A27107:896
The practice of piety directing a Christian how to walk, that he may please God / amplified by the author
London: printed for Edward Brewster, 1695
No title page in the transcription: set from the catalogue record.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
If John Baptist (the holiest man that was born of a Woman) thought himself unworthy to bear his shoes;1 O Lord, how unworthy is such a Profane Wretch, as thou art, to eat his holy Flesh, and to drink his precious Blood.
If John Baptist (the holiest man that was born of a Woman) thought himself unworthy to bear his shooes;1 O Lord, how unworthy is such a Prophane Wretch, as thou art, to eat his holy Flesh, and to drink his precious Blood.
If the blessed Apostle Saint Peter, seeing but a glimpse of Christ's Almighty Power, thought himself unworthy to stand in the same Boat with him; how unworthy art thou to sit with Christ at the same Table, where thou mayest behold the infiniteness of his Grace and Mercy displayed?
If the Blood-issued sick Woman feared to touch the hem of his garment; how shouldest thou tremble to eat his flesh, and to drink his all-healing Blood?
If the Blood-issued sick Woman feared to touch the hem of his garment; how should'st thou tremble to eat his flesh, and to drink his all-healing Blood?
Yet if thou comest humbly, in Faith, Repentance, and Charity, abhorring thy sins past, and purposing unfeignedly to amend thy life henceforth, let not thy former sins affright thee, for they shall never be laid unto thy charge; and this Sacrament shall seal unto thy Soul ⟨p. 343⟩that all thy sins, and the Judgments due unto them, are fully pardoned, a•d clean washed away by the Blood of Christ. For this Sacrament was not ordained for them who are perfect, but to help penitent sinners unto perfection. 1Christ came not to call the righteous, 2but sinners to repentance. And he saith, that the whole need not the Physician, but they that are sick. Those hath Christ called; and when they came, them hath he ever helped. Witness the whole Gospel, which testifieth, that not one Sinner who came to Christ for mercy, went ever away without his errand. Bathe thou likewise thy sick Soul in this fountain of Christ's Blood, and doubtless, according to his promise, Zach. 13. 1. thou shalt be healed of thy sins and uncleanness. Not Sinners therefore, but they who are unwilling to repent of their sins, are debarred this Sacrament.
Fifthly, Meditate, that Christ left this Sacrament unto us as the chief token and pledge of his love, not when we would have made him a King, John 6. 15, (which might have seemed a requital of kindness) but when Judas and the High-Priests were conspiring his Death (therefore wholly of his mere favour.) When Nathan would show David how entirely the poor man loved his sheep that was killed by the rich man, He gave her (saith he) to eat of his own Morsels, and of his own Cup to drink, 2 Sam. 12. 3. and must not then the love of Christ to his Church be unspeakable, ⟨p. 344⟩when he gives her his own flesh to eat, and his own blood to drink, for her spiritual and eternal nourishment? If then there be any love in thine heart, take the Cup of Salvation into thy hand, and pledge his love with love again, Psal. 116. 11.
Fifthly, Meditate, that Christ left this Sacrament unto us as the chief token and pledge of his love, not when we would have made him a King, John 6. 15, (which might have seemed a requital of kindness) but when Judas and the High-Priests were conspiring his Death (therefore wholly of his mere favour.) When Nathan would shew David how intirely the poor man loved his sheep that was killed by the rich man, He gave her (saith he) to eat of his own Morsels, and of his own Cup to drink, 2 Sam. 12. 3. and must not then the love of Christ to his Church be unspeakable, ⟨p. 344⟩when he gives her his own flesh to eat, and his own blood to drink, for her spiritual and eternal nourishment? If then there be any love in thine heart, take the Cup of Salvation into thy hand, and pledge his love with love again, Psal. 116. 11.
Sixthly, when the Minister beginneth the holy Consecration of the Sacrament, then lay aside all praying, reading, and all other cogitations whatsoever; and settle thy Meditations only upon those holy actions and rites, which according to Christ's institution, are used in and about the holy Sacrament: For it hath pleased God (considering our weakness) to appoint those rites as means the better to lift up our Minds to the serious contemplation of his Heavenly Graces.
When therefore thou seest the Minister putting apart Bread and Wine on the Lord's-Table; and consecrating them by Prayers, and the rehearsal of Christ's Institution, to be a holy Sacrament of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ; then meditate how God the Father, of his mere love to Mankind, set apart, and sealed his only begotten Son, to be the all-sufficient means, and only Mediator, to redeem us from sin, and to reconcile us to his grace, and to bring us to his glory.
When thou seest the Minister break the Bread, being blessed, thou must meditate, that Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God was put to death, and his blessed ⟨p. 345⟩Soul and Body (with the sense of God's anger) broken asunder for thy sins, as verily as thou now seest the holy Sacrament to be broken before thine eyes. And withal call to mind the heinousness of thy sins, and the greatness of God's hatred against the same, seeing God's Justice could not be satisfied but by such a Sacrifice.
When the Minister hath blessed and broken the Sacrament, and is addressing himself to distribute it: then meditate,1 That the King (who is the Master of the Feast) stands at the Table to see his guests; and looketh upon thee, whether thou hast on thee thy* Wedding-Garment. Think also, that all the holy† Angels that attend upon the Elect in the Church, andb do desire to behold the celebration of these hol• mysteries, do observe thy reverence and behaviour. Let thy soul therefore, whilst the Minister bringeth the Sacrament unto thee, offer this, or the like short Soliloquy unto Christ.
When the Minister hath blessed and broken the Sacrament, and is addressing himself to distribute it: then meditate,1 That the King (who is the Master of the Feast) stands at the Table to see his guests; and looketh upon thee, whether thou hast on thee thy* Wedding-Garment. Think also, that all the holy† A•gels that attend upon the Elect in the Church, andb do desire to behold the celebration of these hol• mysteries, do observe thy reverence and behaviour. Let thy soul therefore, whilst the Minister bringeth the Sacrament unto thee, offer this, or the like short Soliloquy unto Christ.
IS it true indeed,1 that God will dwell on earth? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens are not able to contain thee: how much more unable i• the soul of •uch a sinful Caitiff as I am, to receive thee?
But seeing it is thy blessed pleasure to come thus to† sup with me, and tob dwell in me: I cannot for joy but burst ⟨p. 346⟩out and say, What is man that thou art so mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him? What favour soever thou vouchsafest me in the abundance of thy Grace, I will freely confess what I am, in the wretchedness of my Nature: I am, in a word, a carnal Creature; whose very soul isb sold under sin, a wretched man, compassed about withc a body of Death: Yet Lord, seeing thou dcallest, here I come; and seeing thou callest sinners,6 I have thrust my self in among the rest; and seeing thou callest all with their heaviest loads, I see no reason why I should stay behind. O Lord, I am sick, and whither should I go, but unto thee the Physician of my Soul? Thou hast cured many, but never didst thou meet with a more miserable Patient; for I am more leprous than Gehazi, more unclean than Magdalen, more blind in Soul than Bartimeus was in Body; for I have lived all this while, and never seen the true light of thy Word: my soul runs with a greater flux of sin, than was the Hemorrhoise Issue of blood; Mephibosheth was not more lame to go, than my Soul is to walk after thee in love; Jeroboam's Arm was not more withered to strike the Prophet, than my Hand is maimed to relieve the Poor. Cure me, O Lord, and thou shalt do as great a work as in curing them all. And though I have all their Sins and Sores; yet, ⟨p. 347⟩Lord, so abundant is thy grace, so great is thy skill, that if thou wilt, thou canst with a word, forgive the one, and heal the other: and why should I doubt of thy good will; when to save me, will cost thee now but one loving smile; who didst show thy self so willing to redeem me though it should cost thee all thy heart-blood: and now offerest so graciously unto me the assured pledge of my Redemption, by thy blood? Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my merit,
but that thy Angel doth comfort me, as he did the woman:1 Fear thou not for I know that thou seekest Jesus which was crucified. It is thou indeed that my soul seeketh after. And here thou offerest thy self unto me in thy blessed Sacrament. If therefore Elizabeth thought her self so much honoured at thy presence in the Womb of thy blessed Mother, 2that the babe sprang in her belly for joy; how should ⟨p. 348⟩my soul leap within me for joy, now that thou comest by the holy Sacrament, to dwell in my heart for ever? Oh what an honour is this, not that the Mother of my Lord, but my Lord himself, should come thus to visit me! Indeed, Lord, I confess with the faithful* Centurion, that I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: and that if thou didst but speak the word only, my soul should be saved: yet seeing it hath pleased the riches of thy grace, for the better strengthening of my weakness, to seal thy mercy unto me, by thy visible sign, as well as by thy visible word; in all thankful humility my soul speaks unto thee with the blessed Virgin: aBehold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word. bKnock thou, Lord, by thy Word and Sacraments at the door of my heart; and I will, like thec Publican, with both my fists, knock at my breast, as fast as I can, that thou mayest enter in: and if the door will not open fast enough, break it open, O Lord, by thine Almighty Power, and then enter in, and dwell there for ever, that I may have cause with Zaccheus, to acknowledge, thatd this day salvation is come into mine house. And cast out of me whatsoever shall be offensive unto thee; for I resign the whole Possession of my heart unto thy sacred Majesty, entreating, that I may not live henceforth, but that thou mayst live in me, speak […] me, walk in me: and so govern
When the Minister bringeth towards thee the bread thus blessed and broken; and offering it unto thee, bids thee, Take, eat, &c. then meditate that Christ himself cometh unto thee, and both offereth and giveth indeed unto thy faith, his very Body and Blood, with all the merits of his death and passion, to feed thy Soul unto eternal life: as surely as the Minister offereth and giveth the outward signs, that feed thy Body unto this temporal life. The Bread of the Lord is given by the Minister, but the Bread which is the Lord, is given by Christ himself.
When thou takest the Bread at the Ministers hand to eat it,1 then rouse up thy Soul to apprehend Christ by faith; and to apply his merits to heal thy miseries. Embrace him as sweetly with thy faith in the Sacrament, as ever Simeon hugged him with his arms in his swaddling clouts.
When thou takest the Bread at the Ministers hand to eat it,1 then rouze up thy Soul to apprehend Christ by faith; and to apply his merits to heal thy miseries. Embrace him as sweetly with thy faith in the Sacrament, as ever Simeon hugged him with his arms in his swadling clouts.
But seeing it is thy blessed pleasure to come thus to† sup with me, and tob dwell in me: I cannot for joy but burst ⟨p. 346⟩out and say, What is man that thou art so mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him? What favour soever thou vouchsafest me in the abundance of thy Grace, I will freely confess what I am, in the wretchedness of my Nature: I am, in a word, a carnal Creature; whose very soul isb sold under sin, a wretched man, compassed about withc a body of Death: Yet Lord, seeing thou dcallest, here I come; and seeing thou callest sinners,6 I have thrust my self in among the rest; and seeing thou callest all with their heaviest loads, I see no reason why I should stay behind. O Lord, I am sick, and whither should I go, but unto thee the Physician of my Soul? Thou hast cured many, but never didst thou meet with a more miserable Patient; for I am more leprous than Gehazi, more unclean than Magdalen, more blind in Soul than Bartimeus was in Body; for I have lived all this while, and never seen the true light of thy Word: my soul runs with a greater flux of sin, than was the Hemorrhoise Issue of blood; Mephibosheth was not more lame to go, than my Soul is to walk after thee in love; Jeroboam's Arm was not more withered to strike the Prophet, than my Hand is maimed to relieve the Poor. Cure me, O Lord, and thou shalt do as great a work as in curing them all. And though I have all their Sins and Sores; yet, ⟨p. 347⟩Lord, so abundant is thy grace, so great is thy skill, that if thou wilt, thou canst with a word, forgive the one, and heal the other: and why should I doubt of thy good will; when to save me, will cost thee now but one loving smile; who didst shew thy self so willing to redeem me though it should cost thee all thy heart-blood: and now offerest so graciously unto me the assured pledge of my Redemption, by thy blood? Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my merit,7 that thou hast bought me with so dear a price? It is merely thy mercy; and I, 8O Lord, am not worthy the least of all thy mercies: much less to be partaker of this holy Sacrament, the greatest pledge of the greatest mercy, that ever thou didst bestow upon those sons of men whom thou lovest. How might I in respect of mine own unworthiness, cry out for fear at the sight of thy holy Sacrament, 9as the Philistines did, when they saw the Ark of God come into the Assembly? Wo now unto me a sinner;
but that thy Angel doth comfort me, as he did the woman:1 Fear thou not for I know that thou seekest Jesus which was crucified. It is thou indeed that my soul seeketh after. And here thou offerest thy self unto me in thy blessed Sacrament. If therefore Elizabeth thought her self so much honoured at thy presence in the Womb of thy blessed Mother, 2that the babe sprang in her belly for joy; how should ⟨p. 348⟩my soul leap within me for joy, now that thou comest by the holy Sacrament, to dwell in my heart for ever? Oh what an honour is this, not that the Mother of my Lord, but my Lord himself, should come thus to visit me! Indeed, Lord, I confess with the faithful* Centurion, that I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: and that if thou didst but speak the word only, my soul should be saved: yet seeing it hath pleased the riches of thy grace, for the better strengthning of my weakness, to seal thy mercy unto me, by thy visible sign, as well as by thy visible word; in all thankful humility my soul speaks unto thee with the blessed Virgin: aBehold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word. bKnock thou, Lord, by thy Word and Sacraments at the door of my heart; and I will, like thec Publican, with both my fists, knock at my breast, as fast as I can, that thou mayest enter in: and if the door will not open fast enough, break it open, O Lord, by thine Almighty Power, and then enter in, and dwell there for ever, that I may have cause with Zaccheus, to acknowledge, thatd this day salvation is come into mine house. And cast out of me whatsoever shall be offensive unto thee; for I resign the whole Possession of my heart unto thy sacred Majesty, intreating, that I may not live henceforth, but that thou mayst live in me, speak 〈…〉 me, walk in me: and so govern ⟨p. 349⟩me by thy Spirit, that nothing may be pleasing unto me, but that which is acceptable unto thee. That finishing my course in the life of grace, I may afterwards live with thee for ever in the Kingdom of Glory. Grant this, O Lord Jesus, for the merits of thy death and blood shedding. Amen.