St. Cypr. a Bishop of the Church of Christ who lived above two hundred and fifty years after our Saviour Christ he tells us that the Custom of receiving it daily was observ'd in his days Another who liv'd above three hundred years from our Saviour St. Ambro. says Receive that every day which may profit thee every day And no less than a whole Council or Assembly of Devout men at Antioch the place where the Disciples were first called Christians as we are told Act. 11.26 though not at the same time decreed some ages since our Saviour's time that those should be excommunicated cast out of the Church who came to other holy offices and divine Services but went away without receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper And to mention no more a Reverend Father of the Church St. Jerom. who liv'd about four hundred years from Christ's time saies the practice of daily receiving was continued to his time Let us then with eyes shut and arms folded when we are next alone and retir'd from the World in a serious thought consider Did those of old who owned the same crucifyed Jesus with our selves Did they as constantly do this in remembrance of him as they did publickly meet to pray together or hear the Word And is it come from once a day and once a week to once a year to once in our whole lives Is it come to this Is this all the sense and apprehension we have of the necessity and advantages of this duty Is this the obedience we shew to an Express Command of our Saviour either wholly to disobey it or perform as seldom as possible we can Is this the imitation of the practice of the first ages of Christianity Is this all the reckoning and accompt we make of that inestimable priviledge of being in Covenant with God or of being called and invited to come and renew it again when we have broken our terms and to have it signed and sealed to us again Was it for this O blessed Jesu that thou hast done and suffered so much for our sakes Was it for this that thou wert content for us to submit to an Agony and bloody sweat to the Cross and Passion to a Death and Burial And is it for this that we have so long owned thee for our Lord and our Redeemer a tender and merciful Saviour that some of us should stupidly live in an habitual neglect of doing this in remembrance of thee And have we no greater sense of and concernment for the last words of a dying Saviour shall the expiring breath of a dear Redeemer poured out for our eternal Interest be lost and in vain to any of us that call him so O how much Reason have we to say of such Father forgive them or rather father open their eyes for they know not what they do Bishop Taylor 's life of Christ But thus as is observ'd by an excellent Prelate now with God it hath fared with this Sacrament as with other Actions of Religion which have descended from Flames the Flames of the Devotion of the first ages to still Fires from Fires to Sparks from Sparks to Embers from Embers to Smoke from Smoke to Nothing But in the Name of God let me enquire are we willing to make any publick thankfull joyfull acknowledgments at all of the love of our crucifyed Jesus and the great things he has done and undergone for the redemption of us and of our Children after us if not we are monsters of Ingratitude and Impiety If we are at all willing so to do why shall we not fit our soul to take all possible opportunities while we are yet here below and at this distance from him to do this in remembrance of him How can we think that our other Devotions shall be prevalent with or acceptable to the Holy God without the Intercession of our Saviour and the merit of his sufferings and yet this is the way he hath appointed to give our prayers an Interest in his Sacrifice Can we reasonably suppose that indeed any Duties whatever and the performance of them shall be accepted when this great and solemn act of Religious worship shall be refused omitted and neglected O let us in our next retirements when we are withdrawn from the noise and tumult and business and thoughts of the world deeply think should we not have reason to be afraid that no Petitions of ours no Devotions no works of Mercy Piety or Charity no Fastings or Alms no hearings or readings shall be accepted without this part of our Christian Worship Would it not further be a sad and dismal consideration to remember in the hour of Death or day of Judgment that these and many other holy Actions shall fall to the ground being vain and lost only for our wilful neglect of this holy Sacrament Again in the same retirement from the World and in your next meditations consider what could you think of a rich and very wealthy person that never in all his life should be perswaded to bestow so much as the worth of a farthing to the poor and needy Or what thoughts should we have of him who never in the whole course of his life should offer up a prayer to God either in publick or in secret The same may we think of him that would never accept of an Invitation to fit and trim the Soul to come and with the rest of his Christian Brethren to partake of these holy Mysteries for they did but disobey a plain Command of our Saviour's the one only disobeyed the command of feeding the hungry and cloathing the naked the other only refused obedience to the Command of praying without ceasing So the wilfull absenter from the holy Supper of the Lord only dissobeys the Command of Do this Nay I look upon this to be a greater piece of disobedience because in this there is an obligation of love Love infinite and unspeakable an obligation of thanks and gratitude to engage us Do this in remembrance of me the Lord that bought you the Lord that pay'd down the dear price of his blood Wounds sweat and groans pains and death for you Give me leave to say further I shall never I can never truly believe you have any tolerable care of your souls till I see this Holy Sacrament more frequented till I see some evidence of your greater love to these holy Mysteries Not however as if I would perswade or give encouragement by this to wicked men while they continue such to approach this heavenly feast But for those who resolve heartily by divine Grace to reform their lives and amidst the disadvantages of this life are fully purposed to Devote themselves in sincerity though not in perfection to the Laws of our holy Religion whatever else you do yet I shall never I can never suppose you have any tolerable Love or Zeal for our Dear Redeemer while you habitually turn your back on his Holy Table
Mediator Jesus Thus 't is called the blood of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mat. 26.28 or of the new Covenant Now this new Covenant between God and us made by our Saviour is as was before said that God will give pardon of our Sins sanctifying Grace and everlasting Glory upon our Conditions of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience Our Lord in those Mysteries Seals this to us and assures us as he is the God of Truth and cannot lye or deceive us that he will perform his part We on the other hand seal back this to him that we will sincerely and heartily endeavour to perform our part We are then to remember that thus it was promised for us in our Baptism when we knew nothing of it but here we come in our own persons to take those advantageous Conditions on our selves to renew them by our own hand our own act and our own choice This is my Blood of the new Covenant says our Saviour to this our Lord invites us to shew first his death till he come and next to renew our Covenant with him to Seal it again and to declare our resolutions to labour more effectually and diligently for the remainder of our dayes to stand to our engagements and discharge our Conditions of it O my Lord say now upon this consideration who am I that thou shouldest leave thy Fathers bosom to be the compassionate Mediator of a new Covenant between God and me but oh who am I that after so many breaches of it thou shouldst call and invite me once more to come and renew it with thee again who am I that thou shouldst speak to me to come and enter again into a further confirmation of it what a tender mercy is this how blest a priviledge is this that thou art pleased to call me once more to come and receive my Pardon if but yet for the future I do in an honest sincerity perform my part of the Covenant What long-suffering is this that thou shouldst still bid me to approach and have my Pardon sealed too if my terms be but yet performed and how far have I been from deserving any thing of this at thy hands And O my Jesu shall I refuse to come and humbly accept of those mercies which thou art yet pleased to offer me and though I have broken my part of that Covenant which this Sacrament is a seal of shall I not thankfully come and accept of thy desires to make good thine if after all this I am not yet wanting to my self Shall I not rejoyce in an opportunity of confirming and ratifying in my own person that which was done for me without my knowledge in my Baptism shall I not come and declare my desires to be found now and ever within the Covenant of Grace Or shall I voluntarily withdraw my self from it and not come and put my hand and seal to it with others of my Christian Brethren shall I by my refusal to renew it declare for Sin for the World Flesh and Devil Far be it from me say O my dear Redeemer far be such thoughts as those No I come willingly and readily and chearfully with a Soul and Heart and Mouth full of Praises and Adorations to renew this gracious Covenant to own my self thy Disciple thy Servant thy follower I come to see thy dying bleeding Love and to imprint it afresh upon my memory I come to see thy earnest desires of accomplishing my Redemption represented to me I come to behold thy Agony and bloody sweat thy Cross and Passion thy Body broken thy Blood poured out for me I come freely and openly to own my unworthyness to come at all to own how undeservingly I have walked of those benefits I come to sue a Pardon for my breaches of my terms of the new Covenant I come to seal it again with thee and humbly and thankfully adore thee for this mercy that thou callest me once more to do so O that instead of ever entertaining a thought of absenting our selves we would imploy it in some such meditations as these Dr. Sherlock Relig. Assemb or with the words following of that excellent person before mentioned That frequent Communions are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holyness to repair the decays of our Graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of Sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their Souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food And if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing on the commission of any Sin when we have with tears bewailed our Sin and renewed our Repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are Sinners yet we are not Apostates that is we are not fallen from the Faith or the Christian Religion but that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live CHAP. III. Of Examination of our Selves I Come next in the third place to shew briefly how we are to come prepared to this holy Sacrament The chief parts of preparation are these First Examination of our selves Secondly To enter then into a holy Course of Life by Repentance and Resolutions of a future sincere Obedience Thirdly To bring with us a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ Fourthly To bring with us Charity to our Brethren Fifthly To bring with us Devotion and a pious frame of Soul Of each of these briefly First of Examination of our selves to this St. Paul adviseth Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 And here we are to examine as far as our memory can inform us what our breaches have been of that Covenant which we entred into with God and our Saviour in Baptism We told you that our part of the Covenant is Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience But alas we have most miserably gon astray and have often knowingly wittingly and willingly broken all these parts of that holy Covenant As to our Faith first how dull lifeless and unactive has that been how little have we shewed it by our works by works of Mercy Piety Charity or Devotion How little have we shewed our Faith by our Conformity of heart and life to those Gospel duties to God to others and our selves by which we should have shewn it St. Ja. 4.18 Again as to Repentance how unsincere has that been how have we return'd soon after our beginnings of it to our old iniquities like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet.
usual miscarriages in this case are two likewise either first we come to this feast of Charity without setting apart any thing for the needs of our poor brethren or else secondly we bring too little As to the first of these Consider when we relieve any at our doors that 's often because of their importunity with us or it may be to be rid of them when we relieve by a Rate that 's by constraint and the Laws compel us But this is a free-Will-offering Never let us fail therefore when we come to see fresh tokens of our Saviour's Love to us who for our sakes became poor 1 Cor. 8.9 then to set apart some evidence of our Charity to those who bear his Image and whom he has made his proxies and that our Lord takes it as done to himself and that for an Alms we may receive a blessing Never therefore in this Heavenly action let us appear before the Lord empty But secondly the other fault is that our alms are often too thin and slender 'T is true indeed the holy Scripture has not set down the exact measure or rule of giving but therefore even for that very reason we should do well to give even beyond our ability rather than fall short of it that being the course that is most safe and most holy considering that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 and ever remembring that 't is the observation somewhere of a pious Prelate Bishop of Down and Conner now through Christ reaping some of the fruits of his unknown Charity and Piety That the business of the great day of Judgment shall be transacted and the Sentence chiefly pass according to the measure of our works of Mercy and Charity as he infers from St. Matth. 25.31 to the end 'T were easie to produce admirable instances of the vast Charity of the Christians of old such as to this age might seem almost incredible for as a learned Person observes of them Dr. Cave Primitive Christ They looked upon the Poor as the Treasure and ornament of the Church by whom as by bills of Exchange they returned their Estates into the other World Let me therefore offer you this one Consideration to be seriously laid to heart in your next sober and retired thoughts would we be but content to cut off from our vain Expences needless visits our Excess and extravagancy our vanity or folly or what we may lay out on either Lust or Intemperance or in prosecuting our brother in a revengeful malicious and contentious Law-Suit or the like we might have a good portion for the Poor and opportunity for many more charitable actions than are yet recorded above and might have a large Treasure laid up in Heaven at the end of or Sixty or Seventy Years yet never the worse in our Estates at the end of the year or the end of our dayes besides the promise of a blessing here and hereafter from the Eternal God who has past his word to us And why then can we not secretly lay out that on our Kingdom on our Eternal Inheritance in Reversion which would else be expended on our jollity and excess in vain and useless Expences Further he that has injured his brother by fraud or deceit or any other injustice is in Conscience absolutely bound to restore or make restitution to him again but in case he be deceased we are then to make it to his Heirs or Executors But possibly it may so happen that we may have been unjust to some or in such wayes that we cannot possibly know who they are In this Case the Restitution is to be made to the Poor Now consider what an excellent opportunity we have of so doing by our Alms at this holy Sacrament alway remembring that the Restitution be rather beyond the injustice done than in the least degree to come short of it And that 's the fourth part of Preparation Fifthly we are then to bring with us a great Devotion and pious frame of Soul Let us be very careful to lay aside all thoughts and considerations of this lower World and all things else that may clog and hinder the Soul from being then wrought up to a Sprightly Holy Heavenly and Devotional temper and earnestly beg of God by prayer to assist us in our cloathing our selves in the Wedding Garment that so we may go to meet our Saviour acceptably and chearfully as we would to meet the dearest Friend on Earth whom we had not seen in many years before And having with us a deep sense and sight of our Iniquities begot in us by Examination and a lively Faith in the infinite mercies of our God through our Saviour having our Charity truely Christian and our Devotion high and Angelical let us with joy and pleasure go to Jesus and declare our resolutions to be his unfeigned and faithful Servants and followers utterly abhorring all known Sin and sincerely resolving for all known duty And let us say of our old Iniquities Be content to lay down your Necks quietly and submit to be thrown off for I am going to renew my Covenant with my dear Redeemer Be content ye my old Debaucheries Prophanesses Lusts and Intemperance Oaths and Blasphemies Malice and Injustice and the rest of you to part from me who am resolv'd to take my leave of you and to go and be more closely united to the Holy Jesus and to go on in my journey to the new Jerusalem adieu to you all and though we weep at parting 't is not because I must leave you but because I have been too long with you and had not done so sooner And now my Soul may the devout person say seeing we have done with them let us raise and exalt one affections for our Lord is coming and he is coming if yet we are not wanting to our selves to bring us a pardon sealed with him from God and to re-establish our title to a glorious Inheritance and we shall shortly bless the day that ever we were perswaded thus to do Stay methinks we begin to feel something of the pleasures of Religion already something of satisfaction in our very first resolutions of holyness Oh what will it then be when we are better acquainted with our blessed Saviour and his holy and Heavenly Doctrine what will it be when we come to his Table and have long frequented it and given up our selves intirely to him as we now hope to do Come then let us begin it now And oh my Soul could we but for a while steal out of the body that we might be the more free and lively and active and unwearied in our thanksgivings praises and Hosanna's to that Lord whom we are going to meet But however Let us now say I believe Lord help my unbelief for I come to have my Faith strengthned I am grieved and wearied with the burthen of my Sins but I come from them to
powers of my Soul for this first admittance of me to the mercy and the priviledges of the Holy Sacrament of thy Body and Blood for my having lately partaked of some of these joyes and comforts that are alone to be found with thee and in thy Service and till now were unknown to me O that having had the mercy and advantage of renewing my Covenant with thee I may now at least begin to spend my days as far as ever the necessary business of this present life will permit me in thy Service in all the parts of piety and virtue in works of Mercy and Charity and Devotion in meekness and humility in self-denial and Repentance in Chastity and Temperance in all that 's holy just and good O my Lord 't is the serious desire and resolution of my Soul thus to do that so early beginning to lay up my treasure in Heaven I may by thy Grace have a good account there in the Records of Eternity at the end of my sixty or seventy years O my Jesu whatever thou pleasest else to deny me here deny me not a grant of this my request I beseech thee that those desires and resolutions of mine may in some good measure be accomplished and effected Let not the allurements and perswasions of my Companions ever entice me from my Duty or the jeers or reproaches of any man whatever fright me from my Innocence O let me never suffer my self to be laught out of my Religion or be ashamed or affraid to perform my holy Duties before the face of any man but be ever looking unto Jesus and let me in view of him be content to endure the Cross and despise the shame or whatever else shall befal me for the sake of Piety and Virtue or obedience to any one Command of thine Let my youthful heart be never much inflam'd with any Loves or passions or desires but those of thee and thy holy Religion O my Lord grant that I may be perswaded to understand and consider what a great advantage I have of devoting and giving up my first and best dayes to Religion and Piety and that now is my time to shew that I am lead to Religion by Love and by my choice and not driven to it only by the fears and horrors of an approaching Grave and that I may often and betimes consider with how much greater comfort I shall leave Mortality if I may be able then to remember an early Love and Obedience to thee O Jesu Let me who have liv'd in thy family ever since I was baptized now at least begin to feel my self more powerfully drawn to thee than ever O make me in the beginning of my dayes to be truely serious and considerate to begin to withdraw from the World betimes and to love to be sometime alone to look into the state of my Soul and provide for a joyful Resurrection Make me to think it the greatest happiness in this World to choose thee O blessed Jesu betimes for my Lord and Master and to look on Religion as the Rest and Delight and Satisfaction of my Soul O fill my Soul with such a Love to thee and to those holy Mysteries in which I commemorate a dying Lord that I may be able to think it long before I have an opportunity to come to feast upon thy Body and Blood again and that as I grow in years I may in some measure grow in Grace and in the Divine favour To this end O that I may pass safely through this dangerous state of life freed from the Intemperance and Lusts the folly and vanity the heedlesness and inconsideration that often attends it and that I may the better be able thus to do Lord I now deliver up to thee all my Affections and Desires to be guided and directed by thy Holy Spirit I am willing to submit them all to thee that so as I have lately begun for Eternity I may go on and prosper and in an acceptable measure now keep up to the purity and Innocence of my first sanctification and never more give out till I come to the end of my hopes and the beginning of my joyes and be presented to my Father pure and spotless in the great day of Rewards and Punishments by thee O holy and merciful Jesus Amen A Prayer which may be used by them who before they come to the Sacrament set apart something to be then offered up to God in Alms. O Merciful Lord from whom every good gift comes and by whose bounty alone it is that I enjoy any thing which I possess I humbly offer up this small return of it to thee for the use of them whom thou hast made thy receivers the poor and the needy Let not the smalness of the offering or any unworthyness of mine I beseech thee keep it from being an acceptable Alms and Oblation to thee and let not the abuse of any of my possessions that have been laid out on Sin and Folly Gluttony or Vanity Lust or Intemperance Revenge or Malice be ever charged or remembred against me in the day of Judgement And O my God take from me a Covetous and Illiberal heart and teach me the truely Christian measures of Charity in Giving and Forgiving for Jesus sake Amen A Prayer for the Grace of Charity in forgiving with particular reference to that petition in our Lord's Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive c. which may be used either before the Sacrament or any other time O Blessed and holy Jesus who wert the great Example of Giving and Forgiving dying for Enemies ready and willing to forgive Iniquity and Sin and to give Heaven and Glory to all true Penitents Give me Grace to write after all this blessed Copy of thine in an acceptable measure And if there be or has been any offender or trespasser against me whom I have not forgiven according to thy Will and the measures of the Gospel forgive me O blessed Jesu and let me not fail to receive a full pardon of that Iniquity for thy mercies sake O let my desires and Petitions of being forgiven as I forgive never be answered according to that instance whatsoever it were or ever shall be wherein I have not heretofore or through the frailty of humane nature or any sudden surprize or inconsideration should not hereafter at any time keep up to thy sacred Rule and Will And O Lord guide and direct me for the Remainder of my dayes in the true measures of Patience and forbearance and take from me all malice and hatred and grudgings and heart-burnings and desires of Revenge on any that has injured me and plant in my Soul I humbly and earnestly beseech thee the true Charity and forgiveness O Lord for thy mercies sake thy Love's sake to mankind so pitty me and pardon all my former gratifications of my revengeful humour that they may never be so charged on me or remembred as to hinder thy forgiveness of me And