it as a farther assurance from God that his promises of mercy shall be made good to thee CHAP. VII The second benefit is Sanctification 2. THe second great benefit purchast by the Death of Christ and held forth in the Sacrament is Sanctifying Saving Grace for the enlivening and strengthning the souls of Believers There is no truth more plain in the whole Gospel than that one great end of Christ's Death was to obtain from the Father that the holy Spirit should accompany the proclaiming of the Gospel to enlighten the minds and soften the hearts of those who should not wilfully resist his workings that they might entertain the truth in the love thereof and that on these greater measures of grace should be poured forth to make them in all things conformable to their Maker according to the capacity of their natures which was the great design of the Redeemer even to restore apostate creatures to the image of God wherein they were created that so they might be made meet for his service here and the fruition of him hereafter A most lamentable mistake it is to confine Christs death onely to the procuring of a pardon and keeping sinners out of Hell since this was but in order to a work of grace on their hearts and onely such who submit to this work shall at last have a share in the absolute pardon For suppose a company of prisoners were taken in Warre who being weak and wounded cannot return into their own Countrey but must presently be put to death by the King that took them and in the mean time comes their own Prince and pays a great sum to obtain that the execution of them may be put off for some time and that his Physician may use medicines and apply plaisters to as many as are willing and that all such when they are made whole shall be sent to their own homes and the rest who will not be ruled by the Physician but spit out his potions because they are bitter and throw away his plaisters because they make them smart they are to remain in their prison and be put to death as they were sentenced Here we see the ransome that was paid was first to stop the slaughter of the prisoners and to get liberty to use means for their recovery to health and soundnesse and secondly to obtain that the recovered should be set free to return to their own Countrey and not onely the contempt of the ransome but of the Physician would bring death Thus had we by the Fall both brought our selves into danger of present destruction and disabled our souls that we could not return to that state whence we fell but the Son of God undertaking our Redemption obtained for us that the sentence of condemnation should not speedily be executed and that there should be assured hopes of escaping destruction and returning to happinesse for all those who make not their condition desperate by continuance in sin and rejecting of the cure which his Spirit would work upon them now the work of his Spirit is to plant and encrease grace in their hearts to heal the diseases and remove the weaknesse which sin hath caused that they may be enabled to walk in the ways of holinesse to their everlasting rest and the sending forth of his healing Spirit was the fruit of his blood Now as it will assuredly damn men to despise the blood of Christ as if it was of no force to be a ransome nor to attain those ends for which the Gospel saith it was shed so is it as dangerous and damnable to resist and sleight the Spirit of Christ let them pretend what esteem they will for his blood A like mistake also it is flowing from the former to limit the notion of free grace to meer pardoning mercy whenas it includes sanctifying 〈◊〉 so for in the instance now given the Physick I hope was as free a gift to the prisoners as the ransome that was paid for them notwithstanding this was without them and the other to be taken into them And in like manner is the giving of the Spirit into us as purely from the grace and mercy of God though merited by Christ as the giving of his Son for us accepting of us for his sake This I was willing to hint least any when they hear or read of being saved by Free grace should dream of a salvation to be had by a meer pardon without being sanctified by the Spirit That the making men holy in their hearts and lives was a principall end of Christs Death without which no happinesse is to be attained is I say a truth so evident in the very tenour of the Gospel that it may seem needlesse to produce particular proofs yet amongst the rest read these few Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works c. Eph. 5.25 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. and that it might be holy and without blemish 1 Joh. 3.8 The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Pet. 3.24 Who bare our sins that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse Tit. 3.4 5 6. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Read also Mat. 1.22 Luk. 1.75 Rom. 6.11 Galat. 1.4 Tit. 2.12 13 14. Heb. 9.14 Now though I acknowledge it is by the help of the Spirit that we are brought to believe for faith it self is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 yet I think we shall ordinarily find the promises of the Spirit to be made to those who are already Believers to advance and carry on the work of God upon their souls And to this end and of this nature is that Grace which is 〈◊〉 and given forth by the Sacrament even to refresh and nourish the souls of Believers to confirm and encrease those graces that are wrought in them and to bring them forward to farther degrees of perfection And this much the very elements themselves do teach us for as Bread is the support and stay of life and Wine that which makes glad the heart of man and both are needfull for the maintaining of life and encreasing our strength so are the Body and Blood of Christ alike necessary and usefull to our souls for he himself hath told us that his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and that he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood dwelleth in him and hath eternall life with much more to the same purpose Joh. 6. The proper meaning whereof as will appear by the Context and the occasion of that Discourse I suppose is That they who believe in him having the same expectations of spirituall life from him that they have of temporall life from their food and accordingly receive digest and improve
good turns and to beware of offending such as can undoe them And yet do they account it such an hard matter to love and please that God who hath given them all the mercies they ever enjoyed and to take heed of provoking him to anger who can kill both body and soul and cast them into Hell Yea further let those very people that cannot read have a paper given them that tells them how to cure any disease they are troubled with they can go to a Neighbour and get him to read it to them and they can mark it so diligently as to follow its directions Or if they be in any trouble about their estates they can carry their Deeds and evidences to a Lawyer and pray him to peruse them and tell them how the case stands with them And what could they get no body to read the Bible or some good book to them that might direct them in the way to salvation Or could they not have hearkened carefully to their Minister whilst he was telling them what they must do Or might they not have gone to him in private and desired particular instructions for their souls Nay there are few Families of the poorest but one or other amongst them can read and might they not have taken some spare time and have read together and discoursed one with another about the state of their souls and what was to be done in order to everlasting happiness The plain truth is there are few but can shew diligence and skill enough in any worldly trifle that they think does at all concern them But as I hinted before they are so insensible of any advantage that 's to be got by minding the things of Religion that they disregard them as matters of no worth or consequence For I cannot imagine whence this strange and damnable carelesness should come but that first of all men forget that they have souls which will never die but must live for ever in another world either in joy or torment according as they behaved themselves in this For certainly the sound belief and frequent sober consideration of the true nature of the soul is the great foundation and support of seriousness in Religion the great design whereof is to help this immortal soul to an happiness suited to its Nature Wherefore if the soul it self be forgotten how can it otherwise bee but God will be forgotten also and the Duty we owe to him neglected For though if we were ingenuous his mercies to our bodies might engage us to love and serve him and the most carnal men may so far remember God as to look for health and wealth and outward comforts from him yet this cannot bring them to any heartiness in Religion which consists very much in denying the flesh and thinking meanly of all things here below and therefore no man can serve God as he ought but he who believes that he rewards his diligent Servants with an everlasting happiness in the fruition of himself for nothing but the hopes of this can bear out men in those difficulties of suffering and obedience which they may be call'd to But if men have no regard to their souls neither will they take any heed to please God nor make it their business to get to Heaven hereafter which is nothing else but a state of happiness principally prepared for a reasonable soul in the full enjoyment of God neither will they take care to prevent their falling into Hell which is that state of misery whereinto they that forget God are turned and chiefly appointed for the punishment of the Soul And hence it will unavoidably follow that they will undervalue the work of redemption and disregard the Lord Jesus who wrought this work in behalf of the Sons of men to recover their souls to God to purchase the pardon of sin and enable them sincerely to please God and so to prevent their damnation and bring them to eternal Glory And if they have no esteem for Christ then needs must they sleight the Word and Sacraments whereby they should be brought to acquaintance with him to be interested in and related to him and to receive the communications of grace from him Now though there are few that will acknowledge themselves guilty of such ignorance of themselves such contempt of God and glory and of Christ the way thereto yet their actions do to plainly shew it For certainly if they had any true knowledge of their own souls they could not but take more pains to save them than they do even out of love to themselves when as now they never in all their lâ—ves many of them are so much as once broughâ— seriously to ask the question How they should do to be saved No nor ever with-drew themselves into private for an hours time on set purpose to consider what their spiritual condition is and how they stand related to God whether as friends or enemies and whether they must go when they depart out of this life And tell me then do these people indeed remember to any purpose that they have souls that must either be saved or damned for ever What though they may sometimes hear Sermons or read the Bible yet do they use when they come home or when they have laid aside their Books soberly to think of what they have read or heard Do they consider how it concerns them Do they examine themselves by the Word and apply it home to their own consciences and guide their lives by it Do they regard it as that by which they must shortly be judged And though they may sometimes put up a prayer to God yet do they perform this duty as seeing any need of it taking any delight in it or as expecting any good from it Do they before hand think what they stand in need of and so pray to God for a supply of their wants not onely of their Bodies but Souls in as good earnest as they can ask their neighbour for any thing they lack And in the very act of praying have they any awe and sense of God upon their Spirits as they would have if they were putting up a Petition to a Prince or Judge And do they minde wâ—at they have been about when they come from the Duty Do they carefully wait for an answer of their Prayers and patiently expect those blessings which they desired from God such as strength against sin and grace to serve him And do they do what is in their Power to procure what they pray for Thus you may be sure it would be with them if they were in good earnest in their Prayers For when they go to any great man to request a favour from him they attend what answer he makes and their thoughts are much upon it and they are deeply concerned for the successe of their request Though they have been Baptized into the Name of Christ yet do they ever use to think what they are thereby engaged to and see to answer
so we may the more distinctly apprehend wâ—at is required of us to make us worthy Receivers And herein I suppose will be found comprized those several graces usually laid down for the due qualification of Communicants as Knowlâ—dge Repentance Faith New obedience Brotherly love and Thankfulness And as I go along I entreat thee Reader seriously to look into â—hy own heart and examine thy self whether thoâ— findest in thee these qualifications or not whether thou findest those graces wrought in thy heart which may enable thee so to remember thy Redeemer as may be acceptable to him that so if thou findest thy self such a one as is described thou maist give God the praise and take to thy self the comfort of so great a mercy and be encouraged to proceed in this and all other holy duties but if thou findest the contrary that thou maist with all speed and earnestness see to get thy heart changed and thy wants supplied And to this end since I intend no other Application I shall under every Head endeavour to help thee in thy enquiry into the state of thy soul and in thy seeking after those graces which thou maist be convinced thou art destitute of and hast hitherto been content without them and in this part I shall be the larger as taking it to be most necessary though having so large a field before me I shall labour to confine my self 1. First then in order to a right remembrance of Jesus Christ there is necessarily supposed a knowledge of him for our memory contains onely those persons or things which we before have known How could he keep the Fifth of November as a Thanksgiving for our deliverance from the Popish Powder plot who hath not some knowledge beforehand that such a Plot there was laid by the Papists and that by divine providence we were delivered from it No more can any man remember Christ as he ought at the Sacrament except he knows who this Christ is in his Person and Natures and what his Offices are what he came into the world for what he hath done and will doe for us And indeed this right knowledge of Christ necessarily requires and contains a knowledge of all the chief points of Religion of which I hope thou art not ignorant who ownest the name of a Christian. It 's a shame for thee if thou art having such means and opportunities to inform thy self as thou enjoyest having liberty to read thy Bible plain Catechismes and other good Books and to hear Gods Word publickly Preacht Notwithstanding all which advantages I doubt there are many to be found who are very dark even in the first principles of Christianity as not accounting it any part of their business to trouble their heads with such matters And that which a man makes no great reckoning of nor thinks himself much concerned in though he may hear it an hundred times over he 'l scarce have so clear an insight into it as he that hath heard it but once or twice with diligence and attention applying his mind to it as to a matter that is for his life He that hears a Physician directing him to a medicine that will recover him from some desperate disease is far likelier if he have the use of his reason to take notice of and fix inâ—o his mind what 's told him than another that fits by who holds himself nothing concerned in it So surely if people thought it any great matter to save their souls for ever they would soon see to get acquainted wiâ—h the way to salvation and not remain in such bruitish ignorance as multitudes doe And for the hâ—lp of such I shall run over those Heads of Religion which more especially are required to enable us a right to remember Christ at this Commemoration-Feast which he hath establisht in his Church Know then that God at first made man in an happy eâ—tate even Adam and Eve our first Parents who if they had continued happy so should all we their posterity have been too but the condition of their continuing in that estate being perfect obedience to all Gods commands they fell from it by breaking a particular Command eating of the fruit of a certain Tree in Paradise whereof God had enjoyned them not to eat even of the Tree of knowledge of good â—nd evil as you may read at large Gen. 3. Thus their hearts were turned off from God and fixt upon the Creature which was pleasing to their senses Hereupon they became liable to the wrath of God who had before threatned that in the day they eat â—hereof they should die the death which included in it all kind of misery whatever it should please God to inflict They being thus become sinners they begat Children like themselves conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean and beside that corruption of nature which did cleave to their Children the guilt of their sin might also most justly be imputed to them they being as common persons representing all mankind who had stood with them if they had stood and fell with them when they fell But their Children as they grew up became guilty of actuall sins in their own persons to which their wicked natures did incline them which did more expose them to the wrath of God This condition was the world brought into by sin become ignorant of God prone to all wickednesse and deserving the greatest misery even everlasting torment and in this estate God might justly have left us he might have given us up to our own hearts lusts and so one by one as we came into the world and rebell'd against him might have destroy'd us for ever without any remedy Yet he did not thus but was pleased out of his own infinite wisdome to provide for us a Saviour when we had thus unâ—one but could not help our selves And who was this Saviour but his own eternal onely begotten Son very God of very God who in fulnesse of time became Man and by the power of the Holy Ghost was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her without the least stain of sin and was God and Man in a wonderfull manner united in one person This was that Jesus Christ of whom we read in the Gospel who after he had some time preacht his Gospel to the Jews laid down his life as a Sacrifice to make satisfaction for the sins of the world and rose again on the third day and after fourty days continuance on earth he ascended into heaven and there is exalted to sit at the right hand of God in that humane nature which he assumed and there he lives for ever to make intercession for us that the benefits he hath purchast may be given out to the sons of men And these benefits are such that shew him to be a perfect Saviour every way fitted to our necessities For by his undertaking this work of our Redemption he
did as it were reprieve the world and kept us from being suddenly destroyed by divine justice which otherwise would have laid hold on us and did obtain for us that we should be tried once again for our lives so that our first fall should not be our damnation if we would accept of that way of Salvation which he had procured for and revealed to us Now since our first happinesse did consist in our being like to God being righteous and holy and obedient to him that it might appear that Christ consulted for his Fathers honour as well as our interest the way to salvation which he appointed was this That we should love God above all and count it our greatest happinesse to be reconcil'd to him that we should humbly acknowledge and repent of all our sins of nature and practice whereby we had provoked his anger against us and be sincerely willing to live in obedience to his Laws and that we should own him the Lord Jesus as our onely Redeemer and depend upon him onely for ability to perform these conditions and to obtain the pardon of sin and the favour of God upon performance of them And then that we might have this ability who by the fall were become weak and unable for good but strongly bent to evil Christ by his death obtained of the Father that the Holy Ghost the third person of the Trinity should be employ'd to bring men to the performance of those conditions which Christ required of all whom he would save And accordingly the Holy Ghost in pursuance of this work did inspire the Apostles and their fellowers to write and preach the Gospel and sealed to the truth of it with miracles for the conviction of all that should hear it And in some places in all ages hath enabled men to make it known and moreover this Holy Spirit doth accompany the Word to the hearts of the Hearers and where he is received doth enlighten the mind and soften the heart and heal and change and sanctifie the nature of man and restores him to the image of his Maker and begets in him a strong love to God and a willingnesse to please him in all things and brings him to an hearty sorrow for and an hatred of all his sins and enclines and enables him to come to Christ to believe in him to love and highly to esteem him for this work of Redemption which he hath wrought ascribing it wholly to his merit that he hath hopes of mercy from God and any power to please him And then for all those who by this assistance of the Spirit are made willing thus to come to Christ and to God by him for these Christ hath purchast that their sins should be forgiven them and greater measures of the Spirit bestowed on them in a word that they should have all things good for them here and be received into everlasting glory hereafter But all they who reject these offers of sanctification and salvation shall die in their sins and be everlastingly in torment with the Devil and his Angels And this same Jesus Christ will be the Judge of all men and at the end of the world shall come with great glory and power and raise up the bodies of all that were dead and change those that are alive and shall pronounce and cause to be executed the sentence of absolution and glorification upon the righteous and the sentence of condemnation upon the wicked This is that Jesus the Redeemer of the faln world whose memory ought to be so precious to you And these were the weighty causes and the glorious effects of that death which you shew forth and keep up the remembrance of in celebrating the Sacrament I suppose it needlesse to turn you to the particular Texts of Scripture proving these things they being so common and well known and the truth of them so plain that they cannot well be doubted of by any that own the Christian Religion And I hope they are neither so many nor so difficult that you should pretend you want time or learning or wit to get well acquainted with them I dare say you could learn other kind of matters than these if you could get any worldly advantage by it If Books were Printed that should teach you how to be rich and honourable to live in ease and pleasure to enjoy health long life and all kind of prosperity you would pore sufficiently upon such Books and beat your brains day and night but you would get to understand and remember them But if indeed you have so little regard to your souls that you will perish for lack of knowing those things which might easily be known your damnation is just And as for you that think the most sottish ignorance is excusable because you are no Schollars and yet take your selves for as good Christians as the best let me tell you plainly if you be without the knowledge of these principal Heads of Religion you are not fit to be so much as called Christians Are you Disciples of Christ that are so blockish and stupid that you have not yet learnt the first principles which he teacheth his Schollars Nay if you refuse to learn them you thereby renounce Jesus Christ to wit as he is your Prophet and Teacher which if you doe expect not salvation from him And as without being acquainted with these fundamentall truths you are able to perform no duty aright so especially not this of receiving the Lords Supper for I say can he remember Christ as he should that knows not who he is what he has done for him or what need he stands in of him And they who being in this wilfull blindnesse venture upon this Ordinance must needs doe it to their own hurt coming to it as a common meal or meerly for custome and fashion sake and so are guilty of the very same miscarriage which the Apostle represents as so dangerous 1 Cor. 11.29 They eat the Bread and drink the Wine not discerning the Lords Body not having that knowledge of Christ who is there represented whereby they might be enabled to give him that reverence and honour which is required of all that are admitted to these mysteries I need not sure spend time in examining the Reader whether he know these truths before laid down or not If thou hast the use of thy reason thou canst tell I hope what it is thou knowest and what thou doest not wherefore take thy self to task and go over the severall points of Religion as I have before briefly mentioned them if thou thinkst fit and take account of thy own apprehension and understanding and where thou findst thou art most wanting be diligent to inform and satisfie thy self and to this purpose make conscience of hearing the word Preacht and of reading the holy Scriptures in private And get well acquainted with the grounds of Religion as you may find them in Catechismes or the plâ—inest Books that treat of them But think
Christ as may prevail with all that love themselves to make out after it and depart from sin which alone can keep them from it And that 's the second Consideration which the Death of Christ helps us to in order to the working of a kindly Repentance namely the great goodnesse of God hereby revealed to poor sinners 3. From all that hath been said will more clearly appear the hainous nature of sin as a farther motive to Repentance in that it is a contradiction to all this love of God and an undervaluing of the greatest mercy that was ever bestow'd upon the world being in effect a trampling under foot of the blood of the Lord Jesus whereby we should be sanctified And hereby I mean those sins which have been committed since men heard of the Gospel For as the evil of sin did appear in the greatnesse of those sufferings which Christ underwent to procure a pardon so these his sufferings doe exceedingly aggravate their sins who have continued in them after they have been told again and again what their Saviour hath done to make satisfaction for them if they would not undervalue and despise it Oh how have you made a shift so often to hear and read of the life and death of Christ and yet have done all that in you lies to crosse the end of his coming into the world and to make his Death of none effect to you whilst yet you pretend to believe that his design was wholly for your good Oh unthankfull wretches to make such a requitall for such unvaluable love As if you studied how you might most dishonour and displease him who thought not his own life too dear to lay down for you Could you see him upon the Crosse wounded torn and bruised for your sakes and could you think of no other recompence but to give him fresh wounds by your wilfull sins Did he once despise the shame and endure the crosse for you and could you find in your hearts again to put him to an open shame and as it were crucifie him afresh Did he indeed deserve such dealing as this at your hands Bethink thy self Reader whether this hath not been thy case Hast thou not liv'd in those sins which Christ died to deliver thee from And what hast thou thereby done lesse than proclaim That there is more to be got by thy lusts than by thy Saviour that its better to remain in thy polluted corrupt estate than to be washt in the blood of Christ whereby our consciences are purged from dead works to serve the living God And did they vilifie Christ more that contemn'd him jeer'd him and put him to death If thou take thy fleshly pleasures and worldly profits to be of greater advantage than any thing that can accrue to thee by Christs Death dost thou not think as basely of him as any of his Crucifiers did And hadst thou been there with this frame of heart is is not most likely thou would'st have joyn'd with them what ever thou maist now think As they hated Christ because he told them the truth and reprov'd them for sin and therefore did all they could to rid themselves of one whose preaching and presence was such a burden to them so dost thou appear in effect an hater of Christ his life and doctrine whilst thou walkest so flatly contrary thereto And what 's this lesse than desiring that there was no God nor Christ to govern and judge thee no such Rule as the Gospel to be thy guide Nay let me tell thee thou who hast profest thy self a Christian and yet hast behav'd thy self thus unworthily toward Christ thou art herein more guilty than the Jews themselves for what they did was very much out of ignorance but thou after thou hast known that he is the Son of God and that he laid down his life for our sins hast manifested all thy contempt of him and rejected him from being thy Saviour whilst thou would'st not be saved by him from thy reigning lusts which thou hast loved more than him as Judas loved the money for which he was hired to betray him After thou hast known of that friendship which by the Crosse of Christ was shewn to the ruined world yet thou hast been an enemy to this crosse whilst thou hast made thy belly thy God and minded earthly things whilst thou hast delightfully liv'd in the practice of any known sin What then were the Jews prickt to the heart when they were convinc'd that they had crucified that Jesus whom God had made Lord and Christ and shall it not have the same effect on thee to consider thou hast been guilty in some sort of the same wickednesse and hast shewn forth the very same spirit that was in them For think not thy self more blamelesse because thou never saw'st Christ nor hadst any hand in his Death nor didst joyn with his enemies in accusing condemning and reproaching him but criest out against them as monsters of men that persecuted the most spotlesse Innocence with such savage fierceness for all this while thy guilt may be as great as theirs whilst thou hast as great an enmity against the image of Christ and the Law of Christ as they had against his person And that thou dost not wound him and spit in his face is not from the goodnesse of thy nature but because he is out of thy reach for were he now before thee and could it gratifie thy lusts so to deal with him it s much to be feared thou would'st not stick at it Whilst the Pharisees condemned their fore-fathers for killing the Prophets they followed them in the very same sin And suppose a Father had two Sons the one at mans estate the other an infant and the elder of these by following wicked courses should break his Fathers heart and occasion his death and the younger when he was grown up should lead the very same life that the other did but yet should take on him very much to condemn his Brother for being so disobedient and hard-hearted as to bring his Father to the grave is it not plain for all this that had he been in his Brothers stead he would have done the same that he did since he also takes those courses which were so grievous to his Father Thus it is to be remembred that Sin was that which put Christ to death as well as the Jews and this Sin is it thou lovest though thou seemest to hate them And as those Jews put his body to pain by their cruelties so dost thou grieve his Spirit by thy wickednesse And know he takes it as hainously from thee that thou should'st thus displease him as he did from them that they should persecute him to the death Nor art thou like to get a pardon at any easier rates than they even no other way than looking on him whom thou by thy sins hast pierced and bitterly mourning for this thy bloodinesse and ingratitude What saist thou then after all
the pleasing of your flesh that you should be thereby stupefied to a regardlesnesse of your soul. The luscious fare which the world affords cloys the mind of man and spoils his appetite and puts him out of relish with his own most proper food This is the undoing of the most they are so full of the creature if not in their hands yet in their hearts that they have no mind nor room to entertain any thing of God there Every man breathing finds himself a needy creature that cannot live upon himself but must have something from without brought in to give him satisfaction but then the misery is they think their wants are all of that nature that things here below may supply them The poor think there is nothing they need so much as better food and raiment more plenty and ease and esteem in the world and they who abound in these things because they see others excell them think they want such and such greater Estates and Dignities to make them happy Though they find after all their attainments that still they are restlesse discontented and wanting something else they scarce know what which might convince them that it is onely from God they can receive satisfaction by having their natures perfected with those graces which may fit them for that communion with him in love and delight wherein the soul of man can onely find rest and contentment This I say they might learn from those restlesse infinite desires of their own hearts if they would but heedfully attend to the nature thereof but being more cruell to themselves than any parent to his child when the soul calls for bread they give it a stone endeavouring to put it off with those things that concern the body alone whilst that within them which is most needy still remains so and is suffered to pine and starve As if an hungry man should fill his mouth with meat and let nothing down into his stomach Whilst you are fondly endeavouring to quiet your minds and accomplish your selves with any thing that is without your souls be it riches pleasures honours friends and all the accommodations of the outward man which the world most dotes upon you are as verily besotted and deceived as he that thinks to ease a violent pain at his heart with putting on a rich Suit of Clothes or to supply the want of enlivening blood and spirits by painting his face Your necessities and diseases are deep and inward your very souls are out of order and nothing in the world will doe you any good but what gets within you and changes your apprehensions desires and affections and makes you quite other persons than now you are Wherefore I would beg you to fix this truth deep into your minds That since you are become poor and naked through the losse of Gods image which was the riches and beauty of the reasonable creature it 's never like to be well with you till you be again restored to his image which is by being brought to the knowledge and love of him to an universall submission and exact conformity to his will 3. And when you are brought to this knowledge of your wants and the nature of them then consider well that it is by Jesus Christ alone that you can be satisfied and supplied The Law was given by Moses but by him comes grace and truth 1 Joh. 1.17 He is the Mediatour through whom and for whose sake we receive from God whatever our souls stand in need of He by his death hath purchast all things necessary for our salvation he is ascended on high and hath received gifts for his people As King and Head of his Church he communicates to his members those graces that by his death and intercession he hath obtained for them and they are replenisht with the fulnesse of him who filleth all in all And then you are to take notice that Christ hath appointed duties to be performed by us and set up Ordinances which we are diligently to attend upon and by his Spirit accompanying them he conveys grace to the hearts of those that are conscionable in the use of these means Such are hearkning to and meditating upon the word Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them by thy truth thy word is truth 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby And prayer to the Father in his name Joh. 14.13 Luke 11.13 How much more will your heavenly Father give the Spirit to those that ask him Jam. 1.5 If any man lack wisdome let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Such also is the Sacrament of Baptisme being duly improved Gal. 3.27 For as many of you as have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Pet. 3.21 And lastly this receiving of the Lords Supper which is our feeding upon Christ who is the Paschal Lamb sacrificed for us and herein to believers in a spirituall sense is afforded a communion of the body and blood of Christ as we may find in the Apostles words before mentioned And when you have but arrived to a sence of your own indigence and Christs fulnesse suitable thereto there will necessarily arise in you desires after a participation of that fulnesse which will bring you to and prepare you for those Ordinances wherein these desires may be gratified Lastly I would advise you to beware of ever entertaining a conceit that you are become so full now that you need nothing for that 's a plain sign you are poor and know it not Your stomachs are filled with wind instead of solid meat And whilst you are puft up with this self-conceit you will be hindred from seeking after what you really want He that thinks his Barns full when they are empty may through this mistake first lie in idlenesse and after come to beggary He that dreams of such a perfection as makes all helps Christ hath appointed needlesse to him neither knows himself nor considers what a God he hath to serve nor what a Law he hath given him to walk by It 's much to be feared that he who thinks he hath grace enough hath yet got no saving grace at all He that knows enough is very ignorant he that 's humble enough is still exceeding proud and so of the rest For he that hath tasted that the Lord is gracious longs after fuller communion with him He that drinks of the water Christ gives though his sickly thirst after creatures will be cured yet will such a thirst after more of Christ arise in him as will never be quencht till he be drencht into the ocean of grace and joy Wherefore study thy self study the duty of this whole present state wherein we are enjoyn'd to grow in grace and learn hence so much humility so much wisdome as to own thy necessities and not go about to cover them for they will not always be
you imagine this one duty to be an exception from all the rest as having nothing in it which may make it worthy our performance Hath not he backt his commands with promises that we might have all kind of encouragement to his service Hath not he told us that to those who keep his Commandments he will manifest himself Doe you think then that when Christ first set up this Sacrament he hereby intended any advantage to those who should celebrate it If not he appointed them a meer piece of drudgery in some respect worse than the Jewish Ceremonies for they had their use to the spirituall and even as bad as thoâ—e buâ—densome ridiculous Ceremonies which make up so great a part of the Popish Religion but if you dare not affiâ—m this then I would know whether the same advantages doe not still continue to this Ordinance which were first intended to be communicated by it to the worthy Receiver Again did the Apostles and their companions get any good by it think you if not it 's strange they should be so exact and frequent in it iâ— they did fain would I know why the same good is not still to be got by serious diligent Christians Certainly Gods treasures of grace are not spent his fountain is not drawn dry no nor ever will be He that will be the everlasting portion of his people when this world is ended hath enough sure in himself for the supply of all their necessities whilst they are travelling through the world When millions of Saints have received that grace which leads them to glory there is not a jot the lesse for those that come after And as his graces are not exhausted so neither is the way of giving them forth changed in the same manner that his Spirit accompanied the word and Sacraments at any time since the Gospel was publisht in the same manner it accompanies them still for ought that any man living can shew to the contrary Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever He who will be with his Ministers till the end of the world will be with his Ordinances till then with his people in the conscientious use of them Why should the first Christians be tied to that which we in after-ages may neglect Is not our case the same with theirs Are not our necessities as great And may not our profitings also if the fault be not our own To prosecute this a little farther as I promised Is not the Death of Christ as great a mercy to us in these latter days of his Church as it was to them in the first Have not we the same pardon offered to us the same promises given the same heaven prepared and the same sanctifying Spirit to bring us thereto Have we not then the same cause to be frequently mindfull of and thankfull for these mercies and the Death that purchast them in all ways prescribed to that purpose Are not we still of the same nature that men were then Such whose affections are much raised and quickened by sensible things by the help whereof we can with greater clearnesse and power conceive of thâ—ngs spirituall and can more affectionately remember what 's past when we see it represented and acted afresh before our eyes Is it not therefore our wisdome and duty to accept of such assistances as our Lord himself in his care of us hath afforded whereof the Sacrament of his Supper is a principall one every way fitted for that end Were they more dull than we that they should need such quickning means which we judge our selves past the use of Had not we as much need as they to be frequently renewing our more solemn repentance for sin and covenantings with God that so the consideration of those renewed engagements we lie under may the more overpower us to faithfulnesse and perseverance in his service Are not our wants of grace as great as theirs And therefore ought we not to wait in all those ways whereby these wants may be supplied which are the same now as formerly Is it not as rich a mercy now as ever to have all the blessings and priviledges of the Covenant of grace whether temporall spiâ—ituall or eternall not onely represented but made ovâ—r and assured to us in such a familiar manner Is not the exercise and strengthning of mutuall brotherly love by the maintaining of the most endearing Christian communion still a most pleasant and profitable duty now especially when all men have learnt to cry out how cold charity is grown Thus you see there are very many and those no small advantages that accrue to such as carefully manage this weighty duty and all of them continue still the same that they were in the time of the Apostles And let there be any other ground of their practice assigned or any other benefits which they hereby enjoyed and I question not to prove that we have the same or the like grounds and are capable of the same benefits with them Thus have I shewn you that to come in a due manner to the Lords Table is both your duty and your interest there is a command given by your Lord obliging you to what is good for your selves and indeed so doe all other his commands if well weighed And what more can be said to work upon men that have any Conscience or any self love to give obedience Wherefore if you be Christians yea if you be Men if you have any sense of Gods authority or of your own necessities make all possible hast out of that dangerous woefull estate which makes you unfit for and unwilling to this so profitable a duty and your souls being made ready let them bring your bodies hither Having been larger in these I shall be brief in those that follow 3 Is it not much to be feared that whilst yâ—u sleight the Sacrament you sleight those blessings which hereby are represented and assured to Believers You your selves would judge so by others in cases like this If the King should proclaim that he will give Estates in some of his Plantations to all that will come to the Court and take Patents from him and subscribe their nâ—mes to a Bond which onely ties them to acknowledge they had their Estates from his bounty and to live there accor-to his Laws is it not a sign that they who will not doe thus much doe very little care for the Estates that are offered them And doe not they manifest as little regard of heaven it self and all the promises of the Gospel who are loath to be at so much pains as to go to the Sacrament there to have all these confirmed to them being unwilling to bind themselves hereby to thankfulnesse and obedience to that God who makes them such large and bounteous offers He that refuseth a cheap and easie medicine which being duly taken may recover him from his sicknesse may well be said to undervalue his health Thus is it too apparent that
direction I shall tell you more particularly how you ought then to behave your selves and lastly shall shew how you may improve it afterwards to your greatest advantage But by the way take notice that I suppose you to whom I now speak to be such as are heartily willing to come to the Sacrament in that manner and to those ends which Christ hath commanded and therefore I suppose you to be already so farre convinc't of the evil of sin that you are resolved to forsake it and so farre convinc't of the greatnesse of those benefits that come by a Saviour and of your need of him that you are firmly purposed to accept of him as he offers himself to you that you may be his and he may be yours for ever And upon this account I shall say little to put you upon or help you in that self-examination whereby you may come to the knowledge of your own estates whether you have a true work of grace wrought in your hearts or not since I have before said so much to this purpose but shall now rather direct you how to to exercise and expresse your Repentance Faith and other graces Onely as you go along if you find your selves willing to perform the duties I shall mention you have reason to believe that your condition is good but if you refuse these you have too much ground to suspect that all is not well with you And though it be usuall to distinguish betwixt directions for an immediate preparation to the Sacrament and those that are for a right demeanour in the act of Receiving yet I shall chuse rather to speak of both under the same Head since it hath been my businesse all along to bring souls to a fitnesse for this work and since in our performance of the duty our hearts ought to be kept in the same disposition and frame that they were brought into by our preparations for it 1. First then I would advise you who intend to come to the Lords Table to set apart some convenient time for the preparing of your souls for this weighty work It is a most serious businesse and ought to be seriously taken in hand Let nothing here be done cursorily or rashly Not that I would have you daunted as if it was a work of that nature that you must either come trembling or else stay away for fear no but onely see you be very serious for so you ought to be whenever you have any thing to do with God even when you so much as mention his name or open a Bible or come to hear his Word therefore being now in a more especiall manner to draw near to him in a duty wherein a miscarriage is more dangerous it 's very requisite that you make more solemn preparation for it since upon this the right performance of it doth very much depend And therefore it is that I would have you set some time apart for that purpose which will be most convenient in the week or on the day before you Receive though I would have you be employed in this work more than once or twice But if you are Servants and so are straitned of time or through poverty are constrained to daily labour you must watch for the fittest opportunities you can get And it is no doubt but you will find time enough if you will but be watchfull to redeem time from idlenesse and vain ways of spending it However it 's better to spare some time from your working or sleeping yea or eating than to neglect those works for which you had your life it self for it 's of farre more consequence I hope to save your souls for ever than to keep your bodies alive a little while though you may very well do both if you be willing 2. Having set apart some time see that you be not onely got alone and your hands taken off your businesse but let your hearts be withdrawn from off all worldly things and set as in the presence of God upon an employment of no small consequence and humbly beg of God that he would vouchsafe you his presence and assistance in these your preparations and in the work you are preparing for that he would set and keep your minds in a frame suitable thereto and graciously own accept and blesse you who in obedience to him have set upon this duty And beg of him that he would help you in the searching of your heart and reviewing of your life that you may not onely have a sight of sin but a right sense of its vilenesse that you may not onely think of it but grieve for it and that all your meditations may be attended with suitable affections and that in all you may be sincere and upright that so upon good grounds you may take comfort in the review of what you shall have done and by this present opportunity may be advanc't one step forward toward your eternall rest 3. And when you have done thus Let your first work be to enter into such a serious consideration of your own estate both by nature and practice as may be most effectuall to bring you to a sound repentance The reason why I advise you to this first is because you being now about to celebrate the remembrance of the greatest mercy that ever was manifested to man-kind wherein especially love thankfulness are to be exercised it is not possible you should feelingly acknowledge it as so great a mercy if you be not very sensible of your own misery of that absolute need you stand in of it Should you offer money to one who thinks he has no great want of it he mâ—ght take it perhaps but not with that thankfulness that another would who is ready to starve for lack of relief A man that perceives himself sinking and drowning with what readinesse will he lay hold on an hand that 's held out to save him Thus the deeper sense you have of your own vilenesse the more will you admire Gods goodnesse in having any regard to such a worthlesse wretch as you The greater you perceive your sins to be the more need you will see of pardoning mercie the more you will prize and the closer you will cleave to Christ and the more readilie will you come hither to receive the seal of your pardon The lower your humilations are the higher ordinarily will you rise in praise and joy Wherefore it will be very needfull especially if this be the first time of thy receiving or though it should not yet I say it will be needfull and profitable for thee to take an impartiall view of thy self what a vile unworthy sinner thou art that so thou maist think meanly of thy self as thou oughtest to think and maist be sincerely humbled in the remembrance of all thy miscarriages And for thy help herein I shall run over a few particulars Consider what a sinfull nature thou brought'st into the World with thee being conceived in sin and
shapen in iniquity and being hereby a Childe of wrath Think how ignorant thou art of God how much at enmitie with him naturallie how exceeding prone to all sin and how averse from goodnesse as by experience thou hast sadly found and didst soon begin to finde so that thou maist well acknowledge that in thy flesh dwells no good thing And then remember with brokennesse of heart how early thou didst set upon a trade of actual sinning wherein thou hast been so constant all thy days And call to minde the several ages of thy life which thou hast past through and the particular sins of those times the sensuality and pride and all the follies of thy youth thy mispence of precious time in idlenesse and foolish sports and pastimes Reflect also upon the sins of thy riper years if thou art yet come to them such commonly as company-keeping drunkennesse and wantonnesse or on the other hand covetounesse over-eager following of the World to the neglect of Gods service injuring and over-reaching your neighbours uncharitableness to the poor Call to mind also the places and relations you have lived in and the sins you were therein guilty of as whilst you were at home with your Parents at School or in service or any other way dispos'd of think whether you were not guilty of telling lies of disobedience slothfulnesse and unfaithfulnesse which are the usual sins of those times You will finde it very profitable and affecting to be as particular and punctual as you can in this review as to think at such a place in such company I was guilty of such and such sins And then fetch in matter for your humiliation by considering the several aggravations of your sins as your being devoted to God by Baptisme and yet revolting from him when you came to the use of your reason receiving all you had from him and yet rebelling against him abusing your mercies to the dishonour of the giver Moreover your sins are much the more hainous who have had good education and been brought up to hear and read the word of God and have been plainly told what is your duty and yet have neglected it who have had many a time convictions of the sinfulnesse and danger of your courses and yet have gone on in them and have had some purposes of a reformation and yet have soon lost them or it may be under some pangs of conscience or in a fit of sicknesse you have made promises of amendment and yet all came to nothing but after that you went on in a carelesse course of life You whom I now suppose to be thorowly converted to God let it grieve your hearts thus to remember the sins of your unregenerate state that you should live so long estrang'd from God and entertain such unworthy thoughts of him and do so much to provoke him whom you have since found so good and gracious How can you with dry eies think of that time when you were like others foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures Me thinks you should be fil'd with a kinde of horrour when you do but reflect upon that dismall state when you think how neer you were to the burning Lake and yet how secure and when you consider what a meer sink of loathsome sins your hearts once were Oh sirs was not that a sad time when you could take delight in nothing but in doing your selves mischief when nothing tasted sweet but draughts of poison when the very bent of your souls was contrary to God and godlinesse so that whatever had a tendencie hereto was nauseated by you Prayer was a burden hearing a burden holy conference strange and troublesome and a godly life was accounted the greatest toil and slavery in the World so that you could go whole daies and weeks without any thought of God and never feel any hurt in it Oh can you without shame remember how you have many a time hearkned to Satan's temptations whilst the good spirit of God hath been resisted and griev'd How did your loving Saviour follow you from time to time and by his spirit and Ministers beseech you that you would be reconcil'd to God and yet you did stubbornly and unkindly put him off when he had laid open to you what he had done for you and what advantages he came to bring you yet you slighted his offers as if they were inconsiderable things Are you not amazed at your own daring impudence and presumption to make the great God wait on you so long in vain He who in a moment could have stopt that breath which he gave you and thrown you into the Hell you deserved that yet you durst disobey his commands yea even reject the suit he made to you to save your own souls But to proceed you are also to call to minde your miscarriages since God by the power of his grace brought you home to himself and shew'd you so much of the evil of sin that you acknowledged your former behaviour to be full as vile as I have been representing it and did ingage your selves to him to become his obedient people Now consider how you have answered this engagement And though since that time your sins may not have been so gross nor so frequent as before they were yet they are now of another nature and capable of greater aggravations as being committed against greater light and experienced love even against that God who hath freely pardoned you and received you into his favour Think then how unsuitably you have walkt to the profession you have made and the means you have enjoy'd how unthankfull you have been for mercies how unfruitfull and unserviceable since you became the servants of God though heretofore you had done so much against him think how little you have done as Parents Masters and Neighbours to advance his glorie and consider and bewail all other failings in the duties of your Relations Oh think what folly it was in you so much as to venture upon the least sin who have been convinced that its your own greatest hurt or to start aside from the holy path to walk in which you have found to be infinitelie most for your own ease and advantage Let it grieve you to finde such remnants of sin yet in your selves any inclination to evil and backwardnesse to good With sorrow look back upon all your slips and haltings and partial backslidings that you have made no more progresse in holinesse nor got more good by the privâ—ledges vouchsaft you Be humbled in the remembrance of your dullnesse hypocrisie formality in religious duties being either prone to neglect them or slubber them over in a cold and drowsie manner or else to rest in them Call to minde also your unfaithfulnesse to the many promises you have made of better obedience in your Prayers or at the Lords Table and especially review your carriage since the last Sacrament you who have formerly received it And having by such like considerations
flie open that the King of Glory may come in Now in an especiall manner let your hearts be emptied of all trash that they may be fill'd with the good things which are here distributed If you were set to an heap of Gold and bidden to carry away as much as you could grasp you would keep no dirt nor stones in your hand that would make them hold so much the lesse Loosen your selves then from the inordinate love or thought of any created good your Houses or Lands your pleasures or employments withdraw your minds as much as possible from all temporall concernments with which whilst you are taken up the edge of your desire after heavenly things is extreamly abated And if you come not hither with great expectations you are like to be little the better If you have no higher designs but with a little seeming Devotion to eat Bread and drink Wine then Bread and Wine are the best things that you are like to meet with For is it probable you should find that which you never look after But if thou comest hither with an holy greedinesse after greater measures of grace thirsting for the living God as the Hart pants after the water-brooks and as the parched ground gapes for the refreshing showers then fear it not thy desires shall be gratified Thou canst not please God better than by looking for the greatest and best things from him which bring most glory to himself and do most good to thy soul. Beg earnestly then that by the power of his Spirit accompanying this Ordinance thou maist partake yet more of a new and divine nature that thou maist find strength and vigour diffused through thy whole man and maist now receive some communications of that light and life which Christ came into the world that his people might have and that they might have it more abundantly now pray that his Death and Resurrection may have their power and efficacy upon thee that virtue may issue forth from him for thy healing Beg that by this food thy lusts may be poisoned and destroy'd and every grace strengthned and encreast And be particular in thy desires Oh that something may be done this day against my pride and passion my worldlinesse and sensuality my distrustfull fears and discontents Oh that I may be delivered from that listlesnesse dulnesse and distractions wherewith I am haunted in holy duties Oh that I may find my heart hereby drawn nearer to God and carried out with more unweariednesse and cheerfulnesse in his service that I may be better enabled for a conscientious discharge of my duty in every place and relation that I do stand in and in the whole course of my life Blessed God thou who knowest the state of my soul give in to me I beseech thee what thou seest I need most I have an hard heart Lord soften it a dead heart Lord enliven it I am much in the dark Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Make me more humble holy and heavenly Oh take this season for coming in upon my soul and bestowing more of thy self upon me that I may become more like to thee These oh God are the mercies thou hast promised to thy people and bidden them to ask these thou art wont to convey by thine ordinances for these things therefore do I wait upon thee this day with no lower aims do I come to thy Table with such precious things is the Lord Jesus wont to feast his guests and of his infinite fulnesse it is that I hope to participate through him it is I hope to be strengthned with might in my inner man even to be made strong by the Grace that is in Christ Jesus Oh will the Head let a member perish Shall a branch wither for want of succour and juyce Blessed Saviour thou who wast so willing to shed thy blood for us art thou not as willing to bestow the fruits of it upon us Art thou not still as mercifull and tender as ever thou wast Thou who didst once so readily heal diseases and cure all that came to thee hast thou not as much mercy to souls as to bodies Lord I believe thou art as able and ready to help as ever If thou wilt thou canst make me clean and it is my hope that thou wilt Outward means without thee cannot do it yet here thou hast bid us attend and thus I do waiting for the descent of thy Holy Spirit Oh grant the requests of thy poor creature Say to me Be it unto thee even as thou wilt yea even as thou wilt oh Lord let it be unto me who art ever readily and strongly inclined to do thy people good Thus stirre up your selves and actuate Faith in such holy breathings as these and be assured such additions of Grace as you are fitted for and God in his infinite wisdome sees meet at present to deal out shall be conferr'd upon you and being refresht and strengthned with this banquet you may cheerfully walk on your way to glory 7. From all that hath been said of the greatnesse of the mercies here commemorated bestow'd and sealed to it will appear most reasonable and just that the hearts of all Gods faithfull servants should here be raised to the greatest height of divine love thankfulnesse and joy I put these together because though in the notion they are different yet in the workings of the soul they usually go together That same goodnesse which works love and thankfulnesse causeth joy too as it 's begun to be enjoy'd or strongly hop'd for And this is a frame most proper to a Communicant all his preparations being much in order to it Therefore should he get sensible of his misery and humbled for his sin that he may have the more affectionate thankfull sense of the mercy that pitied and pardoned him Wherefore labour much with your selves even beforehand to rise up to this ingenuous and pleasant temper which will prove so acceptable both to God and your selves Dwell intently upon that amazing mercy which God hath revealed to mankind in Jesus Christ which thing the Angels themselves desire to look into Ponder well the severall heightning circumstances thereof the meannesse sinfulnesse and misery of man the Majesty of God the dignity of Christ the greatnesse of his condescension and sufferings the fulnesse and freenesse of his purchase and offers Study all his dealings with your selves in particular whereby he hath accomplisht in you the designs of his love and continue these musings till you feel a fire of love and joy kindled within you Let not Satan so farre have his will of you as to cast you into these dejections and groundlesse perplexities which will rob God of his praise and you of your comfort Let him not be able to perswade you that God is cruell and unmercifull and hardly reconciled to returning sinners Have you not the strongest and most unanswerable demonstration at hand to confute him would you desire or can