greater distance in Conversing with them than with other men These are no breach of Charity towards them nor can be a just Hindrance from the Communion A Sixth Hindrance which keeps back several from this Feast is their feâ—â— lest they want that Charity which is required to it They have some profest Enemies that own Hatred and a mischievous inclination in all their Carriage or some false Friends and Confidents who though not out of Malice yet to serve a particular turn or interest have proved very unfaithful or injurious or some imprudent and unwise Dependants who when they meant well perhaps have done things very disadvantageous and displeasing to them in their business From the Malice of some or the Falseness of others or the folly of a third sort they have received those Provocations which they cannot yet cast out of their minds and when they remember them they feel their hearts are much estranged from those who offered them and whilst they are so they fear they love them not as they ought nor have that Charity towards Enemies and injurious Persons which God requires in all Communicants And this want of Charity for Enemies and offensive Persons is urged not only by those who either do or wish ill to them who indeed have just cause to say they want it but also by others who incur neither of them and therefore have no sufficient cause at all for it For many Good People who requite no injuries to those who have provoked them 〈…〉 Charity and Peace which God requires of us towards all men and which are all that is due to them are yet afraid that they have not so much Charity for them as the Law injoyns because they still remember their Injuries or Vnkindnesses or think the worse of their Persons or keep a greater distance from them in their Carriage or forbear to use them as formerly they did in the quality of particular Friends and Confidents or with-hold some other special Favours which are not due to them nor are any breach at all of that Charity which they ought to have for them This is a great cause of Scruple to many honest minds who are really troubled with it and particularly it is a most common hindrance from the Holy Sacrament there being no Duty I think which the generality of men believe more indispensably required than Peace and Charity in every worthy Communicant And therefore that they who want this Love of Enemies which unfits them for this Feast may quickly set about the attainment of it and that they who have it may not be troubled or held back from receiving as if they had it not I shall here indeavour to give a plain state of it and shew both what is and what is not imply'd in it And this I shall do in these two particulars 1. We are bound to shew our Enemies and any others who have provoked us all the Offices of general Charity or all that Love which is due to our Neighbour at large and to all other Persons So that whilst we allow ous selves in the breach of this we are unfit for this Feast and must instantly amend that we may be fitted for it But 2. We are not bound to shew them all the Offices of special Esteem Trust and Confidence which are not fit to be placed on all men but on such only as are qualified for them So that when we fail only in these we are in no Fault nor have any need to be troubled or kept back by it 1. I say We are bound to shew our Enemies and any others who by their unkind indiscreet or injurious carriage have provoked us all the Offices of General Charity or all that Love which is due to our Neighbour at large and to all other Persons So that if we allow our selves in the breach of it we are unfit for this Feast and must instantly amend that we may be fitted for it We are bound to shew them all the Offices of general Charity or to treat them with all that Love which is due to our Neighbour at large and to all other Persons How hardly soever they might be treated either among Jews or Gentiles yet in Christianity our Enemies are Neighbours and Brethren and ought to share in all that Love which God requires of us towards the promiscuous Multitude of other men For it takes off all that hatred and spiteful Resentment which would exclude them from all good Offices and sets them in the Rank of Neighbours whom God commands us to treat with all those instances of Kindness wherein consists the loving our Neighbour as our selves This is plain from it s not permitting us to hate as the Jewish Law did but strictly injoyning us to Love them Mat. 5.44 45 for where Love is it naturally issues out in all of them as there is occasion upon which account it is call'd the fulfilling of the Law i. e. of that part of it which concerns us towards men because working no ill as St. Paul says to our Neighbour it leads us into all of them Rom. 13.9 10. Besides that our Enemies are to share in all that Love which is due to our Neighbours our Saviour plainly declares when he singles out a most bitter Enemy and sets him forth as the Neighbour whom the Law mentions making the Samaritane a Neighbour even to a Jewish man between whom there was the most inveterate and inbred Enmity and Opposition For when the Lawyer asked him who is my Neighbour he tells him by the Parable of a Jewish man who being left wounded by the Thieves found a Neighbour of the good Samaritane that 't is any one he meets with though a Stranger though an Enemy yea though of a Party and Profession in Religion most odious unto his which ordinarily causes the highest and most implacable Enmities as it did between the Jews and Samaritanes who stood at so great a distance as that they would not give or ask so much as a Cup of Water of each other or have any sort of entercourse together This was his Neighbour says he and so must thou be in a like Case go and do so likewise Luke 10. v. 29 to 38. Thus are all we Christians bound to hold our Enemies and those who have provoked us in the same promiscuous Rank with all others and notwithstanding all their unkindness or injurious Carriage to look upon them as our Neighbours whom we are to Love as we do our selves And that Love contains in it all the particular Offices of Justice Charity and Peace which we owe to Mankind at large even to all Persons 1. It contains in it all the Duties of Justice as namely that we be true to them in all our Speeches and faithful in all our Promises and just and equal in all our Dealings never seizing hurting or detaining any thing which belongs to them nor any ways perverting obstructing or infringing any Right because 't is theirs 2. All
the Duties of Charity as that we honour them for their Virtues and pity them in their Miseries and relieve them in their Wants and when they will take it not passionately and publickly which shews not any Love of them but our Wrath and Spleen against them but with great Privacy and Friendship reprove them for their Faults and Congratulate with them in their Joys and conceal their Defects and vindicate their injured Reputations and be Courteous and Condescensive Meek and Gentle in our Carriage Candid in putting a good Interpretation upon all their Words and Actions especially such as relate to our own selves placable or easie to be intreated after any Offences and apt to forgive and requiâ—e them with lost Speech fair Carriage good Offices and the like 3. All the Duties of Peace in maintaining Vnity and Quietness and avoiding all Strife and Variance Clamour and Brawling with them as with all Mankind All these as I have elsewhere particularly shewn are such Duties as we owe to our Neighbour at large and to all men and then to our Enemies among them since in Christianity they are Brethren and Neighbours too and have a claim to them And these Love and Brotherly kindness when once it is seated in us will be sure to effect and make us pay them For he that Loveth another as St. Paul saith hath fulfill'd the Law Because this thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false Witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other Commandment i. e. respecting others it is briefly comprehended in this saying Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Love works no ill to his Neighbour therefore Love is the fullfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8 9 10. And since we are bound to Love our Enemies in paying them all this Justice Charity and Peace which I have mentioned as due to all Persons 't is plain that we fail of it whensoever we act against it in any of these Particulars 1. We fail of it if at any time we do any wrong or shew any acts of Injustice towards them As if we falsify and lye to them or break our Faith and Promise with them or raise Calumnies or report false and slanderous Stories of them or bear false witness against them or wrongfully with-hold what is due to them or oppress cozen or defraud them or take away their Lives or maim their Bodies by Secret Arts or open Fight or Assassination or the like 2. We fail of it if in any instance we are uncharitable or break the Peace with them As when we envy and râ—pinâ— at their good or rejoyce at their hurt or when we could wipe them off suffer false stains to stick upon them without any Vindication or speak all the ill we know of them and backbite and revile them especially if we do it with Aggravation Triumph and Scorn when any fall of theirs has given us an occasion or openly upbraid them with our kindnesses or reproach them with their own sins or mock and deride them with their Infirmities or affront them in our Carriage or are Passionate and burst out into bitterness and brawling strife and debate upon any provocation or are unthankfully forgetful of their former favours or implacable after their injuries or thirst after revenge and are hasty to punish or rigorous in exactions or such like All these are a Breach of that Love and Duty which we ought to bear towards our Enemies in common with all other persons as might be proved were there any need of it of every one of the particulars And by reason they have deserv'd ill of us and given us great provocations unless we are very circumspect and keep a strict Guard upon our selves in all our Discourses and Carriage towards them we shall be in great danger to incur them But among all the instances of uncharitableness to our Enemies there is none whereto we are more obnoxious and against which we ought to watch with greater carefulness as we tender the safety of our own Souls than hard Censures and Suspicions or fancying the worst Designs and putting the worst Interpretations upon all their words and actions when they come before us This God knows is a most general and Reigning sin among all Adversaries and is daily seen not only among the notoriously ill and irreligious but also among those who are otherwise very sober and devoutly serious For even the generality of men when the Actions of their Enemies come to be scann'd before them are very apt to turn them to an ill sense and to make the most of them to their prejudice and judge of them not as indifferent and unconcern'd persons but as they who desire to find Faults and to pick out something which they may accuse in them And this has been every where done not only against particular persons but on all hands against whole Bodies and Parties of Men who in any thing relating to the Times are of different Perswasions and either think or act not after their Projects and Opinions For how apt have not only private men been in the case of particular quarrels but many also in the heat and at the top of all Parties in judging of their opposites to mistrust ill Designs even in their good Actions and to impute all their ill to unmixt Malice without making any allowances of forgetfulness over-sight impetuous heat or other humane Frailties to take every thing by the wrong handle and where it might and would bâ—ar a good were there any Love to construe it to fix upon it an ill Sense and to interpret it to their disadvantage In arguing upon all their words and actions they suck'd out nothing but the venome and turn'd every thing into a sore about them and were strangely rash in bestowing opprobricus and ill Names upon them and laid about them at that rate as if they fancied they could not exceed either in thinking or in speaking evil of them In all which instead of being check'd with any Remorse for it their Consciences rather countenanced and encouraged it For since as they apprehended the cause they contended for was good in their own Party and bad in the Party that opposed it This Carriage they call'd not wrath and spite but Zeal and thought accordingly that God would own and accept it But this is a very sinful and unchristian Carriage It is utterly contrary to the Love of Enemies for Love is always inclinable to think the best and leans so far as the thing will bear to the side of Favour both in judging and speaking of all their Aâ—tions It is plainly contrary to our Lâ—â—ds Rule who warns us not to judge that we be not judged i. e. not to be forward in passing Sentence against others that God may not pass Sentence against us for with what measure we mete in judging of their Actions he will mete out to us again Mat. 7.1 2. It
Natural but as a Moral means and improves none but such as remember what they did thereat and labour after their own Improvements So that if we think all our work was done at Church and fall into a careless and secure state of mind when we get home again we shall be held still in the same sins and the matter is not like to be much mended with us by such Receiving But if afterwards we frequently remember what we promised there if we set our own Vows every day before our Eyes and call to mind our own ingagements that remembrance will give them Force and make them have their effect upon us For the thought of our having promised and solemnly undertook for any Duties is the readiest way to have them all performed To reap that Benefit then which God design'd and which we expect by it we must dwell much in our own Thoughts upon what passed there after the Feast is ended We must maintain that Acquaintance with our Blessed Lord which then we begun and look upon it not as a transient Act but as an entrance on a lasting State which ever after we are to continue in We must bethink our selves daily that when last we were with our Saviour we cut out work for our whole Lives and in that hour made many Promises which through all the remainder of our days are most Religiously to be performed by us This course will render it an Ordinance full of Grace and Heavenly Benefits which will set us on mightily in our virtuous Attainments And when we reap this profit by it it will cure all our Indifferency and Aversation to it and make us run to it the next time with edge of Appetite as we would to a most delicious and enlivening entertainment We shall no more account it a fruitless work when once we have tasted these sweet and wholesome effects of it but desire to share in it oftner as it can be had and bless the time that ever we came thereto The End HEADS OF SELF-EXAMINATION FOR The Use of those who would find out what Sins they have to Repent of either before a Sacrament or at any other Times The Particulars of Duty towards God and Men as they are briefly summ'd up in the Church-Catechism MY Duty toward God is to Believe in him i. e. to believe the Scriptures which are his Word taking all the Laws of Humility Charity c. there recited for his Laws and the Promises of Pardon and Happiness to the Penitent c. and the Threatnings of Eternal Death to all impenitent Sinners c. for his Promises and Threatnings which he will see fulfilled upon us To Fear him as every Man doth who dare not do any Evil thing which he sees is offensive to him To Love him with all my heart c. as those Persons do who for his sake do every thing which he bids them To Worship him to give him Thanks to put my whole Trust in him i. e. both in his Providence for outward Supplies as I need them in his Mercy for Pardon of Sins when I repent of them and in his Spirit for Grace and inward Aid when I endeavour together with him To Call upon him to Honour his Holy Name and his Word and to Serve him truly all the days of my Life My Duty towards my Neighbour is to Love him as my self or to do to all Men as I would have them do to me To Love Honour and when need is Succour my Father and Mother To Honour and Obey the King and all that are put in Authority under him To submit my self to all my Spiritual Pastors and all my Governours To shew Reverence to all my Betters To bear no Malice or Hatred in my Heart To hurt no body by Word or Deed To be True and Just in all my Dealings To keep my Hands from Picking and Stealing and my Tongue from Evil-speaking Lying and Slandering To keep my Body in Temperance Soberness and Chastity Not to covet other Mens Goods To be Diligent in my own Calling and do my Duty in that Relation State or way of Life unto which it has pleas'd God to call me A Particular Enumeration of Sins whether against God our Neighbour or our selves taken out of the Measures of Christian Obedience which are all there explained in the Second Book SIns against our selves are Pride i. e. too high a Conceit of our selves and Contempt of others Arrogance i. e. Assuming too much to our selves in setting off our own Praise Vain-glory i. e. Intemperate Affectation of the Praise of others Ambition i. e. A restless Pursuit of Honour and Great Places Haughtiness in contemptuous scornful Carriage Imperiousness i. e. A Lordly way of Behaviour in commanding Men no way subject to us Worldliness i. e. An over eager Care of Worldly things Gluttony Voluptuousness Drunkenness Revelling Inconvinence Lasciviousness Filthy or Obscene Jestings Vncleanness Sodomy Effeminateness Adultery Fornication Inoest Rape Covetousness i. e. Unsatisfiedness with our own and an impatient Desire of more or of what belongs to others Refusing the Cross i. e. Deserting a Duty to avoid it Idleness Sensuality i. e. An industrious Care to gratifie our Bodily Senses Carnality i. e. Subjection to our Fleshly Lusts and Appetites Sins against God are Atheism Denying Providence Blasphemy Superstition Idolatry Witchcraft Foolishness or gross Ignorance of our Duty Vnbelief Hating God Want of Zeal Distrusting him Not praying to him Vnthankfulness Discontent in our present Condition or Repining at his Ordering Fearlesness or Venturing on any thing tho' we know it will offend him Common Swearing Perjury Prophaneness Disobedience Sins against our Brethren at large where are Sins of Injustice as Murder False-witness Slander i. e. Defaming them with False things Lying Vnfaithfulness or Breach of Promise Theft Oppression i. e. Wronging one who cannot cope with us in Contention Extortion or Depressing in Bargaining Circumvention or going beyond our Brethren Vncharitableness as Wickedness i. e. A Delight in doing Mischief and making others Work Despising and hating them that are Good Giving Scandal to Weak Brethren i. e. Laying in their way an Occasion of Sin Envy Rejoycing in Evil Vncharitableness in Alms Suffering false Stains to stick upon them when 't is in our power to vindicate them Evil-speaking or Divulging any Ill we hear or know by them Censoriousness i. e. A proneness to Blame or Condemn them Back-biting Whispering Railing Vpbraiding them with our Kindnesses Reproaching them with their own Faults Mocking them for their Infirmities Difficulty of Access Affronting them Vncourteousness Vncondescention Vnhospitableness towards Strangers Surliness Malignity or putting the worst Sense on what is said or done by others Vnquietness Vnthankfulness Anger Variance Bitterness Clamour Hatred and Malice Implacableness or Difficulty in being appeased after any Offences Revenge or Returning Ill for Ill Cursing Enemies Hastiness and Rigour in exacting Punishments Discord as Vnpeaceableness Emulation or Provoking one another Pragmaticalness or being Busie-Bodies
begin to make excuses For has not he done enough for us to deserve to be thought of Do not all the inexpressible Favours he has gain'd and all the exquisite Pains he underwent for our sakes most justly challenge to be held in remembrance He left unutterable Glories and submitted to all sorts of Earthly Calamities and took unwearied Pains and shewed Invincible Patience and laid down at last his own Life to save our Souls and must all this be forgotten now 't is done and quite buried in silence What man of any Ingenuity that has been happy in such a Friend can be averse to remember him What man that has been blessed in such a Saviour can ever decline the Thoughts of him Unless we will shew our selves grossly stupid or intolerably proud and both ways Monsters of Ingratitude we must needs be ready to Celebrate the memory of such a Person when we are called to do that Honour to him and none that would be thought a man much more a Christian must ever refuse to remember his Saviour Christ and give him Thanks when in the Sacrament he is call'd to it in Christ's own Name and by his special invitation 3 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Sacrament we confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God In this Feast as has been shewn we assure him that we will Repent of every sin as ever we hope that he will forgive us and will endeavour with his Grace after every Virtue as ever we expect that he should assist us and obey every one of his Commandments as ever we look that he should Crown us with Eternal Happiness and believe that for Christs sake we shall have this Pardon Grace and Eternal Life upon these Terms and not otherwise for all these Duties we give him our Word and Promise and on that Condition for all these Blessings he gives us his Seal and Assurance back again And what man is there who pretends to the Name of a Christian who will refuse to do this when he has an Authentick Summons nay even a Friendly Invitation will he not Repent that he may be forgiven nor endeavour after such Graces as he wants that Gods Spirit may help him to them nor obey all his Saviours Laws that he may be happy in Heaven nor believe that Christ has purchased these Benefits for us at Gods hands upon these Terms but that without performing them we shall never have them If he will not do all this why doth he make any pretence to Religion If he is unresolv'd and suspends about any of these Particulars why doth he profess himself a Christian For these things are the very substance of Christianity and the Life and Soul of all Religion No man can belong to Christ without them and when he was Baptized and came to him he solemnly undertook and ingaged for them And therefore if any man will refuse to make God his engagement of this Faith Repentance and Obedience when he is call'd to Promise and Profess them he revolts from his Baptismal Vow and if he persists in that mind may as well renounce his Profession and turn his back on the whole Christian Religion 4 ly In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Supper we confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren this being one end as I have shewn of this meeting to profess our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all men And who now that owns himself a Christian can seek shifts and shun this when God calls him when his Saviour that dyed to make God Friends with him asks him to be Friends with all the World can he refuse him When he invites him to be at Peace with all his Members and to embrace them all as Brethren can he fly from him If he shun this he may as well shun every thing else and quit all claim to his Religion For by this says our Saviour shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another Joh. 13.35 And unless ye forgive men their Trespasses says he again neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours Mat. 6.15 And he that says he Loves God and yet hates his Brother saith St. John is a Lyar. 1 Joh. 4.20 And if it be possible saith St. Paul and as much as in you lies live peaceably with all men Rom. 12.18 Love and Peace and mutual Friendship and Beneficence are the great Duties which Christs Law prescribes and which all his Followers must be forward at all times to make profession of And therefore if any man turns away from declaring them when God calls him to them he turns his back of the most Signal Duty of his Religion and will not come to that whereby above all things else he should declare himself a Christian. 5 ly In Feasting with God at the Holy Sacrament we are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glory from him and these no man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them He vouchsafes us the greatest Honour For he calls us to his own Table and tells us he is most glad to see us there and that the oftner we come the welcomer shall we be to his Supper he invites us as his own Guests and thereby seeks our Company and Acquaintance and treats us as his Friends and Confidents which Honour is so high that greater cannot be shewed us He gives us the surest Tokens of highest Love For he calls us to Feast upon the Body and Blood of his own Son i. e. upon those Blessings which the breaking of his Body and shedding of his Blood procured for men and shews us plainly that he is still of the same mind and is glad that for our sakes he parted with him For his inviting us to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ in this Holy Supper imports as much as if he should say to us Lo here my dear and only Son whom I gave to shed his own hearts Blood a Ransome for your Souls When I did it your sins were most provoking and render'd you utterly undeserving of it and since you have received it you have not been affected as you ought but have shewed your selves most unthankful for it but yet all this doth not make me Repent of what I have done or grudge you the Benefit of him I am come here freely to present you with him and invite you and exhort you nay intreat you to accept him Eat his Body and drink his Blood i. e. those Benefits and that Expiation which was purchased by it I freely give them without grudging nay I shall take it extreamly ill if you refuse them For I would by all means have you receive the advantage of him I gave him once for you and now again I give him to you I am still of the same mind to part with my own dear Son for your sakes and
objective Representation of most forcible inducements to them powerfully excited in them at that time And as these Duties are all improved by the Holy Communion so are they 2ly Most Powerful in helping us to become Obedient and Good men If we were but perfect in these Virtues and they had once got the Ascendant over us and ruled in our Hearts they would have an Universal influence on all others and govern our whole Lives For if when we are tempâ—â—d to any sin our minds being familiarized to it would at that instant readily suggest to us that Christ dyed for it and that it put him to all the pain and anguish he suffered we should not endure to come near it If we have any true Love and Zeal for him we shall shew no manner of Favour or Compliance with it if we are really Thankful for what he has done for his sake we shall withstand it if we are resign'd up to his use we shall have nothing to do with it because he is against it and if we abhor it for the pains it put him to when he answer'd for it and will at last put us to also if we continue in it we shall disdainfully reject and turn away from it If we Believe and remember always as we have need that Christ died for our Sins and procured us Pardon for them upon our Repentance and Grace to get quit of them upon our best indeavours that Faith will make us Obedient and carry us on to amend them If we truly Love Christ that Love will make us do something for him and cast to please and obey him If we are Thankful for what is done we shall never despite him by any Sin which for all his Benefits were to return the greatest injuries again If we are resign'd up to his use we shall Faithfully serve him If we are heartily Penitent and abhor our Sins we shall forsake them If we have this lively Faith and Remembrance of Christs dying for us and this intense Love and hearty Thankfulness and entire Resignation of our selves to his Service and sincere Repentance and utter Abhorrence of all our Sins If we have these Virtues I say and in these prevailing measures they will carry us on to an Holy Life and make us Obedient to all Gods Commandments And therefore since this Holy Sacrament when 't is worthily received doth so much improve these Virtues in us it must needs help us on and improve us in all others and in the whole course of a good Life too Thus doth a worthy receiving by its own Natural tendency confirm and increase us in all good Living by our exercising and its exciting in us such Duties as help it on and set it forward and so doth it 2 ly By our binding our selves thereat in solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it One chief end of our meeting at this Feast and prime part of our Worthiness in partaking of it is to confirm the New Covenant as we have seen and to make God our Faithful promises that from that day we will amend all our Faults 〈◊〉 so we may attain that Pardon and Happiness which upon our true Repentance he comes to offer and assure to us And these solemn Vows and Promises are a fast hank upon us to make us leave our Sins and do all that he requires of us For every man ought and thinks himself concerned to be as good as his word and to perform what he has promised especially when 't is to one who is too Wise to be deluded and too Just and Powerful to suffer any abuses of him to pass unrevenged which all men that understand any thing believe of Almighty God When we Promise and Vow to him we know that he cannot be deceived and that he will not be mocked so that we must needs see it stands us in stead and is our highest concern to perform with him And therefore since in the Sacrament we do in the most solemn manner Vow to amend our ways and promise an Holy Life to Almighty God in Regard none that are honest will and none that are wise and serious dare be unmindful of such sacred and solemn Compacts it must needs be an excellent way to bind it fast upon our Souls and fix it in our minds and so help very much to establish and imprint it in us And thus we see how a worthy receiving conveys Grace and confirms and increases in us all Virtues by the Natural tendency of those Duties which it exercises and excites in us For it powerfully excites and therein we exercise several Duties which help on a Good Life and set it forward and bind our selves by solemn Vows and Ingagements to go on in it both which are most Powerful to improve and effect it And as it thus confirms and increases in us all Graces by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites in us so does it 2 ly By those inward Assistances which it ministers and conveys to us This Sacrament doth not only confer Grace by its Natural Tendency as other means but moreover by virtue of Gods Promise and especial Bounty to the Worthy Receivers of it as it is an Instrument in his hands He tells us that he will do great things at the presence of it and be liberal in Spiritual Blessings to all that duly partake in it So that besides what they do from the Virtues themselves which are exercised thereat they may promise themselves much Spiritual Grace and Strength from his Free Gift and immediate concurrence with it For in the Sacrament he offers them all that outward Grace and Spiritual strength which Christs Death procured and therefore if they come to it worthily so as their own unworthiness is no bar against it that offer will be sure to take effect and they shall undoubtedly receive it And this is plainly intimated to us when our Saviour tells us of his Flesh that it is Bread the true use and end whereof is for support and nourishment Joh. 6.51 And when St. Paul declares that the Cup of Blessing which we Bless is the Communion or Communicating to us the Blood of Christ i. e. those Benefits his Blood procured us and that the Bread which we break is the Communion or Communicating to us the Body of Christ i. e. those Graces which the offering of his Body obtain'd for us amongst which are these Spiritual Assistances 1 Cor. 10.16 And when our Lord himself tells us that the Bread he gives us is his Body and that the Câ—p he reaches out to us is his Blood Mat. 26.26 28. By which though he mean not that they are his Body and Blood in their Natures yet the least he can mean is that they are so in their Effects so that when we receive them we receive all the Blessings of his Blood-shedding and all that Grace which his Death has purchased for all Men. And thus the
is a direct Breach of that Charity which St. Paul describes and makes of absolute necessity to our immortal happiness For Charity says he thinks or surmizes no Evil it believes all things so far as in any reason it may to other mens advantage And without this Charity though we have the spriteliest Zeal for the best Parties 〈◊〉 though we give our Bodies to be burned 〈◊〉 Martyrs it profits us nothing i. e. towards Gods acceptance 1 Cor. 13.3 5 7. Since it is a Zeal which is not peaceable as well as pure since it is not full of Mercy and good Fruits but issues out in a bitter and invenom'd Spirit which turns all things to the worst and is bent in all points to the hurt of those who fall under it 't is plain it can never come from God who being Mercy and Love it self can never be the Author of so much Cruelty and Hatred but must be ascribed to our own Lusts and the infernal Spirits as the true Parents and Abettors of it And this St. James expresly says of that bitter Zeal which takes not a tender Heart and bowels of Love or Charity along with it If it were that from above saith he it would first indeed be pure but then it would next be peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits If God kindled it since he is Love it self and requires us to Love our Enemies as our selves these Fruits of Love and Mercy would be sure to accompany it But if all these are shut out and it dwells in an hurtful and imbittered Spirit if that be a bitter envying or Zeal that dwells in your Hearts then adds he glory not in it for this descends not from above so as to have God for the Author of it but is sensual i. e. arising from your own Passions nay Devillish being set on by the malicious Agency of Infernal Spirits Jam. 3.14 15 16 17. And thus it appears when really we are out of Charity with any persons who have provoked us and fall short of that Love of Enemies which Gods Law requires of us For then we Love them not as we ought when we are any ways unjust to them or apt upon every little occasion to strive and contend with them or deal uncharitably by them in any Conversation particularly in malicious Surmizes and Suspicions and uncandid Censures which are so general in all but more abundant in our times when the Nation is divided into Parties and men seem to have forgot that there is any Religion towards Enemies or any Love due to them who have given them personal Provocations or side with a Party opposite to what they espouse And if upon a survey of our Carriage in these particulars we find this to be our Case and that we are thus out of Charity and have not forgiven any who have provoked us 't is very true whilst that lasts we are unfit for the Sacrament since he that worthily joyns in it must come in Love and have freely forgiven all the World But then we are also equally unfit to pray or ask the forgiveness of our own sins at Gods hands since if we pray in Wrath and Enmity he will not hear us Nay this not forgiving others turns all our own Prayers into a Curse and makes them a dreadful and down-right Imprecation against our selves For when we say this Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us with malice in our Hearts the plain English of it is that God would revenge our Trespasses on our heads as we are ready to revenge their Trespasses on theirs which is so bold and Fool-hardy an Address as no man I presume will put up to God who considers what he says When really we are out of Charity therefore and have not forgiven others we are not only unfit to Communicate but to the full as unfit to make any Prayers or place any Hope in Almighty God And when once he is sensible that this is his State there is no wise man will continue in it but will forthwith resolve to lay aside all his Resentments and get out of it This he may find difficult indeed when he sets about it but it is absolutely necessary to be done and unless he would incur the Wrath of God and 〈◊〉 â—ternal pains of Hell which 〈…〉 thousand times more difficul◠〈…〉 go through with it But 〈…〉 considers how much he himself needs to be forgiven and how he has infiniâ—ely more provoked God than his Brother has provoked him he will find it no very hard matter to forgive him for Christs sake though it might be hard to do it for his own And besides if he will not dwell upon the injuries or unkindnesses which are so provoking but cast them out so soon as he perceives they are enter'd into his mind it will yet be much easier to him He cannot quite forget them it may be so as that he shall never think of them but when without his leave they start up in his thoughts he can chuse whether he will harbour and give way to them And if he will be careful to do that the great difficulty of Forgiveness is removed For it is our dwelling upon an injury received and hearkening to ill suggestions that aggravate the deed and the malice or unworthiness of him that offered it which heightens our Resentment of it to that Degree that we have much ado before we can bring our selves to be reconciled So that if we would not harbour and entertain the thoughts of it the forgiveness of an injury would have much more ease in it And this Remedy St. Paul prescribes to prevent all Wrath and Revengeful Carriage Let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath neither give place to the Devil or to a Calumniator and Accuser i. e. to exasperating Thoughts and Insinuations whether suggested to us by our own minds or by the whisperings of others Eph. 4.26 27. And thus having proved that we are bound to shew our Enemies and those who have provoked us all the Offices of general Charity or all that Love which is due to our Neighbour at large and to all other Persons so that whilst we allow our selves in the breach of them we are unfit for this Feast and must instantly amend that we may be fitted for it I proceed now 2. To shew that we are not bound to shew them all the Offices of special esteem trust and confidence which are not fit to be placed on all men but on such only as are qualified for them so that when we fail only in these we are in no fault nor have any need to be troubled or kept back by it We are not bound to make an Enemy a familiar Companion or a particular Friend a Partner of our Secrets a Sharer of our Trust or an Officer in our business but may be more afraid of him and keep more at a distance from him and
use more Caution and Reserve in conversing with him than with other men As for all the instances of general Charity indeed they are due upon a Reason which is common to our Enemies with others i. e. their being Men and Christians so that they ought to share in them and we fail of our Duty to them when at any time we with-hold them from them But as for these marks of special esteem and confidence they are founded on particular reasons and fitness of Persons as likeness of humour Fidelity of Affection aptness for our affairs or the like so that in them we are not bound to our Enemies who are plainly unfit through their profest Enmity or treacherous falseness nay nor to any one among others but are left at Liberty to make such choice as shall seem best to our Prudence This Liberty must in all Equity and Reason be allowed us because upon a right choice of these Persons the innocence ease and safety of our Lives most nearly depends and without being left to discretion in it we must unavoidably throw our selves into inextricable Snares and numberless Calamities And that it is allowed our Saviour clearly intimates when he recommends to us the wisdom of Serpents bidding us shew all the prudence we can devise so long as no unrighteousness mixes with it but it is wholly guided by the Doves innocence Mat. 10.16 And in this he has gone before us in his own Practice For though he loved those who believed on him Joh. 2. with all that Love which his Law requires i. e. with a general Affection yet as the Evangelist tells us he did not trust or commit himself to them because he knew all men v. 23 24. So long then as we requite no Injuries upon our Enemies or others that have offended us nor are wanting to them in any point of Justice Charity or Peace which is due to all Persons we are not uncharitable to them in thinking the worse of their persons or carrying our selves towards them at a greater 〈◊〉 or forbearing to use them as formeâ—â— we did in the quality of particular 〈◊〉 and Confederates or with 〈◊〉 some other special Favours 〈…〉 Fault has justly forfeited an◠〈◊〉 have no more claim to Indeed if afterwards they Repent of their Offence which makes the breach between us and amend that Fault which unfits them for our Business or Converse when only we our selves are concern'd and the thing is not of that weight as that we may be jealous over it and we have no other cause but that offence to exclude them from it 't is a Christian Part not only to retain them in a general Charity in common with all other Persons but also to re-admit them to the same State which formerly they held with us When the concern is not purely our own but we are set to secure higher and more publick ends there 't is true we are not bound presently to re-admit to the same state upon Repentance And thus it is in the point of Discipline wherein the Sin is not presently pardoned so soon as the Criminal has Repented of it but the punishment is oft-times continued as it was in the lasting Excommunications of the Primitive Christians that the durableness of the smart may both more terrifie others from it and amend themselves by begetting a more lasting memory and abhorrence of it And thus 't is too in point of Publick Trust when we act not for our selves but pursuant to our care of others for there we may lay aside Penitents because they have once sinn'd thinking there is more safety in those who have still stood firm and been always innocent And thus St. Paul did with Mark who had once declined the toil and peril of Converting the Gentile World for after he had freely forgiven it yet says St. Luke in the dispute betwixt Barnabas and him he thought not good to take him for a Companion because he once deserted them and went not with them to the work but prefer'd Silas who had never slinch'd from it Act. 15.37 38 40. But when only we our selves are concerned and the thing is not of that weight as that we may be jealous over it in which case indeed a greater Caution is requisite and we have no other Cause but that Offence to exclude them from it for if upon other accounts the choice at first was ill made and either already is or may be altered to our Benefit since the fixing on any man for a Friend or Dependant is not a necessary Duty but a discretionary free thing we are not blame-worthy in correcting it when the Case I say is thus 't is a Christian act to admit returning Penitents to the same state they held before they offended us For when once they have Repented of a Fault they are as fit for our Affairs or Friendship as they were before they committed it So that if any marks of our displeasure remain still after that which in the present state of things might conveniently enough be alter'd it is not their unfitness but our Resentment which is the cause of it And when we go so to ease our offended minds by their loss this looks not like forgiving a Trespass but Revenging it And this Re-admission to their former state is according to St. Pauls Direction Col. 3.13 to forgive others even as Christ forgives us for he admits Penitents to the state of innocent Persons pardoning without upbraiding and quite forgetting as if the sin had never been done and according to what he prescribes 1 Cor. 14.20 when he bids us in malice to be Children for after once they are made Friends they forget all and return to the same degree of Love and Confidence again The wise Son of Sirach says indeed that for four things viz. upbraiding and Pride and disclosing of Secrets and a Treacherous wound every Friend will depart and never more be reconciled Eccles. 22.22 But he speaks only of what ordinarily is done or of what might have been done among the Jews not of what may now be done among us of whom God expects an higher forgiveness after the manner of Children and the example of Christ Jesus So that when once they have sufficiently Repented 't is fit that we forgive them to as full purpose as if they had never sinn'd at all And in judging of this Repentance we ought not to be strict and rigid in standing upon exact proofs but to be candid and apt to interpret all signs of it to the best Sence leaning to the side of Love and easie Admittance If they take shame to themselves and are so far humbled as penitently to confess it 't is a great Argument of their being set against it and in the case of the first offence especially a strong Presumption that they will no more commit it Although when once these Confessions become Customary and are still made and broke anew upon every fresh occasion it is a
Case and they who are concerned must be faithful to their own Souls in judging whether it be or no if there be any Fault in it it is not want of Charity towards them but want of Patience towards God and Contentment in their own Condition They shew no uncharitableness towards them in it since they have no wrathful intent to seek their hurt nor have the least desire to return the Injuries which they have suffer'd They are troubled at the sight of them indeed but that is only as they put them in mind of their own Miseries which they have occasion'd They are grieved to see them as they would be to see the Picture of a Departed Friend whose Death went very near to them i. e. only as it calls into their Thoughts that loss which is very afflicting And this Grief whatever it may be with Impatience is not chargeable with any Vncharitableness towards our Enemies For it is no part of the Charity we owe them to be insensible of what befalls our selves so that they cannot complain of us for lamenting our own miseries Nor can they complain of us for doing it at their presence because they being the cause of all the sight of them may well bring it to our Remembrance and if we may be sorry at all for our own unhappiness we may be allowed to grieve then especially when we have those things before us which are most apt to represent and suggest it to us So long then as they are careful so to moderate their Grief for what is lost and they must be watchful in this point as that it doth not make them distrust God nor repine at what he has order'd nor settle into an habitual Discontent nor is otherwise sinful or intemperate it need be no scruple to their minds nor hinder them from the Holy Sacrament They may indeavour to prevent it both for their own ease and safety that they may neither be pain'd nor tempted with it and to this end it may be very adviseable to avoid the Presence of the injurious Person till they have so well digested their Loss as that they can look on him without being troubled But if at any time they meet and their Hearts are sorrowful at the sight so long as this Grief is not in it self sinful or intemperate nor has any angry motions and expressions of Revenge accompanying it they need not be put into doubts and scruples with iâ— since their state is not disturb'd nor their Souls at all endanger'd by it 4. They are afraid they have not such Charity for their Enemies as they ought because they are not so free with them nor repose the same Trust in them but carry themselves with more Reserve and at a greater distance from them than they used to do before the breach betwixt them But so long as their Enemies are Impenitent all this has no hurt in it So that they ought not to be hindred from the Sacrament or affrighted by it For this wariness in Conversing with our Enemies is no more than Christ himself shew'd in Conversing with the Jews who would not walk openly among them because they sought to kill him Jo. 7 1. and c. 11.53 54. It is no more than he taught his Disciples to use when he sent them forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves for then he bid them take to themselves all the many Wisdom and prudent Care of Serpents Mat. 10.16 Indeed if any one that injures or of sends us expresses himself sorry for it and sufficiently Repents of it we ought as I have shewn to admit him to his former state and to treat him now he is a Penitent as God doth us or as Children do their Play-Fellows i. e. as if he had never sinn'd but had kept always innocent But till we see that we may very lawfully and very wisely too withdraw from him our particular Familiarity Trust or Friendship If we find a Person Dishonest once till we see him a New man we are not bound to trust him a second time for that were to give him an opportunity of committing and put us into the danger of suffering the same again from him If 't is his Temper to fall foul upon us in Discourse or to be passionate or reproachful upon light occasions till it appears that he has learned to act otherwise we are not bound to use his Company and Acquaintance for that were not only to throw away our own ease but to indanger our own Meekness Peace and other Virtues by casting our selves upon Temptations whenas we ought to be so far from seeking them our selves that we are taught to pray daily against those which Gods Providence might allot for us If he lays wait to over-reach or is industrious to vex or is any ways uneasie or prejudicial to us in his Conversation we may lawfully carry our selves at a distance from him till he has reformed those Vices or corrected those ill Tempers which harm or annoy us and shew'd us that now with safety to our selves we may come nearer to him This distance we may use towards any Persons that offend against us out of a Natural Love and Care for our own selves but if they are our Children or Servants or any ways Subject and Dependant on us there is still a more obliging Reason for it and that is their Amendment and Reformation likewise For when the Fault is great enough to bear it these marks of our Displeasure are a necessary part of Discipline and altogether fit to be used to make them duly sensible of it and afraid ever after to repeat it Which is so far from being an unkind part towards them that in reality it is the truest way of shewing kindness being the most proper course to amend them and to bring them back at once to their former state of innocence and all expressions of our Favour too And thus it appears that so long as we are careful to shew our Enemies all that Justice Charity and Peace which is due to our Neighbour at large and to all other Persons we have as much Love for them as God requires though we still remember their Injuries and Vnkindnesses or think the worse of their Persons as we have just cause or use more Reserve and keep a greater distance towards them in our Carriage and the like than we did before they had provoked us We shew all the Love which is expected when we are not wanting to them in any Offices of common Charity and Neighbourhood this makes us accepted with Almighty God and so fits us for the Holy Sacrament so that although we do not admit them to our particular Esteem and Friendship whilst they have not sufficiently evidenc'd that Repentance which should qualifie them for it that ought not to put us back and hinder us from partaking in it As for these Hindrances then which detain some good People from this Feast viz. their remembring injuries or thinking
thing whereat they are displeased if they have no Reason for it we must seek to inform them better and rectifie their mistakes about it but if they have we must give them all proper satisfaction and make a just amends for it If we have given them just Offence by Affronts or contumelious Carriage we must acknowledge our Fault and promise to do so no more and ask Forgivegiveness and if we have injuriously prejudiced them in their Estates Good Names or Business we must as far as in us lies repair the loss which they have sustain'd by us And this God expects from us before he will accept our Offerings or be pleas'd with us in any Ordinance When thou bringest thy Gift to the Altar says our Saviour and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 24. But if they hate us when we gave no Cause for it nor have in any wise deserv'd it of them yet must we still be careful to Love them though they will not be perswaded to Love us and not harbour any Enmity or Hatred towards them again We must Love them I say not with that Degree of Love indeed wherewith we embrace our particular Friends and those who have better deserved of us but with that which we owe in common to all Persons We must have so much affection for them as will restrain us both from doing and speaking Evil of them and make us exercise all that Justice and shew that kindness towards them in all Conversation which is due to the promiscuous multitude of other men For all these Instances of general Charity are due to our very Enemies as I have already shâ—wn so that when they are unmoveable in their Hatred and persist in their malicious ways yet must not that provoke us into any spiteful Returns or chase us into any hard Speeches or injurious or unkind Carriage towards them again And thus it appears what is to be thought of this Hindrance viz. the implacableness of some ill Neighbours and their unconquerable Enmity against us For when 't is our hard hap to fall among such Persons we must still Love them and be at Peace with them in our own minds though we never gave them any just Cause to be angred and if we did by confessing of our Fault and repairing of the Wrong which makes the Breach we must indeavour after a Reconcilement But if after all they are obstinate and unmoveable in their hatred that is their own Fault which may justly hinder them but ought not to detain us from the Holy Sacrament For although God requires a worthy Receiver to Love his Enemies yet he no where requires him to make his Enemies Love him and if no Person could Communicate worthily whilst he has an unreconciled Enemy our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles and all the first and best Christians had been most unworthy and could never have received at all An Eighth hindrance which holds back several Persons from coming to this Feast notwithstanding it is so much both their Duty and their Priviledge as I have shewn to join in it is because it loâ—ks like an high Presumption in us to Feast on the Body and Blood of our Sovereign Lord and to eat at the same Table with Almighty God and therefore an humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it I have already considered that unworthiness which respects the manner of receiving and answered those who urge that they are unworthy to Communicate meaning thereby that they want that height of Virtuous and Devout Tempers which they apprehend God has required to it But this unworthiness is not from the want of such due Dispositions or from the Indecency in the unsuitable Receiving but from the inaccessible height and greatness of the thing which they think is so far above us that fit or unfit no Person is worthy of it but that 't is boldness and presumption in any one to touch things so surpassing high and excellent But to satisfie these Persons who think it a piece of Arrogance and Presumption to come to this Holy Sacrament when their Lord not only Requests but Commands it I shall suggest to them these three things 1. It is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden But 2. It is a very great boldness and presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble modest man refuse the Communion it will not rest in that alone but carry him on equally to renounce the whole Christian Profession 1. I say It is no Presumption to coâ—e to this Feast when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden If we should intrude of our own accord and come uninvited we might be too bold indeed and very rudely Arrogant But when we are particularly sent to and call'd to come especially if there be as in this Case there is great earnestness and importunity in the Invitation it is the part of an humble man to comply with it and he is not Guilty of the least shew of Arrogance and Ill-breeding in so doing There is Civility shewn sometimes in accepting as well as in offering kindnesses and it is Good manners to receive what God would have us yea indeed to accept any thing from the hands of our Betters So that in all Civility and inoffensive Carriage we were bound to come had we nothing more than a Friendly Invitation But besides that God has expresly injoyn'd as I have observ'd and peremptorily required it of us So that now we must approach to it not only out of Civility and Respect but also out of Obedience to his Commandment And true Humility is no hindrance but the greatest furtherance in the World to such a Service it being not the part of a Presumptuous but of a truly humble man to do what he is bidden and to please those whom he is bound in Duty to obey It is no Presumption then to come to the Sacrament when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden but 2. It is a very great Boldness and Presumption to stay away and leave it undone He is no proud man who accepts a kindness when 't is offer'd and he is earnestly invited to it but he may shew Pride and Haughtiness enough who slights and despises it And he is no bold man that doth what he is Commanded but he shews Boldness and presumes indeed that dare venture to Transgress it There are no men so bold and Presumptions with God as they who will act what he forbids and refuse to do what he injoyns them So that it is truly an high Presumption to stay away when he has expresly charged us both upon our Duty and our Love for him to joyn in the Communion 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be
seem sufficient to inforce a due Attendance on it And when once Men are so disposed and seriously resolv'd to communicate I shall add a few things to assist them in a right Discharge of it and so conclude this Subject When we come to the Holy Sacrament to commemorate the Death of our Bleeding Lord whose Body there is represented as broken and his most precious Blood as shed on our account we are to shew forth an affectionate and hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a Kindness and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Vse and Repentance of all our Sins fully purposing to amend them all thenceforwards and an universal Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours all which we must excite in our own Souls by due Considerations 1. We must shew forth an affectionate aâ—d hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a â—â—ndness And what Soul can be slow to 〈◊〉 this who considers how infinitely our 〈◊〉 Lord has deserved of us For he has got us the most precious and glorious things which Heaven it self could afford that all our Sins should be freely pardoned and that the Holy Ghost that Immense Eternal and All-sufficient Spirit should come in at all times to our help and that we should be in no less Quality than the Sons of God and Heirs of a Kingdom who are assured of eternal Joys and Glories in another World And ought not Gifts so august and superlatively excellent to be most affectionately acknowledged He has bought all these to bestow upon us at the dearest Rate not onely taking the most unwearied Pains but also paying the highest Price and laying down his own most precious Blood for the Purchase And must not such astonishing Kindness which was affrighted by no Hazards nor stopt at any Difficulties nor declined any Sufferings not the Suffering of Death it self for our sakes be always held in a most thankful Remembrance And in all this he had no Ends of his own to serve of us but was led on purely by the Pleasure he takes in our Happiness he was not won by our Deserts for alas we were his profest Enemies who had nothing to shew but highest Provocations he was not wearied out with the importunity of our Intreaties for it came as undeserv'd so altogether unask'd whatsoever he did for us he was â—ot moved by the Mediâ—tiâ—n of Friends â—or whom alas had we to intercede for 〈◊〉 And shall not such amazing Love and Goodness so frankly shew'd without any Eye at 〈◊〉 or Private Interests without 〈◊〉 or Deserts nay in spite of all Discâ—uâ—agâ—meâ—ts and highest Provocations be entertain'd with greatest Joy and grateful Acclamations He has been an infinitely endearing and entire Friend to us without any Inducement but his own most generous Kindness and against all Discouragements and beyond all 〈◊〉 and under the most frightful Hazards and at the highest Expences giving his own Soul even to Death for a Ransom to redeem ours And whensoever we hear or think of this I am confident it will not be difficult for any of us to embrace him with Hearts full of Love and high Desires and pay him most intire Thanks and burst out into Songs of Praise and find it a most joyful Business so to do What am I my dear Lord will a devout Mind then say that thou shouldest leave the Right-hand of God and come to visit me Hadji thou no Ease in thy own Breast so long as I lay plunged in Misery And couldst not thou be Happy in Heaven nor enjoy thy self amidst all the Joys and Glories of that Blissful Plaâ—â— unlâ—ss I were there too to bâ—ar thâ—â— Company How â—arnest thou being so highly exalted and the Eternal Son of God to have any Affectionate Concern at all for me Was nâ—t I a defâ—rred pâ—lluted Wretch and thy profest Enemy And werenâ—t either of these enough to turn away thy Face from me But if notwithstanding all this thy overflowing Goodness would put th◠〈…〉 something for my sake why must thou come thy self upon the Earth nay come to bleed and die to Redeem me Am I dearer to thee than thy own Life that thou shouldest part with it to save me Dost thou love me better than thou lovest thy self that thou wilt shed the last Drop of thy own Hearts Blood to make me happy Blessed Jesus how unfaâ—â—â—mable is thy Grace and what an unsearchable Depth of Love is this which thou hast opened to us O how happy do I think my self in it and how doth my Heart rejoyce at the Remembrance of it Lord I love thee dearly and long to love thee more Would I had the Heartâ— of a Seraphin that I might be all over Love and neither wish nor think of any thing besides thee Would I could feel my Soul affected to that degree which I desire and thou infinitely deservest of me I wish no greater Pleasure than to be found perfect in thy Love and to have thee so dear unto me that I can contemn all the gilded Vanities and Allurements of the World at the thoughts of thee O! do thou fill me with an Affection full and absolute like thine own that I may love thee infinitely as I am beloved by thee Possess me with such a Sense of thy Love and such Thankfulness for all thy Favours as is worthy of thee tho' should I offer the utmost Acknowledgments which the most affected and enlarged Heart can pay I should not give the thousandth part of what I owe thee Let all the Angels adore thy glorious Goodness and all the Sons of Men so long as they have a Tongue to speak set forth thy Noble Praise for thou O sweetest Jesu art the Son of the Blessed the Joy and Glory of the World the Lamb of God and the Saviour of Mankind who wast slain for our sakes and art alive again and sittest now for ever at the Right-hand of Power in the Glory of the Father that Angels may submit to thee and all the World may worship thee sing of thee and praise thy Goodness Power and Glory to all Eternity 2. We must shew our selves reconciled to all who have any ways offended us and that we are in Peace and Charity with all Persons And this we shall not think much to do if we consider how highly our dear Lord is concern'd for them and how earnestly he sues in behalf of them for then we shall be readily brought to it on his account tho we might be more averse to it on their own He has loved them so well as to shed his precious Blood for them and can we find in our Hearts to hurt any Person when we see him giving his own Life to save him He owns them as his Friends and Brethren and is not that enough to make us kind to see that he is so near akin to them He has made them Members of his Body and thereby Parts of his own self and can we study Revenge against them when he comes in at
thou throw back a Soul that would hang it self upon thee wilt thou disdain an Heart that is desirous after thee and would fain be no longer it s own but thine that thou mightest use it as it may best serve and honour thee O Blessed Jesu do not reject it for it is the Purchase of thy Blood Let not all that be thrown away which thou hast already done for it for want of thy further Care and Conduct of it Accept me Good Lord who here unfeignedly devote my self unto thee that both my Soul and Body and all I have may be employed as thou seest fit to order me I am nothing I have nothing and I desire nothing but to be with thee to be filled with thy Grace and obey thee perfectly that so I may have nothing of my self but do all things thro' Christ dwelling in me And when we thus Resign our selves to our Saviour's Use we must heartily repent of all our Sins faithfully promising never more to yield to them but to amend them all thenceforwards To Repent particularly of all our Sins we must first discover them by taking some Catalogue of Christian Duties and examining our own Hearts at every one Whether we have consented to transgress them And where we find we have there we must bemoan our selves and fully resolve That if God will be pleased to pardon what is past we will never yield to do the like again And what Man will not thus stedfastly resolve to leave all his Sins that has the patience to consider what will be the End of his Continuance in them For by that we shall infinitely offend our Saviour Christ who gave his own Life for ours and whom therefore we are bound to please above all Persons we shall certainly lose the Joys of Heaven and Eternal Happiness a Loss which the whole World put together cannot recompence we shall unavoidably be dâ—â—med to Hell-fire and Eternal Torments which is the utmost heighth of Misery that can possibly befal us This will infalâ—ibly be the Effect of our Perseverance in any Sins we find our selves guilty of And now let us ask our own Souls Whether we love them so well that we will â—ndure all this rather than forâ—go them Shall I prize my Sin to that degree as for its sake to act despite to my dearest Lord who died for me Must it be dearer to me than his Love that I should dishonour and offend him whensoever it bids me Is this the Return I make to my truâ—st dearest Friend to side with his professed Enemy Is this my Thankfulness for all his Kindness to stick to a Lust that aims at nothing but my Destruction rather than to him who gave his own Life to save mine Thou lovest it dearly O my Soul but canst thou value it at such a Rate as to part with Everlasting Life for it Hadst thou rather have it than enjoy the Face of God and be for ever Happy Art thou content for the short and unsatisfying Pleasures it affords to lose all the Joys and Glories of a Blessed Eternity Wilt thou die sooner than be divorced from it and accompany it even into the Flames of Hell and the midst of Eternal Torment God forbid will every May say whose Heart is thus particularly posed that ever I should be so desperately mad and unaccountably wicked I cannot despite so dear a Lord or throw away the Eternal Joys of the Heavenly State or endure the Smart of Hell and the insupportable Load of Everlasting Torment No Man can bear it and I stand amazed to think of it And therefore since this will be the Effect of my wicked ways I am resolved from this Moment to renounce them and by the help of God will never return to them any more Thus let the Drunkard think with himself on his Cups the Sâ—â—earer on his Oaths the unjust Man on his unlawful Gain the Contentious on his Quarrels the unclean Person on his Fornication and forbidden Pleasures the Revengeful Man on his spiteful Carriage the Slanderer and Evil-speaker on his reproachful Words Back-bitings and Defamations and every other Sinner on his particular Sins and when they seriously consider that this Saviour must be lost this Happiness of Heaven forfeited and this eternal Anguish and Extremity of Pain endured if they persist in it they will instantly resolve to forsake it and never yield to be guilty of it again O Blessed Lamb of God who hast redeem'd me with thy Blood will every Contrite Heart then cry out I am utterly ashamed to look thee in the Face considering all the cruel Usage I have brought upon thee I scarce know how to think of Feasting on thy precious Blood now I am most earnestly invited to it since mine own Sins have shed it I am alas a most polluted Creature who have daily offended in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty My Pride and contempt of God and Sensual Lusts and Covetous Desires and uncharitable Practices have cried aloud for Vengeance on me and that Cry would not be silenced unless thou my dearest Saviour wouldst die in stead of me Of all these Offences I am guilty and the horrour of that Guilt would fright me from thee were it not that thou freely callest me to accept of Mercy I come Lord in obedience to thy Word and with an humble and a penitent Heart most earnestly entreat thee to have pity on me I am sensible of these and all my Errours and utterly ashamed that ever I committed them I am weary of them and fully purposed by thy Graâ—e to become a New Man or else I durst not ask to be forgiven My Heart shall never more joyn with them nor will I ever hereafter yield to live in such ungrateful and wicked ways again They nail'd thy tender Hands and Feet to the accursed Tree and thrust the Spear into thy Side and can I then endure to see or any longer side with them They made God who is the Author of all I have and hope to enjoy my utter Enemy and shall I then be still a Friend to them They would bring me to eternal Destruction both of Body and Soul and whilst I consider this is it possible I should have any more to do with them No Blessed Lord I hate them and am utterly resolved from this time forth for ever to abandon them They have been the Shame of my Life and are now the Sorrow of my Heart as alas when thou enduredst such Anguish for them on the Cross once they were of thine I loath my self by reason of them and will never consent any more to live in them and with an humble and a contrite Heart beseech my Heavenly Father that thro' the Merits of thy Blood I may be forgiven And wilt not thou O God who sentest to seek after me whilst I was an open Rebel now meet me graciously as thou didst the Prodigal Son when I return again to my
then do not despise me for thine own Mercies and thy Sons sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray as he hath taught me Our Father which art in Heaven c. A Prayer and Thanksgiving After the SACRAMENT I Thank thee most intirely O! my God for calling me this day to thy own Table to shew me how thine only Son freely dyed in my stead and to assure me that now for his sake thou art fully Reconciled and wilt live in me by thy Grace now at present and raise me up to be Eternally happy with thy Self at last of all which thou hast given me the surest Pledges in his precious Body and Blood What can I render to thee Holy Father or to thee my dearest Saviour for so incomprehensible a Benefit I admire thy marvellous Love and magnify it above all things Thy Praise shall ever be in my Mouth and I will tell out thy wondrous works with Gladness And may all Hearts adore and every Tongue confess that thou Holy Jesus art the Saviour of the World and the Son of the Father whom Heaven and Earth must Honour and call Blessed for evermore Pardon O! Good God the unaffectedness of my dull Heart in the receipt of so inestimable a Treasure and fill me with Desires some way suitable to my needs and the richness of thy Mercies that whenever this Cup of Blessings shall again over-flow my Heart may run over with Joy and Thankfulness also Let me never forget the Love I have received and the Peace I have Seal'd and the Promises of New Life I have made this Day but as thy Grace has help'd me to them so keep me in a lively sense of them and inable me always to fulfill the same to my Lives end Now thou hast given me the Blood of Expiation to shew we are Friends O! never let me be guilty of any thing to break the Peace which is now so solemnly ratified betwixt us Now I have vow'd Obedience to thy Laws to be Humble Chast Temperate Just Charitable Patient Devout and entirely resign'd to thy Will and Pleasure O! let me not start back again from these Holy Promises for ever Now I have received my Blessed Lord never suffer me to do any thing unworthy of him now I am Partaker of his Body and Blood let his Holy Spirit go along with them and then I shall be what I ought when I am in his keeping My sins which I have renounced will return again except he chase them away and my false Heart which now seems fixt for God will revolt unless he establish it O! Sweetest Saviour let thy Body be my Food thy Strength my Guard thy Spirit my Life and the sense of thy Favour my greatest Joy and Comfort Go on Graciously to accomplish what thou hast now begun in me and let me ever be secure and happy in thy Custody Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu And then where there is time for it or afterwards where theâ—â— is not may they go on and say Give thy Grace O Holy Jesu to all the World and let all who were Redeemed by thy Blood acknowledge thee to be the Lord and become thy Worshippers and Faithful Servants Make all Christians Conscientious Practisers of that Holiness which they profess and above all inspire them with uniting Principles and charitable Hearts that by their loving one another as thou hast loved us all the World may know they are thy Disciples Let all Governours Rule with Wisdom and Justice and Subjects obey with Love and Chearfulness Let the Priests of the Lord be Exemplary in their Lives and Discreet and Diligent in their Labourâ— having a most compassionate Love for Souls and let the People be Humble and Towardly most desirous to hearken and fully bent to follow wise Instructions Be a help at hand to all that need and are afflicted Send supplies to all that are in want and assist them contentedly to depend upon thee Raise Friends to the Widow and Fatherless the Prisoners and Captives and all that groan under Oppressors who are thrown upon thy Mercy Give Repentance Patience and Resignation to all that are sick and Ease when thou seest it convenient for them Be a Comforter to all troubled Consciences helping them to an acceptable Holiness and enlightning their minds about all causeless Scruples that they may not fear where no Fear is Succour all that are tempted with such a measure of thy Grace as may inable them to stand in all their Tryals Think particularly on all my Friends who are especially indeared to me by their Kindnesses or Acquaintance on all my Relations in the Flesh on all that Pray particularly for me or desire my Prayers Teach us all to desire what thou approvest and then grant us whatsoever as desired Prevent us in all our Actions and Guard us against all Dangers and Relieve us in all Straights and grant that we may always make thee our Stay and Confidence and take all things well which thou orderest for us Shorten all our Sorrows and prevent all our Sins and fit us all for that Eternal Kingdom which thou hast prepared for us for Jesus's sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray unto thee Our Father c. Being sensible how plain minds who are ready to do it so far as they are inabled are oft-times at a Loss for their Daily Devotions and not knowing but this Treatise may fall into some such Hands I have added two Prayers which such Persons may say Morning and Evening in their Families A Morning Prayer FOR A FAMILY O God who art the Giver of all good Gifts and the Father of Mercies We thine unworthy Servants intirely desire to praise thy Name for all the Expressions of thy Bounty towards us Blessed be thy Love that gave thy Son to die for our Sins to put us in a way of being happy if we would obey thee and after all our wilful Refusals of thy Grace still hast patience with us and hast added this one Day more to all we have mis-spent already to see if we will finish the Work thou hast set us to do and fit our selves for Eternal Glory Pardon Good Lord all our former Sins and all our Abuses of thy Forbearance for which now we are sorry at our Hearts and give us Grace to lead more holy Lives and be more careful in improving all future Opportunities Make thy self present to our Minds and let thy Love and Fear rule in our Souls in all those Places and Companies where our Occasions shall lead us this Day Keep us Chaste in all our Thoughts Temperate in all our Enjoyments Humble in all our Opinions of our selves Charitable in all our Speeches of others Meek and Peaceable under all Provocations Sincere and Faithful in all our Professions and so Just and Vpright in all our Dealings that no Necessity may force nor Opportunity in any kind allure us to defraud or go beyond our Neighbours