of the holy Spirit to teach and enable us to obey we shall be abundantly convinc'd of the advantage and benefit of it to us By this means we have the same strength and nourishment convey'd unto our Souls which the outward Symbols Bread and Wine convey to our Bodies We are made one with Christ and Christ with us and nothing but our own wilful disobedience shall be ever able to part us more from him This is a true and faithful account of the Lord's Supper which I think may be fairly summ'd up in these few and plain words It is a Foederal Feast or Feast of Covenant between God and man instituted by Christ himself and perpetually to be observ'd by all Christians where by partaking of Bread and Wine in commemoration of Christ's Body given and his Blood shed for them they on their part acknowledge Christ for their Saviour and Redeemer Lord and Master and God on his part grants and confirms to them under the Symbols of Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of his Son Christ Jesus that is all the blessed effects of his Body broken and his Blood shed viz. pardon of past sins promise of eternal happiness upon future obedience of the Gospel and Grace to direct and enable them to perform this obedience And this Feast is therefore call'd the Lord's Supper because it was instituted by our Lord at Supper time From what has been said I think our obligations to receive this Holy Supper do abundantly appear For First We have here a plain command so to do Do this in nomembrance of me a command as has been already shewn you which reacheth to all Christians and will oblige them even to the end of the world So that it is meer trifling with God our Saviour and the World to call our selves Christians and yet live in a wilful neglect of this plain command of Christ Why call ye me Lord Lord saith our Saviour and do not the things which I say to what purpose do ye in words acknowledge me to be your Master and yet when I call upon you to do this plainly declare by your actions that you do not regard me Better had it been for you that you had never taken my sacred name into your mouths than that you should thus abuse and blaspheme it Be not deceived I will not be mock'd but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sydon at the day of Judgment than for you Secondly This command of our Saviour is attended with a multitude of Circumstances which do every one of them very much add to its force and obligation and render the neglect of it more and more unpardonable For First It was his dying Command that very same night in which he instituted this Holy Supper was he betrayed into the hands of the Jews in order to be mock'd and derided buffeted and scourged and at last sacrificed upon the Cross for our sakes And can our dying Saviour require any thing of us that we will not do Can he speak and shall not his last words be minded by us What answer do ye think ye should have given him had ye heard him speaking in this manner to you My dearest Children who I love so well whose miseries I am so deeply concern'd for whose sins I am so very desirous to get a pardon for that behold I am just now going to dye an ignominious death upon the Cross for you that so by the Sacrifice of my self I may take away all your sins and make you heirs of eternal Glory My best and dearest Children dearer to me than my life itself Hearken to the last words of your dying Saviour I have but one thing more to require of you Oh let not that be neglected by you Let me intreat you with my last breath that breath which I am contented to part with for your sakes to preserve this my last Commandment inviolable I would ye not all have said Distrust us not O blessed Master we beseech thee command whatsoever thou seest good and we will cheerfully obey tho it be even to death itself Our hearts are affected with the sense of thy approaching kindness that we can no more forget thy dying words than we can refuse to accept thy dying Love Secondly It is a very easy Command take Bread and Wine bless them and then eat and drink of them â—n remembrance of me is a Commanndment as little â—rievous as our hearts could wish for so that they â—…ho neglect it have nothing to say in excuse for â—hemselves but seem to sin purely for sinnings sake â—nd this is the very height of wickedness Blessed God â—hat ever the Devil should so far get possession of mens â—earts as to keep them from doing their duty even â—…here there is no hardship in doing it How can â—hese men in reason expect that our Saviour should â—e at any pains to save them who are resolv'd they â—…ill be at none to obey him Or rather how can â—hey not expect to be made the unhappy instances of â—is wrathful displeasure who will not do even this â—mall thing to please him Thirdly This is a Command in which our obedience to â—hrist is more peculiarly try'd In most other of his â—ommands there are other obligations besides those â—f his Authority as in all moral duties obligations â—rom nature reason or the like so that it is not â—ery easy to tell by mens complyance with these â—…hether they are true Servants of Christ or no beâ—ause they may nay and it is plain they sometimes â—o comply with these Duties upon principles of â—ature or reason when yet they have no true sence â—f their obligation from Christs authority But in the â—uty before us there being no obligation but Christs â—ositive institution they who perform it as they â—ught must certainly act upon a true Christian prinâ—iple viz. a sense of the obedience they owe to Christs â—ommands This then being a plain Test of our â—eing true Christians it is certainly our duty to let â—ll the world see by our compliance with it that â—…e are so and that the obligation of Christs Authoâ—ity when alone is abundantly sufficient to comâ—…and us whithersoever it pleaseth Fourthly This command is a more than ordinary Tryal of â—ur gratitude and Love to Christ because it commands â—othing but what we are bound even by the meer â—aws of Love and Gratitude to be most ready to perâ—orm For supposing Christ had had no authority to â—ommand us any thing but had only requested of us that we would perpetually observe this his Supper in commemoration of him yet considering whaâ— great unspeakably great things he had done for us we should have been most inexcusable if we should not have answer'd this his request The Laws oâ— Love and Gratitude are founded upon reason and therefore ought to have a powerful influence upon reasonable creatures and certainly all that Love and Gratitude can oblige us to we must be
obliged to in behalf of him who has done more to engage our Love and deserve our thanks than all the Friends that we ever had in the world put together Base and ungrateful wretches then must we needs be if when he only desires any thing of us we do not make hast to fulfil his desire but most especially base and ungrateful if when he desires of us only that we would meet together now and then to commemorate all his kindness towards us we refuse to hear or regard him as tho he were unworthy our remembrance Fifthly This is a command to do a thing vastly for our own good So that we must be Fools as well as Rebels if we omit to do it Of how much advantage the receiving the Lords Supper is to every faithful Christian you have already seen and from thence may judge how much it is your interest to receive it And certainly where your duty and your interest are so closely link'd together it must be a strange Spirit of contradiction and rebellion or at least a strange degree of carelessness and supineness that can make you forget or neglect your duty You must have a mighty mind certainly to quarrel with our Saviour who will rather forego your own interest then obey his commands Sixthly This is a command in which the honour of God and our Saviour are in a very extraordinary manner concern'd and which therefore we ought to be most particularly careful to observe For since the Holy Supper was instituted on purpose for the solemn commemoration of the great loving kindness of God and our Saviour in Redeeming us and for showing forth to the World their great Power Wisdom and Goodness 〈◊〉 the Redemption of us and likewise the new Title â—…ey hereby acquired to our service and obedience â—…e cannot possibly do any thing more for their hoâ—our than to attend this solemn commemoration â—nd join with our fellow Christians in acknowledging â—ll Glory service and obedience to God who hath â—av'd us not according to our works but according to his â—wn purpose and grace and hath bought us with a price â—nd likewise to our Lord Jesus Christ who was slain and â—as redeemed us to God by his blood And the refusing to â—o this looks as if we did not really believe Christiaâ—ity but counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith we â—re sanctified an unholy thing And how high an affront â—his must needs be to God and our Saviour your own â—earts will tell you Seventhly This is a command which tends mightily to â—rocure and promote love and unity amongst Christians as has â—een before prov'd and upon that account challengeth a very particular regard and respect from us Every member of a Society is in an extraordinary manâ—er obliged to pay a most exact obedience to those Laws which do more immediately concern the well-â—eing of that Society of which he professeth himself â— member and consequently every Christian must â—ye under more than ordinary obligations to obey â—his command of Christ concerning his Supper because the good of the Christian Church in general is very much concerned in it It was design'd and is very fit to unite and bind the members of Christs Church closer and closer together and so to strengâ—hen the main body and those who will not joyn â—n this design plainly betray the trust repos'd in them and as far as they are able defraud all their fellow-members of those blessings of love peace mutual â—riendship c. which must have been the natural effects of their obedience in this point Lastly This is a command which we are often put in mind of We hear of our obligations to it both from the Desk and from the Pulpit we read of them in the Church Catechism and have a sensible remembrance of them every now and then at the Communion Table We are frequently exhorted intreated and in the name of Christ commanded to attend his Holy Supper we are told of the great danger of neglecting it and both the mercies and terrors of the Lord are made use of to draw and compel us to it And now if after all this we still continue obstinate and undutiful what can we expect but a punishment answerable to our obstinacy a punishment that shall no more relent than we have done but being deaf to all our prayers and crys for mercy shall with the same continued torments prey upon us and be to us the sad remembrancers of our fatal obstinacy to all eternity CHAP. II. Of Preparation for the Lord's Supper IN discoursing on this head it will be convenient from the very beginning to distinguish betwixt necessary preparation without which no man ought to come to the Lords Supper and such as is only expedient or adviseable under certain circumstances it being plain from experience that for want of this distinction men have been strangely confounded in their notions about this matter To the necessary preparation no doubt those words of St Paul refer'd Corinth 11.28 Let a man examine try or prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup because this is laid down at large as a general rule to all Christians and it is here plainly supposed that no man ought to to eat of that bread and drink of that cup who has not first examined himself Examined himself as to what Our Church tells us in few words whither he repents him truly of his former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life has a lively faith in Gods mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and is in charity with all Men. In which words three things are propounded as necessary qualifications for the worthy receiving the Lords Supper First a sincere and compleat Repentance which shall not only look backwards with unfeigned sorrow for our sins past but likewise forward with stedfast purposes of leading a new life for the time to come Secondly a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ such a firm and hearty persuasion and assurance of God's having redeem'd us from sin and death by the death of Christ and of his having made him our Lord and Master and promis'd eternal life to us upon condition of our obedience to him as shall work in us a readiness of mind to serve and obey him in all things and more especially shall dispose us to commemorate his death with the highest gratitude and most affectionate Thanksgiving Lastly An universal Love and Charity which shall extend to all men even our very enemies and make us not only forgive all their trespasses against us but likewise bless them pray for them and in one word do them all the good we can Now that every of these is really a necessary qualification for the worthy receiving the Lords Supper will most evidently appear by considering them a little apart And First as to Repentance it is plain even from reason that without this we must needs be unfit to joyn
assistance which we there received than we had before and consequently a more inexcusable sin than it would have been before but that it should be unpardonable is what can never be proved For First It is certain from our Saviours own words that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men So that unless sinning after Communicating be the sin against the Holy Ghost which I think was never yet pretended we need not fear its being forgiven us upon our sincere repentance for it and endeavouring to be more careful for the future But Secondly Did not St Peter after receiving the Communion nay and immediately after too commit sin and that too one of the greatest sins that he could possibly be guilty of the denying his Lord and Master and yet no body doubts but that upon his sorrow and repentance this was entirely forgiven him And ought not this example to be a great encouragement to all such as are so unhappy to sin as he did upon repentance like his to hope for a pardon like his too However Lastly The consideration of this aggravating circumstance of our sins ought to make us extremely cautious and fearful of sinning after the Communion for no wise man will venture himself into an eminent danger meerly because there is a possibility of his escaping out of it Thirdly Others think to excuse themselves by saying that they have already perhaps often too been partakers of the Lord's Supper and been so far from receiving those benefits from it which we pretend are to be had there that they have not found any benefit at all by it and therefore they cannot conceive to what purpose they should give themselves the trouble of coming to it any more To which I answer First That generally speaking this is not true it being plain from experience that most men even the worst of Men too gain this sensible advantage by communicating that for some time both before and after they are more serious more thoughtful and keep themselves within stricter bounds of Temperance and Sobriety than they us'd to do at other times And this is a very considerable advantage and has very often prov'd the happy occasion of mens looking into and examining their own lives of their finding fault with and becoming sick of themselves and of their seeking a remedy for their sickness in a thorough Repentance and Reformation Secondly If men do not find these benefits which we assure them of in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ it must be wholly their own fault for God is faithful who hath promised and will infallibly make good his part of the Covenant to all those who are careful to make good theirs So that this objection so far as it is true is an objection only against our selves it can be no reason for our absenting from the Holy Communion but it may and ought to be a powerful reason for our taking care to come so prepared that we may be fit to receive the blessings there offered by God to us Thirdly Men are apt to judge of the effects of their receiving the Communion before according to the nature of things they can possibly appear God's Grace tho' it works in a supernatural manner yet it attends the natural motion of mens own endeavours works and keeps equal pace along with them And therefore our reason will tell us that it must take up some time to watch and observe the effects of it The conversion of a Sinner and perfection of a Saint are not things to be wrought in a moment there are a great many little steps and degrees to be taken and gain'd which are almost insensible at least do not become remarkable till they have been often added one to another And therefore we must wait with patience and keep on doing our own business and then in time we need not fear but the works of the Lord will be made perfect in us We can no more argue that we do not grow in Grace because we do not see every small increase of such our growth than that we do not grow in bodily stature for the same reason But Lastly Supposing no benefits at all were to accrue to us from our receiving the Lord's Supper What then Are we to obey none of our Saviour's Commandments but such as we are to be gainers by Is it not enough that he has plainly enjoin'd us to do this Are not his Power and Authority sufficient grounds and motives for our obedience Moreover are we never to minister to the glory and honour of God and our Saviour but where we can at the same time minister to our own profits too This methinks is strange Doctrine especially in a Christian's mouth who promised at his Baptism without reserve to keep all God's Commandments and to walk in the same unto his lives end Fourthly Another Objection comes from those men who do not care to communicate with ill men who they see constantly flock to the Lords Table much less to receive the communion from the hands of an ill Minister as it may sometimes happen But this I hope to shew to be rather an affected niceness and squeamishness than well-grounded Wisdom and Religion For First as to Lay Communicants supposing them to be ill men which yet Charity especially such Charity as a man ought to bring with him to the Communion commandeth you to be well assured of before you suppose it yet what is that to you are you bound to answer for their unworthiness in receiving or for the sins they shall be guilty of after are you afraid that they are infectious and that you shall catch their sins of them only by looking on them or kneeling by them if not what means this foolish nicety these groundless scruples would it not become you better when you meet such men at the Lords Table to hope that they are now beginning to repent and amend and to wish and pray that it may be so ought you not rather to embrace and welcom them with joy thither as the Angels do a repenting sinner and to lay hold of this occasion of encouraging them to love thy self and other good men as that which may afterwards prove a likely means of making them love that Religion to which thou and they owe all their goodness This certainly would be the properest behaviour at this feast of Love this Charity of thine to them would nearest resemble that of thy Lord to thee But you will say perhaps that the thoughts of that extreme danger which they incur by coming unworthily to the Lords Table and their cold and indifferent behaviour there discompose thy thought and deaden thy devotions Be it so yet this is no thy fault but theirs so far as they are the necessary occasion of it But surely it will be no hard matter for thee to divert thy thoughts from them at
unfeign'd thanks for thy great mercy in admitting me this day to the sweet and comfortable communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and for all those benefits which I there receiv'd Enable me for the future to live worthy of them to make good all the promises and vows I there made and to continue stedfast in that Repentance Faith and Charity which I there profess'd Marvellous was thy love in sending thy Son to dye for us and particularly great has it been towards me in that it has caus'd me to be born in a Christian Country where I had early and easy opportunities of knowing the Christian Religion and that too in its utmost purity and simplicity and have long been protected and maintain'd in the free and undisturb'd exercise of it Oh that my behaviour may prove answerable to these mercies that I may use all these happy opportunities which many other poor Souls want as one that is truly sensible of the advantage of them that I may grow in Grace and the knowledge of Christ Jesus and abound in every good word and work to the praise and glory of God I know O Lord that if we sin wilfully after that we have receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indignation O let me constantly carry this in my thoughts and seriously reflect upon it that so I may not be of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul I pray likewise that all my fellow Christians may sincerely perform that covenant which they have this day made to thee that they may cease to do evil and learn to do well that they may be strong in the faith of Christ and love one another as he hath lov'd them that so thy honour may be effectually promoted the Salvation of all men farther'd thy Sons Kingdom enlarg'd and his coming hastened to the inexpressible comfort and eternal joy of all those who having sincerely obey'd the Gospel of Christ here shall evermore rejoyce in the blessed fruits and rewards of their Obedience in Heaven Grant this O merciful Father for the sake of thy well-beloved Son Christ Jesus to whom with thy self and thy Eternally blessed Spirit three persons but one God be all Honour and Glory Might Majesty and Dominion from this time henceforth and for evermore Amen The End Books Printed for Thomas Speed over against Jonathan's Coffee-House in Exchange Alley in Cornhil 1700. 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the Sacrament to recollect and examine himself to try whether he be truly sorrowful for this his fault and do sincerely detest and repent of it And if so he ought certainly for that time to stay away and make his peace with God and to make himself sure that he has a right to the benefits of Christs Death and Passion before he presumeth to come to the Communion of them Lastly Whatever will excuse a man from coming to Church as works of Necessity or Charity being sick and in distress our selves or attending upon such as are so and need our help c. will by parity of reason excuse us from coming to the Lord's Supper But he who comes to Church and yet at the same time neglects the Lord's Supper to which he is there invited without either of the two forementioned reasons is inexcusable And upon this account I suppose it was that the Canons Apostolical and the Synod of Antioch threaten every one of the Faithful with excommunication who come to Church to hear the Holy Scriptures but stay not to participate of the Holy Supper But it may be farther urged doth not the Law of our Land it self which obligeth us to communicate three times a year only suppose this to be sufficient I answer First that the Law of the Land plainly supposeth it very good and commendable to do it oftener because it saith we shall receive it three times at the least Secondly If what has been said above concerning the reasons of our omitting no opportunity of communicating be true this is enough to oblige us without any farther consideration CHAP. IV. Objections against Communicating answer'd HOping that some men at least are sincere in their excuses which they make for not coming to the Lord's Supper how light and trifling soever the excuses themselves may be I shall not grudge my time and pains in considering them distinctly and giving answers to them And First The most common excuse which men make in this case is that they are unworthy and therefore dare not communicate always bearing in mind those terrible words of St. Paul 1 Corinth 11.29 He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eaâ—eth and drinketh damnation to himâ—… Now in answer to this I desire men to consiâ—… thâ—… three things First what it is they mean when they say they are unworthy For if they mean any thing to the purpose they must mean either that they are not sorry for their sins and fully resolv'd to forsake them or that they do not stedfastly believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith or lastly that they are not in Charity with the world ready to forgive and do good to all mankind for these are the only things which can render a man unworthy to receive the Lords Supper And yet I verily believe that the far greatest number of those who call themselves unworthy would think themselves very much injured if any of these things should be said of them Well then such men give themselves their own answer they are not really unworthy and therefore they may safely come But say they we are incumbred mightily with worldly business we do not find in our selves a zealous and a warm Faith and Love of God our Saviour and Religion we have contests disputes and law-suits with many of our Neighbours and these things we are afraid render us unworthy By no means if we pursue our worldly business honestly and fairly without letting it incroach upon the business of Religion by swallowing up all our time and leaving none or very little for the worship of God and service of our Neighbours we not only do what is innocent but commendable and our duty If we are rooted and grounded in Faith so that in the general course of our lives we have our conversation as becometh the Gospel of Christ and keep all his Commandments this is a sufficient proof of our Faith and Love to God our Saviour and Religion altho we never have any hot fits and sudden starts raptures and extasies Lastly If we are contending with our Neighbours for nothing but what we sincerely think our right if we take a fair and legal way of righting our selves and prosecute our suits without the least malice or ill will to our Neighbours person there is no harm in all this none of these things are any bar to our communicating But Secondly If you are really unworthy whose fault is it that you are so May you not have or at least might you not have had for asking such a measure of Divine Grace as would sufficiently enable you to attain all those qualifications which are necessary to render a man a worthy Communicant and why then did you not or why now do you not accept and make use of it Do you think to make your own fault your excuse Or will you plead in your behalf that you are not worthy because you will not be so No certainly all that you can do in this case is to make what haste you can possibly by immediately embracing and complying with the offers of Gods Grace to become worthy that so there may lye no fault at your door either on one side or the other but that you may both communicate and communicate worthily Lastly as to those terrible words of St Paul He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself I might observe that the word which we here render damnation signifieth no more than Judgment and probably was design'd in this place only to denote temporal Judgments but I shall not insist upon this For whatever the meaning of these words may be it is certain that the unworthy receiving the Lords Supper till repented of is a damnable sin as being a down-right impudent mocking of God and Christ by pretending ourselves their Servants and solemnly vowing all holy obedience to them when yet in our hearts we at the same time mean no such thing But what then Shall we therefore stay away from the Communion and by so doing wilfully break a plain Commandment of our Saviour and thereby become guilty of a damnable sin This is to take a certain damnation for fear of one which we may avoid if we please No certainly the juster consequence in this case is that we ought to use our utmost endeavours to qualify our selves for communicating worthily that so we may have no reason to fear the dreadful punishment of communicating unworthily Secondly Others are afraid of communicating lest they should fall into sin afterward and this they think would be unpardonable and for this reason some men have thought it wisdom to abstain from communicating till the time of their death when they are beyond all danger of sinning more Now I readily grant that it is a very great aggravation of any sin that it is committed after receiving the holy Communion because this makes it a sin against new Vows and Promises which we there made a sin after greater measures of Grace and Divine