meeting with Chrift; for ordinarily " his mercy is upon us according as we hope in him," Pfal. xxxiii. 22. Yet,

2dly, A believer may fometimes meet with Chrift, when he has leaft hopes to find him. For Mary, when The met with Chrift, John xx. 15. and fuppofed he had been the gardener, and had enquired of him as fuch for Chrift, fhe had little hope; for, before he answered her, the turned herself from him, and thought it wholly needless to stand talking with him about finding Chrift; and this appears by her turning herself to him, as we are told fhe did, when he fpake the word that gave her comfort. Chrift called her by her name, Mary, and made himself known to her. juft when she had turned from him as hopeless of finding him. It is good, then, O difcouraged communicant, to be in ufe of means, fearching and trying yourself, and making preparation for this ordinance, however fmall your hopes may be of fuccefs: For a poor foul may fometimes find Christ, when he hath leaft hopes of doing fo. "Or ever I was aware (faith the spouse) my foul made me like the cha riots of Amminadab," Cant. vi. 12.

DIRECT. IX. Set time apart for deep humiliation and mourning for your fins, before you approach to the Lord's table.

HAVING found out your fins by felf-examination, as before directed, you ought to be deeply humbled for them, and ingenuously confefs them before the Lord in fecret; and, that you may fpeed the better in this work, join fafting with your humiliation, for we are commanded to turn to the Lord (Joel ii. 12.) with fafting, with weeping, and with mourning.

Fafting, fo far as the ftate of the body and health will allow, is one of God's appointed means for removing that drowsiness and heaviness, that dulnefs and deadnefs of fpirit, which we are otherwife liable to; and also for bringing the body more in fubjection to the foul, and fitting both for the better performance of holy duties, as meditation, prayer, reading, hearing, examining, judg

ing and reforming ourselves. It tends to promote fpiritual mindedness, kindle zeal, quicken prayer, and to wean the heart from the world; and the foul being hereby for a time taken off from the thoughts, cares, and pleasures of this life, is the more difpofed to be wholly intent and taken up in the work and fpecial duties of the day. Fafting likewife carries in it fomewhat of a holy revenge upon the flesh for its former exceffes, which, in a fincere penitent is acceptable to God, though it cannot make fatisfaction to divine justice for the least fin. It doth alfo imply a deep fenfe of our guiltinefs and illdefervings before God, and is a plain acknowledgement of our unworthiness of the leaft mercy, even of the common neceffaries of life, and far lefs of the heavenly manna that God provides for his children in the facrament. Now, it is the humbled and felf-condemning finner that God is pleased to lift up and comfort. But it is not enough that the head "be bowed down as a bulrush for a day," that the outward man be humbled, or the body chaftened; this is not the faft which God hath chofen: The foul must be afflicted before the Lord, and the man inwardly troubled and caft down for offending God.

O communicant, believe it, and be firmly perfuaded of it, that repentance and humiliation for fin is a most important and neceffary work for thee before the facrament. Antinomians do vilipend this doctrine of repentance, and fay, it is no part of the gospel; that it is a le gal duty, and not neceffary to the obtaining of pardon. But, to thew you a little of the excellency and neceffity of this duty, confider that our Saviour, the great prophet of the church, doth teach it as one of the first and chief leffons of the gofpel. When he fent John Baptist, as the harbinger of the gofpel, the first text he preached on was repentance, and his doctrine was, Matt. iii. 2. "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." When Christ, the author of the gofpel, appeared himself, the first sermon he preached was a fermon of repentance alfo, Mat. iv. 17. "From that time Jefus began to preach, and to fay, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Yea, our Saviour tells us, that it VOL. I.

3 I

was

was for this very end and purpose he came down from heaven, and was made man, that he might preach repentance unto the world, Luke v. 32. "I came not to call the righteous, but finners to repentance." And accordingly, the first and chief thing that Christ commanded his apoftles to preach was repentance, Mark vi. 12. Luke xxiv. 47. And, in obedience to thefe orders, the first thing that Peter preached to the Jews was repentance, Acts ii. 38. Nay, further, our Saviour tells us, that repentance is a chief part of his purchase for finners, and one of the chiefeft gifts which he bestows upon them. He not only came from heaven to preach repentance, but alfo to shed his blood to purchase repentance to us; and therefore he inftructs his difciples, Luke xxiv 47, "to preach repentance to the world in his name," i. e. as his purchase; and his apoftles affure us, that he arofe and afcended for this very end, that he might beftow the gift of repentance on his people, Acts v. 31. Now certainly, if repentance had not been fo excellent a work, and fuch a neceffary gofpel-duty, Chrift and his apoftles had not infifted fo much upon it; our Saviour had not begun his public ministry with it; nor had he told us fo peremptorily, and fo often, "Except ye repent, ye fhall all likewife perish."

Tertullian fays of himself, that he was born to nothing elfe but to repentance: a faying well worthy of our most ferious obfervation. Likewife it was the faying of a godly minifter, "That if he were to die in the pulpit, he would with to die preaching repentance; and, if out of the pulpit, he would with to die practising repentance." This is a duty always in feafon, and never more feafon. able than when we go to feal a covenant with God, or go to receive the feal of God's Spirit in the facrament. We know hard wax will not receive the impreffion of the feal, wherefore we must first melt or soften the wax before we apply the feal; fo the heart must be first foftened and melted by repentance and humiliation for fin, before any impreffion be made thereon by the heavenly feal of God's Spirit in the facrament.

What Bathfhebah faith, Prov. xxxi. 6. 7. is very applicable here," Give strong drink unto him that is ready

to

to perifh, and wine to to thofe that be of heavy hearts (or bitter in foul.) Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his mifery no more." So the wine in the facrament is not for the fecure and impenitent, but for those who by repentance and humiliation for fin are in poverty of fpirit, bitterness of foul, and heavinefs of heart for grieving and offending God. The Lord is gracioufly pleased to appoint this wine for them, to refresh and comfort their hearts against the fenfe of their poverty and mifery. "Bleffed are they that mourn this occafion) for they fhall be comforted; their forrow fhall be turned into joy."

at

But, if you come with impenitent, infenfible and hard hearts to the Lord's table, you will kindle the Lord's wrath against you for crucifying his beloved Son. As king Ahafuerus's wrath was kindled against Haman for his bloody plot against his beloved Efther and her people, even while he was at the banquet of wine, and prefently gave fentence against him: So may the the Kiug of heaven's wrath be kindled against thee, while at this fpiritual banquet, and pafs fentence on thee prefently, and fay, "Let Satan enter in with the sop, and feal him up under his hardness and impenitency, and carry him on to all ungodlinefs till he be ripe for hell.

What Chrift faid of the Pharifees profelyte, Matth. xxiii. 15. "He was made two-fold more the child of hell than themselves," may well be faid of impenitent receivers; by their communicating in this cafe, they make themselves two fold more the children of hell and the devil than they were before: For thereby they fall more under the power of fatan; they increase their hardness, ftrengthen their lufts; and to all their former fins they add the guilt of profaning God's ordinance, crucifying the Son of God afresh, and trampling his precious blood under foot.

Impenitent partaking is a crime fo offenfive to a holy God, that it will bring all your other fins fresh into God's remembrance, and excite him to vifit you for them, according to that word, Hof. viii. 13. "They facrifice flesh for the facrifice of mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not: That is fad

312

enough, but worfe follows;" " Now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their fins." Now will he do it, even while they are offering their facrifice. O impenitent finners, God remembers your fins at all times, but efpecially when you come to the facrament in a hardened cafe; then will he remember how you have formerly abufed his mercies, wounded his Son, grieved his Spirit, mis fpent your time, neglected his worship, dealt hypocritically with him, been unjust to your neighbours, hated his people, &c. So that he will, at the very time you are receiving, come and vifit your fins, fmite you with his wrath, and give fatan power over you. O then, were it not far better for you, before you come to the Lord's table, to be remembering your fins, and humbling yourselves for them before the Lord; than to have God remembering them in wrath against you, when you are at the table?

Now, for your help in this matter fet time apart before the facrament, read over our Larger Catechifm up. on the ten commandments; and, as you read, carefully obferve and mark the duties you have omitted, and the fins you have committed against every one of the commands; and from this you may form a black catalogue of your fins, which you ought to fpread, as Hezekiah did Sennacherib's letter, before the Lord, and likewise before the face of your own confciences. Had we but our eyes enlightened by God's fpirit, to take a view of ourselves, and our manifold fpots, in the glafs of God's holy and extenfive law, then would we go humbly to God with ropes about our necks, forrows in our hearts, tears in our eyes, and confeffions in our mouths, caft ourselves down at the footstool of his mercy, and make full and particular acknowledgements of our guiltinefs before him.

And, to give fome inftances: When we view the first commandment, let us be humbled for our fins against it, and confefs them; "Ah! have I not been guilty of much heart atheifm? Have I not doubted of the being or providence of God? Have I not much ignorance, and many wrong thoughts and mifapprehenfions of God? Have I not been forgetful of God my maker and preferver? Have I not put the creature, the world, felf, and ether things, in his room? Have I not afcribed my mer