become us to examine our own hearts and to be very jealous and suspitious of our selves 3. In making a Judgement of our selves we ought not only to consider what we are when we are drest up for the Solemnity but what we are in our ordinary conversation There are few men so profane but they will put on a demure countenance and a fair outside when they are going to the Table of the Lord But we are not to measure our selves by that but to consider what we are at other times The best way to judg of our selves is to do it by what we are in our ordinary conversation There is a Mechanical Religion and that is when our devotion is raised by the ringing of a Bell the return of a Solemnity or else the menaces of death but when these things are over we return to our old wonts and are but what we were before When a Sacrament draws nigh we look like Saints we abstain from our grosser sins we put up some cold prayers to God we are for a day or two before very reserved and sober and we fast it may be upon the vespers of the Festival and carry our selves very reverently when we do communicate But yet all this while our hearts are not changed and our lives are the same or worse than they were before And therefore we are not to judge of our selves by such fits and pangs of devotion but by the general course and tenour of our lives Were we to chuse the picture of a friend or wife that I may use a Simile of one of our Divines upon this argument if we would have a true picture we would have it drawn as she uses to look in the ordinary management of her huswifery not as she looked when she was dressed up with all the advantages and tricks of Art We must do so by our selves let us if we would take a just estimate reflect what we ordinarily are The worst of men at some times seem to be very good There are but
few men so stupid but something or other does awaken them to a sense of things and yet these men remain very bad and sensless still We call that man a lunatick or mad-man who yet hath many lucid intervals when he can use his reason And him we judg a Fool or Natural as we call them who is generally so in all his words and actions tho sometimes he may speak good sense and make very smart replies upon us A Fever retains its name though it do sometimes intermit and be not one continual paroxysm There must be a great change in the blood before it be quite removed 'T is so in the case that is before us there must not only be an intermission of our sins and sinful affections but an extinction of them before we can be said to be new Creatures And that we are which we are most generally in the course of our conversations 4. It is therefore adviseable that before we do Communicate we make som experiments upon our selves Let us try how we can resist a temptation and how we can overcome it Let us inure our selves by degrees to overcome our inordinate affections Suppose that we are given to some excess of anger or intemperance or the like Let us try our selves sometime before how we can master our selves And it will not be hard to do it if we do it gradually and alwayes call in to our assistance the Divine aid If we be given to anger and impatience let us try first how we can bear the evils and disappointments of a day which it will be no hard matter to do Then let us take out a greater time and use our selves by degrees to bear the yoke If we find that we get the mastery then may we expect a very great aid by communicating as well as a great encouragement to communicate frequently The Jews we commanded to keep the day of expiation Joina c. 8. Miâ—hm 4. cum notis Bartenor then they were to afflict their Souls and thought themselves obliged to fast but yet they tell us that they did not with-hold meat and drink from little Children all at once but they did by degrees wont them to the observation of that solemnity so that the child that was wont to eat at the fourth hour received his meat at the fifth or sixth according to his strength and thus they did use them for a year or two before they took upon them the observation of this and the other precepts And this course we shall do well to take with our Souls Who may do well by degrees to wont them to obedience and not to venture upon Communicating whereby we are most solemnly obliged to obey all the precepts of Christ before we have had some proof of our obedience 5. It is also very adviseable that at this time we do more particularly design the destroying that lust which does most constantly annoy us and easily beset us We have our peculiar lusts and follies to which we are addicted Some sins there are that are frequent temptations to us and do greatly molest and trouble us It will be wisdom at this time to set our selves mainly against that sin Where we are weakest we shall do well to set the strongest guard and watch Our bodies are not more naturally prone to their peculiar distempers than our Souls are to their particular follies And certainly if we can destroy these fiercer enemies we shall not need fear the other assailants And therefore let us especially set our selves against those lusts that do very often solicite and importune us For as it is great wisdom to consider where we are weak and easily overcome so is it no less wisdom to raise up all our force and strength to defend our selves against those spiritual enemies which do most easily prevail upon us 6. Let us endeavour to put our selves into such a preparation as we would be found in when we are to die For certainly we are not fit to Communicate if we are not fit to dye The same preparation is required for a Communion which is for our death And many devout persons have very wisely at once disposed themselves for the receiving this Sacrament and their dissolution also v. Calvin Epist 99. Now certain it is that though we trifle in our lives yet we become serious when we come to die Then we do recollect our selves and very severely examine our own Consciences Then we pray very earnestly give very earnest attention to Gods word and very seriously heed what we are about And did we as verily believe that we should forthwith resign up our Souls unto God we should be very careful to put them in a readiness for so great a change It will well become us at this time to consider in what condition we would be found when our Lord calls us hence and then to endeavour to our utmost that we may with no less diligence dispose our selves for this service than if we were presently to give up the ghost Thus if we do we shall not trifle in our preparations but shall most carefully examine our hearts and most earnestly call in the Divine aid and assistance CHAP. XI I Proceed now to shew how we are to behave our selves when we do Communicate And of that I shall speak in the following Severals 1. First of all we are to take care that our hearts be lifted up to the Lord as we are exhorted by the man of God Let us not suffer our thoughts to remain upon low and earthly things Forget your worldly concerns and interests Remember what an holy and solemn service you are about Attend now upon this very thing When your worldly and trifling thoughts would thrust in upon you presently repell and beat them back Tell them you are employed about greater matters that they must stand off now while you worship your Lord that your Souls are the houses of prayer and not a den of such thieves Suffer not these busie intruders to have any entrance or countenance from you By no means yield to any of their importunities Your Souls must ascend up to Heaven now and forget all earthly things Your otherwise lawful thoughts you must now account profane They must by no means come near when you are thus employed We must do now as was done at the giving of the Law bounds were set that nothing might approach the Mount under the severest penalty Exod. 19. We must do so now we make this solemn approach unto God we must be greatly careful that no evil or earthly thought draw nigh and if they do we must severely chastise them and beat them back And as then 't was forbidden to suffer either man or beast to touch that Mount so we must here beware not only of our beastly and carnal thoughts but also of all other thoughts though at another time not unbecoming man-kind which would disturb our devotion and draw us aside from the contemplation of what we
every evil way and purifie my self as thou art pure Keep me O Lord for the time to come from every thing that is hurtful to me and displeasing to thee From the excesses both of care and fear from snares and great perplexities from carnal desires and brutish inclinations from covetousness and hatred from envy and pride from vanity and dissimulation murmuring and discontent And make me stedfast in justice and charity in humility and meekness in purity of heart and heavenly mindedness and sincere devotion And to these Holy ends vouch safe me the presence of thy Spirit and power of thy grace and endue me with heavenly Wisdom and all this I beg for the sake and in the Mediation of Jesus Christ Our Father which art c. Ejaculations to be used at the Lords Supper THE Lord hath done great things for me whereof I am glad If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life At the Receiving of the Bread THou hast said O Blessed Jesus I am the living Bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word in which thou hast caused me to trust Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred I am thine O Lord I devote my self to thee O save thy Servant who trusteth in thee I have enclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God At the Receiving of the Cup. O Blessed Saviour let thy Blood purge my Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood I will not henceforth live unto my self but unto him who dyed for me and rose again Blessed be the Lord my God who only doeth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen After Receiving BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Perfect that which concerneth me and forsake not the work of thine own hands I intreat thy favour with my whole heart Be merciful unto me according to thy word I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous Judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Prayer after the Receiving the Sacrament BLessed be thy glorious name O Lord for all thy unspeakable mercies to me and to all the World I adore and magnifie thee for thy great goodness in giving thy Son to dye for me and making me partaker of his most pretious Body and Blood O Lord what is man that thou thus regardest him And what am I a vile and wretched sinner that thou shouldst be thus favourable to me Thou hast been pleased to admit me to renew that Covenant with thee which I had broken and to give me assurance of thy readiness to pardon so vile and great a sinner as I have been I have received the pledges of thy love and been admitted to thy holy Table I have there devoted my self again unto thee my Soul and Body all my powers and faculties I have vowed obedience to thee and after the most solemn manner consecrated my self to thy service Thou art a God that knowest the heart and art not to be mocked I tremble when I consider thy infinite power wisdom and holiness Let these thoughts beget in my Soul a great fear of thy Holy name a great care to do thy will Grant I may not for the future turn the grace of thee my God into wantonness and that I may not receive the Grace of God in vain There is nothing hid from thee Thou knowest my weakness and infirmities and the temptations with which I am assaulted and to which I have too often yielded I am surrounded with snares and my spiritual Enemies are powerful and active O Lord help thy Servant and grant that I may both resist and vanquish them by the aid of thy Holy Spirit Keep the possession of my Soul which I have unfeignedly surrendred up unto thee Unite my heart O Lord to fear thy name and grant that I may spend the remainder of my time in obedience to thee and in acts of Charity to my brethren Create a clean heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Forsake me not O Lord if thou leave me I perish Guide me by thy Counsel and at last receive me to thy glory I do greatly desire the Salvation of mankind and humbly commend to thee this Church and Kingdom the Kings Majesty and all our Superiors in Church and State humbly intreating thee to direct and guide them all into those holy wayes that are pleasing to thee and beneficial to those who are under their charge and influence And work in the minds of all Christians an unfeigned Charity a peaceable temper patience and exemplary meekness and all the other fruits of thy Holy Spirit And grant me thy heavenly grace that I may so use things temporal that I may not miss of thy Eternal Bliss for the sake of Jesus Christ my onely Mediator and Advocate Amen A Morning Prayer for a Family O Almighty and Eternal Lord God the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ look down from Heaven with pity and compassion upon thy servants who humbly cast ourselves down before thee in a great sense of thy mercies and our own misery There is an infinite distance between Thy Glorious
Majesty and us thy Creatures the work of thy hands Between thy infinite power and our weakness thy Wisdom and our Folly thy Eternal Being and our Mortal Frame But Lord we have set our selves at a greater distance from thee by our sin and wickedness We do humbly acknowledge the corruption of our nature and the many rebellions of our lives We have sinned against Heaven and before thee in thought word and deed We have been prophane Contemners of thy Majesty and of thy Holy Laws We have also sinned against our Brother and our own Souls by omitting what we ought to have done and committing what we ought not We have rebelled against light despised thy Mercies and thy Judgments broken our own vows and promises neglected thy means of grace and opportunities of becoming better Our iniquities are multiplyed and our sins are very great We confess them O Lord with shame and with sorrow with detestation and loathing We are vile in our own eyes as we have rendred our selves vile in thine We pray thee to be merciful unto us in the free pardon of our sins for the sake of thy Dear Son and our alone Saviour Jesus Christ who came not to call the righteous but sinners to Repentance And we pray thee to renew our natures and to write thy Laws upon our hearts Help us to live righteously soberly and Godly in this present World Make us humble and meek patient and contented and work in us all the graces of thy Holy Spirit Preserve in us a sense of our dependance upon thee and of our great Obligations to thee Help us that we may love thee with all our heart and that we may universally obey and cheerfully submit to thy holy will Save and defend us from all sin and danger from malice and ill will from covetousness and sensuality from pride and vanity and from all the deceits of the world the crafts of the Devil and lusts of the Flesh Direct us O Lord in all our difficulties supply our wants support us under our troubles enable us against our temptations prosper our honest endeavours and above all things purifie and cleanse our thoughts Prepare us for death and judgment and let the thoughts thereof awaken us to a great care and study to approve our selves unto thee in well doing Bless thy whole Church these Kingdoms to which we belong And bless with thy choicest Blessings our Sovereign Lord the King Defend him against all his enemies Let his dayes be many and his Reign prosperous Bless him in his Royal Relations in his Counsellors and his Counsels Bless all the Governours and Teachers of thy Church grant them such a measure of thy Grace and Divine Wisdom that they may by their Doctrine and by their examples gain many souls unto thee Help all that are in trouble sorrow need sickness or any other adversity Give them patience under their troubles a sanctified use of them and in thy good time a deliverance from them Be merciful to our Friends and forgive our Enemies and accept or our humble acknowledgment for thy preservations of us this last night and for all thy mercies to us And we pray thee to take us into thy protection this day and to keep us in perfect peace and all we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ who hath taught us to say Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a Family MOst gratious and merciful Lord God from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift and our most merciful Father in Jesus Christ we offer up to thy Divine Majesty our unfeigned Praise and Thanksgiving for all thy mercies towards us Thou didst make us at first and hast ever since sustained the work of thine own hands Thou hast given us thy Son to dye for us and hast admitted us into thy Church and given us assurance of pardon upon our Repentance and sincere obedience of thy holy precepts Thou art pleased to lengthen out to us the time of Repentance and to move us to it by thy word and by thy Spirit by thy mercies and thy judgments Out of a deep sense of thy mercies and our own unworthiness we appear before thee at this time We are ashamed of our vile ingratitude We have sinned O Lord and done very wickedly Be merciful unto us O Lord and pardon us for Jesus Christ his sake Instruct us O Lord in all the particulars of our duty and give us true wisdom who hast promised to give wisdom and upbraidest not Be with us under every Tryal and temptation and suffer us not to be tempted above what we shall be able Take care we pray thee of our affairs and more and more direct us into thy truth Defend us against all our Enemies but especially against our spiritual ones Suffer us not to be drawn away from thee by the blandishments of the world by carnal desires the cunning of the Devil or the deceitfulness of sin Work in us thy good will and pleasure and discharge our minds of all things that are displeasing to thee of all ill will and discontent wrath and bitterness pride and vain conceits of our selves and render us charitable holy pure in heart patient and Heavenly minded Be with us at the hour of death dispose us for it and deliver us from the slavish fear of it and make us all willing and fit to dye when ever thou shalt call us hence Bless O Lord all the race of Mankind let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy Son Christ as the waters cover the Sea Be gracious to thy whole Church and especially to that part of it planted in these Kingdoms Bless the Kings Majesty and let his Crown flourish upon his Head and let no weapon formed against him prosper Bless all his Relations and teach his Senators wisdom And bless all that are to govern and teach thy Church make them successful in their labours and grant they may consider the account they must one day give Pity the sick and weak the poor and needy the Widowes and Fatherless and all that mourn or are broken in heart Be merciful unto them according to their several necessities Bless our Friends and grant us Grace to forgive our enemies as heartily as we do desire forgiveness of thee our Heavenly Father We pray thee to defend us this night from every thing that is evil and do more for us than we can ask or think for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words we continue to Pray Our Father c. FINIS