to bestow him on you I have nothing better wherewith to present you but with him in this Holy Feast I do and what higher Tokens can I give of the unbounded Love I bear you He gives us present injoyment of many invaluable Graces For the Lords Supper is a Treasury of Blessings conveying to all those who worthily partake of it the Pardon of their Sins and Spiritual Assistances and Heavenly Improvements and growth in all Virtues and strength against all Temptations as I shall shew under the next Head And lastly He gives us the surest Pledges of future Glory For when he offers us his own Son we may be sure he will not stick at any thing else since he has nothing that is in any comparable Degree so precious and dear to him as he is This Gift is a Faithful Earnest and certain Pledge of every thing else which he can give us For he that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things says St. Paul Rom. 8.32 Thus in the Blessed Sacrament are we vouchsafed the greatest Honour and receive Tokens of highest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from Almighty God And what man now will refuse all these when he is invited to them Who can turn his back upon that Ordinance wherein God calls him that he may give Honour to him and shew by the highest Tokens how he Loves him and confer upon him present Graces and give him Pledges of future Glories and assure him what Regard he has of him and how happy he intends to make him Common Ingenuity and Good manners nay every mans own private Interest and Self-advantage oblige him most readily to embrace and not to sleight or so much as slowly to accept of such offers So that if any Person really believes that all this Honour is shewn this Love expressed these Graces given or these Glories assured to him in the Communion he must needs think himself highly obliged to come to it and never cast about to seek shifts and make excuses or express a backward and unwilling mind when he has an Invitation and an Opportunity so to do And thus we see that not only our Lords express Command for it but also the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by and of those employments which are imply'd in it are a strong and an indispensable Obligation on all grown Christians who are capable of it to frequent the Holy Sacrament For therein they are call'd by their Saviour Christ publickly to profess his Religion and their Communion with him and thankfully to remember him and to confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and to receive Vouchsafements of highest Honour and Tokens of greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which are things that no Christian man ought to stick at or decline but with all forwardness to close with as often as he has an Opportunity and sit occasion for them And thus it appears now much all the Disciples of Christ who are grown up to it and understand it for no Duty obliges an incapable Subject are bound to frequent this holy Sacrament It is their Duty to come to the Communion as it is to come to Church to be Chast Sober Humble Just or to perform any other Precept of their Religion For they have their Saviour Christs express Command for it who by injoining it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shews their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did the neglect of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and of those Employments which are to be exercised at it most straightly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him which are things that every Ingenuous man will and every Good man ought to do and no man when he is call'd to it can honestly decline that professes himself a Christian Thus is it a necessary Duty in every man to come to the Sacrament as it is to come to Church or to other parts of Worship And when once we are of Age for it and have a fit opportunity and occasion offer'd we are in strict Duty ingaged and by a bond of many Cords as we have seen obliged so to do 1 st I say we are bound to it when once we are of Age for it The Duty of this Holy Sacrament lies in such things as suppose a competent Understanding and due Knowledge of Religion in those who must discharge them For therein we are to remember Christ both what Commands he has left with us and what he has done and suffered for us and this we cannot do till first we have learnt them We must ingage to be at Peace to do Justice and shew kindness to all our Brethren and this supposes that we know first what Offices of Love and Acts of Justice are due to them We must consent to the Terms of the New Covenant and this implies that first we should understand them In Baptism indeed we enter'd into it before we had any knowledge of it but that was because God who deals with us after the most favourable manner of Men who allow grown Persons to bear the Parts and federally to undertake for Infants in things conducing to their Advantage admitted our Sponsors that knew it very well to stand as our Representatives and in way of Proxies to Covenant and undertake for us But the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is to be our own Act and an express assenting in our own Persons to what they undertook and this cannot be done till we are come to years and are able of our selves to judge of it Till we are grown up then to the Age of Competent knowledge in Spiritual Affairs we are not capable of discharging aright the Duty of this Sacrament And till we are so we are not obliged to it since no Duty obliges an incapable Subject
was a Covenant-Rite and the Bread Christs Body to the same intent the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2. From its being a Feast or Sacrifice for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we partake of it 3. From its conveying the particular Blessings of the New Covenant which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 3 End is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others This Chapter summ'd up Page 5. CHAP. II. Of the Worthiness of Communicating in the Sacrament To Communicate Worthily is to do it with such Tempers and Behaviours as are worthy of it and becoming Things which are meant by it The First End was to remember Christ both first As our Lord and Master which calls for Honour and Reverence in our selves and a care to maintain his Honour among others For mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience 2. As our most kind Friend and Benefactor which calls for Love and an hearty Affection for him For Joy and Gladness in what we receive from him For Thankfulness for all his Kindnesses particularly in Dying for us And as this Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins the Remembrance of it calls for a deep sense of our own unworthiness An utter Abhorrence of our Sins which caused his Sufferings A Resignation of our selves to his Vse as thereby we are become his own Purchase The Second End was to confirm the New Covenant with God which his Blood procured This calls for Sincerity and Faithfulness A Third End was to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians This calls for Peace and Charity to all Persons and particularly for Alms to the Necessitous A Summary Repetition of these Qualifications A Belief of these Things which carries us on to these Tempers and Performances is the Faith that makes us Worthy Communicants page 48 CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not at all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion Service page 87 CHAP. IV. Worthy Receiving not extraordinary difficult and of unworthiness to Communicate To silence the Complaint of extraordinary difficulty in coming worthily to this Sacrament three things noted 1. All the particulars of worthy Receiving are necessary parts of Duty and of a good Man so that no more is required to fit us for receiving than is required to fit us to dye or to go to Heaven 2. They are all necessary Qualifications of an acceptable Prayer Vow or Thanksgiving so that no more is required to it than to a worthy discharge of all other Acts of Religion 3. However they may be commended yet they are not necessarily required in more intense and transporting degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion The only unworthiness which can put us by this Ordinance is Impenitence if Repentance will go down with any man nothing else need stick with him This Point of Worthy Communicating summ'd up pag. 100 PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which reatly recommend and enforce it viz. It is such an Instance as best shews our peculiar Reverence and Love to him the whole yoke of Jewish Ceremonies is taken away and only it and Baptism two cheap and easie Rites imposed in stead of them it was his last Command he gave it the Night before he suffered in St. Paul's Commission to Preach the Gospel it was particularly specified without greatest Danger to our selves it cannot be neglected as appears from our Saviours Words Joh. 6.53 which are shewn to speak of it and from the Danger of Neglecting the Jewish Passover which answered to it 2. From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it viz. Because therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of greatest Love and enjoyment of present Graces and pledges of future Glory from him all which no Good man ought and no Ingenuous man will decline when he is call'd to them This Duty obliges those only who are of Age for it and them too only at such times as they have an Opportunity and a fit Occasion offered An Objection against its being a Duty from 1 Cor. 11.25 answered The Neglect of it is a great Sin This God may excuse in those good Souls who through Ignorance or Error are held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it think themselves unworthy to come to it whilst in the honesty of their Hearts they thus mistake it But he will not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and impenitent to receive it Page 126 CHAP. II. Of the Benefits of Communicating The Sacrament is full of Blessings which make it not only our Duty but our Priviledge In the general it is the most effectual means in all Religion to recommend our Prayers and make them powerful and so is the likeliest way to attain all Mercies In particular 1. It seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the Peace of our Consciences 2. It encreases and Confirms in us all Graces Those are ordinarily such as we bring along with us It confers Grace 1. By the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it both exercises and excites in us 2. By those inward Assistances which it conveys to us Since on all these accounts it is so excellent a Means of Grace and New Life 't is the best Rule any Person can observe who would go on in the Work of Repentance All these Motives to Communicate both from Duty and Interest summ'd up Page 167 PART III. Of the Hindrances that keep Men from the Communion CHAP. I. Two Hindrances from Communicating One most general Hindrance that keeps men from the Sacrament is a Fear of their being Vnworthy and Vnfit to receive it This Answer'd by shewing 1. The Partiality of it because they are not so scrupulous about Neglecting as about Vnworthy Receiving though there be the same Cause for it 2. That every true Penitent is worthy of it Yea he that has only fully purposed Amendment though he has not had time to perform it 3. Impenitenee which unfits them for it is no Excuse for the Neglect of it 4.
enforce it viz. It is such an Instance as best shews our peculiar Reverence and Love to him the whole yoke of Jewish Ceremonies is taken away and only it and Baptism two cheap and easie Rites imposed instead of them it was his last Command he gave it the Night before he suffered in St. Paul's Commission to Preach the Gospel it was particularly specified without greatest Danger to our selves it cannot be neglected as appears from our Saviours words Joh. 6.53 which are shâ—wn to speak of it and from the Danger of Neglecting the Jewish Passover which answered to it 2. From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it viz. Because therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of greatest Love and enjoyment of present Graces and pledges of future Glory from him all which no Good man ought and no Ingenuous man will Decline when he is call'd to them This Duty obliges those only who are of Age for it and them too only at such times as they have an Opportunity and a fit Occasion offered An Objection against its being a Duty from 1 Cor. 11.25 answered The Neglect of it is a great Sin This God may excuse in thosâ— good Souls who through Ignorance or Error are held back and because of their over-high Veneration for it think themselves unworthy to come to it whilst in the honesty of their Hearts they thus mistake it But he will not excuse it in them when they are better inform'd and much less in others who neglect it because they are careless of it or too Wicked and Impenitent to receive it THE worthy receiving of the Sacrament which I have hitherto Described is no Indifferent thing which may either be done or let alone according to Discretion but an indispensable Duty wherein God has straitly bound and which he has peremptorily required of every grown Christian. And this will appear these two ways 1 st From the Expressness and Obliging import of the Command about it 2ly From the Obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it 1 st That every Christian ought to frequent the Holy Sacrament and come to it when he is call'd and an opportunity is offered appears from the expressness and obliging import of the Command about it For our Blessed Lord has given us his Command for it and that with such particular Notes and Circumstances as shews he lays a great weight upon it which must needs oblige all that have any regard to him to frequent it He has given us I say his express Command for it For thus St. Paul tells us he injoined when he ordained this Feast He took Bread says he and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this DO in Remembrance of me And after the same manner he took the Cup saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood this DO ye as often as you Drink it in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. And if we had nothing more than this plain Command for it it were enough to make every man who would please God and go to Heaven to come to it when he is invited For then ye are my Friends says Christ when ye do whatsoever I Command you Joh. 15.14 And he that shall break the least of my Commandments and shall teach men so shall be least in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. he shaâ—l not enter or have any share at all there Mat. 5.19 But besides this express Command which he has given for it we have other Notes and Circumstances added which greatly recommend it and shew that he lays a particular weight upon it For it is a thing which is to be done purely upon his account and has only our Love of him to enforce it so that if we have any Love and Reverence for him this is the best way to shew it it and Baptism are the only positive Commands he has given us in exchange for the Numerous and Expensive Jewish Ceremonies so that in all Ingenuity and Thankfulness for so great a Benefit we ought to observe it it was his Dying and last Command he gave it the very Night before he Suffered it was thought by him a Command so material that in St. Paul 's Commission to Preach the Gospel it was not omitted but particularly specified And lastly it is a Command which as the Scripture plainly intimates without great danger to our selves cannot either be unworthily kept or neglected 1 st It is a thing which is to be done purely upon his account having no other Reason but his Command to bind and enforce it so that if we have any Love and Reverence for him this is the best way to shew it As for the Duties of Humility Temperance Justice Faithfulness Gratitude Charity Peace Prayers to God and the like Though Christ has told us of them and expresly injoyn'd them as well as this yet is not he alone in that but they were sufficiently proclaimed before he came to the Jews by Moses and the Prophets and to the Gentile World by Natural Conscience In declaring them he had an open way made for him and the Consciences of all men ready to strike in with him which among all good Minds would much facilitate their Reception But in this Command he stands alone for Natural Reason knows nothing of it nor will the Conscience of any man but a Christian oblige him to it So that here we have no Light but his Word no Motive but our Obedience to him to perswade it and therefore if we do it at all must be purely for his sake without any other Inducement And this is a strong Bond upon all that Love their Lord and have any peculiarity of Respect for him to observe it It is the true Cause and Reason indeed why some neglect it who because their own Conscience doth not startle at it and check them so severely for absenting from this Feast as for Drunkenness Whoredome Lyes Cheating c. which have not only Christs Laws but Natural Reason also to exclaim against them go on securely in their contempt of it And if men have no Love for their Lord no peculiar Regard for any thing because he has injoyn'd it or are not duly inform'd of his Command about it thus it will be But if any that see he has made it their Duty have any peculiar Love and Regard to him they will greedily embrace this as the best Opportunity of shewing their Affection to his Service since therein they can be sway'd by nothing else and most readily Communicate when he calls them so to do 2ly It and Baptism those two cheap and easie Things are the only positive Commands he has laid upon us when he took off the heavy yoke of the
AN HELP and EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating OR A TREATISE Describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from It. Together with SUITABLE DEVOTIONS ADDED By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Pâ—inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Sâ—eptâ—r over against St. Dunstâ—n's Church in Fleetstreet 1683. TO THE Right Honourable SIMON Lord DIGBY BARON OF GEASHILL MY LORD THe Holy Eucharist is a Rite of the greatest Honour and Endearment that ever God vouchsafed to Men and the most Sublime and Blissful Instance of our Communion with him For therein he calls us to his own Table not to attend as Servants but to Feast with him as his Friends He treats us with the most Magnificent Fare presenting That to us for our Food which one would think were not to be eaten but adored even the most Sacred Body and Blood of his own Son in which he conveys to us all the Benefits of our Redemption And being thus apt to excite in us the highest Devotion and to enrich us with the greatest Fulness of Grace and Blessing one would expect it should be had in Reverence and most Thankfull Received by every Christian. But yet in our Days what part of Religion doth so generally suffer or is so universally neglected among Men For the greatest Numbers have either little or no Reverence at all for it or too much which makes them afraid of it they Neglect it thro' Carelesness and Causeless Scruples or Prophane it by Unworthy and Disrespectful Usage So that among all the Professors of Christianity few pay that Honour to their Lord or secure that Benefit to themselves by Receiving which he intended All should do This My Lord is the Grief and Complaint of all who have any just Honour for their Dearest Saviour and this Venerable Ordinance or any generous Compassion for the Souls of others And that by the Grace of God I may help something to redress it I have endeavoured to describe a Worthy Communicating and to set out both the Duty and Advantages of it in this Treatise that thereby I may recommend it to the Choice of all who are Wise and to the Consciences of all that are Religious In the Management whereof I have shunn'd all fruitless Disputes and nice Speculations seeking onely to get it Authority among the Loose and Reverence with the Careless and to reconcile it to the Scrupulous and to make the Duty as Clear Easie and Useful as I can to all Particularly I have designed all along to make it not onely an Honourable Remembrance of our Dear Lord but a most Solemn and Strict Engagement to a Good Life in all that use it for then I am sure they will be infinitely Happy in it And this Discourse My Noble Lord I here humbly offer to Your Lordship desiring it may stand as a Publick Testimony of the great Honour and Affection I have for those Excellencies that shine so clear in You. God has endow'd Your Great Mind with a strong Love and a steady Choice of Virtue and what I have beheld with Pleasure with a Generous and as there is Place for it an Active Compassion for those that want it You have the True Wisdom upon Deliberate and Well-studied Reasons to be Religious and the Courage in this Audacious Age when Irreligion is set up for the onely Creditable Dress to own it and study to be thought so For 't is Your Lordships Honour to think that nothing can truly make You Greater than to be an humble Worshipper and Faithful Servant of Your Holy Saviour This Noble Piety and Zeal for Goodness will endear You My Lord to Almighty God and to all Good Men. And if by these Papers I may in any wise contribute to them I shall think my self happy in having serv'd to set on the Virtuous Growth of One whom I hope God has set out in a Time that so infinitely needs it for an Illustrious Example that may give both Ornament and Support to Religion But besides this My Lord I have another End in this Dedication and that is That these Sheets may remain a Lasting Monument of my Gratitude for the Endearing Favours I have received from Your Noble Hand They were Composed for the Benefit of a Place where I am now fixed and whereto I was design'd by Your great Generosity and Nobleness when I thought of nothing less For so truly Publick was Your Lordships Spirit in the Filling of that Church that You pitch'd upon a Person whose Face You had never known and who never knew of it only because You believed he would make it his Care to promote Religion and to Benefit those Souls which You had to commit to him And this My Lord I humbly beg Your Lordships Leave to mention not for Your own but for the Publicks sake For in this degenerate Age when either Filthy Lucre or at least some other mean and sordid End have made a Merchandise and bred Corruption even in the most Sacred Trusts I think the World has need of such Examples I have nothing more to add but to beg of Almighty God That he who brings about the Noblest Ends by the Weakest and most Unlikely Instruments would make this Book effectual to his own Honour and Service and also bless Your Lordship with a Continuance and Encrease of all Virtuous Excellencies Honour and Happiness in this World till at last he shall take You to shine in his own Immortal Glory in the World to come This is the most hearty Prayer of him who very much for Your Favours but more for the true Affection and Esteem You have for the God and Saviour he serves is in all sincerity My Honoured Lord Your Lordships most Affectionate obliged Chaplain and humble Servant John Kettlewell From Your Lordships House near Coles-hill Jun. 27. 83. THE CONTENTS PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament THree ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 〈…〉 in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most Gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shewn from the same thing being done in Baptisme Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which
Impenitent men who alone are unfit if they understand the danger of their State cannot continue in it but amend it and then they may worthily Communicate 2. A Second Hindrance is because an Vnworthy Receiver eats his own Damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 which makes not Receiving seem the safer side By Damnation is meant 1. A Damning Sin which is deadly till we repent of it and such are both unworthy Eating and sinful Abstaining so that they are equal as to that Point 2. Temporal Penalties which were inflicted for their Intemperance at this Feast and other Disorders peculiar to those Times and are not now usual in ours so thâ—t the Fear of them need not discourage us from it Page 197 CHAP. II. Of Three other Hindrances from Receiving A Third Hindrance is because therein they are to promise concerning every Sin that they will no more commit it which Promise some dare not make because they fear they shall not keep it If this be sufficient to hinder any man from the Communion it ought also to hinder him from Prayers and being Baptized a Christian. But it must not hinder men from any of them 1. Let them promise this Amendment and keep it and then the Doubt is answered They ought to make it And by God's Grace they may perform it if they have a mind to it 2. If after some time they happen to break it in any Instance they have the Benefit of Repentance afterwards A Fourth Hindrance is the great difficulty supposed to be in it and want of time and leisure to prepare for it This lies not more against the Communion than aganst an Holy Life and all Religion But it must not put us by from any of them For 1. If it required all that Time and Pains which is supposed that would be no Excuse for any of us to neglect it To true Penitents the Time and Pains is not so great as is imagined It requires more of Ill men but less of Good who may prepare for it in a less time yea if used to Self-examinations upon a few Minutes warning 3. The poorest and most imployed have time sufficient if they would use it to that end and where they have fewer helps and less time the less Preparation is accepted of them A Fifth Hindrance is because they see others or have found themselves to be no better by it so that 't is not worth their while to fit themselves for it If this have any Force it is not to be restrained to the Sacrament but holds stronger against Prayers and other Parts of Worship But it ought not to hinder any Persons For 1. Where it is true there is no Excuse from it 2. In all good mens case 't is false for they are really better by it many by improving in their goodness all by continuing in it for which it is richly worth their pains to come to it 3. Where they are not bettered at all or not so much as might be expected that is purely through their own Fault in not using the means of improving by it so let them amend that and this Hindrance is removed Page 223 CHAP. III. Of want of Charity A Sixth Hindrance is a Fear lest they want that Charity particularly towards Enemies and those who have given them Provocations which is required to it An account what Love is and what is not due to such Persons 1. We are bound to shew them all the Offices of general Charity which are due to our Neighbour at large or to all others This Love contains in it all the Particular Offices of Justice Charity and Peace which are due to all mankind It is transgressed by all the opposite Instances but by nothing more than hard and uncandid Censures and Suspicions The commonness and sinfulness of this Carriage The want of this Charity unfits men for this Feast but so iâ— doth for Prayers and all other Religious Worship 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 When they sufficiently shew Repentance of their Fault they are to be re-admitted to the same state of Favour and Friendship We must be Candid in Judging when their Repentance is sufficiently evidenced An humble Confession is ordinarily a sufficient Proof of it for the first Fault but not when it has been oft repeated Luc. 17.4 which seems to affirm it answer'd Several Cases clear'd which are sometimes thought by Pious Souls to be a breach of Charity towards Enemies but in reality are not As not forgetting Injuries or Vnkindnesses but still retaining a Remembrance of them Thinking the worse of those who offered them Being troubled at the sight of them as that puts them in mind of the great Losses they have sustain'd by them Shewing more reserve and carrying a 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 Page 262 CHAP. IV. Of Law-Suits They are an Hindrance from the Communion when there is sin in them They are not sinful in themselves which is shewn 1. From the necessity of them 2. From the Magistrates Office being appointed for them 3. From Gods taking Legal Determinations upon himself as if he were the Author of them 4. From Courts erected by consent in the Apostles Days which ministred to them These St. Paul prescribed to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. They are the Assemblies mention'd Jam. 2.2 5. From our Saviours and St. Pauls Practice who in claiming the Benefit of them warranted and authorized them An Objection from Mat. 5.38 39 40. consider'd which is shewn not to condemn defending our selves in any case when others implead us nor moving Suits in all but only in case of lighter Losses and Indignities such as our Saviour there mentions or making them minister to Revenge in any others And 1 Cor. 6.7 answered which makes them not a Damning sin but only when some Virtuous ends do not require them a Defect and Diminution But they are sinful 1. When they are begun upon an unjustifiable Ground Such they always are 1. When they are Vindictive not Reparative as when we sue insolvent Persons or others upon such Words or Actions for which besides Costs no Damages that are valuable are like to be allotted us 2. When they are for Reparation of small things which countervail not the evil and hazard of a Suit but ought to be a matter of Patience and Forgiveness and so be quietly put up without recourse to it In judging of this smallness we must not estimate by our own Pride and Passions but by the reality of Things and the Judgment of indifferent humble and dispassionate Persons This is true not only in case of Injuries to our own selves but also in case of Trust when we have the charge of others 2. Suits are sinful when they
and expresly ratify and confirm it too This may fairly be presumed to be one end of the Holy Communion because it is the end of Baptism which St. Peter calls a Stipulation and which as we have seen is our entrance into the Gospel-Covenant and Religion And since it is so evidently the use of that in great likelihood it is of this too for both the Sacraments were still held of like Vse Nature and Signification Nay this was the end not only of the Christian but also of the Jewish Sacraments which shews it was not peculiar to any one but runs through all of them For as for Circumcision it was a Federal Rite or Sign It bound the Jews as before it had done the Patriarchs to God and God to them in the Covenant Moses gave them by a mutual Obligation For therein they promised to perform all that the Law injoined He that is Circumcised says St. Paul is a Debtor to keep the whole Law Gal. 5.3 And thereby they were assured of the Righteousness and Benefits God had promised Abraham received Circumcision as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith says the same Apostle i. e. as a Seal or Confirmation of the Promises made to it Rom. 4.11 And because it was thus a sign to both parts and a Rite used at their engaging in it Circumcision is call'd the Covenant i. e. the Solemn Ceremony and undertaking of it Gen. 17.10 Act. 7.8 And then as for the Passover it also was a Covenanting Ceremony and Federal Rite as may sufficiently appear from its being a Feast on Sacrifice which is the most Solemn way of Covenanting with God And this use of the Passover is of the greater weight to conclude the same of the Lords Supper because among us this answers to it and comes in stead of it It answers to it I say for our bleeding Lord was the Great thing which their Sacrificed Lamb signified whence he is called the Lamb without Blemish and without Spot the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World and the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of Mankind and our Feasting upon his body and blood is the same with their Feasting upon it as St. Paul plainly intimates when he says Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us therefore let us keep our Eucharistical Feast upon him in it answerable to what they did upon the Lamb in theirs 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And at the Institution of the Holy Sacrament our Saviour intimated that the Passover was abolish'd and that this was henceforward to succeed and come in stead of it For immediately before he appointed his own Supper he tells them he would not any more eat of the Lamb or drink of the Wine in the Passover i. e. he would abolish this so as we should no more eat or drink of it and substitute that in place of it Luc. 22.16 18. And now since 't is the general Nature of Sacraments both among Jews and Christians to be Covenanting Rites since Baptism plainly is that goes hand in hand with it and since the Passover was which preceded and answered to it this being substituted in place and put instead of it in all likelihood the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a Federal Feast and a Covenanting Rite too But to prove this yet more particularly That this Holy Sacrament is intended for a Federal Rite and for our Renewal and Ratification of the New Covenant will appear 1 st From the words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which is a Federal Rite and the Bread is call'd Christs Body to the same intent as the Paschal Lamb was which was a Federal Conveyance of it 2ly From its being a Feast upon Sacrifice which is a Federal Feast for Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on the Sacrifice we joyn in and partake of it 3ly From all the particular Blessings of the Covenant being conveyed by it which otherwise than by Federal Promises or Performances are not to be had 1 st That oâ—r eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament is intended for a Federal Rite and for our Renewal and Ratification of the New Covenant appears from the words of Institution wherein the Cup is called the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which is a Covenanting Rite and the Bread is call'd Christs Body to the same intent as the Pascal Lamb was which also was a Federal Conveyance of it 1. In the words of Institution the Cup is called the New Covenant This Cup says our Saviour is the New Testament or Covenant in my Blood 1 Cor. 11.25 And we are all bid to drink of it which is a Federal Rite and was then a known Ceremony of confirming any Covenant Drink ye all of it says he to his Disciples Mat. 26.27 This drinking of it as it is an Application of it to our selves and taking it into our own Bodies is a plain sign of our ingaging in it and adhering to it for thereby we shew that we close with and embrace it But this is still further evident because anciently among the Jews and other Eastern Nations eating and drinking were Federal Rites whereby they were wont mutually to Seal Leagues of friendship and confirm Covenants with each other For they used to bind their Compacts by a Friendly Treat and to consummate them in all Hospitable Entertainment Thus we read in the Story of Laban and Jacob for when Laban demands Come thou let us make a Covenant I and thou Gen. 31.44 Jacob's Consent to it is expressed by this he said unto his Brethren Gather stones and they took stones and made an heap and did eat there upon the heap by that Note of Friendship answering the Demand and confirming the Covenant which was proposed v. 46. And so Joshua's Covenanting or making Peace with the Gibeonites when they came to sue for it is called his taking of their victuals Josh. 9. the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel of the Lord and Joshua made Peace with them and made a League with them to let them live Josh. 9.14 15. And Obadiah mentions being in Covenant with any one and Eating Bread with him as Words that signifie the same Thing whereof the one is the others Explication The men of thy Confederacy have brought thee even to the border says he i. e. have almost quite bereft thee of thy own Country the men that are at Peace with thee have deceived thee they that eat thy Bread have laid a Wound under thee in which Description of the Enemies of Edom tho' there be Variety in the Expression yet is one and the same Thing meant by them Obad. v. 7. And the same might appear from other Instances both in the Scriptures and in Prophane Authors Since in the Words of Institution then our Saviour tells his Disciples the Cup is the New Covenant
Christian Worship For then not only they whose Virtues were most high and perfect but all the Faithful were call'd upon to Communicate and they who were judg'd fit to meet at the Prayers and other Services were thought worthy to meet at the Lords Table too and since they fitted them for it in those Days it cannot be thought but that they must needs fit us in ours also As for those then who have been wont to think more hardly of the Sacrament than of other parts of Worship and how frequent soever they were in them to come but seldome unto it by reason of the apprehended difficulty in a worthy partaking of it If they duly consider these three things they will see cause to change their mind and forbear to complain any more against it For the Virtues that are required of us in a worthy Communion are all necessary parts of Duty and of a Good Man and are as much required to a worthy Prayer Vow Thanksgiving and every other act of Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense and transporting Degrees in it than in other instances of Devotion So that no Good man has any cause at all to repine at it or abstain from it it lies hard upon and can be blamed by none but those who for the same Reason must blame every other Ordinance and part of Divine Service which requires as much of a worthy Worshipper as this and who at the same Rate as they cast off it must renounce their Christianity and throw aside all Religion too And thus having noted some things that may help to reconcile all Good minds to this Blessed Sacrament and silence the Complaints of hardship in a worthy receiving it I shall proceed now 2 ly To shew plainly who are unworthy of it and what they must do to fit and prepare themselves for it and so conclude this Point Now these in one word are all that are impenitent that have committed any Damning Fault and are not fully set and purposed to amend it For all the Virtues of worthy Receiving as we have seen are necessary parts of Duty and of a Good man so that if any Person would Repent of all his breaches of them and take care thenceforward to endow his Soul with them he would be worthy to be entertained at this Feast and fit to be bidden welcome Besides if Repentance and forsaking all his Sins will go down with him there is no man who pretends to Religion but may perform every thing else which is required to this Communion For there would be no great difficulty in paying Christ Honour and Reveverence and following him with Love and Thankfulness and resigning our selves up to his use and abhorring of our Sins if Repentance and Reformation were not annexed to them men could Love Christ heartily and Thank him freely and Honour him abundantly and resign themselves up to him wholly and Believe in him chearfully if he would not peremptorily require them to amend their ways and forsake their sins which are the things they place their chiefest Pleasure and Delight in So that if any man will not fit himself for Receiving it is not for the difficulty of other Duties as if he could not brook them but only for the difficulty of Repentance so that Impenitence is truly at the bottom He will not satisfie those who have suffered by him or forgive those who have injured him or be at Peace and Charity with all Men or renounce that Injustice Lasciviousness Drunkenness or other known sin which in confirming the New Covenant he must promise God he will depart from It is because his Heart sticks to some of these or some other such like Transgressions and will not go off from them that he is an unfit and unworthy man whereas were it not for this he could do all things else that are required of him He therefore that is unworthy to Communicate and unfit to receive the Sacrament is plainly one that is impenitent that is guilty of some Damning Sin and is not resolv'd to leave but intends still to continue in it He is either a careless man that lives at large in a constant course of Sensuality and Worldliness being wholly given to heap up Wealth or aim at Honour or follow Pleasure without Conviction or making any pretence to serious Religion Or if he seems to look towards God and is careful in many things to please him he serves him not in all points as he ought but allows himself in some known Sin continuing unreclaimed in common Swearing Drunkenness Vncleanness Malice Contentiousness Fraud Oppression Slander Censoriousness Evil-speaking or some other Damning Crime which he will not be at the pains to leave for Christs sake or for any thing that he either has or would do for him Now if any of those who read this Treatise are such as these and I put the matter to their own Consciences I confess they are not worthy to come to the Sacrament till they turn away from such a known Fault and Repent of it and would sin against this Holy Feast and their own Souls if they should do it But then I must tell them withall that as they are not fit to come to this Ordinance so whilst they continue in that Estate neither are they fit to come to any other or to any thing else that looks towards God and their own Eternal Happiness For so long as they thus espouse any Number or any one Sin against God and daily repeat it when they have a Temptation to it notwithstanding their own Hearts are sensible he has forbid it or at least would have been sensible of it unless they had been willfully blinded or by long use harden'd in it So long I say as they are thus Impenitent in any known Sin they are not only unfit to come to the Communion but also as unfit to Dye or to go to Heaven to Pray to God to utter Praise to make Vows or to joyn in any other actions of Religion For an Impenitent man whilst he continues such is Gods Profest Enemy and is welcome to him at no time but when he Repents so that till that is done he is acceptable in no Service which he pays him This then is the danger of their State who lye Impenitent in many or in few known Sins they are unworthy indeed to receive the Communion but they are equally unworthy to joyn in Prayers to give Thanks or make Vows or dye in Peace or hope for Happiness or do any thing else that shews them to be Christians And if any mans Conscience tells him this is his State his way is not to think there is no harm if he doth but abstain from the Communion for as I say he is as unworthy in his Prayers and Praises and every thing else that belongs to Religion but forthwith to Repent and amend that Fault which shuts him out from the Sacrament and every thing else that looks towards Heaven
that so he may be a worthy and welcome Guest in it and all of them This Repentance will restore him to the Favour of God and gain him acceptance with him and then he is fit for this and for every other part of Gods Worship and may worthily joyn in them And by this it appears who is unworthy of this Feast and what he must do to fit and prepare himself for it Every man that is Impenitent is an Unworthy Communicant but if he will Repent and Amend his ways he will find no difficulty in other Duties which make up a Believers worthiness but may then be a worthy and welcome Guest whensoever he has a mind to come to it And thus I have done with the Second thing I proposed namely to shew wherein lies the worthiness of Eating and Drinking at this Feast which I have stayed the longer upon because both the irreverent approach of some men to it and the scrupulous abstaining of others from it do both take rise from this head so that it well deserves to be carefully Explained and clearly Stated And the Result of all that I have said upon this Point is this When we come to Eat Bread and Drink Wine at the Lords Table in remembrance that Christ dyed for us and in Confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us and in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Neighbours we must be careful devoutly to Exercise and Act over these Tempers We must remember our Dying Lord with Honour and Love and Joy and Thankfulness and Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and humble Sense of our own unworthiness and Detestation of our Sins which caused his Sufferings We must confirm the New Covenant which his Death purchased in consenting heartily to the Terms of it Repenting of all our Sins and Faithfully promising that intire Obedience which is required in it and then Believing that for Christs sake we shall be saved by it And we must Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all the Christian World in laying aside all Envy and Hatred and forgiving those that have injured us and making just amends to those who have been wronged by us and giving Alms as our Ability and our Brethrens necessity requires and so being in Peace and Perfect Charity with all Persons If we are able to grasp so many particulars in our minds and to act them all over duly and as we ought at this Exercise it may be fit to Solemnize this Feast in all these instances of Virtue But if either our minds would be lost and burdened or our Devotions enfeebled by the Number of these particulars 't will yet be fit at least to express our selves Joyfully and affectionately Thankful for his kindness especially in Dying for us and Resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and Repent of all our Sins making him Faithful Promises that we will amend all our Faults particularly those which oftest win upon us and shew our selves in perfect Peace and Charity with all Persons All these whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing or whilst others are Communicating they who have Books to suggest Thoughts or are able to supply them out of their own minds may exercise by themselves And they who cannot as also they who can may exercise them in joyning fervently with the Churches Prayers all these Duties as we have seen being so well led on and exemplified in the Communion Service Wherein because there will be some interruption whilst others are Communicating that that time may not lye idle upon their hands I think it very adviseable for them to joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the offering of the Bread and Wine to their Brethren as they will be sure to do when it comes to their own turn if their Devout Zeal is not otherwise taken up by the Psalm which at their Pastors Discretion is wont to be Sung at that time for the employment of those who have done Receiving These Virtues being in us and at the time of Receiving being thus exercised by us both in our own private or at least in our Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers make a worthy Communion And this no man who pretends to Religion ought to Complain of or think an hard Imposition For all these Duties which are necessary to a worthy Communion are as necessary to make every one of us a Good man or fit to Dye or to go to Heaven they are as necessary to a worthy Prayer Thanksgiving Vow or any other Act of true Religion and are not necessarily required in more intense Degrees and transporting Measures in this than in other parts of Worship and Devotion These things then are necessary to a worthy Receiving and no Good man can complain that they are so since they are equally necessary to all acceptable Goodness to all comfortable Hopes and to every other Ordinance to all the parts of Worship and Religion and to Gods being pleased with us in every thing that is either the Duty or Priviledge of a Christian. And as the Presence and Exercise of these Virtues makes us worthy of the Communion so doth the absence of them but especially of Repentance of all our known Sins which is the thing if any that will be wanting and which is the cause why others are Impenitence as we saw being at the bottom of all Unworthiness make us unworthy and most unwelcome If we continue Impenitent in many or in any one known Sin we are indeed unworthy to Communicate but then withall we are as unworthy to be thought Good men to go to Heaven to say our Prayers to make Vows or to have any Dealings with God in any other Actions of Religion And the way for any Wise man in that Case is not to take up with abstaining from the Communion for he ought as much to abstain from Prayer and Praise and every other Office of a Christian God being pleased with him in none of them but forthwith to Repent and Abandon such ill Course that so he may be a welcome Guest and worthy to partake of them And thus having endeavoured to give some help to all those who desire worthily to Communicate by shewing what is the meaning of Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the worthiness of doing it I shall proceed now in the third Place to exhort and press men on to it by shewing them how much it is every good Christians Duty to frequent it and how great the Benefits are that come by it which should make them seek to it of themselves were it not commanded of which in the next Part. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Duty of Communicating The Contents To Communicate is a Duty incumbent on us as appears 1. From the obliging import of the Command about it This Command of Christ shewn and several Notes added which greatly recommend and
things by Anticipation in sundry places as from this last instance 't is plain he did in this which though his Hearers did not at that time fully understand yet they would afterwards so that when other Reasons evince him to have spoke in this place of the Sacramental eating of his Body and Blood the Sacrament's not being yet instituted is no good Proof or Argument against it Thus is this necessity of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood as ever we would hope for Eternal Life by it spoke of the Lords Supper wherein we Feast upon it And that it should be so has no wonder in it For it is no more than is expresly spoke of Baptism which is but of equal Rank with it both being alike Duties and equally required For of that 't is said He that Believes and is Baptized shall be saved Marc. 16.16 And except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.5 But besides this Proof of the danger of neglecting the Sacrament because our Lord tells us we have no Life in us without it it may also appear from the danger of neglecting the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it and was the same to them as this Feast is to us wherein Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us And as for the danger of neglecting that it was great indeed no less than of being cut off from Israel which was the punishment God had threatned to it Whosoever in the Feast of the Passover eats leaven'd Bread from the First day to the Seventh day that Soul shall be cut off from Israel Exod. 12.15 Thus necessary is it for all men who would please God to frequent this Ordinance and to come to the Holy Sacrament when they are call'd to it They have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an instance as best shews their particular Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them the more to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it have the more effect has left it among the last words which he spake to them and to shew it was a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them That unless they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he did of the Jewish Passover which answer'd to it with Excision All which shew the Greatness of the Duty and how much it is every mans Concern who would hope to have the Favour of God or go to Heaven And as this appears from the obliging Import and Expressness of the Command about it so doth it 2 ly From the obliging Nature of those things which are meant by it For therein we publickly own Christ and his Religion and solemnly remember him and confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of future Glories from him all which no Ingenuous man will and no Good man ought to refuse when he is call'd to them 1 st In the Sacrament I say we publickly own Christ and profess his Religion This was always understood to be the meaning of Feasts on Sacrifices both among Jews and Gentiles they that would eat of the Sacrifice offer'd to any God or Idol were looked on to have Fellowship and Communion with him and thereby to own their joyning in that Worship and Service which was paid to him Thus St. Paul tells us it was among the Jews for they that ate of their Sacrifices were partakers of their Altars And thus he tells us it was among the Gentiles and that they who Feasted in the Idol-Temples on the Sacrifices made to Devils did thereby declare their Communion with them and had Fellowship with Devils And the same is true of the Feast of the Lords Supper which upon this account he makes parallel to and compares with them In Israel after the Flesh says he they who eat of the Sacrifice are sharers in the Worship or Partakers of the Altar And in the things which the Gentiles Sacrifice to Devils they who Feast on the Sacrifices have Fellowship with Devils And therefore you that Feast with the Lord at his Table and thereby have Fellowship with him must not mix Light and Darkness Christ and Belial together and by Feasting with Devils at theirs have Fellowship with them too You cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils you cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils since that were to unite the most opposite Interests by holding Fellowship and professing your selves to be the Servants of Christ and of the Devil also 1 Cor. 10.16 18 20 21. Our joyning in the Holy Communion is our avow'd owning of Faith in our Crucified Lord and of our adherence to him By eating at his Table of broken Bread and Wine poured out which are the Representation of his Death we tell it out to all the World that we are the Servants of that Lord and Worshippers of that Jesus who gave himself to be Crucified and to Dye for us As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup saith St. Paul ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come Ye shew forth his Death i. e. ye tell it abroad and profess to all the World that he dyed for you and is Lord over you and that you own him so to be 1 Cor. 11.26 Thus is our eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table an open profession of his Religion and a Token whereby we give out to all the World who see what we do that we belong to him It is a most solemn sign of our Relation to Christ and a publick Badge of our being Christians And this sure no man will decline when there is a fit occasion who is not ashamed of his Lord nor Repents of his Profession But if he is really a Follower of Christ and would be thought one he will let all the World know it by joyning in this Feast which is the most Solemn Badge and Authentick Mark which Christ has appointed of it 2 ly In coming to the Holy Sacrament according to our Lords appointment we solemnly remember him and think of the Relation wherein we stand and of the benefits which we have received from him Do this says he in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 25. And when he is call'd to remember his most precious Saviour who has both lived and dyed to make God his Friend and to do him Service there is no man sure that has any thing of Shame or Ingenuity left in him who will shew backwardness and
to make him think of shewing Favour and being kind to us It is the Blood of Propitiation Rom. 3.25 that makes peace between God and Men Col. 1.20 and speaks better things than the Blood of Abel calling for Life and Salvation as that did for Destruction Heb. 12.24 And 't is the Representation of that Blood now in heavenly places that gives Christ himself such absolute Power with God and makes him sure to prevail whensoever he intercedes for us For by it he entered into the Holy Place where the Mercy-seat or Propitiatory was Heb. 9.3 5.12.24 and where he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 So that the great Argument which either Christ our high Priest now in Heaven offers for us or which in our Prayers we can plead for our selves is his own Death and Sufferings Now this is set before God in every Prayer and in all Acts of Religion in all which we use Christs Name and desire to be heard and hope to prevail through his Mediation But in the Sacrament it is done more perfectly and with greater Solemnity and that too by Gods own appointment For one chief end of the Holy Sacrament is to Commemorate the Death of Christ i. e. to set it out in solemn shew and make mention of it not only before men but also to Almighty God This do in Remembrance or Commemoration of me says our Saviour Luc. 22.19 And as oft as ye do it says St. Paul ye shew forth the Lords Death i. e. both to God and Men till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 Thus do we no where so livelily and advantageously set out this great Argument of being heard as in the Holy Sacrament which we may justly hope will be the more observed and have the more effect because it is not done of our own heads but by Gods own special Direction and Appointment And where the Argument is most advantageously set out we may expect the better effect and greater force from it And this the Ancient Christians thought accounting their Prayers were not like to be so Powerful at any time as when this Commemoration of Christs Death the only Plea for being heard accompanied them And therefore at the Sacrament they used to pray not only for themselves but also for all others and to recommend any Person or thing to God which was dear to them thinking they could never so advantageously as at that time sue for them Thus in the General is the Holy Sacrament a most likely means to obtain for us all Mercies because it is the most effectual course in all Religion to recommend our Prayers which must procure them for us 2 dly In Particular 1 st It seals to us the Pardon of our Sins for the peace of our Consciences 2 ly It increases and confirms in us all our Graces 1 st It seals and confirms to us the Pardon of our Sins for the peace of our Consciences In the Holy Sacrament God calls us to give us a full Pardon by giving us that Blood which was shed for the remission of Sins and which is the Blood of Expiation and having received that at his hand if we are true Penitents we need not doubt but that our sins are expiated and he is reconciled The Sacrament it self as we have seen is nothing less than a soâ—emn Confirmation of the New Covenant which promises Remission of Sin to all that truly repent of it So that when with Penitent Hearts we come to joyn in it we come to stipulate and secure a Pardon of all our Offences which will give us all the security of it that Covenants and Promises can make us Whensoever we Repent indeed we have Gods promise of Forgiveness which may comfort our hearts after any Sin not only in the Communion but in every Penitential Prayer and Confession But in the Sacrament this Promise is again repeated and in most solemn manner Sealed and Confirmed to shew us that God is still of the same mind and to give us a renewed and a sensible assurance of it And when God has thus set his Seal to it and a Penitent Soul has just received his Word and Bond for it it need not question but he is reconciled and unless it starts back from these penitential engagements and falls afresh into new Provocations will always continue so to be And thus the Sacrament is the most effectual means to calm the Fears and quiet the Consciences of all true penitents If once they make sure of their own Repentance after any Fault it doth that in an ordinary way which an Angel from Heaven and a special Revelation would do in extraordinary i. e. it lets them know their Sins are Pardoned and that God is their Friend For therein they receive from him the Blood of Expiation a plain proof their Sins are atoned for and forgiven and therein there is an express agreement and solemn Covenant of Peace and Reconciliation between God and them which is confirmed by this Feast of his own prescribing and having this Instrument of his own appointment which they may look upon as his Hand and Seal to it they may chearfully depend upon it and rest satisfied in their own mind 2 ly It increases and confirms in us all our Graces These Graces are ordinarily such as we bring along with us which we either have already practised or are fully purposed and resolved so to do For therein God gives Grace only to the Worthy Communicants and those Communicants only are Worthy who Repent of all their Sinâ— and are wholly determined to lead a New Life in Obedience to all his Commandments It is not a Sacrament intended to give strength in Grace to those that have nothing of it for it is our Spiritual Meat and Bread as our Saviour calls it Joh. 6.51 55. the use whereof is not to give Life to a Dead Person but Strength and Nourishment to a Living It is not designed to turn an Impenitent Man into a true Penitent or to make an Ill man Good for every impenitently ill man is an Unworthy Receiver and eats his own Damnation which is a Curse and not a Blessing so that he is not the better but the worse by it But it is intended to make a Good Man Better to carry on Repentance in those that have begun it and to confirm and enlarge every Virtue in those who are already possessed of it If we come to it with Faith or Belief of the Scriptures particularly of Gods promises to pardon our Sins for Christs sake upon our Repentance and to help us to any Graces upon our indeavours and to make us Eternally happy upon our entire Obedience it strengthens and assures it if with Love of our dear Lord who dyed for us it increases it if with Thankfulness for his kindnesses particularly that of giving his own Life for ours it makes us more sensible of it if with hearty Repentance and full purpose of amending all our Sins
ours They came to the Sacrament in open Schisms not eating all together when they met in the same house but Scandalously dividing into fâ—ctious Clans and separate Tables When ye come together in the Church and meet all in one place says the Apostle I hear there be Schisms or Divisions among you or that you bandy in Parties and do not meet all as one Body 1 Cor. 11.18 20. They came to it also in a most scandalous Excess and gross Intemperance which Vice though so confessedly loathsome in all other places had yet by occasion of their Love-Feasts crept into this most solemn part of the Christian Worship and Service St. Jude seems to charge the Gnosticks those Sensual and Luxurious Persons with some such Fault They are spots says he in your Feasts of Charity when they Feast with you feeding themselves without Fear i. e. so freely as shews they have no Fear of God or of the Solemnity and Religion of the Feast Jude 12. And so doth St. Peter more plainly in his Description of the same men 2 Pet. 2. They count it pleasure to riot in the day time says he Spots they are and Blemishes sporting themselves or being Luxurious with their own Deceivings as we read it but in some Manuscripts of greatest Authority particularly the Alexandrian with which agrees the Translation of the Vulgar Latin it is being Luxurious in their Feasts of Charity when they Feast with you v. 13. And with a like excess Socrates charges the Egyptians a good while afterwards For they says he Communicate at Even after they are full fed and have glutted themselves at their Love-Feast with all the Varieties of a choice Banquet And because the Love-Feasts minister'd occasion for such excess and made way for several abuses they came in time to be wholly laid aside in Communions and to prevent that Intemperance which they had introduced it was order'd generally that men should receive Fasting contrary to what our Lord did at first which was ratified by a Decree in the Third Council of Carthage held near 400 years after the Birth of our Saviour Christ. Now this Intemperance which had crept into the Love-Feasts and so mixt with the Holy Sacrament which always went along with them was another most shameful offence which St. Paul reproved in the Corinthian Communions They did not only change this Ordinance of Vnion into a Factious meeting by falling into separate Gangs and Parties when they came to it but also turned this Pure and Holy Treat into a drunken Club and a Riotous entertainment In your eating says he every one as he comes sooner takes before other his own Supper and one being poor is hungry through the smallness of his Provisions and another being Rich is Drunken through the excess of his 1 Cor. 11.21 And upon this Schismatical and intemperate eating he lays the danger of that Judgment or Condemnation which God was wont in those days to inflict on them If any man pretend hunger says he for this Greediness and Intemperance let him eat at home that so ye come not together at the Lords Supper as now ye do to Condemnation v. 34. Now these scandalous Irregularities but especially this Intemperance at the Lords Table for which God was so 〈◊〉 upon the Corinthians is no Crime in the Communicants of our Days when among all the Unworthy Receivers none are so by reason of excess but was peculiar to theirs when with the Sacrament they always joyn'd their Love-Feasts that were lyable to be abâ—sed to Gluttony and Drunkenness And as the Fault so also the Punishment took place only among them but is not usual now with us who do not see our unworthy Communicants smitten by the hand of God and struck down by Miracle into Death or Diseases And therefore the apprehension of this Judgment need not at all discourage us from the Holy Sacrament since from our observation of the World we have no reason to expect that if indeed we come unworthily we shall fall under it As for this Damnation then which the Apostl charges on â—â—â—â—rthy eating it either signifies a 〈◊〉 Sâ—n and that is true of willful abstaiâ—â—â—g as well as of unworthy receiving or a Temporal Punishment miraculously inflicted for their Drunkenness and Intemperance wherewith at that time they polluted and prophaned it which was a thing peculiar to those days and is not now derived down to ours so that we have no just cause to be deterred by it Thus it is if really we should come unworthily to the Sacrament we only commit a Damning sin as we should do by willful abstaining which will be forgiven us afterwards upon the same Terms whereon God forgives us all other sins i. e. our Repenting of it and amending it But if we are truly Penitent and have broke off all our evil ways intending fully to lead new Lives thenceforwards then we may assure our selves that we are worthy and welcome Guests and are not concerned in this Damnation threatned to unworthy Communicants at all CHAP. II. Of three other Hindrances from Receiving The Contents A Third Hindrance is because therein they are to promise concerning every sin that they will no more commit it which Promise some dare not make because they fear they shall not keep it If this be sufficient to hinder any man from the Communion it ought also to hinder him from Prayers and being Baptized a Christian. But it must not hinder men from any of them 1. Let them Promise this Amendment and keep it and then the Doubt is answered They ought to make it And by Gods Grace they may perform it if they have a mind to it 2. If after some time they happen to break it in any Instance they have the Benefit of Repentance afterwards A Fourth Hindrance is the great difficulty supposed to be in it and want of time and leisure to prepare for it This lies not more against the Communion than against an Holy Life and all Religion But it must not put us by from any of them For 1. If it required all that time and pains which is supposed that would be no excuse for any of us to neglect it To true Penitents the time and pains is not so great as is imagined It requires more of ill men but less of Good who may prepare for it in a less time yea if used to Self-examinations upon a few minutes warning 3. The poorest and most imployed have time sufficient if they would use it to that end and where they have fewer helps and less time the less preparation is accepted of them A Fifth Hindrance is because they see others or have found themselves to be no better by it so that 't is not worth their while to fit themselves for it If this have any Force it is not to be restrained to the Sacrament but holds stronger against Prayers and other parts of Worship But it ought not to hinder
that lead them to it but at last happen to forget themselves and break it in some Instance yet doth not that null their former Repentance or make their Case desperate thereupon but they have still the benefit of Repentance afterwards and by amending what they have done amiss may be perfectly râ—stored and made whole again For God will pardon us upon our Repentance not only Once or a Second time but as often as there is occasion So that if after we have promised in the Sacrament that we will never more be guilty of any particular sin we yield to it at length and are a-new overcome let us but Repent of that Breach and fully resolve against it a second time and then we are made whole as we were in our former station As for this Hindrance then whereby some are kept back from the Sacrament viz. Their promising therein concerning every Fault that they will no more commit it which promise they dâ—â—e not make because they are afraid they shall not keep it it need not stick with them nor ought to hinder any man that pretends to Religion For let them promise this Amendment and keep it and then the Doubt is answered Or if after they have kept it for some time they happen to fail upon some occasion let them Repent of that Breach and make new Promises and Resolutions and then they are whole again And all this has nothing in it that can be avoided or ought to be feared but is all necessary and desirable to be done for it is their Duty thus to promise and their Duty to perform and their great Priviledge that if they fail in any instance afterwards upon repeating their Repentance they shall receive a Pardon It is what every man must do not only to be a worthy Communicant but to be a Christian. For the same things are promised in Prayer and in Holy Baptism so that if any man draw back from them and sticks to promise them he must not pray to God nor pretend to Religion nor were he to chuse again be baptized into the Christian Profession 4. A Fourth thing which keeps back several from the Sacrament Is the great difficulty they apprehend to be in a worthy Receiving of it and their want of time and leisure to prepare for it They fancy it is a very hard thing for any man worthily to Communicate and since 't is hard in must needs require much time and application to prepare themselves for it and as for their parts they have little leisure from their business and are not made to master Difficulties so that they must be content and hope they shall be excused if they abstain from it This objection many are ready to make against coming to the Communion But every Christian will be much ashamed of it and slow to urge it a second time when once he considers that it lies not more against it than against an Hâ—ly Life and all Religion For all the particulars of worthy Communicating as I have shewn are equally parts of indispensable Duty and a good man God has required no more Virtues in us at the time of Receiving than he requires at all other times to render us acceptable Christians to fit us to say our Prayers or to give us any hopes of Eternal Happiness So that if any man says the work of the Sacrament is over-hard and therefore he is not willing or wants time to fit himself for Receiving he may as well say he is not willing or wants time to be a Christian or to go to Heaven and upon that Plea may with equal Reason bid adieu to all Religion But to answer this more particularly I must observe to them 1. That if it did really require all this time and pains to prepare for it yet would that be no sufficient Reason or Excuse for any of us to Neglect it 2. That to all true Penitents it is not so difficult nor requires so much time as is imagined so that they have not so much as this Discouragement to make them backward in it 3. That all even the poorest and most employed have time sufficient if they will use it to that end and that of those who have less leisure and abilities so as that they cannot fit themselves in great Degrees God expects the less preparation and accepts it at their hands 1. I say If it did really require all this time and pains to prepare for it which is supposed yet would that be no sufficient Reason or Excuse for any of us to neglâ—ct it For when God bids us do a thing can any man think it a good excuse to say I would if it were not troublesome or long a doing Must we perform those things only at his Command which are easie and soon over but neglect all others which imploy more care and pains and require to be attended longer How we may like such Masters I will not say but I am sure God will entertain no such Servants as will pick and chuse with his Commands and obey them no further than their own ease and occasions will suffer them No he expects we should do him Service though it be with difficulty and loss to our own selves And this in all Reason he may very well require of us because we our selves who can plead no such Deserts nor make any such Recompences as he propose do all look for it from our Servants in any business they are to do for us For if we set them to any work we shall think it a very odd Answer if they tell us they would do it for us but that they are unwilling to be at so much pains or to spare so much time as it requires Although a worthy Communicating then would require much time and pains to prepare for it yet would not that be a just excuse for any Person to Neglect it For since God Commands it nay Commands it urgently and lays a great weight upon it we are bound in all Duty to perform it though it cost us both time and pains so to do But 2. To all true Penitents it is not so difficult nor requires so much time as is imagined so that they have not so much as this Discouragement to make them backward in it The Difficulty of worthy Receiving lies not in giving Christ Thanks or believing the Scripture and all its Promises as I have shewn but only in Repenting of all our Sins And this indeed has more difficulty in it and requires more time to ill men who are held Captives by them but not very much to good who are already set free and have broke off from them 1. I say Repentance of all their Sins and amendment of their Lives has more difficulty in it and requires more time to ill men For they have many Lusts to pare off which are very dear to them and many things to set straight which cannot all be done upon the sudden When they come to
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
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
the greatest Love and injoyment of present Graces and Pledges of Future Glories from him which are things that every Ingenuous man will and every Good man ought to do when he is call'd to them and no man can honestly refuse or decline who professes himself a Christian. These things oblige all those who are of Age for it and have an opportunity and fit occasion offer'd and have no lawful Let or Impediment of Providential hindrances sickness or other thing which would excuse their coming to Prayers or other Ordinances of Christ they oblige all such I say to come to this Feast when they are call'd to it And if after they are shewn how much it is their Duty to 〈◊〉 in it and how Repentance make them worthy of it through Carelesness or Impenitence they stay away from it they sin against God and are Guilty of a Damning Fault which will not be forgiven them till they Repent of it and amend it But if there were no Guilt in the Neglect and to Communicate had not been thus required yet would the Blessings of the thing it self have ingaged every Penitent Good Man to press in to be admitted For it is the most effectual course in all Religion to prevail with God and to be heard in all their Prayers it Seals to them the Pardon of their Sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces bringing down such help as may make them stand in all Tryals and carrying them on beyond any means that can be prescribed in the course of Repentance and new Obedience which to all that love the ease of their own Minds and have any care of their own Souls are invitation more than enough to ingage their presence at this Ordinance and as for those that do not they are neither to be won by them nor by any others And thus having shewn what is the meaning of eating Bread and drinking Wine in the Blessed Sacrament and wherein lies the Worthiness of doing it and how much it is every Good Christians Duty to frequent it and what great Benefits there are that câ—me by it which should make us press to it of our selves were it not Commanded I shall proceed now 5 ly In the last Place to consider those Excuses and to take off those Pleas which are most usually made against it of which in the next Part. PART III. Of the Hindrances that keep men from the Communion CHAP. I. Two Hindrances from Communicating The Contents One most General Hindrance that keeps men from the Sacrament is a Fear of their being Vnworthy and Vnfit to receive it This Answer'd by shewing 1. The Partiality of it because they are not so scrupulous about Neglecting as about Vnworthy Receiving though there be the same cause for it 2. That every true Penitent is worthy of it Yea he that has only fully purposed Amendment though he has not had time to perform it 3. Impenitence which unfits them for it is no Excuse for the Neglect of it 4. Impenitent men who alone are unfit if they understand the danger of their State cannot continue in it but amend it and then they may worthily Communicate 2. A Second Hindrance is because an Vnworthy Receiver eats his own Damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 which makes not Receivinâ— seem the safer side By Damnation is meant 1. A Damning Sin which is deadly till we Repent of it and such are both unworthy eating and sinful abstaining so that they are equal as to that point 2. Temporal Penalties which were inflicted for their Intemperance at this Feast and other Disorders peculiar to those Times and are not now usual in ours so that the fear of them need not discourage us from it SInce a worthy receiving of the Holy Sacrament is a Duty which our Blessâ—d Lord has so straitly injoyn'd and from which we may all hope to reap so great Benefit as has been shewed it may well be expected that all who would do Service either to their Saviour or to themselves should readily join in it whensoever an Opportunity is offer'd And so 't is like all that pretend to serious Religion would were it not that they have some Exceptions in their own minds against it which till they are removed make all Discourses of the Duty or Vsefulness of it fall without effect and perswade them that however necessary or adviseable it may be to others yet it is not so to them who have so just an hindrance to excuse or discourage them from being present at it To give this Duty as fast hold as I can therefore on the Consciences of all those who shall peruse this Treatise having already set forth the indispensable Obligations we have to it I shall now proceed to remove those Hindrances and to take off those Pleas which are offer'd to excuse and keep men back from complying with it And as for them the most weighty and considerable which I have been able to learn or have had opportunity to meet with are such as follow Men are most ordinarily hindred from the Sacrament notwithstanding it is so much both their Duty and their Interest to frequent it by one or other of these things 1 st Because they think themselves unworthy of it and unfit to receive it 2 ly Because of the great danger of Vnworthy Communicating Damnation being said to be eaten in it which seems to make abstaining the safer side 3 ly Because therein they are to promise concerning every Sin they find themselves guilty of that they will no more commit it and this Promise they dare not make because they fear they shall not keep it 4 ly Because of the great difficulty they apprehend to be in worthy receiving and their want of time and leisure to prepare for it 5 ly Because they see others or have found themselves to be no whit bettered or improved by it so that 't is not worth their 〈◊〉 to fiâ— themselves for it 6 ly Because they have not that Charity for all the World which is to be professed in it 7 ly Because though they be with others yâ—t 〈◊〉 are not in Charity with them and therefore they fear they want that Peace which is required to it 8 ly Because it is a Presumption in us to approach it and therefore an humble man should abstain from it 9 ly Because many Good People are seldomâ— or never seen at it and therefore they may be Good too and have Good Company if they keep away from it 10 ly Because others that are unworthy of it are admitted to joyn in it 11 ly and Lastly Because though they ought and would come to the Sacrament yet they would not Kneel which is the Posture appointed by the Church wherein they are to receive it These are such things as do most ordinarily hinder Good People from partaking in this Ordinance but indeed they ought in no case to be their hindrance from doing their Saviour and their
for Revenge not for Repair of Damages And this they always are when they are commenced either against insolvent Persons or upon such words and actions against others for which besides Costs no Damages that are valuable are like to be allowed us They are not Reparative but Vindictive when they are commenced against insolvent Persons When we sue a poor man who cannot pay what he ows or recompence what he has wrongfully done to us it is not that our own Sore may be heal'd but only that his Smart may be wrought by it For the Law doth not make him Coin Money that has it not but only forces him to pay it who has it but will not part with it To put a Beggar in Prison and run him out at Law to the utmost is not the way to put Money in his Pocket so that when we have to do with such it is only Revenge upon him and not the Compensation of our own Loss which can be sought by it If we go to right our selves by Law then upon an insolvent man we go only to return the hurt which he has done and to be even with him And this is a great instance of an hard Heart and a spiteful Spirit and is quite contrary to that Brotherly-kindness Compassion and Forgiveness which how unworthy soever he may be of it yet so long as the misery of his case requires it God has injoyn'd us to use towards him It is exactly to deal with him as the wicked man did with his insolvent Brother in the Parable which provoked God to return the same Rigour upon his own head again For when he ought his Lord ten thousand Talents he freely forgave him that great Debt because he was not able to pay it But when his Fellow-Servant who ought him only an hundred Pence could not tender down that small sâ—mm when he demanded it he shew'd nothing of that Compassion towards this poor man which God had shewn to him but laid hands on him and cast him into Prison till payment should be made But when the Fellow-Servants told this to their Lord he resolves to deal with him in his own way and strictly exacts that Debt which otherwise he intended freely to have acquitted delivering him as he had done his Brother to the Tormentors till all should be discharged And so likewise shall my Heavenly Father do to you says our Saviour if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses Mat. 18. v. 24. to c. 19. But if they are commenced against responsible Persons they are not Reparative but Vindictive still if they are upon such Words or Actions for which besides Costs no Damages that are valuable are like to be allowed us A great number of Suits are for abusive Words or a Box on the Ear or some other trivial matters which leave no Permanent ill effects but if our Passions may be with-held from estimating them pass off without making us the worse or doing us any Prejudice And in all these since there is no Damage sticks to us there is no need of any Reparations so that if we begin Suits it is not to indemniâ—ie our selves but to be vexations and afflict others who have afflicted us wherein consists the very Nature of Revenge And this is always unlawful and most expresly forbidden to all us Christians To the Jews indeed it was allowed in the Old Testament For they were permitted to return ill for ill and to demand an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth when thereby their own lost Member was not restored but only their Adversaries sent after it and bating the Pleasure of Revenge they reaped no other Benefit by it Mat. 5.38 But this is most strictly forbidden to all us Christians in the New For we are taught to recompence to no man Evil for Evil but to overcome Evil with Good Rom. 12.17 20 21 to forgive those that Trespass against us i. e. not to return their injurious or hard usage as ever we expect forgiveness of our own Trespasses at Gods hands Mat. 6.12 14 15. And particularly in opposition to this going to Law for Revenge our Saviour forbids us Judicially to resist the Evil man as has been shewn i. e. in course of Law to return the Evil on him as by Virtue of that Rule An Eye for an Eye c. the Jews did but in stead of that by the Phrase of turning one Cheek to him who has struck the other requires that we patiently submit and sit down under it Mat. 5.38 39 40. This then is the first thing which God requires to the Lawfulness of all Judicial Tryals they must never be Vindictive but Reparative and we must not Sue another in order to his Smart and Prejudice but only to heal or secure our own selves either by holding the Goods which he clâ—ims or repairing the Loss which he has 〈◊〉 us 2. Suits for Reparation of Losses are unlawful when the Reparations are only of small things which cannot countervail the evil and hazard of a Suit but ought to exercise our Patience and Forgiveness and so be quietly put up without Recourse to it In the Course of secular Wisdom indeed which looks only to secure the Concerns of this World when men are Rich or Potent and have Wealth or Interest enough to go through with it the smallest Affronts or infringement of their just Power and Priviledge are often-times esteemed a sufficient occasion of a Law-Suit For thereby they think they stop the first Breach in their own Right which if it be suffered to be once made as it is in the Breach of a Water-Bank or a fortified Wall 't is after that a much easier thing to widen it they cheek an incroaching 〈◊〉 in the bud before it has got Heart or Ground enough to make a greater Contest and they shew the World they are not of a yielding Temper that will be wrong'd or baffled and thereby strike an awe which will keep all others from attempting them and purchase their own quiet Upon these or such like secular Maxims when nothing but the interest of this World guides them they many times conclude the sleightest wrongs are not to be put up and therefore when in any trivial thing their Right is invaded betake themselves to course of Law for Maintenance and Vindication of it But in Religion the Case is altered For that seeks not only what is fit to secure our selves and maintain our worldly Rights but what is fit to maintain an Vniversal innocence and to shew Charity towards others It s main work lies in lessening the Love of this World and making us easie to part with any injoyment of this Life when it is inconsistent with any Duty and indangers our Passage to a better And therefore although secular wisdom would perhaps sometimes advise us yet will true Religion altogether forbid us to go to Law for trivial Losses For a Suit at Law as I have noted will
put our Adversary to great Cost and Pains and since in Christianity he is our Neighbour and our Brother this we ought not to do for little things whereby we shall not gain near so much as he loses for this is not according to the Commandment to Love him as our selves Nay it will be a great snare both to his Virtue and ours for although it be no state of direct sin yet is it a state of very dangerous Temptation there being so many ways to offend whilst a Suit is carrying on and it being so very hard to avoid them without great Conduct and Circumspection And this also we ought not lightly to cast either in the way of our own Souls or of our Brothers yea we shall not do it if we have any of that tender Love and Care for Souls which Christ has shew'd and which he requires us to shew when upon a prospect of saving them he commands us not only to bear a Reproach or to part with our Substance but even to lay down our own Lives for others 1 Joh. 3.16 Thus when the Damages to be repaired are but of small account and the trouble and charges of the Suit will take much more from him than we are like to get by it out of our tender care of all Persons whom God commands us to Love as we do our selves and out of our Love to each others Souls and desire to keep both our selves and them from dangerous Temptations which would rob us of our Innocence a thing that ought not to be hazarded for trifling Regards we ought patiently to bear the Loss and not seek out by Law to redress it And this as I have intimated is what our Saviour expresly commanded Mat. 5. If one smite thee on thy right Cheek which is a tolerable affront turn to him the other also or expose thy self to be smitten again rather than judicially resist it And if any man sue thee at the Law to take away thy Coat or inner Garment a thing that may easily be spared hazard an higher Loss and let him take thy Cloak also rather than sue to regain it v. 38 39 40. So that rather than sue to recover little matters and enter Actions for small Reparations we must be content to want them and sit down without any Repairs at all And in rating when things are thus little and frivolous we must not judge by our own Pride and Passions which count nothing little but aggrandize every affront or injury that is done to our own selves but by the reality of things and according as we our selves should judge were we humble and dispassionate or as they would be judg'd of by other Holy and Indifferent Persons Our own Pride and the Opinions of the World would whisper to us that every Trespass against us is intolerable and deserves a Process every imputation of a Lye a Stab and every actionable Affront a Suit at least if not a Challenge But Pride and Passion and the Opinions of the World must not be our Councellors for we renounced them at our Baptism when we were first made Christians and if we would please God they must not sway but ought daily to be mortified and subdued in us And since they are so much our Sin and so directly against our Baptismal Vow and Profession it will be no excuse for going to Law on little Losses and Indignities to say we thought them Great through their being our Advisers In judging then what are little things we must not be governed by our own Pride and Passions but by the reality of things and the Judgments of dispassionate humble Persons And this our Lord plainly shews by setting down a Box on the Ear which in reality doth no hurt nor leaves any permanent effect behind it among those light Indignities which ought not to be a matter of a Suit though every where the Pride and Passions of men and particularly at thâ—t 〈◊〉 the haughtiness of the Jews thought it a great thing which ought by all means to be recompenced For this as a Learned man observes was their Rule about it Doth any Person give his Neighbour a box on the Ear let him give him a Shilling yea says Rabbi Judah a pound or if it were upon the Cheek let him give him 200 Zuzes to make amends for it Nay if he give him another Box he ought to give him 400 to recompence it So great did they think the Indignity to a Jewish man esteeming all their own Nation as he observes from Maimonides even those of the most beggarly condition to be Gentlemen because they were all the Children of Abraham And thus it appears when a Suit is unlawful upon this first account viz. it s entring upon an unjustifiable Ground For such it is in all Cases when we bring an Action only for Revenge and not for Reparation of Damages or when for the Reparation of such small things as ought not to expose us to all the Evils and Temptations of a judicial Process but to Exercise our Patience and Forgiveness which smallness of things is to be rated not by mens Pride and Passions which esteem no ill small that is done to themselves but by the reality of things and the Judgment of Humble and Dispassionate persons And this holds true not only in Losses and Indignities offered to our selves but also in the Case of Trust when they are offered to others who are committed to us For when Suits are Sinful as we have seen they are in the Case of Revenge and of lighter affronts and injuries which Christ Commands us not to redress by Law but to bear with Patience I see no difference but an equal unlawfulness whether we Sue upon our own or upon their Accounts For surely our taking of a Trust doth not ingage us to Disobey our Lord or do any evil thing but only to do all that which we can for those committed to us as Good Christians and Honest Men. And therefore in lighter matters when Suits are sinful we may no more Sue for them than we can tell a Lie or Swear an Oath or Over-reach in their Cause or be guilty of any other Transgression If they were come up to Act in their own Name in these cases a Judicial Tryal would not be lawful but a sin in them And where they themselves could not Sue we must not think that we who Act only as their Proxies and Representatives may do it for them If these Losses and Indignities which are shewed to them were offered to our selves we ought not to commence an Action but to be patient under them And they have no Reason in the World to think us wanting either in our Trust or Friendship when we do all that to the utmost in their Case which we durst do in our own So far then as Suits are Sinful and to put up injuries without entring Actions for repairs is a strict Duty as it plainly is in