Chap. 18. by an Attendance on the Lord's Table. 171 dent all these Reasonings are equally applicable to Christians in succeeding Ages. Permit me, therefore, by the Authority of our Divine Master, to press upon you the Observation of this Precept.

t

§. 4. And let me also urge it, from the apparenť Tendency which it has to promote your truest Advantage. You are setting out in the Christian Life; and I have reminded you at large, of the Opposition you must expect to meet with in it. It is the Love of Christ which must animate you to break through all. What then can be more desirable than to bear about with you a lively Sense of it? and what can awaken that Sense more than the Contemplation of His, Death as there represented? Who can behold the Bread broken, and the Wine poured out, and not to reflect how the Body of the blessed Jesus' was even torn in Pieces by His Sufferings, and His sacred Blood poured forth like Water on the Ground? Who can think of the Heart-rending Agonies of the Son of GoD as the Price of our Redemption and Salvation, and not feel his Soul melted with Tenderness, and inflamed with grateful Affection? What an exalted View doth it give us of the Blessings of the Gospel-Covenant, when we con sider it as established in the Blood of GOD's only begotten Son? And when we make our Approach to GoD as our Heavenly Father, and give up ourselves to His Service in this solemn Manner, what an awful Tendency has it, to fix the Conviction, that we are not our own," being bought with such a Price (g)? What a Tendency' has it, to guard us against every Temptation to those Sins which we have so solemnly renounced, and to en gage our Fidelity to Him to whom we have bound our Souls as with an Oath? Well may our Hearts be knit together in mutual Love (h), when we consider ourselves as one in Christ (i): His Blood becomes the Cement of the Society, joins us in Spirit, not only to each other, but to all that in every Place call upon the Name of Jesus' Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours (k): And we an ticipate in pleasing Hope, that blessed Day, when the Assembly shall be complete, and we shall all be for ever with the Lord (1). Well may these Views engage us to deny

(g) 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.
(k) 1 Cor. i 2.

(h) Col. ii. 2.. (i) Gal. iii. 28. (1 Thess, iv. 17,

172 The doing it is pressed upon the Conscience, Chap. 18.

deny ourselves, and to take up our Cross to follow our crucified Master (m): Well they may then engage us to do our utmost by Prayer, and all other suitable Endeavours, to serve His Followers, and His Friends; to serve those whom He hath purchased with His Blood, and who are to be His Associates, and ours, in the Glories of an happy Immortality.

§. 5. It is also the express Institution and Command of our blessed Redeemer, that the Members of such Societies should be tenderly solicitous for the spiritual Welfare of each other: And that, on the whole, His Churches may be kept pure and holy, that they should withdraw themselves from every Brother that walketh disorderly (n); that they should mark such as cause Offences or Scandals among them, contrary to the Doctrine which they have learned, and avoid them (o); that if any obey not the Word of Christ by His Apostles, they should have no Fellowship or Communion with such, that they may be ashamed (p); that they should not eat with such as are notoriously irregular in their Behaviour, but on the contrary, should put away from among themselves such wicked Persons (q). It is evident therefore, that the Institution of such Societies is greatly for the Honour of Christianity, and for the Advantage of its particular Professors. And consequently, every Consideration of Obedience to our common Lord, and of prudent Regard to our own Benefit and that of our Brethren, will require, that those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity, should enter into them, and assemble among them in these their most solemn and peculiar Acts of Communion, at His Table.

§. 6. I intreat you therefore, and if I may presume to say it, in His Name, and by His Authority I charge it on your Conscience, that this Precept of our dying Lord go not, as it were, for nothing with you, but that, if you indeed, love Him, you keep this, as well as the rest of His Commandments- -I know you may be ready to form Objections. I have elsewhere debated many of the Chief of them at large, and I hope, not without some good Effect*. The great Question is that

which

(m) Matt. xvi. 24. (n) 2 Thess. iii. 6, (0) Rom. xvi. 17. (p) 2 Thess. iii. 14.

(q) 1 Cor. v. 11, 13.

* See the Fourth of my Sermons to young Persons,

Chap. 18. and the Objections to it briefly answered. 173 which relates to your being prepared for a worthy Attendance: And in Conjunction with what has been said bcfore, I think that may be brought to a very short Issue. Have you, so far as you know your own Heart, been sincere in that deliberate Surrender of yourself to GOD, through Christ, which I recommended in the former Chapter? If you have, (whether it were with or without the particular Form or Manner of doing it there recommended) you have certainly taken hold of the Covenant, and therefore have a Right to the Seal of it. And there is not, and cannot be any other View of the Ordinance, in which you can have any farther Objection to it. If you desire to remember Christ's Death, if you desire to renew the Dedication of yourself. to GOD through Him, if you would list yourself among His People, if you would love them and do them Good according to your Ability, and, on the Whole, would not allow yourself in the Practice of any one known Sin, or in the Omission of one known Duty, then I will venture confidently to say, not only that you may be welcome to the Ordinance, but that it was instituted for such as you.

§. 7. As for other Objections, a few Words may suffice by Way of Reply. The Weakness of the religious Prin-. ciple in your Soul, if it be really implanted there, is so far from being an Argument against your seeking such a Method to strengthen it, that it rather strongly enforces the Necessity of doing it.The Neglect of this Solemnity, by so many that call themselves Christians, should rather engage you to so much the more to distinguish your Zeal for an Institution, in this Respect so much slighted and injured.And as for the Fears of aggra vating Guilt in Case of Apostacy, do not indulge them. This may, by the Divine Blessing, be an effectual Remedy against the Evil you fear; and it is certain, that after what you must already have known and felt, before you could be brought into your present Situation, (on the Suppositions I have now been making,) there can be no Room to think of a Retreat; no Room, even for the wretched Hope of being less miserable than the Generality of those that have perished. Your Scheme therefore must be, to make your Salvation as sure, and to make it as glorious as possible; and I know not any Appointment

N

of

174 A Prayer for one who desires to attend, Chap.18.

of our blessed Redeemer, which may have a more comfortable Aspect upon that blessed End, than this which I am recommending to you.

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§. 8. One Thing I would at least insist upon, and I see not with what Face it can be denied. I mean, that you should take this Matter into a serious Consideration: That you should diligently enquire," whether you have Rea66 son in your Conscience to believe it is the Will of "GOD you should now approach to the Ordinance, or not:" "And that you should continue your Reflections, your Enquiries, and your Prayers, till you find farther Encouragement to come, if that Encouragement be hitherto wanting. For of this be assured, that a State in which you are on the whole unfit to approach this Ordinance, is a State in which you are destitute of the necessary Preparations for Death and Heaven; in which, therefore, if you would not allow yourselves to slumber on the Brink of Destrustion, you ought not to rest so much as one single Day.

A PRAYER for one, who earnestly desires to approach the Table of the Lord, yet has some remaining Doubts concerning his Right to that solemn Ordinance.

66

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LESSED LORD, I adore Thy wise and gracious "Appointments, for the Edification of Thy ❝ Church in Holiness and in Love. I thank Thee, that Thou hast commanded Thy Servants, to form themselves into Societies; and I adore my gracious Saviour, who hath instituted, as with His dying Breath, the holy Solemnity of His Supper, to be through all Ages a Memorial of His dying Love, and a Bond of that Union which it is His Sovereign Pleasure that His People "should preserve. I hope Thou, Lord, art Witness to

the Sincerity, with which I desire to give myself up <to Thee; and that I may call Thee to record on my "Soul, that if I now hesitate about this particular Manner of doing it, it is not because I would allow myself to break any of Thy Commands, or to slight any of Thy Favours. I trust Thou knowest that my present Delay arises only from my Uncertainty as to my "Duty, and a Fear of profaning holy Things by an unworthy

if

Chap. 18. but yet has some remaining Doubts. 175 "unworthy Approach to them. Yet surely, O Lord, "Thou hast given me a Reverence for Thy Command, a Desire of Communion with Thee, and a Willingness "to devote myself wholly to Thy Service, I may re gard it as a Token for Good, that Thou art disposed "to receive me, and that I am not wholly unqualified

for an Ordinance, which I so highly honour, and so' "earnestly desire. I therefore make it my humble "Request unto Thee, O Lord, this Day, that Thou "wouldst graciously be pleased to instruct me in my "Duty, and to teach me the Way, which I should take. "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try my Reins and my Heart (r)! Is there any secret Sin, to the Love "and Practice of which I would indulge? Is there any 66 of Thy Precepts, in the habitual Breach of which I "would allow myself? I Trust, I can appeal to Thee 66 as a Witness, that there is not. Let me not then

wrong mine own Soul, by a causeless and sinful Ab66 sence from Thy sacred Table! But grant, O Lord, I "beseech Thee, that Thy Word, Thy Providence, and "Thy Spirit may so concur, as to make my Way plain "before me (s)! Scatter my remaining Doubts, if Thou "seest that they have no just Foundation! Fill me with 66 a more assured Faith, with a more ardent Love; and 66° plead Thine own Cause with my Heart in such a Manner, as that I may not be able any longer to delay "that Approach, which, if I am Thy Servant indeed,

is equally my Duty and my Privilege! In the mean "Time, grant, that it may never be long out of my "Thoughts: But that I may give all Diligence, if there "be any remaining Occasion of Doubt, to remove it "by a more affectionate Concern to avoid whatever is "displeasing to the Eyes of Thine Holiness, and to "practise the full Extent of my Duty! May the Views ❝of Christ crucified, be so familiar to my Mind, and may

a Sense of His dying Love so powerfully constrain my Soul, that my own growing Experience may put it "out of all Question, that I am one of those for whom "He intended this Feast of Love!

"And even now, as joined to Thy Churches in Spirit and in Love, though not in so express and intimate a

(r) Psal, xxvi. 2.

N 2

(s) Prøv, xv. 19,

"Bond