though he did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God.] (11 Cor. v. 20.) And what Christ prays us to do, he prays to God that we may do; that which he desires of us as his servants, he desires of God, who is the fountain of the grace and powers unto us, and without whose assistance we can do nothing. 3. That ever we should repent, was so costly a purchase, and so great a concernment, and so high a favour, and the event is esteemed by God himself so great an excellency, that our blessed Saviour tells us, there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth: (Luke xv. 7.) meaning, that when Christ shall be glorified, and at the right hand of his father make intercession for us, praying for our repentance, the conversion and repentance of every sinner is part of Christ's glorification, it is the answering of his prayers, it is a portion of his reward in which he does essentially glory by the joys of his glorified humanity. This is the joy of our Lord himself directly, not of the angels; save only by reflection; the joy (said our blessed Saviour) shall be in the presence of the angels, they shall see the glory of the Lord, the answering of his prayers, the satisfaction of his desires, and the reward of his sufferings, in the repentance and consequent pardon of a sinner. For therefore he once suffered, and for that reason he rejoices for ever. And therefore when a penitent sinner comes to receive the effect and full consummation of his pardon, it is called [an entering into the joy of our Lord] that is, a partaking of that joy which Christ received at our conversion, and enjoyed ever since. 4. Add to this, that the rewards of heaven are so great and glorious, and Christ's burden is so light, his yoke his so easy, that it is a shameless impudence to expect so great glories at a less rate than so little a service, at a lower rate than a holy life. It cost the heart-blood of the son of God to obtain heaven for us upon that condition; and who shall die again, to get heaven for us upon easier terms? What would you do if God should command you to kill your eldest son, or to work in the mines for a thousand years together, or to fast all your life-time with bread and water? Were not heaven a very great bargain even after all this? and when God requires nothing of us but to live soberly, justly and godly, (which things of themselves are to a man a very great felicity, and necessary to our présent well-being) shall we think this to be an intolerable burden, and that heaven is too little a purchase at that price; and that God in mere justice will take a death-bed sigh or groan, and a few unprofitable tears and promises, in exchange for all our duty? If these motives joined together with our own interest, even as much as felicity and the sight of God, and the avoiding the intolerable pains of hell, and many intermedial judgments come to, will not move us to leave, 1. The filthiness, and 2. The trouble, and 3. The uneasiness, and 4. The unreasonableness of sin, and turn to God, there is no more to be said, we must perish in our folly. SECT. X. Of Preparation to, and the manner how to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. THE celebration of the Holy Sacrament is the great mysteriousness of the Christian religion, and succeeds to the most solemn rite of natural and judaical religion, the law of sacrificing. For God spared mankind, and took the sacrifice of beasts, together with our solemn prayers, for an instrument of expiation. But these could not purify the soul from sin, but were typical of the sacrifice of something that could. But nothing could do this, but either the offering of all that sinned, that every man should be the anathema or devoted thing; or else by some one of the same capacity, who by some superadded excellency might in his own personal sufferings have a value great enough to satisfy for all the whole kind of sinning persons. This the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God and man, undertook, and finished by a sacrifice of himself upon the altar of the cross. 2. This sacrifice, because it was perfect, could be but one, and that once: but because the needs of the world should last as long as the world itself, it was necessary that there should be a perpetual, ministry established, whereby this one sufficient sacrifice should be made eternally effectual to the several new arising needs of all the world who should desire it, or in any sense be capable of it.... 3. To this end Christ was made a priest for ever : he was initiated or consecrated on the cross, and there began his priesthood, which was to last till his coming to judgment. It began on earth, but was to last and be officiated in heaven, where he sits perpetually representing and exbiting to the Father that great effective sacrifice (which he offered on the cross) to eternal and never-failing purposes. 4. As Christ is pleased to represent to his Father that great sacrifice, as a means of atonement and expiation for all mankind, and with special purposes and intendment for all the elect, all that serve him in holiness; so he hath appointed that the same ministry shall be done upon earth too, in our manner, and according to our proportion; and therefore hath constituted and separated an order of men, who, by shewing forth the Lord's death by sacramental representation, may pray unto God after the same manner, that our Lord and High-Priest does; that' is, offer to God, and represent in this solemn prayer and sacrament, Christ has already offered; so sending up a gracious instrument, whereby our prayers may for his sake, and in the same manner of intercession, be offered up to God in our behalf, and for all them for whom we pray, to all those purposes for which Christ died. 5. As the ministers of the sacrament do in a sacramental manner present to God the sacrifice of the cross, by being imitators of Christ's intercession; so the people are sacrificers too in their manner: for besides that, by saying Amen, they join in the act of him that ministers, and make it also to be their own; so when they eat and drink the consecrated and blessed elements worthily, they receive Christ within them, and therefore may also offer him to God, while in their sacrifice of obedience and thanksgiving they present themselves to God with Christ, whom they have spiritually received, that is, themselves with that which will make them gracious and acceptable. The offering their bodies and souls, and services to God, in him, and by him, and with him, who is his Father's well-beloved, and in whom he is well pleased, cannot but be accepted to all the purposes of blessing, grace, and glory*. 6. This is the sum of the greatest mystery of our religion; it is the copy of the passion, and the ministration of the great mystery of our redemption: and therefore whatsoever entitles us to the general privileges of Christ's passion, all that is necessary by way is disposition to the celebration of the sacrament of his passion, because this celebration is our manner of applying or using it. The particulars of which preparation are represented in the following rules. 1. No man must dare to approach to the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper, if he be in a state of any one sint, that is, unless he have entered into the state of repentance, that is, of sorrow and amendment; lest it be said concerning him, as it was concerning Judas: The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table: and he that receiveth * Nôsti tempora tu Jovis sereni, Quo nil supplicibus solet negare. Martial. Ep. 1. 5. 6. † Vasa pura ad rem Divinam. Plaut. in Cap. Act. 4. sc. Į. |