know to be against the common Principles riveted in our Souls he that feels them hath reason to believe that he consents not to them though for the present they stun him However when he recovers out of his present Fright and Consternation if deliberately he rejects them 't is enough And though they should follow him Twenty Years together yet if he resist and detest them Twenty Years together they cannot make him an unworthy Communicant 4. Impossibility of forgetting an Injury doth not make a Man an unworthy Receiver By not being able to forget an Injury I mean not being able so to put the Matter of Fact out of our Minds that we shall never think of it or remember that such an Injury was done unto us 'T is true the uncharitable Man as he is a Stranger to Christ's Religion so it cannot be supposed that he will meet with any kind Entertainment at the Lord's Table And whoever would not go away empty from this Ordinance must from his Heart forgive the Offender who hath either wronged or disparaged him or wounded his good Name Nay so far he must forget the Injury too as not to exercise Revenge when it lies in his power nor must he remember it with Wrath and Passion or ill Language or with an Intent or Resolution to withdraw from him the charitable Offices of Humanity or with renewing his Grudge and Hatred to him or with making the Remembrance an Argument and Motive to desist from the Good he intended him for he must not forget to do good to Enemies and such as have despitefully used him And though no Person is by the Law of the Gospel obliged to make a Person who hath been notoriously â—alse and treacherous to him his Bosom-friend and Familiar or to trust him again without Fear or Suspicion except he sees and is sensible of the Offender's sincere Repentance yet still the Injury must be so far forgotten as not to deny or refuse to help the Offender in things we can conveniently and easily serve him in But to think sometimes of the Injury done to us with Pity and Compassion to the Offender or not to be able so to extinguish the Thoughts of it that it shall not so much as beat upon our Minds again This I say doth not make a Person an unworthy Receiver 1. Because God doth not intend the Destruction of our Faculties whereof Memory is one Never to remember an Injury or not to be able so much as barely to think of it supposes Destruction of our Memory All that God intends in our Reformation is the Destruction of our evil Qualities and the Irregularities of our Faculties His Design is not to annihilate our Minds but the evil Thoughts that are apt to take up their Lodging there not to abolish our Wills but the Perverseness and Stubbornness that cleaves to them and consequently not to destroy our Memories but the Revenge and Hatred and Malice and secret Grudges which are apt to harbour there Even then when God presses upon us the Destruction of the Body of Sin it is not that we are to kill our Natural Bodies but the Mass of Corruption that lies in them And though Christ bids us cut off our Right Hand yet he means no more than that the Sins should be resected which cleave to it And that is the the meaning too of pulling out the Eye i. e. the evil Looks and unchaste Desires and foolish Concupiscences which are apt to incorporate with that Organ So that he who can so far rase an Injury out of his Memory as to destroy his own ill-Will his ill Designs his evil Inclinations to the Offender which are written there his not being able totally to obliterate that such a thing was ever done to him need not make him afraid that he shall be an unworthy Receiver in this Ordinance 2. This Sacrament will help us totally to forget the Injury or if not totally to forget it yet totally to forget requiting the Offender according to his Demerits and so to forget it that the Remembrance shall cause no Commotion no Disorder no Tumults no Risings in our Minds For here we are told and here we are made to see how God that hath far greater reason to stand upon Points of Honour than any Mortal Man freely and graciously forgives and forgets our Sins and Offences against him in the Blood of his Son blots them out like a thick Cloud and notwithstanding all the Wrong we have offer'd to him is willing to pass by the foulest Trespasses willing to open his Gates to us though we have lock'd our selves out willing to vouchsafe us his Smiles again though we have forfeited the Light of his Favour and willing to adopt us for his Children though we have lived like Prodigals which must needs be a great help to make us forget the Wrongs we have suffer'd from unreasonable Men And therefore he that is not able totally to forget ought to come that by this great Example of God's forgetting his Offences he may be persuaded totally to forget his Neighbour's Trespasses 5. Worldly Business either a Day or Week before a Man receives doth not make him as unworthy Receiver By Worldly Business I mean lawful Business not Playing or Drinking or going to Stage Plays or mis-spending our Time c. but such Business as appertains to an honest and lawful Calling or Business considered abstractedly from the evil Concomitants of it For lawful Business is one thing and the way of managing of it is another A Man may manage even his lawful Business sinfully and run himself into Danger but following it without Sin as it may happen that the Day or Week before he may have greater Occasions than ordinary to look after it as this need not hinder him from an holy Life so neither can it be a just Impediment to his Receiving worthily 1. Because it is our Duty to mind it on such Days of the Week as God hath permitted us to work in which makes the Apostle enjoyn us to do our own Business and work with our Hands without making any distinction in Days 1 Thes. 4. 11. 'T is true where publick Authority either Civil or Ecclesiastical appoints a Day in the Week to be kept holy or a Festival or a Fast or where a Person by a Vow hath consecrated a certain Day in the Week to spend it entirely in religious Duties there Working ought to be forborn for Magistrates ought to be obeyed and a Vow doth bind the Soul But set aside these Cases the Command to work extends to all Days except the Lord's Day and therefore he that is to receive the holy Sacrament on the Lord's Day is not necessarily obliged to abstain from minding his lawful Business the Day before 2. Lawful Business doth not need not hinder a Man from preserving holy Thoughts holy Desires and holy Affections if his Soul were acquainted with any before A good Man in the midst of his lawful Business
1. And the whole Multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate AMong this Multitude no doubt were some who formerly cried Hosannah to the Son of David But how variable is Mankind in their Devotion And O my Soul Dost not thou see thy self in this Glass How fickle and inconstant hast thou been in thy Religious Temper Sometimes Fire then Ice again sometimes hot then cold again sometimes diligent in Prayer then careless and supine again And is this agreeable to thy great Master's Temper who loved thee to the End Should thy God love thee at this rate love thee to Day and forsake thee to Morrow where wouldst thou hide thy Head in the Day of Battel 2. And they began to accuse him saying we found this Fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying That he himself is Christ a King THis was nothing but a downright Lye for he had not only paid Tribute for himself and Peter but charged the Spies that were sent unto him to give to Caesar the Things that were Caesar's But their Interest is maintain'd by the Untruth and therefore they make nothing of the Sin O my Soul how little hast thou stood upon a Lye when thy Interest hath seemed to require it And to clear thy self how regardless hast thou been of speaking Truth of thy Neighbour and thy self How little hast thou regarded the God of Truth whose Eyes were upon thee and who saw the Falshood and Perverseness of thine Heart Thou hadst need for the future redeem thy Time and speak the Truth from thy Heart whatever thou sufferest and losest by it And let a good Conscience be ever dearer to thee than the Breath and good Opinion of Men For mark the perfect Man and behold the Upright the End of that Man is Peace 3. And Pilate asked him Art thou the King of the Jews And he answered him and said Thou sayest it HOW often O my Soul hath Christ asked thee this Question Am not I thy King Thou hast indeed answered with thy Lips That he is But how far hath thy Heart been from him and how loth hast thou been to be govern'd by him How boldly hast thou sometimes thrown off his Yoak and how unwilling hast thou been that this Man should reign over thee Canst thou have a better Prince to rule thy Thoughts and Words and Actions Did ever any miscarry under his Rule And canst thou think thou shalt 4. Then said Pilate to the Chief Priests and to the People I find no fault in this Man AN Heathen finds no Fault in Christ Jesus Yet Hast not thou O my Soul found fault with him when thou hast disputed his Precepts thought them hard and troublesome and his Commandments grievous Hast not thou blamed him in so doing when thou hast thought that he hath not consulted thine Ease nor considered thy Circumstances and tied thee up to hard Meat hath not this been harbouring strange Thoughts of him Can he that is the Fountain of Wisdom do any thing that is irrational Or canst thou think he did not design thy Good when he commanded that which crosses the Inclinations of Flesh and Blood And ought not this to make thee say to him for the future Speak Lord for thy Servant hears 5. And they were the more fierce saying He stirreth up the People teaching throughout all Jury beginning from Galilee to this place AND must thy stirring up the Souls of Men to love their God my dearest Lord be called Sedition Oh then let there be such Sedition and such Uproars in my Soul Let there be a perpetual Contrariety betwixt the Flesh and the Spirit in me that my Spirit may never yield to the evil Motions of the Flesh Stir up my Soul to stand up for thy Honour and Glory Commence a War within me whereby I may be engaged to fight for him who hath redeemed me from the Power of the Grave and given me a Title to Immortality 6. When Pilate heard of Galilee he asked whether the Man were a Galilean A Galilean was a Nick-name And when the Jews called one a Galilean they meant an inconsiderable Person How meanly doth Pilate speak of thee my Blessed Jesus But he knew thee not Had he been sensible of thy Divinity he would not only have spoken of thee with the highest Respect and Veneration and fallen down before thee but wonder'd at the Mystery that the Creator should thus suffer himself to be abused by his Creatures and be content to be made an Object of their Scorn whose Souls and Bodies he might have lash'd with Eternal Fire Ignorance wanders in the Dark and passes by that Medicine which is of greatest Use and yields the greatest Comfort Oh drive that Darkness from my Mind and let me know nothing with that Delight and Satisfaction as I do thee my Jesus thee my Crucified Redeemer 7. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's Jurisdiction he sent him to Herod who himself was also at Jerusalem at that time PIlate intended to have Herod's Opinion of Christ. Which was just as if two blind Men should judge of Colours or pretend to guide one another by which Attempt they both fall into the Ditch O Jesu What could Herod judge of thee that knew not thy glorious Designs nor had any Knowledge of thy Spiritual Kingdom The Things of the Spirit are Foolishness to the Natural Man So they have been to me Before I knew what the Riches of thy Grace were I had strange Thoughts of Holiness and looked upon it as a needless thing I prize it now Thanks be to thee who hast open'd mine Eyes and not suffer'd me to continue in the Shadow and Valley of Death 8. And when Herod saw Jesus he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see him of a long Season because he had heard many things of him and he hoped to have seen some Miracle done by him SUre this Man knew not what a Miracle was nor the End for which those wonderful Works were wrought Could the vain King think my blessed Lord that thou didst work Miracles to make Men Sport which were the Seals of Heaven affixed to thy sacred Doctrine O Lord I long not to see thy former Miracles wrought over again only one Miracle I beg thou wouldst work in me and turn my Heart of Stone into an Heart of Flesh and expel the Leprosie of Sin out of my Soul which if thou wilt grant I will speak of thy marvellous Acts and my Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise In the Congregations of the Saints will I bless thee 9. Then he questioned with him in many Words but but he answered him nothing NO doubt the Questions were trivial and below the Gravity and Holiness of my Saviour Had he asked What he should do to be saved None would have given a speedier Answer O my Jesus How wouldst thou have embraced the Opportunity and received the inquisitive Man with the same Tenderness
Sacrament which is to consecrate our selves to God in Christ Jesus and that is not to be done without a very serious Use of this Ordinance in which we acknowledge with the deepest Humility that our Souls and Bodies and all the Gifts and Graces we have are the Effects of his Bounty and declare our unfeigned Purposes to speak and act and think as he would have us and dedicate our selves to his Service professing that we will use the Blessings he hath given us to his Glory and the Good of his People will resign our selves to his Providence and be content with the Lot and Portion he shall think fit to assign us and be thankful for Afflictions too as well as for Prosperity they being both his Gifts and Blessings and say and confess under the various Dispensations we shall meet withal Lord not as I will but as thou wilt And who can forget himself so much as to think that all this may be done without a serious Behaviour IV. The Church of Rome at this Day makes strange Work with Consecration of the Elements in the Supper of the Lord. And though they are told by one of their own Popes Gregory the Great that the Apostles consecrated only with saying the Lord's Prayer yet they boldly according to their Custom place Consecration in the Priests muttering these Words Hoc est Corpus meum hic est Sanguis meus This is my Body This is my Blood over the Bread and Wine Which Words partly by their own secret Virtue and partly by virtue of the Priest's Office immediately upon their being secretly pronounced change the Bread and Wine into the substantial Body and Blood of Christ whereof we shall have Occasion to speak more largely in the Sequel And this is their Consecration contrary to the Sense of the Primitive Church which was of Opinion that Consecration was performed by Prayer and Praises And though some think that Christ used a peculiar Form of Consecration which is either lost or the Church did not think necessary to preserve yet that Fancy is altogether needless since we are told by the inspired Writers that Christ gave Thanks In which he either observ'd the usual Form used in the Passover Blessed be God who hath created the Fruit of the Earth and Blessed be God who hath created the Fruit of the Vine Or Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who bringest forth Bread out of the Earth and Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst tbe Fruit of the Vine Or some other though it is more probable that he did not vary from the common Practice of the Jews in this Particular And what is this but Consecrating the Elements and Sanctifying of them For every Creature of God is good and not to be refused for it is sanctified by the Word of God and by Prayer saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 4. 4 5. The Greek Church at this Day lays the Stress of Consecration upon the Prayer of the Holy Ghost as they call it whereby the Holy Spirit of God is invited to come down and make a Change in the Bread and Wine In our Church we joyn Prayer and Praises and the Words of Institution which is the safest Way and such as no rational Person can find fault with though the Words of Institution are sufficient in this Case which we discover in our Practice when the first Consecrated Bread and Wine are spent and the Number of the Communicants require a new Consecration V. Though the Gospel tells us only in general that Christ gave Thanks yet we cannot but suppose that they were particular Things he praised the Divine Bounty for and it is very rational to conclude that he gave Thanks 1. For the Providence of God which watches over Mankind and brings forth Fruit out of the Earth to satisfie the Desire and natural Appetite of Man God the Creator of all Things provides Food and Sustenance for all his Creatures He causes the Grass to grow for the Cattel He sends the Springs into the Valleys which run among the Hills they give Drink to every Beast of the Field the Wild Asses quench their Thirst the Lions receive their Prey from him He it is that hath appointed Toads and Snakes to be proper Meat for the Stork and Flies for the Nourishment of Spiders for some Birds of the Air he hath design'd Variety of Seeds and Worms of the Earth for others He provides Leaves for Caterpillars and those Insects for the Use of other Animals and the young Ravens that make a noise and upon that Account are said to cry to him are fed and maintain'd by his Power He prevents the Crocodile from doing excessive Mischief by making the Ichneumon his Enemy and the lesser Fishes prove a Prey to the greater by his Order In all these Things the Divine Providence displays it self and because the rest of the Creatures are not endow'd with Reason to celebrate God for his Bounty he hath placed Man in the Earth and enrich'd him with an Angelical Soul to be the Trumpet of his Glory and to take notice of God's feeding his Creatures of all sorts and sizes and particularly the Children of Men and when he sees Bread before him the Staff of Humane Life to admire the Wisdom Power and Goodness of the Almighty And upon this Account it was that Christ as Man and Mediator gave Thanks and when he took Bread blessed the Author of it who had made it agreeable to Man's Nature and gave it Strength to nourish him sent the Former and the Later Rain to nourish the Seed in the Ground and gave his Sun-shine to warm and ripen the Corn into Perfection 2. It was not God's Providence alone that he gave Thanks for but for the more indearing Expressions of God's Love to Mankind too And this we need not wonder at when we read how at other Times he magnified his Father's Goodness to sincere Believers particularly Matth. 11. 25. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes No Man ever saw the immense Charity and Goodness of God to the lapsed Progeny of Adam in those lively Characters that he did We can only speak of it with stammering Tongues and give some faint Descriptions of it but He felt it The Sense of that Love over-spread his Soul and he saw the Heighth and Depth and Breadth and Length of it He beheld the Miracles of this Love in all the amazing Circumstances and what it was for God to give a Son to redeem a Servant to expose a Lamb to buy a Wolf and to let an innocent Sheep be led to the Slaughter to ransom Swine He saw how that Compassion extended it self and what it was for the Word to be made Flesh and to run about to seek the lost Sheep and when he had found it to rejoyce over it and
look on such Mercies with spiritual Reflections and Praises and these Praises are holy Thoughts Nay the Task is very easie and there is nothing lies more in our power than by taking a View of such Blessings to think This God hath done this is part of his Charity this is a Character of his Bounty What am I and what is my Father's House that God hath brought me thus far And as it is easie so it is profitable too for this will fill our Minds with humble Thoughts and teach us to have a low Opinion of our selves it being impossible to think our selves very unworthy of God's Favours and not to despise our selves II. I told you in the first Chapter of this Discourse that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper among the Ancients was frequently called the Eucharist Here we see the Reason of it for as the Word Eucharist imports Praise so Thanksgiving is one of the principal Actions and Offices in this Sacrament The Church of Rome will have it called a Sacrifice because in the Primitive Church it went by that Name We deny it not but then they meant by it a Sacrifice of Praise and this Sacrifice we exhort every one of you to offer when you remember your Great Master's Funeral Give Thanks for that Death when you are preparing your selves for this spiritual Feast Give Thanks when you feed at this holy Table Give Thanks when you depart from that Banqueting-house Give Thanks unto the Lamb that was slain bless him for his Wounds bless him for his Cross bless him for his Bloody Sweat bless him for all his Sighs and Groans bless him for his Merits for through these your Souls must triumph over Hell and Sin and Devils But then take heed of praising him at Church and affronting him at home These Praises must be uniform and equal and constant not that you are obliged in all Places to speak of his Glory whatever Business you have or that you must do nothing but sing Psalms to him where-ever you are but your upright and Christian Behaviour in all Places is a Glorification of his Mercy For you are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2. 9. The PRAYER O Thou who inhabitest the Praises of Israel our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and they were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Praise waits for thee in Sion Thou deservest my devoutest Praises my most hearty Thanks my loudest Celebrations Can I think of what thou hast done for me and be loath to praise thee What should I do but praise thee All that I see within me or about me is Mercy my Meat my Drink my Clothes are Mercies But Oh! what a Mercy is that Spiritual Food thou settest before me at thy Table Oh let my Mouth be filled with thy Praise all the Day long I am sensible not only of the Necessity but the Comeliness of it too It sets a Lustre on my Soul it is an Ornament to my better Part it makes me glorious in thy Sight Oh teach me the Art of praising thee Let me but love thee and I cannot but praise thee My Love will dictate Words and suggest Meditations and I shall speak of all thy wondrous Works Let this be my greatest Delight my greatest Joy my greatest Pleasure that I may praise thee at last with all the Saints and Angels to Eternal Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. IX Of Breaking the Bread and the Mysteries of it The CONTENTS The Action of Breaking Bread borowed from the Jews used by Christ to put us in mind of his Crucifixion Of the broken State of Mankind Of his going to break down the Partition Wall betwixt the Jews and Gentiles Of the Communion of the Body of Christ Of our Coming to his Table with Broken Contrite Hearts Of his Readiness to comfort the Bruised and Broken Spirit Of the Vertue and Power of his Death in breaking the Force of God's Wrath against us Of the Miracle that was to happen at his Death in the Earth and Rocks c. And of the strange Divisions that would rise about this Sacrament The Action of Breaking the Holy-Bread doth not interfere with the Canon in the Rule of the Passover that not a Bone of the Lamb should be broken The Church of Rome is to blame for not Breaking the Bread Christ as well as the Disciples received the Communion Reflections to be made by Christians when they see the Bread broken The Prayer I. AMong the Jews as no Man durst eat Bread without consecrating it by Thanksgiving so no Man gave Thanks for the Bread but he broke part of it did eat of it and gave of it to the rest that were with him at the Table and the Master of the House if present was usually the Person that did all this gave Thanks and dealt the Bread about To this End the Loaves among the Jews were made with divers Cuts or Incisions that when they were brought to Table they might be broken with greater Ease by the Head of the Family and distributed to those that did eat with him Among the ancient Romans it was otherwise for though they had Cuts and Divisions upon their Loaves yet those Cuts were but four in all in the Shape of a Cross to the End that when they came to reach it to their Guests they might easily break it into four Parts Which was the Reason why they called the Portion that fell to one Man's Share Quadra or the fourth Part of a Loaf If Christ imitated any Custom in Breaking of Bread 't is most probable he followed that of the Jews from whose manner of living he used not to vary if their Actions and Customs had nothing of Sin in them shewing thereby how loath we should be Quieta movere to change or alter Things in a Church or Nation which through a long Succession of Time have been received provided there be nothing of Immodesty Superstition or Indecency or Irregularity in it The Unleaven'd Cakes of the Jews they use at this Day in the Celebration of their Passover are in all probability Relicks of that ancient Way among their Country-men of ordering their Loaves and making them with many Cuts and Divisions in them whereby the Master of the House took occasion to break off a just and convenient Piece for each Member of his Family But though Christ in breaking the Sacramental Bread might borrow that Right and Action from the Jews yet we must not suppofe that therefore he had no farther Design in it but rather sanctified it into a Mystery as he did the Washing of the Feet received among the Jews Joh. 13. 14 15. II. As Breaking the Sacramental Bread was an Action design'd to represent several Things of great Importance so
for all the World clamour'd against them they were hated by Heathens hated by the Jews reviled by Strangers reproached by their Country-men and there was greater hopes to reconcile Fire and Water Light and Darkness than of reconciling some People in the World to them Yet did not this Hatred and Surliness of others make them unworthy Communicants If my Neighbour will throw himself down from a Precipice why should that hinder me from walking in a plain Path And if others will be wicked why should that be an Impediment of my being good 'T is true Christ Matth. 5. 23 24. tells us If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remember 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 Which Words seem to import that if another Man be not in Charity with us our Devotion cannot be accepted till he be reconciled to us But these Words of Christ must be explained by Vers. 22. which brings in the Discourse Vers. 23. for there our Saviour tells us I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a Cause shall be in danger of the Judgment i. e. He that conceives Anger against his Neighbour and hopes to escape the Guilt of Sin must have a very just Cause for it viz. There must be a just Cause given him by his Neighbour and then it follows If thy Brother have ought against thee i. e. have ought against thee justly which thou hast given just Occasion for first be reconciled to thy Brother and then offer thy Gift So that it is not another Man 's bare having ought against us that makes us unworthy Receivers but if he have ought against us that we have been the just Cause of if we have kindled his Anger by something that we have injuriously said or done against him there till we seek to be reconciled unto him our Gifts and what we offer to God must needs be odious to him because they are offer'd with an Heart that is not right with him But where we have either done nothing that he can take just Exception against or have done our Duty and what became our Place and Station without any Intent of doing him harm or if in case of an Offence given we have by proper Means and Addresses sought to be at Peace with him and notwithstanding all this he will still have ought against us there his Hatred and the whole Guilt of it will fall upon his own Pate nor can his Insolence or Ill-Nature darken the Light of God's Love and Favour to us who sees we have done what became Christians and honest Men and though it will not satisfie the angry Man yet his Choler cannot deprive us of the kind Looks of our Father which sees in secret nor make us unworthy Receivers 10. A Man's having as he supposes received no Benefit by this holy Sacrament and coming to it again doth not necessarily make him an unworthy Receiver For 1. A Man may really be the better for having been at this Sacrament and yet for the present may not be sensible of it because he may measure his not being better by the want of some particular Qualifications he is desirous of and over-look those Advantages he hath in good truth received by the holy Communion Many a pious Christian is the better for this Sacrament though he is loth to believe it for his coming to this Table either strengthens him in his Hatred of Sin and in his Love to Religion or advances him in Humility Patience Readiness to forgive Injuries and in Charity and yet because he feels not just after it those lively Desires those earnest Breathings after God that Fervour of Spirit that Ardency in Prayer he expected he may think he receives no Benefit because he doth not get what at present he most desires and feels not those Excellencies and Accomplishments which are most upon his Mind yet all this while there may be an actual Growth of Goodness in him his other Graces may be established his Cautiousness of offending a merciful Redeemer increased his Obedience and Self-denial advanced his Faith of another Life augmented his Resolutions to shun the very Appearances of Evil fortified all which upon a strict Search and View of his Inward Man he may find And therefore I may justly conclude that if he receives the Benefit God thinks sit for him though he receives not the Benefit he desires that that Supposition of his of receiving none at all cannot make him an unworthy Receiver 2. 'T is possible we may receive no Benefit at all by frequenting this Ordinance and we may know we do not if we are the same in our Lives we were before If the Cross of Christ doth not draw us after him if it leaves us without Desires to be like him or doth not check the Sins we have been fond of if it does not make us stand in awe of God any more than we did before if it work no Love to God no Charity to other Men's Souls and Bodies in our Hearts if after it we rush into Sin as easily as before if it prove no Bridle to our sinful Appetite no Curb to our covetous Desires if it restrains us not in our Affections to the World if it gives us no Courage to resist no Boldness to withstand those Lusts which were dear to us but still this is clearly our own Fault and for want of considering the Arguments and Motives the Cross of Christ affords us to die to Sin for want of thinking on the Design of Christ's Death and for want of taking pains with our selves for want of reflecting on the Force of Divine Love and for want of earnest Prayers and Addresses for the powerful Assistance of God's Spirit If it be thus with us we have reason to be afraid God will not rejoyce over us when he comes to view our Souls in this Ordinance However All this need not be an Obstacle to our Reformation If we have done ill 't is our Interest to awake out of Sleep and to redeem the Time If we have received no Benefit before upon our Amendment we may If we have done the Work of the Lord negligently upon our Reformation God may may turn our Captivity as the Streams in the South It is with this Sacrament as it is with a rich Mine which yields no Profit to the Owner till he works it The Benefit Men receive here is the Effect of Labour They must be disposed and qualified for this Gift and that which qualifies them is to quit that Slothfulnes they were guilty of 11. Communicating with Persons that receive unworthily doth not necessarily make a Person an unworthy Receiver For 1. Every Man shall bear his own Burthen Gal. 6. 5. If another be wicked how can his Wickedness unsettle my Faith or disorder my Devotion except I consent to his Impiety
can judge so well of the Convenience and Inconvenience of Things as Christ himself If Christ thought it convenient to give it him who shall say it was not so Nor could the Disciples be much surprized at it when they had so often heard their Master say that the Tâ—râ—s and Wheat must grow together until the Harvest and that the Kingdom of Heaven or the Church-Militant was like a Net containing good Fish and bad And though the Words Christ used in this Sacrament This is my Body which is given for you and This is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you for the Remission of Sins cannot be directly applied to Judas yet since these Blessings are promised conditionally in other places of Scripture they might belong to Judas conditionally in case he repented or brought forth Fruits meet for Repentance as they belong'd to the other Disciples absolutely because their Hearts were sincere and without Hypocrisie Nor is it strange that Christ should say in the presence of Judas I will not drink henceforth of the Fruit of the Vine until the Day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom For there is nothing more common in the Writings of the Apostles when they address themselves to a whole Church than to apply to them in general the Promises of the Gospel though true Believers only have a Right in them We remember without ceasing your Work of Faith and Labour of Love and Patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sight of God and our Father Knowing Brethren Beloved your Election of God and ye became Followers of us and of the Lord c. saith St. Paul to the whole Church of the Thessalonians 1 Thes. 1. 3 4 6. in which we may suppose there were divers Hypocrites to whom these Elogies could not properly belong And therefore when Christ spake these Words to the Disciples Judas being present it was enough that they belonged to the major part of them and those that were qualified for that Mercy might appropriate it to themselves It is confessed that Christ Matth. 7. 6. saith Give not that which is holy unto Dogs But it is evident from the Connexion of the Words that that Saying is to be understood of Reproof or Fraternal Correction which is to be superseded where Men are incorrigible and Mockers of Religion and after several Admonitions instead of being better become worse and scorn the Truth of the Gospel a Precept of the same Import with that of Solomon Prov. 9. 8. Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee If it were to be understood of publick Ordinances it might be applied to the Preaching of the Word as well as to the Sacrament and it would follow that wicked Men were to be banished from the one as well as the other which is absurd and contrary to the practice of the holy Apostles And what if Christ calls Judas a Devil Joh. 6. 70. Devils 't is true are incapable of Receiving this Sacrament yet we must not think that he calls him so upon any other Account but his Hellish Qualities For which Reason he says of all other wicked Men that they are of their Father the Devil Joh. 8. 44. Nay in his Reproof to Peter who was against his Suffering he calls him Satan or Devil because to be against his Suffering was to joyn with the Devil who of all things dreaded that Death as the Ruine of his Empire So that Judas was still a Man though a wicked Man yet not so wicked but that he was still capable of Repentance and in giving him this Sacrament he declared him so And though he received nothing but the external Elements yet in being admitted to the external Symbols he had an Item given him that if he had come with unfeigned Faith and Repentance he should have received the Promise too And that Christ offered him these Symbols was to tell his Followers how it would be with their Congregations in time to come and how Wolves as well as Sheep would present themselves at this Table But it is usually pleaded that if it be granted that Judas was present at this Sacrament yet still he had a good Out-side he was far from being a scandalous Sinner so that the Congregation could not be offended But this Argument is of no weight at all for whether he were a scandalous Sinner or no as long as Christ had declared him a Devil and a Traytor it was as much as if he had been a scandalous Sinner and the Disciples might be as confident of it as if they had seen him run into Excess of Riot So that Judas being present at the Sacrament and his Presence not interfering with the worthy Receiving of the other Disciples it follows that another Man receiving unworthily cannot make us that come with suitable Vertues unworthy Receivers And yet after all this I would not be understood as if scandalous Sinners were not to be separated from this holy Table by those whose Office it is to forbid and hinder them For tho' Christ suffered Judas to be present thereby prophetically to fore-tell how in future Ages notwithstanding all the Care that should be taken Hypocrites and Sinners would mingle with the Good and Sincere in this Sacrament yet this contradicts not the Commission he gave to the Apostles to do all things decently and in order of which orderly part this is one great Rule 1 Cor. 5. 11. If any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such an one no not to eat 'T is confessed that this is to be understood of common Meals However the Consequence is very easie if we are not to eat with such at common Tables we are to forbear eating with them at the Lord's Table But then 't is fit withal that the Church should excommunicate such Persons first that there may be a Mark set upon them whereby we may know them to be so and avoid their Company If the Church either by reason of the Multitude of such Sinners or for want of sufficient Information cannot or through Neglect doth not a private Christian is not therefore to be scandalized at such Persons when they come to the Sacrament nor think himself therefore an unworthy Communicant because such are present there being no publick Mark set upon them whereby he is authorized not to eat with them The Church indeed doth as good as formally excommunicate all such when in her Admonition or Exhortation before the Sacrament She declares Therefore if any of you be a Blasphemer of God an Hinderer or Slanderer of his Word an Adulterer or be in Malice or Envy or any other grievous Crime repent you of your Sins or else come not to this holy Table lest after the Taking of this holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he enter'd into Judas and fill you full of all Iniquities and bring
Villanies and Abuses And dost not thou remember something like this in thy self O my Soul When thou hast engaged in a Sin that hath been heinous and dreadful hath not that Sin wanted Support from other Sins And hath it not forced thee to call in other Follies to maintain it How hast thou defended thy Theft or Uncleanness with a Lye and that Lye with another Lye and the second Lye with an Imprecation and that Imprecation with a constant Asseveration of the same Falshood How hath one ill Word brought in another And how hath the Neglect of Charity provoked thee at last to Malice and Injuriousness 66. And as soon as it was Day the Elders of the People and the Chief Priests and the Scribes came together and led him into their Council WHat Haste do these Men make to ruin their immortal Souls For fear they should not dye their Souls with a Guilt deep enough they get up early And do not these Men's Proceedings put thee in mind O my Soul of the Haste thou hast made to Everlasting Destruction How early hast thou got up to offend thy God! How often hast thou begun the Day with vain and sinful Thoughts How often hath the first Word thou hast spoken in the Morning been an ill Name or an angry Expression How often hast thou made it thy first Contrivance in the Morning how to be revenged on such a Person and as soon as it hath been Day hast gone and executed thy premeditated Malice And hast not thou done so as to other Sins How early in a Morning have thy Lusts ingrossed thy Thoughts as if thy first Thoughts and Actions had been the Devil's Due and that God were to have his Leavings 67. Saying Art thou the Christ Tell us And he said unto them If I tell you you will not believe AND hath not this been thy Temper O my Soul How often hath God told thee that thou art in danger and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hath he assured thee that thou canst have no Share no Benefit in Christ's Merits except thou repentest and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hast thou been told that Christ died that thou mightest die to Sin and yet thou wouldst not believe How often hath the Spirit of God endeavoured to convince thee that except thou dost examine thy self whether thou art in the Faith or no thou canst not be sure of Salvation and yet thou wouldst not believe him Oh how often hath it been proclaimed in thine Ears that thou canst not love God except thou prefer his Will before thy Gain or Pleasure and yet thou wouldst not believe And whom couldst thou blame if God should condemn thee as an Unbeliever who hast resisted the known Truths of his most holy Oracles 68. And if I also ask you you will not answer me nor let me go THus hast thou dealt with thy Conscience O my Soul Thou hast neither permitted it to censure thy Actions nor suffer'd it to ask thee any Question When thou hast done something amiss and it hath checked thee how hast thou dashed its Reprehensions When it hath condemned thy Pride and Censoriousness how hast thou bid it meddle with its own Business How often would it have asked thee which way thou hopest to be saved and thou hast turned away from the Motion How often hath it been ready to demand of thee whether the Courses thou takest are agreeable to the Rules of the Gospel and thou hast presently diverted the Suggestion Nay how often hath it actually expostulated with thee why no Warning no Threatning could prevail with thee and thou hast put it off like Felix to come and discourse with thee another Day when thou art more at leisure 69. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the Right Hand of the Power of God O My Soul Thou hast been in a manner as confident of thy sitting at the Right Hand of God as Christ himself yet without any solid Ground Oh how ready hast thou been to apply the Promises of the Gospel without regarding whether thou didst fulfil the required Conditions How often hast thou flatter'd thy self that thou shalt see God in Glory when at the same time thou hast lived in Sins which exclude Men from the Kingdom of Heaven See through what Sufferings the Son of God enters into his Glory And canst thou think thou shalt reign with him except thou suffer with him Before he took possession of his Kingdom he fought his Way through all Opposition And canst thou hope to be conformable to him in Bliss except thou art content to be conformable to him in his Work and Labour of Love 70. Then said they all Art thou then the Son of God And he said unto them Ye say that I am THis Question which the Priests and Elders among the Jews put captiously to our Master the Lord Jesus I have reason O my Soul to put to thee in good earnest Art thou a Child of God or not If thou art what mean the Vanities thou doatest upon What means that Fondness of the World that fills the Chanels of thy Heart What means thy Averseness from imitating the Primitive Saints in their Self-denials If thou art a Child of God why wilt not thou be governed by the Spirit of God Why hath thy sensual Appetite so much power over thee And why art thou so loth to be holy as thy Father in Heaven is holy If the Actions of a Child of God are no part of thy Life how dwells thy Heavenly Father's Nature in thee And when all the Children of God must strive to have the same Mind in them which was in the Son of God how comes thy Mind to be so carnal and so wedded to Things below 71. And they said What need we any farther Witness For we our selves have heard it of his own Mouth VVHat these Men say maliciously of Christ God may too truly say of thee O my Soul What need is there of any farther Witness when thine own Mouth bears witness against thee Wert thou to appear before the great Tribunal at this Instant how justly might God condemn thee by thine own Confessions How justly might he say to thee Thou didst confess that Heaven is not to be got with a Wish Why then wouldst not thou bestow more Care and Pains about it Thou didst confess that thou canst do any thing in the World for Profit sake sit up at Night work hard go tedious Journeys put thy self to a great deal of Trouble for a Sum of Money Why then wouldst not thou bestir thy self for far greater Profit even an Eternity of Joy and Glory Thou didst confess that he that would not work deserved not to eat And how then canst thou expect to enjoy the Bread of Life even my Everlasting Kingdom when thou didst not care for working and couldst do more for Twenty or Forty Shillings than for the Everlasting Riches The XXIII Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel Paraphrased
Midnight at other times working day and night for the support of themselves and Companions which we must suppose was not consisting with great prolixity in set Meditations The PRAYER O My God and Saviour I am very sensible that I have great Obligations to love thee upon the account of my Creation Preservation and daily Blessings I receive from thy liberal Hand But that which even forces me works upon me powerfully and as it were pushes me forward and compels me to love thee is the bitter Cup of thy Sufferings which for my sake thou didst drink off and the mighty work of Redemption which renders thee altogether lovely to my Soul That admirable and incomparable Testimony of thy Love is a stronger attractive makes a greater impulse and it a sweeter and a softer Cord to bind any Heart to thy Service To effect this Work thou hast taken more than ordinary pains When thou didst first create me it cost thee no more than a Word speaking but to reinstate me in that Bliss I had lost and forfeited thou wast at the greatest expence and charge imaginable Of the Sovereign Lord of the World thou becamest a Servant of Rich extremely Poor of the Eternal Word a Man and of the Son of God the Son of Man so that though I was made of nothing yet I was not Redeem'd by nothing Thou spentest but Six days to Create and frame the World but Three and thirty Years were spent to accomplish my Ransom and Restitution to God's Favour and O what trouble what misery was this thy Life fill'd withal Thou didst humble thy self to Flesh to Death to the Death of the Cross and to effect this Glorious Work wast content to be clad in Flesh to be punish'd with Death and to be disgraced by the Cross for this miserable Worm Thou didst do much and suffer much that I might love thee much and because the Facility of my Creation did not move me much thou therefore wast content to be at an excessive trouble in my Redemption thereby to charm my Soul the more and to plant in me greater Resentments of thy Charity To this end thy Side was opened with a Lance that all Men might look into thy Wounds and into thy very Heart and see how it bled for Love To this end thy Sacred Head did bend to the East thy Feet were extended to the West and thine Arms spread ' to the North and South to let People in all parts of the World see how much thou lovedst them and thereby to draw their Hearts and unite them to thy self for ever O let not mine be cold under this wonderful sight and while I see my God buffeted my God crown'd with Thorns my God struck on the Face and my God giving up the Ghost let all that is within me be touch'd and quickned and enliven'd and encouraged to cleave and to cling to thee for ever Amen Amen CHAP. XXIII Of Self-Examination the Second Act of Preparation for this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS A wonderful thing that this Sacrament works no greater Effects One great Reason of it Want of Self-Examination The Necessity of Self-Examination proved by three Reasons How it must be managed The Rule of it the Word of God A Catalogue of Sins and Duties These to be considered with respect to our Temper and Inclination The great Objection about the Intricacy Difficulty and Tediousness of this Task answered and a Way laid down whereby it may be made facile and easie and delightful Some Rules to be observed in the Practice of this Self-Examination that it may become effectual The Errour of some Churches in the Primitive Times who gave this Sacrament to Children and Infants As soon as Persons are able to examine themselves they are bound to come to this Sacrament Another Man 's examining of us is not enough without Self-Examination The Prayer I. ONE of the most wonderful things in the Christian World is that such a Sacrament as that of the Eucharist should be instituted by the Great Saviour of Mankind A Sacrament wherein the most stupendous Blessings are offered to Men and that Men should receive it so often and no greater Effects should appear upon their Lives and Tempers after their Participation of it Which is as much as to say that Fire gives no Heat and the Sun no Light Health affords no Cure Abundance keeps Men poor and the most wholsome Meat produces no Nourishment That which makes the thing the more strange and astonishing is this That God makes nothing no not the least Drop of Rain nor the least Grain of Sand but for some excellent End and therefore must be supposed to have ordained this Sacrament for the most noble Ends imaginable And if the Effects he designs by this Ordinance be such as our Liturgy tells us For then we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we are one with Christ and Christ with us If these be the designed and intended Effects of this Ordinance as certainly they are it must be Matter of Astonishment to see so little of these Effects produced in the many Communicants that appear at this holy Table And what can we ascribe these Defects to but to Men's Indisposition In Natural Things Philosophers tell us the Causes of Things how excellent soever are determined in their Effects by the Disposition of their Subjects For which Reason we see that the Sun melts Wax and hardens Clay makes some things pure and white and others black and the same Meat being eaten by different Persons causes Health in one and Sickness in another And no doubt the same Rule will hold in Grace too and therefore that this Sacrament works not those admirable Effects intended by Christ in abundance of Persons must be for want of a suitable Preparation Vessels hold more or less Water according to their Capacity if the Vessel be little it will hold but little And according to the Disposition of our Souls so we receive much or less or nothing at all in this Sacrament And one of these excellent previous Dispositions is Self-Examination expresly enjoyn'd by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. II. Though it be in a manner needless after I have laid down the Apostle's Command to prove the Necessity of this Self-Examination yet for a â—uller Satisfaction of the Reader I shall enquire into the Reasons of the Necessity which are these following 1. All great Actions require Deliberation This is a Maxim all Mankind agrees in 'T is a common Principle And we count that Man a Fool that attempts an Action of great Concernment without it And Christ himself hath taught us to do so Luk. 14. 28 29. For Which of you saith he intending to build a Tower sits not down first and counts the Cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after
16 17 18. 3. To believe that Jesus of Nazareth who appear'd in Days of Pontius Pilate and was Crucified is that Son of God and our Redeemer and Mediator and is both God and Man in one Person Act. 10. 38. Rom. 1. 3 4. 4. To believe that without Faith Repentance and an holy Obedience to the Commands of the Gospel we have no interest in Christ's Death and the Benefits of it Heb. 5. 9. 5. To believe that there is an Heaven and Hell and Eternal Rewards and Punishments after this Life according to the good or evil Lives of Men 2 Thess. 1. 5 6 7 8 9 10. 6. To believe that the Dead Bodies of Men shall Rise again in the Great Day of Judgment 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. 7. To believe that the assistance of God's Holy Spirit in order to a sound Faith and true Repentance is a Gift which may be had by earnest Prayer Luke 11. 13. 8. To love God with all our Hearts and with all our Souls and with all our Minds i.e. with great Sincerity Matth 22. 37. 9. To rely upon God and trust in him in all dangers and necessities whatsoever and firmly to believe that all things will work for our good if we love him Rom. 8. 28. Heb. 13. 5 6. 10. To believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the revealed Word of God and to read and search and meditate in these holy Scriptures in order to know we must do to be saved John 5. 39. 11. To prefer the Will of God before the Will and Favour of Men when these two come to clash or interfere one with another Act. 5. 29. 12. To live and walk in a lively sense of God's Omniscience and Omnipresence Act. 23. Luk. 1. 75. 13. To have great high and reverend thoughts of God and conceptions suitable to his infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Power 1 Pet. 3. 15. 14. To let our Speech be always with Grace season'd with Salt that we may know how to answer every Man Col. 4. 6. 15. To be frequent and serious and attentive in praising of God and praying to him for his Help Assistance and Protection especially Night and Morning Luke 2. 37. Eph. 6. 18. 16. To walk worthy of our Baptism even in newness of Life Rom 6. 3 4. 17 To make great Conscience of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to come often to that Holy Table and to prepare and examine our selves in order to our worthy receiving of Pardon and Remission of sins 1 Cor. 11. 26 28. 18. To express willingness and alacrity in God's service and to be ready unto good Works Tit. 3. 1. 19. To have pure aims and designs in Holy Duties and good Works viz. The glory of God and the good of others Matth. 6. 22. 1 Pet. 4. 11. 20. To be zealous and fervent in Devotion and in expressing our love to God Tit. 2. 14. Rev. 3. 19. 21. To bring a very serious mind with us to the House of God and to behave our selves there with all decency and gravity 1 Cor. 11. 22. 22. To be not only a hearer of the Word but a doer of it also Jam. 1. 22. 23. To fix our Thoughts upon God in the publick Prayers of the Church and to offer to God the desires of our Hearts in joyning with the Congregatian in their Prayers Rom. 15. 6. 24. To sanctifie the Lord's Day both in private and in publick Acts 20. 7. Rev. 1. 10. 25. To be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates Tit. 3. 1. 26. To obey our Pastors and Teachers that have the rule over us and to submit our selves to them as those that watch for our Souls Heb. 13. 17. 27. To maintain our Ministers and to communicate to them in all good things Gal. 6. 6. 28. Faithfully to discharge the Duties of our respective Relations As 1. Husbands to love and honour their Wives Eph. 5. 25. 2. Wives to be obedient and subject to their Husbands Eph. 5. 22. 3. Parents to provide for the Souls and Bodies of their Children 1 Tim. 5. 8. 4. Children to honour their Parents all their days Eph. 6. 1. 5. Masters to encourage their Servants to Goodness and to be just in paying them their Wages Eph. 6. 9. 6. Servants to serve their Masters in singleness of heart fearing God and to please them well in all things Col. 3. 22. 7. Ministers to be patterns of good Works Tit. 2. 7. 8. Widows to trust in God and to continue in Supplications and Prayers night and day 1 Tim. 5. 5. 9. Virgins to mind those things that may please the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 7. 32. 29. To learn to be very meek and humble upon all occasions Matth. 11. 29. 30. To hunger and Thirst after Goodness and Righteousness Matth. 5. 6. 31. To purifie the Heart or inward Man from evil Desires and Affections and to season it with holy Thoughts and Contemplations Matth. 5. 8. 32. To labour to make Peace among dissenting Neighbours and to be peaceable our selves and as much as in us lies with all Men Matth. 5. 9. Rom. 12. 18. 33. To rejoyce in being reviled and persecuted for Righteousness sake Matth. 5. 11. 12. 34. To be merciful kind tender-hearted and charitable and ready to forgive Eph. 4. 32. 35. To edifie others by our Conversation and to preserve them as much as in us lies from Sin and Damnation Matth 5. 13 14. 36. To love our Enemies to bless them that curse us to do good to them that hate us and to pray for them which despitefully use us Matth. 5. 44. 37. Rather to lose our Right than quarrel and go to Law about small things Matthâ— 5. 39 40. 38. To use great simplicity in our Speeches and Answers Matth. 5. 37. 39. To give and to lend to our poor Neighbor what is reasonable Matth. 5. 42. 40. To humble our selves sometimes before God by fasting Matth. 6. 16. 41. To be confident God will provide for us in the use of honest and lawful means Matth. 6. 31. 42. To seek God's Kingdom and its Righteousness with more earnest Affections than temporal Things Matth. 6. 20 33. 43. To reform our selves before we seek to reform others Matth. 7. 5. 44. To do to others what we would have others do to us Matth. 7. 12. 45. To enter in at the strait Gate and to deny our selves in our Honour Ease and Pleasure for a better Life Matth. 7. 13. 46. To confess and own Christ and his Religion before Men Matth. 10. 32. 47. To be industrious in the discharge of the Duties of our Calling Rom. 12. 6 7 8. 48. To love without Dissimulation Rom. 12. 9. 49. To be patient in Tribulation Rom. 12. 12. 50. To rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and to weep with them that weep Rom. 12. 15. 51. To condescend to Men of low Estates Rom. 12. 16. 52. To provide things honest in the sight of all Men Rom. 12. 17. 53. To
overcome the Evil with Good Rom. 12. 21. 54. To bear with the infirmities of the Weak Rom. 15. 1. 55. To avoid familiarity with Sectaries and such as disturb the Peace of the Church Rom. 16. 17 18. 56. To practise the Rules of that Charity which are set down 1 Gor. 13. 4 5 6 7. 57. To bring forth those Fruits of the Spirit which we find specified Gal. 5. 22 23. 58. To learn to be wise unto Salvation 1 Cor. 3. 18. 59. If a Man be overtaken in a fault to restore him in the Spirit of Meekness Gal. 6. 1. 60. To redeem the Time we have lost by our greater diligence in God's Service Eph. 5. 6. 61. To resist Temptations to Sin with all our might Eph. 6. 13 14 15. 62. To study Modesty and Decency in all our Actions 1 Thess. 4. 3 4 5. 63. To esteem the faithful Teachers of the Word very highly for their Works sake 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. 64. To comfort the feeble-minded to support the weak to be patient towards all Men 1 Thess. 5. 14. 65. To rejoyce in the Lord always Phil. 4. 4. 66. To use and shew Moderation to all Men Phil. 4. 5. 67. To give Thanks in every thing and to give God the Glory whether we Eat or Drink or whatever we do 1 Cor. 10. 31. 1 Thess. 5. 18. 68. To abstain from appearances of Evil 1. Thess. 5. 22. 69. To prove and try things by the Word of God and to hold fast that which is good 1 Thess. 5. 21. 70. To be conteut with Food and Rayment if God doth not think fit to give us more 1 Tim. 6. 6 7 8. 71. To be steady and constant in our Duties without fainting Rev. 2. 20. 72. To study great sincerity and simplicity in our Actions 2 Cor. 1. 12. 73. To be rich in good Works where God â—aâ—h blessed us with Riches in this World 1 Tim. 6. 17 18. 74. To use great Temperance in Eating and Drinking 1 Cor. 9. 25. 75. To use great modesty in our Apparel 1 Tim. 2. 9. 76. To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Afflictions Jam. 1. 27. 77. To bridle our Tongues Jam. 1. 26. 78. To be easie intreated to that which is good Jam. 3. 17. 79. To say of things we intend to do If the Lord will and we shall live Jam. 4. 15. 80. To call for the Elders or Ministers of the Church when we are sick and to let them pray over us Jam. 5. 14. 81. If we are chearful to sing Psalms Jam. 5. 13. 82 If we have done any thing prejudicial to our Neighbours to confess our faults to them Jam. 5. 16. 83. To endeavour to convert others to the love of God Luke 32. 32. 84. To have our Conversation in Heaven and to look more at the things which are not seen than at those which are seen Phil. 3. 20. 2 Cor. 4. 18. 85. To be sober and vigilant over our Actions 1 Pet. 5. 8. 86. To grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. 87. To use Hospitality and to be kind and obliging to Strangers Heb. 13. 2. 88. To lay down even our Lives for our Brethren if it be for the good of the Church 1 Joh. 3. 16. 89. To use the World as if we used it not 1 Cor. 7. 31. 90. To give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 7. 10. 91. To imitate the good Examples we see before us Heb. 13. 7. Phil. 3. 17. 92. To be courteous and affable in our Discourses and Behaviour 1 Pet. 3. 8. 93. To repent of the Sins we have fallen into and to forsake them 2 Cor. 12. 21. These are the Duties we find Commanded in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and by looking over these two Catalogues we may soon perceive what we have been doing against God our Neighbor and our selves and wherein we have been defective But then 3. This Self-Examination will not be compleat except we consider these Sins and Duties with respect to our present temper and inclination and therefore 1. As to the Sins which upon a survey of the Catalogue we find our selves guilty of or prone to our hearts must be ask'd whether we have an aversion from them whether we are resolved to shew our dislike and hatred to them for the future whether we do think it worth our pains to exercise our selves in the mortification of them whether our real purpose is whenever we are tempted to any of them to oppose the Temptation and to keep our selves unspotted from the insection whether the bent of our Soul is wittingly and wilfully to allow our selves in the Commission of them no more whether we do in good earnest intend to enquire and take advice and to use the proper remedies to be rid of them whether we are resolv'd to shun the apparent occasions of them and whether in case we do through incogitancy run into any of these errors to get up again presently and endeavour to bring our selves to an habit of cautiousness of offending God and whether we will pray much and work hard to shake these Vipers from our bosoms 2. As to the Duties which upon a view of the aforesaid list we find we have neglected enquiry must be made whether we see and taste the sweetness of them whether we do heartily believe that the perfection of our nature consists in them whether we do earnestly resolve whatever comes of it to be possessors of them whether they ingross the desires of our hearts whether we have any ardent longings after these Spiritual accomplishments whether we prefer an holy fruitsulness in these Virtues before Temporal felicities whether we have a sense of the great necessity beauty and excellency of them whether we do not content our selves with bare wishes after them but are fully purposed to take the way whereby we may obtain them whether we are resolved to improve the single and accidental Acts into a lasting habit and disposition and whether we will be earnest with God for the assistance of his holy Spirit that they may take root in us and solicit the Grace of God to prosper our endeavours whether we think them worth having and will act like persons that do think so whether if we have done them imperfectly the purpose of our Souls is to perform them with greater sincerity whether if foiled at any time in the pursuit of them we mean to take fresh courage and to fall on again till we arrive to a facility in the practice and if gentler means will not prevail whether we will use the severer and more rigorous ways of mortification and offer even violence to our desires rather than go without them If our hearts can and dare answer in the affirmative and say Yea to these Queries we are safe and may believe God hath mighty blessings in store for us and will bestow them upon us in the use of this Holy
Father and to look upon him as his God as his Lord and as his reconciled Father and this willingness is the Plant God loves to water with Celestial Dew Indeed it is a Plant of his own planting and an effect of his writing his Law in the inward Parts and upon that it follows I will forgive their iniquity and remember their Sins no more Jer. 31. 33 34. But this doth properly belong to the fourth preparatory Duty which is Self-resignation whereof more in the following Chapter The Preceding Considerations reduced to farther Practice I. COnfession of Sins is no such trivial slight and easie thing as Men commonly make of it The Confession that a great many Men make to God in Publick especially while their Thoughts are wandring their Eyes staring upon sensual Objects their Souls feeling no compunction no remorse no grief and their minds without any lively apprehension of God's Holiness and their own Vileness such Confessions instead of obtaining God's pardon and forgiveness are preparatives and attractives of his Indignation Alas Sinner that 's no Confession where thy Lips only speak thy Sorrow and Offences and thy Heart still goes after Covetousness In this case thou dost but speak into the Air whilst thou confessest not with shame and confusion of Face and with purposes strong and Masculine strong as Mount Sion to offend thy God wilfully no more such Confessions reach not the Throne of Grace and Mercy but like Smoke are dispers'd in the ascent and cause no delight but in the powers of Darkness who are glad to see thee play with Religion and jest with Devotion II. It is a certain Rule where Men are loth to forsake their Sins they will be loth to confess them too There are divers Actions of Human Life which being very pleasing to the Flesh and suited to the humour of the Age and such as preserve our Credit and Reputation with Men which we overlook take to be no Sins indeed are loth to be depriv'd of them and therefore do not so much as mention them in our Confessions Search thy Heart Christian and take a serious view of thy Dress thy Habit thy Looks thy Behaviour thy Speeches and thy Conversation and see whether thou hast not reason to suspect many things of being contrary to the stricter Rules of the Gospel yet thou art loth to know them loth to own them loth to confess them as Sins and all because thou hast no mind to part with them Thy wanton looks and glances thy lascivious gestures and postures and dresses thy striving for places and discontent at other Men's omitting to give thee the Honour thou fanciest to be due to thee thy despising and scorning thy Neighbour in thy Heart thy touchiness at Trifles thy secret Injustice thy careless and unprofitable Talk thy gaudy Attire which feeds thy Pride thy delight in imitating the looser and more wanton sort of People thy mispending thy Time in dangerous Sights and Recreations thy neglect of reading the Word and praying with thy Family thy easie exceptions at thy Neighbour's Actions thy wilful misconstructions of Men's words thy hidden things of dishonesty thy doing evil that good may come out of it thy extenuations of Sin thy putting favourable names upon what thou art loth to leave c. What Man of sense and who reads the Word of God but must suspect that these things and such like are disagreeable to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And yet because thou wouldst fain preserve and keep all these or some of these or others that are not unlike these thou art willingly ignorant of their sinfulness or wilfully forgettest them or dost carelesly pass them by and confessest only such Sins as thou canst not well avoid acknowledging Thou thinkest if once thou confessest these things to be Sins thou must be forc'd to leave them for indeed it is perfect impudence to tell God that I sin against him in such things and yet to go on in committing of them And therefore the only advice that can be given in this case is this Look upon Heaven as worth doing any thing to gain it and thou wilt not be afraid either of knowing thy particular Sins or of confessing of them or of bending the force and powers of thy Soul against their insinuations III. We may easily guess at the reason why a carnal Man wonders at the stir a Penitent keeps to be reconciled to God He sees not he knows not what Poison there is in Sin A Person who never troubled his Head much about Religion seeing a Man or Woman take on for their Offences accuse themselves condemn themselves and inflict Judgments of Fasting of Mortification and of Self-denial upon themselves no doubt will admire what ails the Fool to keep such a whining and howling and put himself to such needless troubles to recover the favour of God which he fancies is to be had at as easie a rate as Children's Smiles and Infants Tears Indeed if the love of God may be had with a wish and a Man could no sooner send for it but have it or were it a thing we could command to attend us at a minute's warning prostrations and lyings on the Ground and Sackcloth and Alms-giving in larger proportions and all the rigorous Ceremonies of Repentance would be Phantastical and a mere distemper of the Brain but when the Men whom God favoured much vouchsafed his Inspirations to and who conversed with the fountain of Wisdom with him that is the Way and the Life did all this and much more and recommended the same Acts of Mortification to their Successors and God himself expresses the welcome Dress of Repentance as to the External part in such things as these Jer. 6. 26. Jer. 7. 29. There we must give Men leave to laugh to wonder and to think us distemper'd for doing so Stange Men should not see the necessity of denying their Bodies in that ease and latitude they are so apt to take in order to a better Life when is evident that the Flesh in the Circumstances it is under naturally is in a continual fermentation of evil desires and covets altogether sensual satisfactions without considering whether they are agreeable to Reason or no and like Salomon's Horse-leech cries still Give Give And if a Man give his Eyes or Taste the pleasure they desire to day to morrow they shall still crave more so that if a severe Mortification do not stop and cast them off especially if he intends to be saved he will continue a carnal Man to his dying day It hath been the practice of all the Primitive Saints to inflict seasonable Judgments on themselves not one but the greatest part have taken that way and the reason is clear for we must become Saints by the Spirit of the Cross which is evidently a Spirit of Mortification both of Soul and Body The design of Holiness is to make us conformable to the temper of our Saviour and if his Spirit be
Beauty like thy Crown is immarcessible Ages cannot change it neither Heat nor Cold can alter it Thou art beautiful in thy Body beautiful in thy Soul but infifinitely beautiful in thy Divinity Nothing deserves to be loved or praised if thou dost not VI. Oh how blind are poor Mortals who are so very fond of Honours Riches curious Palaces Gardens Pleasures Musick Rarities Colours Herbs Flowers Stones and Minerals Great Conqueror of my Soul Thou art more honourable more amiable more sweet more pleasant more agreeable more delicious more harmonious to my Soul than all these Thy Excellency cannot by searching be found out VII O Lamb of Gd With the Four and Twenty Elders I fall down before thy Throne and cry Blessing and Praise and Honour and Wisdom be unto the Lamb for ever and ever for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation VIII O God of Glory I beseech thee remove from me all those things which would hinder me from glorifying thee Remove from me an unsteady Mind that I may glorifie thee in Poverty as well as in Plenty in Adversity as well as Prosperity in Desertions as well as in Consolations in Disgrace as well as in Honour Let me look upon both Conditions as coming from the same good Hand of Providence and let that be an everlasting Motive to me to shew forth thy Glory IX O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I desire to glorifie thee in this World and in that to come with Men here and with Angels hereafter Give me the Grace of Continuance in magnifying thy Name thy Goodness and thy Charity while I am in this barren Wilderness that I may not fail of being admitted to the Regions of the Blessed where I may praise and magnifie thee World without end X. O Jesu Why art thou so lovely so beautiful so amiable but that I might love thee But I cannot love thee of my self Thy Love must give me Power and sow the Seeds of Reciprocal Love in my Soul O Love O Desire of my Soul Oh do not do that Injury to thy infinite Perfections as to let me live without being passionately enamoured with thee XI O God who hast promised that the Needy shall not always be forgotten that the Expectation of the Poor shall not perish for ever Look upon me a poor needy Wretch and give me those Riches I desire and without which I must ever count my self most miserably poor even the Riches of thy Love which whoever does enjoy hath enough and more than the richest Princes can pretend to XII Who would not praise thee O thou great Redeemer of Men Seven times a Day will I praise thee because of thine infinite Charity Morning and Evening and at Noon will I praise thee because thou hast bought me with Blood Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men. The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted He delivers me from mine Enemies yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me Therefore will I give Thanks unto thee O Lord and sing Praises unto thy Name for ever CHAP. XXIX Of the Life we are to lead after we have receiv'd the Holy Communion The CONTENTS The Life to be led after Receiving a Reasonable Service Wherein that Service consists The necessity of it Men that are in an unconverted State live below their Reason The Generality of Men very rational in Temporal Concerns but very unreasonable in Things belonging to their Everlasting Peace The Prayer I. THough from the Premises any Man may guess what life it is that a Christian who hath engaged himself to God in this Sacrament and vow'd Faith and Allegiance to the King of Saints is to live after it yet to make these instructions complete I shall briefly add some Memorandums that are to be observed in our future Conversation and though in the foregoing Discourse I have often occasionally mention'd such a thing as a REASONABLE SERVICE yet it 's time I should now press it with great earnestness there being nothing more proper nothing more equitable after such solemn engagements than this Service and if we examine what it is it will be found to consist In these following particulars 1. In an happy agreement of our profession and actions of our belief and practices of our Principles and Conversation where our Profession is of one colour and our Practice of another where our Tongues speak one thing and our Lives another there I need not tell you how we involve our selves in a palpable contradiction Things contradictory mutually destroy each other A thing that is cold cannot at the same time be hot and what is black at the same time and under the same respects cannot be white and consequently where the Actions contradict our Principles the Actions destroy our Principles and in God's account we deny the Principles too by denying the consequences which are the actions that should naturall issue from those Principles and he that hath very good Principles but allows himself in bad Actions cannot be partly good and partly bad but is wholly bad which makes the Holy Ghost call all those Vnbelievers which profess the true Worship of God and dishonour it by their Lives Heb. 3. 17 18 19. But where I do believe that God is my Supreme Governor and therefore prefers his Will and Favour before the Will and Favour of Men when these two interfere and are contrary to one another Where I do believe that neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and therefore will not be perswaded by all the gain and profit of the World to venture upon any of these Sins If I believe that my Soul is worth more than a whole World and therefore will not wrong my better part though I might have the Riches of the Indies for doing it If I believe that if I am ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and of observing his Laws the Son of God will certainly be ashamed of me in the last day and thereupon take courage to act like a Man that believes it and stand up for the Glory and Honour of my God with Humility and Modesty in despight of all the reproaches and contempt of the World If I profess and believe that if I love not the Lord Jesus Christ so as to testifie my Love in my obedience to him I shall be for ever banish'd from the Glorious Presence of God and thereupon express my Love in thinking of him in Honouring and Esteeming him within and without if I believe that except my Righteousness exceeds the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees I shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and thereupon actually shun those Sins which the Pharisees made