Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes and you shall observe that the text saith he drank it and said drink yee all of it so that this is not according to the institution for a Minister to goe up and downe and to give it into every mans hand certainly this was not so from the beginning this is a way of mans own devising for the bread and the cup to be given into every bodies hand by the Minister Christ did but give it once hee gave it to them all and said drink yee all of this so it was done Quest But you will say is it not better for it to be given into every ones hand Answ No because that the giving of it once for all doth signifie more fully the fellowship and communion that they have together as at a Table it were a strange thing that every bit of meat must be given to every one particularly no but the dishes must bee set before them and they must take it themselves Indeed if they be children you cut every peice of meat and give it into their hands or mouths but that 's sutable to a fellowship at Table and communion to have the meat set before them being blest and then for all to partake of it And besides this giving it into every ones hand certainly it came to us from a Popish and superstitious conceit of the Papists for the Papists will give it into their mouths because the people must not defile it with their hands And it was to bring more reverence to the Sacrament now there 's a great deale of danger for to bring in mens devices for to cause more reverence we are to look to the Ordinance of Christ hee gave it once and said drink yee of it in General to them all and so the Ministers should do And besides there is this in it more and one would wonder that Ministers should give it in particular and not in generall to the Church for by this meanes Ministers might abundantly ease themselves of a great deale of charge and guilt for upon this ground it will appeare that a Minister though as an eminent officer he is to look to his Congregation that they be fit yet the truth is it concernes the Church as well to look who comes there and likewise the Minister I say to look about him that he doth not say The body of the Lord Jesus Christ was given to thee when he knowes they are prophane and wicked it concerns the Minister to look that he doth not tell a lie but now when the Minister gives it generally to the Church Take eate and Take drinke he gives it particularly to no body Now then his charge is divided to the Church and if there be any body that is unworthy let the Church look to it as well as he though he as an eminent Officer it s more especially in particular his duty then any others heretofore the charge would lie much upon the Minister but the Minister according to the institution should give the Sacrament to no particular but in generall to the Church and therefore if there were but any particular that the Minister upon a particular knowledge did know to be naught he might in great part discharge himselfe as professing against this or that particular man for it is not in his power alone to keep any from the Sacrament but if so be that he shall professe against such and such men the Church must joyne with him to labour to keep them from the Sacrament and that is the next thing for the institution Christ gave it not into any particular mens hands but he gave it to all saying Drinke and eat yee all of it A third thing that is to be observed for the institution of this that all the while the Communicants are taking eating and drinking the bread and wine they should all of them that while have their thoughts exercised about the death of Jesus Christ for that 's the institution do this in remembrance of mee there should be no action intermingled in the time of the receiving of the Sacrament nothing but minding the work that you are about that is to remember the death of Iesus Christ and to discerne the body of the Lord not only when you take your selves the bread and wine but when you see the bread and wine broken or powred forth and you see others taking the bread and wine all that while you should be thinking of the death of Christ and discerning the Lords body and consider what these outward elements do signifie and that they doe seale the great benefit of the Covenant of grace therefore it is not according to the institution to be singing of Psalmes in the mean time while the Sacrament is receiving and so to have your thoughts about other things singing of Psalmes in its due time is a good thing but for you to doe it at that time when as the death of Christ is presented before you and Christ calls you to look upon his body and to thinke upon what he hath done and suffered this is no seasonable time of singing and if you read the institution you shall find that Christ after all was done the text saith they sung an hymne so that according to the institution it is after the action is done of eating and drinking then for the Church to joyne together and sing a Psalme in the praise of God and then they must mind all the same thing together for that 's the thing to be done in the Sacrament that look what one doth all must mind together for when one part sings and the other are waiting for the bread and wine this is not sutable to the holy Table action and that Communion that God requires of us though the things in themselves are both good that are doing yet when we are about this holy Ordinance being it is an Ordinance for Communion all are to be doing the same thing at the same time and so when all have done eating and drinking then for all to joyne together in singing to the praise of God Now it may be this at first seems strange to many yet certainly observe this doe but keepe to the institution in the Sacrament though you may thinke it a more mean way yet you will find a greater beauty in this Ordinance then ever you found in all your lives for the more wee keep to Christs institution and mingle nothing of our owne the more glory and beauty and excellency doth appeare in the Ordinances of Iesus Christ but when any man shall mix any of his owne inventions though he may do it to a good end and think to adde to and put a greater lustre upon the Sacrament the truth is that which he thinks to be a greater lustre reverence or honour put upon it it doth rather take off the lustre and glory of the Sacrament then are the institutions of Christ glorious when there is no
us draw neer saith the Text Who would not draw neer to God Oh what a good thing is it to be in the presence of God! Is not the Lord the fountain of thy life Is it not a sweet thing to be in his presence We think it a sweet thing to be in the presence of godly men Oh ' that we might alwaies live with such men and be nigh them That Martyr Doctor Taylor rejoyced in this That ever he came into Prison to be acquainted with that Angel of God holy Master Bradford and as I remember some among the heathens that profest they would rather be in prison with Caâ—o then be in the greatest glory with some other It is a blessed thing to be in the presence of God to be with him that is the God of our lives and the fountain of all good let us draw nigh to God often let us know that it is a mercy that we may draw nigh to God wee might have been banished from the presence of the Lord long e're this time This is that that the happinesse of the glorious Church is set out by in Rev. 22. 4. They shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads This is the Priviledge of the Church And that it is such a blessing to draw nigh to God you may see it by that in Eph. 2. 18. For through him we both have an accesse by one spirit unto the Father Through him Through Christ we have accesse by one Spirit unto the Father and now saith he Ye that were strangers and forreiners are made fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and vers 13. But now by Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were a far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ and you have accesse through Christ So our coming nigh to God is such a priviledge as cost the bloud of Christ and will not you improve it You were far off in your naturall condition but now you are nigh through his bloud Lay but this text warm to your hearts this morning That I that was far off am made nigh by the bloud of Christ made nigh to God it will be a means for ever to draw your hearts to all those waies whereby you may draw neerest to God And by drawing nigh to God often you will come to increate your graces abundantly your graces how will they act the presence of God will draw forth the acts of grace as the presence of the fire draws forth our heat so the presence of God will draw forth our graces And by this means we come to live most holy lives We read of Moses he was upon the mountain forty daies with God and when he came down his face did so shine that the people were not able to bear it what 's the reason it was from hence because he was so nigh to God would you have your faces to shine in a holy conversation before men converse much with God be often with God be nigh to him and that will make you shine as lights in the middest of a crooked and perverse generation We find it so with some that converse much with God there is a shine upon their very countenances And further it is a speciall signe of our adoption to love to be nigh to God What should a Child love most but to be in the presence of his Father Would you know whither you have received the Spirit of adoption yea or no I can hardly give you any one signe so clear as this for to love to go into Gods presence as David said I was glad when they said Come and let us go up unto the House of the Lord. You shall have many that love to be in Gods presence so as they think on it over-night and long for the time while it comes I never am better then when I am with God me thinks when I get into Gods presence either in Prayer or any duty of Gods Worship I find my heart warmed and quickned c. They are ready to say with Peter Master it is good being here And that 's another thing It is that which will put us in mind of the life of heaven it is the only thing in heaven to be in the presence of God Why the more thou art nigh God in the Duties of Worship the more thou art in heaven and doest not thou pray That the will of God may be done in Earth as in Heaven Now the Saints and Angels are alwaies before God Worshipping of him then be as much as thou canst in the presence of God If thou wouldest be in heaven be there Many of the Saints they find it so It is not so with carnall hearts they are weary presently when they are in Prayer or hearing the Word it is not so to them yea that 's because thou hast not the presence of God as in Mal. 1. what wearinesse is there thou canst be a gaming till one or two a clock at night and though thou shouldest lose thy supper or the work of thy family it is not tedious to thee to be exercised in those things that pleaseth the flesh but when thou comest to Worship God how quickly art thou tir'd now what wilt thou do in heaven where there is nothing else done to all eternity but Worshipping of God And then it must needs be delightful to God that thou shouldest come nigh him There is nothing in the world more pleasant to God then to have his Saints come into his presence What doth a Father more delight in then to have his Children about him never did any Father or Mother love to have their Children by them so as God loves to have his Children come nigh him and be often with him And the truth is one great reason that God suffers you to fall into afflictions so much is that you may come running to him How doth the Child come running to the Father or Mother when it is afraid why the Lord is willing to permit men to do you wrong that you may run to him that he might have more of your presence Thou that art such a poor creature yet thou hearest this day that there is nothing in the world that God takes more pleasure in next to the presence of his own Son Jesus Christ and his Saints and Angles that he hath with him in heaven then to have his Saints come nigh him to have them alwaies to be under his wing And then by coming often into Gods presence in his worship there will grow a sweet and blested familiarity between God and thy soul for thou wilt be speaking to God and God will be speaking to thee too We know many times that dear friends who are very neerly linkt together yet if they be long absent one from another there grows a strangenesse and so by degrees their friendship is deaded but now when they are together every day and there is
heart to God take heed of keeping any secret resolutions in thine own heart God knows thee and can tell how to find thee out God knows all that is in thine heart before all the secret basenesse that is in thine heart the Lord doth understand it the Lords eye is a peircing eye he sees through and through thy heart It s a vaine thing for thee to come and conceale any thing before him You will say If God understand a mans heart what need he come and confesse Yes he requires it it as thy duty that thou shouldest come and open all before him In spight of thy heart thou canst not cover any thing from the Lords eyes but the Lord will see whether thou beest willing of thy self that he should understand all God doth not require us to come and confesse our sins that so he might know that which he knew not before but for this end That there might be a testimony that thou art willing that he should know all that is in thy heart therefore now when thou comest to worship him ransack every corner of thy heart and confesse all before the Lord and give glory to his name as that God that is an All-seeing God that knows all the windings and turnings of thy heart Now meditate of these things that be presented to thee and it will be a mighty means to help thee to Sanctifie his Name 8 God is a God of infinite Wisdome therefore when we come to worship God let us be ashamed of our folly When thou comest to have to deal with God look upon him as a God of infinite wisedome and I say be thou ashamed of thy folly then and do thou exercise the grace of wisdom too when thou comest to God that is by propounding right ends of which we spake before That is one part of wisdome to have right ends and right meanes towards those ends so that the meditation of the wisdome of God when we come to worship him will further us to Sanctifie his Name And further This is to Santifie Gods Wisdome when thou comest into Gods presence in thy greatest streights deny thy own wisdome come with a resolution to be guided by the wisdome of God in this manner Lord I know not how to order my steps there is much folly and vanity in my heart but thou art a God of infinite wisdome I come to thee for direction and I professe here I am willing to give up my whole Soul to be guided by thy wisdome If every time we come to worship God we came thus Oh Lord whatsoever our thoughts have been heretofore yet if thou shalt but reveale thy mind to us we will hearken to thee Lord we beleeve that thy wisdome it is thy self and therefore we professe to give up our selves to thy Wisdome Now this is to Sanctifie the Name of God 9 Consider the holinesse of God God is a God infinitly pure from all sin and therefore when we come to worship God we must be ashamed of our unholinesse as the Prophet in Isa 6. when he heard the Seraphins cry Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts he fals down and saith Wee is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips And is God a holy God Then let me take heed when I come before him that I bring not with me a love to any sin for the Lord hates it and let me take heed that I do not cast dirt in the very face of Gods holinesse but give up my Soul to be rul'd wholly by him And labour that there may be a suitablenesse between the holinesse of thy heart and of the infinite God Now this is to Sanctifie Gods Name when the consideration of this Attribute of God hath such effect upon my heart that I labour upon this to come with a suitable heart before God 10 When thou comest before God Consider that thou comest to a mercifull God And what should this work First It should make me come joyfully into his presence as a God that is willing to do good to his poor Creatures that are in misery Secondly It should make me to come with a heart senseable of the need of this mercy O Lord I have had my heart let out to other vain things heretofore but now Lord thy mercy it is that my Soul comes for as that wherein my chief and only good consists Thirdly It should make me come with expectation of great things from God do not come unto God as unto an empty Vine but as unto a full Vine and the more thy Faith is raised to expect great things from God the more acceptable art thou to God Certainly the higher any ones faith is raised when they come into his presence to expect the greatest things the more acceptable It is otherwise with God then men if you come to men to begge a little thing you may be welcome but if you come to ask a great matter they will look a skew upon you but the truth is the greater the things are that we come to God for the more welcome are we into Gods presence and those that are acquainted with God they know it and therefore they come the more fully When they come to ask Jesus Christ himself and his Spirit that is more worth then ten thousand worlds they come with more freedom of Spirit then when they come to ask their healths and the like Fourthly It will be likewise another means of Sanctifying this Attribute of God when thou comest to him If thou doest come with a mercifull heart towards thy brethren Take heed whensoever you come to worship God that you come not with a rugged and cruell heart towards any of your brethren therefore you find that Christ laies this upon you in teaching how to pray you must say Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our brethren that trespasse against us And you find it repeated again If you forgive then your heavenly Father will forgive and not otherwise As if Christ should say When you come to begge mercy be sure you bring mercifull hearts Fifthly It is a good way to Sanctifie the Name of God in this Attribute for the Soul to be solicitous with it self What is that that will hinder me from the mercy of God and let me avoid it It is otherwise a taking of the name of God in vain for me to come to professe what need I have of Gods mercy and yet for al that never regard to avoid those things that may hinder the work of his grace upon me 11 Consider the Justice of God that is another Attribute Consider that thou hast to deal with an Infinite Righteous and Just God Do not think that if thou beest a beleever that thou hast nothing to do with the Justice of God for certainly thou art to Sanctifie the Justice of God Now you will say How should a beleever Sanctifie the Justice of God Thus First He should be apprehensive senseable
and in another part it grows so in one â—ew the seed of the word is lost and in another â—ew it grows up But now if people that are compared to the ground would so hear the word as Gods name may be sanctified in it their hearts must be plowed â—as if one should sow seed upon green soil sow it in the fields upon green grasse what would become of it The ground must first be plowed for the preparation of the seed But you will say what is the meaning of the plowing of our hearts for the preparation of the word The meaning is nothing else but this The work of humiliation the humbling of the soul before the Lord when it doth come to hear Gods word Humble it in these two regards First be humbled for your ignorance that you know so little of Gods mind as you do Secondly be humbled for all the sinfulnesse of your hearts be senceable of the sinfulnesse and wretchednesse of your hearts and the miserable condition that you are in if you can get your hearts broken with the sence of your sin and misery and come so to hear the word it is very like the word may be of mighty use and Gods name may be very much Sanctified in your hearing of the word You will say Must we plow up our hearts before we come to hear It must be the word that must plow us the word is the plow and so the Ministers of God are compared to plowmen in the word he that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of heaven It is true it cannot be expected that the heart should be throughly plowed as it ought but by the word therefore at the first coming to hear there is not hope that men will Sanctifie Gods name till the word gets in to plow them and so by geting at one time into their hearts they come to be prepared for hearing at another time And yet some what may be done before by that natural knowledg that men have they may come to know themselves to be sinners and come to understand themselves to be very weak and ignorant by some knowledg that they may have by the works of God and by conferrence with others and by reading and the like and so they may in some measure come to have their hearts to be humbled And it is good to make use of these to humble the heart but now You that have heard the word often and yet have not Sanctified Gods name there be truths that you have heard heretofore that if you had made use of in private to have plowed up your hearts they would have prepared your hearts for the next time in hearing of the word If therefore you would hear the word with a great deal more profit then formerly your hearts must be plowed by humiliation 2 Secondly the heart must be plowed by labouring to get out those thorns that are in the heart those lusts that grow deep in the heart as thorns grow in the ground labour to pluck them out that is when thou comest to hear the word get thy heart into that frame as to be willing to professe against every known sin that thou hast found in thy heart labour to find out those lusts that are in thy heart and then professe against them that thou art willing to have them to be rooted out of thy heart if men and women would but do thus when they come to hear that God might see this in them that they have before they come profest against every known sin This would be an excellent thing indeed 3 Again in the third place which will follow from hence When thou comest to hear the word come with a Resolution to yeeld to what ever God shall reveal to be his mind I am now going to hear thy word oh Lord to wait upon thee to know what thou hast to say to me And thou that art the searcher of the secrets of all hearts Thou knowest that I go with such a resolution to yeeld up my self to every truth of thine How would the name of God be Sanctified if you did thus come to hear the word If you did come with such a resolution Job 32. 34. That which I know not teach thâ—u me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more In Isa 2. 3. you have a prophesie of the Centils how they should come to the word And many people shall go and say Comeye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his waies and we will walk in his paths Here is a blessed disposition when you come to hear the word Some of you come together in streets and lanes and over the fields when you come together and meet one with another as you walk over the fields make use of this text Oh that this prophesie might be fulfilled in your coming over the fields every Lords day morning and at other times that you would say one to another or when you call one upon another to go to hear Come let us go up to the house of the Lord and he will teach us of his waies and we will walk in his paths We are resolved that whatever the Lord shall teach us to be his waies we will submit unto it This is a due preparation of the heart for the Sanctifying of Gods name in the hearing of his word 4 When you come to hear the word come with longing desires after the word come with an appetite to it As in 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new born babes desire the sincear milk of the word that you may grow thereby Do it as new born babes Now you know little babes they do not desire milk to play withall but only to nourish them Children of three or four yeers old they may desire milk to play with but new born babes never care for it but when they are hungry to nourish them And so it is true many come to hear the word to play with it But now you should come to hear the word as new born babes with a hungring desire after the word that your Souls may be nourished thereby That were excellent if every Lords day and at other daies you did come as hungry to the word as ever you went to your dinner or supper The word of God should be to you more then your appointed food And then you are like to grow by it and to Sanctifie Gods name in it 5 Pray before hand that God would open thine eyes and open thine heart and accompany his word thus did David Open mine eyes O Lord that I may understand the wonders of thy Law And you know what is said of Lydia The Lord opened her heart to attend to the word that was spoken Now seeing it is an Ordinance thou doest expect more good from then what it self of its own nature is able to
be not Sanctified in it the end that God hath appointed it for will be turned quite contrary to thee The proper end that God hath appointed his word for it is to save souls but now where Gods name is not Sanctified it is turned quite contrary so the Apostle in 2 Cor. 2. 16. To the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life It is a dreadful thing that the good word of God in which there is such treasures of Gods mercy wherein the counsels of God concerning mans eternal estates comes to be revealed that this should prove to be the favour of death unto death unto any soul that is to have such an efficacy in it as to kill them by the very scent of it as it were As some things have such a poyson in them as the very scent is enough to poyson one So saith the Apostle to some our word hath that efficacy being turned quite to the contrary end some souls are sav'd and are and shal be blessing God to al eternity for the word and thy soul is dam'd by the word so as thou wilt hereafter curse the time that ever thou camest to hear it That will be a dreadful thing that the same word that others shall be blessing of God eternally in heaven for that thou shalt be cursing eternally in hell for it will be turned to the quite contrary end If it works not in the right way it will work the other the truth is it hardens mens hearts if it brings them not to God there is nothing that doth harden the hearts of men more then the Ministry of the word yet by accident not by its self there is no men in the world have such hard hearts as those that are wicked under the Ministry of the word It is not only an argument that their hearts are hard but they are hardened by it That in Isa 6. 9. 10. is remarkable for this and the rather because I find it so often quoted by Christ I think it is quoted three or four times in the Gospel And he said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed This is a strange Scripture what must a Prophet go to them to make their hearts fat and to shut their eyes why the word is appointed to open mens eyes but here the Prophet is sent to shut their eyes that they might not be converted this is dreadful this is for the punishment of some former neglect of the word of God sent unto this people above all Judgements you should be afraid of this It is not so much that a fire should be upon your houses as that God should make his word to be a means to harden your hearts In Ezek. 14. we have a dreadful expression to this purpose by the Prophet there where the Lord saith that the people did come to inquire of him with setting up their Idols in their hearts but saith God I will answer them according to their Idoll If men come to the Ministry of the word with their beloved sins and resolve that they will not part with them the Lord many times in his just judgment suffers some things in the word to be accidentally a means to harden them in that sin of theirs I will answer them according to their Idoll those men are in a dreadful estate whose hearts come to be hardened by the word 9 Ninthly If thou doest not Sanctifie Gods name in the hearing of the word what comfort canst thou ever have by the word in the day of thy affliction certainly when the day of thy affliction comes then there is nothing can comfort thee but the word Vnlesse thy law had been my delight saith David I should then have perished in mine affliction but thou having been exercised in the word so much and Gods name not Sanctifed thou must not expect to have thy soul comforted in the day of thy affliction No marvail then though the word hath been applied again and again to your hearts and nothing would stick I remember it was an expression of one in a great deal of terror of conscience many came to apply comfortable Scriptures to him and he himself for a while did take those Scriptures and lay them upon his heart to passifie his troubled conscience but a little before he dyed he cries out with a most fearful terror there is a fair plaister made but it will 〈◊〉 on it will not stick on so dyed despairing so there is in the word such a plaister as may help a wounded and troubled conscience but 〈◊〉 thou expect that hast not Sanctified Gods name in thy life time that it shall stick upon thy soul in the day of thy affliction never expect it for the Lord hath said otherwise Prov. 1. Because when I cryed and call'd ye would not hear you shall cry and call and I will not hear The Lord in his word cries to thee Oh thou sinful soul who art going on in the waies of sin and eternal destruction Return return that is the way that will bring thee to eternal miseries but here is the way that will bring thee to life and eternal salvation Thus the Lord cries and cals to day to day and thou stoppest thy eare Oh how just is it with God to stop his eare from thy crying and calling in the day of thy affliction 10 Further Know that thou that doest not Sanctifie the name of God in his word that all the word of God will be made good one day upon thee God hath his time to magnifie his Law and to make it honorable Isa 42. 21. You sight Gods Law you slight his word and despise it but God will magnifie it and make it honorable there is not any sentence that thou hast heard in the word but it shall be made good whatsoever becomes of thy soul Thou thinkest that God is a merciful God he will not damn thee but though God be merciful hath regard to his creatures yet the Lord hath ten thousand times more regard to his word then to all the souls of men and women in the world and God will stand to make that good he will not have such regard to that wretched vile sinful soul of thine as not to honour his word he will honour his word whatsoever becomes of thee and all that thou hast heard and rejected shall be made good upon thee one day 11 Again the word that thou doest reject and sin against it shall be the word that shall judge thee Joh. 12. 48. Look to it as well as you will this book of God out of which we preach and those truths that we delivered to you from this word
they must be called over again at the great day to judge your souls by the sentence of every one of your eternall estates must be tryed out of this book Oh look upon it as the word that must judge your Souls at the last day and then you will see it a dreadfull thing not to sanctifie Gods Name in it And then when the word doth judge you you shall obey it whether you will or no. Now the word convinces you and you will not obey it but when God comes to judge you by the word then you shall obey it Then when God comes to read that sentence out of the word Go ye cursed into everlasting fire then I say you shall be forced to obey it 12 Lastly There is yet one thing more which should have been mentioned before which is very remarkable That those men which do not sanctifie Gods Name in his word they will be blasted even here while they live their parts and common gifts that they yet have will be blasted wither and come to nothing We find it ordinarily that many that are young had very good beginnings and very good parts that were very hopefull and would speak very favourly where they came afterwards beginning by degrees to neglect the Word the Lord hath blasted them their gifts have withered the common gifts of the Spirit have been taken from them I will give you one Text for that in Luk. 8. 18. Take heed therefore how ye hear It is an Exhortation that follows upon the parable of the Sower that went out to sow because it is so that when the word is sowen as seed there is so little of it doth prosper and most hearers do not Sanctifie Gods name in it therefore look to your selves Why For whosoever hath to him shall be given and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have You had need look to your selves how you hear for the truth is all depends upon it under God have you got any common gifts of the Spirit of God or any abilities to do any service for God do not be proud of them neither be jolly nor think that you are able to do better then others and that those are but ordinary things that the Minister speaks and you are gotten into a higher forme Look to your selves take heed you come not to the word with a proud Spirit be not offended at the plainnesse of the word take heed how you hear for if you do not that that you seem to have shall be taken from you saith Christ You seem to have excellent gifts yea you seem to have grace too but take heed how you hear for all this whatsoever parts you have got though you be highly esteemed in the company where you come and you are able to do things more then others yet I say Take heed how you hear for otherwise that that you have will be taken away from you have have we not seen this in our own experience and it is apparent that they began to be withered and to be blasted by neglecting of the Word And therefore I beseech you look to this that you do Sanctifie the name of God in his word and let your hearts bow unto it as unto the Ordinance of God and waite upon it in the Ministry of it lest you wither and be blasted and come to nothing And thus I have shewen the great evill of not Sanctifying Gods Name and how God will be Sanctified I shall be very brief in the Use of Exhortation Oh that the Lord by this would cause some thing to stick upon your hearts that what hath been preached in this point may be made usefull for many Sermons afterwards that it might be said of you in this place as it was said of them in Act. 13. 48. When the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Oh that God would make every one of you to be a means to glorifie the word of God! That should be our care that the word of God may be glorified by us we come to hear the word but take heed that the word of God be not dishonoured by us In 2 Thess 3. 1. Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you Oh that we were able to say so and yet through Gods mercy in some degree we hope we can say so and I could heartily pray that the word of God might be glorified in all places as it hath been with many of you but yet go on in this and labour every one of you that it may be more glorified that you may manifest the power of the word in your conversations that all that do behold you may glorifie the word and say Oh what hath the Lord wrought in such a place in such families families that were wretched vild carnal and liv'd without God in the world Prophane Swearers foul-mouth'd Unclean Now since they have attended upon the word how hath it wrought upon them what a change is there in such men and women That the carnal husband may say since such time as my wife hath attended upon the word I have seen a Beauty in her conversation shee is more holy more gentle and meek and so my servant more submissive and faithful and so my children more obedient then before Oh that the word may be thus glorified Take heed I beseech you that the word be not blasphemed by any of you In Tit. 2. 5. there the Apostle gives divers exhortations and among others to wives and to servants To be 〈◊〉 chast◠keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands that the 〈◊〉 God be not blasphemed you must perform your duties unto your husbands and why that so the word of God be not blasphemed that is that neither your husbands nor any of your friends may blasphem the word and say what do you get this by going to sermons Oh it should peirce your hearts when as your consciences tell you that you have given cause whereby the word of God should be blasphemed and so he exhorts servants and others and all in the strength of this argument that the word of God be not blasphemed you get up early in a morning to hear the word that 's good but take heed you give no occasion that the word be blasphemed Now I shall shew what an excellent thing it is so to Sanctifie Gods name in the hearing of his word as to honour it and how God will Sanctifie his owne name in mercy to you 1 First All the good in the word is thine if thou doest Sanctifie Gods name There is aboundance of good in this word that we preach it is the word of the Gospel and to have all the good in that to be thine that must needs be an excellent thing you will say some times I
mixture among them thus wee should sanctifie the name of God in receiving this holy Sacrament you have had divers things propounded to you whereby you may come to know and easily to see that there hath been a great deale of dishonour done to this Sacrament and the beauty and glory of it hath been darkened and the sweet that the Saints might otherwise have received in plucking hath been exceedingly hindred There is but one thing more that I shall propound to you and that is the severall meditations that we should meditate on in receiving of the Sacrament the most concerning meditations are suggested in the holy Communion that are in any thing whatsoever more concerning more efficacious more various meditations wee have suggested here then in any thing and it is a great figne that men and women do not discerne the Lords body if so be their meditations be barren at that time I will therefore suggest some nine or ten meditations that that Ordinance of God may hold out very plainly and familiarly to every Communicant for the busying of their thoughts all the time that action is a doing Meditation 1. As first that the way of mans salvation it was by a Mediator it is not only by Gods mercy Gods saying that hee is offended by sin but he will be content to passe it by no but it is through a Mediator now this meditation is suggested thus when I see the bread and wine if I disceren what that signifyes it will hold forth this to me that the way of mans salvation it is not meerly from hence that God saith well I will pardon them and no more but there is required a great worke of God to make an aronement between sinners and himselfe this Sacrament doth hold forth thus much unto us wherefore else have we bread and wine but to signifie that the way of our rconciliation it must be through a Mediator Med. 2. The second Meditation is this that this Mediator that stands between God and us is verily and truely man hee hath taken our nature upon him the bread that puts us in mind of the body of Christ and the wine of his bloud and therefore we are to meditate of the humane nature of Iesus Christ and this is a meditation that hath abundance that might spring out of it what hath the Son of God taken our nature upon him hath hee body and bloud and humane nature upon him oh how hath God honoured humane nature then let me not abuse my body to lust to wickednesse seeing that Jesus Christ hath taken the body of man upon him humane nature upon him let me honour humane nature that is so neerly united to the divine nature that 's the second Meditation Meditation 3. Here 's presented unto us what this Mediator hath done for the reconciling of us unto God that his body was broken he hath subjected himself to the breaking of his body and to the pouring forth of his blood for the reconciling of us it is not meerly as before that God saith I le pardon them but Christ undertaking to make peace between his Father and us it cost him the breaking of his body and the pouring forth of his blood this is a usefull Meditation Oh what should we be willing to suffer for Jesus Christ in our bodies even to resist unto blood seeing Christ hath been content to have his precious body broken and his blood shed for us Meditation 4 Againe a fourth Meditation is this that here we come to see we have occasion of meditating of that the Scripture saith that we are by the blood of God saved it is the blood of God they crucified the Lord of glory that 's the Scripture phrase we should consider when we see the Wine poured out and so put in mind of blood whose blood and whose body is this It is no other but the body and blood of him that was truly God the second Person in Trinity This is the great Mystery of the Gospel and this is very needfull for us to be thinking of when we see the body broken and the blood poured out What will the breaking of the body and shedding of the blood of a meere creature be sufficient to make peace between God and Man surely no therefore you must meditate whose body this is and whose blood this is it is the body and blood of him that was God It s true God hath no body nor no blood but the same person that was God had a body and blood that body and blood was united unto the divine nature in a hypostaticall union and from thence it came to have an efficacie for to satisfie God for to reconcile God and us together this is the great mystery of godlinesse Med. 5. Another Meditation is this when you see Bread broken and Wine poured out oh the infinite dreadfulnesse of the justice of God! how dreadful is the justice of God that coming upon his own Son and requiring satisfaction from him that should thus break him and bruise him that should have his blood that should require such sufferings even from his Son dreadfull is Gods justice the justice of God it is to be feared and to be trembled at here we see what is required for the sinne of man and nothing would be bated to Jesus Christ himself Med. 6. Another Meditation is this here I see presented to me what every soul that shall be saved cost whoever shall have his soul sav'd he hath it sav'd by a ransom by a price paid that is more worth then ten thousand thousand worlds thou slightest thine owne soule but if it prove to be saved it cost more then if thousands of worlds had been given for thee even the shedding of the blood of Christ every drop of which was more precious then ten thousand worlds Meditation 7. Again from hence see what is the evill of sin how great it is that hath made such a breach between God and my soule that only such a way and such a means must take away my sinne I must either have laine under the burden of my sinne eternally or Jesus Christ that's God and man must suffer so much for it oh what Meditations are these to take up the hearts of men Meditation 8. Behold the infinite love of God to mankind and the love of Jesus Christ that rather then God would see the children of men to perish eternally he would send his Sonne to take our nature upon him and thus to suffer such dreadfull things herein God shows his love it is not the love of God so much in giving you a good voyage and prospering you outwardly in the world But so God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne And it pleased the Father to break his Sonne and to poure out his blood here is the love of God and of Jesus Christ oh what a powerfull mighty drawing efficacious Meditation should this be unto us Med. 9. Those that are