will never do so any more I have been wicked and sinfull disobeying and rebelling against all thy holy commandements and respected not thy judgements and thy promises and have been carelesse of thy glory But now Lord as I eat this bread and drink this wine so I covenant unto thee and promise to thee that I wil amend all my sinfull ways and become a reformed Christian And as I ever look that the body and the bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ represented in the elements should nourish my soul unto eternall life so I promise to be disobedient unto the Devill but faithfull and obedient unto thee I will stop my ears against the alluring inchantments of the world and wicked suggestions of the Devil but I wil open them wide to hearken to thy voice that I may obey thy commands But now as thou hast made it so if thou hast broken this thy covenant with God returning to thy former courses of sin and disobedience against him know thou that this covenant of thine which thou hast broken shal stand in full force against thee for God will assuredly require it at thy hands and all the Sacraments which thou hast received thou hast received them but as so many seals and pledges of thy just deserved condemnation But some man may object and say Do all that come unworthily unto the Sacrament eat and drink their own damnation Then many hundreds yea thousands are damned Are all damned that have eat and drunk unworthily Ans No but a man may eat and drink his own damnation three ways First in regard of guilt and liablenesse unto Gods wrath and so he that eateth and drinketh his naturall food his dinner supper or breakfast in his sinnes eateth and drinketh his own damnation yea whosoever thou art that comest unto this holy banquet in thy sins in thy pride choler malice wrath or revenge covetousuesse hypocrisie and deadnesse in Gods service thou never eatest a bit of bread but thou eatest and drinkest thine own damnation that is thou eatest and drinkest that which will witnesse against thee another day Deut. 28. 16 17 18 19. ver c. If thou â—ilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all his commandements then all these curses come upon thee and shall overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed in the field cursed shall be thy basket and store Now if thy bread be cursed then thou art cursed also that eatest it Secondly in regard of the seal and obligation in the conscience so he that eateth and drinketh the Sacrament in his sins eateth and drinketh his own damnation that is he eats and drinks that which seals up his damnation against the great day of account And thus many amongst us and I fear the most part of this congregation have eat and drunk their own damnation But this seal may be broken off and God grant it may Thirdly in regard of sigillation in heaven and so he that eats and drinks unworthily and will not be reformed he that receives the Sacrament time after time yet still retains his sins and will not be humbled for them nor forsake them he setteth a seal in heaven upon his own damnation that all the whole world can never break off but such an one most certainly is a damned creature And now my brethren God forbid there should be any such here but that this seal may be broken off And O that God would put some strength into this word that it may be broken off by your godly sorrow for your sin and forsaking of them all for if this seal be set on your damnation why do I yet speak unto you and intreat and beseech you in the name of Christ to come home and be reconciled to him and I desire to stand here as Jehoiadah set Porters at the gates of the City and of the house of the Lord to keep off all those that come in their uncleannesse 2 Chron. 23. 19. So I stand this day as the Porter of the Lord to keep the Lords watch that no prophane wretch no proud hearted sinner that means not to enter into a new course of life that no such one come unto this holy communion I charge you as you will answer the guilt of Christs bloud before Gods Throne that you meddle not with it But now if there be any that would absent himself because he will the more freely go on in his sins let him know that such an one excludes himself from the benefits and merits of Christs death and shall never have the benefit of a Redeemer at the day of judgement but shall perish in his sins for his carelesse neglect and fearful contempt of so effectual and powerful means of salvation and purging as is the bloud of Christ truly and really offered in the Sacrament Wherefore if thou comest or comest not woe is thee if so be thou livest and continuest in thy sins and goest on in thy unholy courses And now to conclude as the Cherubin stood before Paradise with a naked sword to keep Adam out that he might not enter and so eat of the tree of life so I bring with me the sword of God to run it up to the hilt in the heart and bowels of every ungodly man every rebellious and impenitent sinner this day that dares presume to rush upon this holy Ordinance of God with a polluted and an unclean heart Therefore let me exhort thee that as thou tendrest the eternall good of thy soul so thou be careful not to eat the body of Christ nor drink his blood in thy sins lest thou eat thine own bane and drink thine own curse Nay so doing thy misery wil be so great as a good man wel weighing and considering of it said I professe I had rather have all my veins cut open and my bloud spilt on the ground than deliver the body and blood of Christ unto a prophane sinner for why should I deliver his own bane and destruction unto him But now my brethren and beloved come out of your sins come and welcome if you part with your lusts and so come you shall be sure to have his bloud to wash your heart and cleanse you his righteousnesse to clear you and cloath you his graces to strengthen you his spirit to heal and to sanctifie your hearts and natures the Lord Jesus Christ to supply all good that is wanting in you But if yet notwithstanding all this that hath been said you will go on in your sins and live as you did in your swearing whoring lying and drinking and all manner of filthinesse and as you came to it unclean so you depart away from it more unclean and never make any conscience of any reformation I pronounce this day before God and his elect Angels that thou shalt surely perish and thy soul and body be damned and tormented in the scorching flames of hell for evermore Therefore
confirm it with an oath that they should never enter into his rest And Saint Cyprian saith that the Lord hath shewed many miracles and declared many fearfull judgements upon the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Judas who Ambrose thought received the Sacrament though Hilary and others that he did not but only that he did eat the Passeover and was coming to the Sacrament also but see his doom John 13. as soon as ever he received the sop the Devil entred into him and so it is with all such as come to the Communion in their sins without repentance and unfeigned resolution of walking ever after worthy the Sacrament I say unto all and every one of them that as soon as ever thou receivest the Bread and Wine into thy mouth thou receivest the devil together with it as soon as ever it goeth down into thy bodie the Devill goeth after it and taketh more full possession of thy heart and soul Now the reason why the Lord doth so severely punish both with temporall judgements and with spirituall curses the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament is in regard of the author of the Sacrament who is Christ and that not only as he was man as the Papists would make us beleeve but Christ as he was God did institute the same So saith the Apostle in the 23. verse The Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betray'd took bread and brake it when he had given thanks and said Take ye and eat ye for this is my body which is broken for you Now if the Lord Jesus did institute it what an accursed thing is it for any to defile it and so sin against Christ it is a damnable thing to sin against God but to sin against God as he is God in Christ is damnably damnable The holy Ghost in the second Psalm exhorts to kisse the Son lest he be angry and so thou perish as if he should say Adore the Son Adore the Loâ—d Jesus Christ and so come and eat of this bread and drink of this Cup for if he be angry thou wilt surely perish If thou sin against God and so go out of the way Christ upon thy repentance will set thee in again but if thou sinnest against God in Christ who is the Way the Life and the Truth thou shalt surely perish from the right way for there is no other way to bring thee in again Acts 4. 12. Therefore wofull is thy case and miserable is thy condition if thou sinnest against Christ prophaning his holy Ordinances which he himselfe hath instituted and abusest and despisest that blessed Spirit of his that comes to seal unto thee the redemption that he hath purchased by his bloud Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born for if he be wroth blessed only are all they that put their trust in him and come preparedly unto his holy Ordinance and that by faith imbrace the Lord Jesus Christ but woe unto all prophane persons that live in their sins if his wrath be but a little kindled then woe to all drunkards swearers and unclean persons but blessed is that man that is come out of his sins For if his wrath be so terrible when it is but a little kindled O how much more fearfull will it be when it is deeply incensed Therefore if thou comest unto this holy Sacrament in thy sins without due preparation and examination what doest thou but even set the wrath of God burning upon thy soul and body from the very bottom of hell When the Lord delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai he commanded the people to sanctifie themselves yea if a beast did but touch the mountain he must dye for the same even be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Heb. 12. Much more then now when the Lord doth deliver the Gospel especially the ground-work and master-peece thereof the Lord Jesus Christ and that in the most blessed manner that ever God exhibited himselfe unto man how much more doth God require purity and holinesse that all such as come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament should be sanctified purging their hearts and cleansing their souls from all their sin and uncleannesse Should not a beast touch the mountain where God did appear and darest thou touch the body of Christ and drink his blessed bloud in thy sinnes The very angels of heaven will curse thee and the clouds of heaven will pour down showers of vengeance upon thee for God hath more severe punishments to inflict upon sinners under the Gospell than he used under the Law though then he struck them with more visible and sensible plagues and judgements than ordinarily he bringeth upon men now as Gehazi for his covetousnesse was strucken with leprosie Corah Dathan and Abiram the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quick for their rebellion against the Lord Er and Onan were strucken dead for their wickednesse Jeroboam had his hand withered for stretching of it forth to strike the Lords Prophet And though the Lord bring not such sensible punishments now as he did then yet he knows how to punish the world a thousand times more than he did then at this time As a father hath other kinds of punishments for his son when he is growâ— up than he had when he was in coats and but a child then a twig or two would serve the turn but if he come to mans estate and then rebell against his father it may be that he will disinherit him and cast him out of his family So in former time God did scourge and whip his people when they sinned against him but now he hath drawn out his Church to this age even to the age of the Gospel he hath severer strokes of plagues and curses wherewith to confound all prophane and impenitent sinners that dare to abuse that blessed Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ The second Reason is in regard of the matter of the Sacrament which is Christ also who as he was the efficient cause so in regard of Sacramental relation he is the matter of the Cummunion 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which we break is it not thâ— Communion of the body of Christ Now the better matter any thing is of the more heynous is the defilement of it A master will not be so angry for casting his earthen vessels into the mire as he will be for casting his rich jewels The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are the blessed Communion of the precious body and bloud of Christ and darest thou defile them knowest thou not that thou dost greatly encrease the wrath of the Lord against thy soul thereby That soul whatever it was from Dan to Beersheba that came in his uncleannesse to partake of any of those holy things which the children of Israel hallowed to the Lord whether he were
matter though we not be so strict Christ is enough Think not thus saith Christ but rather think and meditate that I am come to fulfill it may self and to see it fulfilled in those I mean to save so as to make it a rule of their lives Themistocles said he could not sleep in his bed for continual thinking and meditating on Miltiades his Tryumphs And how canst thou sleep in thy bed if thou wouldest but meditate on these places of Scripture Retire thy self apart there is no casting up of mans account in a croud Let me alone I am busie so we use to say when we would be private Thou must do with thy soul as Ehud did to Eglon who said I have a secret errant to thee O King and so all went out and he said I have a message from God to thee and so stabd him at his heart Judges 3. 19. So for Ehud was a type of Christ saith Lavator I have a secret errant to thee O my soul and so let all go forth I have a message from God to thee a message of wrath for thy Pride a message of wrath for thy vain hopes Thus saith the Lord Cursed art thou O my soul stab it to the heart with this spirituall Dagger wound it with the blade and haft and all till thou have let out the fat and the dirt the filth and iniquity all out The Prophet speaking of mens looking on Christ whom they have pierced this meditating and laying to heart that they have crucified the Lord Jesus saith that they shall mourn every one in private the house of David apart and their wives apart the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart the house of Shimei apart and their wives apart every family apart and their wives apart Zach. 12. 2. The second meanes if thou wouldest meditate aright observe the times of privacy First the morniug that is the best time for study David chose the morning for meditation Psal 5. 1. 3. Let them hear this saith Chrisostome that arise betimes in the morning to serve their Hoggs and their Doggs their bellies and their backs before they serve God in meditation or prayer unlesse it be the mumbling and roaring a few Lord have mercy upon us that pray not till after many other businesses it may may be not then neither David prayed and meditated in the morning In the morning thou washest thy face and thy hands but thy soul hath more need which thou washest not in the morning thou puttest thy cloathes on thy body but thou puttest not on afresh the new man upon thy soul in the morning thou shakest off sleepinesse from thine eyes but thou shakest not off drousinesse from thy soul Thou lookest into the glasse in the morning to see if thy face be as it should be but thy soul is not composedly looking into the glasse of Gods word In the morning loook up in prayer look up in thansgiving look up in meditation Secondly the night too O Lord I meditate on thee in the night watches Psal 93. not as carnall ones doe when they cannot sleep then their mind runs on their Cow and their Calf their markets and vanities this neighbour and that neighbour like Petronius his dogge that was hunting while he lay asleep in his kennel Thirdly In the evening I prevent the night watches that I might meditate Psal 119. 148. he did not as wicked men doe sleep like a horse in the stable on his litter with his neck tyed to the manger they did go to bed with their hearts roped to the world worldly thoughts this thought and that thought and God knows what Fourthly when the heart is touched at a Sermon or Sacrament or observing of any judgement or mercy or act of Gods providence it is best striking when the Iron is hot David when his heart was touched at the reproches of the wicked then he meditated Psall 119. 23. When the Instrument is in tune then it is good playing upon it when a Churl is in a good mood then it is fittest to deal with him Oft will thy heart be out of tune oft churlish and in an ill mood if thou lettest the good opportunity goe thou knowest not when thou shalt have such another When the fish is nibling at the bait then it is good twiching at the angle-rod when the heart is a nibling at grace then gave a pluck at it by meditation See Acts 17. 11. now while the time lusts see thou maist get into heaven Thirdly Rub up thy self and thy memory call as much to mind as thou canst what evill thou hast done ever since thou wast born what in the womb what in the cradle childhood youth age what a servant what a Master what as a servant what as a son what as a neighbour what as an inferiour what as a superiour either in thought or word or deed how often thou hast omitted good duties or done them by halvs Item for this and Item for that They shall remember themselves and turn unto the Lord Psal 22. 27. First they shall remember themselves and say what have I done O wretch how carelessely have I lived Secondly so meditating they shall turn unto the Lord. Many say Oh! they cannot remember their sins They lye in a thousand particulars for they can remember to commit them well enough See Lam. 3. 19. 20. 21. our Greek translation turns it I spake to my self and meditated as if they should say O what a rebell have I been how unthankfull how unprofitable under all the means of grace I may thank my sins for all the plagues of the Almighty that are upon me if he had damned me I had been well served What follows The heart bowed and was humbled as it is in the text The fourth means Rouze up thy heart As it is with the eye of the body so it is with the eye of the Soul when a man would look wistly upon a thing as if he would look thorow it he sets his eye on it as Paul set his eyes on Elymas Ah thou child of the Devill thou c. Acts 13. 9. Meditation is the setting of the eye of the soul upon a thing set thine eye upon thy selfe and say Ah thou childe of the wicked why hath Satan filled thy heart O wretched heart whence hadst thou thy selfe-love hadst thou not it from the Devill God might do well to send thee to the Devill if thou lovest so to be his Broker Set thine eyes stedfastly upon thine own wayes and thou shalt see infinite hellish evils in thy sins The third Use is for Reprehension What is more usual than this that men make slight account of their sins Nay when God tels them in their hearts Thou shalt not do this thou shalt not doe that yet they meditate and think Why may I not Samuel bid Saul stay for directions from him before he sacrificed unto God It seems that God spoke to his
and displease him A wicked man will swear and blaspheme the Name of God and by and by it may be he will cry God mercy and so he thinks of God The man breaks out it may be into wrath and malice fury and passion and then it may be a thought will come into his mind to cry God mercy for it and thus he thinks of God The man is carelesse earthly dead and lukewarm in the performance of good duties and because his Conscience tells him it is not good he will aslo God forgivenesse he will be proud vain and rotten in his speeches and then it may be a thought will come into his mind to ask God forgivenesse and so he thinks of God he will think of the world of his pleasures profits of his lusts and sins and then it may be a good thought will come into his mind and then it may be he will think a little of God too Beloved this is carnal and devillish thinking of God thy thoughts then of God must be joyned with the fear of God Fourthly and lastly thou thinkest of God but the question is whether thy thoughts of him be profitable or unprofitable thoughts a godly man thinks of repentance and repents upon it he thinks of calling on God more faithfully and fervently then he did before and he accomplishes his thoughts for he goes a bout it and his heart is the better for it Thus it was with David when he said I thought on my way ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies Psalm 119. 59. I thought on my wayes there was his good thoughts and turned my feet unto thy testimonies there was the profit of his good thoughts but on the contrary thou thinkest of God but God hath never the more service of thee thou thinkest of leaving of thy good fellowship and merry companions but for all thy thought thou retainest them still thou thinkest to give over all thy deadnesse and luke-warmnesse and so get more zeal fervency yet day after day and year after year thy heart is as dead vain and secure as before as ever before Examine thy self and see thou hast good thoughts thou saist but where is the profit of them thou thinkest of leaving thy wrath and of bridling thy filthy passions but art thou enabled by thy thoughts to put up an injury the better it may be thou thinkest of death but is thy life the more holy and sanctified by it Thou thinkest of Christ and his blood but is thy heart purged by it Oh the wretched misery of the most men in the world because of the unprofitablenesse of their thoughts they have many good thoughts but they want the profitable use of them they get no good by by them There is an excellent description of the thoughts of wicked men though it be Apocrypha The heart of the foolish is like a Cart-Wheel and his thoughts like the rowling Axeltree As the Cart-wheel goes round all the day and yet remains on the Axeltree so is it with wicked men their thoughts wheel and wheel them up and down a thousand thousand times their thoughts run upon this thing and then upon another thing and so they rowl up and down continually yet their heatt is at the same passe it was still an earthly heart it was and so it is still a prophane heart it was and so it is still a carnall proud heart it was and so it remains still But let these know that the time hastens wherein God will judge them even for their very thoughts Where are they then that say thought is free It is true indeed it is free from mens knowledge and from mens Courts but not from Gods they are not free from Gods all-seeing eye and knowledge Thou hast tryed and known me saith the Prophet thou understandest my thoughts afar off Psal 139. Beloved as you are in the Ale-house or gaming house as you walk abroad in the fields as you are imployed in your callings or about any holy duty God seeth all thy thoughts what is going in and what is coming out there is never a thought in thy heart but God sees it how then can thoughts be free God will weigh the thoughts of men Prov. 16. 2. Beloved what a fearfull day will that be when God shall take his Scales and weigh not mens bodies and estates for then in may be that rich men and fat and grosse men will out-weigh them that are better but he will take mens thoughts and weigh them he will weigh their souls he will take mens good thoughts and put them in one scale and their bad earthly carnal and unprofitable thoughts into another scale and to try which weighs heaviest Now if thy earthly and sinfull thoughts weigh heaviest then down thou goest into eternall damnation Secondly as thoughts are not free from Gods knowledge so are they not free from Gods Word for Gods Word can meet with them for it is lively and mighty in operation and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. Doth the word of God discern the thoughts of mens hearts Then much more doth the God of this word and therefore how can thoughts be fee Thirdly and lastly they are not free from the condemnation of hell and and damnation I am he saith God that search the heart and reins and I will give to every one of you according to his works or as some translations have it according to your thoughts Revel 3. 23. Now if God will so severely punish thoughts take heed then how thou retainest any evil thoughts I should here give you some meanes in the use that so you might rid your selves from vain thoughts First love the word of God if ever thou wilt come out of them prize the truth of God and labour to get thy mind and thoughts to be set on better things and then the thoughts of the world and all vain things will vanish away This course the Prophet David took Psal 119 113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love How came it to pass that he hated vain thoughts namely by loving Gods Law if he had not loved Gods Law and those excellent things therein and set his heart on them he could never have hated vain thoughts The way then to break off thy league with vain thoughts is to be in league with good thoughts Dost thou complain of vain thoughts in prayer in hearing the word in receiving of the Sacraments and art thou stuffed and filled with them that thou canst not think upon God and holy things thou dost hereby bewray thine own rottenesse and corruptions And therefore know that if thou lovest the Lord and his Word and didst set thy thoughts upon him thou wouldest never have them so much imployed about such base things Secondly if ever thou wouldest rid thy heart of vain thoughts especially when thou art in holy action thou must go unto God by prayer there is no greater
in the power and sanctification of holinesse then men would say of themselves of a truth God is in these men Christ dwels in them and the Spirit of God leads and governs them indeed If thou wouldest judge the world take heed how the world judgeth thee lest thou with the world be condemned eternally It was said that Herod feared John because he was a just man Mark 6. 23. So if all thy neighbours did know that thou were a just man a holy and conscionable man in all thy wayes and in all thy actions and that cannot endure swearing lying and deceit but did see that thou wast just and one that feared God truly they would all fear thee THE PUNISHMENT Of Unworthy COMMUNICANTS AT THE TABLE of the LORD DELIVERED In a SERMON preached By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON OF M. WILLIAM FENNERS Upon this ensuing Text. 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep THE Apostle in this Chapter taxeth two abuses which were then amongst the Corinthians First the unseemly habit of women in the congregation from the 1 verse to the 17. Secondly the prophane usage of the holy Communion both by men and women from the 17 verse to the end of the Chapter and herein from the 23. verse to the end of the 25 he sets down the Institution of the Lords Supper and thence raiseth a point of Doctrine That whosoever would come to this holy communion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily else it were better that they never came So we may read in the 28 verse But let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup As if the Apostle had said Unlesse a man examine himself and search his own heart and find out his sins and dive into the secrets of his soul to bring out his hidden corruptions confessing them and judging himselfe for them before the Lord let them never presume to come to the holy Sacrament And then he proves it by three Reasons The first is taken from the end of the Sacrament for it is the remembrance of the death and passion of Christ so it is in 26. verse So oft as you Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death till he come It is a reason that the men of this world are not acquainted withall and therefore it was a good wish of a Reverend Father that the Sacrament should never be ministred but there should be a Sermon to teach men the nature of it and to instruct them in the Mystery thereof We approach unto the Sacrament hand over head living in our sinnes not shewing by our coming that Christ is dead we say we profess that Christ dyed for our sins and yet not withstanding our sins live in us as if Christ had not died for us or as if we would proclaim that his death had no effect in us For were we dead with Christ then sin and the living occasions of sin would be dead in us also My beloved we should never come to this Sacrament but we should shew forth the Lords death thereby that is that Christ is dead or rather dyed for sin and that sin is also dead in us The second reason is taken from the damned wrong we offer unto Christ if we come in our sins for we are guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is in the 27 verse nay thou sinnest against the Lord Jesus Christ not a jot lesse than Pilate that condemned him than Judas that betrayed him and the Jews that cryed out Crucifie him crucifie him yea thou art as much guilty as if thy own hand in thy own person had been imbrued in his bloud Now we know it is a horrible sin to be guilty of the blood and murther of an ordinary man yea of a very rogue how much more is it a great and fearfull sin to be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ the onely and eternall Sonne of God Yet comest thou to this holy Communion and bringest no lesse than the guilt of the Body and bloud of Christ upon thy soul The third Reason is taken from the wofull wrong and injury that man brings upon his own soul that comes unpreparedly without examination of himselfe in the 20. verse he eateth and drinketh his own damnation that is he maketh himselfe guilty of and lyable to the same vengeance that the crucifiers of Christ had inflicted on them Good had it been for that man saith Christ of Judas if that he had never been born So may I say Good had it been for that man and that woman if they had never been borne who come unworthily unto the Table of the Lord for when they eat of that Bread they eat their own bane and when they drinke of that Cup they drinke their own damnation Then commeth he to make some uses of this point and first he condemns those that as they come so they goe away from the Sacrament no more holy no more gracious than before but as they come in their sins so they go away in their sins they came drunkards and they go away drunkards they came worldlings and they go away worldlings they came mockers and they go away mockers they came in their wrath anger malice deadnesse hypocrisie and luke-warmnesse and so they goe away still never the better but living in them as they did before As in the â—â— verse You come together saith the Apostle not for the better but for the worse Whereas â—f they would have come worthily they should have gone away the better they should have received more grace and holinesse to walk with God more power and strength against sin and corruption yea the Lord would have ratified and confirmed his Covenant with them whereas living in contention and not coming with preparation they grow the worse by the Sacrament The Corinthians thought that the Apostle would have praised them for their coming to Church and receiving the Sacrament Shall I praise you saith the Apostle in this I praise you not Secondly He makes an use of terror against all those that dare come in their sins unto this holy Sacrament of the Lord for that man that cometh in his sins unto the Table of the Lord 1. Though he may think he receives the Communion yet he doth not for this is not the Table of the Lord but the Table of devils It is true thou receivest the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ but yet coming in thy sins thou receivest not his body and blood as of a Saviour to save thee from thy sins Indeed thou receivest the body and blood of Christ sacramentally but it is
as the Judge to condemn thee unto the pit of destruction for thy damned impudency in coming so unworthily unto this holy Sacrament For that man cannot eat the body of Christ that is not a member of Christ therefore thou must be a limb of Christ if ever thou wilt receive worthily 2. If a man come unto the Sacrament and come in his sins he cometh to his own destruction for though it be a sweet banquet to refresh an humble and weary soul and to make it walk more cheerfully in the wayes of God all the dayes of his life yet he that cometh unto it in his sins and receiveth it in his uncleannesse speedeth thereby his own damnation and receiveth it as his vâ—aticum to hell The Apostle compares Baptisme to the Red Sea 1. Cor. 10. from which place Crysostome saith that as the Red Sea was a way for the Israelites to passe through to Canaan so it was as a grave to swallow up the Egypptians to their destruction So the Lords Supper is as a grave an open pit whereby many plunge themselves into eternall destruction but as a chariot to the godly to carry them to heaven Thirdly by coming in thy sinnes thou makest thy selfe lyable to Gods temporary plagues and judgements as appears in my Text For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep For this cause which is not only a note of conclusion but of the cause For this cause namely because they examine not themselves but come in their sins and receive it unworthily One man hath a disease in his body that he liveth not out halfe his dayes another is sick and weak neer unto death a third is fallen asleep Wherefore why saith the Apostle for this cause of receiving unworthily the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Fourthly for instruction that because the people of God as well as wicked men are guilty of unworthy coming to the Lords Table therefore he exhorts them that if they would not have the Lord judge them that they would judge themselves as in the 31. verse For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. If we would sit down and search our own hearts and try our own spirits and pry into our owne bosomes and out with our old corruptions and unclean lusts and enter into a new covenant with God of holy walking before him for after-time if we would thus judge and condemn our selves and mortifie our sinnes comming with grace unto this holy banquet that we might come with comfort unto this blessed Sacrament assuring our selves that we shall escape the judgement of the Lord. For those of the Corinthians whom God struck with sicknesse weaknesse and death it was to instruct others that are well and in health that they venture not to enter upon these holy mysteryes with unholy hearts and unclean hands Fifthly he concludeth with an use of exhortation in the 33 and 34. verses Wherefore brethren when ye come together to partake of the holy Communion tarry one for another As if he should have said Away with all your disorders and come not with a temporall but with a spirituall appetite provide not thy teeth but thy heart for these dainties for this is not a feast for the body but for the soul therefore away with all your disorders and unseemly coming unto this blessed Sacrament take heed and repent of this sin among you and of all other sins which you know your own conscience to be guilty of and so come unto this holy communion Now the verse that I have read to you is a part of that use of terror which the Apostle makes against the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament and it contains Gods severe hand and punishment against those that come unworthily wherein note three things First the cause of their punishment which is the unworthy eating of the Communion For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep Secondly the punishment inflicted for this sin weaknesse sicknesse and mortality For it seems saith Peter Martyr that the Lord sent a sore plague and pestilence among them to revenge himself of them for their abuse of the Sacrament for this cause Thirdly there is the Delinquents which are you Corinthians Many are sick and weak among you and in them all others that come unpreparedly to the Sacrament Chrysostom notes here that our Apostle doth not fetch here an Argument or example of judgement from others as he had done in the former chapter but he brings it from themselves who sensibly felt the wrath of God upon them for this very sin As if the Apostle should have said How is it O Corinthians that you dare venture to come unto the Communion so unpreparedly and that you have no more regard of so weighty a businesse as is the receiving of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ See you not the wrath of God upon your dwellings and the curse of heaven to take hold of your town you see it this very time that some are weak and very sick amongst you near unto death and others have been struck with death before your eyes and the wrath of God is not removed but lies yet upon you What will you alwayes goe on and never cease to provoke the Lord to indignation and wrath against you for your sins until his jealousie hath utterly consumed you and clean cut you off and howsoever many of you may think that this sicknesse weaknesse and mortality comes upon you by chance as from the infection of the ayr or other secundary causes I tell you nay but it is for this cause onely even your unworthy coming to the Supper of the Lord. Whence we may observe this point of instruction That God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper He punished the Corinthians here with sicknesse weaknesse feavers pestilence death temporall and God knows how many with death eternall Theodoret observes that the Apostle told them of a thing that was acted amongst them for if he had told them of such judgements as had been hid from them and not manifest before their eyes as if they had not felt the sicknesse in their bodies and heard the bels tolling dayly in their ears they might have thought that the Apostle had but lyed unto them So the people of Israel as we may read in 1 Cor. 10. 2 3. verses they were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and they did all eat the same spirituall meat and drink the same spirituall drink yet as it is in the fifth verse with many of them God was not well pleased Nay God was so wroth with them that within the space of forty years many thousands of them were destroyed by death here and God knoweth how many thousands of them in hell For God speaketh of hell as well as of death and their sin was so great that it made God
shalt be found out and the Lord will keep thee out by his spirituall plagues and thy sin shall never be done away but be required at thy hands and stand in everlasting record against thee O my brethren that you would but seriously consider it and look about you it being so weighty a thing that so nearly concerns every one of you But I would not have any poor broken heart and humble Soul to mistake me and so thereby be discouraged but give me leave I pray you to use the words of the Prophet though spoken in another sense Psal 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the glory So let me apply this doctrine unto the comfort of all poor broken-hearted sinners and beate off all carnal prophane wretches that live in their sins not unto you O drunkards swaggerers not unto you whoremasters and unclean persons that wallow in ungodlinesse I say not unto you but unto the poor afflicted soul and contrite spirit that lieth bleeding and gasping under the weight of his sin and that trembles and fears being opprest with the sense of its own unworthiness panting and breathing after Christ Jesus and suing earnestly unto the Throne of grace for mercy and forgivenesse unto thee only belongs this comfort and therefore take it home to thee and know it for thy self Art thou troubled with a hard heart and an unbeleeving soul and art even wearyed and tyred out with thy many sins and infirmities Come thou with comfort unto this holy Communion for thou shalt be sure to find saving good by it to thee it shall be a spirituall medicine to heal all thy diseases and to cure all thy strong and prevailing corruptions and if thou come unto this holy Table of the Lord it shall make thee as it is recorded of Saint Laurence able to suffer Martyrdom and to get victory over all thy unruly affections yea at last thou shalt tread Satan thy arch-enemy under thy feet Thefore be not dismayed for the Lord Jesus invites thee to come What if thy infirmities be many yet the mercies of God which he tenders to thee in this Communion are many more Samson who was the strongest Souldier and Companion in his time that was in Israel to overcome the Philistims he yet began his strength in weaknesse being at the first overcome by a woman So though the Lord intend to make thee a strong Christian he will make thee to begin in weaknesse to perfect thy power to begin in sin and misery that he may make thee to end in glory I know Gods children here may receive temporal punishments and bring temporal scourges upon themselves as we may see amongst the Corinthians here but it shall be for their good and amendment namely for their correction and not for their ruine and destruction that so being chastened by the Lord they might not be condemned with the world Therefore if thou comest carelesly and unprofitably God will chastise thee with the rods of men as he did Peter who receiving the Sacrament with his Master over night yet the next day thrice denyed him but God whipt his soul and scourged his conscience for it and beat him black and blew so that he went out and wept bitterly Nay he could scarce with off that sin and recover himself again whilst he lived Wherefore let us take heed of unprepared coming to the Sacrament for God will not hold such guiltlesse Yea if his own sonnes or daughters transgresse thereby he will make them to feel the smart of it But now to come to all such as come moneth by moneth hand over head without any examination and repentance in their uncleannesse and abomination making no conscience of their reformation let me tell them that it shall be one of Christs demands of them in the day of judgement How oft hast thou been at my Table How oft hast thou been partaker of that holy Communion which I gave unto thee Hast thou come preparedly or received worthily or no Hast thou eat bread at my Table with me and lift up thy heel against me Did I command and thou wouldest not obey Did I send my Ministers to thee to reform but thou wouldest not be reformed Did I check and reprove thee for thy pride blasphemies drunkennesse covetousnesse anger wrath malice fornication hypocrisie and prophanenesse in the matter of my worship and yet wouldest thou still live in these sins Where are all the Sacraments that thou hast received How hast behaved thy self Where are the sins that thou hast forsaken and pleasing corruptions that thou hast abhorred What grace and holinesse hast thou received by the means thou hast enjoyed and how hast thou manifested the same through thy whole conversation Oh! woe woe unto thee yea and a world of woes unto thee and unto all such as shall be silent and speechlesse to those or the like demands of Christ for they cannot say they have come out of their sins and have been reformed by the means of grace and have received spirituall nourishment and refreshing from the heavenly banquet of the Communion of the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ A man will especially regard the last words of a dear friend who is as a mans Soul when he is to speak upon his death-bed and will be carefull to remember them and dost thou not more regard the last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ we count it a horrible sin to alter the last Will of a man that is dead Beloved the Lord Jesus before he left this world instituted this blessed Sacrament as his last Will and Testament and hath given us a charge that as we would not eat and drink our own damnation by bringing the guilt of his body and bloud upon our Souls so that we should discern the Lords body and not come unpreparedly in our sins and abominations without reverence and respect of such holy and high mysteries as if there were nothing more to be received and looked for after then the bare and naked element of bread and wine or as if we did come to communicate with unclean Devils O my brethren if you had but faith you would be able to discern Christ in the Sacrament and therefore when thou comest unto it thou must prepare and sanctifie thy selfe to communicate with him in those holy Ordinances and heavenly mysteries of his most pretious body and bloud for if so be that thou retainest thy sins and so come unworthily unto this holy Table of the Lord thou art a great Covenant-breaker with God For thou never comest unto the Communion but thou makest and renewest thy covenant with God wherein thou promisest thus much or the like in effect Lord I have been formerly a drunkard but now I promise to give it over and never to be a drunkard more I have been a scoffer at Religion and a mocker and derider of thy children but now I faithfully promise Lord that I
to flesh and bloud for a man to go and examine all his life to reckon up all his conversation to anatomize himselfe from his cradle to this moment to consider how he hath sinned in his calling in his family in his shop in his company in his speech and in his life to go and judge himselfe of these and condemn himselfe and to accept of his own punishment to go and rack his own thoughts and crucifie his own soul Oh! this is hard men cannot abide this therefore they go and take the matter they observe that and leave out the manner Secondly another reason is this because the matter of duties may be done with a proud heart there is no duty but a man may do it with a proud heart and never be humble A man may pray and use good words and make good petitions and have marvellous good language and Scripture phrase and terms and passages and an admirable sweet tone and yet have a proud heart A man may come and Preach a Sermon he may preach so as that he may strangely affect the hearts of the people and may make all the people wonder and admire at the gracious words that come from his mouth and yet have a proud heart A man may hear and hear oft and hear the best Preachers in the City and delight in hearing and yet have a proud heart A man may come to the Sacrament and sit to ones thinking as devoutly as any in the Church and pray when the people pray and give thanks when others give thanks and have a kind of morall faith in the Covenant and a moral application of the promises and yet have a proud heart It is the manner of doing duties that humbles the soul as Saint Paul saith Acts 20. You know in what manner I have been with you Why what was the manner In all humility of mind saith he being among the Ephesians preaching to them in a right manner leaving them the example of his own pattern doing all this in a right manner he did it in all humility of heart It is the right manner of prayer that puls down the heart before God It is the right manner of hearing the word that makes a man melt at it It is the right manner of coming to the Sacrament that makes a man feel the comfort of God and the promises of the Gospel and to seek and find the admirable things contained in it It is the right manner that makes a man walk lowly with his God Thirdly another Reason is Because the matter may stand with an unholy life A man may do a duty for the matter of it and yet be unholy This is plain how many thousands are there that pray and yet are vain and covetous and carnall How many thousands hear Sermons and yet are unprofitable Ever hearing and never come to the knowledge of the truth If they were injurious before they are injurious still if they were cousners before they are so still if they were drunkards before they are so still A man may receive the Sacrament every moneth and yet may have his lusts and roll them as a sweet morsell under his tongue he may delight in his secret lusts and go on in his deadnesse of heart It is the right manner of worshipping God that purgeth the conscience and purifieth the soul and makes a man that there is no room for his corruptions as you may see 1 Thess 2. 10. You your selves know saith the Apostle how holily and unblameably we walked among you He speaks there of his manner of walking and he saith to them because it was in a right manner it was an holy manner such walking as excluded all unholinesse and prophanenesse Flesh and bloud cannot abide this Men they love to pray and be proud they love to hear sermons and to have their profit they love to professe religion and still to carry their secret lusts in their bosomes People love this alife to go to Gilgal transgresse to offer sacrifice every new moon and every morning and to find the labour of their hands this is right but for a man to part with his iniquity that is the thing that goes against the hair The last reason is because the matter of duties brings not the crosse upon a man A man may do all the duties of Religion and never be persecuted for it a man may be as devout as the devoutest man under heaven yet no body hate him for it except he be devout in a right manner and worship God in a right manner One man may reprove another that is wicked A drunkard may suffer a drunkards reproof and be never the worse A whoremaster may serve his quean so he may call her so and yet not be spited because it is not right It is the right doing of it that brings the crosse as in 2 Tim. 2. 10. Thou knowest thy manner of life It was that that brought afflictions and persecutions We may see to this very day many thousands that seem devout men in the Church they will pray and will hardly misse any time of prayer morning or evening and yet they are farre from being persecuted nay many of them are main persecutors of the Gospel of God enemies to the crosse of Christ and adversaries to the Saints of God We see it plain in Acts 15. 5. we read there of devout women that raised persecution against Paul Mark they were devout and because it was not in a right manner they persecuted the Apostles and set themselves against them that were truly faithfull Though wicked men do not love to pray aright yet many of them are much for praying they care not how much praying they have and when they are at prayer they will pray over from the beginning of the book to the end they love it alife But if they come to a praier that moves the heart that rifles the conscience that dogges a man into his bosome that lays a man flat on his face before God they gnash their teeth at such a prayer So they love Preaching too I it is true if it be preaching that is flaunting and glosing with the enticing words of mans wisedome but if a man preach to the conscience if he preach the pure naked word of God and carry it home to mens souls this makes them gnash their very teeth and they could eat the Minister of God for his labour It is the right manner of duty that is accomdanied with the crosse Thirdly if we ought to be carefull to perform duties in a right manner Let us be exhorted in the fear of God to go and quicken all our duties to bring a soul into so many bodies we have bodies of praying and bodies of hearing and bodies of receiving the Sacrament and of good duties let us get a soul into them labour to do them in a right manner The bare duty is like a carkasse It is a Proverb of the
in the grace of God and in Religion Now man is naturally unprepared for it First a man must fell his wood and then cut it and hew it even and carve it and plain it fit and prepare it before he build So a man must hew down his own heart he must humble his own soul and qualifie all within him and so be sanctified before he be fit As for example in prayer a man must be prepared to prayer before he pray he must prepare his heart and then Gods ears will hearken to it In Psal 10. 17. The Lord will have the heart prepared before he hear the prayer So it is with the word of God a man must be prepared before he hear it As a man that preacheth must be prepared before he preach as Ezra is said to prepare his heart Ezra 7 10. He prepared his heart to do the Law and to teach it So a Minister cannot preach except he be prepared beforehand with a commission from God with preserving knowledge with a coal from Gods Altar with a spirit of wisdome and understanding with a Law of kindnesse in his lips with meditation and with a Theme fitted in his mouth for the people he must be prepared with a burning and a shining light or else he shall not edifie the congregation So it is with all other Ordinances For humbling of a mans soul a man cannot humble his heart except he be prepared to it Amos 4. 12. Prepare to meet thy God he speaks of humiliation If a man would humble himself before God if he be not prepared if his heart be not prepared to let go the world his worldly profits and vain pleasures and carnal acquaintance his wonted lusts and former delights If he be not prepared to let these go when he comes to keep a Fast or to afflict his soul and goes along to do the duty to lay himself down before Almighty God some lust or other will stick in his teeth and intercept his heart he shall never be able to do it as Samuel said to the people If you will turn to the Lord prepare your hearts to do it 1 Sam. 7. So it must be in all the ordinances of God and much more in the Sacrament Secondly another Reason is because the Lord Christ hath made great preparations to provide the Lords Supper therefore we must be prepared to eat it You know what a great deal adoe there was before the Supper was made Christ must be incarnate and fulfill all righteousnesse he must conclude it upon his suffering he must tread the wine-presse alone and suffer himself to be beaten and rejected of God and men and suffer death the cursed death of the Crosse all these things were concluded upon before this holy and blessed Supper was provided Come saith he I have prepared my dinner Matth. 22. Mark Christ is fain to prepare his dinner he makes a great Feast there was great preparation for it so there must be great preparation of our souls before we can come to this holy banquet It is true among men there may be great preparation for a feast and little or nothing for the eating of it Sometimes there are two or three dayes preparation for a feast and is eaten presently The reason is because man naturally hungers after meat and drink and he alwayes provides twice or thrice in twenty four hours for eating and drinking But the Lords Supper is a spiritual banquet a man is every day and hour and moment naturally unfit for it and there is much adoe to put an edge upon mens appetites and a keennesse upon mens desires that they may be fitted and prepared for it Thirdly another reason is Because the Lord Christ when he administers himself in this heavenly mystery he offers to come into the soul and he looks for good entertainment and therefore of necessity there must be preparation for it You see when a mortall man an earthly Prince or a Noble man comes to another mans house what a deal of preparation there is to provide for him there is meat made ready and purging the house and sweeping the yard and trimming up the very pales and every thing and making clean all the Chambers and ridding out whatsoever fills it and every thing that is out of order it set in tune And what will my Lord think and what will his Majesty think he wil think he is slighted and contemned And when he comes in it may be his own children shal serve and his own wife wait at the Table and there is running up and down of errands and a great deal of adoe to give such a one entertainment There is preparation to entertain a man as Saint Paul said to Philemon I will that you prepare me lodging how much more when the eternall God shall come under a mans roof and dine with him Lastly Because the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a part of Christs last will and Testament Now it is a terrible thing when we know our Lords will and prepare not for the doing of it Look in Luke 12. 48. he that knew it not did things worthy of stripes but in verse 47. That servant that knew the Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes that man shall be damned with much damnation he shall be damned deeper than any body Dost thou know the Lords Table that this blessed Sacrament is part of Christs last Testament and wilt thou not prepare thy self for it to get an humble heart and labour for a holy life and seek for a thirsty soul and vow upon new obedience and enter into Covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ for a better kind of conversation for the time to come Wilt thou not go and examine thine own soul and go and reform whatsoever is amisse in thy family in thy place and calling Wilt thou not do these things to prepare for this holy will of Jesus Christ thou shalt be damned deeper than any body else because this is a part of Gods last Will and Testament and thou knowest it and therefore woe unto thee if thou prepare not for it THE DUTIE OF THE REPROVER And the Persons Reproved SET FORTH In a SERMON preached By that Reverend and Faithfull Minister of Gods Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE DUTIE OF REPROVERS And Persons Reproved A SERMON preached by Master WILLIAM FENNER Minister of GODS Word PROV 29. 1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shal suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy THese words by reason of the ambiguity in the Hebrew tongue doe bear two expositions and our English can suffer but one The first exposition is this He that reproveth another and hardneth his own neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy The other is as we have
required reproving you see lest he should wrong his own soul how he laboured to bee unblameable saith he I beat my bodie down when I preach to others lest I become a cast away Again as a man wrongs his own soul so he dishonours God It cannot be unknown what an unthankfull office the office of a reprover is the world cannot abide reproof The wicked hate the reprover in the gate Isa 29. 21. The world is full of scorners that hate reproof Prov. 15. 12. Though some men be not so wicked as to hate reproof yet at least they think hardly of them that reprove they think they usurp authority over them and crow over them or they undertake to be their betters as a reprover undertakes in that thing to be a mans better Now when a man is reproved he is apt to think that his neighbour crows over him and excerciseth authority upon him as if he would grow on him and be his Judge You see Lot when he reproved the Sodomites though as gently as ever he could My brethren do not so wickedly presently for all that they thought hardly of him What will this fellow be a judge that came but the other day to sojourn Gen. 19. Presently they thought hardly of him So we see the Prophet doth but find fault with Amaziah for his fault and presently the Kings eyes are blinded and his heart heardened Who made you of the Kings counsell 2 Chron. 25. 15. he thought him a medler that pried into State-affairs and into the Court and Kingdom A man cannot reprove his brother for his sinne but it is a thousand to one if his brother be not ready presently to pry into him and to look narrowly into his wayes to espy a hole in his coat if he can or to make one if he cannot all mens eyes are upon him and they look strictly and straightly and if any thing in the world be amisse they will be sure to mark it and to make more of it to make mountains of Mole-hills When the blind man did but find fault with the Pharisees and reprove them a little for persecuting of Christ what say they Art thou altogether conceived and born in sin and wilt thou teach us John 9. 34. Presently they looked on his blindnesse and birth Certainly he is a viler sinner than other men and shall he go find fault with them If we mean to reprove another let us labour to be unblameable to be Godly and holy to reform our own wayes let us be sure to purge our own families to cleanse our own souls to rid our own hands of all the wayes of sinne and iniquity lest God be dishonoured The word of God will be flung in his own face back again and the reproof if it be never so sweet and never so wise it wil be retorted in a mans own teeth if he be not unblameable himself And a man had need to be humble and lowly and gentle and meek and to put on all bowels and gentlenesse of heart if he will reprove All sins are not to be reproved alike some with sharpnesse some with lenity He is a Mountebank that will open a vein for every wheal and pimple The reprover is like them in Isaiah when they deal with the Cummin and Fetches a little rod will beat them out but when they come to the Corn Wheat and Rye they beat them out with the Cart-wheel So when we meet with a hard-hearted spirit we must use stronger corrosives to them and gentler admonitions and rebukes towards others that sin with a lesser and a weaker hand But this is a thing that a man must be marvellous carefull of that reproves Nay let a man be unblameable for the present if he have been faulty before if it were seven or ten or twenty years before if it be known it is a thousand to one but he shall be hit in the teeth with it when he reproves you committed adultery and you did steal at such a time if it were never so long agoe Therefore St. Paul would not consent to take Mark with him in the ministery Acts 15. because he had been offensive to the Church before We had need to be marvellous careful and wary if we will reprove I had thought to have named other Uses but I leave this exposition and take it as it is passively interpreted He that being often reprov'd hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy THough it may be expounded the other way yet I rather incline to this The Reason is Because this is the constant current of all interpreters generally I meet but with one or two that expond it the other way but all passively He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck c. Secondly because the word in the original is A man of reproofs that hardeneth his own neck Now though it be indifferent whether it be active or passive yet look in the scripture and you shall find it more often passive then active A man of reproofs that is a man often reproved in the passive As in Isaiah 53. 3. Christ is a man of sorrows not making others sorry but made sorry passively And so in Dan. 9. 23. It is said Daniel was a man of desires that is not a man desiring other men or other things not actively desiring but passively desired beloved of God exceedingly So it is said of Jeremiah Jerem. 15. 10. he was a man of strife not a man striving with others but a man striven with So in 1 King 2. 26. A man of death that is not killing others but to be killed himself It is taken more frequently in the passive sense and we may more boldly take it so A man of reprofs that is reproved again and again that hath received divers reproofs and yet hardeneth his own neck shall suddenly he destroyed and that without remedy Here I might observe by the way this point of Doctrine That The Lord doth not destroy man willingly He saith not A man shall be destroyed without remedy but a man when he hath sinned against God when he had committed sinne and not only so but when he is reproved for his sin and goeth on The Lord doth not destroy a man nakedly but upon consideration of sin Willingly the Lord doth not afflict any Lament 3. Mercy and punishment they flow from God as the honey and the sting from the Bee the Bee yeildeth honey of her own nature but she doth not sting but when she is provoked So the Lord is gracious and good and favourable and kind and blesseth his people from his own nature but he doth not punish and plague and destroy but being provoked by sin and iniquity I will not stand to follow this point I let it go The text it self contains the great mercy of God in lending a man a reproof And what a great sin it is what a great ill it is for a man to sin
against his reproof The greatnesse of the ill is set down two wayes First by the great sinfulnesse of the thing it is called the hardening of a mans own neck Secondly by the greatnesse of the punishment that God inflicts upon this sin and that is he will destroy him and that without remedy For the first namely what a great mercy it is for God to let a man be reproved for his sins It may be proved by many places of Scripture only I find Scripture is to be brought as an aggravation of sin when they sinned against reproof Hosea 5. 1. saith he they are profound to commit sin though I have been a rebuker of them all As if he should say Though I have been so mercifull as to shew them the danger of sin to tell them what would become of their wretched courses though I have called them to repentance and have given them warning what would be the issue of these things yet for all this for all my mercy they have gone on in their sinnes though I have reproved them This Though is a word of aggravation as we see in the speech of Daniel to Belshazzar Thou O King hast not humbled thy self though thou knewest this as if he had said though the Lord let thee know the punishment upon thy father and the plagues of Nebuchadnezzar thy grandfather though the Lord have let thee understand what it is for thee to exalt thy self against him yet thou art not humbled he aggravates his sin So this aggravates a mans sin when he goes on notwithstanding he is reproved The Reasons are First because when God reproves a man of sinne the reproof primarily comes out of love therefore when he reproved Laodicea and told her she was luke-warm and said I would thou wert either hot or cold and since she was neither he would spue her out of his mouth he tells her whence the reproof flowed because I love I reprove As many as I love I rebuke Revel 3. 19. It is not out of ill will that I tell thee of thy lukewarmnesse and threaten to spue thee out of my mouth I tell thee these things that thou mayst avoid that ill I say Gods reproofs flow primarily from love to men whereby he would have them lay aside their wretched courses and avoyd the judgements Nay it is an argument of hatred when a man doth not reprove his brother of sin If God let a man go on in sin and never tell him of his drunkennesse nor never find fault with his pride and security never convince him or wound or touch him nor deal with him about his unsetled estate and his rotten conditions It is a sign God hates the man But when God reproves a man from day to day Man thou art a proud creature thou shalt to hell for thy pride and hypocrisie and security and hardnesse of heart When the Lord reproves a man from day to day this is an argument of love the other is an effect of hatred not to reprove Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart saith Moses but shalt in any wise reprove him and not suffer sin to be upon him Levit 19. 17. Thou hatest thy brother when thou seest him sin and doest not warn him and knowest he is guilty of sinfull courses and doest not reprove him and when thou hast time and place and opportunity and fit circumstances to reprove and yet thou wilt not do it it is a sign thou hatest thy brother it is the greatest degree of hatred on them If a man deny food for the body and let a man rather dye of hunger than he will give him meat or let a man fall into a pit rather than he will prevent the mischief a man is guilty of bodily murder but thou art guilty of the soul of thy brother if thou let him fall into sin Thou thinkest thy brother is harsh he will not bear with thee he is hasty and testy no thou art in an error That man that hates reproof erreth saith Solomon Indeed a man should not be too sharp but first tell his brother in private that he is in an error for reproof is a means of grace it flows from great love it is the providence of God that hath cast it about that thou shouldest have reproof given thee if thou have a heart to take it It is an argument of love Another reason is taken from the primary end of reproof which is to bring a man to good to reduce him into a right way to convert a man to save his soul that is the primary end of reproof aud admonition therefore to go in sinnes contrary to it must needs be a great evill As Solomon brings in the wisdome of the Father Jesus Christ calling upon people O yee fools how long will ye love folly turn at my reproof Mark what follows to what end I will pour my spirit on you There is the end he tells them O ye fools wretched people without understanding that go on in sinne and harden your own hearts that repent not nor turn not to God that will not submit to his wisdom nor imbrace his word yee fools that wrong your own souls Oh turn at my reproof Why This is the reason that God reproves a man on this fashion it is that a man may have the Spirit of God granted him If thou have an ear to hear reproof and a heart to drink it in and to wear it as a crown of gold on thy head and as a chain about thy neck thou shouldest have the Spirit of God for thy labour the Lord reproves thee that thou mightest return back and have the Spirit and have mercy and forgivenesse This is all the ill-will that Gods Ministers bear thee and all the hatred that reprovers shew when they tell thee of thy sinnes whatsoever they be that they may stop thy steps from going down to Hell When the Lord sends thee Sermon upon Sermon Preacher after Preacher thou art called on day by day as you hear in this place This is the infinite goodnesse of God towards your souls therefore your sin is infinite great if you do not amend as the wise man saith He that hates reproof shall surely dye Prov. 15. 10. there is no remedy for that man That man that puts off repentance God reproves him from day to day on the Sabbath day and on the week dayes he goes to this man and here he is reproved and to another and there he is reproved and yet he goes on in his deadnesse and formality in the ordinances of God that man shall surely dye there is no remedy he sins against the infinite mercy of God Thirdly there is no reason in the world why reproof should be taken otherwise than with all willingnesse and thankfulnesse and chearfulnesse If a man have but the reason of a man in him he must needs take reproof in good part he must be a beast that doth
a man to be drunken this is abundance of sins for it is an abuse of Gods creatures a spending of his substance a weakning of his parts a scandall to others c. Sin in deed is a sin with an addition sin in deed is an impudent sinâ— see Isaiah 65. 2 3. c. that man is impudent with a witnesse that will commit sinne in deed for he is neither ashamed of Gods nor mans presence if any man be a desperate sinner this is he But it may be objected how then can thoughts be said to be such sins even sins of the highest part of a man I answer a Thiefe or Rogue hath burnt a mans dwelling house yet he may proceed further and burn his stable too a 1000 pound and a shilling are more then a 1000 pound Sins in thought are included within sins in deed The souls part of sinne is the greatest part of sinne Now thoughts are the souls part of sin yet sins in deed must needs be worse in regard of the progresse of sinne and also because thoughts are included in them thoughts and deeds are more then thoughts alone I exhort and desire you therefore to consider First what great reason you have to set your thoughts on God God himselfe merited this dutie at your hands God hath taken a number of thoughts for us Innumerable are thy thoughts O God to us ward Ps 40. 5. the Lord thinks on us from the Cradle to the Crosse If the Lord should have intermitted his thought of thee thou couldst not subsist when thou wast up the Lord thought how to feed thee when thou wast in bed he thought how to preserve thee he doth not use to think of thee at one time and not at another but he thinks on thee when thou art sick and when thou art in health asleep or awake the Devill else would seize on thee I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinks on me saith the Psalmist Psal 40. 17. And Nehemiah saith O Lord think on me shall we call to God to think on us then surely it is our duty to think on him yea and he may call to us for that duty Secondly consider with your selves what thoughts they are which God calls for my son saith he give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. He would faine have thy heart he lets thee labour with thy hands for thy living and he lets thee have thy feet to walk and the rest of thy members for thy severall uses but the Lord requires thy heart and therefore give him the thoughts of thy heart for if thy neighbour come to thee for fire thou canst not give him fire if thou take away the heat thereof so give the Lord thy heart and the thoughts of it will follow The Devill calls for thy heart also ergo reason as Joseph did when he was tempted how can I doe this and sinne against my God my Master hath delivered into my hands all that he hath thee only excepted and shall I take thee how can I doe this So the Lord hath with-holden nothing from thee but thy heart my sonne saith he give me thy heart yet wilt thou deny it him with the thoughts thereof Tell me you that are rich would it be any disparagement unto you to be Gods servants to set your thoughts on God True it is the greater ill men of this world thinke it some disparagement to think on these things But I tell thee thou that art a Gentleman if thou have grace it makes thee more than a Gentleman grace takes not away mens honor and riches but if he be a Knight it makes him more than a Knight And as Paul said to Philemon receive him now a servant and more than a servant he was a servant when he was carnall but now being a Christian he is more than a servant if you have grace it is an addition to your riches riches and more than riches ergo give your hearts to God and it will be the better for you Thirdly the Lord hath made thy thoughts thy Jewels thy thoughts are precious the Lord keepeth them under lock and key he will not let any see them if all men should observe a man and look into him yet they cannot see his thoughts no God hath lockt them up and made them thy Jewels wilt thou then cast them into the myre wilt thou preferre Haukes and Hounds in thy thoughts before God canst thou sit at dinner and not once think of God but alwayes on base pelfe why thy thoughts are thy Jewels Again A man that is wise will be wary what companions he keeps your thoughts are your only companions you never go out nor in but your thoughts go along with you and for this cause Solomon would have us place the word of God in our thoughts Prov. 6. 22. See Psal 139. 15. 16. when I am awake I am present with thee Men will be carefull what meat they eat because such meat as they eate such is their blood and as their blood is so is their body now as the body feeds on meat so doth the soul on thoughts if we look not to our thoughts they will be subject to abundance of corruptions a man must give an account of every idle word he speaks and thoughts are the intrinsecal words of the heart now if men must give an account of every idle word then of every idle thought also Let this then teach all and every one of us in the fear of God to consider our thoughts else our end will be destruction A SERMON OF SELF-DENIAL LUKE 9. 23. And he said unto them all If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse daily and follow me THis Text contains the first action performed of every Christian viz. to deny himself concerning which you may here see First the grounds of it Secondly the reasons of it Thirdly the occasion of it Fourthly the parts of it Fifthly and lastly the necessity of it I intend to handle these words as they are in relation to the context First the grounds of this truth viz. that every man must deny himself And it is here expressed to be twofold viz. the contrariety that is between Christ and a mans self me and himself these two terms are contradictory one to the other if any man will come after me let him deny himself these two cannot stand together Secondly the contrariety that is between self and self if a man be in Christ he hath two selves he hath a self in himself and a self out of himself the self in himself is old Adam the other in Christ which is the new man there is the self-denying and self-denyed if a man will find himself he must lose himself Paul must not be found in Paul having his own righteousnesse but he must find himself in Christ for salvation belongeth unto the Lord Psal 3. 8. And ergo let him deny himself Secondly you may see
a child of God seeing all graces to be in God he draws neer to the throne of grace begging for it and by his earnest and faithfull praiers he opens the hands of God to him God dealing as parents to their children holds them off for a while not that he is unwilling to give but to make them more earnest with God to draw them the neerer to himselfe A wicked man praies and his praiers tumble down upon him again and his heart is as dead as ever it was before as sensual as ever as carnal and earthly as ever as hard as impenitent and secure as ever A godly man when he praies though he have not gotten the thing totall that he desired yet he is neerer God then he was before his heart grows every day better than other by his praiers he obtains still something as the Prophet Hosea speaks of knowledge Hos 6. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord so I may say of prayer and of all other good duties then we pray if we proceed on wards in prayer A man may know and know and yet never know the Lord till he go on in knowledge so a man may pray and pray yet if he goe not onwards in his prayers his prayers are nothing A godly man prayes as a builder builds now a builder he first layeth a foundation and because he cannot finish in one day he comes the second day and finds the frame standing that he made the first day and then he adds a second dayes work and then he comes a third day and finds his two former dayes work standing then he proceeds to a third dayes work and makes walls to it and so he goes on till his building be finished So prayer is the building of the soule till it reach up to heaven therefore a godly heart prayes and reacheth higher and higher in prayer til at last his prayers reach up to God It is a signe of a wicked man to pray and to let his prayers fall down again upon him And here I appeale to the consciences of wicked men if it be not so with them they pray and pray but their hearts are as dead and deceitfull as proud and vaine as ignorant blockish and rebellious as if they had never prayed Thirdly it is more and more a fervent prayer if a little prayer will not serve the turn if he speeds not to day then he will pray more earnestly to morrow and if that will not serve the turne he will adde more As a man in winding up of a bucket if two or three windings will not fetch it up he will winde it up higher and higher till it comes up for if he should onely winde up once or twice and no more but hold it just at the same pin the bucket would never come up So if a man prayes and prayes and windes not up his heart higher but holds it just at the same pegge it was prayes in the same fashion he did grace will never come up Mark then how thou prayest examine thy heart dost thou pray to day as yesterday with no more zeal nor feeling affection nor sensible desire thou prayest not unsatiably No thou restrainest thy praying from growing an excellent description of an hypocrite Job 1â— 4. though falsly applied to Job Thou restrainest prayer before God in some translations it is Thou keepest thy prayers from growing thou restrainest thy prayers as a dwarffe is restrained from growing so thou restrainest thy prayers from being more and more earnest and effectuall and fervent unsatiable prayer is growing in zeale and affection Fourthly it is a more and more frequent prayer so that if twice a day will not serve the turne he will pray three times a day Psal 55. 17 and if that will not prevaile he will pray seven times a day Psal 119. 164. and when that is not enough he will be even ever a praying hardly broken off day or night Psal 88. 1. he cares not how often he prayes it may be that thou hast been a suitor for strength and grace against corruptions and hast put up many prayers to the same purpose It now thou stickest at any prayers thy prayers are not unsatiable an unsatiable soul never resteth though it have made ten thousand prayers till it have gotten the grace it is so with other things and therefore we need not wonder at it when a man doth not finish his work one day he will do it another and so on as long as he lives till his worke be done so must we do for heaven and for grace Fifthly it is ever more and more a back'd praier if ordinary praiers will not serve the turne a godly heart will cut off time from his recreations and pleasures though in themselves lawfull Beloved it may be with thy soul in its wrastlings and strivings for grace and power against corruptions that ordinary praiers will not satisfie it but it will be necessry to give over even lawfull delights and give that time to praier so a man will do for the world if he have a businesse of importance that will bring him in gaine he will be content to part with his delights and recreations and pleasures to follow after it so a man must do for his soul and if that be not enough then lay aside the duties of thy calling to take time from that If a man have two houses on fire both together the one his mansion dwelling house the other some back room or stable if he can he will save both but if he see that by spending his time on quenching the fire on the stable that his great mansion house will burne downe he will then neglect the other and let it burne if it will and imploy himselfe about his house So when the soul is in misery under the want of grace that it cannot live under but must perish eternally if it have it not then the soule being better than the body rather than that the soul miscarry we will neglect the body sometime And if this will not serve abstain from meat and drink fast it out thus the people of God are faine to do many times their lust and corruptions being even as the devill himselfe which cannot be cast out but by prayer and fasting there is an excellent place Joel 2. 12. Therefore now turn unto the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning rent your hearts c. Therefore now now your sinnes are so divelish now your sins are so deepely rooted in your soules now your corruptions are come to be such plague sores within you do you not think that your ordinary repentance and ordinary praiers and humiliations will serve the turne but now backe them with fasting and mourning Here now thou maist examine thy soul whether it have praied effectually unsatiably yea or no hath it ever a begging praier that thou praiest as if thou hadst never praied before is it evermore a proceeding prayer that
not Christian neither will Christ own thee for his but will slay thee with curses as an enemy of his crosse and not as a follower of his death These mine enemies that will not that I should reigne over them saith Christ Luke 19. 27. Bring them hither and slay them before me Thou canst not look for a Saviour to have mercy on thee if thou wilt not be ruled as a Disciple of Christ but thou shalt be damned in the presence of Christ Slay them before me saith Christ Christ Jesus which is the Saviour of the World will damne thee and see thee confounded before his face he himselfe will see thee in hell thou mayest cry for mercy and for the blood of Christ yet if thou wilt not live as Christ lived but wilt rebel and sin against Christ Christ will see thee in hell and though he look on thee yet he will destroy thee without mercy If ever thou beest in Christ thou must walke as Christ walked thou must be a Christian like to that good Martyr who to all demands answered that he was a Christian When they asked him what his name was he answered it was Christian his thoughts were Christian his words and actions Christian his countrey his hopes his aime all that ever he did they could get nothing out of him but all was Christian and so he gave testimony to the Lord Jesus So I tell thee thou must be a Christian all over a Christian in thy thoughts in thy words a Christian in thy calling and in all thy imployments being swayed by the Gospell of Christ or else thou art not in Christ The third reason is taken from the essentiall or rather rather from the integrall union that is between Christ and all these that are in Christ they are all members of his most gracious body Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular 1 Cor. 12. 27. now we know that all the members have the same life and are quickened by the same soule the soule is whole in the whole body and whole in every member of the body so if Christ be our head we are his members and the christian life of Christ must be diffused thorough us so that one man cannot be a drunkard another a worldling another an Epicure another a swearer another a whoremaster another a lyar another a lukewarmeling another a mocker another a vaine-Jester another a man-pleaser and yet be a member of Christ All the members of Christ must have one life As in a mans body there be veines arteries and nerves that are the channels to convey life and motion and sense to every member that all the members may have the same life dispersed through the body So it is in the body of Christ every member of Christ hath faith for his veines to convey the same life and the same spirits and the same gratious motions to all the body that it is not now the member that lives but Christ that lives in it Gal 2. I live not saith the Apostle but Christ liveth in me As in the body it is not the eye that seeth if we speak proporly but the man that seeth with the eye it is not the ear that heareth but the man that heareth with the ear so in the body of Christ it is no more the man that speaketh but the truth of Christ speaking in him We have the minde of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 16. if we be in Christ Christ thinkes in us Christ speakes in us Christ walkes in us Christ doth all in us As in the same body the soule rules and quickens every member The body of Christ cannot be a monster like those Locusts spoken of Revel 9. 7. that had shapes like horses heads as it were like crownes of gold and their faces like the faces of a man and had haire like women and teeth like Lyons this is a monster and not a simple body such a one cannot the body of Christ be a mocker for one member an ignorant sot for another an hypocrite for another a carnall gospeller for another a covetous worldling for another As in the body of a man every member in this mans body must be this mans member and not the member of another man As for example Peter must have Peters legs and not Simon Magus his legs Peter must have Peters eys not Alexanders eyes Peter must have Peters hands and not Judas hands you cannot take the eye of an Horse the leg of a Dog and the paw of a Beare and put them together and say here 's a man no this would be a monster every perfect body must have its own members So it is in the body of Christ every member in Christ his Body must have Christ his Members every member in a mans body acts with reason so every member of Christ acts with direction of Christ it is informed by Christ his minde is quickened by Christ his life so that a man cannot be a member of Christ but he must walke as Christ walked I know the best Christian may fall seven times a day though he be in Christ it doth not therefore follow that every particular action savours of Christ but as every member in the body lives the life of the whole body or else it is a dead member so thou must live the life of Christ or else thou canst never be saved You know that all the actions of a man are guided by reason yet there are some particular actions that he doth and not by reason as it may be he shakes his head or moves his hand and jogs his foote and considers not what he doth they are the actions of a reasonable man though not reasonable actions so there may be many actions that are the actions of Christians though not Christian actions The sinnes of the godly they are the actions of a Christian but they are not Christian actions there may bee stoppings in the body though the same life and quickening runnes through the whole body yet through the stopping of the liver and the pipes distempers and ill humours may be raised in the body so it may be in the body of Christ and so many a Christian may fall through infirmity but the course of a Christian the life of a Christian the ordinary trade of a Christian the walke of a Christian is to live with the same spirit that lived in Christ to walke in the same way that Christ walked in The last reason is taken from the neere relation that is to be betweene Christ and every member of Christ They are not onely the Servants and Disciples of Christ but they are the children of Christ by his begetting of them If all that are in Christ are the children of Christ they must needs walke as Christ walked Like begets the like Indeed a godly man may beget a wicked child a gracelesse sonne the reason is because he begets his sonne not as he is a godly man
but as he is a man corrupt by nature with sinne but Christ begets as he is God and therefore as he is without sinne in himselfe so he never begets any but by an eternall spirit and therefore they cannot but be like him Be ye followers of God as dear children Ephes 5. 1. The Apostle grounds his exhortation upon a necessity in grace Consider if you be the children of God it can be no otherwise but you must be followers of Christ as dear children The begetter communicates himselfe to the begotten if the begetter be flesh he begetteth flesh so Adam begot a sonne after his own likenesse That that is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. and is of a fleshly nature That that is borne of the spirit is spirit If we are begotten again by the Spirit of God then are we spiritualized of God so that a man cannot be in Christ unlesse he be the child of Christ and walke as Christ walked Christ was perfect Christ was mercifull be you so saith Christ Matth. 5. Be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect as if he should say you cannot be the children of your Heavenly Father unlesse you be perfect as he is perfect mercifull as he is mercifull holy as he is holy righteous as he is righteous walke as he walked Is it so that all that are in Christ walke as Christ walked then all wicked men blaspheme the name of Christ that do not live the life of the Lord Jesus These blaspheme the holy and sacred name of Christ Oh saith one I hope I am a Christian yet the man is a drunkard or a whoremaster or a gamester or a worldling a proud man a covetous man What was Christ a drunkard was Christ a whoremaster was Christ a gamester a worldling proud covetous it were blasphemy for any to say so of Christ and it is also blasphemy for thee who walkest not after the Gospell to say thou art a Christian As I am a Christian saith another yet the man is a filthy speaker Was Christ such a one a swearer c. Thou blasphemest the name of Christ I hope we are all Christians saith a third and yet they are men that live in security and prophanesse What was there security in Christ was prophanesse in Christ Oh what blasphemie is it for thee to stile thy self by the Name of Christ to say thou art in Christ Revel 2. 9. saith Christ I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not that say they are the children of Abraham but doe not the workes of Abraham If a man did blaspheme God to stile himselfe a Jew or a child of Abraham that did not the workes of Abraham what blasphemy then is it for thee to say thou art a Christian and yet dost not the workes of Christ could not a man take the name of Abraham but he did blaspheme unlesse he did the workes of Abraham how then durst thou take the name of Christ upon thee and not doe the workes of Christ not walk as Christ walked Beloved is any man a Christian he hath holinesse engraven in his forehead to the Lord in his heart in his thoughts in his words and in all his wayes he is one that gaspeth after holinesse Art thou a Christian of all sinnes under Heaven God cannot endure the sinnes of a Christian that hath the name of Christ put upon him When Gods materiall temple was defiled by buyers and sellers Christ whippes them out and after told them that the dayes would come wherein there should not be left of it one stone upon another God would not endure the Temple because it was dedicated to his name called his house when it was made a den of theeves Doth God care so much for stocks and stones that are dedicated to his Name will he not endure an unholy stone and will he endure an unholy Christian Thou that art dedicated unto God and unto his service thou that art dedicated to prayer to hearing thou that art dedicated to an holy conversation thou that art called the Temple of God and the House of God wilt thou make it a den of theeves a denne of vain thoughts a denne of wicked words of dead and ungodly workes wilt thou defile the Temple of the Lord then know the Lord will not let one stone lie upon another but will cast thee down and damne thee body and soule in hell for ever Thou sayest thou art a Christian how so thou saiest thou wast christened thy condemnation is the heavier if thou saiest thou hast been baptized into the Name of Christ and hast not put on Christ Examine thy self hast thou put on Christ otherwise it is no matter for thy baptism Can I say that man hath put on his cloths that hath not a ragge on his back nor a shooe on his foote nor a hatte to his head nor a ring on his finger so when there is never a Christ in thy thoughts never a Christ in thy speech and conference never a Christ in thy walke never a Christ in thy calling in thy buying and selling never a Christ shining forth in thy life and conversation canst thou say thou hast put on the Lord Christ Can any man say that a beggar hath put on Royall robes when he hath nothing but ragges and patches upon him so if I see a man with ragged thoughts of the world with ragged speeches of the flesh and a ragged course and conversation according to the course and conversation of the world I can never say that such an one hath put on the Lord Jesus Christ Dost thou say thou hast put on Christ why then shew me the signs of Christ in thee Shall I see it by thine apparell it may be that is garish Shall I see it by thy speech and conference it may be that is earthly and carnall Shall I see it by thy thoughts it may be they are vaine sinfull and worldly Shall I see it by thy company it may be they are wicked and gracelesse Shall I see it in thy course and conversation it may be that is loose and prophane How canst thou then demonstrate that thou art a Christian it may be now and then thou wilt give a praier unto Christ turne up the white of thine eye to Christ it may be thou wilt look into the Church and lend an eare to Christ in his word Is this to be in Christ if thou be in Christ then thou must live the life of Christ in all thy wayes The life of a man is a continued thing A man is not alive at his dinner and dead when he hath done alive at his work and dead when his work is done so it is not enough for thee to prove that thou art in Christ that thou art alive at prayer or at preaching life is a continued thing thou must be alive after prayer as well as before alive after Sermon as whilest thou art at it if thou hast
you have made good use of your riches if you have been faithfull you shall enter into your Masters joy He will not consider you as you are or have been in great Offices or places in the world but as you have been faithfull in them not as you had crouching and bowing to you but as you have faithfully and frequenly bowed your knees unto the Lord in Prayer God will not account of you a straw the better for your wealth but he will passe sentence on you as you have used or abused your talent Thirdly they can give no content He that desires Riches shall not be satisfied therewith Eccles 5. 9. Object O but I desire but a competent living Sol. It is well done A little spring running from the head runnes shallow at the first but at the last many other falling into it it is become great so you may say you desire but a competency but the world comes on you then there is craving and having till your desires are as large as hell Habbac 2. 5. riches make men sick of a dogs disease what is that why dogs are alwaies eating but never satisfied so if a man immoderately love the things of this life he shall not be satisfied Lastly the things of this world are nothing worth because we have no assurance of them they are of no continuance they either leave us or we them doe you not see that after a man hath risen earely and late eating the bread of carefulnesse and hath gotten a little pelfe is he not thereof deprived in a moment of time Prov. 12. 27. The slothfull man viz. the worldly man rosteth not that which he tooke in hunting viz. after all his travaile he is swept away and taketh not the profit of them Is not this then a worthlesse world but suppose it doe stay with you yet one day you must part with it Psalm 49. 6 7. and you must carrie nothing with you naked you came and naked you must returne even like a sumpter-Horse which carries all the day abundance of Treasure but at night it is all taken from him and he is put into a stable for his labour all the benefit he gets by the Treasure is he onely feeles the weight of it Even so many rich men are Sumpter-horses to carrie the things of the world who either for ill-useing or ill-getting them are put in a filthie stable viz. Hell and their pay is everlasting torment These things shew the little worth of this world Now you shall see that worldly men are little worth First it appears that they are little worth because of the names and titles that the Spirit of God laies on them it calls them Sonnes of Beliall 1 Sam. 2. 12. Vile persons Psal 15. 4. Children of iniquity Hosea 10. 9. 11. A reprobate stock John 8. 44. Children of wrath Ephes 2. Now if there were any great worth in them think you that the Spirit of God would not better stile them Secondly they are little worth in respect of their actions their best actions are but glittering sinnes Isaiah 66. 3. If they pray or heare c. God accounts of it no better then the sacrificing of Swines flesh they stink in Gods nostrils Isa 1. 13. If then the men of the world and the things of the world be little worth how doth this discover the madnesse and folly of men in these dayes who so much mind the world no paines nor travaile too great or too dangerous to get the world nay they will hazard life and health even to the back-bone to get the world goe to bed late rise early not caring if they lose both body and soule to get the world and when their consciences are thus set on the tenters to get it they set their hearts on it and keep it as their God Secondly let this informe our Judgements that seeing the world and the men of the world are so little worth let us judge of them no better then they deserve it is a false glasse or crooked rule that men goe by who judge themseves men of worth if they be rich and we use to say there is a man of good credit let us see our folly in thus judging I will discover it thus The things of the world are given to the worst men wicked men have many times the greatest share in them Esau hath foure hundred at his heeles when Iacob had but a few The Scribes and Pharisees sate in Moses chaire when as the Disciples of Christ were carried before Rulers so for Riches proud Dives fared deliciously every day when poor Lazarus was faine to snap at a crust so the false prophets were fed at Iesabells table when Elias was in commons with the Ravens Now if the things of this life were of such great worth think you that God would keep his children so sparingly with them no no they are but gifts of Gods left hand Prov. 3. 16. Length of dayes are in his right hand and in his left hand riches and Honour Instruction to teach us to take off our hearts and affections from pursuing things of this life You see they are little worth doe not in affection love the world nor yet in action too much seek the world but when Heaven and earth are laide in the ballance esteem earthly things as dung in respect of Christ and shew your little esteem of earthly things by your seeking them in the second place and Gods Kingdome in the first place Let wicked men account the things of this life as their summum bonum but let us be crucified to the world let us be as dead men to the world and the world as dead to us not that I would have you utterly to reject the things of this life but not to set your affections on them we must use the things of this life as Travailers doe their provision if they have too much it will hinder them so let us be content whether it be much or little it is best to lay up treasure in Heaven as Christ told his Disciples Thus of the first point the second follows OF whom the world was not worthy as if he should have said they are too good to live in the world hence observe That true Beleevers are persons of very great worth The world is not worthy of them I need not spend much time to prove this they are called excellent persons Psal 16. 3. Againe the righteous is more excellent then his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. againe they are called the glory of God Isaiah 4. 5. They are called a chosen people a Royall Priesthood 1 Pet. 2. 9. Now wherin lies the worth of a godly man not in the outward man for alas the outward man of a child of God is the same with another man Their chiefe worthinesse lies in the inward man which after God is created unto righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephesians 4. 24. The Kings daughter is all glorious within Psalm 45.
maist say The Lord knowes what a deale adoe he hath had with me this heart was as hard as the neaher mil-stone but the Lord in some measure hath mollified it this heart was as proud as the devill but blessed be Gods name he would let me see it at the last goe home and say Who am I and what is my fathers house that the Lord hath brought me hither Oh that God should thus stoope to man the Lord hath stood and knockt thus many yeares and he might have given over but blessed be his name I have received mercie I lived under the means but that prevailed not with me the Lord sent such and such sicknesse but that wrought not on me at the last I went to hear a Minister and methought that Minister spake nothing but what he spake to me and then the Lord set conscience on worke and that affrighted mee Looke to it the Lord will either breake thy necke or thy heart doe not thinke to goe to heaven by good meanings no it will cost thee somewhat more before thou come there Another time the Lord set on me and then I set on good duties I would have Christ to justifie and sanctifie me and blessed be his name he was not wanting unto me in any meanes the Lord make me thankfull c. I tell thee thou wilt be in deede and God shall have all let the voluptuous man have his pleasures c. what is that to thee so thou have Christ For the just reproofe of all such as are yet in the gall of bitternesse and in the bonds of iniquity there will come a time when God will strive with thee no more the old man thinks he hath time enough to repent in and the young man thinks he needs not so much as enter into a Parley with godlinesse Esau went away when he had eat and drunk he esteemed not his birth-right I have heard some goe away with this resolution when they are married then they will live thus and thus c. Suffer me first to go bury my Father c. Master Minister you speak well I like your counsell but I have a rich Uncle and he hath no childe and I am likely to be his heire but he cannot abide a Puritan of all the men in the world and if I do not humour him I shall never have a Foot of his Land let me bury him first when Father and Friends are dead then the children must provide for themselves and then they will seek after God and repent and by this time they grow old and though they cannot make so good a shew as others yet their hearts are as good as the best But stay a while all is not gold that glisters alas poor souls they were given over many years ago this is also the sin of young men and women for the most part and this is the great sin of England the sin of many Gentlemen and Gentlewomen God must pardon when they call and that must not be till they be old and then in all post-haste send they to and for master Priest and he must bring God to them or them to God but the God of Heaven and earth cannot endure this mockerie For terrour to all wicked and ungodly men woe woe woe that ever they were borne that are thus given over and of these there are two sorts Some are insensible and some sensible The insensible are they who die like stones as did Nabal We have many King Harry Protestants Others are sensible God hath opened the eye of their soules and hath let them read the red letters of the Gospell It is a heavie thing for old friends to part so Acts 20. 38. They grieved most in that he said you shall see my face no more so when soule and body part it is heavie but when the soul and God part it is lamentable when God takes his leave never to be seen more then whether thou look upward or downward there is nothing but amazement and astonishment If thou look upward there is the anger of God if downward there is the bottomlesse pit if on the right hand thou shalt see all his mercies which could not allure thee if on the left hand all his Judgements which could not terrifie thee if before thee the black day if behind thee the Devils this will be fearfull I remember a Story of an adulterate woman her Conscience pricking her she determined to repent but God in the mean time did visit her so sore that she lay crying out oh my time my time Another time a covetous woman her House being on fire she to save her goods left her child in the Cradle but a neighbour of hers hearing it crie tooke it away she afterwards remembring her child ran about crying Oh my childe my childe and would not be comforted So when the fire and indignation of the Lord breaks out if not now yet at the last day it will then the parties against whom it breakes will crie Oh my soul my soul what will become of thee my soul It had been better I had never been born for neither Mercies Judgements nor the Word could allure me oh woe is me Now the condition of such is miseracle in three respects First because if God forsake thee all forsakes thee when thou liest a dying thou sendest for the Minister and thou wouldest faine have a word of comfort from him but alas if thou dost not receive comfort from Heaven how can the Minister comfort thee If thy outward Estate faile Friends may help but if they faile there is a God in Heaven and he will help but if he go away then all help is gone Secondly when God goes restraining grace goes this was Sauls case and you may observe that such as have been enlightened and fall away fall into one of these three sinnes either into the hands of the world and that is their Master or else into the sinnes of uncleannesse or into the spirit of malice to persecute them that are holy Thirdly if God leave us then common protection leaves us we are left to the clutches of all things both in Heaven and earth your houses are left unto you desolate Matth. 23. 38. All the creatures are up in armes against us the stiles we goe over look up to Heaven and say Master shall we break his neck the Horse we ride on says Master shall I throw him down to destruction thou knowest that he hates thee and thine So the aire we breath in and all Creatures are readie when the Lord gives the watchword to lay us in the goal Conscience will witness against us oh what will become of such men I will tell you either the world heales them up or else some carnall companion saith you have been a good neighbour you have kept a good house amongst us c. tush tush man it may prove a lye for all this I but the Minister tells me so pish pish as
Spirit of Christ he is none of Christs now if Christ be in you the body is dead if you consider the body as it hath relation unto sinne Again if you live after the flesh you shall dye verse 13. as if he should have said if your flesh be alive in you if your pride live in you and if your infidelity live in you if your hardnesse of heart live in you if your wrath c live in you and if you walke after these you shall surely die he meaneth not a temporall death for so they must doe howsoever they live but his meaning is they shall die eternally but if you mortify the deedes of the body by the spirit you shall live so then it is plaine there is no life of Christ to bee had so long as you retain your sinnes and therefore sinne must bee mortified First because Christ is a Saviour and hence he is called Jesus Matth. 1. 21. for he shall save his people from their sinnes if therefore Christ doe not save thee from thy sins and if by the power of Christ thou mortifie not thy sinnes and give them a deadly blow assure thy selfe he will never be a Jesus unto thee It is true indeed Christ dyed for sinners but it was not to let them goe on in sinne and therefore if thou goe on in sinne it is for thy damnation and not for thy salvation for he will first save thee from thy sinnes or else he will never save thee from hell so then consider if thy sinnes bear sway in thee if they doe then know thou art delivered up unto the power of thy sinnes and to everlasting darknesse For Christ is the true Physitian of the soule and you know that the Physitian doth not bring a potion to put it unto deaths mouth to kill death and so to save the sicke person alive no but hee putteth it into the sicke mans mouth to kill the ill humours that are in his body that so hee might not fall into the hands of death so Christ came not to quench the flames of hell by his spirituall Physicke but to let his Physicke fall upon the heart and soule of man to save him from hell Therefore unlesse the bloud of Christ doe mortifie thy sinnes and crucifie thy lusts there is no hope ever to get Christ to save thee from hell and everlasting damnation This is a true saying saith the Apostle and worthy to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and wicked men like it well indeede For saith the drunkard I am a wicked man yet Christ came to save me The whoremonger saith I am an uncleane person yet Christ came to save me The swearer will say Christ came to save sinners and therefore I hope he will save me too No no Christ came to save sinners that is such as were sinners but now are none they have and doe repent Jesus Christ came to save sinners saith the Apostle whereof I am chiefe I was a blasphemer and a persecuter but now I am not Hence then is the faithfull saying Christ came to save sinners not still sinning No before Paul was injurious a persecuter and lived in ignorance and unbeleefe but now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was wonderfully abundant through Faith and love towards him so that the grace of God hath appeared to draw men out of blindnesse and ignorance therefore to say that Christ came to save such as live in their sins and will live in them as in sins of drunkeness prophaness or uncleaness is a rotten saying and this onely is the faithfull saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners in whom the power of sinne is broken therefore if ever we looke to have benefit or interest by Christ we must mortify our earthly members Secondly because it is impossible for sinne and grace to live and subsist in one subject it is impossible that they should ever stand together and be in a man at one and the same time it cannot be that one and the same creature can have the life of a swine and the life of a man for if he have the soule of a swine he cannot have the soul of a man for they are two contrary distinct lives and where the one is the other cannot be It is like hot water and cold if it be cold it cannot be hot if it be hot it cannot be cold Even so the life of sinne and the life of grace are two contraries and therefore they that walke in their sinnes walke contrary to God Now the Lord saith if you walke contrary to me I will walke contrary unto you Levit. 26. and two contraries we know cannot goe together He that walks in sinne walkes contrary unto God but he that goes on in the waies of grace he walks towards God Now it is impossible to walk towards Dover and towards London at one and the same time for every steppe he goeth forward to the one it carries him backward from the other so then if ever we will have the life of grace we must forsake our sinnes as it was with the house of Saul and David Sauls house grew weaker and Davids stronger so must it be with sin and grace as grace growes stronger so sinne must grow weaker as grace goes up so sinne must go down And as Saul told David he would not give him Michal his daughter to wife unlesse he brought unto him an hundred fore-skinnes of the Philistines Even so the Lord saith that he will not marry the Lord Jesus Christ unto any soule unlesse he bring the fore-skinne of every lust hee must circumcise the foreskinne of his pride of his covetousnesse of his prophanenesse this must bee the offering and condition of marriage unto Christ even the circumcision of the heart and the mortification of all the corruptions Thirdly because else it is impossible to enter into heaven if we mortify not our sinnes a man can never be capable of glory hereafter that doth not mortifie his sinnes here in this life Suppose a wicked man should enter into heaven it is impossible that he should delight in heaven if he were there You will thinke this a strange point but give me leave to explain it a little I say that a wicked man if he were in heaven he could finde no delight there As for example take a beast for so is every man by his own knowledge in regard of the life of grace as saith the Prophet Jeremy though a man take an Oxe or an Asse and bring him unto the Kings table and set before him all the delicates which appertain unto Kings let him have a dinner before him that cost an hundred pounds yet he had rather be in the fields among his fellowes eating grasse or set a Crowne of gold upon a beasts head he will not regard it but cast it off into the mire for
hearken unto instruction and give ear unto councel now whiles that the Lord offers it unto you that so you may not harden your hearts any more but may hear and obey that your souls may live and so coming together to this holy and blessed Communion for the better and not for the worse you may return home with the blessing of children THE DUTIE OF COMMUNICANTS OR Examination required of every COMMUNICANT In a SERMON preached By that Vigilant and Painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Pastor of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford EXAMINATION Required in every COMMUNICANT A SERMON preached by Master WILLIAM FENNER Minister of GODS Word 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. IN the later part of this Chapter the Apostle treats of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and first he reproves the Corinthians for their unworthy coming to it as we see in verse 18. There were Errors and Schismes contempt of the poor drunkennesse excesse disorder and unprofitablenesse in the duties of God they waxed worse and worse by the Sacrament All these and sundry other abuses were among them so that they did not eat the Lords Supper aright as they ought Secondly he reduceth them back to the first prime institution of it by Jesus Christ as we see in verse 23. that hereby they might both see how grievously they had abused the Sacrament and likewise see how they might sanctifiedly use it Thirdly he shews the danger of unworthy receivers and this he sets out two wayes First by the grievousnesse of the sinne such a person makes himself guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord as we see verse 27. Secondly by the doleful consequence that follows upon it He eats and drinks damnation to himself as we see verse 29. Now in this verse that I may not trouble you with speaking of any more matter than what is necessary for the present Theme he shews how we may prevent escape and avoyd this danger how we may take an order that we do not fal into this grievous sin that we do not plunge our selves into this grievous misery Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. A man must examine himself sift his own soul and labour to prepare himself before he dare to venture on this sacred businesse In these words before we set upon the particular handling of them we may observe that We must not rush upon the Sacrament There must somewhat be done before we can receive it Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. There are none of the Ordinances of God that a man may safely rush upon Wouldest thou offer any sacrifice to God but thou must stay first and examine thy self whether there be not something yet undone It may be thou hast offended God in something or other It may be thou art out with thy brother thou must first go and be reconciled to thy brother and then offer thy guift Matth. 5. So wouldst thou reprove thy neighbour It may be there be somewhat out of order some indisposednesse in thee thou art not yet in case to set on this duty it may be thou art faulty and guilty thy self it may be thou hast a beam in thine own eye First saith the Text pull the beam out of thine own eye and then thou mayest see clearly to pull the moat out of thy brothers eye Matth. 7. 5. So would'st thou reform thy outward man But it may be thy inward man is not reformed there is some lust in thy heart some pride in thy will some stubbornnesse in thy spirit some Idoll in thy bosome First cleanse the inside of the platter Matth. 23. 26. There is never an ordinance of God that can be done but there must be somewhat done first a man must do something before As in the choice of officers as Ministers as Deacons other Officers in the Church first they must be proved before they be chosen so in all the Ordinances of God Would we come to the Sacrament There is somewhat must be done first we must examine our selves and root out all unsanctifiednesse and indisposition that cannot stand with the right communicating in the Lords supper And so in every other good duty The reasons of this are First because naturally we are not invited guests we are not such as are invited to the Lords Supper we are children of wrath and as long as we are in such an estate we cannot come aright to the Communion This is childrens bread and it cannot be given to dogges Christ whensoever he sets his dainties before his people he tels us for whom they are Take eat this is my body that is broken for you This is the supper that is made for you as it is in this Chapter verse 24. First we must prove our selves invited guests It is true the Lord Christ invites every man to the Lords Supper but he invites him methodically he must be in such an estate but every man is not so fitted a man must be a member of Christ that means to partake of Christs death he must be one that is in Christ he must be able to prove that he is ingrafted into Christ he must be able to shew the mark of the Lord Christ on him As it is with the some of your great dinners and feasts in this City you have tickets and all that are admitted to the feast must shew their ticket before they are admitted So thou must be able to shew thy ticket that thou hast an invitation from Christ thou must have a mark and token from Christ that thou comest and comest with his warrant A second reason is though thou be invited it may be thou art not disposed If a man will do a thing that he is naturally indisposed to there must be somewhat done before of necessity So the Lords supper it is a thing that naturally we are indisposed unto therefore somewhat must of necessity be done first Naturally we are unholy we are unthankfull and carnall we are in our sinnes strangers from God and the Covenant of God and from the seal of the Covenant all this indisposition must be wrought out before we can comfortablely come hither If Christ would have the very Chamber first trimmed before he instituted the Passeover and the Sacrament much more will he have the soul disposed for him and the heart cleansed from all filthinesse If he that was of the Peace-offering being indisposed having his uncleannesse upon him was to be cut off from his people Levit. 7. 20. what will God doe to such people as come hither in their uncleanness and indisposition unsanctified and unqualified Thirdly suppose we were both invited and disposed yet