CHAP. I. Of the Nature of the Sacrament.

§ I. THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper may be thus described. ‘'Tis a Memorial, and Representation of the Sacri­fice of the Death of Christ, instituted by Christ himself in the room of the Jewish Passover; wherein, by the breaking of Bread, and drinking of Wine, we renew our Cove­nant with God, praising him for all his Good­ness, and testify our Union with all good Men; and whereby the Benefits of our Sa­viour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver.’

§. II. ['Tis a Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ.] I confess, the whole Sa­cred Action has been stiled by the Fathers, as well as by some Excellent Persons of our own Church, the Christian Sacrifice, the unbloody Sacrifice; and is indeed such, in the same Sense that Prayer and Praise, whereof it is in a great measure compos'd, are styled under the Go­spel, [Page 4] spiritual Sacrifices: Nay, it comes yet nearer to the Nature of the old Eucharistical, and other Sacrifices, because 'tis an Oblation of something visible, namely, Bread and Wine, to be consum'd to God's Honor; which are then offer'd when the Minister places them on the Christian Altar, or Holy Table; (as was done more solemnly by lifting them up in the antient Church) immediately after which, in the Prayer for the Church Mili­tant, he beseeches God to receive our Obla­tions, (as well as Alms and Prayers); which may relate to the Bread and Wine, newly of­fered: But since it has no shedding of Blood therein, which has been thought essential to a proper Sacrifice [...], macto: & facio, is used in the same Sense., and that the shedding of our Saviour's Blood, is only Sacramentally represented in it, and not a­ctually and properly poured forth, as it was up­on the Cross, whereon he was once offered, to take away Sin; and since the Sacra­ment is a Memorial of that one Oblation of Christ, and 'tis contrary to the Na­ture of a Memorial or Remembrance of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ, to be the same with that Sacrifice it remembers; for these Reasons we cannot own any such [Page 5] proper, propitiatory, attoning Sacrifice Homily of the Sacrament, Part 1. We must take heed lest of the Memo­ry it be made a Sa­crifice, exactly as Eusebius, who says our Saviour left us, [...]. in the Sacra­ment as the Romanists do believe, any more than we can think with them, that 'tis available both for quick and dead; of neither of which we find any Foot­steps in the Holy Scriptures. Suffice it there­fore, that we believe it a Sacrifice in the highest Sense, that Prayer and Praise are so call'd in the New Testament, because it requires, and is compos'd of the most ex­alted Acts of both; that we believe it an Of­fering, or Dedication of the Bread and Wine to the sacred use, as well as we therein offer our selves anew to God; and that we believe the whole Action, a Memorial, a Commemora­tion, and Representation of the inestima­ble Sacrifice of the Death of Christ, where­by alone we expect Life and Salva­tion.

§ III. First, 'Tis a '[Memorial or Com­memoration of Christ's Death, and of the Sacrifice which he thereby offer'd for us.] That is, by this sacred Action, we record, and keep it in mind, till he come again to Iudgment. And that according to his own [Page 6] Command, as St. Luke St. Luk. 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 24, 25. re­lates it of the Bread, and St. Paul both of the Bread and Wine; This do in remembrance of me. As forgetfulness of God's Goodness and In­gratitude for it, must needs have been great occasions of the fall of Man, so that very fall renders us still more forgetful and un­grateful. Mankind will therefore have al­ways need enough of Helps to their Memory in religious Matters: And some of these, God has appointed wherever there has been a re­vealed Religion. Thus the Sacrifice of the Pas­sover was instituted for a Remembrance of what the Israelites suffered in Egypt, and of God's wonderful Mercy in delivering them from it, as well as to typify or shadow forth unto them Christ himself, our great Passover. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was in like manner instituted; That we might keep in memory that which Christ suffered for us, and delivered to us; such a sensible Sign, and re­markable solemn Action, being much more likely to preserve a lively impression of it, than if it had been only barely recorded in History. Now this Commemoration may be considered either with respect to our selves, or with respect to God: as it respects our selves, we not only therein commemorate God's [Page 7] Love in general to Mankind, in giving his Son, and our Saviour's Love, in giving him­self a Ransom for all Men, to bring them into a Capacity of Salvation on their Faith and Obedience; but yet farther, the actual Application of his meritorious Sacrifice to our selves, on our performing the Conditions of his Covenant, and his infinite Goodness in making us partakers of his Holy Word and Sacraments, and thereby calling us to this State of Salvation, and preserving us in it. As this Commemoration relates to God, we do also, in the Communion, present a Memorial of a sweet Savour before him, and beseech him for the sake of his dear Son, and by his Ago­nies, and bloody Sweat, by his Cross, and Pas­sion, and precious Death, to have Mercy upon us, and grant us the Remission of our Sins, and all other Benefits of his Sufferings. Not that God is either ignorant of our Wants, or unwilling to relieve us, or forgetful of us: But we must be sensible of these things our selves, and of God's Power to help us, and seek for Relief in those ways he has appoin­ted. And well may we more solemnly com­memorate our Saviour's Sacrifice in this Sa­crament, when we do the same in some de­gree, even in our daily Prayers, and ask all for his sake, and in a Sense, offer him anew to his Father, applying his Attonement, and [Page 8] pleading his Merits, and trusting in his In­tercession and Meditation. Nor ought we to forget that the antient Liturgies, did not only commemorate our Saviour's Death in the Sa­crament, but likewise his Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven.

§ IV. Secondly. But there is not only a Commemoration, but a Representation too of our Saviour's Death, in the Holy Communion. 'Tis not a bare Remembrance of it, 'tis a lively Scheme and Figure of what he endur'd: ‘As oft as ye eat of this Bread, and drink of this Cup,’ says the Apostle, ye do shew forth, or rather, by way of Command, shew ye forth, the Lord's Death till he come. De­clare it, proclaim it, ‘tell the People what great things he has done!’ Whence this Representation of Christ's Death in the Sacrament has a respect to others to whom we are to declare it, as well as it relates, like the Commemoration before-mention'd, to our selves and to God. We do by this proclaim unto Men and Angels, the manifold Wisdom and Goodness of God, and the Kindness and Condescention of our ever blessed Redeemer; and in a manner preach the Gospel to every Creature, while we here represent so consi­derable a part of it, as our Saviour's Death, and own that we are not asham'd of his Cross, but rather Glory in it.

[Page 9] § V. We represent it also to our selves: that is, we do by this sacred significant, and lively Action, fix it more deeply in our Af­fections and Memories. The Bread represents our Saviour's Body, who is the true Bread of Life that came down from Heaven: The Wine, his Blood: The Breaking of the Bread, the Torments he endur'd on the Cross, and the Wounding of his sacred Body; as the pouring out of the Wine is a most lively Figure of the shedding his most precious Blood. But of this, more hereafter.

§ VI. But in the last place, we also re­present our Saviour's Death, to God the Fa­ther, in the Holy Communion: This we do by those Actions which he himself has ap­pointed, as means of supplicating him, and obtaining his Favour: ‘Beseeching our heavenly Father, who of his tender Mercy, did give his only Son Jesus Christ to suf­fer Death upon the Cross for our Redemp­tion, that we duly receiving the Holy My­steries, according to our Lord Jesus Christ's Holy Institution, in remembrance of his Death and Passion, may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood.’ The Priest neither makes nor offers the real natural Body of Christ, in the Holy Communion, but [Page 10] he makes his spiritual or sacramental Body, and therein represents his natural Body as well as he also represents what he really suffer'd for us, in the verity of that Body; this he represents to God as well as to us, and every devout Communicant should faith­fully joyn in the Representation:

§ VII. The next thing observable in our Description of the Holy Communion is, [That 'twas instituted by Christ in the room of the Iewish Passover:] This as it gives great Light into the Nature of it, and the most weighty Controversies concerning it, so the Matter of Fact it self, is too evident to be doubted or denied, and of too great mo­ment to be lightly pass'd over: As will ap­pear if we consider the Time, the Form, the End of the Institution of this Sacrament, compared with that of the Passover, and the Expressions of Iohn the Baptist and the Apostles, relating to the Communion it self, or to our Saviour, who ordained it.

The Time of its first Institution and Cele­bration, was the Night of the Paschal Sup­per, immediately after Sup­per. We are told by Buxtorf. Sy­nag. cap. 13. p. 302. de Paschat cele­brando. Fagius in Exod. 12. learn­ed Men, that the old Iews had a very antient Tra­dition amongst them, that [Page 11] the Messias should come to redeem them the very same Night in which God brought them out of Egypt, the Night of the Passover, whereon they also say that God vouchsafed to the old Patriarchs and holy Men, most, or all of those famous Blessings and Delive­rances which we read of in the sacred Wri­tings; which is no obscure Indication, that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to succeed the Paschal Supper.

§ VIII. The manner of their celebrating the Passover also proves the same; For the Master of the House, ‘took Bread, and brake it, and gave it to those about him, and said, This is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers did eat in Egypt.’ Buxtorf. ubi supra. that is, the Memorial of that Bread, in the same Sense that our Saviour said, This is my Body; after he had taken Bread, and blessed and brake it, and gave to his Disciples, as the Iews also call'd the Passover, ‘The Body of the Paschal Lamb.’

And in like manner, the Cap. The Ma­ster of the Feast took it after Supper, and when he had given Thanks, gave it to the rest, and said, ‘This is the Fruit of the Vine, and the Blood of the Grape.’ This was the third Cup which they drank at the [Page 12] Passover, and call'd it, The Cup of Bles­sing. Lightfoot, Vol. II. p. 260. All the Company drank of it, the sick as well as the healthy. Buxtorf. p. 296. Thus our Savior ‘after Supper took the Cup,’ this third Cup, and when he had given Thanks, gave it to his Disciples, and said, Drink ye All of this, for this is my Blood of the New Testa­ment [New Covenant] or this Cup is the New Testament [New Covenant] in my Blood. St. Mat. 26. 28. St. Luk. 22. 20. As Moses said, when he sprinkled all the People with Blood. Heb. 9. 20. Exod. 24. 8. This is the Blood of the Cove­nant which God made with you; it was not only the Seal of the New Covenant, but likewise the Sanction of it: And 'tis remarkable that our Saviour calls it the Fruit of the Vine, as did the Master of the Feast at the Passover. And so the Apostle calls the Sacramental Cup, the Cup of Blessing.

§ IX. There's yet another thing re­markable in the Passover, which our Savi­our retain'd in his Sacrament, and that is the Hymn, or great Hallel, which the Iews always sung at this Festival, and still con­tinue to use it in that shadow of the Pas­sover [Page 13] which they yet re­tain. Buxtorf. ubi supr. Patrick in 113 Psalm. It consisted of six Psalms, from the 113 to the 118. inclusively; wherein were mentioned, as their Rabbins teach. 1. Their Deliverance from Egypt. 2. The Division of the Red Sea. 3. The Giving of the Law. 4. The Resurrection from the Dead. And 5. The Sor­rows of the Messias. Lightfoot, Vol. II. p. 354. 'Tis expresly said, that our Sa­viour and his Apostles sung a Hymn after they had eaten, [...], not [...]; they all doubtless joyn'd in it, as was the Custom of their Country-men, which they could not have done, had it not been a Form well known unto them: And what more proper than those Psalms already mentioned? which shows the Lawfulness of singing in the Christian Church, and of the whole Congre­gations joyning in it, some think Iudas not being here excepted, Lightfoot. and that in a set Form, out of the Psalms of David, which have made a great part of the Liturgy of the Church, for near Three Thousand Years. Nor was this Sa­crament ever celebrated without singing by any regular Christians: St. Chrysostom on Heb. 10. says of those of his Time, ‘That in the Sacrament they did offer Thanksgiving [Page 14] for their Salvation, by devout Hymns and Prayers to God.’ And before him, Pliny's famous Letter mentions the Christians as jointly singing Hymns to Christ: And Ter­tullian in his Apology, has left it on Record, that it was the Custom of Christians to close their Agapae, or Love-Feasts, with singing, either some portion of Scripture, or something of their own Composure. Tertull. Apol. cap. 39. p. 106. Edit. Cantab. I've insisted the longer on this Head, because there are some Per­sons, who, I think, very unreasonably, not only neglect the Practice of this Angelical Duty themselves, but even censure it as un­lawful in others: to whom we may answer, ‘We have such a laudable Custom,’ and so have the Churches of God had, in all Places and all Ages.

§ X. Yet farther, there is a remarkable Analogy, or resemblance in the End of their Institution, between the Passover and the Supper of the Lord: God said concerning the Passover, to the Children of Israel; ‘This day shall be to you for a Memorial Exod. 12. 14. Ver. 27., and you shall keep it a Feast to the Lord throughout all your Genera­tions.’ Exod. 12. 3. Remember this day [Page 15] in which you came out of Egypt, and thou shalt shew thy Son, &c. Exod. 13. 8. Lxx. [...]. And the Red Wine which they made use of therein, was to signifie either the Blood of their Chil­dren, shed by Pharoah; or rather, the Death of Pharoah's first-born, as well as afterwards of himself and the rest of the Egyptians, in just Vengeance for their Cruelty to the Israe­lites; and of the Blood which was on their own Door-Posts, whereby they were preserv'd from the Pestilence. Thus in the Lord's Supper, our Saviour commands his Followers, to do this in Remembrance of him, and thereby to shew forth his Death till he come, as the Israelites were to keep the Passover for ever, or throughout all their Generations. Much the same word being here used by the Apo­stle, to express our Celebration, or Annun­tiation of our Saviour's Death in the Sacra­ment, that is used by the antient Greek Translators of the Bible, to signifie that of the Passover enjoyn'd to the Iews [...].. In which sacra­mental Feast we are to pre­serve the Memory of our Deliverance from the slavery of Sin, much worse than that of Egypt.

[Page 16] § XI. Lastly, There are several Expres­sions in the New Testament which will not suffer us to doubt of the Analogy between them. Thus the Baptist calls our Saviour, The Lamb of God St. Ioh. 1. 29.; and St. Peter says, ‘That we were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without Blemish 1 St. Pet. 1. 18, 19..’ And St. Paul, alludes most manifestly unto it; ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the Feast, not with the old Leaven, &c.’ 1 Cor. 5. 7.

From all which it appears, that the Sa­crament of the Lord's Supper was instituted in the room of the Passover, and that our Saviour retained many of the Ceremonies therein, as well such as God himself had immediately Vid. Cudworth, and Discourse of the Holy Eucha­rist, p. 6. appointed, as such as the Jewish Church had added, either for the more lively Representation of the thing, or else for decency and order: and from what has been said, we may have great Light into the Na­ture of the Holy Communion, especially as to the last Head insisted on, that 'tis a Me­morial and Representation of our Saviour's Death, [Page 17] of his Body which was broken, and his Blood which was shed for us.

§ XII. I proceed to the Matter of this Sacrament, the exterior Matter, or outward Elements, the visible and sensible Signs, name­ly, Bread and Wine which the Lord has commanded to be taken and received. 'Twas from the Fruits of the Ground, that the first Offerings were made to the Lord: Some have been of Opinion that Noah was the first that offer'd Bread in Sacrifice, and that thence he received a Name among the Antients. Dickenson in Delphi Phoeniciss. p. 169. And Dr. Spen­cer de Sacrificiis, thinks that Noah was called Ogyges, from Ogh, which signifies Panis sub­cineritius, Bread baked under the Embers, and of­fered in Sacrifice. p. 659. Mel­chisedeck's bringing forth Bread and Wine, has also been thought an Act of his sacerdotal Office, and not an Instance of Hospitality only. We are sure that the Mincha, Meat-offering, or Bread-offering, so often men­tion'd by Moses, which was to be offer'd every Morn­ing and Evening, and is call'd the Most Holy of all the Offerings of the Lord, was composed of Fine-Flower, with a proportion of Wine added unto it Exod. 29. 40. Levit. 2. 3.. Bread is the most simple and common [Page 18] Food, the most easie to be obtained, and yet the most necessary, the Staff of Life: Wine was also as common in those Countries, as it is useful and refreshing, making glad the Heart of Man, Psal. 104. 15. Nay, cheering God and Man, Iudg. 9. 13. That is, Wine was acceptable to God in Sacrifices: For some, or all of which Reasons was our Saviour pleased to make Choice of Bread and Wine in the Celebration of these Myste­ries, as well as because they were used by the Iewish Church, in the Passover. And these are in the Sacrament solemnly offer­ed to God, as an acknowledgment of his being the Creator of all things, and Sove­reign Lord of the World; according to the antient Doxology Vid. Mede of Christian Sacri­fice, p. 359. at the presenting of them on the Lord's Table; which was much the same with that in the Revelations, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honour, and Power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure, they are, and were created.

§ XIII. And Bread and Wine they are still after the Consecration; not common, but Sacred and Sacramental. They are changed in their Use, but not in their Sub­stance. They are not changed into the Sub­stance [Page 19] of the Natural Body of Christ, which hung upon the Cross, and his Blood which was there shed for us; a monstrous and novel Opinion, first established by the Con­cil of Lateran, above twelve hundred Years after Christ; and then by that of Trent, a­mong other Articles of their New Creed; no where to be found in Scripture, (as some of the most Learned Romanists have con­fessed) but directly contrary to it, as 'tis to the Writings of the Fathers; not believed at present by many Learned Men in the Church of Rome Vid. Preface to Discourse of the Eucharist.; over­throwing the very Nature of a Sacrament, and leaving nothing for an outward Sign; destroying the Foundation of our Faith, which is grounded on Miracles, which imply the certainty of the Judgment of our Senses on their proper Objects; intro­ducing the most monstrous absurdities, which if granted, would render the Christian Reli­gion, which is the only reasonable Religion in the World, the most absurd, and most un­reasonable; supposing actual length, without any thing long, and the same of whiteness, redness, solidity, moisture, breadth, and thick­ness; involving the most horrid, as well as most ridiculous Consequences: That our Sa­viour did eat his own Body, and gave it to [Page 20] his Disciples to eat; making Christians the worst of Cannibals, to eat their God a thou­sand times over Eoquem tam amentem esse pu­tas, qui illud quo vescatur credat Deum esse? Tully de natura Deo­rum.; imply­ing penetration of dimen­sions; contradicting the very Nature of a Body, which cannot be in two places at the same time Rubrick after Communion., much less in Earth and Heaven; contradicting our Saviour's own Words, that we should not have him al­ways, St. Mat. 26. 11. that is, his Body, with us, tho' in his Divi­nity, his Spirit, his Power, his Graces, he's with the Church to the End of the World St. Mat. 28. 20.; contrary to the End of the Institu­tion, which was to be a Memorial of his Body broken, and Blood shed for us; contrary to the Words of the Apo­stle 1 Cor. 11. 26, 27, 28., who calls it Bread and Wine, after Consecrati­on, thrice in one Chapter Vide supra.. For which Reasons, and many others that might be alledged, our Church declares, in her Twenty Eighth Ar­ticle, of the Lord's Supper, ‘That Tran­substantiation, or the Change of the Substance of the Bread and Wine in the Supper of [Page 21] the Lord, cannot be proved in Holy Writ, but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the Nature of a Sa­crament, and hath given occasion to many Superstitions.’

§ XIV. But how is it then called the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, and in what Sense is he present there, and how are the faithful said therein, to eat his Body and drink his Blood, both by the an­tient Fathers, and by our own Church, and most o­ther Protestants of all de­nominations Lutherans, Calvin, Beza, As­semb. Catechism, great and less; Cranmer, Ridley; Communion Service English, Tigur. Liturg. &c.?

That this is true in some Sense is evi­dent from Holy Scripture it self, as well as from the Consent of all Christian Chur­ches. Our Saviour said, ‘This is my Body, and this is my Blood.’ And the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16., The Cup of Blessing; is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ, the Bread of the Body of Christ? And to the same purpose in the next Chapter.

Thus our fore-mentioned Article, That the Bread which we break is a par­taking [Page 22] of the Body of Christ, and the Cup of Blessing a partaking of the Blood of Christ. And in the Catechism, that the inward part, or thing signified in the sacrament is, The Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily, and indeed taken and received [by the faithful] in the Lord's Supper. And the like in several places in the Communion-Office. From all which it appears how little Rea­son our Adversaries have to brand us for Sacramentarians, or such as deny the Body and Blood of Christ, in a sound Sense, to be received in the Lord's Supper.

§ XV. But what Sense that is, we come now to enquire.

First, The Symbols, the very Bread and Wine, are in a figurative, typical, and sacra­mental Sense, the Body and Blood of our Sa­viour. They are more than a bare or ordi­nary Figure; they do really and actually from their Institution, represent and exhibit Christ's Death unto us, as did the Paschal Lamb, the delivery of the Iews out of Egypt. This our Church affirms in her Homily of the Sacrament, Part I. ‘That we must be sure to hold, that in the Supper of the Lord, there is no vain Ceremony, no un­true Figure of a thing absent, but the Bread and Cup of the Lord, the Memory [Page 23] of Christ, the Annunciation of his Death, &c.’

§ XVI. But there's yet more in it; for,

2. There is, in the Blessed Sacrament, a real spiritual presence of the Body and Blood of our Saviour, to every faithful Receiver. Christ, as to his Divinity, is every where, and more effectually and graciously present to his own Institutions, and will make his Promise good, to be with his Church to the End of the World St. Mat. 28. 20.; and doubtless is so in this Sa­crament, as well as in the other of Baptism; and herein he conveys all the real Benefits obtained by his Suf­ferings, to every faithful Receiver. His Na­tural Body is in Heaven, where it will re­main till he comes to Iudgment. He is spi­ritually present in the Sacrament, present by Faith to our Spirits. The fore-mentioned Homily tells us that in the Supper of the Lord, we are not only ‘to hold that there is a Memory of Christ's Death, but that there is likewise the Communion of his Body and Blood in a marvellous Incorpora­tion wrought in the Souls of the faithful.’ And again; ‘If God hath purified our hearts by Faith, we do at this Table receive, [Page 24] not only the outward Sacrament, but the spiritual thing also, not the Figure, but the Truth, not the Shadow only, but the Body.’ And to the same purpose, our Learned Bi­shop Iewell, ‘That not the naked Figure, and bare Sign and Token only, but Christ's Body and Blood are verily and indeed gi­ven unto us in the Sacrament; we verily eat it, and drink it, and live by it, and [thereby] Christ dwells in us, and we in him. Yet, he goes on, 'We say not that the Substance of Bread and Wine is done away, or that Christ's Body is fleshly pre­sent in the Sacrament, but we lift up our hearts to Heaven, there to feed on him.’ Tho', by the way, What need would there have been of the Sursum Corda, or Invita­tion to the People in the Primitive Church, to lift up their Hearts to Christ in Heaven, if whole Christ, God and Man, were actually present upon the Altar?

§ XVII. But neither the Apostles, nor the Primitive Church, nor our Church of En­gland, ever held that the Sacrament was so much as in this latter Sense, the Body and Blood of Christ, to all that received, but only to the faithful Receivers. For those who received unworthily, the Apostle tells us, they were guilty of the Body and Blood [Page 25] of the Lord, therefore surely they did not properly communicate of his Body and Blood, which he that does has eternal Life; nay, they did eat and drink their own Iudgment or Condemnation, not discerning the Lords Body. And to the same purpose is that fa­mous saying of one of the Fathers, ‘That the Wicked do only press with their Teeth the Sacrament or outward Sign of the Lords Body, but do not really communicate in it.’ Neither did the Fathers ever think that we were to eat the Flesh of Christ in a gross carnal, Capernaitical sense, whatever high Expressions they may have sometime used concerning this Mystery, wherein they may have been followed by devout modern Wri­ters. Hear one for all: 'Tis St. Augustine, de Doctrinâ Christianâ, Lib. 3. Cap. 16. where, in his Rules for interpreting Scripture, he instances in that Text, which has been so much controverted of late years, the 6th of St. Iohn Ver. 53. ‘Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, ye have no Life in you: Si praeceptiva locutio, &c. If, says he, the Expression forbid any wicked action, or command a good one, then 'tis not figurative; but if it appears to com­mand any Wickedness, or forbid any Good, it must be figurative. Thus he goes on, that expression, ‘Except ye eat the Flesh [Page 26] of the Son of Man, and drink his Blood, you have no Life in you,’ seems to com­mand a very wicked thing; it must there­fore be understood in a Figure, and the meaning of it is, that we are to communi­cate in our Lords sufferings, and to lay it up in our Remembrance, that his Flesh was cru­cified and wounded for us.’ And when any Romanist fairly answers this, we may safe­ly promise them to believe Transubstantia­tion.

§ XVII. But if Christ be no otherwise in the Sacrament than figuratively in the Sym­bols, as they are a Commemoration of his death, and spiritually and effectually present to the faithful Reeeiver; Where is then, it may be asked, the Mystery, which all ac­knowledge in this Sacrament, and which is so often called by ancient Writers, the ve­nerable, the awful and the tremendous Mystery or Mysteries of our Faith?

In answer, We do own, that as in general great is the Mystery of Godliness; so there is something, which far transcends our Reason, in this Sacrament, and in the manner of our Saviours acting on our minds therein, though the Fact it self be clearly revealed in Scripture. The manner, I say, is still mysterious, how it becomes to us the Body [Page 27] and Blood of Christ: How the inestimable Benefits of Christs Death are communicated to us by the reception of the humble Signs; how we are thereby united to him, and he to us: this, as the Apostle says, perhaps on the same occasion, is indeed a great Mystery, Ephes. 5. 32. and we can no more give an ac­count thereof than we can of 'the Wind which 'bloweth where it listeth. We ought there­fore firmly to believe it, we ought to adore the depth of the divine Wisdom in it, with­out going about so fruitless an attempt as to fathom and comprehend it. But to go on with our description of this Sacrament.

§ XVIII. By the eating this Bread and drinking this Wine, continuing thus in their proper substances, tho' Grace is added to them by their being taken and blessed, or set apart to this sacred use, we do most solemnly and Sacramentally [renew our Covenant with God.]

God made a Covenant in Paradice with all Mankind in our first Parents, which was called, The First Covenant, the Condition whereof was, Do this and live; the Sancti­on, ‘In the day thou eatest of the Tree of’ Knowledge thou shalt surely dye, or become obnoxious to Death, both Temporal and E­ternal: [Page 28] Adam broke this Covenant by his Disobedience; and being the Head and Repre­sentative of Mankind, by him Sin and Death entred into the World; he lost his original Righteousness, and became the Parent of a sinful and a miserable Offspring, and in him all died; 1 Cor. 15. 22. or were ob­noxious to the same Curse, which he was to suffer.

§ XIX. Yet God, who is rich in Mercy, did not leave him to despair, but immedi­ately made another Covenant with him, cal­led the Covenant of Grace, or the Second Co­venant, established on a better Security and on better Promises, which was briefly con­tained in those Words, Gen. 3. 15. ‘The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Ser­pents’ Head, See the excel­lent Discourse of these Two Cove­nants in the Pre­face to the Whole Duty of Man. that is, Christ, the promised Seed, should destroy the Principality of the Devil, rescue lost Man­kind from his Slavery, and again reconcile us to God. This was yet more clearly reveal'd to Abraham, that in his Seed, that is, in Christ, should all the Nations of the Earth be blessed. Gen. 22. 18. 'Twas farther illustrated in the Types and Figures of the old Law; [Page 29] but the full and compleat discovery thereof was reserved to the Times of the Gospel, which is called the New Covenant; contain­ing the most perfect Revelation of the Di­vine Will, the Promises of God, and those Con­ditions on which he accepts and forgives us; Which were on Christs part his suffering in our room, as our Surety, and a Sacrifice for us to attone his Fathers An­ger; Heb. 9. 12. 10. 10. as on our part, Faith, St. Mark 16. 16. Repentance and not a Sinless, as in the First Covenant, but a sincere Obedience. Acts 3. 19, 25, 26.

§ XX. This General Covenant is first ap­plyed to particular persons by Baptism, where­in we are now admitted into it, as Abraham and his Posterity were by Circumcision into the same Evangelical Cove­nant, Gal. 3. 17. and are thereby actu­ally dedicated to Gods Ser­vice, and renounce the World, the Flesh and the Devil; and because there are none who come to age without having been guilty of some Breaches of this Covenant, we do, after we have taken it upon our selves in Confirmation, renew it again at the Holy Communion: Of which we shall still have a clearer notion, if we consider it as 'tis a Feast, or as 'tis a solemn Oath, and on both accounts a federal Rite, [Page 30] or a Token, Pledge or instituted Sign of our being actually in Covenant with God; with­out which what right had we to approach un­to him, or how could we expect any Mercy from him?

§ XXI. Let us consider the Holy Commu­nion as a Feast, a sacred Feast, which was used among the Ancients at the Confirmation of Covenants, in token of Amity and Friendship be­tween the Guests. Thus in that noted Instance, at the ratifying the League between Isaac and Abimelech, ‘Isaac made a Feast, and they did eat and drink and sware one to another.’ Gen. 26. 30. But this was more than an ordinary Feast, there was generally a Sacrifice added to it, at which they believed God himself present, a Partaker thereof, and a Witness of their Agreement. Thus when Iacob and Laban made a Covenant, ‘Iacob offered Sa­crifice upon the Mount, and called his Bre­thren to eat Bread. Gen. 29 54.’ And the Passover was both a Feast and a Sacrifice: and 'tis the Character which God himself gives of his Saints, or those that were relatively or federally holy, that they had made a Cove­nant with him with Sacrifice, Psal. 50. 5. And the Apostle speaking, as 'tis very pro­bable, of this Christian Banquet the Holy [Page 31] Communion which comes in the room of the Passover, exhorts the Corinthians to keep the Feast not with old Leaven, &c. 1 Cor. 7. 8. Thus 'tis called the Table of the 1 Cor. 10. 21. Lord: and the Wine, the Cup of the Lord. And God vouchsafes therein to come in unto us, and sup with us; nay to kill the fatted Calf for us, and feast us with his own Sacramental Body and Blood; and thereby assures us of his Favour and Goodness to us, and renews his Covenant with us, and gives us leave to do the same with him.

§ XXII. But we confirm this Covenant by a most solemn Oath, as well as a Feast, in this Holy Communion; for it partakes of both. The very Word Sacrament originally signi­fied that Military Oath which Soldiers took to their General, to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him, to obey his Commands. In the Lords Supper we swear Fealty and Homage to the great King of Earth and Heaven; and, as well as in Baptism, engage to be his faith­ful Servants and Soldiers to our Lives end. Which Oath, as all others, does imply an Imprecation, as did the ancient Sacrifices used at the Ratification of Leagues, wherein the Beast being cut in pieces, the Parties agree­ing went between them, wishing that their [Page 32] Blood might be so poured out, and they them­selves cut in pieces, if they ever brake their Vow and Covenant. To which the breaking of the Bread, and pouring out of the Wine does answer in the Communion: as it may farther signifie, that we resolve to be faithful even to the Death, to our great Lord and Master; and if there be occasion are ready to shed our Blood for him, as he did for us. The Commemoration whereof is indeed the main End of the Sacrament, and the prin­cipal Notion wherein we are to represent it to our Minds; but there are subordinate Ends and other useful Notions, under which we may consider it, in order to profit by it. A­mong which is,

§ XXIII. The next thing in our Descrip­tion of this Sacrament [That we therein praise God for all his Goodness:] As much as this is included in that very ancient name of it, the Eucharist, which is used in the Scripture for giving of Thanks in general Eph. 5. 4., but ap­plied to this most solemn Act of Thanksgiving in the blessed Sacra­ment, not only by the earliest Ecclesiastical Writers, but even by an ancient Version of the New Testament. For the Syriac retains the Word Eucharist both in the 2d of the [Page 33] Acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. In both of which places, what we render breaking of Bread is with them [...] break­ing the Eucharist. And a Word of the same Original is used both by the Apostle and the Evan­gelists in the Description of its Institution 1 Cor. 11. 24. [...] so St. Luke 22. 19.; and where our Saviour is said to give thanks over the Bread, by St. Luke and St. Paul; and to bless it, by St. Matthew St. Mat. 26. 26., the same thing is intended, for he blest and praised God for his Gifts; and by that Thanksgiving did sanctifie the Bread; both derive God's Blessing upon it, and set it apart to a sacred use, to be the thank­ful Memory of his own Death till he come to Judgment. And accordingly in this Sa­crament the Church does render most so­lemn Thanks and Praise to God the Father, for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of his dear Son; and to Christ himself, who gave his Body to be broken and his preci­ous Blood to be shed for us; as well as for all the Benefits of his Passion, especially the Par­don of our Sins and Eternal Life.

[Page 34] § XXIV. The next thing to be taken notice of in this Sacrament is, That we do therein [testifie and express our unfeigned U­nion with all our Christian Brethren,] with all those that bear the Image of the Heavenly. This was doubtless one great end of its In­stitution, that thereby all the followers of our Saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble Bands, and that all men might know them for his true Disci­ples by their Loving one ano­ther: St. Iohn 13. 35. and thus the Apostle argues, ‘The Cup of Bles­sing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ, the Bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? For we being many are one Body, for we are all Partakers of that one Bread:’ where he hints at the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church, and of all the Members there­of one with another. 1 Cor. 10. 16, 17. Feast­ing in common has been al­ways esteemed both a Token of Amity and Friendship, and the way to increase and preserve it. In the Holy Commu­nion we may be said to re­new our Covenant with one another, Pliny, ad confae­derandam discipli­nam coetus Chri­anorum. as well as with God, and seem yet further, e­ven to imprecate his Wrath [Page 35] upon our selves if we break that sacred Band. And to the same purpose were the Agapae or Love-Feasts among the Christians, both in the Apostles times and a Cen­tury or two after: Vid. Tertul. A­pol. c. 39. p. 105. And the frequent reception of the Communion must needs render Christians more charitable and in­crease a holy Love among them, because without this Charity they know they ought not to communicate; as the too general neglect of this Sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that Grace amongst us. For the partaking of this Di­vine Feast, and the consideration of Christs wonderful Love to us in laying down his Life for us, even when we were Enemies, must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us, and with a pure heart servently to love one another.

§ XXV. Hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the Reception of the Holy Sacra­ment. To commemorate and represent the Sa­crifice of our Saviours Death, according to his Institution, by eating of Bread and drinking of Wine; therein renewing our Covenant with God, praising him for his Goodness, and testifying and exercising our [Page 36] Unity and Charity towards all our Christian Brethren.

§ XXVI. I proceed, in the last place, to that which we are to receive from God in the conscientious discharge of our Duty, and de­vout Reception of this Holy Communion: Which is contained in the last part of our Descrip­tion, [That thereby all the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to e­very faithful Receiver.]

§ XXVII. The Sacraments are Seals of God's Covenant with us. The Apostle ex­presly affirms it of Cir­cumcision, Rom. 4. 11. Galat. 3. 14. as it was a Sign of the Evangelical Cove­nant made with Abraham and all his faithful Children, that is, all that should believe in God as he did. In the room whereof Baptism was introduced by our Sa­viour as another Seal of the same Covenant, and means our Initiation into it: And one Sa­crament being a Seal, it follows by parity of Reason that the other must be so also. The Holy Symbols, when duly received, do ex­hibit and convey unto us divine Virtue and assistance, and all the inestimable Benefits which were purchas'd for us, and reached out unto us by the Death of a Redeemer; as Justification or actual Pardon of our Sins, [Page 37] the reinstating us in God's Favour, and as­suring us that he is reconciled to us, and that we are accounted righteous before him; as well as Sanctification, or actual Strength and Grace to conquer our Sins and to obey his Commands. 'Tis true, the beginnings of these are conferred in Baptism; we are so far regenerate therein, as to be grafted into the Body of Christs Church, and to partake of its Privileges by the ope­ration of his Holy Spirit within us, who will never be wanting to us or forsake us, unless we our selves do put a Bar to the Divine As­sistance by confirm'd ill Habits and by a wicked Life. But since the Divine Image, which we there recovered, is very often obscured a­gain by the Temptations of the World and the Devil, and the remains of Sin within us, there is need enough of our being re­newed again by Repentance; nor has God here left us without Hope or Comfort, but notwithstanding the Dream of the old Nova­tians, has appointed a Remedy even for those who sin after Baptism, and that is this other Sa­crament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, wherein as we renew our Covenant with him, we receive new Strength to obey his Commands, as hath been the constant Faith of all good Christians in all Ages: we therein obtain not only the strengthning, but likewise the re­freshing of our Souls, as the Catechism ex­presses [Page 38] it, which includes Divine Consolation, and Ioy in believing, and such Peace as passes all Understanding.

§ XXVIII. But may some here object, Where is this Blessedness you speak of? Where are these Promises in Holy Scripture, of such wonderful assistance in this Sacrament?

In answer, This Holy Communion is the Sub­stance of all other Christian Duties, to which so many Blessings are promised throughout the whole Gospel (or else why do we per­form them?) of Faith, and Repentance and Thanksgiving, and Holy Vows, and Prayer, and Praise, and Confession, and Adoration; and consequently it must share in all their Blessings and Benefits. 'Tis a Memorial or Commemoration of our Saviour's Love and Sufferings; and if God has promised in the old Law that in every place where there is a Memorial of his Name, he will meet and bless his People, Exod. 20. 24. much more may we expect it under the Gospel. If our Saviour has so solemnly promised, ‘that where two or three are gathered together in his Name,’ there he will be in the midst of 'em and bless 'em, much more will he be so at this great Synaxis, this more gene­ral and solemn Assembly of Christians to [Page 39] celebrate his Name, and record his Prai­ses. Thus Ignatius in Epist. ad Ephes. If the Prayer of one or two be of so great force, that it brings Christ a­mong them; how much more will the unanimous Prayers of the Bishop and the whole Church ascending to God, prevail with him to grant all they desire? He has not com­manded us to seek his Face in vain; nor is it in vain to ‘do this in Remembrance of him.’ The shewing forth the Lord's Death cannot be without exceeding Com­fort to those who have rea­son to hope they have a share in it. 'Tis a big Ex­pression [The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ:] 'tis surely far more than an empty Figure: 'Tis not a little matter to eat the Lords Supper, to par­take of the Table of the Lord, wherein if he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks Damnation; surely he that does it worthily must eat and drink Salvation. No less can be intended in our Communion of Christ's Body and Blood, than the eternal Son of God's uniting himself by his Spirit to our Souls in this Holy Sacrament; and even by his own Divine Nature, whereby he in a sense, and in some degree, makes us Par­takers thereof; and communicates unto us all the Blessings he has obtained for us, by this Heavenly Food nourishing up our Souls to everlasting Life: Giving us herein [Page 40] the Earnest and Pledge of our Immortality, as well as the means of it; and assuring us, that because he lives we shall live also; which is the meaning of those Expressions ‘Dwel­ling in Christ and Christ in us, and be­ing one with Christ and Christ with us;’ and of the Ministers praying in the very de­livery of the Elements, ‘That the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ may pre­serve our Bodies and Souls to Everlasting Life;’ according to our Saviour's own Words, ‘He that eateth my Flesh and drink­eth my Blood dwelleth in me, and I in him; he shall live by me; he shall never die; he hath Eternal Life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’ And whether or no these Expressions were then precisely meant of the Sacrament, which they might well be by Anticipation and Prophesie, though it were not then actually instituted; for he speaks in the same place of his Death in the same manner; they are yet certainly true of the partaking of Christs Sacramental Bo­dy and Blood, ‘and feeding on him in our Hearts by Faith with Thanksgiving.’

§ XXIX. Which brings to the close of our Description, that all these Benefits are conferred in the Sacrament, only on [the faithful Receiver.] For none but such are [Page 41] properly Partakers of the Body and Blood of the Lord. If Iudas did outwardly partake of this Sacrament, as our Church seems to have thought he did See the Ex­hortation, Lest af­ter the taking of the Holy Sacra­ment, the Devil enter into you, as he entred into Ju­das. Satan did but the sooner enter into him, because he received with a Heart full of Treachery, Covetousness and Malice. I take Faith here in the largest Sense, ‘for a practical assent to the whole Scheme of the Gospel, and consequently a ready and firm Belief of its Revelations, Threatnings and Promises, accompanied with sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to obey its Commands.’ Tho' the more peculiar object of Faith in this Sacrament must be the Merits of our Savi­our, and that Pardon which he purchased for us by his own Blood. But of these here­after more at large under those Qualificati­ons which are requisite to those who would partake worthily and profitably of this Holy Communion.

CHAP. II. Of the perpetual Obligation that lies upon adult Christians to com­municate, and even to frequent Communion.

§ I. WHerein I shall first prove in ge­neral, the indispensible Obliga­tion which our Saviour has laid upon us to receive this Sacrament. 2. The Extent of it, it reaches all adult Christians. 3. Its Duration, 'tis perpetual, it lasts till the End of the World. 4. That we ought to receive it frequently; And in the 5th and last place, I shall answer those Objections which are brought either against receiving the Commu­nion in general, or against frequently re­ceiving it.

§ II. 1st. Of the Obligation in general to receive. And one would wonder how any, who are called Christians, and do but remem­ber the Reason of that Name, should ever think themselves dispensed with from that [Page 43] Obligation; since there is scarce any so ig­norant as not to know that 'tis the express Command of our Lord Christ, ‘Do this in re­membrance of me.’ St. Luke 22. 19. He has the supream Authority over us, and we have professed an entire Obedience unto his Laws, and have vowed at Baptism to keep Gods holy Will and Commandments; and there is not one Com­mand in the Gospel more express than this is. Every part of the Sacrament, every No­tion wherein we can represent it to our Minds, is an Argument for our receiving it. 'Tis the Remembrance of our Saviour's Death; and does not that deserve to be remembred? 'Tis the lively Representation thereof to our Minds; and do we not need this, for are we not too apt to forget it? 'Tis done by the breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine, and is this so hard a thing that God requires of us? Or if our Saviour had ask'd some great [...]hing, should we not have done it? Much more when he requires so easie a Te­stimony of our Gratitude and Obedience? We think our first Parents very inexcusable, who could not keep one Command, and refrain from one Tree, to please their Creator: 'Twas no difficult task, but yet there is less difficulty in what our Saviour requires of us, to eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. He re­quires [Page 44] us not to abstain, but to feast, in or­der to obtain his Favour. Have we not all broken our Covenant with God, and ought it not to be the most welcome Tidings to us in the World that we may again renew it? Have we nothing to thank him for, that we are so backward to render him this Sa­crifice of Praise? Or is it not to him we owe our Life and Breath, and Being, and yet more, if it be not our own faults, our Re­demption, our Salvation and our eternal Hap­piness? Have we no Ingenuity, have we no Gratitude left, or can we give God thanks in a better way than in that which he him­self has appointed; in the highest and most solemn Ordinance of his Holy Gospel? Is Holy Friendship, is Christian Unity and Love so frightful a thing, that we will not so much as endure this Symbol of it? Is it not a good and pleasant thing for Brethren to dwell together in Unity? Is there any A­mity, any Endearment so close so intimate among Men, as that which is professed, encreased and exercised among Christians at this Holy Table? Is it not a desirable, a ne­cessary thing to be at Peace, to be Friends with all Mankind, to forgive our Enemies, to have the Love and the Prayers of all Good Men? And must not all this render the [Page 45] Mind exceeding quiet and happy? And is not this happy Temper to be very much heightened and strengthened by our coming to the Lord's Table, and even by our Pre­paration for it, as well as by our actually partaking of it.

§ III. And if all this be not enough, if it be not sufficient to have Peace on Earth, or we do not much regard it; are we not however desirous to be at Peace with Hea­ven? God reaches out to us in this Holy Sacrament the Pledges of his Love, and Par­don and Friendship; He sends his Ministers to assure us hereof; nay, he sends his own Son (surely we will reverence the Son!) as an Hostage, to satisfie us of the kindness of his Intentions: We entertained him not, 'tis true, as we ought to have done: The Heir was killed, he was stoned, he was cast out of the Vineyard by ungrateful Husbandmen: well, he only requires that we should re­member his Death, and not crucifie him anew by our Sins, by our neglecting this or other Duties: and is this our Kindness to our Friend, that we think this too much to do for him, especially when he has done so much for us? Surely he left us such a Legacy as deserved that we should think on him that left it; tho' 'tis true, the Payment thereof is condi­tional, [Page 46] and among other Conditions on which we expect Life and Pardon, this is not the least, that we should receive this Holy Sa­crament, which is the very Seal of that Par­don sent down unto us from the oftended Majesty of Heaven. Are we so very strong and secure, so rooted and grounded in Faith and Love that we need no more assistance, no more help from God's Spirit, or his In­stitutions; that we thus reject the Counsel of God, and that Grace which he so freely of­fers us? Is it a small thing to dwell in Christ, and Christ in us, to be one with Christ, and Christ with us? To be united to him? To see him whom our Souls ought to love? To despise the World in comparison of him? To sit under his Shadow with unspeakable delight? To have our Hearts pant after him, and long for him, and be ravished with his Perfections, and assur'd of his Love, and im­patient to break through this Earthly Prison, to shake off this importunate Clog, this trou­blesome Companion, this weary Flesh and Blood which hangs about us; and groan earnestly to be delivered; and cry out, ‘Oh that I had the Wings of a Dove, that I might fly away and be at rest, that I might rest for ever in the Bosome of my Redeemer, in whose presence is fulness of Ioy, and at whose Right Hand are Plea­sures, [Page 47] unexhausted Rivers of pleasure for ever­more?’

§ IV. Is this worth desiring? Or are these only Fancies, and the fair, but fading Colours of Rhetorick and Imagination? Ask any ve­ry pious person, who comes with Humility and Devotion to this Sacrament, whether they are not as sure of all this as that they breath? Whether Iesus has not been known of 'em in breaking of Bread, and they have not been often fill'd at his Holy Table with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory? A ra­tional, nay we may call it, a divine Ioy and Satisfaction, because we know its Au­thor, we know its Object. Good Men speak what they know, and testifie what they have seen, and can almost arise to that Testimony of the Apostle concerning Christs actual Bodily presence here upon Earth, 1 St. Iohn 1. 3. ‘That which we have heard, which we have seen with our Eyes, which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have Fellowship with us, and truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Iesus Christ.’

[Page 48] § V. Well, if we believe the Foretasts of Heaven worth desiring, worth thirsting after; our blessed Immortality, our happy Resur­rection worth securing; the earnest thereof worth enjoying; we shall think all these no contemptible Arguments or weak Motives to perswade us to the Reception of this Holy Communion: We shall not easily slight our Saviour's Command, or those great and in­estimable Benefits we shall all partake of, if we are worthily present at it.

§ VI. But our Obligation to receive will appear yet stronger, if we consider the great Sin we are guilty of in neglecting it, and the heavy punishment we may expect for the same. Whatever our pretences are for it, we do hereby in effect slight the Inviter and Invitation; as well as that divine Feast, that Heavenly Food which he has provided; saying in our Hearts, and by our Actions, as Israel of the Manna, Our Soul loaths this light Bread. We separate from our Bre­thren, and are guilty of a partial Schism. We are disobedient to the just Laws of our Country, both Civil and Ecclesiastical. We discourage our Pastors by the thinness of the Appearance on these occasions. We neglect the means which God has appointed to [Page 49] strengthen us in Virtue. We are unthankful as well as disobedient; and too like those in the Gospel, who slighted the repeated Invi­tations of the King, who sent out his Mes­sengers to call 'em to the Marriage, but they would not come, St. Matt. 22. 2, 3, &c. for which he justly declared, that those who were bidden were not worthy, v. 8 (there are un­worthy Non-Communicants, as well as unworthy Communicants) and that none of them should taste of his Feast; nor was this all, for he sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers, and burnt up their City. v. 7. Which Parable, tho' it seems to relate more immediately to the Iews, whose City and Nation were destroy­ed for rejecting the Gospel; yet those must likewise be included in it by parity of Rea­son, who refuse to obey that Gospel which they pretend to receive, and will not come to this Marriage-Supper of the Lamb, tho' so often and so kindly invited, but neglect it, either for the most part, or even for all their Lives (upon how frivolous Pretences we shall see hereafter) and it is according­ly applied to such by our Church, in the Exhortation which is appointed to be read when the Minister perceives the People backward to come to the Commu­nion.

[Page 50] § VII. [Next as to the Extent of this Obligation.] It reaches all adult Persons who have been baptised. This was carried so high by the antient Church, that they thought the Communion was absolutely necessary to Salva­tion, and therefore gave it to Infants as soon as baptised, as do the Greeks to this day: wherein, tho' I think 'em mistaken, it shews their Opi­nion, of the universality of its Obligation, and the necessity of receiving it. The Apostle says of the Iews in the Wilderness, 1 Cor. 10. 3, 4. That they did all eat of the same spiritual Meat, and did all drink of the same spiritual Drink; and much more ought all Christians to do so, who have a much more spiritual Religion. The Passover was enjoyn'd to all the Congregation, and even to every Man's Servant that was circumcised; with this severe Sanction, that the Man who neglected it, without a lawful Excuse, ‘That Soul should be cut off from among his People.’ Numb. 9. 14. Our Lord said to all his Disciples, Take eat; and particularly of the Cup, Drink ye all of this; his infallible Spirit foreseeing that some would deny it to the Laity in after-Ages: and it's said in St. Mark, they all drank of it. St. Paul stiles it the Communion, because all Christians did partake of it; as [Page 51] appears from that Expres­sion, 1 Cor. 10. 17. we are all parta­kers of that one Bread; and in the next Chap­ter, he fairly implys, that the main End of all regular Christians meeting together in pub­lick, was to ‘eat the Lord's Body. And all that believed, at the first planting of the Go­spel, Chap. 11. v. 20. continued stedfastly in the Apostle's Doctrine, and in the Com­munion’ Acts 2. 42., (as it ought to be translated) Vid. Mede of the Christian Sa­crifice. whose outward part consisted in the break­ing of Bread, and drinking of Wine, as the inward in Prayer and Thanks­giving. To this agrees Antiquity: For the Primitive Christians allowed no such thing as coming to the publick Assemblies, and going a­way without receiving, which none did, un­less the Catechumens and Excommunicate, there being a very antient Canon Can. IX. among those which are called the Apostles, that forbids any such disorderly practice on pain of Excommunication. Our own Church reckons all Persons who are of years of Discretion, as Communicants, which has been also the Opi­nion of the wisest and most learned among our dissenting Brethren: The Covenant we all enter'd into at Baptism must be renewed by us [Page 52] in the Lord's Supper, unless there be any such as do repent the making it, or as have never broke it. And the same might be made ap­pear from the Nature of the Sacrament, insist­ed on at large in the first Chapter.

§ VIII. [And its Duration is as perpetual as its Obligation is universal.] ‘The Pas­sover was to be kept by the Iews for a Me­morial for ever, Exod. 12. 14. throughout all their Generations.’ This for ever lasted till the end of the Jewish Age or World, and the Passover is to be observed till the end of the visible World, the Consummation of all things. The Institution it self being with­out any Term, and Christ having com­manded his Followers to ‘do this in Re­membrance of him,’ they must still continue doing it, unless he fixes a Term, or gives them a dispensation for the doing it. But the Nature of it proves that it still re­mains; for a Remembrance implys absence, and the Reason of the Remembrance lasts as long as the absence continues; and since Christ will not be with us, as to his corporeal presence till the Time of the Restitution of all things, or the end of the World, we must till then, remember him in this Holy Sacrament.

[Page 53] § IX. [Which is as evident from Scrip­ture as 'tis from Reason.] ‘As oft as ye eat of this Bread, shew ye forth the Lord's Death till he come, 1 Cor. 11. 26. namely, till his second coming to judge the World;’ in which sense that Expression is generally used in Scripture, especially by this Apo­stle. Thus he tells us, ‘That at the last day, those which are alive, and remain till the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent those which are asleep 1 Thess. 4. 15.;’ which whole Description evidently re­lates to the last Iudgment. And our Saviour uses that Expression in the same Sense in re­lation to St. Iohn, who himself interprets that Phrase, ‘[if I will that he carry till I come,]’ by that other, ‘that that Disciple should not die.’ Now it's evident that what St. Paul here declared, was by express Command and Re­velation, and that he committed no more to Writing, than he had before in the Name of Christ delivered to the Churches. For thus he himself assures them; ‘I received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, &c. 1 Cor. 11. 23. whence he goes on to give an exact Account of the Institution of this Sa­crament.’

[Page 54] § X. But further: None will deny that we must offer the Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise unto God thro' Christ, to the End of the World: That we must commemorate, and represent our Saviour's Death, in such manner as he has appointed. That we may, and ought to renew our Co­venant with God, and solemnly to express our union with all good Men, and dedicate our selves to the most High, and sacrifice our Sins before him; and that all this shall ne­ver cease till Time shall be no more: If then we ought to perform all these things singly, why not altogether in this Sacrament, as we are sure the Church of God has done ever since its Institution in all Places and all Ages?

§ XI. And as the Arguments for the perpetual Obligations of our Saviour's Com­mands in relation to this Sacrament, are unanswerable, so the Objections a­gainst it appear so thin and contempti­ble, that one would wonder how any Men of Sense should ever stumble upon them. The chief pretences of those who oppose the perpetuity of this Sacra­ment [Page 55] are, that the coming of the Lord men­tioned by St. Paul, was only his spiritual Answer to Snake in Grass, p. 113. Naylor's Love to the Lost, p. 77. coming, and that the Communion of his Body and Blood is also spi­ritual, as oppos'd to any outward partaking of it.

§ XII But that the coming of Christ here mentioned, must be understood of his last coming to Judgment, has been al­ready proved from St. Paul's use of that Expression in other places: Nor does it ap­pear that he ever uses it in any other Sense. However, it cannot be taken here for his appearance, or coming by his Spirit only in the Hearts of Believers, because that was already accomplished in those who were baptised, and had sincerely embrac'd the Gospel. He was certainly come to the Apostle himself, in a very high and mira­culous degree and manner, far beyond what any Christians can now expect, and yet he received the Sacrament; for he says, We are all partakers of that one Bread, that out­ward literal Bread whereof he was dis­coursing. Nor was it only the Mystery which he had received of the Lord Vide supra., but directions [Page 56] for the whole outward administration, which he describes at large in the place formerly quoted 1 Cor. II. 23., which we do truly perform as far as the outward cele­bration, if we eat the Bread and drink the Wine, and there is far more than a per­mission for our doing it, since we have a po­sitive Command.

§ XIII. Nor therefore is it enough to pretend that we receive inwardly and spiritually, unless we do it outwardly also, since Christ has appointed such an out­ward administration? 'Tis true, the out­ward part, without the inward, is so far from being beneficial, that 'tis thro' his own fault highly dangerous to the Receiver: But God's Word enjoyns us both, and the latter is conveyed by the former. Teaching all Nations, as well as baptising them, was to continue to the End of the World; but yet all own, that neither the outward Teach­ing, nor Baptism can avail, without the in­ward Teaching and Baptism of the Spirit; and the same may be said of Prayer, and other Christian Duties. I shall conclude this Head with the Concessions of the chief Teachers of those who deny the perpe­tuity [Page 57] of this Ordinance, one of whom says, Answer to Snake, &c. p. 114. ‘That they do not censure those who are conscientiously tender in Observation of these things, and for practising what they be­lieve is their Duty, either in breaking of Bread, or in Water-Baptism.’ And ano­ther before him Naylor. who pre­tends a concern for those who were troubled in mind about this Sacrament, owns, ‘That the Lord's Supper is of great use and profit to weak Believers, for bringing them into one Mind and Heart.’ For us therefore who dare not pretend to perfection, but whose best Plea must be that of the Publican, ‘God be merciful to me a Sinner;’ let us cry out with the Disciples, ‘Lord increase our Faith;’ and make use of the same means, the same Holy Sacraments which they made use of, that we may obtain our de­sires. Which we shall be more careful to do, if we set before our Eyes the dreadful Examples of those who by slighting and forsaking the Sacraments, and especially this Memorial of Christ's Death, have fallen into damnable Heresies, denying the Lord that bought them; either denying his Di­vinity, or even his very▪ Existence without [Page 58] themselves; or else forsaking him by wicked Works, and falling into all manner of Licen­tiousness and Lewdness; all which might have been prevented, had they been devoutly and frequently present at this Holy Ordinance.

§ XIV. Nor is it less evident that we are to receive the Communion frequently, than that the Obligation to receive it is perpetual; which will appear from the Nature of the Sacrament, and from the Words of Institution. From the Apostle's Example, and that of the Primitive Church, and the Commands and Ex­ample of the Church of England, and of all others who think themselves at any time obliged to receive it; as well as from the great Benefits to be obtained by frequent and devout Communion.

§ XV. 1. The Nature of the Sacra­ment, the very Form and Words of Insti­tution, sufficiently prove, that we ought fre­quently to communicate. 'Tis a Commemo­ration of our Saviour's Death, a Renewing of our Covenant with God, a solemn Profes­sion of our Religion and Badge of our Chri­stianity, a means to receive Divine Assistance, and how then can we be too frequently present at it? Our Lord has not, 'tis true, precisely determined how often we should [Page 59] come, for he has left this to the Discretion of the Church, and as a Tryal of our Devotion: But the very Words of Institution seem to re­quire our presence frequently; for if we are to do this in Remembrance of our Saviour, and the oftner we do it, the better and more lively will be our Remembrance of him, if we perform it with due Reverence and Devotion; if this be granted, we cannot, I think, be too frequent at the Holy Table. Nay, the Apostle hints something to this purpose as our Savi­our's own Command, who at the Institution, when he spake of the Cup, required his Disci­ples to do this [as oft] as they drank it: whence the Apostle draws this Conse­quence. For [as often] as you eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup, &c. which Words do at the least imply some frequen­cy in the reception of the Holy Sacrament, both as commanded by our Saviour and pra­ctised by his Apostles.

§ XVI. Whose undoubted Practice, as it may be evinced from other places, is a farther Argument for frequent Commu­nion. For the first Christians, we read, ‘continued daily with one accord, breaking Bread from House to House. And again, continued stedfastly in the Apostle's Do­ctrine and their Communion, in breaking [Page 60] of Bread and in Prayer [...]. Vid. Patrick, p. 8.,’ Acts 2. 42, 46. which few or none deny to relate to the Holy Sacrament: And it has been well ob­served, that the Word which we translate continuing stedfastly, does relate to the fre­quency of their Receiving, as well as to their Constancy in it, or not being tired with it. And it appears from the History of these Corinthians, that they did not use to come together into one place, or meet in pub­lick Worship, without eating the Lord's Sup­per.

§ XVII. And the Practice of the Pri­mitive Christians, is a good Proof of the Practice of the Apostles, since doubtless they derived it from them. There are learned Men who are of Opinion, that some of the Primitive Chri­stians received twice a day Patrick, which he gathers from Tertull. in his Co­ron. Milit. cap. 3., as the Mincha or Bread­offering in the old Law, was offered Morning and Evening. And if they met publickly twice a day, there's no doubt but they received as often, because they had no religious As­semblies without the Communion. They thought the whole sacred Action imperfect without it; and this was so well known [Page 61] among them, that the word Synaxis, which properly signifies no more than a Convention, or Congregation, was yet gene­rally appropriated to the Holy Communion, because, as is said, they knew no such thing as one without the other. For they thought the Sacrament was appointed by Christ, as a means of supplicating and obtaining God's Favour, nay, as the only means to do it in publick Assem­blies Mede of the Christian Sacri­fice.. And therefore do unanimously apply that Prophecy in Malachi Malac. 1. 11., In every place Incense shall be offered unto me, and a pure offering; to this Christian Sacrifice. And the Apostolical Canon before-mentioned, does expresly ex­communicate those as disorderly Livers, who were present at Prayers, and went away without the Communion; which the Antients call, Iuge Sacrificium, the continual or daily Sacrifice: And the Penitents among them who were excluded from it, did prostrate themselves on the Earth, at the Gates of the Church, and earnestly entreat with Tears and sad Lamentations all that went in, to pray for them, that they might be again reconciled and admitted to the Lord's Table. And 'twas to this their frequent Communions, that we may in great measure [Page 62] attribute their exemplary Piety, and fervent Charity, and stedfastness in the Faith, and ardor and zeal for Martyrdem: And for this last Reason, in order to arm them against that fiery Tryal, St. Cyprian says they commu­nicated every day in the African Churches; and they did the same in St. Ierom's time, in those of Spain and Rome; and the same seems to have been the practice at Milan, when St. Ambrose was Bishop there; for he says, ‘[That this Sacramental Food was daily received for a Remedy against daily Infirmi­ties,]’ adding, ‘that there's no Remedy more effectual for refreshing and comforting the Soul, and restoring it to that Grace from whence it had faln, than the frequent partaking of this Sacrament with purity and humility.’

The Ethiopian Church does to this day ce­lebrate the Communion every Sunday, and that with the addition of those antient Feasts of Charity Ludolphus his Hist. of Ethiop. lib. 3 p. 298, 299., which are now disus'd in other Churches; which shews that the Gospel was plant­ed amongst them very early, and before those Feasts were abrogated.

[Page 63] § XVIII. And indeed, one would won­der how this Sacrament came to be so rare­ly received, and what should be the Ori­ginal of that inexcusable Neglect which we find at present in the Western Churches, and particularly amongst our own People, in re­lation to that Holy Ordinance. Now upon an impartial Enquiry, it will appear that this is chiefly owing to two Causes: First, the great decay of Piety and degenera­cy of Christianity, when the Love of many waxed cold, and the great Apostacy broke in upon the Western Patriarchate. But there seems to be a second Cause of it, namely, the monstrous Doctrine of Transubstantia­tion, already mentioned and confuted; which when the Romanists had once stumbled upon, it seems they dared not trust the Laity with frequent Communions, lest if they often saw the Bread, and touched and tasted it, they should be tempted, as many of their Priests now are, from the same Reason, at last to believe their Senses, and to think it really Bread, and not that natural Flesh and Body of Christ which hung upon the Cross. To prevent which, they took care to let the Laity receive but very rarely, tho' the Priest himself does it every day, at least if the Mass be the Communion, tho' how he can commu­nicate [Page 64] by himself, is something difficult to a Protestant understanding; but since 'tis a flat Contradiction in Terms, we must acknowledge 'tis the more like Transubstantiation.

§ XIX. And for our own Nation, 'tis well if the same Enemy which has sown so many other Tares among us, has not had a Hand in these also; for it had been im­possible to have form'd any Schism amongst us, had we still practised frequent Commu­nion. However, thus much we are sure of, that the unwary Expressions of some who had the Guidance of Consciences in the last Age, and their insisting only on the terri­ble danger of unworthy Receiving, but sel­dom or never on that of resusing to receive at all, or neglecting an Opportunity when offer'd, was a great occasion of this Incon­venience; which as it went so high in those days that in some places they had never re­ceived the Communion in five, six or seven, nay, not in fourteen Years, Mr. Jeans and Dr. Casaubon, in the Bp. of Derry's Admonit. Lightfoot, Vol. 2. p. 1127. so we are assured, by Authors of good Cre­dit, that the use of the Sa­craments was in divers Pa­rishes at length hardly known or named. And tho' this very ill Custom has been since amended [Page 65] by those who began it, at least here in En­gland, yet the Leven of it remains so dif­fus'd thro' a great part of the Nation, that it will not be easie to bring them to a better mind.

§ XX. However, we have both the Command, and the Practice of the Church of England, to engage us to frequent Commu­nion. Three times a year, at the least, it was brought to at the Reformation. His pre­sent Majesty's Injunctions require the Cler­gy to administer the Holy Sacrament fre­quently; and most of the Episcopal Charges, and Articles do the same. And the Rubrick, that in Cathedral and Collegiate-Churches, they shall ALL receive at least every Sunday. And the Communion Service is still continu­ed on Sundays and Holidays in all our Chur­ches, to put Persons in mind of their Duty, and there's no doubt but the Church would have the Communion actually celebrated where­ever there is a sufficient Number to receive Vid. Rubrick after Communion. Parag. 1, 2, 3, 4.; and there are now monthly Com­munions in many, and 'tis to be hoped, most of the considerable Towns in England, and in London, in several Chur­ches, every Lord's Day.

[Page 66] And even our Dissenting Brethren are so far convinced of their former miscarriages in this matter, that they have now, gene­rally, monthly Communions; and if we have followed them in their Errors, ought we not much more to do so in their Reforma­tion?

§ XXI. The Advantages of frequent Communion, to the great Ends of Christia­nity and Reformation, to all the parts of a good Life, shall be the last Argument to en­gage to the practice of it. How far the Sacrament it self conduces to those Ends has been already declared, and the more fre­quently we receive it, as we ought; the greater Benefit shall we obtain by it. The oftner the Vows of God are renewed upon us, the stronger will the Cord be, and with more difficulty to be broken. The oftner we come to these Waters of Life, the more will our Souls be refresht by them; the more frequently we partake of this Bread of Life, the greater Strength shall we receive in the inward Man, and higher Degrees of Grace and assistance in God's Service. And as the great Zeal and Piety of the Primi­tive Christians already mention'd, was very much owing to their daily Communion; so if we impartially consider those amongst [Page 67] us who do most frequently communicate, I'm persuaded we should find them the most devout and rational Christians, and generally the best of Men; whilst those are the most profligate Wretches who have no re­gard at all to this blessed Feast, and thro' the whole course of their Lives scarce ever receive it.

§ XXII. But 'twill now be time to consider those Objections which are brought against receiving this Sacrament, or at least against frequent Communion.

For the First, Against receiving in Gene­ral, the most common Objections may be re­duc'd to the following Heads. Either a bad Life, or multiplicity of Business, or want of preparation, or the danger of receiving unworthily; or else the manner of receiving, and the ill Characters, perhaps of some of the Communicants: The four former being usually brought by Persons of all Persuasi­ons; the two latter, principally by those who are dissatisfied with our way of Wor­ship.

§ XXIII. As for the first, and more common rank of Excuses, before we come to the particular Consideration of them, it may deserve a Remark, that our Church [Page 68] has already fully answered them; and all Persons have heard as much, as often as they have heard the Minister read the Ex­hortations at the warning for the Celebra­tion before the Communion; and therefore 'tis neither fair nor modest, it argues nei­ther Ingenuity nor Conscience, still to in­sist upon them, without any addition to their Strength, or taking notice of what has been said to satisfy them. The two former Objections, Business and a bad Life, are answer'd in the second Exhortation, in these words. ‘It's an easie matter for a Man to say, I will not communicate, be­cause I am otherwise hinder'd by world­ly Business. But such Excuses are not so easily accepted and allowed before God. They that refus'd the Feast in the Go­spel, because they had bought a Farm, &c were not so excused, but counted unwor­thy of the Heavenly Feast.’ And as to that which is taken from a bad Life, 'tis added, ‘If any Man say I am a grievous Sinner, and therefore am afraid to come, wherefore then do ye not repent and a mend?’ The two latter, Unprepared­ness, and the Fear of eating and drinking unworthily, are also fairly hinted at in the End of the first Exhortation, and a Re­medy appointed for them. ‘If any Man [Page 69] cannot quiet his Conscience, but requires farther Comfort or Counsel, he is directed to go to the Minister of his Parish,’ or (such is the Church's Caution and In­dulgence in so tender an Affair) ‘to any other Discreet and Learned Mi­nister of God's Word, and open his Grief, that he may receive Ghostly Coun­sel, or Spiritual Advice, suitable to his Condition.’ And he who neglects to take this Method, it's evident that he ei­ther does not understand, or does not re­gard the Churches Direction in these Matters.

§ XXIV. But to come to the more particular Examination of these Objections. The first of which is taken from a wicked Life, a Man's being a most grievous Sinner, and therefore he comes not to the Holy Table. This is, indeed, a most inexcusable Excuse, for tho' some have thought that a Duty may attone for a Sin, yet one would think none should be so wild to persuade themselves that one Sin could ever attone for another? But in answer to it, we must say of this Sacrament, as Ananias did to St. Paul of that of Bap­tism, Act. 22. 16. Why tarriest thou? arise and be baptised and [Page 70] wash away thy Sins. The Sacraments are doubt­less, Means to confer Grace on those that are truly penitent, truly sensible of their Sins, and afflicted for them; as well as to con­firm and strengthen it in those who already lead a holy Life. It's true, that the Lord's Table is no place for a wicked Man who resolves to continue in his wickedness, who does not heartily resolve, by God's Grace, to strive against it, and actually and imme­diately forsake it: For it is not meet to cast the Children's Bread to Dogs, and the Holy Sacrament is a Token and Pledge of Pardon and Reconciliation, the Seal of a Co­venant between God and Man: But what has any to do with the Sign who has not the Substance? What has a stubborn Rebel to do with his Prince's Pardon? Yet after all, we know that Christ came into the World to save Sinners, tho' he saves them no other way but by Repentance; nor is it while they remain so, but upon a change of their minds, that he actually justifies the un­godly. 'Tis not the repenting Sinner, but the obstinate Sinner that is excluded from the Lord s Table, who is also, if he lives and dyes such, as certainly as God is true, ex­cluded out of Heaven. But for those who are indeed desirous to do better, tho' their Faith be yet but as a Grain of Mustard-Seed, [Page 71] they shall not be rejected, by that mer­ciful Redeemer who will not break the bruised Reed, nor quench the smoaking Flax: and surely, the Sacrament cannot but have that good effect on all who are not quite har­den'd, as to make them think on their ways, and amend their Lives when they approach unto it. And 'tis well if the great Reason which keeps many from it, be not, lest they should be thereby obliged to forsake their Sins, (which they are not yet willing to do,) and to the Exercise of an exact Exa­mination, and severe Repentance.

§ XXV. And as some have raised Objections against Receiving, because of Sins that are past, or of which they may be at that very time guilty, so there are o­thers who say they dare not come to the Sacrament, for fear of falling into Sin after they have received, as if that were unpar­donable; an Error much of the same Nature with that which some Persons ran into in the Primitive Church, who deferr'd their Baptism till the point of Death for the same Reason. But in answer; as 'tis granted that Sins after Baptism may be forgiven, on true Repentance, so doubtless they may after the other Sa­crament; for not only the Corinthians, but even the Apostles themselves were guilty [Page 72] of failings after the Communion. A con­firm'd Habit, or inveterate Course of Sin is damnable, as well before the Sacrament as after it: But the devout and frequent re­ceiving of it, is the best way to prevent the falling into such a desperate Condition: And for lesser failings, from which none are free, those will be forgiven if we are truly peni­tent for them, and constantly strive against them.

§ XXVI. Another Pretence, something allied to this last, is, That Men are at Variance with their Neighbours, and that keeps them from the Sacrament. In an­swer, 'Tis own'd that we ought to come to this Feast of Love with true Charity, for­giving all our Enemies, which if we do not practise every day, we cannot so much as repeat the Lord's Prayer, without impre­cating a heavy Curse upon our selves: But in the present case, the matter may be brought to a short Issue: Either you have really offended your Neighbour, or he has offended you, or as it often happens, you are both to blame: If the former, you know your Duty; ‘Leave thy Gift before the Altar, and be reconciled to thy Brother, and then come and offer thy Gift: If the second, and he trespass against thee [Page 73] seven times a day, and say, I have offen­ded, forgive him, and receive together with him.’ If both are in fault, both must make satisfaction: If either refuses to be re­conciled, the Fault is in the Refuser, not in him that is willing, who shall not be pu­nish'd for the other's Guilt; tho' the uncha­ritable Person, is by no means fit for this Holy Table, while he continues in that un­christian Temper.

§ XXVII. [Multiplicity of Business is a­nother Excuse, or Objection against Recei­ving.] The Cumber of worldly Affairs, and be­ing troubled, like Martha, about many things, while this one thing, which is so very needful, is too often postpon'd and neglected: exactly the same pretence with theirs in the Parable already mention'd, who when the King sent to invite them to the Marriage of his Son, began with one consent to make Ex­cuses, and went their way, one to his Farm, another to his Merchandise. One said, I have bought a piece of ground, and must needs go to see it; which as indifferent an Excuse as it was, was yet better than theirs who absent themselves from God's publick Worship, only to go and see their Ground, when they long before have bought it. Ano­ther, I have bought five Yoke of Oxen, and [Page 74] I go to prove them. He had his Stock to look after, which he thought an unanswer­able Reason for his absence. As the third did, who had married a Wife and could not come, but must stay at home to look after the Affairs of his Family. 'Tis well worthy our Consideration how open the Holy Spirit has here laid the common Springs of Mens neglect and indevotion in these and the like matters: All which Excuses are so contriv'd that they seem to insinuate, as if the Sacrament were only for recluse Persons, such as are abstracted from the World, and live like Monks and Hermits; whereas it's evident that 'twas designed for all Christians, and one great End of it, was, to take off our Hearts from the World, and fit us for Hea­ven. But to be more particular, 'twill be easie to shew, that this pretence of Business to excuse Persons from receiving the Sacra­ment is almost always either false, or vain, or wicked, or altogether.

§ XXVIII. 1. It's often false in Fact, and we are not really so hinder'd by Busi­ness, but we might be there, if we had any regard either to the Feast or to the Inviter: since that Business can only excuse us, which could not possibly be done before, which can­not be done after, and which must of neces­sity [Page 75] be done at the very time when we should receive: But if Men would be ingenuous, they would be forced to acknowledge that they very rarely have any Business of this nature. And indeed, what Business, unless of such high necessity and mercy has a Chri­stian to do on the Lord's Day; the very Name whereof shews the propriety; and that 'tis none of our own, but set apart for a Holy Rest, and Christian Sabbath, and the immediate Service of our blessed Redeemer? Nor is it at all probable, that those who can find time, notwithstanding all this urgent Business, for Visits, for the Entertainment of their Friends, for idle and unprofitable Discourse, (both before the Lord's. Day, and even upon it) and it's well, if not for their Sins too, should yet be able to find no time for their Saviour, when he invites them to his own Table. Judge then how wretched an Excuse this is, when by a palpable Fal­shood Men would defend their Disobe­dience.

§ XXIX. But secondly. This Excuse is weak and foolish: For supposing we should really find out some little Business to em­ploy our selves in, just before, and during the Celebration, yet what can be more foolish than to put off a greater Affair for a less; [Page 76] a matter of Life and Death, for what's of little or no moment? But what's the whole World to my own Soul; and what a mise­rable exchange should I make, if thro' the Cares of this World, and the deceitfulness of Riches, I should by gaining the one, e­ternally lose the other? Besides, if Business could defend a Person for one neglect or o­mission, how immodest, as well as foolish, is it to bring always the same Excuse, and still to postpone our own Happiness, included in our Obedience?

§ XXX. And such a practice is as wick­ed as 'tis foolish. For 'tis a high Affront and Injury both to the King and the King's Son; and will they not both extremely and justly resent it? 'Tis a Wrong and Injury done unto them, as much as 'tis in our Power to injure them: like him in the Gospel, rather to leave our Saviour than to part with our Possessions, or so much as to step out of the World for a few moments. To say we'll not come because we are busie, is in effect, to say we'll come when we have nothing else to do. To put it off till another time, is fairly to own, we think it a matter of no great concern, for whatever we think so, we set immediately about it.

[Page 77] § XXXI. But there's oftentimes some­thing very bad at the bottom of this Ex­cuse, and those who make it, would do well seriously to ask themselves whether by Business they mean not something worse? some appendage to it, which stings their Consciences, and dares not let them come to the Sacrament. Are they not guilty of In­temperance, or Injustice in their Dealings in the World? If they are, they must be re­mitted to the Answer given to those under the former Head, for no pretended neces­sity can excuse their Sin, and they have no other way to escape God's Anger, but Re­pentance and Amendment.

§ XXXII. A superstitious Fear, and mi­staken Reverence for this Ordinance, and terrible apprehensions concerning it, chief­ly grounded on some misapplied Texts of Scripture, do very frequently keep Persons from the Lord's Table. But if we are but as willing to know and to do our Duty as to make Excuses for the neglecting it, such a full Answer may be brought to these Objections, as would scarce fail to give Satisfaction.

[Page 78] § XXXIII. The first and chiefest Text, and which many have so often in their Mouths, as if ‘Do this in remembrance of me,’ were never to be taken notice of; is that in the 1 Cor. 11. 29. ‘He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.’ And there are se­veral Expressions sounding much the same way in the first Exhortation before the Communion, that we ought to be very careful when we come thither, ‘Lest it encrease our damnation, and lest Satan enter into us as he did into Iudas, and fill us full of all Iniquity, and bring us to destruction both of Body and Soul:’ which very severe Sentences are here made use of, to perswade Men to true Repentance before they come to the Sacrament; but they can mean no more than that of St. Paul, whereon they are grounded, and therefore must be interpreted by it. And to understand that aright, we must enquire into the meaning of those two Phrases, Receiving unworthily, and that Damnation which is threaten'd upon it.

§ XXXIV. And the context evidently shews, that the Receiving unworthily, for which the Corinthians are here blamed, was receiving [Page 79] with that inexcusable Disorder, whereof they were guilty at the Sacrament: One was hungry, and another drunken, at their Feasts of Charity, which then accompanied that Ordinance. There were Schisms and Divisions among them, even at that Feast; one great End whereof was to promote Christian Unity and Love. One came be­fore another, and the Rich despised the Poor. They did not discern the Lord's Body. They made no difference between that and com­mon Food, at least, consider'd it not as the Spiritual Body of the Lord, or, as some think, Lightfoot. not as a Christian Sacrament, but as a Heathen Feast, or a Iewish Pas­sover.

§ XXXV. Whereby they did eat and drink Damnation to themselves. By which cannot be immediately intended eternal Dam­nation, but temporal Iudgment, as the word here undoubtedly signifies, which we tran­slate more harshly by Damnation. For the following words explain it; ‘For this cause many are sick and weak, and many are faln asleep;’ that is, God's heavy Iudgments fell upon them in this Life, some think a Plague, or some con­tagious Disease, in order to bring them [Page 80] to Repentance; which Sense is confirm'd by the two following Verses. ‘If we would judge our selves, or consider of our Faults and repent and amend,’ we ‘should not be judged, that is, afflicted with these temporal evils.’ Tho', even those were in order to amendment, and such Pu­nishments as were proper to a State of pro­bation, for it follows; ‘When we are judg­ed we are chasten'd of the Lord, that we should not be condemn'd with the world;’ namely, at Gods last dreadful Tribu­nal.

§ XXXVI. But it may be askt, is there no other unworthy receiving, and no other damnation as a consequent thereon, but what have been now describ'd? Yes doubt­less; for we then receive unworthily, when we continue in our Sins, notwithstanding our Obligations to leave them when we come to the Sacrament: And if we do not repent of this very hainous Sin and that in some proportion to the high Aggravations of it, the consequence of such impenitence will be no less than eternal misery. But still, it's e­vident from the foregoing Considerations, that neither of these are here in the Text immediately intended; and I think all sober Divines are agreed herein.

[Page 81] § XXXVII. Add to this, that there is not the least Ground in the Words, or in the whole Chapter, or indeed in any o­ther Scripture, to excuse any Person for not receiving, or to deter them from doing it, but rather quite the contrary. Because the Man who had not the Wedding Garment was bound Hand and Foot and cast into utter darkness, did this excuse those, who would not come to the marriage? No, 'twas so far from it, that the King sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers, and burnt up their City. Christ commands us to come, his Ministers invite us, 'tis our own Faults, if we come unprepared, but nothing can excuse our Neglect and Refusal. Let a man examine himself, and so let him (not stay away and refuse to receive, but) eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup.

§ XXXVIII. There's another Text which has been widely mistaken in the same manner, and on the same occasion. 'Tis that of St. Paul to the Romans, ‘He that doubteth is damned if he eat.’ But nothing can be plainer, than that this place has no manner of relation to the Sacra­ment, any more than to any other Food; for it's to be understood of eating meats sacri­ficed [Page 82] to Idols, or of any of those Meats which the Iews, from the ceremonial Law, accounted an abomination; whereof the A­postle says, that he who did it with a doubt­ing Conscience, without being satisfied of the Lawfulness of it, he was damned or condemned, namely, by his own Conscience, which accu­sed and judged him for it: And this ap­pears to be the immediate Sense of the words, by comparing them with the 14. v. ‘I know, and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus, that is, either by Christ's words, that nothing which enters into the mouth defiles the man:’ or else, by immediate Inspiration, as he received many other things. ‘I know, says he, that there's nothing unclean of it self, but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean, to him it is unclean;’ which e­vidently refers to those distinctions of Meats, which at that time made so great a distur­bance in the Church of God.

§ XXXIX. But since it may be urged, that acting with a doubting Conscience is a Sin, in what case soever, and therefore much more in relation to the Sacrament, we must in the last place consider the dif­ferent degrees of doubting, which compared with our Obligation to Duty, will quite re­move this Objection.

[Page 83] We may reckon three Degrees of Doubt­ing. 1. When Men have some small remain­ing scruples, and unreasonable unaccountable Fears, after the strictest Examination into the Rules of their Duty, and all moral Sa­tisfaction therein, concerning their Obligation unto it, or of the Lawfulness of any Acti­on.

2. When the mind is as it were in a Bal­lance, unresolved, whether a thing be lawful or unlawful, a Duty, or otherwise, and the Rea­sons on neither side do sensibly and visibly preponderate, so as to incline to acting or not acting; and this is the most true and proper doubt. Or else,

3. When Men are absolutely dissatisfied, by reason of some mistaken Principles, or the Temptation of the Devil, so that they directly question God's mercy; or at least their own Fitness for it, and for the Seals of it, and thence are on the very brink of despair.

§ XL. As to the first of these Cases, where there only remain some unaccoun­table Scruples, so that a Person says, ‘I am afraid to do such or such a thing, tho' I know not why I am afraid;’ and when whatsoever bears the Face of an Objection, has been fairly answered; the Rule is, we [Page 84] may perform any indifferent Action, for that very reason, because it is indifferent, and there are no circumstances that alter its na­ture; we must perform what is a certain Duty, as is in the case before us, recei­ving the Sacrament, because we are to look on any unreasonable Scruples to the contrary, as no other than the Temptati­ons of the Enemy. If as in the second place, we do properly doubt, and the Argu­ments appear to us equal for the doing or not doing such an Action, we must omit an indifferent Action, because there can be no hurt in such omission, but there may be in the doing it; as in the case of eating Flesh lately mentioned; we may not omit a cer­tain Duty, as receiving the Sacrament, but ought rather to suspect our own Reasoning where our Duty is so clear by undoubted Revelation; tho' we must carefully use those means which God has appointed for removing that Scruple and Doubtfulness. But in the third place, where the degree of doubting is so high, as to reach even to despair of God's mercy, from which dreadful Condition he evermore preserve us, and which is often the effect of some grie­vous Sin, continued in without Examina­tion and Repentance; this, I think, is the only doubting which incapacitates us for [Page 85] receiving. And that this does so, is inti­mated in the first Exhortation before the Communion, ‘That 'tis requisite no Man should come to it, but with a full Trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet Consci­ence.’ But then due methods must be used to obtain this happy Temper, and ‘he must open his Grief to his spiritual Phy­sitian, that he may give his Advice and Prayers against the Tempter, and that he may receive the benefit of Absolution,’ or a solemn authoritative declaration of Par­don on his sincere Repentance. To which, if he adds his own Prayers and En­deavours, he may well hope that God will restore unto him the Ioy of his Salvation, and that he shall be admitted to this bles­sed Feast: To the neglect of which for­merly, he ought to examine if he does not owe his present Trouble.

§ XLI. Want of Preparation is also of­ten brought as an Excuse for not recei­ving. Persons have not had Time for such strict Examination, as they think ne­cessary, and therefore, they say, they dare not come. Now to this common and po­pular Objection, I shall first oppose, both the Authority and Reason of a very excel­lent Person, who clears the whole difficulty [Page 86] in a few words, Arch-Bishop Tillotson of fre­quent Communion, Fol. Edit. p. 283, 284. ‘It is, says he, a pious and commendable Custom in Christians before their coming to the Sacra­ment, to set apart some particular time for the Work of Examination; but how much every Person should allot, is a mat­ter of Prudence, some have reason to spend more time, because their accounts are heavier, and some have more leisure and freedom: But the End is to be prin­cipally regarded, which is to understand our Condition, and to reform what's amiss; and if that be observed, whether more or less time be allowed, matters not much.’ He goes on. ‘The best preparation for the Sacrament, is the general Care of a Good Life, and he that is thus prepared, may receive at all times, when opportunity is offered, tho' he had no particular fore­sight of that opportunity, and he shall do much better to receive than to refrain, be­cause he's habitually prepared, tho' he had no time for actual preparation; and (to quote no more) we cannot imagine that the Primitive Christians, who received so con­stantly, could allot any more time for the preparation for it, than for any other part of divine Worship.’ Thus far the most reverend [Page 87] Author, wherein he says nothing against either Preparation or Examination, which he owns to be highly useful, but only against refusing to receive for want of actual pre­paration, or always allotting a considerable portion of time to this Exercise, even when Persons are before habitually prepared to re­ceive, and have not time for such actual Pre­paration.

§ XLII. I cannot think of any other Objections made against receiving the Sa­crament by any Persons who own them­selves satisfied with the publick way of Wor­ship; tho' there are two more, which have been brought by such as differ from us there­in. The first from the posture of receiving. The second from the Company. Our Sa­viour and his Disciples, they say, did at the first Institution, receive in a Table­posture: and they dare not take it kneel­ing, because it looks so like that Adoration of the Sacrament, which we blame in the Church of Rome: Nor can they, without great Scandal, join with such a promiscu­ous Society, some of whom, perhaps, to their own knowledge, may be very ill Men.

§ XLIII. In Answer to the first. The Sacrament being instituted in the room of [Page 88] the Paschal Feast, and during the Celebra­tion of it, our Saviour made use of the same posture wherein he and his Dis­ciples were before placed, which being ac­cording to the Custom of the Antients in Feasting, a sort of recumbency or leaning on one another's Bosoms, neither sitting nor kneeling, it could not perhaps be changed without disorder, till the whole Ceremony was over. But from hence none can justly conclude, that the Gesture of kneeling at the Sacrament, in order to ex­press our deep Humility, is any ways un­lawful: Kneeling is a fit posture for all acts of Devotion. The Eucharist is the highest act of Worship, or rather, it con­tains in it many other acts, Prayer, Praise, Thanksgiving and Adoration: And why should we not then in the celebration there­of, fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker? The Jewish Church added the Bread and the Cup to the Passover; these our Saviour himself used in the administra­tion thereof; and is not this a much great­er alteration, than that of a single Gesture? He retained the second Cup of Blessing, u­sed by the Iews, he received after Supper, with several other Circumstances which are not at present observed, even by those who make these. Objections against our Form, [Page 89] for much less considerable alterations. The main Reason why some well-meaning Per­sons might at first scruple kneeling at the Sacrament, seems to have been the Fear lest this should tend to the Adoration of the Ele­ments, or of any fansied corporal presence of Christ's Body and Blood in them: But this is entirely precluded by our Church, who must be allowed to know best the meaning of her own Injunctions and Practice; and in order to prevent any misinterpretation of this innocent and decent Ceremony, she has expresly declared Rubrick after Communion Ser­vice., ‘That thereby no Adora­tion is intended, or ought to be done either unto the sacramental Bread and Wine, which is bodily received, or unto any corporal presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood.’ And this has so far satisfied all Persons who are not extreamly prejudic'd, that the Members of Foreign Churches, who have received the Communion here in England, have willingly, and gladly done it kneeling. Tigurin Li­turgy, p. 139. And one would think none of those who differ from us should any more object against this practice, till they had answered what one of their own Opinion in other things, [Page 90] has offer'd in the defence of it. Baxter's Chri­stian Directory, Part 2. pag. 3. Who acknowled­ges, that ‘for kneeling, he never heard any thing to prove it unlawful: If there be any thing, says he, it must be either some Word of God, or the Nature of the Ordinance which is supposed to be contradicted: But 1. There is no Word of God for, or against any Gesture: Christ's Example can never be intended to oblige us more in this, than in many other Circumstan­ces that are confessedly not obligatory, as that he delivered it but to Ministers, but to a Family, &c. and his Gesture was not such a sitting as ours. 2. And for the Na­ture of the Ordinance, it is mixed, and if it be lawful to take a Pardon from a King upon our Knees, I know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed Pardon from Christ by his Ambassador, in the same manner.’

§ XLIV. To the second Objection, That Persons cannot joyn with unworthy Communicants; we may first ask, who made any Man the Iudge of Hearts, and how we are sure any Person is unworthy, since none is so but the Impenitent? When our Saviour told his Disciples at the Insti­tution [Page 91] of this Supper that one of them should betray him, they did not ask him, Lord is it my Neighbour? But Lord is it I? And accordingly, we ought surely to be more concerned for our selves than for others. And is it not suspicious that there's some­thing very much amiss in our selves, when we are so ready to censure our Neighbours? Does it not look as if we were solicitous to take off Mens Eyes from our own Faults, tho' at the expence of another's Reputa­tion? Let any one consider the World, and he'll soon acknowledge that the worst of Men are the most uncharitable. But farther, 'tis certain that the visible Church will always be made up of Good and Bad, and the Tares will never be en­tirely separated from the Wheat till the End of the World. Our Saviour knew that Iudas was a Devil, and yet he did not re­move him from the Sacrament, nor refuse to receive with him. If other Men receive unworthily, to their own Master, they stand or fall, but that shall never injure me, if I my self am a worthy Receiver. But suppo­sing there ought to be more exact Disci­pline in any Church (and we know too well who those are that have now render'd that almost impracticable among us) yet this can be no just Reason for our not [Page 92] communicating with it: Since the Church of Corinth was more notoriously corrupt in this matter, than they can pretend ours to be: There were not only Drunkards, but even an incestuous Person in their Communion; and yet St. Paul did never advise any to separate from them, or to call a more pure Church out of that Church, but only to Try and Examine themselves, and so to receive. Besides, if any Person be publickly scanda­lous, so as to give Offence to the Congrega­tion, we know our Rubrick permits him not to receive, but orders the Minister to put him back from the Communion: Tho' in large Parishes, 'tis perhaps impossible for him to know every Person; and if any be really scandalized at another's wicked Life, he ought to make the Minister acquainted with it, if he has first reproved him himself without Success; and till he has done both these, he has not the least pretence for an Objection on that account against receiving. And as this is agreeable to the constant practice of the Church of God, so 'tis also the Opinion of the most sen­sible of those who are dissatisfied with some things in our Com­munion. Baxter ubi su­pra.

[Page 93] § XLV. The Objections against recei­ving in general being thus, I hope, fully answered, there remains only something like one against frequent Communion; and that is, that there's danger lest, as in other things, Familiarity breeds Contempt, so the commoness of this Sacrament should take a­way the Reverence due to it: But this is easi­ly answered, because the same might be said of Prayer and Preaching: Besides, if it were a good Argument against frequent Communion now, it had been so in the Primitive times, when they received every day; but this rather encreased than dimi­nished their Reverence for the Sacrament, and would do the same by us if we received with that Care that we ought, and with a just Consideration of the Dignity of this sa­cred Ordinance.

CHAP. III. Of Examination before the Sacrament, and Preparation for it.

§ I. WHAT has been said in the former Chapter is by no means intended to disswade Persons from a due Pre­paration before they receive the Holy Sacra­ment; it being certain that none ought to come thither without being habitually prepar'd; none, if it may be had, without some super­added actual Preparation. He that comes with­out the former of these, is certainly without the Wedding-Garment, and in danger of be­ing bound Hand and Foot, and cast into utter darkness: He that comes without the latter where it may be had, will fall short of that Comfort and Benefit which he might other­wise have in this Holy Ordinance. It may not therefore be unnecessary to enquire more distinctly into each of these, and to shew wherein they consist.

§ II. By habitual Preparation, is meant, that which is transacted in the entire frame, [Page 95] the uniform course of a Religious Life. When a Person has made it the main Business of his Life to mortify all ill Habits, and to introduce better in their room; to cleanse himself from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit, to perform his Vow in Baptism, to be sanctified and renewed, to repent and be converted, and Holy as God is Holy. And he that is in this happy Condition, as he is always fit to die, so is he always fit to receive the Sacrament, even tho' he should be hindered from any actual Preparation.

§ III. Nor yet does it hence follow that such actual Preparation is to be ne­glected where it may be had; nay, it is undoubtedly highly useful, and tends very much to the perfection of a Christian Life. This Preparation chiefly consists in Exami­nation, or the strict trial of our Lives and Conversations by the Rule of God's Word. A due knowledge of the Nature of this Sa­crament. the solemn Seal of God's Cove­nant with us, and of the Nature of that Covenant, which he has made with us by his Son, is presupposed in every Commu­nicant: Tho' where any are ignorant of these first Principles, they may find some account of them in the first Chapter of this Manual: Nor ought any to presume to re­ceive, [Page 96] without they have such knowledge, however, an equal clearness in these Mat­ters cannot be expected, nor is it required from all sorts of People, but a Man shall be accepted according to what he hath, if he has made the best of his Opportunities of Knowledge. And after all, a Person that is truely humbled for some degrees of igno­rance in these and other spiritual Matters, is in a much safer Condition, than those whom Knowledge puffs up, without either Humility or Charity.

§ IV. A competent Knowledge being presupposed, of the Nature of these Holy Mysteries, there will not need much proof that some actual Preparation is highly re­quisite before we receive them. 'Tis true, the Preparation of Man's Heart, in this, as well as all other Cases, is from the Lord: But none are so weak, as not to know their own Endeavours, are also necessary; ‘we must judge our selves if we would not be judged of the Lord. We must purify our selves before we eat the Passover, for he that presumes to eat it in his uncleanness,’ that is, ‘without repenting of his Sins, that Soul shall be cut off from among his People.’ We ought to be cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary, and if we have [Page 97] done our Endeavours, the good Lord will pardon what is unavoidably wanting. Io­siah commanded the Levites to prepare and sanctify themselves, and to prepare their Bre­thren against that famous Passover which was kept in his time. And if Preparation was so necessary for the Jewish Passover, we cannot think it altogether needless when we are to partake of this Christian Feast; which we ought to keep neither with the Old Leaven, of Judaism or Heathenism, or an open notorious wicked Life; neither with the as dangerous Leaven of malice and hypocrisie; but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. Without such prepa­ration, ‘we may eat and drink unworthily, kindle God's Wrath against us, and pro­voke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death.’

§ V. But a great part of this Prepara­tion, as has been said, consists in Examina­tion: For how can we know how Accounts are between Heaven and us, unless we look into them? What our Debts are? What Mercies we receive? What we still want, and which the best way to obtain them? What Sins we are to confess, and to fight against? Where we are to plant our Bat­teries? Where to expect an Assault? What [Page 98] the best methods of Defence? What Auxi­liaries we want, and where to obtain them? This the Apostle strictly commands every Man to do, to examine, or prove himself, and so to come to the Holy Table; not to come without Examination, or to stay a­way on pretence of not being examined. Something indeed of this Nature is the Practice of every good Christian every Day of his Life, (as it has been even of moral Heathens) to examine his Conscience before he sleeps, what Sins he has that day com­mitted, and by what Steps he fell into them, and penitently and earnestly to im­plore Forgiveness for what's past, and Grace for the future, to do better: And 'tis not easie to imagine how any Man should be a very good Christian without it; where­as whoever does constantly and carefully practise it, (for which he may find excel­lent Rules and Directions among the De­votions annexed to the Whole Duty of Man, and for want of that, there are some Que­stions added at the End of this Treatise) must needs make a more than ordinary Pro­gress in Christianity, and will more espe­cially find a wonderful advantage there­in, as to the easiness of his actual Exami­nation and Preparation for the Commu­nion.

[Page 99] § VI. Which actual Preparation and Examination immediately before we re­ceceive are highly requisite, because they may make up for defects in the habitual, as being more exact and more solemn than our daily Inquisition into the State of our Minds. And this may be done with very great Ad­vantage, by setting apart some one day in the Week before the Communion, where a Person is at his own disposal, and his ne­cessary Affairs will permit him, entirely, for this great Concern, in order to search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. This would be near the End of the Week, because otherwise the Impression made by it, may be apt to wear away again be­fore the Sacrament, or at least not to be so deep and lively as at less distance: Nor might it be so convenient to put it off to the very last Day of the Week, lest some­thing or other should intervene and hinder it. But for those who have not really lei­sure for such a solemn Preparation, or in the case of an accidental Communion, which could not be foreseen; if they are before habitu­ally prepared, we have already seen the O­pinion of our best Divines, that they ought not to reject such an Opportunity, for want of a more solemn actual Preparation. How­ever, [Page 100] he who has but a little time, ought to do his diligence to give of that Little. A Servant or labouring Man, may at least re­deem an Hour or two, either in Mornings or Evenings, for this great Work, which they can do for their worldly Interest, on any extraordinary Occasion. Few have so much Business but they can find time for their Diversions, many for their Sins, and are our Souls only not worth a few Hours, which he who bought them so dearly, as­sures us, are more worth than all the World? Besides, most of the following Directions may be observed while a Person is em­ployed in many sorts of Work, especially in the Fields, and concerns of Husbandry: And for many Tradesmen, they have yet greater leisure, which one would think should be much better filled up this way, than in a shameful Idleness, or in what is yet worse, the reading ill Books, and profane and immoral Plays, which scarce ever fail of rendring the mind, not only weak and trivial, but even averse to Piety and unfit for all the Offices of a Holy Life. For those who are re­ally straitned as to time, there will be parti­cular Directions for Examination, and for their Ease, the following Rules are abbreviated. But this is not the case of so many Persons as plead that Excuse, since we shall frequent­ly [Page 101] hear Men complain, that their Time lies upon their Hands, and they know not how to employ it: And for such as these, and all those who can command so much time, as to go through them, the larger Di­rections which now follow, are chiefly in­tended.

§ VII. When the Day approaches, whereon we expect one happy Opportu­nity more to meet our Saviour at his own Table, whose Invitation, by his Ministers, we are to receive with the greatest Ioy, and the greatest Reverence; the first thing we do, would be to sequester our selves from the World, nay, even from all world­ly Thoughts, and the troublesome Cares of Life. To do this with all possible Inten­tion, and with the whole force of our Minds, with firm Resolves and full purpose of Heart, not to admit any other Business, any other Thoughts, unsuitable to this great Work. Which having begun with devout Prayer for the Divine Assistance, let us proceed in the impartial Examen of our Consciences on the following Heads. 1. Of our Re­pentance. 2. Holy Resolutions. 3. Faith. 4. Thankfulness. And 5. Charity. All which if we find in some good degree wrought [Page 102] in us by God's Holy Spirit, we may ap­proach with comfort to this Sacrament.

§ VIII. And first: We are to examine our selves concerning our Repentance; where­in the Nature of it consists, whether ha­bitual or actual; and under actual Repen­tance, may be included our particular Exa­mination by the Rule of God's Commands, before we approach the Sacrament.

The general Nature of Repentance, con­sists in a thorough Change of Heart and Life, so as to hate all Sin, and turn to God; to love God more than the World, or our Lusts, or even, than our own Lives, in the pre­vailing bent, the settled Choice of our Minds, and to evidence this by keeping his Com­mandments: To live in the course of no greater Sin, such as Drunkenness, Swear­ing, Uncleanness, neglect of Publick Worship, or the like; which waste the Conscience, and are a perfect Contradiction to true Repen­tance, and must be left immediately, as we would avoid eternal Misery: not to in­dulge so much as Sins of Infirmity, nor to say, is it not a little one? such as sloth, pas­sion, forgetfulness of our Duty in some Instances, wandring Thoughts, or the like: for a Christian is to fight against all Sin, [Page 103] and such as are at first comparatively little, yet do all deserve God's Anger, and eter­nal Punishments, and will if they are ne­glected, grow bigger, and at last perhaps, irresistible. I say, true Repentance is a thorough Change, of the whole Man, the Prin­ciples, Inclinations and Desires, as well as outward Actions; and hence it's call'd in Scripture, the New-Man, the New-Heart, the New-Creature, because we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath, and guilty of Original Sin Vid. Discourse of Baptism.; nor is there any who has lived to years of Discretion, but what has made that sad use of his Reason, to sin against his Maker, and to commit many actual Transgressions, if not to fall into grosser habits of wickedness; from which God knows, very few can say they are wholly innocent in this degene­rate Age: Now there is no way to reco­ver from this, and to escape God's Anger, but by forsaking Sin, with the greatest ab­horrence and detestation. 'Tis therefore evident that those are miserably and dan­gerously mistaken, who fansie they repent, because they have some Fear of Hell, some light checks of Conscience, and transient Sor­row for offending God, without effectually [...] [Page 102] [...] [Page 103] [Page 104] leaving all wickedness, and coming to God from whom they have wander'd, and leading a Holy Life. Then have we this habitual Re­pentance, when by God's Grace we do in the main course of our Lives, express our Love to God, and hatred of Sin, and sor­row for it, and are become New Men, and make it our chief Business to strive against our Corruptions, manfully to resist them, ef­fectually to work out our own Salvation: To have that Image of God renewed in us, which we lost by the Fall. And thus much for ha­bitual Repentance.

§ IX. Actual Repentance, is that which every good Man puts in practice on his falling into any Sin; and which he should renew more particularly and exactly, be­fore he comes to the Lord's Table; where­unto we are directed in the first Exhortation on the Sunday before the Communion, which we would therefore do very well seriously to peruse, in order to our Prepa­ration for it. Wherein we are taught, ‘That 'tis our Duty to search and examine our own Consciences, and that not light­ly and after the manner of Dissemblers with God, but so as that we may come Holy and Clean to this heavenly Feast.’ [Page 105] And we are further directed to do this, ‘by the Rule of God's Commands, and whereinsoever we shall perceive our selves to have offended, either by Will, Word or Deed, there to bewail our own sin­fulness, and to confess our selves to Al­mighty God.’ And to assist us herein, we may find large and exact Catalogues of Sins in several Books of Devotion, parti­cularly those annexed to the Whole Duty of Man; which if you have not, you may if you please, make use of this following, and examine your self concerning the particu­lar Breaches of God's Commands, either of the first or second Table.

§ X. The Breaches of the first Com­mand of the first Table, are; 1. Atheism, or at least, Atheistical Thoughts or Dis­course (too common among the foolish Wits of the Age) 2. Polytheism, or believing, or worshipping more Gods than one, the main thing forbidden in this Command; under which may be included Ditheism, or worshipping two Gods, of which those can­not clear themselves who pay Divine Ho­nours to any, whom they believe not essen­tially one with the Father; and Tritheism, if any now are guilty of it, which is worship­ping three Gods, whereas there is but One [Page 106] Supreme; there can be but One God, (tho' Three Persons,) who is over all, blessed for ever. 3. Covetousness, which is Idola­try. Immoderate Love of our selves, or of the World, that Carnal-mindedness, which is Death. A violent and unreasonable Pas­sion for any Person or Thing in this World. 4. Wilful Ignorance of God or of his Word; carelessness of our Souls, neglecting or de­spising Instruction. 5. Presumption upon God's Mercy. A false Peace and Security in Sin. As on the other side, distrusting his Power or Goodness, or murmuring against him, or despairing of his Mercy. 6. Wor­shipping Angels or Saints. 7. Witchcraft, or doing interpretative Homage to the Devil, by using Charms, consulting with Wizards, cunning Men and the like; which is esteemed by our greatest Di­vines, a degree of renoun­cing our Christianity. Bp. Hopkins, Bp. Andrews, W. D. of Man, &c. 8. Unthankfulness, Luke­warmness, Indevotion, Pride, Impenitence. 9. Want of Love to God, Faith in him, De­pendance on him, Submission and Resig­nation.

The Breaches of the second Com­mand, are; 1. Idolatry, which is making any Images with intent to bow down to [Page 107] them, or worship them; or actually pay­ing such Worship to them, even tho' God himself be represented by them; any visible corporeal Representation of God, being a con­tradiction to his pure spiritual Nature, and a high Breach of this Com­mand; Deut. 4. 15. as is even the form­ing any corporeal Image of him in our mind, much more believing a material God. 2. Sacrilege. Robbing or pro­faning Churches, detaining Tythes, or any thing that is dedicated to God, (God forgive all Nations, Families and Persons that are guil­ty of it!) 3. Loathing Manna; neglecting, or disesteeming, or ridiculing God's Word, or not profiting by it; contemning, abusing, causless grieving his Ministers. 4. Adding to his Word; making any thing necessary to Salvation, which he has not made necessa­ry; coining and imposing New Articles of Faith, not contained in Scripture. Super­stitious scrupling what is lawful, without en­deavouring to have the Conscience better in­formed. Irreverence or Undecency in God's Worship, refusing to glorifie God with our Bodies as well as Souls, when both are his. 5. Want of inward spiritual Worship, with­out which, the outward is but like a dead Carcass; (tho' this may be referred also to the first Command.)

[Page 108] The Breaches of the third Command, are; 1. Taking God's Name in vain (which those who do are particularly branded as God's Enemies, Psal. 139. 20. either by false or rash Oaths; or rash or impossible Vows; or by breaking lawful or possible Oaths or Vows, the Vow in Baptism, or at the other Sacra­ment; or by mentioning that glorious and fearful Name the Lord our God, without an act of Reverence and Devotion. 2. Swear­ing by any Creature. 3. Want of a just Concern for God's Honour; encouraging, or not discouraging, or reproving, or punish­ing, where 'tis possible and practicable, those Monsters of Men, who blaspheme, or prosane God's Holy Name; Levit. 5. 1. or discouraging, or not as­sisting to our Power those who would do it, and who have more Zeal for God's Glory: Or not heartily lamenting those Sins, if we are where the Tide of wickedness runs so high, that we cannot have them punished.

The Breaches of the fourth Command, are; 1. The taking it quite away, and mock­ing God in desi [...]ing him; ‘to have mercy upon us for our Offences against it, and to incline our Hearts to keep it, when we believe it,’ (as some do) purely Typi­cal [Page 109] and Iudaical; whereas a seventh part of Time is evidently of moral-positive Obli­gation, being enjoyned before the Fall, and there's little doubt, was observed by the Pa­triarchs before the Law, (for 'tis not rea­sonable to suppose, that Religion could con­tinue Sixteen Hundred Years in the World, without a stated time of pub­lick Worship) So St. Atha­nasius, St. Chrysost. Bede, many old Councils, in Eng­land and other pla­ces, our Book of Homilies, Mr. Hoo­ker, Archbishop U­sher, Bishop Stil­lingfleet, Bp. Pa­trick, Bp. Hopkins, &c. as by all Chri­stians since our Saviour; tho the precise seventh Day of the Week was indeed peculiar to the Iews. 2. All Pro­fanation of it, by weekly, or work day Labour, or a­ny Works, but of Neces­sity or Charity. Unneces­sary, worldly, or vain Dis­course or Visits; much more by Playing, Dancing, or the like; which make it indeed a Iewish, not a Christian Sabbath. 3. Neglecting to imploy the whole Day, as far as our Strength and Ne­cessities permit, in publick or private Acts of Religios Worship. 4. Suffering any to profane it, who are under our Charge, and whom we can binder from doing it, or not giving them time for God's Service. 5. Not permitting our Servants, or very Beasts to rest on that Day, or any manner of Cruelty [Page 110] towards them. 6. Refusing to observe any other Days appointed by lawful Authority, for God's publick Worship, either Fasts or Feasts, (if our Occasions and Circumstances will permit.)

§ XI. As for the second Table, con­taining our Duty to our Neighbour, as the first does our Duty to God. We offend a­gainst the first Command of it, the fifth in the Decalogue, by any ways dishonouring our Parents, whether Natural, our Father and Mother; or Civil, the Magistrates, the King, and those that are in Authority under him; or Ecclesiastical, our Ministers and lawful Pastors; or any other Superiors, as Masters or Mistresses, or our betters and Elders. By being undutiful, stubborn or un­natural to those to whom we are indebted for our Birth and Education: By rebelling against our Prince, or being unthankful to him, or reviling him, or lightly believing ill of him, or of those commissioned by him, or opposing them in the exercise of that law­ful Authority he has deputed unto them. By contemning or defrauding our lawful Ministers, or forsaking them, or discouraging them by neglecting publick Worship (of which also under the third.) By being un­faithful to Masters, or careless of their Con­cerns, [Page 111] or stubborn and refractory and dis­obedient to their lawful Commands. By incivility and rudeness and want of due Re­spect to our Superiors, rising up before the hoary Head: Or in the reciprocal Duties, want of Kindness, Watchfulness, Support, Instruction, Provision, from Superiors, and doing what in them lies for the Souls and Bodies of those committed to their Charge.

For the sixth: 1. The direct Breach of it is Murder, the old Version, Thou shalt do no Murder, being better than the New, ‘thou shalt not Kill;’ for all know that all killing is not murder, nor is it unlawful, as in a just War, or the like: But murder is killing without, or against Law, or by a wrested pretence of Law, worse than all the rest. And un­der Murder, are doubtless included Duels, for such the Laws have justly made them; and 'tis little better to fight in an unjust War, or without enquiring into the Justice of it, meerly for Pay or Plun­der. Bishop San­derson's Cases of Conscience. 2. The next Breach of this Command, is, by Wounding or Hurting our Neighbour, or procuring others to do it. 3. Procuring Abortion, or Onan's Sin. Gen. 38. 9. 4. Ma­lice, or Envy, or Revenge [Page 112] against our Neighbour, with which none must come to this Feast of Love. 5. Caus­less, rash, immoderate. or implacable Anger, and any expressions of it by Word or A­ction. 7. Murthering the Souls of any, by ill Advice, or Command, or Temptation, or Example. 6 Self-murder; the highest, and most unnatural Breach of this Com­mand, which argues the heighth of Dis­content and Despair, and where it once proceeds to Action, cuts off all Repentance; and therefore the least Inclinations to it, are to be abhorred and repelled, as a most dangerous Temptation of the Devil, and to be as severely repented of, where they have found any admission. 8. Want of Meekness, and Forgiveness, and Chari­ty, and Compassion towards our Neigh­bour.

In the seventh, are forbidden; 1. Ex­presly, Adultery. 2. Fornication, and all actual Impurity. 3. All incentives to this odious Sin. Unchast Looks, Dresses, Books, Plays, Songs, Poetry, Pictures, Conversa­tion; Idleness, Pampering the Body; and lastly, Drunkenness, which is so often the occasion of this, and almost, all other Sins.

The direct Breach of the eighth Com­mand is, Stealing, either open, and forcibly, [Page 113] which is Robbery; or private, which is These and Pilfering; and so is injuring our Neigh­bour by pretence of Law, by Extortion, by Oppression, by unequal laying of Taxes, or o­therwise. 3. Cheating in Trade; false Lights, Weights, Coin, Measures, Imposing on our Neighbour in Buying or Selling, Lying, to raise the Price of Goods. 4. Denying, detain­ing, or delaying the Hire of the Labourer, or les­sening, or raising it beyond a just proportion. 5. Living extravagantly, not proportioning Expences to Incoms, thence running into un­necessary Debts without an honest Care, and greatest Diligence to discharge them. 6. Frau­dulent Conveyances, Forgeries, Breach of Trust, removing Landmarks, extravagant or covetous Gaming, neglecting to provide for our own. 7. Refusing or delaying to make Restitution to any we have injured by any of these means, without which, no Re­pentance, no Forgiveness, whenever we are in a Capacity to do it; or else giving it to the Poor, or to Religious Uses, if we cannot find the Person injured.

The Breaches of the ninth, are; 1. Bear­ing false Witness, by direct Perjury. 2. Plead­ing against our Conscience; or not swearing the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, when required in Courts of Judicature. 3. Slandering our Neighbour, or lightly [Page 114] taking up an evil Report against him, or spreading malicious Truth, or any way speak­ing ill of him, unless when God's Glory, or our own Reputation, or another's Welfare is con­cerned. 4. Uncharitable Censures, deriding or exposing any one's Infirmities. 5. Tale­bearing and whispering, the Vice of mean and ignoble Souls. 6. Dissembling, Flatter­ing, and Lying. 7. Neglecting to defend our Neighbour's Reputation, where we can do it with decency and honesty.

In the tenth, are forbidden; 1. The desiring any. thing that's my Neighbour's, without a just Compensation, or where he is not willing to part with it. 2. Dis­content and repining at our own Con­dition, or envying our Neighbours. 3. The first allowed pleasing motions to any Sin, especially to Impurity, or delightful Reflections on past Wickedness.

§ XII. Thus much for the chief Breaches of God's Commands, upon all of which, we would do well distinctly to examine our selves in our Preparation for the Sacrament, especially, as to those Sins whereunto we have formerly found our selves most strongly inclined, and whereof we have been most frequently guilty. We ought also to reflect on all the Aggrava­tions [Page 115] of them, how frequently, how inex­cusably, against how much Goodness and Patience of God, how many checks of our own Conscience, and perhaps, advice of Friends, against how many Vows and Re­solutions we have committed them. Espe­cially, if after we have vowed against them formerly at the Holy Sacrament, concern­ing which we are to make an exact Disqui­sition, for God certainly remembers all those Vows, tho' we may have broken them, and forgot them. And if we do not yet find our Hearts sufficiently affected for it, if the Love of Christ and all his Sufferings for us, cannot melt us into an ingenious Sorrow for our Offences, let us consider God's dreadful Iudgment, his terrible Indignation against impenitent Sinners, and earnestly pray to God, for the sake of his dear Son, to take away our stony Hearts, and give us that godly Sorrow which works Repentance to Salvation. And proportionable to our Sins, must be our Sorrow and our Repentance, tho' here it may be necessary to interpose a Caution: There are some pious Persons of such weak Iudgments, and tender Con­sciences, that they are, it may be, ready to accuse themselves of many Sins, whereof they were never guilty: But we must not lie to God, nor belie our selves, nor charge our [Page 116] selves, any more than charge God, foolish­ly: And where we find in our Examina­tion, that God has preserved us from any Sins, or given us more Strength against any which have formerly been too hard for us, we ought not by any means to be unthank­ful for his Goodness, but ascribe all to him, and praise him for his Grace, and en­deavour so well to improve it, and those Talents which we have, that he may still bestow more upon us, and make us perfect in Repentance and all good Works.

§ XIII. Having thus strictly examined our selves concerning our Breaches of God's Commands, and our serious effectual Re­pentance for them, we proceed in the next place, to firm and Holy Resolves to do bet­ter for the future; to avoid those Evils we have faln into, to perform those Duties we have hitherto neglected. We are to ask our selves in the presence of God, whether we do indeed, ‘stedfastly purpose to lead a new Life, without which, 'tis the highest presumption to approach these dreadful My­steries:’ And accordingly, we are actually to make most solemn Vows, as well as Resolu­tions, of better Obedience: The force of Resolution only, is not small, it gives new Strength and Energy to the mind, and [Page 117] helps to perform what one would think at first sight almost impossible: Bodily Diseases, we are told, have been cured by it, which have been thought desperate, and why may not also Diseases of the Mind. There is a Spi­rit in Man, and 'tis the Breath of the Al­mighty, and it has a noble Force, if we will but stir it up, and make use of it: But when Vows are added to these Resolves, when we resolve in God's Name, and in his Sight, and thro' his Strength, and by the Assistance of his Grace, and pray earnestly and faithfully for it, and conscientiously use the means to obtain it, to avoid Sin, to encrease in Goodness; all these make such a Cord as is not easily broken. Nor are we to be discouraged from making New Resolves, because we may have broken such as we have formerly made: No, we are to be troubled for our Fall, but not to lie still in the Dirt, but to rise immediately, and endeavour to recover the Ground we have lost, in our way towards Heaven: We are to observe what was the occasion of our stumbling, how we came to break our for­mer Resolves against our Sins. If it was ill Company that led us into it, we are careful­ly for the future, as much as possible, to avoid such Company, as we value the Fa­vour of God, and our own eternal Happi­ness. [Page 118] And so if Love of this World have made us neglect our Duty to God, or our Neighbour, we are to resolve against that; actually to draw off our Minds from these perishing Objects, and fix them on the un­fading Treasures of a better World. And thus are we particularly to level our Holy Resolutions against those Sins which do most easily beset us, most frequently prevail over us; solemnly, upon our Knees, before God, to Renounce those Works of the De­vil, or to renew that Solemn Renunciation of them, which we made in our Baptism, as well as to renew those Sacred Vows which we then made to keep God's Holy Will and Commandment, and to walk in the same all the Days of our Lives. Which will not on­ly have a very great Influence on our fu­ture Actions, to preserve us from running upon any Temptation to our former Sins, or from the neglect of our Duty; but will be also by God's Grace, a mighty Guard upon us, even when we are actually tempted; the Impression of those good Resolves being still deep and fresh on our Minds, and gi­ving them a strong tendency to Good, and aversion to Evil, and the horrid Guilt of Perjury appearing before our Eyes, if we should again break God's Commands: Nor had the Psalmist himself any stronger Guard [Page 119] against Temptation than the Sense of his Vows, and the awful presence of that God to whom he had made them. Psal. 16. 8. ‘I have set the Lord always before my Face, that I might not sin against him.’ And, Psal. 119. 106. ‘I have sworn, and am sted­fastly purposed to keep thy righteous Iudgments.’

§ XIV. The third thing concerning which we are to examine our selves be­fore we approach this Holy Table, is, ‘Whe­ther we have a lively Faith in God's Mer­cy thro' Christ.’ Not a dead, cold, and unactive, but a lively Faith; for, ‘Faith without Works is dead:’ and such is the ungrounded fatal Presumption of every im­penitent Sinner; for what is more common than for bad Men, who live in direct con­tradiction to our Saviour's Laws, in repea­ted Acts of Intemperance, Injustice, Un­cleanness, immoderate Love to this World, and in the neglect of their Duty, of Pray­ing, of God's Word and Sacrament; What is more common than to hear such mi­staken Wretches as these cry out, that God is merciful, that Christ has died, and they hope to be saved, tho' they bring forth no Fruits meet for Faith or Repentance? They believe the Promise of the Gospel, tho' they never take care to perform the Con­ditions [Page 120] of it: But they forget, or are wil­lingly ignorant that it contains threatnings too, and that very terrible ones against the Impenitent and Disobedient; and that Christ himself has told such, that he'll say to them at the last day, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you, because Workers of Iniquity.’ But the true lively Faith here required is, ‘Such a Belief of God's Word, and such a Trust in his Mercy, thro' his Promises by our Saviour, as produces a constant and ingenuous Obedience.’ Now if we find this Faith weak and languishing, we must pray as the Disciples did, ‘Lord encrease our Faith!’ And to that End, we must consider the Promises of God unto us, for the sake of his dear Son our Lord, in whom ‘all the Promises are Yea and Amen, ratified and certain.’ In whom alone the Father is well pleased, by the Merits, of whose Obedience and Sufferings, his Satisfaction, his Intercession and Me­diation, he is reconciled to lost Mankind, and offers Pardon to all that are penitent and obedient. And this is ‘all our Salva­tion, and all our Desire;’ the Hope of Holy Souls, the Ground of their Consolation and their Triumph, which are fixed so firmly upon that Rock of Ages, that they can ne­ver be moved; who has told us, ‘That [Page 121] if we believe in God, we must believe also in him, as the means of conveying all the Father's blessings; nay, as being him­self, as he is, God, the Author and Finisher of our Faith.’ Whence it follows, that he himself, the second Person of the glorious Tri­nity, may, and ought to be the object of our Trust, our Faith, and our Adoration, both in this Life, and in the hour of Death, as he was of blessed St. Steven's who cried out in his last Agonies, ‘Lord Je­sus! receive my Spi­rit’ Act. 7. 59. And thus in our preparation for the Holy Sacrament, without the reception whereof, I see not how any can live comfortably, or die happily, we must actually advert un­to, deeply and seriously consider those Promises which God has made us by his Son, of Grace and Pardon, on our Repentance and Obe­dience: ‘That those who come to the Fa­ther by him, he will in no wise cast out.’ St. Iohn 6. 37. ‘That they shall not see Death, but are passed from Death unto Life.’ St. Iohn 8. 51. 5. 24. ‘That there is no condemnation for them which are in Christ Iesus, and who those are, we are imme­diately told, who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit.’ Rom. 8. 1. ‘That all who are weary and heavy laden with the [Page 122] Burthen of their Sins, if they come unto him, he will refresh them;’ St. Matt. 11. 28. and se­veral others of the same nature; the substance of the Gospel being promises of eternal Life to those who yield a sincere, and impartial, tho' not absolutely sinless and perfect obe­dience to the Commands of it; all the threat­nings thereof, being only the unavoidable Consequences of wilfully rejecting it. Now the very Nature of the Sacrament shows the necessity of Faith towards worthy Re­ceiving; for how can we renew our Cove­nant with God, unless we believe he's real­ly willing to be reconciled to us, and have a firm Faith in his Truth, his Power and his Goodness? And how could we have any well grounded hopes of Pardon, but from the Revelation of the Gospel, and by the me­rits of a Redeemer? And to the exercise of this Grace, the Church also directs us when we approach this Holy Table, requi­ring us, ‘to have a lively and stedfast Faith’ in Christ our Saviour; and so in the Ex­hortation, the Sunday before the Commu­nion, ‘that 'tis requisite that those who come thither, should have a full Trust in God's Mercy.’ Not that all are required to have the same degrees of Faith; for there are doubtless different measures of it as in the Resurrection, one Star shall differ [Page 123] from another in Glory: 1 Cor. 15. 43. But our Faith ought certainly to be so strong as to over­come our Infidelity, to over come the World: It is to be sincere, and then it will not want ac­ceptance, tho' it be but as a Grain of Mustard-Seed, for our gracious Lord has promised that he will not break the bruised Reed, nor quench the smoaking Flax: St. Matt. 12. 20. Tho' we are always to press forward, that this as well as all other Graces may still be encreased, to­wards which, nothing can more highly con­duce, than the frequent and devout reception of this Sacrament.

§ XV. The 4th. thing concerning which we are to examine our selves in our prepa­ration, is, whether we have [a thankful Re­membrance of Christ's Death;] whereunto the Church directs us in such pathetical Ex­pressions as were scarce ever excelled, and I question whether equalled in any other Liturgy; tho' not only the antient Chur­ches, but our Protestant Brethren, par­ticularly the French, and the Tigurine, have excellent Forms on this occasion: I mean that passage where­in we are exhorted Exhortation at the time of the celebration. ‘a­bove all things to give most humble and hearty Thanks to God the Father, the Son, and [Page 124] the Holy Ghost, for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ, both GOD and Man; who did humble himself even to the Death, upon the Cross, for us miserable Sinners; who lay in darkness and the shadow of Death, that he might make us the Children of God, and exalt us to everlasting Life.’ This we are to do [above all things] because this true and unfeigned Gratitude is the principal Ornament of the Wedding-Garment. This seems to have been the chief and immediate End of the Institution, ‘Do this in Remem­brance’ of me; and ‘hereby ye shew forth’ the Lord's Death till he come: And how is it possible for any ingenuous mind to re­member, to reflect upon our Saviour's suffer­ings, without the most tender Resentments, the highest Thankfulness and Love? For how can a Rebel be fit for Pardon, if he is not thankful when 'tis offered him? 'Tis therefore necessary that we should so long, so seriously remember the exceeding great Love of our Master, and only Saviour thus dying for us, even before we come to the Solemn Sacramental Commemoration of it, till our Hearts burn within us, as did the two Disciples, that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our Saviour, and that he may make himself known unto [Page 125] us, as he did unto them, in breaking of Bread: St. Luke 24. 32. But we must take care that this Remembrance have a future lasting influ­ence on our Lives: Ill Men may remember Christ's Death, but it's certain that what­ever they may pretend, they do it pre­sumptuously, not thankfully, because it is not productive of a Holy Life. It makes them nothing better, but rather encourages them to go on in their Sins; whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned Obedience: And to make us both obedient and thankful, one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what Evils Christ has saved us by his Death; no less than the Power of Sin, the Wrath of God, and everlasting Misery: And what Benefits he has obtained for us by it; the Pardon of Sin, the Favour of God, Grace to serve him, and eternal Happiness; some of which are actually conveyed, as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed Sacra­ment, to every penitent, faithful, grateful Receiver.

§ XV. The last thing necessary to a worthy Communicant, is Charity. [‘To be in Charity with all Men.] When we bring our Gift to the Altar, we must be first reconciled to our Brother:’ We must offer [Page 126] it, and sincerely desire and endeavour it; and if he refuses to be reconciled, the Fault is on his side, nor ought another's Crime to keep us from our Duty and Happiness. This Charity must also show it self in an universal Love to Mankind, wishing, pray­ing for, endeavouring, and as much as in us lies, promoting their temporal and spiri­tual Welfare. But especially, this Holy Love is to be acted and exercised towards all Christians, and particularly towards those with whom we communicate; not forgetting the Poor, whom we are to relieve, as well at the Offering, which ought not to be ne­glected at the Sacrament, as any other way that lies in our Power. The exercise of this Divine Grace, is more eminently ne­cessary when we approach to this blessed Feast, because 'twas one great End of its Institution; it being designed to increase Christian Unity, and Holy Love among the Faithful, who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things; who Feast and make a Covenant with each o­ther, as well as with the great Inviter; ‘and being many are hereby made one Body and one Bread.’ 1 Cor. 10. 17.

We are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither, whe­ther we heartily forgive our Enemies, and [Page 127] are ready to render Good for Evil? Whe­ther we feel this Divine Flame in our Hearts, and dearly love all those that bear the Image of the heavenly? And in order to produce in us both parts of this Grace, one would think we should need do no more than con­sider seriously how many Talents our Lord has forgiven us; how much he has done and suffered for us, even while we were his Ene­mies; and that we are all Members of one Body, whereof Christ is the Head.

§ XVII. And thus have we finished what relates to our Preparation for the Sa­crament, and those several Graces concer­ning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it: Repentance, attended by good Resolves, Faith, Thank­fulness, and Charity. Not that we should forbear to come thither, if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection; but where we find any of them weak and languid, we must strengthen the things that remain, and be humbled for our Imperfections, and endea­vour earnestly after higher degrees of Grace, and consider the means appointed to en­crease them, especially the Holy Sacrament, wherein they are to be all exercised and re­newed, as will appear in the next Chapter. And in the mean time, most humbly and [Page 128] devoutly to fall upon our Knees, and in the following, or any bet­ter Forms See the ex­cellent Devotions added to the Whole Duty of Man, or those in the Chri­stian Sacrifice. of Prayer, thus address our selves to the Giver of all good things, for a Supply of our Ne­cessities.

CHAP. IV. Of our Behaviour immediately before the Communion, and when we receive it.

§ I. WHEN the pious Communicant is going to the House of God, and more nearly approach­ing to his Holy Table, he ought to keep his Heart with all Diligence; steddily to fix his Thoughts, and Intentions, and Expectations, and all little enough, considering the sub­tilty and vigilance of his Adversary, who, as he does all he can to hinder Men from coming to this Sacrament, so doubtless he will not be wanting in his Endeavours to disturb them when they come, and obstruct their profiting by it and happiness in it. If we have any Dis­course in our way thither, it ought to be only such as that in the 122 Psalm, which is thought to have been repeated by the pious Worshippers of old, when going up to offer at the Temple in Ierusalem. In the first and second Verse. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the House of [Page 144] the Lord. Our Feet shall stand in thy Gates O Ierusalem. Now as this accurate Care, and steady Intention of mind is highly neces­sary when we approach the House of God, so is it more particularly and eminently need­ful when we draw near to the Holy Table: If we suffer our Words, our Eyes, or even our Thoughts, to wander in our way thither, we shall find it very difficult, and next to impossible to retain those good Dispositions, which we brought with us from our private Devotions, or even to retrieve them when we are present at the place, and in the Act of Worship. And indeed, this seems to be the very Reason why we are so often disturbed with wandring Thoughts in God's Service, and find so little Comfort or Benefit some­times in the highest Acts of it, because we are seldom upon our Guard in our ap­proaches to it. A Prudent Christian will there­fore be so far from indulging himself in un­profitable Discourse or wandring Thoughts when he is coming to this heavenly Banquet that as soon as he is entred the House of God, he will fall on his Knees, and acknow­ledge his glorious Presence, who inhabit therein, and humbly implore his Assistance and Grace, and retire deeply into himself, and endeavour to compose his Mind to such a devout Frame as may some way qualifie him [Page 145] to meet his Saviour and receive a Blessing from him.

§ II. Which leads to our Behaviour du­ring the actual Celebration of this Sacrament. And after the most strict and impartial En­quiry into the useful Labors of good Men on this Subject, one must be forced to acknow­ledge, that nothing can be found so com­pleat so rational, and so moving, as those Exhortations and Directions which the Church has provided on this occasion, in her Com­munion-Service; containing the Quintesence of all the ancient Offices, and carrying so much of the Primitive Simplicity, Gravity, and Piety through every part of it, that it has been acknowledged to be very full and excellent, even by those who are so unhappy as not to use it.

I shall therefore take those Directions which are necessary to regulate our Beha­viour at the time of receiving, from the several Parts of the Churches Office, which will be of great Advantage in order to fix the ensuing Advices in our Memories, and assist us in their Practice, when we shall meet with them all in order (except some few things which relate to our private De­votions) in the Churches excellent Form al­ready mentioned; on every part whereof we [Page 146] ought therefore to bend our Minds with the utmost Intention, and go to along with e­very Word which the Minister pronounces; which if we are careful to do, and to ob­serve those Directions he therein gives us, we cannot fail of being worthy Receivers.

And we are therein directed to most of the same things which were before men­tioned, as necessary to our Preparation, tho' here they are to be all exercised and acted anew, with the utmost Intention of our Minds. And they are, first, Repentance. 2. Faith. 3. Devotion. 4. Humility. 5. Thanks­giving. 6. Charity. And in the last place a particular, actual, and solemn Remembrance of our Saviour's Death, and the Ends of it, and of the Institution of this Sacrament.

§ III. And first, for Repentance, which we must renew and exercise at the Table of the Lord, because we are there to re­new our Covenant with him, and must con­sequently with the deepest Contrition, im­plore his Pardon for our frequent Breaches of it. I do not know whether ever there were in any humane Writings, so lively, full and pathetick a Form of Confession, as that which the Church here uses, in the Name of all those which are minded to receive the Holy Communion; and one would think [Page 147] it were scarce possible for any, unless the most hardned Sinner, to repeat this Confession after the Minister without being touched and mo­ved by it, and without feeling something of Contrition and Sorrow for his Offences. This I dare affirm, that there's no good Man, who has duly prepared himself for this Or­dinance, but when he comes to this part of the Office, will find himself most sensibly and deeply affected with it: For as the Church has immediately before invited ‘those who do truly and earnestly repent of their Sins, to draw near and take this Holy Sa­crament;’ so it instructs them in this most humble Confession to Almighty God, how to exercise that Repentance: In the first part whereof, we are taught, ‘to acknowledge and bewail our Sins. In the second, actually to repent of them, to detest and abhor them. In the third, 'to beg mercy for Jesus Christ's sake; and in the last place, to implore strength against them.’

§ IV. 1. To acknowledge them, and to bewail our manifold Sins and Wickedness, since we can by no means hide them from the Eye of Heaven, and they are the truest and justest Causes of Lamentation and Sorrow. Nor are we to rest in generals, but here again, to call to mind the greatest and most hainous Sins, whereof on our former Examination, [Page 148] we have found our selves guilty, whether in Thought, Word, or outward Action. These we are to acknowledge, we have most grievously committed; which may imply the hainous aggravation of them, for which we must own, that we have provoked most justly God's Wrath and Indignation against us, that we have deserved his Anger, and all the dreadful Consequences thereof, in the Punish­ments both of this and another World.

§ V. And having thus confest and acknow­ledged our Sins, their number, continuance, extent, and aggravation, we are directed to proceed to the formal Act of Repentance for them; to profess, ‘that we do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;’ and woe to him, who, tho' he joyns in this solemn protestation with all good Christians yet does not truly and earnestly repent of his Sins, nor is heartily sorry for them, which how can he be thought to be when he falls into them again, on the next Temptation? whereas, if we do truly repent of them, ‘the Remembrance of them will be indeed grie­vous unto us,’ and their Burthen intolerable. We shall know how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from the Living God, and be weary and heavy laden, and fly to Christ to give us rest. Which Repentance and ab­horrence of our Sins, ought to be raised to [Page 149] the greatest heighth, at the time of Consecration, when we see Christ's Sacramental Body broken, and his Blood poured out for us: and just at the time of receiving, when we ought with an Holy Indignation to bring our Sins, and nail them to the Cross of Christ; to kill those Murderers, as Benaiah did Ioab, at the Horns of the Altar; to sacrifice them there, and hew them in pieces before the Lord; in short, to be deeply afflicted for them, and to make firm Resolves to forsake them.

§ VI. In order to which, we must in the third place, ask mercy for Christ's sake, and pardon for all our Sins; as the Church teaches us in those moving and tender Expressions; ‘Have mercy upon us! Have mercy upon us most merciful Father! For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past.’ And this we have need to pray for, since without Forgiveness, the past Guilt remains, as well as the Punishment due for our Sins, tho' we should no more com­mit them. But both are remitted in this Sa­crament to the worthy Receiver, not by Vir­tue of our own Merits, or any Preparation, Examination, or Repentance, or even of the very Act of outward receiving, but merely for Christ's sake, on account of his Merits and Intercession, and by the Virtue which [Page 150] flows from his wounded Side, his spiritual Flesh and Blood, inwardly received by the Faithful in this Ordinance.

§ VII. Now we are taught to conclude this Confession, with praying, that God would ‘grant us that we may ever hereafter serve and please him in newness of Life,’ without which, all that's past is in vain; nor is there any that's so perfectly renewed that he has not still need to purge out something of the old Leaven. And tho' God will give such Grace to those who worthily partake of this Sacrament, yet has he appointed Prayer as the means to obtain it, and of our per­severance in well-doing, and daily encrea­sing in Goodness; which Prayer does virtu­ally contain a Promise to use our own ut­most endeavors to amend our Lives; that Resolution of better Obedience, which seems to be the very Act wherein we renew our Covenant with God, and engage to fulfil our part of it; which if we do faithfully perform, he will never be wanting to his.

§ VIII. Thus much for Repentance. The second Grace to be exercised at the Sa­crament is Faith, which we are to reduce into Act when the Minister declares in the Absolution; ‘That Almighty God has pro­mised [Page 151] forgivenness of Sins to all them that with hearty Repentance, and true Faith, turn unto him; further praying, 'That God would have mercy upon us, par­don and deliver us from all our Sins, con­firm and strengthen us in all Goodness, and bring us to Everlasting Life.’ Which Absolution we are humbly to receive up­on our Knees, as an authoritative Declara­tion, from one commissioned by Christ him­self to bind and loose, and to remit and re­tain Sins: to which we are to add a hearty and faithful Amen; as being fully assured that God will perform what he has pro­mised by his Son, if we neglect not our parts in the Covenant. Faith is here more emi­nently necessary, as well with respect to all the Promises of the Gospel, as to the parti­cular Benefits of this Sacrament, and the application of them to our selves. For our Lord has said, ‘He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, hath eternal Life, and I will raise him up at the last Day.’ The faithful Receiver eats and drinks Sal­vation; this Sacrament shall eminently con­duce unto it. He is thereby united to Christ, one with Christ and Christ with him, and by virtue of that indissoluble union, sealed in this Holy Ordinance, he receives a Principle of Immortality, whereby he shall [Page 152] be, not only raised from the Death of sin in this World, but at length raised from the Grave, and live in endless Happiness: which also seems to be the meaning of the Prayer in the very delivery of the Elements, ‘The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve the Body and Soul to Everlasting Life;’ to which, most devout Christians add their private Amen, as being fully per­swaded that it shall have that happy effi­cacy to every worthy Receiver. And the same Act of Faith they are to exert when they hear the Minister read those comfort­able Words which our Saviour saith by him­self and his Apostles, to all that truly turn unto him, ‘Come unto me all that travel and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you, &c.’ To which the devout Soul will be ready to answer, ‘Draw me, and we will run after thee! or with St. Peter, To whom should we go but to thee; thou hast the Words of eternal Life.’ And so in the rest of the Sentences, applying them to himself by a particular Act of Faith, and saying, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.’ And this Faith will be mightily advanced by our actual advertence to Christ's spiri­tual presence in this Holy Ordinance, more eminently, graciously and peculiarly, than in any other. And the highest Act of it, is [Page 153] to be exercised at the very instant of recei­ving.

§ IX. Devotion is in the third place high­ly necessary to a Worthy Communicant, at the time of Celebration, and in all the parts of that Holy Office. By which Devotion is meant, ‘the intense abstraction, or withdrawing of the Mind from all wordly things, till it ac­quires a contrary bent and inclination, and mounts freely and vigorously towards Hea­ven, despising and trampling all the ridicu­lous trifles of this perishing World, and counting all things but Dung and Dross, for the Knowledge, for the Love of a crucified Redeemer;’ which every very good Man expe­riences in some happier moments of his Life. Now the way to obtain this, is the vigo­rous acting of Faith, Repentance, Humility, and Divine Love; and the Energy and in­ward free motion of the Mind towards Hea­ven. And to this, the Church invites in those Words which were used on this occasion in the Primitive times. The sursum corda! or, Life up your Hearts! to which the Congregation replys, ‘We lift them up unto the Lord:’ which we have the highest reason to do, when he confers such inestimable Favours upon us, and when Christ instituted this Feast, as has been said principally for this Rea­son, [Page 154] that we should think upon him, our absent Friend; give our selves a little ease and breathing from the amusements and care of Life; escape from this World, and fix our Hearts upon a better, upon that happy place, ‘where Christ sits at the right Hand of God,’ and whither, if we are faithful to him, we shall at length also arrive, seeing he has prayed to his Father, ‘That all those whom he has given him, may be with him where he is, that they may behold his Glory.’ St. Iohn 17. 24.

§ X. A fourth Grace is Humility. This is indeed included in Repentance, for a true Penitent must be humble: But we must be more explicite in it, and are directed by the Church, to form a particular Act thereof, immediately before the Consecration; when the Priest kneeling at the Lord's Table, says in the name of all that communicate, ‘We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord! trusting in our own Righteousness, but only in thy manifold and great Mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the Crumbs under thy Table.’ And indeed, one would wonder that any Christian should think he could express too great Humility, either of Body or Mind, when he comes before the Throne [Page 155] of God to receive his Pardon. 'Tis this most humble prostration of Soul, this abase­ment, and annihilation of our selves, and utterly disclaiming our own merits, which seems to be the bottom of that seraphical Di­vinity, which has made so much noise in the World. If they make it more than this, 'tis dangerous Enthusiasm, as has appear­ed both in the Church of Rome and others. If they rest it here, as is done in some part at least, of Sancta Sophia, it is ac­countable and rational, and may be of great Advantage in the course of a Chri­stian Life; especially in the Sacrament, where the lower we abase our selves, the higher will God raise us. And this we ought particularly to exercise when we see the Minister approaching to us, with the Bread or Wine, and firmly to believe, that we shall receive our Saviour together with them.

§ XI. But yet fifthly; this ought not to hinder, but rather to encrease our Thankful­ness; because, as has been said, the Sense of God's Goodness must needs be advanced by the consideration of our own unworthiness. To this the Church especially, directs us: ‘A­bove all things, ye must render most humble [Page 156] and hearty Thanks to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ And again, after the Sursum Corda, we are invi­ted, ‘To give Thanks to our Lord God,’ to which the Congregation answers, ‘'Tis meet and right so to do.’ On which fol­lows that solemn Act of Thanks and Praise which the Priest alone pronounces, as 'tis said our Saviour did in St. Luk. 22. 19. and in 1 Cor. 11. 24. ‘He took Bread, and when he had given Thanks, he broke it.’ From which Actions, the whole Sacrament obtain­ed two Names; the Eucharist, from giving Thanks, as 'tis expresly called in two or three places of the New Testament, in the Syriac Version; and breaking of Bread, as 'tis stiled in the Acts of the Apostles. Now this praising God, and acknowledging and adoring his in­finite Goodness, ought to spread it self thro' every part of the Office: And even our Repentance and Humility would be so managed, as to encrease our Praises. But we should more especially, exercise our Thankfulness, when the Minister says, ‘It is meet, right, and our bounden Duty, that we should at all times, 1 Thess. 5. 16. and in all places’ give Thanks unto God; [Page 157] on which follows that Seraphical Anthem, re­peated by Saints here below, and Angels a­bove: ‘Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels, &c.’ In which the pious Communi­cant joins both in Heart and Voice, as well as in the particular Prefaces before it, where­in we are directed to praise God, either for the Birth of Christ, or his Resurrection, or Ascension, or for his sending the Holy Ghost; or else we adore the Divine Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead: which Prefaces seem to have been added, because the Church does not doubt, but that so often at least, as these greater Festivals return, there will be a Communion. And after we have received, ‘We entirely desire our heavenly Father, mercifully to accept our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving; and we most hearti­ly thank him, that he has vouchsafed to feed us, who have duly received these Holy Mysteries, with the spiritual Food of the most precious Body and Blood of his dear Son, and assured us thereby, of his Favour and Goodness towards us:’ And then we again break out into that Hymn of Praise to the whole Blessed Tri­nity, part of which is the same that was sung by the Angels at the Birth of our Sa­viour; ‘Glory to God on High, on Earth Peace, Good-will toward Men.’ But more [Page 158] especially, are we to have our Hearts filled with the most exalted Praises, in the very Act of Receiving, to which the Minister exhorts us in the delivery both of the Bread and Wine. Nothing but Faith, and Holy Ioy, and humble Praise, are then to be admit­ted. Then, when the Holy Soul is in the Mount with God, and says, 'tis good for her to be here, and if any thing of distur­bance can find Entrance, 'tis because she must so soon return again to a sordid, vexa­tious, impertinent World, when she is now already on the Wing for Heaven, is ad­vanced so far upward in that glorious Road, and would so gladly fly away and be at rest in the Bosom of her Re­deemer.

§ XII. The last Grace is Charity, ta­ken in the largest Sense, for Love to God and to our Neighbour. 1. Love to God, the Soul of all Piety, which quickens and enlivens every Christian Duty. This is here encreased by remembring God's Love to us, in sending his Son, and our Saviour's Love, in giving himself to die for us. This Sacra­ment is the dearest Token of his Love, and the Church accordingly tells us, ‘That to the End, we should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master, and only Saviour [Page 159] Jesus Christ in dying for us, he has insti­tuted and ordained Holy Mysteries as Pledges of it.’ And the actual and lively Consideration hereof, of Christ's wonder­ful Love towards us, miserable Sinners, so ungrateful, so unworthy, so often guilty of broken Faith, and broken Vows, who have loved the World and our own Lusts, more than him, who have grieved him, who have wounded him, who have crucified him by our Sins, and who continue to do so; (for there is no Man that lives and sins not,) and all this, to him who still loves us, and still offers us Peace, and Pardon, and Grace, and Heaven, and even his own blessed Body and Blood in this heavenly Feast: Shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless Love again for the rest of our Lives? To give it him without excep­tion, and without reserve. It must, it will, it cannot fail of having this happy effect, if we carefully regard every part of this sacred Action, and intently consider our Saviour's Death, as represented therein; especially while the Minister is consecrating the Ele­ments, the whole Prayer of Consecration be­ing made up of a lively and thankful Re­cognition of our Saviour's sufferings, and of his instituting the Sacrament in memory of them. We are therefore, in order to the exer­cising [Page 160] and encreasing of our Love to Christ diligently at that time, to regard the Mini­ster with our Eye, and Christ with our Hearts. When we see the Bread broken, and the Wine poured out, then to consider with all the Agonies of our Souls, and with Hearts pierced and melted with the Love of Jesus, what Agonies he himself endured for us, both in his Body and Mind. Then to look on him whom we have pierced, and mourn for him, and delight in him, and hate those Sins which were the cause of this, and which can only divide us from his Love; and especially when we actually re­ceive. Then are our Souls to be intimately united to his Divine Person. Then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of Ten Thousands, and fairer than all the Chil­dren of Men; to adore his infinite Per­fections, to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them, and to be wholly ra­vished with his Love.

§ XIII. Which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of Charity, Love to our Neighbour, for this cannot but be easie to us when our Minds are raised to this happy Temper. The Love of Christ will subdue the Enmity of our Natures to­wards each other, that Pride which is the cause of almost all Quarrels, that bitterness [Page 161] of Spirit, and Rancor, and Malice, and Re­venge and Anger. Those obscene Birds will all fly away before the Beams of the blessed Sun of Righteousness, as did the Devils of old from their Oracles. All our Hatred will be against our Sins, all our Indigna­tion, our Resentments, our Revenge, (for neither were those in vain implanted in our Minds) will be turned quite another way. O how happy would the World be, did but the Body of Christians frequently and worthily receive the Communion. I am confident, nothing could sooner heal the wide Wounds of Christendom, as I believe the neglect of it has been the great Origi­nal of them, as well as of all our own Fa­ctions and Divisions. All good Men must love one another, if they often met at this Holy Table. They could not, they dared not there retain, or nourish any pique against each other. They would Love much, both Christ and his Members, because they so often considered that much was forgiven them. And tho' this may seem a Digres­sion, yet the Truth and Consequences there­of appear so plain, and so considerable, that I knew not how to omit it. But to return; Charity is here to be actually ex­ercised towards all Christ's Members, e­specially [Page 162] towards those with whom we com­municate. We are to knit our Hearts most closely and intimately to them, with the Bands of Holy Love. Poor and Rich, with­out exception, only loving those most that love God most. We are to pray for them all, and not only in the Offertory, but on other occasions, to do them all the Good we can, by faithful Counsel, by tender and pru­dent Reproof, and by all lawful and possible means, promoting the welfare of their Souls and Bodies. And lastly, by devout Prayer to God for them, as we are directed: ‘That all who are partakers of this Holy Communion, may be filled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction.’ But tho' our Charity is to begin there, we are not to con­fine the Exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us, for we are also directed by the excellent Spirit of our Church, shewing it self in those Holy Confessors and Martyrs who com­posed her Liturgy; ‘humbly to beseech God to grant, by the Merits and Death of his Son Jesus Christ, and thro' Faith in his Blood, that not only we, but also his whole Church may obtain Remission of our Sins, and all other Benefits of his Passion.’ Which may he grant who has so [Page 163] dearly purchased it for us, to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost, be all Glory, Honour and Dominion, now, and to Eter­nal Ages. Amen!

If there be any time between the Conse­cration and actual Receiving, the Communi­cant may make use of these following Devotions.

CHAP. V.

§ I. HAving already in the First Chap­ter of this little Treatise, given an Account of the Nature of the Sacrament. In the Second; Of the Obliga­tion which lies on all adult Christians to re­ceive it, and even to frequent Communion; and answered the Objections which are com­monly brought against it. In the Third; Given some Rules for our Preparation for it, and Heads of Examination in order there­unto. In the Fourth; Discoursed of our Be­haviour at the Time of the Celebration, and those Graces which are then in a particu­lar manner to be exercised. I proceed in the Fifth and last Chapter, to add some plain Directions after we have received, and what Influence this Holy Sacrament ought to have upon us; and how we ought to be­have our selves in relation to it, both im­mediately after, and between one Sacrament and another, as well as through the whole Course of our Lives.

§ II. First. Immediately after our Re­ceiving. The first thing to be done at our [Page 174] return, would be to retire from the World, and fall upon our Knees before our Father which sees in secret, and bless and adore him, with all the ardor of our Souls, for his undeserved Mercy, in having admitted us once more to his Holy Table, and for all the good things which he has there be­stowed upon us. After this, to reflect on the whole Action, and carefully to examine our selves how we have performed every part of it. Whether our Minds have been deeply affected with the Sense of our Sins, and of our Saviour's Love in dying for us. Whether our Thoughts have been wandring, or fixed on the engaging Objects before us? Whether the sacred Food of our Saviour's spiritual Body and Blood has been sweet and delightful to us, and we thereby find our selves comfortably satisfied of God's Fa­vour and Goodness, and strengthened in his Fear and Love, and our Hearts more rai­sed towards Heaven? If we find the con­trary, and that we have been cold or wandring, and opprest with that deadness, or aridity of Spirit (as some call it) which even good Men sometimes complain of, we must enquire into the Reasons thereof; as whether this was not for want of due Preparation, or from sloth or negligence in the [Page 175] Morning, or want of earnestness in our pri­vate Devotions, or of taking a just Care to raise our Hearts towards Heaven, and to fix them on the Feast and the Inviter; or from our unnecessary mingling over-much with the World soon afterwards; or not keeping our Feet, our Thoughts and Affecti­ons in good order, when going to the House of God, or when present there, or not bending and fixing them with the ut­most Intention to what we were employed in; or not considering as we ought, Christ's Love, and God's Presence, and Goodness, and Majesty, and Glory; or coming in our own Strength, and depending too much upon it, not casting our selves entirely on God's Mercy thro' Christ; some or more of which miscarriages may have been the cause of our want of Comfort or Advantage from this Sacrament, for which we therefore ought to blame our selves, and not to charge God foolishly; to be humbled for them; and carefully to note them down, or remember them against the next Sacrament, that we may be then more watchful against them, and avoid what has now been so disad­vantageous unto us. Nor are we to be un­thankful, if on Reflection we find that God's Grace has preserved us from any such Inconveniences; that our Hearts have been [Page 176] fixed, our Devotions enflam'd, our Affections raised, our Love to God, and hatred of Sin, heightened and augmented by what has past at that heavenly Feast; and that it has been sweeter to us than the Honey and the Honey-Comb, and helpt us to despise the World, and to long for Heaven. These are Blessings which ought not to be forgot­ten, but the Remembrance of them should be dear unto us; we ought to revive the Impression of them upon our Hearts, and to sink them deeper there, that they may have a future lasting Influence on our Pra­ctice.

§ III. And here it may be necessary to interpose a double caution as to these Mat­ters. There are some who are so afraid of Enthusiasm, that they almost forbid a devout Christian to expect or to desire any more than ordinary Ioy or Delight in God's Service; nay, to suspect it when ever he finds it: while others fansie that they have no Communion with God in any Duty, nor are indeed any thing the better for it, if they have not always these sensible tasts of his Goodness. A rational Christian ought to keep the mean between these two Extreams, so as neither to despise, far be it from him, that heavenly Manna, that Angel's Food of Ioy, [Page 177] in Believing; the pleasures of God's House and Table, the Fruits of the Tree of Life, the foretasts of Heaven; for which he pants, as the thirsty Hart does after the refreshing Streams; being fully perswaded, by Reason, Experience, and Scripture, that Ioy in the Holy Ghost, and Fellowship with the Fa­ther and the Son, are something more than Enthusiastical Fancies; that God can commu­nicate himself to his Creatures, in what mea­sure, and by what means he pleases; and that his own Institutions are those means where­by he does thus communicate himself to prepar'd and holy Minds; and therefore he cannot rest in the outward only, but prays for the Light of God's Countenance, and the Ioy of his Salvation, which make up so great a part of the Happiness of Heaven; and when he has thus tasted how good the Lord is, he cannot but be entirely thankful for it. But yet, neither does he estimate his Profit in any religious Duty, or the presence of God in them by these sensible Ioys only: He knows our weak Nature is neither able long to bear them, nor is often fit for them. He expects not all Canaan, while on this side Iordan, tho' he cannot but be delighted with a taste, sometimes of the Fruits of that happy Country. He believes he has then Benefit by any Duty, and particularly by [Page 178] this Sacrament, and that then God is present with him in it, when he finds that he is thereby more settled in his Faith, his Hope, and his Obedience; more rooted and ground­ed in Holy Love both to God and his Chri­stian Brother; when he finds his will more submissive, and entirely resigned to God's So­vereign Will, and the Duties of Religion growing gradually, more easie, and as it were natural, and delightful to him: And con­sequently, he cannot be so well satisfied of his profiting by a Sacrament immediately after he has received, (for he expects it not all at once,) as at some distance of time, when the Grace he then received, is as it were digested in his Mind, and spreads it self thro' all the Parts and Offices of an holy Life.

§ IV. After examining the Frame of our Minds at the past Communion, we are, in the next place, exactly to reflect on those Holy Vows and Resolves which we have made at God's Altar, whether, against Pas­sion, Impurity, Intemperance, immoderate Love to the World, neglect of Sacraments, or of publick, private, or Family Devotion, or of the Souls of those whom God's Pro­vidence has committed to our Charge, or any other failure whereof we found our [Page 179] selves guilty in our former Preparation and Examination, and which we have anew vowed against at the Communion; all which Vows, if we did now again solemnly renew, and implore, and expect the continuance of Divine Strength to perform them, and con­sider the means to obtain and preserve it, we should doubtless find great Advantage by it; especially if we renewed the same in our daily Examination; which must needs preserve both the sense of God's Goodness, and of our own Obligations more fresh and lively on our Minds, and have a good In­fluence on our Practice, tho' at greater di­stance from the Communion.

§ V. And indeed, this is the main hinge of the whole matter; the great means where­by we must gain advantage by the Sacra­ment, and which, if we neglect, we must at least, expect the loss of our Comfort, if not our Souls. 'Tis, to remember all is not over as soon as we have received: No, nor that Day, nor Week, nor indeed, while we live; for the Obligation is for ever. We do in the Sacrament shew forth the Lord's Death, ‘Till he come,’ We engage our selves by this Oath, as well as by that at Baptism, to be ‘his faithful Soldiers and Servants to our Lives End.’ We are not to think the [Page 180] Oath it self is all, since 'tis but a Security to our future Faith, and true Allegiance: 'Tis not enough to Vow; nay, 'tis better not to vow at all, than to vow and not to pay; tho' to do both is still better than either. We cannot too often remember that those Graces which we exercise at this Ordinance, must also be put in Practice thro' the whole course of our Lives, and 'tis the reason of its Institution, that they may by degrees be reduced into holy Habits. We must be in­wardly better'd by the Sacrament, as well as by other Duties, or else, indeed, we are not better at all, for as one well observes, ‘Religion is not a Road of Performances, but a New Nature, evidenced by a New Life.’

§ VI. But more especially, are we to call to mind these Promises and Obligations, when we find our selves again attack'd by any Temptation, either to those Sins which we have formerly committed, or to any others. Wo to him who after he has escaped the Pollutions of the World, and tasted the good Word of God, and the Powers of the World to come in this Ordinance, shall yet fall a­way again, return like a Dog to his Vomit, shamefully yield to the same Sin, which he has before so solemnly renounced, and pre­tended [Page 181] to forsake, and thereby, in a great measure, trample under foot the Blood of the Covenant, crucifie the Son of God a­fresh, and put him to open shame. I speak not of lesser unavoidable Infirmities, such as wandring Thoughts, the first motions of Passion, or being ready to give way to the violence of Temptation, tho' recovering a­gain; but what I here intend, is the re­lapsing into any grosser Sins, such as Un­cleanness, Injustice, Drunkenness, habitual Carelessness of Duty, and neglect of God's Word and Sacraments, and our private sta­ted Devotions; which last may justly be ranked among greater Sins, as being too frequently the beginning of all the rest. Not that even these are unpardonable on true Repentance; but that the Aggravations of them are so exceedingly heightned by the addition of Ingratitude and Perjury. An old Wound may possibly be cured at last, even when 'tis badly healed; but then there's a necessity of its being laid open a­gain, and the Pain will be more exqui­site than it was at the first. We ought therefore, when attack'd by any old Temp­tation, to oppose immediately this power­ful Armor against it; and whatever plea­sure or profit it's baited with by the great Deceiver, with Indignation to reject it. [Page 182] To reflect vigorously on our new Obliga­tions to the contrary, both of Promises, of Interest, and of Gratitude. To say within our selves, ‘I have sworn, and am sted­fastly purposed to keep God's righteous Judgments. And, 'Get thee behind me Satan, the God of Peace, whose I am, and who has promised to help me, shall bruise thee under my Feet.’ And to this end we must be always upon our Guard, we must be temperate and sober, or else we can never be vigilant. We must avoid ill Company, the great Emissaries of Satan, as we would Satan himself. A great End of the Sacrament is to make us look forward, and remember Christ's last coming, as well as backward, in remembrance of his Death; and he who eats and drinks with the Drunken, will soon be apt to say, ‘My Lord delays his coming; tho' to such he himself has said, That he will come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in sunder, and divide him his portion with the Hy­pocrites.’ The frequent Reflection on our latter End, will also mightily confirm us in our holy Purposes of Obedience; the time of our own particular Iudgment, or at least of our passing into our unchangeable Eternity, which we should often meditate [Page 183] upon, and Discourse concerning it with our Fellow Christians, instead of those impertinen­cies, and worse, which make up so great a part of common Conversation. And those who thus speak often one to another, and remind each other of their Duty, need not be much concerned, tho' they are despised for it by ill Men, since the Lord himself will hearken and hear, and remember them for it when he comes in Vengeance to destroy the Un­godly. Malac. 3. 16. 4. 1, 2.

§ VII. In the next place, we would do well to consider that the Sacrament is ap­pointed for our perfection in Grace, as well as Conquest over our Sins. 'Tis not enough merely to escape the Pollutions of the World, but we must also aspire towards Perfection, to be strong Men in Christ. We are all called to be Saints, to Glory, as well as to Vertue, and why should we then be content with the lowest measures? He that thinks he'll be just good enough to be saved, if he does not miss of that, must not, however, ex­pect much Comfort. Nay, not to go for­ward, is to go backward in the way to Hea­ven. We are obliged by the Sacrament, to do all we can for him who has done so much for us: Always to abound in the work of the Lord, since when we have done our [Page 184] best, we shall be so far from Supererrogation However, as Health and Strength are infalli­ble Signs of Life, so we shall obtain this great Advantage by stronger Degrees of Grace, that we may be better satisfied of the Truth and Sincerity thereof. Consider, that this would render God's Service much more easie and de­lightful to us. But this must cost us con­stant Pains and Labour, for Sloth is the great­est Obstruction to our growing in Grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ; and is commonly the last Enemy in this World that is destroyed in a Christian. Con­quer that and all is done. Shake off that Ague of the Soul; remember your Vows, call for Strength, believe and all things are possible. Give Diligence to make your Cal­ling and Election sure, for he that does these things shall never fall; and the higher we rise in Piety here, the shorter Steps we shall have to Heaven, and it's very probable, the higher Degrees of Glory among those many different mansions in our Father's House.

§ VIII. In the last place, when we are called again by God's Providence to another Sacrament, which happy Opportunity we will be careful never to neglect; let us, in our Preparation and Examination, impartially en­quire how we have performed those Vows [Page 185] we made in the last, and how we have pro­fited by it. To rejoyce and bless God, if well, to be humbled if otherwise, and the greater the Defect, the deeper the Humiliation. I speak here, of lesser Infirmities, rather than of pre­sumptuous, scandalous Sins, the Habits where­of, while unreformed and unrepented, do ut­terly exclude from the Sacrament, as well as from Heaven. Nor ought we by any means to be ungrateful, if we find that thro' God's Grace, preventing us that we might be willing, and assisting us when we were willing, we may have obtained any Advantage against our Spiritual Enemies: If any Sin be weaker, any Vertue stronger; whether Patience, or Humility, or Resignation, or Devotion; for which we are again to approach full of Gratitude to the Holy Table, to offer the Sacrifice of Praise and take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.

These things if we observe and do, thro' the whole Course of our Lives, ‘we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, but an abundant Entrance shall be ministred unto us into his Everlasting Kingdom.’ To whom be Glory in the Church throughout all Ages. Amen!