Creation because of the necessity of Divine Grace and the power of the Spirit of Christ that Power that made us at first and raised Christ from the Dead 'T is the necessity of that Power unto this Change that is the principal ground of this term Creation The Efficiency of it by the power of victorious Grace making us a willing and holy People in the day of his Power comprehending habitual Sanctification as the root and life of actual holiness The Excellency and Extent of this I might shew as to the inward and outward Man Heart and Life all the Powers of the Soul and Members of the Body and our whole Carriage Course and Behaviour And that this is common unto all the Children of God all that are created again in Christ Jesus all that are born from above If any Man be in Christ he is a new creature To this end III. Let us consider the certain and inseparable connexion between these two That all who are in Christ are and must be new Creatures Every real Christian he is in Christ Jesus his Union to Christ doth constitute him a living Member and his being a New Creature doth prove it The one is the Essence the other his Property but they are inseparable What makes a Man but the Union of Soul and Body What makes a Christian but the Union of the Soul with Christ How know we that a Man hath a Soul but by the Motions Actions Operations of a Reasonable Soul How know you that such a Professing Christian is United to Christ by his Spirit but by the Effects and Operations of this Spirit making such a Change in Heart and Life from which they may be denominated New Creatures Therefore they are said to walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit And at other times as the Foundation of this to be born of the Spirit and born from above so as the Divine Life and Likeness is introduced But more particularly 1. They who are thus spiritually united to Christ they must be new creatures because they partake of the Divine Spirit the same Spirit that formed Christ in the Womb of the Virgin hath formed the new Creature in all that are in Christ the same Spirit that quickned the dead Body of Christ and raised him from the Dead imploies the exceeding greatness af his Mighty Power towards them that believe and by Faith are united to him the same Spirit that carried out the Soul of Christ to go to God as a Father doth enable Believers to cry Abba Father For the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4.6 The same Spirit that led Christ into his Tryals and Temptations and brought him off with Victory doth the like for all the Followers of Christ They are partakers of his Spirit The blood of Christ cannot save those who are destitute of his Spirit The same Spirit of Holiness conforms them to the Image Life of God they are under the conduct of the same Spirit of Humility Meekness Love Charity Prayer Courage Resignation and the like which acted in Christ And this makes them like to him like him in their Judgments and Opinions of things like him in their Affections like him in their Designs and Ends and like him in a course of Actions by which they prosecute those Designs for the Glory of God I might shew their Resemblance and conformity in Graces unto Christ in the Rise of them in the Kinds of them in the Exercise of them All which depends upon their Participation of the same Spirit 2. They must be new Creatures if they are in Christ because the new Creature is an Imitation of Him It is a little Module of Christ in its Birth and a conformity to his Pattern in its Growth and fully so in its Perfection And therefore we read of coming to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4.12 All that are united to Christ are conformed to him Every Branch in him answers to the Root every Member suits to the holy Head in Heaven and in some measure doth resemble him That the Members of Christ should be of a contrary Temper to their Head is utterly impossible I might here urge the Imitation of Christ as becoming those who profess to be in him in several Instances as in the inward Delight which he took to do the will of his Father in his active Zeal for his Father's Glory in a patient submission to the hand of his Father tho' never so heavy in his firm Faith and Dependance on him under all Discouragements and in his Constancy and Perseverance to do good notwithstanding all the Hatred and Malice of the World c. 3. Because the New Creature is Represented in Scripture as a Conformity to the Death and Resurrection of Christ Philip. 3.10 By putting off the old man we dye unto Sin by putting on the new we are alive to God and live to Righteousness We are hereby changed into the Image of Christ and that good work begun which is to be finish'd and consummated in the Day of Christ Phil. 1.6 There is a Conformity to his Death and Sufferings in the mortification of Sin Our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 Gal. 5.24 And a conformity to his Resurrection in Heavenliness of Mind Col. 3.1 and in Newness of Life Rom. 6.4 4. Because nothing else will so prove our Vnion to Christ as to enable us to take Comfort in such a Priviledge no external Advantages whatsoever will do it For neither circumcision nor uncumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 The highest Profession of Religion without such a Change will not save thee Except a man be born again or from above he cannot enter into Heaven John 3.5 Neither can he be accepted of God or have fellowship with him 1 John 3.2 No External Duties or Performances will avail you without this You may Read and Hear and Pray and give Alms and do many other things and yet not be in Christ if you are not Regenerated Renewed and inwardly changed by the Power of the Divine Spirit If you are not made New Creatures you can never prove that you are in Christ You may be Baptized in the Name of the Sacred Trinity you may continue in the Bosom of the Church hear the sound of the glorious Gospel and receive the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper and yet not be united unto Christ You may have some lesser change from the grosser Pollutions of the World you may have some partial Reformation which is far short of being new Creatures some outward temporary change in your carriage conversation while the Heart is unrenewed In a word our present Fellowship and Communion with God our after Service and Obedience in the Fruits of Righteousness to the praise of God and our final Blessedness in the enjoyment of him do all depend upon this Change this new Creation And therefore be
word is truth Accordingly we find Sanctification is ascribed unto Faith in Christ as the true Messiah or a sound Belief of the Revelation he hath made Act. 15.9 Purifying the heart by Faith So that we are washed and sanctified through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ or by Christ known and beleived on as one means of it and by the Efficiency of the Spirit of God as the other whâ—ch I shall afterwards speak of In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God In discoursing of these words I shall therefore First Give some brief account of the Nature of this Change here exprest by being Washed Sanctified and Justified Secondly Of the two great Means whereby it is brought about the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God Thirdly Make some Improvement by Application especially to assist you in examining your selves in order to the Lord's Table that we may know whether we are in the number of such upon whom this Change is passed Whether we are Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God 1. Concerning the nature of this Change It is evident that the defiling nature of Sin is here supposed there could not otherwise be any need of Washing And we find it represented in Scripture by Spots and Blemishes by Mire and Vomit by the Blood and Pollution of a New-born Child by the most filthy dung and Excrements and whatsoever is reckoned the most vile and abominable Therefore whatsoever Excellencies and Ornaments whatsoever Priviledges and Advantages an Unsanctified Person may partake of to recommend him to the eyes of the World he is yet a Vile Person loathed and abominable in the sight of God 2. Consider that by Nature we are All as an Unclean thing That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean John 3.6 Rom. 3.10 Job 14.4 All the Purifications and Washings under the Law did suppose our inward Defilement and represent our need of Cleansing Whatever was injoyned by the Mosaick Institution of this kind which we find was very strictly charged and earnestly prest and indispensably required and the neglect of it most severely punished yet did but signifie and represent this Which proves our Sanctification necessary Tit. 3.5 He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost All Men are Defiled and Unclean by Nature and need to be Washed 3. We are all over Unclean from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot Universally diseased and polluted and so need to be Sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit Ephes 5.26 1 Thes 5.23 Isa 1.6 we read of the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit from which we are to be cleansed 2 Cor. 7.1 All the Powers of the Soul and all the Members of the Body are tainted Heart and Hand must be Cleansed the inward and outward Man Sanctified Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Jam. 4 8. 4. The Change therefore by Sanctification must be Universal in heart and life By the knowledge of God and affection to him of whom we were Ignorant and to whom before we were Disaffected by the Image of God recovered by participation of the Divine Nature and Life by the Law of God written on the Heart and expressed in the Conversation Holiness and Love to God must be the frame and temper of our Souls so that the Actings of it become easie pleasant and delightful The Old Man must be put off the New put on Old things be done away and all things become new New Principles new Ends new Motives new Rules new Comforts which will make an unspeakable difference between this Change and that Negative Religion and common Honesty which many may pretend to who are strangers to Regeneration There were many Philosophers and Sophists among these Corinthians who boasted of Purity and Reformation which came unexpressibly short of this Sanctification which I am now speaking of as owing to some other cause than the Spirit of Christ unto whom the production continuance and progress of this Sanctification is alone to be ascribed 5. It may farther be considered in its Begining or Progress or Consummation As begun by the Spirit of Life and Power from Christ as maintained and carried on by a continual influence from the same Spirit and the diligent use of God's appointed means Whereby the Lineaments of the Divine Nature are rendred more clear holy impressions more powerful and efficacious Whereby we go from strength to strength and are inabled to perfect holiness in the fear of God pressing on towards perfection to the fulness of the stature of the Man Christ Jesus till it be consummate in Heaven when by seeing Christ as he is we shall be made like him and be presented to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing 6. For the sake of those who intend to come to the Lord's Table let me add That such Washing and Sanctification is requisite to our Communion with Christ in the special Ordinances of the Gospel particularly that of the Lord's Supper This is intimated by our Lord in the 13th of John v. 7 8. in his words to Peter If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me It must have a Spiritual meaning because notwithstanding the external Washing Christ says All of them were not clean And soon after this he instituted his Supper to the due participation whereof it is necessary we be Washed and Sanctified For we cannot otherwise have a Right to the Benefits purchased by his Blood which are Sealed to us in that Ordinance and we can have no Communion with him there till partakers of the Spirit of Christ Unless we are Sanctified by that Spirit we have no interest in him no Right to his Supper and so we can have no Communion with him if we are not cleansed from our Filthiness if we have spots upon us that are not the spots of God's Children unto whom this Feast doth particularly belong And therefore I may say as Peter to Simon Magus Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right with God neither can it be if this Change do not precede The Enquiry therefore is highly seasonable whether we are thus Washed and Sanctified or not But before I give the Characters of such Persons it will be expected I should speak somewhat concerning the double means of this Change In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God II. The double Means of this Change by the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First We are Purified and Washed By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by Faith in him To this purpose Consider First That all the Arguments laid down in Scripture to press Sanctification and Holiness of Heart and Life have influence
of Prayer and other parts of Divine Worship All these will aggravate your sin But the Possibility of doing other Services of Religion amiss is not counted a sufficient Reason for the not doing ' em After all such pretences and excuses there is too much Reason to think that the most are afraid of coming to this Ordinance lest the preparing for it and the consequent Duties which they know are required should interrupt their Sensual Pleasures or their inordinate Prosecution of the World and oblige them to leave their sins which as yet they have no mind to part with Such as these ought not to come indeed they have other work first to do They are first called to Repentance and Faith in Christ and afterwards to the Communion of his Body and Blood They are called to understand and own their Baptismal Covenant by the Answer of a good Conscience and then to renew it at the Table of the Lord This Priviledge belongs not to them till they have truly repented and forsaken sin and yielded themselves to be the Lord's 3. Object But others are ready to say I would come and have had many a Thought about it But I doubt of my own Sincerity and the truth of my Grace I know it is Childrens Bread and I am not certain I am one of that number And does not the Apostle tell us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat Now I doubt whether I am passed from Death to Life or no May such a one as I venture to come who have no Assurance that I am in a State of Grace Are all those unworthy and unfit to come who come in any other State of Soul than they think they may safely dye in Several things may be said in Answer to this 1. That many mistake the Nature of true Faith and Sincerity and think if they have not Assurance of the Love of God that therefore they have no true Faith They make saving Justifying Faith to consist in believing the special Love of Christ to their Souls in believing that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Christ But this is a dangerous Mistake which one would wonder under such clear Light as we enjoy should be so common For how unspeakable is the Difference between the Truth of Grace and the Knowledge of its being true between a hearty Consent to the Terms of the Covenant and the Reflex Act of Faith so as to be able to say I know my Interest in the Covenant Many a false Professor may flatter himself that his Faith is true when it is not and many an Vpright Christian may doubt and question Whether he be one or no But the Latter shall one Day be ashamed of their Fears as the Former of their Hopes The Lord knoweth who are his when many that are His do not know it themselves And if a Minister of Christ will ask a few home close Questions of such doubting trembling Christians by which their hearty consent to the Covenant may be judged of Their Answers plainly shew That they believe in Christ and love him above all the World and regard no Iniquity in their hearts And yet will continue to doubt of their Integrity though the Bent of their Hearts and the Endeavours of their Lives do abundantly prove that they are Sincere 2ly However it may ordinarily be known whether your Faith be of the right kind or no and whether you are Vpright towards God or no. We are bid to Examine and Search and try and prove our selves in order to it that we may find the Mark and Impress of God upon our Souls the Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit there and so have Rejoycing in our selves and not in another It is so far from being unlawful to collect Comfort from the Marks and Signs of our Sanctification and to prove our Vnion to Christ and Justification that way that it is the very Method of the Gospel to direct us to know our State towards God by thus looking inward to find the Image of Christ upon the Soul and by observing the Fruits of the Spirit in a godly Conversation Such doubting Christians would do well to Consult some Faithful Minister of Christ and Represent the State of their own Case what they feel that so they may be told what it doth signifie and be help'd to judge of themselves It is granted that you know how it is with you better than any Minister can do For as * Mr. Baxter One well expresses it A Patient knows better than any Physician what he feels but a Physician when he hears it can tell from what Cause it comes and what is the Nature of the Disease and what is like to come of it and what is the proper Method for a Cure There is a great deal of Reason why you should expect and hope for the Resolution of your Doubts in such Cases by consulting some Minister of Christ especially him under whose Ministry you have chosen to place your selves as the Helper of your Faith and Joy 3. The Penitent Christian though he want Assurance is Accepted of God and hath Right to this Ordinance whether he believe it or no. If you unfeignedly consent to the Covenant of Grace and with an humble penitent Sense of your past Sins are willing and desirous to close with Christ on the Terms of the Gospel That God shall be your God and Christ your Redeemer and Lord and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier and Guide If you are willing heartily willing to give up your selves to be instructed ruled and saved by him This is the very Heart of saving Faith And if this be your Character you are the Members of Christ and ought to come to the Lord's Table For though your timorousness and present Scruples may make you Suspend for a-while they cannot deprive you of your Right to the Ordinance nor disoblige you from the Duty of coming to it For All such who unfeignedly consent to the Covenant they may and ought to come to signifie their Consent and to receive the Seal of the Covenant 4. Every Christian ought to endeavour to know his State lest they be distracted between the Hopes of God's Acceptance of them on the one hand and the Fears of coming Vnworthily on the other Because they doubt of their Worhtiness they fear to come And because they have some good Hope they dare not stay away lest they neglect their Duty The proper Remedy is to Resolve Unfeignedly to please God and obey him in this and all other Instances and then do this in Remembrance of Christ as what all his Followers are obliged to do It may be that Ignorance of thy State from whence thy Doubts proceeds is owing to the Neglect of Self Examination and the use of proper Means to know thy Self 5. It may yet be Adviseable for some melancholy tempted Persons under some perplexing Doubts to stay away for a-while till they have competently over-come their Fear lest
and force according to our Faith The Arguments from God from Christ from our selves from the Divine Nature from the Example and Life of Christ from his redeeming Grace and dying Love from his precious Promises c. They all depend upon our Faith and have no force or power any further than we believe in Christ and heartily embrace the Gospel-Revelation Secondly It is by the Name of Christ or by Faith in him that we are Sanctified because in order to our Sanctification Christ is to be eyed and improved several wayes First The Blood of Christ must be eyed in order to our Sanctification Our Faith must be employed upon a Crucified Saviour As his Blood is able to cleanse us from all sins Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood Who gave himself for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse us by the washing of Water by the Word Rev. 1.5 Ephes 5.25 For as the Apostle argues from the taking away of Ceremonial Uncleanness by the Legal Purifications If the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean availed to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offered up himself to God purge our Consciences from dead Works Heb. 9.13 Accordingly we find The Sanctification of the Spirit connected with the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus or as the purchase of his Blood 1 Pet. 1.2 Secondly Faith makes use of the Intercession of Christ and his Prayer in Heaven for this Effect The whole fruit of the Death of Christ whereof the Sanctifying Spirit is one Principal part is given out by the Father upon the Intercession of Christ What he merited on the Cross by his great Sacrifice he prays in Heaven may be applyed to Particular Souls as the fruit of it and upon the account of the everlasting value of his Death his Intercession founded on it is always Prevalent Thirdly His Promise and Covenant whereby he hath engaged to cleanse us from all Iniquity and to sprinkle clean Water upon us Ezek. 36.25 He hath promised his Blood shall be a Fountain open for sin and uncleaness Zach. 13.1 That Christ shall save us from our sins and be exalted to give Repentance and to turn us from our Iniquities and bring us back to God c. Fourthly Hereupon our Faith must eye the Spirit of Christ as the great Sanctifier of Souls and the Author of all our Purity This great Benefit which is promised in the Word purchas'd by Christ upon his Cross and bestowed granted and given out upon his Intercession is applyed by the Efficiency of the Eternal Spirit He Sanctifies our Hearts and Natures and continually vouchsafes holy Influences of Light and Life and Power answerable to the Duties Difficulties and Necessities of particular Souls in every Age and Place of the World This brings me to consider the other means of our Sanctification viz. Secondly By the Spirit of our God And that he doth two ways First By removing our Defilement and Pollution and Secondly As the Author of Actual Grace and Holiness First by the removing our defilement and pollution and accordingly he is promised sometimes as a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap Mal. 3.2 and sometimes under the notion of Water Isa 4.4 Because all things under the Law were purged from their Typical Uncleanness either by Fire or Water What would abide the Fire was to be Purified by Fire and what would not was to be Cleansed by Water Numb 3.23 And here I might consider a Three-fold Defilement wherewith we are chargable First That of our Nature by Original Sin Secondly That which is contracted by Actual Sin Thirdly The Pollution and Defilement that cleaves to our best Duties So far as we are delivered from our Pollution as to either of these The Holy Ghost in the vertue of the Blood of Christ is the Author of it Secondly We may consider the Holy Spirit as the Author of Positive Holiness and Grace in the Soul and show First How he convinceth us of our need of it Secondly That he enables us to pray for it Thirdly To beleive the Value and Vertue of the Blood of Christ as able to procure it Fourthly How he makes use of the Word as the ordinary means of our Sanctification And Fifthly Sometimes enables us to improve Afflictions to promote the influence and efficacy of the Word to this purpose APPLICATION First From the consideration of what these Corinthians were before this Change we learn that some of the Worst and Vilest of sinners may be call'd and sanctified and find Mercy with God Such were some of you such Idolaters such Drunkards such Extortioners such Adulterers c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things such sins were some of you to express the heighth of their Wickedness Sins of a Crimson and Scarlet Die may be cleansed and forgiven The most polluted sinner may be purified by the Blood of Christ The most loathsome Diseases may be healed by our heavenly Physician The most unpolished Stones may be framed by the Spirit for a spiritual Building a Manasses a Mary Magdalen may be changed and justified God will hereby magnifie the Truth and Authority of his Word and the Power of his Spirit He will hereby bear Testimony to the Freeness of his Love and the Riches of his Grace He will hereby hearten and encourage the greatest Offenders to hope for pardon upon Repentance Isaiah 55.7 Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous Man his Thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will abundantly pardon him He will hereby encourage Ministers in their Work though among a dissolute and perverse People For we preach in Hope that if the vilest of Men can but so far break the Snare of the Devil as to hear the Word we preach to them in hope of success We know not whose Hearts God will touch It may be the most Unlikely Person in the whole Assembly shall feel the Power of the Word Secondly What Love and Thankfulness do we owe to Christ And how should we Admire and Praise him for his Blood and Spirit unto which we owe this great Blessing of Sanctification That there is a Fountain opened for Sin and Vncleanness for the Men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for all Sorts and degrees of Persons and kinds of Sins That His Blood cleanseth from all sins Not only did so formerly but does so still Thirdly Learn where to go for this Benefit even to Jesus Christ. Beg to be Sanctified through the Merits of his Death and the Influence of his Spirit endeavour to be sensible of thy Filthiness and cry out Vnclean unclean Lord wash me throughly from my sins and purge me from all my pollutions Apply the Word of God and especially the Promises of the Gospel in order to thy being cleansed from all the Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Fourthly What a Difference doth
your Lord he will then be your God And all Blessings Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are comprized in that You are then his Jewels his Treasure his Portion his Inheritance his peculiar People If he be your God O how dear how valuable how precious are the Relations Priviledges and Blessings that this contains What need you fear What can you want What can you ask more What can dismay afflict or trouble such a Soul Why art thou cast down O my Soul Why art thou disquieted within me May you say If you can say with David in another place The Lord is my Portion and the Lot of mine Inheritance Or if you can say with Thomas here My Lord my God All things then are yours his Spirit his Providence his Attributes his Promises Life Death Things present Things to come Grace here Heaven hereafter All things yours if you be Christ's and he be your Lord and your God Blessed then are you though you have not seen him with your bodily Eyes or thrust your Hand into his Wounded Side or felt the print of the Nails in his Crucified Body Yet having now by hearing believed on him and loved him you shall see him hereafter in Glory and Triumph and be for ever with him to behold his Glory and to partake of it Amen A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer Our Father O Most Merciful and Gracious Father who hast made us out of nothing by thy Powerful Word and form'd us after thine own Image but we sought out Sinful Inventions and might justly have perisht in our Apostasie We owe Thee Homage as the Father of our Spirits as the God of our Lives as the Author of our Beings much more as thou hast called us into thy Family and Favour by Jesus Christ as Redeemed by him and Regenerated by thy Spirit and Priviledged with the Dignity of Children and may call Thee Our Reconciled Father Oh what manner of Love is this that such Rebellious Miserable Creatures as we should be called the Sons of God and treated as such Holy Father we have sinned against Heaven and before Thee and are utterly Unworthy to be entertain'd as thy Servants much more to be cherisht and spared and pittied and provided for as thy Children and have the promise and hope of the Heavenly Inheritance As the Children of the First Adam we are Children of Wrath and Heirs of Hell in Bondage to Sin and serving divers Lusts the Works of our Father the Devil we have done But by thy Redeeming Love and Grace through Jesus Christ we are set Free from that Slavery and partake of the Liberty and Priviledge of Sons in thy House and Family Oh let the Spirit of thy Son breath continually in our hearts and teach us to cry Abba Father as created by thy Power and Goodness and reconciled and saved by thy Mercy after we had undone our selves Give us that Faith and humble Confidence in Prayer by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication that we may go to thee in all our Necessities as Children to a Father and come with boldness to a Throne of Grace We beg the Holy Spirit of Grace to that end which thou art more ready to give to them who value it and ask it earnestly as sensible of their need of it than any Father on Earth is to give Bread to his Children that ask it of him O let this Name of Father and our consequent Relation to thee be our Glory and our Refuge our Defence and Guard the Principle of our Obedience and Love to thee and of Charity Kindness and Affection to all our Brethren who are Children of the same Father and Adopted Heirs of the same Inheritance And let all those whom thou wilt own for thy Children most Gracious Father be united to thee and to one another in holy Bands of Love and Concord bearing with one another wherein they differ let them heartily joyn together to advance the Honour of thy Holy Name to celebrate thy Praise and promote thy Truth and Worship Grant unto them and us the help of thy Spirit that we may so Pray and Live O God of the Spirits of all Flesh the Father of Glory the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ teach us so to ask as thou mayst please to grant teach us to Worship thee in Spirit and in Truth that our persons may be well-pleasing in thy sight and our Prayers be accepted through the Great Mediator We would ask nothing but in his Name for the manner so nothing but what he hath advised and taught us to Desire and Seek Who art in Heaven And since thou dwellest in Heaven though the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee that is thy Throne and the Earth thy Footstool thou beholdest whatsoever we do or say or think and wilt call us to an Account Let us reverence thy Glorious Majesty Thine All-seeing Eye and thy Soveraign Power And raise our Affections above Earthly Things that we may seek Heaven as our Country where our Father is and our Redeemer and where we hope to possess the Inheritance prepared for us by Everlasting Love through the Purchase and Merit of thine Eternal Son who owns himself our Elder Brother and who when he was on Earth was concerned for nothing more than for the Glory of Thy Name Therefore in Imitation of his Example in Conformity to his Counsel and Obedience to his Command we beg Thy Name may be Sanctified Hallowed by thy Name Thou hast proclaimed thy Name unto the World and they who know it will trust in Thee to be a God Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of Great Kindness Abundant in Goodness and in Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and that will not utterly destroy his People though he do correct Thou art worthy of all our Honour Homage and Obedience and that all the World should Adore thee and Glorifie Thy Holy Name that every Creature in Heaven and Earth should tremble at thine Irresistible Power admire thine Eternal Wisdom and love thine Infinite Goodness O that the Glory of thy Holy Name may extinguish in us the Desire and Love of Worldly Honour and Inteterest that we may 〈◊〉 it our highest dignity to ad◠〈…〉 serve the Purposes of thy Glory as the Ultimate End of all Things Let us be deeply sensible of thy Dishonour in the World by our own sins and the sins of Others Let us Grieve and Mourn to observe the Prophanation of thy Name and the Violation of thy Authority when thy Laws are transgrest thy Institutions despised thy Orders contradicted thy Majesty Affronted thy Glory bespattered and trampled on The Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and the Remembrance of Thee In thy Name we Rejoyce and put our Trust O let us not dishonour it by unsuitable Affections and Actions Let our Lives be answerable to the dignity of our Relation and to what we know and profess to believe
assured None can be in Christ without it none in Christ so as to have any special distinguishing saving Benefit by him Application 1. Are none in Christ but new creatures How many then must be excluded How many of excellent and laudable Qualifications of great Attainments and high Professions and moral Accomplishments must yet he excluded and shut out from having any part in Christ because they are yet Strangers to this New creation and consequently are not in Christ but under condemnation Meer Civility and a plausible inoffensive Carriage is quite another thing We need but view the Lives and Actions of the generality of such as are called Christians to confirm this That the Number is but small of those who are in Christ How few have had any awakening Convictions about these things and many such miscarry 2. How miserable is the condition of all unrenewed Souls without a change they are excluded from all saving benefit by the Redeemer They are not in Christ and therefore are under the Curse and Condemnation which by union to Christ we are delivered from Rom. 8.1 Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye are Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.6 All our hopes of Life and Salvation by Christ depend upon it The Guilt of all our Sins doth otherwise lye upon us And all the black Clouds of Divine Vengeance hang over our heads The Wrath of God bides upon us as if there were no Christ no Gospel And there is nothing between us and Everlasting Ruine but a little Breadth 3. Then none but New Creatures have a Right to the Lord's Table For the invited Guests are such who are in Christ The Covenant of Grace cannot be sealed in that Ordinance to those who are not under the Bond of the Covenant The Benefits purchased by Christ are not confirmed at his Table unto those who are none of his I grant there is an Unworthiness as to present frame that even those who are in Christ may have but it is the Unworthiness as to state that I am speaking of Such as are not in Christ having nothing to do to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood lest they eat and drink Judgment and Condemnation to themselves He that doth not truly Repent cannot be truly Interested in the Promise of Pardon and therefore cannot have a Right to the Seal of it They are dead in Sin cannot receive Nourishment by this spiritual Food The least that can be said as one observes is this That it is in vain and to no good purpose for such can no more receive Christ in the Sacrament than a Chicken that should come into the Assembly and pick up some of the crumbs of the bread from the ground after Consecration can be said to receive the Body of Christ But the Danger is unspeakable of Eating and Drinking unworthily for such eat and drink Judgment to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body You may desire to come to this Table and you may say enough it may be to satisfie a Minister of Christ who cannot judge of your Heart and Conscience doth not know the whole of your Life But you your selves must look to it that you be in Christ and that you evidence you are so by being New Creatures We can but Warn and Admonish you and offer our Assistance and help At your own peril be it if you come and yet live in any known Sins and cherish the Enemies of Christ though you profess to be his and presume upon all the Priviledges of his House and Family as real members of it But I will yet add That those who are in Christ if they would have Assistance and Grace from the Spirit of Christ to walk as New Creatures they ought on the other hand to take heed how they absent themselves from that Ordinance If they would either have the comfort of their being in Christ or would have supplies of Grace to walk as New creatures they should be frequent and serious in Sacramental Duties Have you not weak Graces to be strengthened and manifold Corruptions to be more subdued Inordinate Love to this World more Crucified Do you not need more Ability to discharge several Duties and overcome divers Temptations Do you not desire to be more Partakers of the Image and Life and Spirit of Christ Is your likeness to Christ so compleat your Faith in all its branches so active and firm your Love to Christ so warm your Heavenly Desires so fervent your Patience and Resignation so perfect your Obedience so exact your standing so sure that you need no more Influence of the Spirit of Christ Should not your own necessity oblige you to be frequent in this work besides the Authority of your Lord which is motive enough to those that are in Christ And he requires you should remember his Dying Love this way and show forth his death tiâ—l he come It is proper work for us to begin the year with To renew our Covenant with the Lord by partaking of the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood giving up our selves again to be the Lords with renewed Repentance for the sins of the Year past and repeated Exercises of Faith for Pardon and Peace and Grace and Righteousness and Life 4. The next Vse may be of Examination To try whether we are in Christ or no by inquiring whether we are New creatures or not Your Love to Christ your Likeness to him your Subjection to him your Fruitfulness in him will discover it Are old things done away with you and all things become new Is there still the old Darkness and Blindness that was upon your minds or Are you Light in the Lord Doth the old Deadness Security and Carelessness remain upon your Hearts and Consciences old Thoughts and old Designs old Discourses and Conversations as little Savour in the things of God as ever As little Victory over the Temptations of the World and the Flesh as formerly Are your Wills as rebellious and stubstorn as ever Are your Desires after Vanity and your Affections towards Earthly Things the same as formerly So for your Hopes and Fears Joys and Sorrows What Change hath been wrought Does fleshly Appetite and Sense and Carnal Interest sway and govern as much as ever Or is there a New Creation wrought in you Have you a new Mind and Judgment a new Heart and new Affections Do you walk in Newness of Life Is your Internal Principle changed and the External Rule of your Actions changed too Are you no longer conformed to the World but transformed by the renewing of your Minds Rom. 12.2 Is that sin hated and crucified that before was indulged Is that Saviour prized for to them that believe he is precious and the Chiefest of ten thousands that before was slighted Do you delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man Do you find the Holy Law of God written in your Hearts setting you against every sin in your selves and others Do you walk in the Spirit and after
his Blood that he might redeem you to himself that he might purchase to himself a People zealous of good works False are we to all this if we do not walk as New creatures There are but two Motives with which I shall enforce this The Text furnishes me with one And the Season of the Year with the other 1. The Motive in the Text Old things are done away Behold all things are become New I shall not consider it as amplifying the other expression and so refering to the Change of those that are iâ— Christ and consequently of like import with the Phrase a New creature but as an Argument to urge and enforce it And accordingly understand these words as relating to the Obligation of the Law of Moses That that is now ceased Those old things are now done away The Shadows of the Ceremonial Law are expired at the coming of the Substance which is Christ Colos 2.20 We are said to be dead with Ch ist from the Rudiments or Elements of the World Respecting material and worldly things either to do or forbear them For of that kind were the Ordinances and Institutions of the Ceremonial Law They were the first and lowest Lessons fitted to the Infancy of the Church But now the Kingdom of Heaven is come by the Erection of the Gospel-Church a Kingdom which shall not be shaken and the Orders and Institutions of it never be changed Now a more noble and spiritual worship is to take place those old things are past away No wonder if the Scaffolds of Ceremonies be taken down when the Church of God the Spiritual Building is brought by Christ to its full height Now all things are become new by Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant The Testament he left us is a New Testament He rent the Vail of the Temple in twain when he died and put an end by his own Sacrifice of himself unto all the Sacrifices and Services of the Jewish Temple And therefore it is observable that the first time he spake of his Death was in the Temple But after his Death he never entred into it though we read that he was in Jerusalem after his Resurrection We have a New Sanctuary an Heavenly one A New High Priest of a better Order than that of Aaron New Heavens and a New Earth as the. Gospel State is called A New Light to inlighten the World even the Knowledge of God in the Face of Christ A New Sun even Christ the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Beams A New Adam after the Image of God the express Image of his Person and the Brightness of his Glory in whom all fulness dwells We have a New Coelestial Paradise into which the Old Serpent shall never enter A New Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations A New Eve the Church of Christ Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh formed of his Blood and animated by his Spirit We have New Sacrifices New Sacraments a New Circumcision a New Passover a New Jerusalem a New Temple Behold all things are made New And shall not we that profess to be the Disciples and Followers of Christ by whom all things are thus made New Answer all this by being New creatures that we may serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7.6 That is that we being delivered from the manifold difficult Impositions of the Mosaick Law all which we could not fulfil and from the Curse upon those which did not we should now serve God with new Hearts and Lives by the Spirit of Christ according to the Law of Grace 2. There is yet another Argument from the Circumstance of â—ime In the begining of the New Year which makes the Exhortation seasonable to press you to be New creatures And when may I expect to be attentively heard upon such a Subject if not at such a season when I may hope several of you have had serious reflexions this very Morning upon Time and Eternity from the Conclusion of the last Year and the beginning of another to awaken your Thankfulness for the Mercies of the year past and your Repentance for the sins of it and your good Resolutions and Self-Dedication to the Lord for the future It will be sad if the Experience of another Year do not teach us some Vnderstanding when day unto day uttereth Knowledg and night unto night might teach us Wisdom The very thoughts of our hasty Time measured by Years and Months and Weeks and Days should put us upon considering how irrevocable and past recovery is the last year and all our former years it being utterly impossible to call back Yesterday Almighty Power may stop the course of the Sun as in the time of Joshua but to make that which is past to be present and not past is a Contradiction and cannot be done And oh how small a point doth separate and distinguish that which is past from that which is yet to come They are divided by one Moment by an Instant that is almost nothing by that which we cannot speak of without losing it being gone while we open our Mouths to say the least word about it So near is Death to Life The very nature of Time it self may teach us this And certainly the changes of the year past should be very instructive and give us many Reflexions according to our Sins and Mercies according to the Trials and Exercises we have been carried through this last year May not all of you look back upon many Changes the preceding year of several kinds those especially which God hath made amongst us by Death We are called to review how many of them we knew and were acquainted with with whom we familiarly conversed not a Year since are now silent in the dust While their immortal Spirits are some in Heaven and others in the place of Torment And of the multitude that have dyed this last year could we but separate the corrupted putrifying Relicks of those Persons whom we Honoured Valued and Loved from the rest of the Deceased and view their Bodies as now they are How affecting would be the Spectacle to think what they were less than a year ago and to consider what now they are as to their Bodies and the greater change there is as to their Souls But even as to the former let us compare in our thoughts the Figure they lately made while acting their Parts upon this Stage as living Men and Women amongst us What a Change is made in a few Months as to every of them And the like may be our own Case within a few Months from this moment long before the end of this year we now begin For consider it Christians This last year that is now ended is one great step we have every one made towards the Grave Another such may bring us home O that we may be found ready Who knows but as the last Year carried off
a Scene and a Part and have only a Form of Godliness but must expect to pay dear for your Solemn Hopocrisie Let me therefore Advise you to three things in your Retirement after the Publick Worship and Solemn Ordinances of Christ as the End and Reason for which I will press it 1 That you retire in order to the confession of Sin and the Exercise of Repentance That when you have finished the publick work of a Sabbath or come from any special Ordinance of the Gospel by after Meditation you would reflect upon your selves and take notice of your Defects and Failings Discomposures and Distempers of Mind What unsuitableness of Spirit there has been to heavenly Mysteries or what unprepared Addresses we have made to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth the roving of our Fancies the vanity of our Thoughts c. We should humble our selves on such Occasions That we attended with no more Reverence and Diligence to the Word of God That we did not receive the Truth in the Love of it That it was not mixed with Faith Tnat we did not make particular and close application of it to our selves That our Hearts were not lâ—ft up in the ways of the Lord and our Souls under an awe of God in Prayer with becoming Affections and suitable Exercise of Grace under the influence of the Divine Spirit and in the Name of the Mediator That we approached the Table of the Lord with no more Examination of our Hearts and Ways before we came with no more Repentance for our past Guilt no more hungering after the Bread of Life no more spiritual Thirst for the Fountain of Living Waters That we beheld the Memorials of a broken bleeding Saviour with no more Contrition and Brokenness of Heart That we received the Seals of his dying Love with no more raised Affection That we remembered the Agonies of his Soul with no more correspondent Impressions upon our own In a word we may lament for the most part I fear we may after such Ordinances that our Spirits were but in a common frame our Repentance so partial our Love so cold our Faith so weak our Hope so low Desires so faint Charity so narrow Thankfulness and Joy so little in the Participarion of such Glorious Mysteries in conversing with such adorable Objects under the Offers of such rich Grace under the loud Calls to such manifest Duty under the Assurances and Expectations of such great and blessed things as the Word and Sacraments propose and Seal 2. Another Reason and Ground of this Retirement is in order to Petition and Intercession for needful Mercy to our selves and others Have we been convinced of any Duty we had formerly neglected Shall not the Reflection on it excite us to beg Wisdom and Strength to perform that Duty Has any sin been called to remembrance by the preaching of the Word Should we not beg Forgiveness and Grace to leave and forsake it as the best Testimony of our Repentance Have we joyned in Prayer and Supplication with others for the greatest Blessings and are sensible we are undone if God deny us and shall we not beg the same things again in secret Have we renewed our Vows and entered into fresh Obligations to be the Lords and shall wâ— not beg that God would heal our â—â—st â—aâ—k slidings and confirm our holy Resolutions That having sworn we may perform it that we will keep his righteous Judgments You therefore who have this Day been at the Table of the Lord let me beseech you in a special manner to retire when you come home and think of these things that you may wrestle with God in secret for a further blessing O what can he deny you when he hath given you his Son and sealed that Gift in so solemn a manner Go therefore and represent to him all your Necessities and Wants all your Griefs and Groans and Complaints and Fears and secret Desires Pray earnestly for your selves your Families and Relatives for your Ministers and Fellow Christians for all that have communicated this day with you and in other Assemblies and for all that desired to do so that were providentially hindered for all your Brethren for all the Churches of Christ throughout the World especially for those in this Nation for those in others which are oppressed by the Tyranny of the Sons of Violence for all actual Believers for all those for whom Christ died for your Friends and Enemies for the whole World 3. Retire in secret to express your Gratitude and Thanksgivings to God for Mercies received and hoped for Thank him for the Liberty of his Sanctuary for Publick Assemblies of Social Worship for Sabbaths and Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel considering how the Case now is with our Brethren and Neighbours in other places Thank him for another Opportunity for the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and for so much health as to be able to partake of such a Priviledge in a publick Solemnity But above all as the Foundation of all the rest for that inestimable Blessing of Divine Love the Gift of his Son for the inexpressible Love of Christ in giving himself for us Sinners and Enemies and while we were so Thank him for the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory for any good Hope through Grace of present Pardon and Everlasting Communion with God in Heaven for the Offer of Forgiveness by a Covenant of Grace for the Promise of Eternal Life by Christ purchased by his Blood confirmed by the Word and Oath of God who cannot lye witnessed to many ways by the Holy Spirit made sure by the Everlasting Covenant and that sealed by Baptism and by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Yea let us thank him for another such solemn Occasion of paying Homage to a Crucified Christ and of holy Fellowship with the Father and the son by the Spirit which this day has been afforded us Praise him for any Aâ—sistance of his Grace in the actual Celebration and for any help in our preparatory Work for reviving any of our Convictions awakening our Repentance strengthening our Faith animating our Hope quickening our zeal exercising and increasing our Love to Christ clearing our Adoption dispelling our Doubts scattering our Fears warming and filling our Desires Let our Souls and all within us bless him for any Beams of his Heavenly Light for any Glympse of his reconciled Countenance for any token of his Love to us any expression and exercise of our own to him Let us thank him for what he hath given us and sealed to us and promised to give us for what we have already received as the first Fruits and the Earnest and the Pledge of a great deal more We may Express our Gratitude and Joy to some such Purpose as this (a) almost in the words of Mr. Baxter which follows O my gracious God thou hast surpast all humane Comprehension in thy Love Is this thy usage of unworthy Prodigals I
feared lest thy wrath as a consuming Fire would have devour'd such a Guilty Soul but while I condemn'd my self thou hast forgiven and justified me and surpriz'd me with the sweet Embracements of thy Love I see now thy thoughts are above our thoughts and thy ways above our ways and thy Love above the Love of man even more then the Heavens are above the Earth with how dear a Price hast thou redeem'd a Wretch that deserves thy Everlasting Vengeance With how precious and sweet a Feast hast thou entertain'd me who deserved to be cast out with the workers of Iniquity shall I evermore slight such Love as this shall it not evercome my Rebelliousness and melt my cold and hardn'd heart Angels are admiring these Miracles of Love and shall not I admire them Their Love to us doth cause 'em to Rejoyce while they stand by and see our Heavenly Feast and should it not be sweeter to us that are the Guests who feed upon it O my God how dearly hast thou Purchased my Love how strangely hast thou deserv'd and Sought it nothing is so much my grief and shame as that I can answer it with no more fervent and fruitful Love Oh what an addition would it be to all this precious Mercy if this Love poured out might draw forth mine and my soul might flame by approaching unto these thy flames and that Love drawn out by the sense of Love might be all my Life O that I could love thee as much as I would Love thee yea as much as thou woulst have me love thee but this is too great an Happiness for Earth Thou hast shew'd me the place where I may attaine it My Love is there in full Possession who hath left me these pledges till he come and fetch us to himself and feast us there in our Masters joy O Blessed Place O Blessed Company that see his Glory and are filled with the streams of those Rivers of Consolation yea happy we whom thou hast called from our dark and miserable state and made us Heirs of that Felicity and Passengers to it and Expectants of it under the Conduct of so sure a Guide O then we shall love thee without these sinfull pauses and defects in another measure and another manner than now we do Till then my God I am devoted to thee by Right and Covenant I am thine My soul bears witness against my self that my defects of love have no Excuse Thou deservest all if I had all the love in Heaven and Earth to give thee What hath this vaine world to do with my Affections what is there in all the sufferings that man can lay upon me that I should not joyfully accept them for his sake that hath redeem'd me from Hell by such matchless voluntary sufferings Lord seeing thou so regardest so vile a Worm my Heart my Tongue my Hand confess that I am wholly Thine O let me live to none but thee thy service and thy Saints on Earth O let me no more return unto Iniquity nor venture on that sin which kill'd my Lord And now thou hast chosen so low a dwelling O be not a stranger to the heart thou hast so freely chosen O make it the daily Residence of thy Spirit Quicken it by thy Grace adorn it with thy Gifts employ it in thy love refresh it with thy joys and the light of thy Countenance and destroy this Carnality selfishness and unbelief and let the world see that God will make a Palace of the lowest Heart when he chuseth it for the place of his own abode To conclude Did we thus retire at the close of every Lords day after the Participation of solemn Ordinances to renew our Repentance to beg needful Mercies to offer the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgivings for the Blessings we have and hope for the Advantages of such a Course would be so many and so considerable the Consequences would be so comfortable to our own Souls and so beneficial unto others it would be so influential to exercise and increase our Grace to promote our Assurance to secure our Establishment and Perseverance to render us useful in the World for the Honour of Christ and his Gospel and the credit of our holy Profession That it surpasses the possibility of an exact Description and reserves its full Discovery to be the reward of Experience Blessed be God for Jesus Christ The Third Discourse Concerning SPIRITUAL WASHING The Nature Means and Evidences of it Before the Lord's Supper 1 COR. VI. 11. And such were some of you but you are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God OUR Lords condescention to wash the Feet of his Disciples and the discourse between Him and the Apostle Peter upon that occasion contains many things very observable and Instructive unto all Christians S. Peter is astonish'd at his Master's Proposal to wash his feet he wonders he should ever design or attempt so low a service He cries out as a man amazed 13. John 6. Lord doest thou wash my Feet words that savor of humble respect and Reverence unto Christ and had he proceeded no farther it had been very commendable for these expressions seem to proceed from a true sence of his owne unworthiness considering both himselfe and our blessed Lord and the meanness and inferiority of the action which he offered to do toward him Unto which our Lord Replys What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter i. e. when the Spirit shall be more aboundantly pour'd out as it was upon his Ascention into Heaven But Peter is not satisfied with this but peremptorily refuses to submitt to an order which he did not yet understand the Reason of and therefore replies againe Thou shallt not wash my Feet or far be it from me that thou shouldest wash my feet This gave occasion for that severe Rebuke and Threatning which went to his very heart in those words of Christ If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me no Intrest in me no communion with me It cannot well be thought that the external washing should be the only thing here meant for Judas was partaker of that as well as the Rest and yet our Lord says at the tenth verse ye are clean but not all Upon this we find the Apostle Peter submitts to his Saviour and instead of denying that he should wash his feet he passionately cries out not my Feet only but my hands and head too i. e. Lord wash me all over Hands Head and Feet the three most visible parts of the body for the whole our Lord tells him that was not necessary for he that washeth need not but to wash his feet verse 10. as one that comes out of a Bath may have contracted some Filth in walking out of it and therefore needs only to have his feet washed alluding to the Custom * D. Lightfoot of the Jews as to
those who did officiate in the Temple who after having been purified and Washed in the morning as often as they came out and returned againe did only wash their Feet Doubtless therefore the necessity of inward Purification and Holiness must be comprehended as the import of this washing The being sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit as necessary unto all that are accepted of God and in a Covenant Relation with Christ necessary to a saving intrest in Him and Communion with him And such a Change as this some of the vilest and worst of sinners have experienced upon true Repentance and an unfeined Faith This the words I have read give us an account of And such were some of you c. In the beginning of this Chapter the Apostle reproves a very unwarrantable Practice among these Corinthians to implead one another in matters of Right and Wrong before the Heathen Tribunals which seems to blemish the Christian Profession and contradicted the prescribed Rule of our Lord. Matth. 18.15 they were also Injurious and Unjust in their Carriage to their Brethren from which he Indeavours to deter them 1. By that dreadful threatning vers 9. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven And for the farther confirmation of it enumerates several kinds of such Persons and bids them look well to it and not deceive themselves tho' one would hardly think that men should be deceived in so plain a case as if their profession of Christianity would save them while they lived in any such wickedness Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers in any c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God He then adds another argument in this Text to diswade them from such an unchristian Behaviour viz. from the mighty Change that had been wrought upon several of them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ And such were some of you but ye are Washed c. The Change is represented by three several expressions and the Means by which it was brought about is double viz. In the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1. The mighty Change which was wrought upon them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ in those words But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified some would consider these three expressions as a regular Gradation and make this Washing to signifie the first Change by Regeneration or the new Birth and being Sanctified to denote the further progress measure and Degree of the spirit of Holiness and being Justified follows as that which by a real change of Heart and Life is evidenced and cleared to the comfort of Believers Others think we may consider this being Washed as the general Term comprehending the other two Sanctification and Justification For we find that expression used in both senses for our deliverance from the Guilt of sin by pardoning mercy and from the impurity and stain the power and filth of sin by renewing grace David beggs to be Washed and made Clean in both respects 51. Psalm 2.7.10 And our Lord is said to have loved us and washed us from our sins in his owne blood Rev. 1.5 Which comprehends both the forgiveness of sin and the sanctifying influence of the spirit of Christ Others think all the three terms Washed Sanctified and Justified are here Synanimous as significant of the great Change that is wrought by the renewing and converting grace of God and that Justified in this place is not to be taken in a * Le Blank Theses theol de usu acceptatione vocis Justificandi c. p. 256. §. 6.8.9 Answered by Dr. O. of Justification p. 179. Forensick or Law sence but hath the same import with the other two expressions Washed and sanctified so the expression 12. Dan. which we render turn many to Righteousness in the Original is Justifie many So Sanctification they think may be comprehended under the term Justified Rom. 8.30 Or else one of the greatest Advantages we enjoy by Christ is not there enumerated So here where our Justification is ascribed to the holy Spirit whose office and work it is inwardly to renew and change us and whereby those Corinthians who were vile and impure before are now qualified for the Kingdom of God Tit. 3.5.6.1 However I exclude not our being washed from the guilt of sin as part of the Sense of this Text but it is the other Washing by Sanctification of which I would speak at this time 2. You have the double means whereby this is brought about In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God c. 1. In the Name of the Lord Jesus or by and through the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Greek Particle doth often signifie For it is the same in the Original in both Clauses The first may as well be rendered By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the other By the Spirit of our God The same Preposition being used in both Referring the whole to Sanctification In my present Discourse I shall not need to Assign Reasons why the word Justified is put last or search for the like Instances of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho such may be given to vindicate the order of the Expressions and why the Name of Christ which especially refers to Justification should be mentioned before the Spirit of our God which especially refers to Sanctification which yet is named before our being Justified In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by his Name may import in the General for the sake of Christ upon the account of his Merit and Mediation and so we pray in the Name of Christ and beg Mercy for his sake But more distinctly the Name of Christ may be considered 1. In relation to his Office of Mediator and the Soveraign Authority of it he is the Jesus the Saviour this is the Name that is given him above every Name and so in by or through the Name of Christ does signifie through faith in him as the only Mediator between God and Man In several like Expressions we must grant that Faith must be supposed when it is not expressed As when we are said to be Baptiz'd in the Name of Christ for the remission of sin Acts 2.38 i. e. believing on his Name 2. It may be considered in relation to the Truth of his Doctrine and the Divine Authority of that Revelation which he made from God to the World upon which his Name is engraven As when we read of suffering for the Name of Christ i. e. for owning the profession of the Christian Religion To this purpose our Sanctification is said to be by the belief of the Truth John 15.3.17 chap. 17. 1 Pet. 1.22 2 Thes 2.13 Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you sayes our blessed Lord. And in his Mediatory Prayer to the Father Sanctifie them by thy truth thy
the Grace of God make upon the Hearts and Souls of Men from what they were and what others are You were some of the most Abominable Sinners but ye are washed You were carnal but you are spiritual you were proud but now are humble you were Darkness but now are Light You were earthly and sensual but now are heavenly You did wallow in all manner of Impurities but now are Holy You were sick but now are healed You were defiled but now are cleansed You were at Enmity with God and Haters of him but now you love him and his love is shed abroad in your hearts You did love and delight in Sin and Sinners you now disaffect and loath it and them and are ashamed to think of those things wherein you once took pleasure Such were some of you but you are washed You were careless and vain and wordly as others but are now a selected chosen peculiar people zealous of good works You could before live without Prayer in your Clossets and Families for many Weeks but now dare not live a day without it You were glad when the Sabbaths were over and the Seasons of holy Worship gone but now you are as glad when they approach and think with pleasure before-hand that they do so c. Oh the mighty Difference that the Grace of God hath made between what you were and what you now are What manner of thankful Rejoycing in God have such cause for as are thus washed But this will lead me to the Principal Use viz. Fifthly To Examine and Enquire whether we are in the Number of such Whether any such Change of Heart and Life any such cleansing from the filthiness of Flesh and Spirit hath been experienced by us To assist you a little to understand this Consider First What have you ever experienced and known of any humbling Convictions of your owne Pollution and Defilment by sin How loathsome to God sin hath made you How odious and abominable to God's Holy Eye Have you been made to Loath and abhor your selves as in dust and ashes before God trembling before his Holyness and Majesty who hateth your sins with a perfect hatred being covered with shame and Confusion of face to think of your owne vileness That your Hearts are so disaffected to him the Author of your Being and the Fountain of your Felicity That you have so often affronted and provoked him to Anger by violating his Authority That you have Lived so long as without him in the World and would â—e content to live such a stranger to the God that made it and you That your corrupt Inclinations contrary to his Holy Nature Image and Law so long remain'd uncured That you have gratified those Inclinations so often for so many years c. Have you thereupon been heartily desirous to be purged and cleansed to be Sanctified and renewed to be delivered from the Power and Pollution of sin as well as from the Damning-Guilt of it If you have known nothing of such kind of Convictions you have no reason to conclude that you have been Washed Secondly What is your practical Judgment concerning Holiness and the Divine Image and Life and what Prevalency hath it with you Do you esteem and yeild conformity to the Image of God Is Holiness accounted your Honour your Glory your Pleasure as unspeakably preferable to all the Riches and Pleasures and Dignities of the Word Is this your fixed Judgment and does it put you upon the diligent use of Gods appointed Means to recover this Image and to be made partaker of his Holiness Does it make you watchful over your Hearts and sensual Appetits Passions Words and Wayes so far as ordinarily to prevail against the Power of Worldliness and sensuality I do not ask whether it keeps you from every sin but whether it prevail so far that you regard no Iniquity in your Hearts Is there no secret way of Wickedness you Indulge and continue in But you loath your selves in the Presence of God and Mourn in secret for those sins that none but God and Conscience can charge you with and carefully watch and Walk as believing sin to be the greatest Evil Is this your Habitual Frame and ordinary Course If it be thus you are Washed and sanctified Thirdly Examine your selves from what Motives and upon what Principles you abstain from those Sins you are otherwise inclined and tempted to Is it from the Fear of God and Love to him Is it from the awe of his Authority and gratitude for the Innumerable Obligations you are under by his kindness and Grace Is it because sin is hateful and displeasing to God and Christ as well as because of its miserable and destructive Consequences and Effects to you Is it from an inward Ruling Principle that makes the pleasing of God your daily and delightful Work Fourthly How do you stand Affected to the Impurities and Sins of Other Men Are you grieved at the Dishonour of God by the sins of others Do you pity and pray for your sinful Neighbours Relations and Acquaintance Especially when they fall into the same sins that you your selves have formerly committed and repented of And therefore endeavour what you can to promote the Repentance and Salvation of others in your place and station Fifthly How are you Affected to Heart sins and to the Remainders of Impurity in your own souls If the Fountain be cleansed and the Heart purified the inward motions of sin will be abominable and hateful to you Do you feel the Burden of the Body of sin and Death and complain of it Do you walk humbly under the sense of your remaining Pollutions The more you are Washed and the more Assurance you have of it the more you will mourn for your remaining Uncleaness Ezek. 36.25.31 I will sprinkle clean water upon them and they shall be clean I will give them new Hearts and new Spirits and they shall remember their evil wayes and doings and loath themselves for all their Transgressions Are you Diligent in the use of all Means for further Purification of Hearts Is it the grief of your souls that there is so much Filth yet remaining Do you not find that you are not cleansed enough Do you not goe to Sermons and Sacraments with this Desire and Design and Hope That you may be more Sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit Do you not beg that all Providences may be blessed and improved to that Purpose Can you not thank God for such Afflictions as you hope have been serviceable to this end c. Sixthly How are you affected towards the Temptations that would insnare you and defile you again He that is truly cleansed will take care to keep himself Clean. If Conscience be not tender to make you watchful and circumspect to avoid being defiled it is a sign you were ever truly washed If you can make as bold with Temptation as ever and are not afraid of entring into it and being overcome Seventhly How are you
perish in my filthiness if I am never washed till I come as I ought to the fountain opened For my Heart is hard and impenitent I feel it so I have not such an heart to turn to God as I should It is the grief of my soul that I find it thus I am without strength and unable to turn Answ But hast thou no Strength no Power to consider whence thou art fallen and how low thou art sunk and to bewail the wretchedness of thy present Case which thou beginnest to be sensible of Canst thou not lament the hardness of thy Heart which thou ownest to be thy grief Canst thou not consider thy past and present câ—ndition and thereupon Cry to God for help and a little thing will save a Man that is Drowning One look from Christ made Peter remember the Warning he had before given him and go out and weep bitterly Canst thou not reflect and consider how much better it was with thee formerly than now when thou hadst good hopes through Grace of Divine Acceptance when thou couldest go to God with Comfort and pour out thy Heart before him with freedom But now since the breach thou hast made upon Conscience if thou comest at all into his Presence thou art drag'd by fear and hardly knowest what to do when thou art there Art not thou ready to cry out O the Communion with Christ that once I had in such or such an Ordinance but now it is lost He is a stranger to my Soul He hath justly withdrawn himself If I seek him where I was wont to find him I find him not My Peace my Joy my Light my Strength is gone Therefore let me return to my first Husband for it was then better with me than now Hosea 2.6 7. Can you not thus reflect to awaken your Repentance and assist your Resolution to return and stir up your selves to call upon God for healing Mercy Object V. But some may say If God should again receive such a returning Backslider Will he not bear me a Grudge for it Will he not hereafter upbraid me with it I shall hear of it again the next Sacrament besure or under the next Afflicting Providence Answ No saith God turn and I will heal your Backslidings I will receive you graciously I will love you freely I will be merciful to your Iniquities and remember them no more Hos 14.1 2 3. Did he upbraid the returning Prodigal and say Where hast thou been Resolve therefore O Backsliding Children to return to your Father to be again Washed Sanctified and Justified Whatever Discouragement be in the way you may hope for welcome For you are Children still though Backsliding Children And remember he is your Father though you have displeased him For First If it be said by the Devil or an accusing Conscience How darest thou take the Name of Father into thy Mouth since thou hast so dishonoured him and grieved his Spirit by thy Revolt A Returning Backslider may say he is A Father still and the Love of a Father is unmeasurable measurable the kindness of a Father is infinitely Tender Though his Paternal Justice may Correct me with a Rod he will not take away his Loving Kindness utterly from me I will therefore go to my Father though he frown upon me though he chastise me though he threaten to turn me out of doors I will yet Return and go to my Father for I must be there I will dye in his Arms or I will dye at his feet I will Return But Secondly What wilt thou venture to go presently all in Rags like a Beggar rather than a Child all in thy filth and dirt thou wilt shame thy Father's House and discredit his Family if such a one as thou shouldest come and call him Father Notwithstanding this I will return presently to him saith the penitent Backslider for the longer I delay the more hardness shall I contract and the greater will my sin be and every day I shall be exposed to further sin and the same Duties now lie upon me as before which I cannot perform duly except I Return therefore I will return presently This Dr. Preston upon 1 Sam. 20.21 adviseth as the wisest and best way after the Commission of any great Sin or the Guilt of any great Backsliding Thirdly But it will be said thy Work is great and difficult before ever thy Peace can be made thou must mourn and weep and Repent in dust and ashes and be humbled to the very mouth of Hell before thou and thy Father be Friends again And will not that discourage thee No sayes the Returning Backslider I will vet go to My Father I will own that I deserve to be rejected for ever but I 'le plead the Mercifulness of his Nature and the freeness of his Covenant Love and Promise you shall never beat me out of it I will return to my Father I know he will meet me half way yea he hath met me and prevented me by his Grace He put it into my heart to return therefore he will accept me I easily foresee what will be Objected against all this That no Backslider is able thus to argue He is holden in the Chain of his own Sins He durst not use such Language I grant that while he is under the full power of Backsliding he cannot thus speak and act But to a Returning Penitent Backslider that begins to be Awakened who feels the burden of his sin and seeks after God the Relation of a Father is an unspeakable Support And notwithstanding his late Backslidings he may make out his Relation to God as his Father when once he is awakened to Repentance Partly by his Mourning and Godly Sorrow for Sin Partly by the remembrance of his former Covenant and Communion with God which when he returns by Repentance may yield him comfort though before it could not Partly by the Inward Motions of the Spirit which he finds lusting against the Flesh Partly by his vigorous importunate Desires to turn to God and be at Peace with him When it comes to this he may take Heart and ought to receive Encouragement by the Promise and Call of God Turn you Backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings The Fourth Discourse After the LORD's SUPPER OF THE Communion OF Christ 's Body and Blood From 1 COR. X.xvi. The Cup of Blessing that we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ WHen the Apostle would Reform the Church of Corinth as to that profane liberty which some of them took boldly to meddle with the Mysteries of Paganism and to Eat of things offered unto Idols He gives an Account of the Nature of this Divine Institution of the Lord's Supper and leaves it to themselves to judge whether they did not do very ill to be present at the Feasts upon the Heathen Sacrifices and to eat of things that were offered unto
Forgiveness of Others If we have not had Love to our Fellow-Christians more excited in us to all that are Members of the same Body though they err and mistake though they diner from us though they be angry with us though they think hardly of us and speak hardly against us Yet if we have not had our Spirits brought to a Temper able to forgive them to pray for them and be ready to do them good c. We cannot say we have had Communion with Christ in his Ordinance For such Effects as these wiâ—l follow upon it Or rather it is in these things wherein a great part of our Spiritual Communion doth consist 2. If there have been any thing of this kind bless God for such a merciful Season For this is the Real Advantage and Good of any such Ordinance when it Rectifies our Spirits and betters our frame and subdues our Corruptions and recovers us from our back-slidings and gives us any thing more of the Divine Image and Likeness and makes us hate Sin more and love God and one another better This is the Real Advantage of such Seasons These are gainful Opportunities indeed where these Things are Attained where in any measure there are such Consequences of Approaching to the Lord's Table 3. Let us endeavour hence-forward to walk worthy of such a Priviledge and long for the Repetition of it Let us watch our Spirits this Evening and to Morrow and the following Week and Month that we may not presently lose the Savour of these things by secular and common Discourse and vain Converse When we go away from the Publick Worship let us spend the Remainder of the Day in such Offices and Exercises of Religion as may Assist us to prosecute our Great Design and may strengthen the Vows of God into which we have newly entred And let us shew we like his Fare and are pleased with the Entertainments of his House by desiring more such Opportunities and by Improving them when-ever they return One thing have I desired of the Lord says the Psalmist and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord for ever By this means we should endeavour to become growing thriving fruitful humble self-denying heavenly exemplary Christians walking worthy of our High and Holy Calling purifying our selves more and more from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit That our Hearts may be more fixed for God and Christ against all Competitors and under all Discouragements That Christ Jesus may have the more intire Possession of our Souls and the Service of our Lives That his Love being shed abroad in our Hearts nothing may ever be able to separate us from it That whether we live or dye Christ may be All in All to us Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood To Him be Glory throughout all the Churches for ever Amen The Fifth Discourse Before The LORD's SUPPER THE Sin and Danger OF Unworthy Receiving From 1 COR. XI xxix He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself SO deep and General is the Corruption of Mankind that it may truly be said of very Many whose Carriage and Conversation is fair and unspotted that they are rather restrained by the Fear of Punishment than of Guilt of being Sufferers rather than of being Criminal Such an Errour it is true is injurious to the Dignity of the Divine Law and to the Honour and Authority of God's Government Nevertheless God doth so far Accommodate himself to our State as to Rule us by Moral Arguments that are proper to Influence our Hopes and Fears and therefore employs Threatnings as well as Promises and punishes some as Examples of Severity to warn others from the like Transgressions This Method the Apostle makes use of in this and the foregoing Chapter when he designed to Reform the scandalous Abuse of the Lord's Supper which these Corinthians were guilty of After he had Explained the Nature of the Institution and opened the Design and End of it he had Represented it as the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ He tells them what most manifestly follows from thence viz. The Greatness of the Sin to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup unworthily that if they do it without Self Examination they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord They offend against the Lord Redeemer who hath appointed this Sacred Rite and even against his Body and Blood which are Signified and Represented by the Bread and Wine as the Memorial and Sign of it This to those that have any due Regard to the Authority and Love of a dying Saviour one would think should be Argument enough But least it should not besides the Declaration of their Sin he Denounces the Punishment of it in these Words That such do eat and drink Damnation to themselves Wherein we have First The Description of their Punishment who do unworthily partake of the Lord's Supper That they eat and drink Damnation to themselves Secondly the Reason of that Punishment intimated in the Nature and kind of their Sin That they discern not the Lord's Body Before I consider the Punishment of Vnworthy Receivers it will be proper to open a little the Nature of their Sin mentioned in the latter part of the Verse Not discerning the Lord's Body This may refer to the foregoing Expression of being Guilty of his body and blood and the one Phrase will give light to the other Such as receive Unworthily are Guilty of the body and blood of Christ because they do not discern and distinguish it aright They do not think of it as they ought They do not carry it suitable to its Excellent Nature and Vse and so they eat and drink Judgment to themselves by not discerning the Lord's body And thereby are Criminal against the Person of the Redeemer as cloathed with Human Nature and as giving the Memorials of his body and blood separated to betoken his Death and Sufferings For so we remember a crucified Saviour in this Ordinance It is therefore no wonder if such a Fault be severely punished That which we Translate Discern it is well known signifies to make a difference between one thing and another as Acts 15.19 So not to discern the Lord's body is not to difference and distinguish concerning it to look no further than the outward sense not to make a difference between common and sacramental bread not to eye the body and blood of Christ as signified by the Sacramental Elements not to remember or consider his cruel Sufferings which this should put us in Mind of This be sure is not to discern his body But few can be supposed so ignorant as not speculatively to discern and distinguish in this case But practically to do so is a greater mattâ—r it Imports to mind to attend to to esteem to honour to apply to use the body and blood of Christ and the sign and the Memorial
ceasing of the Mosaick and the beginning of the Evangelical one In the like sense the same Word is used in other Places as Zach. 14 6 7. And that which answers to the Word New is that it is opposed to the old Dispensation that it serves to Divine Purposes by a new Institution and so is made New And it declares that the N w Gospel Dispensation to which it is appropriate is now beginning or to commence I 'll not drink of it till I drink it New with you in my Father's Kingdom or in the Kingdom of God i. e. In the Lord's Supper which is my Gospel Institution and the Beginning of the Peculiar Kingdom of God as dispens'd after my Actual Death and Sufferings No question but the Sense is very safe to consider it with Reference to the Heavenly Glory as it is usually understood when all the Blessings of this Passover shall be fully Accomplished in the Heavenly Canaan Neither is it strange or unusual for the same Ancient Type or Figure to respect to several Objects and so have several Degrees of Accomplishment * Les OEVRES Posthumes de Mr. Claude Tom. 2. l. 4. cap. 9. traité de J. Christ This of the Paschal Lamb might not only have Relation to the Angel's passing by the Houses of the Isrelites in Egypt and their passage out of Bondage into Liberty by the Deliverance that follow'd but unto the Absolution and Deliverance of Believers by the Blood of Chrsst and unto the Deliverance of Christ himself out of the Grace and from a state of Humiliation to that of Glory and to the passage of the Church Militant upon Earth to a state of Triumph in Heaven The Blessedness of Heaven is frequently set off by this Metaphor of Eating and Drinking And at the Lord's Table which was Instituted at the close of the Passover Feast the Thoughts of Heaven are proper We meet at this Table as those who hope to sit down with all the Children of the Kingdom at the last great Supper of the Lamb. This Ordinance is a lively Resemblance of the Heavenly Feast and should assist our Meditations on it Our Lord doth here speak to us such kind of Language Ere long we shall Feast together in Heaven What is now done in Emblem shall be then done in Reality You have here the Earnest Pledge and Assurance of it This Table is a Preparatory Entertainment for the Eternal Supper * Bishop Parick Mensa mystica chap. 18. It is some foretaste to stay our Longings and yet excite our Desires after the Heavenly Feast above Here we break our Fast as I may say but are made thereby very Hungry till that Great Supper come Here we have but a Praelibation a little short Antepast of some Rare things to come yet seeing it is an Earnest of those Things it creates in an holy Soul a wonderful Contentment both from its own Sweetness and the Hopes wherewith it feeds us It nourishes in us most Delicious Longings it makes the Soul even swell with Comfortable Expectations And we Receive it not only as a Remembrance of what was done but as a Pledge of what shall be We taste not only what he is to our Souls at present but what he shall be for ever If it be a Priviledge to be Admitted to sit at his Table and to have his Covenant sealed to me by the outward Ordinance and his special Love by his Spirit to my Heart All the Life and Comfort of these is That they Declare and Assure me of more and better Comforts hereafter Their Use is darkly to signifie and seal higher Mercies When I shall Drink with Christ of the Fruit of the Vine renewed How pleasant a Feast will that be O◠the Difference * Mr. Baxter as One hath well exprest it O the Difference between the last Supper of Christ on Earth and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the Great Day Here he is in an Vpper-Room accompanied with Twelve poor selected men feeding on no curious Dainties but a Paschal Lamb with sour Herbs and a Judas at his Table ready to betray him But then his Room will be the Glorious Heavens his Attendants all the Host of Angels and Saints no Judas nor unfurnished Guest comes there but the humble Believers must sit down by him and the Feast will be their mutual Loving and Rejoycing You know nevertheless that when the Israelites were got out of Egypt and delivered by the Blood of the Lamb and had a Promise of Canaan they had yet a Wilderness to pass through many Enemies to Encounter and Difficulties to overcome before they entred into Canaan though God protected and maintained and supplyed them in the Wilderness all that while So is it with us Christians though we recover our Spiritual Liberty by Faith in the Blood of Jesus and are made a peculiar People unto God a Nation of Kings and Priests unto the most High and are marching towards the Heavenly Canaan and have the Promise of it We have yet a Wilderness to pass through We have Adversaries on all sides to resist We need a Pillar of Cloud and of Fire to direct us and Manna from Heaven to supply us And this we shall have from time to time till we come to Canaan and then our Lord will eat and drink with us after a better manner we shall have New Wine in his Kingdom He is gone to prepare a Feast for us to make ready the great Supper of the Lamb for all the Children of the Kingdom After he was Sacrificed as the Lamb of God he tarried Fourty Days upon the Earth from his Resurrection till he Ascended into Heaven As the Jews after their Passover in Egypt wandred 40 years in the Wilderness before they entred into Canaan But all Believers after a few Years Difficulty and Tryals in this World with the Presence of God to Conduct and Guide them shall at last sit down for ever with Christ to Reap the full Harvest of his Sufferings to receive the compleat Deliverance which he hath procured to enjoy all the blessed Fruits of his Death all the Purchase of his Redeeming Blood This he will come again to bestow upon those who believe expect and prepare for it Some Inferences of Truth and Duty may be collected as the Application of what has been said 1. That Believers under the Old Testament and under the New have the same Object of Faith They did eat the same spiritual Meat and drink the same spiritual Drink Their Sacraments and ours have different Signs but in Substance were the same Theirs having Relation to Christ the Messiah as well as ours Accordingly we read of Circumcision and the Passover in a spiritual sense under the Gospel And that which answers to Baptism and the Lord's Supper with us Even they under the Old Testament had 1 Cor. 10.2 3. They were under the Covenant of Grace though not so clear a Dispensation of it as we They were
to be Saved by Faith in a Mediator as well as we The Gospel was preached unto them as well as unto us 2. Did Christ desire Fellowship with his Disciples Friends and Followers in the Passover What shall we think of those that despise such Institutions and look upon themselves as above such Ordinances as if they had a nearer and better way of Communion with God and Christ then this Remissness and Indifference as to these things Neglect and Carelesness in Preparation for them is likewise a degree of Contempt that deserves to be Reproved 3. Was Christ so desirous to eat his last Passover before he suffered for us because of his Willingness to Suffer What Ingratitude does this imply in our Backwardness and Cowardize when we are called to suffer for him 4. Did our Lord desire to eat this Passover because it was the last and consequently was Willing to be a Sacrifice for us What an Argument of his endearing Love does this afford us And how should it Enflame ours to him It was not from Ignorance of what he was to Suffer he fully knew what he had undertaken he perfectly understood what his Baptism of Blood did signifie and yet he earnestly desired it and was straitned till it was Accomplished He knew the Burden of Sin that he was to Expiate as a Sin-Offering when he bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree as a Sacrifice to Divine Justice for us He knew the bitterness of that Cup which he was to drink of before-hand and yet for our sakes he desires it What Thankfulness do we owe for such inestimable Love He was willing to submit to such difficult Terms to bring about our Reconciliation to God He was willing to be obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross to turn away the Divine Displeasure from us and to restore us to the Divine Favour and Image again He was willing to be a Sacrifice for sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God through Faith in him He was willing to bear the Curse that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon us He was willing to be our Paschal Lamb to be slain and sacrificed for us that by the sprinkling of his Blood we might be delivered from Sin and Hell that by feeding on him as our Passover we might be Partakers of Spiritual and Eternal Life And even in the midst of his Agony in the Garden notwithstanding the strugling of his Humane Nature against the bitterness of the Cup which made him pray for the passing of it away yet as Mediator he was willing and therefore adds Not my Will but thine be done Father glorifie thy self O matchless and incomprehensible Love How should our Souls be Ravished with the Contemplation of it How hard and insensible are our Hearts if they feel no constraining Vertue in the Consideration of such Love If we do not Sacrifice our Lusts in Requital of his being a willing Sacrifice for us Shall not the Love of Christ which bubbles up in every Drop of his Blood and made him willing and resolved to shed it on our Account make us hate that Sin which he died to Atone for and to destroy Can we consider him Groaning Sweating Bleeding Dying for Sin and yet Retain an Affection to it And rush into it through the Wounds and Blood and Agony and Death of our Redeemer Shall that ever be sweet to us which put so much Vinegar and Gall into his Cup Let me add a few Words for Counsel and Direction 1. Did Christ earnestly desire to eat this Passover and have Communion with his Disciples therein How earnestly should we desire to have Communion with him in that Ordinance that succeeded to it which was Instituted by Christ himself the same Evening in the close of the Paschal Supper Is not a Spiritual Communion with him now he is in Glory as desirable as his Bodily Prâ—sence was when in a state of Humiliation Is it not the Spirit and Temper of all the Disciples of Christ in every Age of the Church to value and to desire such near Approaches to him How did the believing Jews prepare themselves for such a Solemnity as the Passover How did David's Heart pant and faint and long for Communion with God in the Services of the Temple Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple The Israelites were to eat the Passover in haste with greediness of desire Non lento Corde non languido Ore And is it not a Shame to us to have no Appetite for such a Feast Is â—t not for want of such Desires of Communion with Christ that we meet with so little Satisfaction when we come Let him that is a thirst come and such shall be filled when others shall be sent empty away but the hungry Souls shall not be sent empty away from the Lord's Table We may likewise heighten our Desires and Appetites when we come to this Table by considering For ought we know this may be the last Communion with Christ in such an Ordinance that we shall ever enjoy before it be fully accomplished in Heaven 2. Let us imitate Christ as our Passover Both in his Readiness to Suffer and in his Character and Qualification as the Spotless Lamb of God in Meekness and Patience and Submission c. Without this we can never prove our Interest in him 3. Let us thankfully Contemplate this Lamb of God as desiring to be Sacrificed for us Let us seriously and often consider the Voluntariness of his Death and Sacrifice the Fruits of his Suffering the Merit of his Cross How Acceptable his Sacrifice was to God how beneficial unto us What a Deliverance we have by it what a Bondage we are saved from what a Glorious Liberty he has purchased what a compleat Salvation we expect when all shall be fulfilled in Heaven These are proper Thoughts for those of us this Evening who have Feasted this Day on the Sacrifice of Christ Every one of us in particular not only in publick but in secret should bless God for Jesus Christ Admiring the Matchless Grace and Love of the Redeemer in being thus a Willing Sacrifice for us and calling us to Feast upon it having Instituted this Ordinance on purpose for that very end Lastly Live in the Daily Exercise of Faith on the Blood of Christ as the Lamb of God Sacrificed for us It was the sprinkling of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb that was the Mark of the Israelites Deliverance So the shedding of the Blood of Christ with particular Application by Faith is aâ— necessary for us Without it we cannot escape the Stroke of the destroying Angel Without it the Blood of Christ will call for Vengeance and his very Sacrifice and Sufferings plead against us We should every Day by fresh
hath done and Suffered purchased and Promised we should come to this Feast with a Gladsome Merry Hâ—art All the Musick and Melody that the Feasts of Sensual Men are attended with wouâ—d be nothing to it Therefore take heed of mistaking the Nature of this Ordinance so as to come like Mourners to Morrow to a Funeral It is to no such Solemnity but to a Feast that you are invited to a Royal Feast And therefore your Hearts and Lips should be full of the high Praises of God and Thankful Admiration of Christ and his Redeeming Love and Grace I will bring them to my Holy Mountain and make them Joyful in my House of Prayer 5. At a Feast there is Good Company Now there is no such Company in all the World as is to be found at Christ's Table While the King sitteth at this Table Cant. 1.12 Christ himself is there present and the Father also For in this Ordinance especially we have Fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Spirit A Communion with them supposes the Presence of Father and Son The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of Christ's Blood and the Bread we break the Communion of his Body 1 Cor. 10.16 We are invited Guests by Christ and treated as his Friends We are entertained with Kindness and Familiarity which is an Honour we ought to value in his own House we are treated and have the same Fare with the best of his Friends who are Invited with us We sit down with him at his own Table in the best Company that we can desire Haman expresses it as an Honour that the Queen let none come to the Banquet but himself And to morrow says he I am invited also with the King Esth 5.12 If the Father and the Son and the Children of God that are his special Favourites and Heirs of the Heavenly Inheritance if these are Good Company you may have it at the Table 6. At a Feast there is Welcome Exprest and giveâ— by the Master of the Feast Such an expression we have of it Psal 23.5 Thou preparest my Table for me and Anointest my Head with Oile or with Aromatical Ointments formerly used at great Feasts as a token of Respect and Kindness Thou biddest me to a Feast and biddest me welcome Alluding to the Custom of the Eastern People and of the Jews particularly who exprest the h arty wâ—lcome they gave their Guests by pouring some pretious Ointment on their Heads Psal 92.10 Luk. 7.39 A very usual * See Bp. Patrick's Christian Sacrifice p. 100. Festival Solemnity Therefore when you come to morrow to this Feast you must think and believe that Christ speaks to you when you behold the Symbols of his Body and Blood For you are not to consider the broken Bread and the VVine poured out as dumb signs no they speak very distinctly to all the Communicants but come with a chearful Wedding Garment hearing the Voice of your Redeemer as if Christ should say to you That you were welcome to his Table and that he is pleased that you accept his Invitation Come My Brethren as if he should say for so he calls us when he Ascended to his Father John 20.17 Go and tell my Brethren that I Ascend to my Father and their Father to my God and their God Come my Brethren doth he say I sent and commissioned my Ministers to call you to my House solemnly and earnestly to Invite you to my Table You did well that you are come I take it kindly that you did not reject my Invitation I am glad you are come to Remember my Love and to shew your selves my Friends I have no other Design in sending for you but to make you more sensible of my Love and to give you Fresh Tokens of it to repeat the pledge and assurance of my Dying Kindness Do not despise the Entertainment I here give you though you see onely Bread and VVine Open the eyes of your Minds and let your Faith discern that this Bread is my Body my crucified Body my Body broken for you And this Wine poured out is my Blood my Blood shed for you Oh see how I loved you see what my Love to you brought me to undergo Consider how I was used for your sakes to procure your Peace and to purchase your Reconciliation I have nothing to desire of you but that you would continue in my Love and then I promise you the Love of my Father and that your sins shall be forgiven they shall not be remembred against you you shall not come into Condemnation And all your wants shall be supplied Nothing you can need but I have purchased nothing you can want but I will give Till I have fitted you for my Presence above till you come to be with me in the Heavenly state You shall receive it all from time to time Come take the Pledge and the Assurance of this by doing this in Remembrance of me Come therefore says Christ Take and Eat Eat O Friends drink abundantly O Beloved Take eat this Morsel as little and inconsiderable as it seems to be it cost my Life I give it to you as a Token of my Love and of my Fathers Love Take it and Remember both I say the same for the Cup of Blessing Drink it in Remembrance of me Come pledge me This is Wine of my own making when I trod the Wine-press of my Father's Wrath alone This will strengthen and revive thy fainting Spirit This will cure the Ulcers of thy Heart This will give thee Boldness and Courage to enter into the Presence of thy Father c. Thus does Christ give Welcome to his prepared Guests 7. And Lastly This is a peculiar sort of Feast viz. a Feast upon a Sacrifice A Feast that betokens a Covenant and Reconciliation between God and such as are Invited Guests at this Table I often take occasion to mention this because I judge it the true Notion of the Lord's Supper and the sense of the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 Christ our Passover was Sacrificed for us Let us therefore keep the Feast with the Vnleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth which is spoken of the Feast from which the Corinthian Church by the Authority of Christ was to bar and seclude the disorderly Person It is well known that Sacrifices were wont to be attended with a Feast The Peace-offering under the Law was to be brought on the top of the Burnt-offerings No burnt offerings were without some peace-offerings And having offer'd them to the Lord they were to eat their part chearfully among their Friends For then they had as it were one Dish sent them from God's Table One part of the Offering viz. God's was consumed upon the Altar Another part the Priests had by God's Appointment And a Third the Offerers had to Feast upon Christ's Offering up himself upon the Cross is the Great Sacrifice This Banquet at the Table of the Lord is a Feast on that Sacrifice
because you have many good Books on this Subject that will Assist you in this Matter I shall only put you in mind of a few Things As 1. That you take some convenient Time for solemn and serious Preparation They especially should do so who have never come till now And they who for some considerable time have neglected it with whom several Months have past since they have been at the Lord's Table Either through their own Neglect which they must Repent of or for want of Opportunity God expected and required solemn Preparation for the Passover Feast Exod 19.10 He doth so for this Feast upon Christ our Passover sacrificed for us Therefore take some time to consider what you are about to undertake Beg of God a prepared Heart and by Reading Meditation and Prayer endeavour to bring your Spirits into a suitable Frame for such solemn Work He brought me into his Banquetting-house Christ himself by his Spirit must lead his own Guests to his own Table He must awaken and excite all those Graces that are to be exercised in this Feast Therefore beg a prepared Heart and do what you can by other means to endeavour it 2. Renew your Repentance for all the Sins of your Life Do not come with filthy Hearts and Hands to the Table of the Lord no more than you would in filthy Rags to a great Man's Table Lay aside all Filthiness and Superfluity of Naughtiness Purge out the Old Leaven of Hypocricy and Malice of Ignorance or Envy and Wickedness of every sort that you may come with penitent humbled Hearts and so with a thankful receptive Frame consenting to all the Claims and Purposes of this Ordinance 3. Therefore Examine your selves afresh that you may thus come Review the State of your Souls see how it hath been and is with you as to Heart and Life State and Frame Let a man examine himself and so let him eat 1 Cor. 11.28 Examine your selves about your Knowledge and your Faith to understand the meaning and the very mystery of this Table that you may firmly Assent to and heartily believe what is Represented and exhibited here And have right Apprehensions of those Doctrines that Explain this Ordinance as concerning our State of Apostacy concerning the Method of our Recovery by Christ and our Faith in him as Teacher Saviour and Lord in all his Offices The like might be said concerning Repentance or Godly Sorrow for Sin hatred of it and hearty forsaking of it Whether you can penitently believingly seal back your part of the Covenant when God sets the Broad Seal of Heaven unto his part when he says I will be thy God and I will remember thy sins no more I will with my Christ freely give thee all things This I promise this I seal to every of you says God I here deliver it as my Act and Deed. Now can you seal back your part of the Covenant Lord I will be thine henceforth I desire and resolve to be entirely thine thy sealed Fountain thy sealed Garden I engage henceforward to be the Lord's This I deliver as my Act and Deed. In a word Examine your selves Do you believe the Gospel of Christ to be true and heartily consent to the Doctrines of it Do you resolve to be Governed by Christ as your Lord and consent to the Terms of his Gospel Do you take him for your only Saviour and look for all your Acceptance with God and hope of Pardon and Life only for his sake and upon his Account Do you consider the Vow you made in Baptism of Fidelity to Christ and resolve to be true to it Do you here seriously Renew it and will you now again promise Faithfulness to him to your Lifes end Do you value his Favour and Grace above all things and come to remember his dying Love and receive the Communications of the purchased Spirit with this Desire Design and Hope That you may love him and obey him better and that you may live in Love and Charity towards your Brethren and all Mankind c. 4. Look to the Inward part of the Ordinance and labour to Appropriate and Apply Christ to your selves Here is a Covenant confirmed by Sacrifice by Blood by the precious blood of Christ I am called O my Soul to feat upon it This Blood was shed to Reconcile me to God I will drink of it in token of such a Reconciliation made as a Testimony that I have Recieved the Atonement made by that Blood My Body was broken for you says Christ Take and eat it My Blood was shed for you Take and drink it Apply it to your selves every one to his own Soul saying He loved me and gave himself for me 5. Endeavour to fix your Purposes and Resolutions of faithful Adherence to Christ whatever it cost you Tell him that you distrust your selves and are afraid of Temptation Tell him in Prayer You are almost ashamed to come to his Table you are such vile unworthy Sinners and are afraid you shall not keep the Covenant that now again you desire to renew But bewail your selves as sensible of your sins and weary of them Tell him that you hate them and resolve against them or else you durst not have the face to ask forgiveness and receive the Seal of it Therefore Resign your selves into his Hands Beg that the Holy Spirit would take possession of you that you may not backslide and wander as you have done Tell him that you renounce all Confederacy with his Enemies you would fain be more stedfast in the way of the Lord It is the desire of your Souls that you may not violate this Covenant but having sworn that you may perform it to keep his Righteous Judgments and that you hope you are ready through his Grace strengthning you to do and suffer any thing for him Therefore penitently and humbly offer up your selves to be his for ever saying Lord I present thee with what thou hast so dearly bought And here without reserve I give up my self to be Thine O do not reject a broken and contrite Heart that desires to be employed and used as may best please and serve thee Lord I am nothing I have nothing I can do nothing I deserve nothing I desire nothing but to love thee better to be more filled with thy Grace to partake more of thine Image to be enabled to honour thee now and enjoy thee for ever Grant me this Lord and do with me what thou wilt Accept the Sacrifice I make of my self unto thee of Soul and Body of all I have without any Exception or Reserve to thy holy will and pleasure Lastly After all this Remember that Thanksgiving and Joy is a principal part of our Work at this Table Let our Souls and all that is within us then praise the Lord giving Thanks to the Father of Mercies for this unspeakable Gift Blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the Riches of his Grace in him
Why does not Peter define and determine the matter that was questioned doubted and denied by Thomas There is nothing of all this however proper the occasion might have been 6. In that this Incredulity of the Apostle was over-ruled to so much good for the further Confirmation of the Great Doctrine of Christ's Resurrection let us admire the Divine Wisdom and Goodness in the Government of the World who tho he cannot be the Author of Sin does yet over-rule it to his own Glory He hath done so in many Eminent Examples and he did so in this Hereby the Honour of Christ is the more advanced by his open Confession of him afterwards as Lord and God and the Truth of his being Risen is the better confirmed and so the Faith of others assisted by his Fall It was well for the Apostle and it was well for Vs that he did not believe presently He was afterwards brought to the most admirable Exercise and Declaration of his Faith in Christ not only of his being Risen but of his being the Eternal Son of God and of his happy Interest in him and Relation to him as his Lord and his God And we have a greater Evidence thereby of the Truth of Christ's Resurrection Doubtless this Fall of Thomas was also a Motive to his greater Diligence in the Service of Christ and Zeal for his Glory as it was with the Apostle Paul and Peter and others 7. Let us not rashly judge of Men by a single Act. Thomas had true Faith notwithstanding this Fit of Doubting and Unbelief which revived upon the Sight and Presence of Christ within a few Days Many that in a fit of Temptation we may think have no Truth of Grace yet if we stay a while do soon discover it Some special Ordinance or Providence brings them to themselves and suddenly shows the Reality of that which did not Appear but the contrary Corruption 2. Having thus considered the Vnbelief of this Apostle let us now observe the Compassion Condescension and Kindness of Christ to this Incredulous Apostle Eight days after the Disciples being together and Thomas with them Jesus came and stood in the midst of them saying Peace be with you and says to Thomas Vers 27. Reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side and be not Faithless but Believing What Injustice if our Saviour had left him to his own Pertinacious Incredulity Whom could he have blamed but himself if he had continued in his Unbelief But our Lord came and shewed him his Hands and Feet and bids him do what he desired for his Conviction How mercifully doth he pity us in our Errors and Infirmities With what Tenderness and Compassion doth he reclaim us And this when he was Risen from the Dead after he was declared to be the Son of God with Power when he was to receive the Recompence and Reward of his Death and Sufferings when his State of Humiliation was over And yet How low does he stoop for the sake of this Apostle when so unreasonable a thing too was demanded as the Condition of his Believing But such is the Admirable Bounty and Condescension of Christ that he will not refuse him even this Since you will not believe otherwise O my Apostle I consent Behold my Wounds Behold the Print of the Nails And if the Sight of them be not enough to cure thine Infidelity Come Reach hither thine Hand thrust thy Finger into my Side I care not what I do or how low I stoop rather than not convince and heal thee If the Evidence of one Sense be not enough I will yield further and let thee have more Our Lord might have convinced Thomas by the Powerful Influence of his Spirit without all this But he condescends thus far for our Sakes that We and Others might have a clearer Evidence and Proof of his Resurrection and likewise of his Divinity For his fixing upon Thomas in this Assembly and speaking to him such Words doth plainly manifest that he knew his Heart and understood what Discourse he had had and what Objections he had made and what was the Inward Sense of his Soul which he could not have done without being Omniscient Little did this Apostle think his Lord had heard him or believe that he knew his Sin But Come hither says Christ behold my Hands Reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side He condescends to Grant that which it was the Apostles Fault to Ask. We see by these Words our Risen Lord retained the Marks of the Wounds the Prints of the Nails and Spear in his Body after the Resurrection to manifest with greater Certainty the Truth of it It is likely he preserved them at his Ascension too as the Evidence of his past Sufferings and the Ensigns of his Victory And let us not imagin if he retains them in Heaven to the Admiration of Angels and the Joy of the Redeemed that it will be any Disparagement to the Beauty and Splendor of his Glorious Body but rather contribute to it in the Day of his Appearing when every Eye shall see him and they also which pierced him 3. Let us Consider the Faith of Thomas hereupon ver 18. He answered and said My Lord and my God He not only believes with the Heart but confesses with the Mouth He owns both the Divinity of Christ and his Dominion and that with an Appropriating Faith My Lord and my God There is a great Sense in these few words for 1. Here is an Evidence of the Truth of his Repentance of his Love and of his Zeal The very Sight of Christ and the Print of the Nails and the Mark of his Wounds shames him for his Sin and makes him sensible of his Incredulity Behold says Christ the print of the Nails Think what I have suffered for Thee for the Expiation of thy Sin Think how I have loved Thee to dye for thee And wilt thou not believe that I am Risen This awakened his Repentance and made him abruptly cry out My Lord and my God Two words sometimes are more significant than an Hundred and express the Desires of the Heart more than a large Discourse The Kindness and Condescension of his Lord overcame him and by these words he proves the Cure of his Infidelity Before he would not believe Christ to be Alive now he confesses him to be God Before he reckoned him under the Power of Death now he acknowledges him as the Lord and Prince of Life Before he believed less than any of the other Apostles now he confesses more than All of them My Lord my God Thou art the Anointed of God the King the Head of the Church the Expected Promised Messiah If thy Death had staggered my Faith thy Resurrection has established it My Lord my God I adore thy Compassion and Condescension that thou wouldst Appear to me who so justly forfeited such a Favour I implore thy Grace I beg thy
of thy Adorable Perfections that we may so Glorifie thy Name in the Eyes of the World that others seeing our Good Works may Glorifie Thee our Father who art in Heaven To this end Let thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom Come O Thou who Reignest among the Armies of Heaven and over all the Inhabitants of the Earth rule in our Hearts by the Power of thy Word and Spirit Subdue every Lust and inordinate Affection in us Mortifie all the Rebellion of our Wills and the Enmity of our Carnal Minds and Hearts that we may no longer be in Slavery to the Devil and to foolish Criminal Passions but our Understanding Will Affections Conscience and Conversation be more intirely Conformed to thy Holy Pleasure and Precept And after the Establishment and Advancement of thy Kingdom of Grace in our Souls perfect it in due time by admitting us to thy Kingdom of Glory And let all the Kingdoms of the World submit to the Scepter of our Lord Redeemer that he may Rule to the ends of the Earth Let all the People praise thee and Worship thee O God let all the People Praise thee Let not Satan the Usurping God of this world Tyranize over so great a part of this Earth But let the Kingdom of thy Grace be enlarged and thine Authority be more generally submitted to in all the World Let the everlasting Gospel of the Blessed God be publisht understood believed and obeyed from the Rising of the Sun to the setting of the same And as the Effect of the Coming of thy Kingdom in Power Let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Thy Will be done Thy Will O God is the Measure of Holiness and Peace the Rule of Justice Truth and Perfect Wisdom Oh that it may be the Rule of our Desires that our Will may be intirely conformed to Thine All thy Works are Wisdom and all thy ways of Providence are Judgment Let us adore thee as Infallible in all the Revelations of thy Mind and as Wise and Good Just and Holy and True in all Thou do'st Let us acquiesce in thy good Pleasure as knowing nothing can be better done than what thou orderest In Fulness and in Want in Joy and Sorrow in Life and Death thy Holy Will O Lord be done Let us obediently comply with thy Preceptive Will in all thou hast commanded and humbly submit to thy Providential Will in all thou shalt appoint and be satisfied with our Portion Station and condition here on Earth Let us be govern'd in all things by thy Holy Will with Cheerfulness and Readiness and Faithfulness and Zeal without Deceit Delay or Murmuring Complaints That we may observe and please thy Will on Earth as the Angels do in Heaven where thou art loved delighted in and obeyed in Perfection And let all the World we beseech thee joyn with us and them to praise and glorifie thee with one heart and one voice and one consent and be the Servants of thy Holy Will for ever But our Satisfaction in thy Declared VVill doth not hinder but we may Ask the necessary Supports of Life We pray thee therefore Give us tbis day our Daily Bread Thou takest Care of our Souls provide also we beseech thee for our Bodies Prolong our Lives till we have finisht the Work of Life and answered the Ends of Living Continue a suitable and convenient Supply for the Necessities of our Nature Give us that Health Protection Peace and Plenty which may best assist us in our present Duty and tend to our Comfortable Accompt in the Day of Reckoning Thou hast directed us not to Chuse either Poverty or Riches because of the Temptations of either extreme Give us therefore Food Convenient according to that Rank and State and Condition thou hast plac'd us in or may'st hereafter do That so the Temptations of the Right Hand may not make us Wanton Secure and Proud forgetful of Thee and our Selves and the greater Concerns of Eternity or our Hearts be set to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof And that on the contrary by the Snares of Poverty and pinching Straits we may not be tempted to doubt or deny Thy Providence or quarrel with it that we may not be exposed to Contempt and Misery and thereby to Impatience Distrust and Despair Keep us from undue Sollicitude about these things and give us Contentment with our present Condition Grant us that measure and proportion of Temporal Blessings which may enable us the better to serve and glorifie thee And whatever thou do with us let us be Calm and Quiet and Thankful and never admit any dishonourable Thoughts of thy Rule and Government Let us own Thee as the Original and Fountain of all our Good and faithfully depend on Thee for the Supply of all our Wants But whatever thou give us of Earthly Good Lord what will it avail us when our Sins are so many and great unless thou Forgive and Pardon us Therefore we beseech thee O Lord to Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Look upon us with a Merciful Eye for we are here before thee in our Trespasses Forgive our Sins of Ignorance and of Wilfulness those of Presumption and those of Infirmity secret and open in heart and word and deed the Vanity of our Minds the Carelesness of our Spirits the Wickedness of our Hearts the Irregularity of our Affections the Folly of our Lips and all the Omissions and Commissions of our past Lives from our Birth and Infancy to this very hour Look not upon our Offences but cast our sins behind thy Back Remember 'em not against us to our Punishment and Condemnation We beg this for the sake of our Blessed Saviour who hath made Expiation for Sin by his Cursed Death For his sake be Reconciled to us and remember our Iniquities no more and seal to us the free and full Forgiveness of them by the Witness of thy Holy Spirit that we may Rejoyce in God through Jesus Christ as having received the Atonement Enable us by a large and Evangelical Charity heartily to forgive all those who have any way troubled or injured or offended us lest our Prayer be turned into sin and thou deny us that Pardon which we deny to our Fellow Creatures That having by thy Grace this Character of thy Disciples and Children we may reap the Benefit of thy Pardoning Mercy here and in the other VVorld But because tho we should be forgiven for the Time past we shall run into the like sins again and contract New Guilt and fall an easie Prey to Temptation we beseech thee preserve us from being tempted or overcome when we are Lead us not into Temptation Lord we are Weak and Ignorant and Inclined to that which is Evil and our Adversary the Devil goes about like a Crafty Serpent and a Roaring Lion seeking whom he may deceive and destroy let us never be Careless Secure and Confident of our selves He is a Malicious Experienc't Watchful Envious Unwearied Enemy let us not be Ignorant of his Devices Enable us to Mortifie the Love of Sin and Inward Lust and diligently avoid the Occasions and Appearances of Evil the Incentives and Provocatives to Wickedness And suffer us not to be Tempted above what we are Able Order our Conditions and Affairs so as we may be free from great and Dangerous Temptations Help us that by taking to us the whole Armour of God we may be able to withstand the Wiles and Assaults of Satan that by the Protection and Guidance of thy Providence the Ministry of thine Angels and the Aids of thy Good Spirit we may not enter into Temptation and yield to it that Such as we cannot avoid may not prevail against us to thy Dishonour and our Eternal Ruin Deliver us from the Evil of every Temptation and from the Evil One the Tempter and from other Evils to which we are Incident But deliver us from Evil. Forgive what is Past Remove what is Present Prevent what may otherwise be to come from Sin and Shame from the Malice of the Devil and the Falshood and Treachery of Men from open Enemies and unfaithful Friends from the Deceits of the VVorld and the Lusts of the Flesh but above all from thy VVrath and Vengeance due to our Sins VVe Beseech thee to deliver and save us Pardon us so freely that all the Sufferings of this Life may be turned from Evil to Good that if thou smite us here with the Rod of a Father thou may'st spare us hereafter That all things may work together for our Advantage and that in every Condition we may be kept from Sin To that end Deliver us from the Evil One the Great Enemy of thy Glory and our Salvation Let us resist him stedâ—astly in the Faith that he may flee and we may Conquer We acknowledge our own Weakness and desire to be sensible of it and therefore humbly Invoke thine Aid and Help O save us from an Impenitent hard Heart while we live and let us Finish our Course in thy Fear and Love let us dye the Death of the Righteous and not have our Portion to all Eternity in that Region of Darkness and Torment which thou hast prepared for the Devil and his Angels For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Thou art able to do all this for us as the All-mighty Wise and Holy Lord and Governour of the VVorld whose Glorious Perfections are displayed and honoured in all thy Works We hope the granting these our Supplications will advance the Mightiness of thy Kingdom and Manifest thy Power Mercy and Truth For of thee and to thee and through thee are All Things to Thee be Glory for ever and ever Amen As Thou sayest so it is As Thou hast Promised So it shall be And as we have Prayed we Beg it may Be Amen and Amen THE END