tion of our bleffed Saviour, that great lawgiver, who is able to fave and to deftroy, as St. James calls him: he hath bid us do this. And St. Paul, who declares nothing in this matter but what he tells us he received from the Lord, admonisheth us to do it often. Now, for any man that profeffeth himself a Christian, to live in the open and continued contempt or neglect of a plain law and institution of Chrift, is utterly inconfiftent with fuch a profeffion. To fuch our Lord may fay, as he did to the Jews, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I fay? How far the ignorance of this inftitution, or the mistakes which men have been led into about it, may extenuate this neglect, is another confideration. But, after we know our Lord's will in this particular, and have the law plainly laid before us, there is no cloak for our fin for nothing can excufe the wilful neglect of a plain inftitution, from a downright contempt of our Saviour's authority.

2. We are likewife obliged hereunto in point of intereft. The benefits which we expect to be derived and affured to us by this facrament, are all the bleffings of the new covenant; the forgiveness of our fins; the grace and affiftance of God's holy Spirit to enable us to perform the conditions of this covenant required on our part; and the comforts of God's holy Spirit to encourage us in well-doing, and to fupport us under fufferings; and the glorious reward of eternal life. So that in neglecting this facrament, we neglect our own interest and happinefs; we forfake our own mercies, and judge ourselves unworthy of all the bleffings of the gofpel; and deprive ourfelves of one of the best means and advantages of confirming and conveying thefe bleffings to us. So that, if we had not a due fenfe of our duty, the confideration of our own interest should oblige us not to neglect fo excellent and fo effectual a means of promoting our own comfort and happiness.

3. We are likewife particularly obliged in point of gratitude to the careful obfervance of this inftitution. This was the particular thing our Lord gave in charge when he was going to lay down his life for us: Do this in remembrance of me. Men ufe religiously to obferve the charge of a dying friend, and, unless it be very diffi

cult

cult and unreasonable, to do what he defires. But this is the charge of our best friend, nay of the greatest friend and benefactor of all mankind, when he was preparing himself to die in our ftead, and to offer up himself a facrifice for us; to undergo the most grievous pains and fufferings for our fakes, and to yield up himfelf to the worft of temporal deaths, that he might deliver us from the bitter pains of eternal death. And can we deny him any thing he asks of us, who was going to do all this for us? Can we deny him this; fo little grievous and burden fome in itself, fo infinitely beneficial to us? Had fuch a friend, and in fuch circumstances, bid us do fome great thing, would we not have done it? how much more when he hath only said, Do this in remembrance of me; when he hath only commended to us one of the most natural and delightful actions, as a fit reprefentation and memorial of his wonderful love to us, and of his cruel fufferings for our fakes; when he hath only injoined us, in a thankful commemoration of his goodnefs, to meet at his table, and to remember what he hath done for us; to look upon him whom we have pierced, and to refolve to grieve and wound him no more? Can we, without the most horrible ingratitude, neglect this dying charge of our Sovereign and our Saviour, the great friend and lover of fouls? A command fo reasonable, fo eafy, fo full of bleffings and benefits to the faithful obfervers of it!

One would think it were no difficult matter to convince men of their duty in this particular, and of the neceffity of observing so plain an inftitution of our Lord; that it were no hard thing to persuade men to their interest, and to be willing to partake of those great and manifold bleffings which all Christians believe to be promifed and made good to the frequent and worthy reccivers of this facrament. Where then lies the difficulty? what should be the cause of all this backwardness which we fee in men, to fo plain, fo neceffary, and fo beneficial a duty? The truth is, men have been greatly dif couraged from this facrament, by the unwary preffing and inculcating of two great truths; the danger of the unworthy receiving of this holy facrament, and the necef

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fity of a due preparation for it. Which brings me to

the

III. Third particular I propofed; which was, to endeavour to fatisfy the objections and fcruples which have been raifed in the minds of men, and particularly of many devout and fincere Chriftians, to their great difcouragement from the receiving of this facrament, at leaft fo frequently as they ought. And these objections, I told you, are chiefly grounded upon what the Apostle fays at the 27th verfe: Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord; and again, y 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Upon the mistake and mifapplication of thefe texts, have been grounded two objections, of great force to difcourage men from this facrament; which I fhall endeavour, with all the tenderness and clearnefs I can, to remove. 1. That the danger of unworthy receiving being so very great, it seems the fafeft way not to receive at all. 2. That fo much preparation and worthiness being required in order to our worthy receiving, the more timorous fort of devout Chriftians can never think themselves duly enough qualified for fo facred an action.

1. That the danger of unworthy receiving being fo very great, it seems the safest way wholly to refrain from this facrament, and not to receive it at all. But this objection is evidently of no force, if there be (as most certainly there is) as great or greater danger on the other hand, viz. in the neglect of this duty; and fo though the danger of unworthy receiving be avoided by not receiving, yet the danger of neglecting and contemning a plain inftitution of Chrift is not thereby avoided. Surely they in the parable that refused to come to the marriage-feaft of the King's fon, and made light of that gracious invitation, were at least as faulty as he who came without a wedding-garment. And we find, in the conclufion of the parable, that as he was feverely punished for his difrefpect, fo they were destroyed for their difobedience. Nay, of the two, it is the greater fign of contempt, wholly to neglect the facrament, than to partake of it without fome due qualification. The greatest indifpofition

indifpofition that can be for this holy facrament, is one's being a bad man; and he may be as bad, and is more likely to continue fo, who wilfully neglects this facrament, than he that comes to it with any degree of reverence and preparation, though much less than he ought. And furely it is very hard for men to come to fo folemn an ordinance, without fome kind of religious awe upon their fpirits, and without fome good thoughts and refolutions, at least for the prefent. If a man that lives in any known wickednefs of life do, before he receive the facrament, fet himself seriously to be humbled for his fins, and to repent of them, and to beg God's grace and affiftance against them, and, after the receiving of it, does continue for fome time in thefe good refolutions, though after a while he may poffibly relapfe into the fame fins again; this is fome kind of restraint to a wicked life and thefe good moods, and fits of repentance and reformation, are much better than a conftant and uninterrupted courfe of fin. Even this righteousness, which is but as the morning cloud and the early dew, which fo foon paffeth away, is better than none.

And indeed scarce any man can think of coming to the facrament, but he will by this confideration be excited to fome good purposes, and put upon fome fort of endeavour to amend and reform his life; and though he be very much under the bondage and power of evil habits, if he do with any competent degree of fincerity (and it is his own fault if he do not) make use of this excellent means and inftrument for the mortifying and fubduing of his lufts, and for the obtaining of God's grace and affiftance, it may please God, by the use of thefe means, fo to abate the force and power of his lufts, and to imprint fuch confiderations upon his mind in the receiving of this holy facrament, and preparing himself for it, that he may at laft break off his wicked course, and become a good man.

But, on the other hand, as to those who neglect this facrament, there is hardly any thing left to restrain them from the greatest enormities of life, and to give a check to them in their evil courfe; nothing but the penalty of human laws, which men may avoid, and yet be wicked enough. Heretofore men ufed to be reftrained

from

from great and fcandalous vices by fhame, and fear of difgrace, and would abstain from many fins out of regard to their honour and reputation among men: but men have hardened their faces in this degenerate age; and thofe gentle reftraints of modefty which governed and kept men in order heretofore, fignify nothing nowa-days. Blufhing is out of fashion, and fhame is ceafed from among the children of men.

But the facrament did always use to lay fome kind of restraint upon the worst of men; and if it did not wholly reform them, it would at least have some good effect upon them for a time. If it did not make men good, yet it would make them refolve to be fo, and leave some good thoughts and impreffions upon their minds.

So that I doubt not but it hath been a thing of very bad confequence, to discourage men fo much from the facrament, as the way hath been of late years; and that many men, who were under fome kind of check before, fince they have been driven away from the facrament, have quite let loose the reins, and prostituted themselves to all manner of impiety and vice. And among the many ill effects of our paft confufions, this is none of the leaft, that, in many congregations of this kingdom, Chriftians were generally difufed and deterred from the facrament, upon a pretence that they were unfit for it; and, being fo, they must neceffarily incur the danger of unworthy receiving: and therefore they had better wholly to abftain from it. By which it came to país, that in very many places this great and folemn inftitution of the Chriftian religion was almoft quite forgotten, as if it had been no part of it; and the remembrance of Christ's death even loft among Chriftians: fo that many congregations in England might juftly have taken up the complaint of the woman at our Saviour's fepulchre, They have taken away our Lord, and we know not where they have laid him.

But furely men did not well confider what they did, nor what the confequences of it would be, when they did for earnestly diffuade men from the facrament. It is true indeed, the danger of unworthy receiving is great; but the proper inference and conclufion from hence is not, that men fhould upon this confideration be deter

red