thou sayest if thou lookest upon him one way his life was such as thou tellest me of but 't is a strong argument against thy self for just such a one was the Christ to be according to the Prophets the 53 Chap. of Isa shews as much But yet if thou truly understandest what true pump and glory means even to an eye of sense as well as to that of faith Solomon's life imbroidered with all his glorious acts was not comparable to this life of his Was it not filled with miracles and wonders was he not proclaimed the Son of God with voices from Heaven did he not conquer Devils and therefore the Kingdom of Hell Was ever Prince on Earth honoured with so great a Conquest Were not his miraculous Feasts more splendid than those of Princes the fare was but poor and mean but the miracles made it rich and glorious Had I been present should I not have wondered and gazed more at the Master of this Feast and have taken more pleasure to have seen him sit down with these five thousands than with a Table full of Princes and great men Alas it were a trifling sight to this Methinks my unbelief that pleads so much for sense sense it self pleads too strongly against thee for thou canst not argue one Syllable Object But would the Son of God be hanged and crucified could Heaven have suffered this could not the Saviour of the World save himself how could he then save me Answ Hadst thou not the blindness of the Jews thou couldest not reason thus like them but was it not necessary it should be so Did not the Prophets foretell his death and such a death Had he not died and died as he did I might then have had some ground to doubt him whether he were the Messias or not for it was needful that the Prophecies should be fulfilled Dan. 9. But yet as wretched and as contemptible a going out of the world as he had and his manner of dying on the Cross how vile soever it seemed to be yet was there not enough to silence all the doubts that could possibly from thence arise and much for the confirmation of my faith in the wonderful Eclipse of the Sun the rending of the veil of the Temple the opening of the Graves the raising of the dead and afterwards his own rising the third day and ascending up to Heaven in a Cloud If my faith might have staggered in seeing him on the Cross dying it could not when it saw him risen and in the Clouds ascending Object But were those wonders true and certain Answ But hast thou any ground to doubt them are they not written in thy Bible and art thou not certain that it is the word of God or hast thou not sufficient reason to believe it to be so But hast thou not a whole Nation yea Nations that do believe the same and before this age did not our Fathers and Grandfathers and great Grandfathers and so continued a testimony of ages from the time that they were done to this day witness to the truth of them and that so unanimously resolutely that ten thousands have rather chosen to lose their lives than the truth of them Now put all these together and tell me canst thou doubt Away I see thou dost but trifle consess the truth or I am resolved to heed thee no longer Come take and embrace that crucified Jesus account all things else but as loss and dross and dung in comparison with him stick not at his outward meanness scruple not at his ignominious dying it is the very Christ the Saviour of the world Oh why shouldest thou thus torment me Dost thou not see all thy fellow-Christians to glory in that Cross and in that Christ that died on it Do they not bear it as a badge of honour and shall it be to thee as shame Do not all the Christian World eat and drink as often as they can the Symbols of this their dying Lord And do they not all sing and joy and triumph in it and wilt thou the while lye vexing thy self over a company of needless fears and scruples Farewell all needless doubts and tormenting questions I see my faith is built on a Rock blow winds beat waves you cannot now move me Blessed God I thank thee for thy Son thou hast given his life for the spoiler thou hast bowed his back to the enemies long furrows have they plowed upon it and the day of his calamity they laughed at Lord thou hast wounded him for my sins and bruised him for my iniquities These speak the depth of thy counsels and the ways of thy mercy past finding out and the tenderness of thy bowels Thou hast made him my Rock and my shield and my strong tower and in the day of my sorrow through him thou wilt hear me To thee O God will I make my vows and to thee will I pay them I will humble my self before thee I will always lye at the feet of my Redeemer Lord his Gross and his shame shall be no more a stumbling-block to me I will take it up and follow him it shall be my Crown my Song and the glory of my rejoicing I will enter into thy Courts with joy and in the Congregations of thy Saints shall be my delight I will remember thy loving-kindnesses of old and the days in which thou didst afflict thy only Son for the sins of my Soul I will call to mind the Covenant of thy Grace and my heart shall praise thee when I see it founded on blood Then will I betroth my self to thy Son join thou Lord both our hands and hearts and we will strike up a match for ever Praise thou the Lord Oh my soul and all you that love and fear him praise his holy name The SACRAMENT The Dress Lord where am I What! all the Children of the Bride-chamber up and drest and I slumbring in my bed Tell me ye fairest what make you up so early Alas our Lord was up before us all He called us up by break of day and wondered that we were not triming our lamps knowing with whom we were to feast this day Oh well then I will rise up too Oh what a shew do these bright and glittering Saints make in mine eyes What a brightness do these pearls and diamonds cast in mine eyes they do strike me into amazement Oh what a lovely humble look doth crown their brow and what a comly countenance hath joy and Heavenly delight cast on their cheeks surely they did not thus dress themselves it was my Father that made them thus prepar'd to entertain his Son But where are my Clothes Now for the fairest sweetest robe of thoughts and wishes that can be sound or that the wardrobe of my Father can afford me Oh how naked am I But where are my silken golden twists of Faith to hang the jewels of joy and love and humility upon I am never drest till they be on Oh
where where are they I saw them by me but just now I said them by my heart before I went to bed Oh what was I so long a reasoning about Oh what long and many threds did my reason spin even now but to make these twines to tye up my joy and to raise up my love and to hang my Heavenly delight upon But ah I fear this envious world hath with her vanities stollen them away or hid them from me or the envious Devil or unbelief have been ravelling or snarling of them that now I am as far to seek as ever Whither O whither shall I go to find them out Now will the Bridegroom come and I am not ready I cannot dare not go to day Now will my Lord be angry and ask me why I came not and I have no answer to make him And if I go undrest he will ask me where is my Weding-garment and then I shall be speechless Ah foollsh simple heart that thou shouldst take no more care but to let these thoughts of earth so intangle themselves with thy so pure and heavenly contemplations Now how to get them loose again thou knowest not this thou mightest by heed and care have prevented but now what help Lord I have sinned O holy Father pardon this time and I will take more heed Oh come and unty my thoughts from this earth and come and dress me up as best pleaseth thee Come be not discouraged Oh my Soul Let but thy attire of Grace be whole that is sincere thy God and so thy Saviour will accept thee Though thy garments are not so much perfumed with Heaven as thy brethrens are but yet if they are but white and free from the spots of flesh and spirit thou wilt be looked on and liked of well enough Thy Lord doth know that all have not Talents alike and where he gives but a little he expects but little A faith that it richly embroidered over with love and delight is not given to all and is not expected from any but from those to whom it is given Thou hast an honest willing serious heart that thinks it doth despise and trample under feet the nearest dearest pleasures profits and glories in the world in compare with him that gave himself to death for thee and hadst rather anger flesh and blood the dartest friends and all the world than him by sinning against him in the least If this be true fear not thou hast thy Weding-garment on thou art well clad as mean so ever as it is it is such a one as Heaven gave thee and such a one as thy dear Redeemer can and will embrace thee in The Presence-Chamber Fear not O my soul I charge thee do not faint Let not thy weakness and the poverty of thy grace discourage thee â—ee how thy Lord draws nigh Fear not I say he will not ask thee Friend how camest thou hither not having on thy Wedding garment He sees thy heart and sees thou hast it on Oh he comes and it is out to whisper thee a welcome in thine ear it is but to fall about thy neck and kiss thy be-tear'd cheeks and bid thee a kind welcome to thy bleeding Lord. Soul Oh did I think to be thus much made of I thought he would not have minded me but I did no sooner appear and set my feet within the doors but he ran to meet me he took mee in his arms he brought me hither and set me here Is this a house or is it a Palace Is this a Court for Princes or for Angels Never did place more ravish me into amazement than this place Beautiful are thy gates O Zion O how pleasant is the habitation of the most high Is it the place or the company that strikes me into astonishment Now I can say most feelingly say with David My delights are with the Saints of the most high and the most excellent of the earth Their poverty their disgrace their contempt amongst whom they live do not puzzle my quick-ey'd Faith these are the Kings Daughters that are all glorious within their garments are of needle work imbroidered over with pure gold fine-spun gold These O these how poor and mean soever they are or may seem to be these shall sit with Christ to Judge the World Oh! how my soul is ravished with delight to see and look on those with whom I shall live for ever If they are so lovely now what will they be hereafter when our God shall take them and scowr off their rust and wash their Garments bright in the Sun-shine of his countenance and change those mortal and corruptible bodies into immortal and glorious ones and set them upon Thrones about himself and lade their heads with Crowns of massy gold and when I shall hear them warbling out the everlasting Praises of the Lamb whose Body and Blood we shall sit down to feed on Communion-Plate Never was Gold or Silver graced thus before To bring this Body and this Blood to us is more than to Crown Kings or be made Rings For Star-like Diamonds to glitter in The Bread Welcome Fairest take and eat 't is the sweetest dainties dearest morsel Heaven can afford thee Welcome my Dear to the Table of my Lord. Welcome a thousand times I bid thee yea welcomer than thine own heart can wish Take eat this morsel it cost my life it 's a portion thy Father sent unto thee by me and bid me remember thee of his love to thee He bids thee remember a Fathers love Ay a Saviours He hath a heart to give thee and so have I. Take this in earnest of them both in one Take freely if thou wert not welcome I would have told thee I would have asked thee for thy Weding-Garment knew I not thy heart or if I were uncertain of thy love I would have scorn'd thee as unworrhy of my presence did I know thou lovest any thing above me I would have hid my face and never have spoke thee a welcome so feelingly and kindly to thy soul Tell me O tell me dost thou not love me I know thou dost and above Father or Mother Wife or Child Lands or Living or Credit I know thou dost And wilt thou not take the Cross and sollow me I know thou wilt I see and know the labour of thy love I remember the pains and travel of thy soul I saw thee follow me on thy knees in tears and begged my life rather than thy life I know thy heart I saw it bleeding before my Throne I took it in my arms and bound it up and in that breast I remember I put it up again I saw thee when no eye saw thee I heard thee and had compassion on thy groanings whilst thou wert complaining that I had shut out thy prayers I will remember since thy heart did first fall sick with love since the time thy flesh began to die and since thou laidst thy self in the grave down by me and wert willing to
Monthly Preparations FOR THE Holy Communion By R. B. To which is added Suitable Meditations before in and after Receiving WITH Divine Hymns In Common Tunes Fitted for Publick Congregations or Private Families LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible Three Crowns the lower end of Cheapside 1696. THE PREFACE TO THE READER SAcramental work is solemn work indeed And all those helps are valuable and desirable whereby the furniture of our minds the temper of our hearts and the conduct of our lives may be answerable to the solemnity of a Sacramental Table A mind that is barren or perplext an heart that is false or stupid and the conscience of a disordered conversation are bad Companions to attend us to the Holy Supper of our Lord. The Lord's Body is to be discerned his Death shewed forth his tender'd self and benefits received and his next Coming seriously thought on and throughly prepared for and joyfully expected by us and all this is to be influenced and actuated by this Memorial which Christ hath left with us Such helps as these are the more useful by being brief if brevity do not render them defective and obscure as here I think they will not No Directory can be better than the Institution if well discerned and attended to I. The Memorable Person is the Lord Jesus in his perfections relations and designs Here therefore let him be considered 1. As Man to render him capable of sufferings service and contending with that Enemy of God and Man who once deceived and enslaved us 2. As the Son of Man the chief of Humane Race for Tryals Faithfulness and Advancement 3. As the Son of God as essentially and most intimately one with God as Lord of the Universe Head over all things to his Church and of the Church it self The brightness of his Fathers Glory the one Mediator and so God's way to Man and Man's way to God and one deputed to undertake and perfect our Conduct Government and Salvation II. His Sufferings are the things here next to be commemorated Great were his Tryals from God from Hell and from this World With great composedness and gallantry of spirit did he endure them and work his passage through them to that exalted state wherein he had so much to do with God for us In all these and in his preparations for them doth he appear most exemplary to us claiming and urging our Conformity to his obedient submissive and resolved self And in his Meritorious Sufferings and Expiatory Death must we discern and think severely on what there and thence was evident viz. Gods Wisdom Majesty Holiness and his Governing Justice and Prerogatives the sinfulness of sin the misery of Revolted Man the equity and power of God's Violated Law and the eminence of the Divine above the Animal Life Nature and Concerns III. Our Interest in and Benefit by these his Sufferings are next to exercise our thoughts He died to let us see 1. How glorious a God we have to do with 2 What wise and righteous Constitutions we had violated 3. What dreadful evils we had brought upon our selves 4. What spirit strength and reach there is in Divine Threatnings 5. How hard it is to be recovered when we are faln from God and so what an Enemy Satan is to Man and how unwilling to let his Captives go 6. To shew us the riches of God's Grace in him and his own Dignity in that his Sufferings could and did merit and obtain of God our Pardon Adoption Acceptance and Eternal Bliss through him 7. To raise and cherish holy endeavours to return to God in hope 8. To make us dread the thoughts of ever falling off from God again 9. To justifie our claims to all the Benefits of our Gospel-state and day 10. To obtain of God for us the Spirit and Means of Grace thereby to fit us for our present Work and Trials in this our Probationary state and to suit and bring us to his Father and himself in Glory and that with universul Satisfaction and Advantage and Applause 11. To put himself into a capacity of interceding for us in Heaven and blessing us from Heaven as our High-Priest upon his Throne 12. To put us into and to keep us in a Covenant-state and frame that thus we may deal and walk with God as Children as interested in his Son as inhabited and actuated by his Spirit and as united with all the Family of God and Christ in the same Principles Practices Concerns and Hopes in order to the exercises of all the sympathies and services of mutually Christian Love Ephes iv v. 1-6 IV. Our Commemoration of Christ thus represented to us as upon the Cross and as determining to come again is our next work 1. The Sacramental Elements and the Observed Institution is the Memorial 2. The Remembrance contains 1. Head-work in discerning remembring and believing the Sacramental Doctrine of this Supper to be true and of great consequence to us Christ Crucified and determining to come again 2. Heart-work in forming the temper purposes hopes and comforts of our hearts unto what this Supper imports and our acceptance of what is tendered here and our obliging our selves to do and be as Christ would have us 3. Life-work in keeping up our Christian practice and profession as we are here directed and obliged to for a more full account whereof and greater fitness for it thou art commended to this helpful Treatise by Thine to his poor power for Christ Matthew Sylvester Feb. 3. 1695 6. A Monthly Preparation for our Holy Communion with Christ and his Church in the Lord's Supper THIS is a holy Feast that is purposely provided by the King of Saints for the Entertainment of his Family for the refreshing of the weary and the making glad the mournful Soul The night before his bitter Death he instituted this Sacramental Feast He caused his Disciples to sit down with him and when they had partaked of the Passover the Sacrament of Promise and had their taste of the old wine he giveth them the new even the Sacrament of the better Covenant and of the fuller Gospel-Grace He teacheth them that his Death is Life to them and that which is his bitterest suffering is their Feast and his sorrows are their Joyes as our sinful pleasures were his sorrows The slain Lamb of God our passover that was Sacrificed for us that taketh away the sins of the world was the pleasant food which Sacramentally he himself then delivered to them and substantially the next day offered for them The bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the world John 6. 33. He is the living bread which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread which he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world verse 50 51. Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood we have
cleanse thee and take thee to himself betroth thee to him for ever and after all will give thee to see his Glory even the same Glory which he had before the World And the Father is willing to all this for he tells thee his Son is his well-beloved Son and bids thee believe him and misdoubt not one syllable And canst thou after all this doubt that the Father is not willing But do not his Angels likewise who are ministring spirits with voice and looks proclaim as much that Heaven is well-pleased with the Son and with his Death and Passion and so with thee in him Do not the Angels admire the mystery of Redeeming Grace that makes them so desirous to peep into it Why did they proclaim his coming into the World and sing for joy that there was good will in Heaven to men on earth or why do they so diligently attend thee by night and day Thou seest them not keep guard about thy Chamber-door and round about the Curtains of thy bed Why do they attend thee from room to room and follow thee down stairs and out of doors if it were not but that thou art some great Princess nearly allied to their Lord and Master Thou dost not see this blame then thine eyes and the infidelity of thy heart shall it be less true because thy base infidelity cannot digest it Thou might doubt God Heaven and every thing else on that score but hast thou not it from his own mouth that the Angels are ministring spirits for the heirs of Glory Come tell me I say tell me quickly I must have an answer Can this and all this be true and Heaven yet not be pleased If God with his Son and Angels be all content that thou shouldst be restored and so exalted to such dignities as to be heir unto the Crown of Heaven if these be pleased who is there in Heaven that can else be displeased What saith my heart what not yet one word Oh how long shall I be troubled and pestered with my unbelief Oh my God strike chide and break this flint reprove this stubborn and unbelieving heart I cannot perswade it that thou lovest me or art willing to love me I urge thy word and my best reason to prove it but I cannot make it yield Oh break I pray thee this Flint or Adamant upon thy downy breast of love strike and one blow of thine will make it fall in pieces and confess at length that thou art well pleased with thy Son and fully satisfied that he should bleed and die for me But let me try thee once again if thou hast lost thine ears and eyes I 'le see if thou hast lost thy feeling too Thou sayst thou canst not believe that God is willing to accept the Son for thee or that thou so vile a wretch canst be accepted of by the Father through the merits of his Death and sufferings Come tell me is not this thy language I know thou darest not to speak so much in words But ah my Heart I find thou hast got a Tongue as well as my Mouth that often mutters and speaks a different language But tell me if thy unbelief hath any ground for it What makes it then that thy self is so free from fears and terrours when thou shouldest believe the Almighty of thy Bodies Death Resurrection and coming to Judgment if thou thoughtest him not thy friend and reconciled to thee in his Son if not methinks thy fears should fright thee and trembling seize on every joynt and yet thou wilt foolishly mutter against thine own feeling Soul Speaks O blessed God! I feel thou hast overcome I yield I yield I have not left a word to speak against thy love thy Son hath offered satisfaction and thou hast accepted it thou hast laid down O my Saviour thy life for mine and thy Father and my Father is well pleased with it Blood is paid Justice is satisfied Heavens doors are widened thine arms opened to receive me nothing is wanting but by heart make it such as thou wilt have it and then take it to thy self Come up my soul thou hast an heart and there is a Christ the Father thou seest is willing and the Son is willing give but thy consent and he is thine for ever Fear not thy hardness blindness deadness loathsomness all these cannot hinder if thou be but willing He hath been in the world to ask the worlds consent already and also thine thou canst not doubt of his good-will speak but the word and he hath thine too What stickest thou at surely thou art a sluggish spirit what dost thou ail Half of this ado would find a heart for a little mire or dirt or something else that is worse and is not Christ better But ah yet I feel a piece of unbelief still working in thy very bowels as if that Jesus that died at Jerusalem were not the Son of God and the Redeemer of the World And is this all O were I certain thou wouldst ne're doubt more how freely should I make satisfaction But Oh! I faint and tire with the trips and stumblings of my unbelief But mount my Soul thou must resolve to tire and put to silence all thy unbelieving bablings or they will thee which if they do never expect an hours peace or quiet more thou must resolve to conquer thy unbelief or to be conquered thou knowest her tyranny too well to let her go away the victoress He was not the Christ thou sayest but tell me why Object His Parentage was too low and mean what the Saviour of the world a Carpenters Son how can it be Answ My unbelief in the first place thou lyest his Mother was a Virgin and her Conception knew no Father but the Almighty power of the overshadowing Holy Ghost he was more truly the Son of God than Joseph's Son And was his birth thinkst thou so mean whose Parentage was so glorious Object His birth but mean and beggarly no sooner born but cradled in a manger and could Heaven suffer this Answ It consists But yet it was as glorious for did not a Star proclaim him born and did not a whole Host of Angels sing and shout it up for joy and did not wise men yea and Kings bring Incense Myrrh and Frankinsense being but as so much tribute unto the new-born King and heir of all things as if by instinct they knew they held their Crowns of him a greater honour than ever any new born Prince hath yet received before him or ever shall or will do after him Methinks my unbelieving heart I could dare to tell thee that room was no stable it was a Palace and did not the cost presents and glorious presence of Kings speak as much Object But his days were spent in poverty meanness and disgrace and can I dare I trust my soul with such a one and take him to be the Son of God Answ And now I wonder at thee it's true what