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Sin, which was formerly in a good way of being pardoned, will not only return upon thee with all its own Loads, but with the Bafenefs of Unthankfulness, and thou wilt be fet as far back from Heaven as ever; and all thy former Labours, and Fears, and Watchings, and Agonies will be reckoned for nothing, but as Arguments to upbraid thy Folly, who, when thou hadft fet one Foot in Heaven, didft pull that back, and carry both to Hell.

Motives to Repentance.

Ifhall ufe no other Arguments to move a Sinner to Repentance, but to tell him, unless he does, he fhall certainly perifh; and if he does repent timely and intirely, that is, live a holy Life, he fhall be forgiven and be faved. But yet I defire that this Confideration be enlarg'd with fome great Circumstances; and let us remember,

1. That to adinit Mankind to Repentance and Pardon was a Favour greater than ever God gave to the Angels and Devils, for they were never admitted to the Condition of fecond Thoughts; Chrift never groaned one Groan for them ; he never fuffered one Stripe, nor one Affront, nor fhed one Drop of Blood to restore them to Hopes of Bleffednefs after their firft Failings. But this he did for us: He paid the Score of our Sins, only that we might be admitted to repent, and that this Repentance might be effectual to the great Purposes of Felicity and Salvation.

2. Confider, that as it coft Chrift many Millions of Prayers, and Groans, and Sighs, fo he is now at this Inftant, and hath been for thefe 1600 Years, Night and Day inceffantly praying for Grace to us, that we may repent, and for Pardon when we do, and for Degrees of Pardon beyond the Capacities of our Infirmities, and the Merit of our Sorrows and Amendment; and this Prayer he will continue till his fecond Comfeb. 7.15. ing: For he ever liveth to make Interceffion for us. And that we may know what it is in Behalf of which he

intercedes, St. Paul tells us his Defign, [We are Am- 2 Cor. 5. 20 bafadors for Chrift, as though he did befeech you by us, we pray you in Chrift's fead to be reconciled to God.] And what Chrift prays us to do, he prays to God that we may do; that which he defires of us as his Servants, he defires of God, who is the Fountain of the Grace and Powers unto us, and without whofe Affiftance we can do nothing.

3. That ever we should repent, was fo coftly a Purchase, and fo great a Concernment, and fo high a Favour, and the Event is esteemed by God himfelf fo great an Excellency, that our bleffed Saviour tells us, there fhall be joy in heaven over one finner that re- Luk. 15.5. penteth: Meaning that when Christ shall be glorified, and at the Right-hand of his Father make Interceffion for us, praying for our Repentance, the Converfion and Repentance of every Sinner is Part of Chrift's Glorification, it is the answering of his Prayers, it is a Portion of his Reward in which he does effentially glory by the Joys of his glorified Humanity. This is the Joy of our Lord himself directly, not of the Angels; fave only by Reflexion: The Joy (faid our bleffed Saviour) fhall be in the Prefence of the Angels, they fhall fee the Glory of the Lord, the anfwering of his Prayers, the Satisfaction of his Defires, and the Reward of his Sufferings, in the Repentance and confequent Pardon of a Sinner. For therefore he once fuffered, and for that Reason he rejoyces for ever. And therefore when a penitent Sinner comes to receive the Effect and full Confummation of his Pardon, it is called [an entring into the joy of our Lord] that is, a partaking of that joy which Chrift received at our Converfion, and enjoyed ever fince.

4. Add to this, that the Rewards of Heaven are fo great and glorious, and Chrift's Burthen is fo light, his, Yoke is fo eafic, that it is a fhameless Impudence to expect fo great Glories at a lefs Rate than fo little a Service, at a lower Rate than a holy Life. It coft the HeartBlood of the Son of God to obtain Heaven for us upon that Condition; and who fhall die again to get Heaven for us upon eafier Terms? What would you do if

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God

God fhould command you to kill your eldest Son, or to work in the Mines for a Thousand Years together, or to faft 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 foberly, justly and godly, (which Things of themselves are to a Man a very great Felicity, and neceffary to our prefent Well-being) fhall we think this to be an intoferable Burthen, and that Heaven is too little a Purchafe at that Price; and that God in meer Justice will take a Death-Bed Sigh or Groan, and a few unprofitable Tears and Promises, inexchange for all our Duty?

If thefe Motives joyned together with our own Intereft, 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 Filthinefs, and 2. The Trouble, and 3. The Uneafinefs, and 4. The Unreasonablenefs of Sin, and turn to God, there is no more to be faid, we muit perifh 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 Myfterioufnefs of the Chriftian Religion, and fucceeds to the most Solemn Rite of Natural and Judaical Religion, the Law of Sacrificing. For God fpared Mankind, and took the Sacrifice of Beafts, together with our Solemn Prayers, for an Inftrument of Expiation. But these could not purifie the Soul from Sin, but were Typical of the Sacrifice of fomething that could. But nothing could do this, but either the offering of all that finned, that every Man fhould be the anathema or devoted thing; or elfe by fome one of the fame Capacity, who by fome fuperadded Excellency might in his own perfonal Sufferings have aValue great enough to fatisfie for all the whole Kind of finning Perfons. This the Son of God, Jefus Chrift, God and Man, undertook, and finished by a Sacrifice of Himfelf upon the Altar of the Crofs.

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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 neceffary that there fhould be a perpetual Miniftry established, whereby this one fufficient Sacrifice fhould be made eternally effectual to the feveral new arifing Needs of all the World who should defire it, or in any Senfe be capable of it.

3. To this End Chrift was made a Prieft for ever: He was initiated or confecrated on the Crofs, and there began his Priesthood, which was to last till his coming to Judgment. It began on Earth, but was to laft and be officiated in Heaven, where he fits perpetually reprefenting and exhibiting to the Father that great effective Sacrifice(which he offer'd on the Crofs) to eternal and never-failing Purposes.

4. As Chrift is pleased to reprefent to his Father that great Sacrifice as a Means of Atonement and Expiation for all Mankind, and with fpecial Purpofes and Intendment for all the Elect, all that ferve him in Holiness: So he hath appointed that the fame Ministery fhall be done upon Earth too, in our Manner, and according to our Proportion; and therefore hath conftituted and feparated an Order of Men, who, by fhewing forth the Lord's Death by Sacramental Representation, may pray unto God after the fame manner, that our Lord and High-Priest does, that is, offer to God and reprefent, in this Solemn Prayer and Sacrament, Chrift as already offered; fo fending up a gracious Inftrument whereby our Prayers may for his Sake, and in the fame manner of Interceffion be offered up to God in our Behalf, and for all them for whom we pray, to all thofe Purposes for which Chrift died.

5. As the Minifters of the Sacrament do in a Sacramental manner prefent to God the Sacrifice of the Crofs, by being Imitators of Chrift's Interceffion; fo the People are Sacrificers too in their manner: For befides that, by faying Amen, they joyn in the Act of him that minifters, and make it alfo to be their own; fo when they eat and drink the Confecrated and Bleffed

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Elements worthily, they receive Chrift within them, and therefore may alfo offer him to God, while in their Sacrifice of Obedience and Thanksgiving they prefent themselves to God with Chrift whom they have fpiritually 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 Bleffing, Grace and Glory *.

on :

Nôfti tempore tu Jovi fereni,

Cum fulget placidus, fuoque vultu,

Quo nil fupplicibus folet negare. Martial. Ep. l. 5, 6.

6. This is the Sum of the greatest Mystery of our Religion; it is the Copy of the Paflion, and the Miniftration of the great Mystery of our RedemptiAnd therefore whatsoever entitles us to the general Privileges of Chrift's Paffion, all that is neceffary by way of difpofition to the Celebration of the Sacrament of his Paffion, because this Celebration is our manner of applying or ufing it. The Particulars of which Preparation are reprefented in the following Rules.

Vafa pura ad 1. No Man muft dare to approach to the holy SaremDivinam. crament of the Lord's Supper if he be in a state of any Plant, in Cap. one fin, that is, unless he have entred into the state of Act. 4. fc. 1. Repentance, that is, of Sorrow and Amendment; left it

be faid concerning him, as it was concerning Judas.

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The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the
Table And he that receiveth Chrift into an impure
Soul or Body, first turns his most excellent Nourish-
ment into Poyfon, and then feeds upon it.

2. Every Communicant muft firft have examined himfelf, that is, tried the Condition and State of his Soul, fearched out the fecret Ulcers, enquired out its Weakneffes and Indiscretions, and all thofe Aptneffes where it is expofed to Temptation; that by finding out its Difeafes he may find a Cure, and by difcovering its Aptneffes he may fecure his prefent Purposes

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