Promises at his hands THIS is enough to shew what a becoming and suitable posture Kneeling is at this Great Solemnity and how Naturally it follows where People entertain right Notions of it and come unto it with humble Minds Nor can I sufficiently admire that of all the Usages in the Christian Church this so Significant so Decent a Ceremony should ever become a stumbling-block and matter of Dispute Certainly it must be an ill sign of very Lofty Imaginations when there is such stiffness in Mens Knees BUT it is high time for me to proceed CHAP. XII Of our Behaviour after Receiving WHEN we have thus devoutly employ'd this blessed hour we must not imagine that our great Business is at an end that we may now drop those Religious Considerations which hitherto took up our time and thoughts that we may now go home leaving our Vows and Resolutions behind us in the Church much less may we think our selves free to fall afresh upon our former course of Life I must tell you the greatest part of our business is yet before us and to stop and rest here in the performance of those things which have hitherto employ'd our minds is the ready way to unravel our whole work and to defeat the design of this Heavenly Ordinance For this Rite of Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table though it be of admirable use yet it is not naturally and intrinsecally good as those Acts and Dispositions of the Mind are wherein the Substance and Excellence of Religion doth consist but it iâ— a Relative thing instituted by our Saviour as a Means to promote and carry on that Noble End for which the Grace of God hath appeared unto all Men that denying all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2. 12. Here indeed we lay the Foundation of a life of Virtue by devoting unto God the Powers and Faculties of our Souls and the Members of our Bodies but as the Ground-work is in order to a Superstructure so are our Actions now in order to the further edifying and perfecting of us that we may be built up more and more in our most Holy Faith and being sitly framed together and compacted may grow and rise up by degrees to an Holy Temple for the Lord to be an Habitation of God through the Spirit THIS you will easily perceive if you observe 1. The Nature of the Ordinance it self It is first a Representation of the very Death of Christ a Representation exhibited to our Sences by the breaking of the Bread and the effusion of the Wine And what doth this mean but to awaken our Fears by shewing us the Terror of the Lord who for the expiation of the World's Guilt spared not his own Son nor would be reconciled to the World at a lower rate than by delivering him up to Torments and Death for us all What doth it mean but to set our Zeal a work upon mortifying all our Lusts and Affections and upon perfecting Holiness in the fear of God because Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and Purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works What doth it mean but to make us ever watchful and circumspect lest we tread under foot the Blood of the Son of God Because if we sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin Heb. 10. 26. It is secondly a Memorial of Christ's Love Love stronger than Death that made him give his life a ransom for the ungodly And what doth this mean but to kindle in our Hearts the most ardent Affections to Him again who so loved us as to die for us The greatest Affection this that 't is possible for any Mortal Man to express to lay down his Life for the Brethren But yet infinitely short of that which the Son of God expressed upon the Cross for his Enemies In this he commended his Love towards us above all proportion and comparison in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us the Just for the Vnjust It is thirdly a foederal Solemnity whereby we renew the Covenant we entred into at our Baptism Vowing Promising and Engaging over the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood and Swearing as it were with our Hands laid upon the Redeemer of our Souls that we will henceforth walk in Newness of Life And what doth this mean but to bind us with the most Solemn Securities and under the most dreadful Penalties to renounce the Devil and all his Works to deny all the Lusts of the Flesh so as not to follow or be led by them and not only to offer up our Hearts and Spirits unto the God of Purity but to present even our Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy and Acceptable to him And for the farthering of all these Noble Ends this Mystery is in the Fourth place the very Means of Grace and Salvation an Instrument that conveys to us the present Possession of all necessary and suitable Assistances and a Title under Seal to all the Evangelical Promises and particularly to this that he that persevereth unto the end the same shall be saved and that to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality God will render Eternal Life Rom. 2. 7. And what doth this mean too but that we should grow in Grace that we must not grieve the good Spirit of God whereby we are Sealed to the day of Redemption but that we should be strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might and give all manner of diligence to make our Calling and Election unto Grace sure and effectual by adding to our Faith Virtue or Courage and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity Charity in the highest degree to all Mankind and even to our Enemies Thus you see the nature of the Ordinance it self is such that it is not only highly useful for the present but of mighty Importance for the future it hath a tendency forward and it drives at mighty Ends which our endeavours are to be employ'd about after the Celebration of it is over that we may be more and more Partakers of the Divine Nature and come every day nearer and nearer to the Life of God TO confirm this still we may observe Secondly That those very Preparations which are required in order to our worthy Communicating do all look the same way and have a direct tendency to the same purpose Thus Faith or the hearty belief of the truth of our Religion upon those Evidences and Motives it carries with it is naturally productive of constant Obedience to the Precepts of it throughout the whole course of our lives For as it discovers to us the Folly the Shamefulness and the bitter Fruits of Sin so it shews
A PRACTICAL DISCOURSE UPON THE Blessed Sacrament SHEWING THE DUTIES OF THE COMMUNICANT Before at and after the Eucharist By EDW. PELLING D. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Somerset and Rector of Petworth in Sussex LONDON Printed for W. Crook at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Barr near Devereux-Court 1692. Imprimatur Ex Aedibus Lamb-hithanis Ap. 25. 1692. Ra. Barker R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Johanni Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacris Domesticis To her Grace the most Noble most Virtuous and Religious Lady Elizabeth Lady Dutchess of Somerset May it please your Grace THE kind Acceptance which my former Discourse upon this Subject found at your Graces hands hath given me Encouragement and Confidence to prefix your great Name to this which indeed should have been presented to your Noble Patronage long ago but that the late Controversies with the Romanists wherein I thought my self bound to take my share and a great many unexpected Accidents since have hitherto hindred me from bringing it even to that little Perfection wherein it now appears Besides Madam the Subject being altogether Practical and directive of the Conscience a little time was not enough for that Consideration and Care which a matter of such a tender and weighty Nature must require especially since my design from the beginning was not only to inform Communicants but moreover to lend such Assistance to all others in order to a right understanding of their Duty as I hoped might serve to promote the great Ends of Christianity in general To this purpose I have somewhat largely and particularly discoursed of these things which concern all sorts and ranks of Christians as Faith Repentance Charity and Perseverance to which I thought fit to add in the last place a short Platform of a Christian Life collected out of the Holy Scriptures and digested into little that every one may see as it were at one view the Nature Excellence and Easiness of that Vniversal Obedience which the New Covenant exacteth at all our Hands and all this I resolved and endeavoured to do in such a plain and clear manner that I might be serviceable to those of the most ordinary and vulgar Capacities because they need Instructions most of all I confess Madam that in saying this I seem to have made an Objection against my self as to this Dedication and fear that all those who have the Honour to know your Grace will be startled to see a little Book intended for ordinary Capacities presented to a Person of such eminent Parts and Judgment as well as Quality But I hope the wonder will cease when once it is considered that the whole design of this Piece being to excite and quicken Men to a serious Practice of Religion I could not but look upon it as your Graces due were there no other reason but this that your Grace is a great Example of Virtue and a truly Christian Life in all particulars which God be thanked I can very safely affirm and tell the whole World without the least guilt of Flattery But besides Madam my Personal Obligations to both your Graces for your great and continual Favours to me and mine and the tenderness you are pleased to shew us daily do challenge from me all possible Expressions of Honour and dutiful Affection and all too little I am sure not any thing indeed in comparison of that Service which I should and with all my Heart would do were it in my Power Among some Discouragements I have met with in the World I bless God the great comfort of my life is that I enjoy so plentiful a share of your Graces goodness with all Freedom and Gratitude I acknowledge my self to be in that respect as happy a Man as lives The Station I am now in I was unexpectly put into by the desire of both your Graces and by your Zealous Applications to some great Friends who could have no other reason to consider me but for the sake of your Graces whom they were ready to gratifie for your being such true Friends and Ornaments to our Church and the whole Protestant Religion Your thus transplanting me into your Graces own Neighbourhood as it was an argument of the most kind Intentions that I should spring and thrive afresh under the influence of your Favour so is it a mighty Advantage to my Ministry which is now assisted with such Noble Comments upon Christianity and Examples of it as may prove more operative than any Discourses of mine Vpon these Accounts Madam all the labours I can bestow can be but so many Expressions of Thankfulness which I humbly intreat both your Graces to accept of being all that I can tender besides my earnest Supplications to Almighty God evermore to continue and encrease his Goodness to your Graces and your Noble Issue and to enrich you with all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth which is Madam the daily Affectionate Prayer of Petworth Feb 20. 1691 2 Your Graces most Humble Faithful and Obedient Servant and Chaplain Edw. Pelling THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the Necessity we are under to receive this Sacrament pag. 1. CHAP. II. Several Excuses considered at large p. 25. CHAP. III. Of the Necessity of Preparation p. 42. CHAP. IV. Of the Nature of Preparation in General and in Particular Of Faith p. 60. CHAP. V. Of Repentance p. 84. CHAP. VI. Of the Degrees and Measures of Repentance according as Mens Sins are Of unwilful Sins p. 100. CHAP. VII Of Wilful Sins p. 123. CHAP. VIII Of Charity p. 142. CHAP. IX Of Brotherly Forgiveness p. 160. CHAP. X. Of our Behaviour at the time of Receiving p. 183. CHAP. XI Of the Lawfulness of Kneeling when we Receive p. 192. CHAP. XII Of our Behaviour after Receiving p. 215. CHAP. XIII Of Perseverance A short Platform of a Christian Life taken out of the Scriptures p. 237. CHAP. I. Of the Necessity of Receiving the Holy Sacrament THOUGH Notions are for the most part more Difficult and of far less Concernment for men to Understand than their Duty yet such is the general Curiosity of People that they are more intent upon Speculations than upon Practice and study more to be Masters of an Opinion than to inform and keep a good Conscience HOWEVER in regard that Knowledge is the Principle of Action and Men are so governed by their Perswasions that their Practice is ever suitable to their Sentiments the most natural way of prevailing upon them to comply with their Duty is to instruct their Understandings in the first place and to furnish them with such Notions as may have a due influence upon them and do naturally tend to prompt them on to that business which lyeth before them THIS is the Reason that when I entred upon the Subject of the Holy Sacrament I thought it advisable for me to Divide my Meditations so that I might first dispatch the Notional part which is of the greatest Difficulty and then proceed to the Practical which is of the greatest
unwilful acts that proceed from an invincible debility of Nature nay many times from some inveterate Distemper in ones Body which as naturally casteth up ugly Idea's into the Brain and Fancy as over moist Soyls cast up Vapours and Fogs into the Air and though for a while they bring a Cloud over ones Spirit yet common Experience shews that the day breaks up again and therefore he that is disturbed with things of no greater moment than these ought no more to be frighted from the Holy Communion or dejected in his mind than if he were sick of the Spleen there being such a vast difference between Matters of this nature and an Evil Conscience 3. THE other Particulars I shall bring under one common Consideration because the same things in a manner are to be said of them all As for those involuntary Omissions which the best Men cannot but be sensible of and those mixtures of Imperfection which they find in their Noblest Actions and those irregularities to which the common frame and condition of Humanity makes us all subject every Man ought as to be humbled for them by a general Repentance so to beg pardon for them in David's Style O cleanse thou me from my secret faults Psal 19. 12. So also to guard himself from them with that care and vigilance which becomes a Man of an honest and sincere heart This is certain that if we do but secure our hearts unto God he will secure all his mercies to us It is not absolute and spotless perfection he expects from us but sincerity which is Evangelical Perfection As long as we are Men we shall be feeble and as long as we are feeble it cannot be but we must trip sometimes or tread a little awry especially where our way is long and the ground slippery But if we do not wilfully turn aside out of the right Path nor fall so as to Apostatise from the Truth or cast away our Righteousness such is the Divine Goodness and Mercy that we shall not fall into Perdition There is not a Righteous Man on the Earth that Sinneth not Eccles 7. 10. Bring in all the whole Army of Noble Saints and Martyrs and you shall hear them complain of their Infirmities God gives us Grace sufficient to enable us to maintain a Combate with the World the Devil and our own Lusts but not so much as will gain us a perfect and entire Victory so as to free us from all further Allarms and Onsets And indeed there is good Reason why we should not be unexercised by Temptations that we may not be Proud As God left the Canaanites among the Jews to humble and to try them so doth he leave our Infirmities in us even when he gives us the Spirit of Promise that he may make us sensible of our failings and lay us in the dust under the sense of them so that the setting of a Crown upon our heads may be acknowledg'd to be an act of his free Grace and that we may Triumph in the Name of God alone who hath concluded all under Sin that he may have Mercy on all By reason of these Infirmities we are commanded to Watch which is a plain argument that we are still in danger of being assaulted and our most treacherous Enemies may be those of our own Houshold Now what we cannot avoid by the Mercies of God we shall not be accountable for But our Frailties and Infirmities if they be acknowledg'd and bewail'd and prayed against and strugled with are Pardoned of course and every Man is accepted according to that which he hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. Christianity is neither a soft Pillow for Wicked Men to sleep on nor yet a weary yoak for Good Men to sink under there being in the Gospel such an admirable mixture of the Promises with the Threats that as a vicious Wretch has no reason to presume so a Sincere and Humble hearted Man hath no reason to Despair Thou Lord art Merciful faith the Psalmist for thou rewardest every Man according to his Works And it is the usual Course and Tenour of a Man's Life that God doth judge of him by making a great abatement for his Humane Infirmities and were it not thus no Flesh living could be Saved because our present state of imperfection will not suffer us to be without all manner of blemish and he that boasteth of absolute Perfection is not more a Pharisee than a Fool because in many things we are apt to offend all But every Sin grieveth not the good Spirit of God nor is every Offence inconsistent with a State of Regeneration nor doth every little transgression dis-entitle us to the Divine Favour The daily Sacrifice of the Heart in Prayer and the constant striving with our manifold Infirmities do so effectually Operate through the Merits of Christ who died even for weak ones that an Act of Frailty is not a Sin armed with a Damning Power Though there be something of the Viper in us yet as long as we do not Cherish or Indulge or keep it warm in our bosom it cannot Hurt however it may fright us and create in us some trouble and horrour And so much be spoken of Sins of Infirmities and of those degrees of Repentance which are necessary for them CHAP. VII Of Wilful Sins I PROCEED next to Discourse of Sins of Wilfulness that nothing may escape us which is necessary to be known in order to a full understanding of that Repentance which is to be preparatory to the Holy Communion Now Wilful Sins are such as are Advisedly and of set purpose committed when a Man considerately doth this or that Evil action either for his pleasure or for his profit sake or upon any other such unreasonable inducements And these Sins are of two sorts Habitual or Occasional Habitual Sins are such as are the general Tenor and Course of ones Life which he allows himself in and gives himself up to and usually follows as his common Trade and Way As when ill Men accustom themselves to Prophane the Holy Name of God or addict themselves to Drunkenness or follow a Lascivious and lustful kind of Life or make Fraud and Cheating a great part of their Trades or live in Malice and Uncharitableness or whatever other sorts of Wickedness they suffer themselves to Continue in These must needs be Wilful Habits because it is impossible to conceive how any Man can persist in such Courses having so much Time and Leisure to consider of them and not give his full consent to such Impieties For if it be said though 't is strange it should that the Man may believe these things to be Lawful and so Labour under an Erroneous Judgment which allows him in such actions yet it cannot be any thing but his own Obstinacy that misleads his Conscience into such an Errour the Crime being so apparent to common Reason Or if he acts contrary to his judgment which is most