VI. Come with humility and self-denial, content to be nothing, that Chrift may be all; and willing to fub-t mit to any thing for a blink of his countenance. Be fenfible of your ill-defervings, and acknowledge a crumb will be a great mercy. Be content, with the prodigal and woman of Canaan, to be taken into Christ's family, though it were in the meaneft ftation and employment Let me be the meaneft of Chrift's fervants, though I be never fo ill ufed, or ill refpected, I will be thankful, if I be within Chrift's doors, have a relation to his family, and can call him Mafter. Again, come felf deniedly, renouncing all confidence in yourfelf, your preparations, humiliations, or performances: Thefe may be good graces, and good duties; but they will be ill Chrifts, and ill Saviours. Freely own that it is not your own righteousness that faves you, not your own ftrength that quickens you; but only Chrift's righteousness, and Christ's strength. Say," Bleffed Jefus, I fly to thee alone; I have no hope in myself, nor in any thing befides thee; all my confidence is in the freeness of thy love, the mercy of thy bowels, the merit of thy death, the worth of thy blood, the fufficiency of thy righteoufnefs, and power of thy interceffion." VII. Come with charity and love to all men, even to your very enemies Banifh all malice and envy, pray for your enemies, forgive them, with well and do good both to their fouls and bodies, according to Chrift's example on the cross: But efpecially, bring with you love and affection to God's people, delight in their fellowship above all others, for they are the excellent ones of the earth. VIII. Come with honeft defigns to feal a marriage-covenant with Christ. Confent frankly to Chrift to be your Prince and Saviour; do not think of halving it with Chrift, but be willing to take him intirely upon his own terms. Be content not only to be faved by him, but to ferve him, live for him, fight for him, and cleave to him, all the days of your life; refolving that all the pleasures of fin, temptations of fatan, and allurements of the world, nay, the hopes of enjoying ten thoufand worlds, fhall VOL I -3 T never never prevail with you to part with Chrift. Come refigning yourselves, your hearts, and all you have to Chrift: Say," Lord, though I had ten thousand hearts, and every one of them ten thousand times better than they are, they fhould be all thine." Come with strong vows and purpofts againft fin, that murdered your Saviour; refolve never to harbour it, or make peace with it; but that you will fight against it to your last breath, and revenge the death of Chrift on it. IX. Come with thankfulness and praise to God for redeeming love, and providing fuch a Saviour for you. Let the high praises of God be in your mouths; fend up whole vollies of praife to your Redeemer, for undertaking your deliverance. Invite the angels, and all the creation, to affift you in this work. Stir up your fouls, and all that is within you, to blefs his holy name: Your fouls (like Mary) "should magnify the Lord, and your fpirits rejoice in God your Saviour;" your hearts bould afcend, like Manoah's angel, in the fmoke of thankf giving and praife. Say, "Lord, what fhall I render to thee for all thou haft done and fuffered for me? Lord, what am I, that thou shouldft part with thy glory, yea, with thy blood, and with thy life, for fuch a wretch as me? I am afhamed that I can love and praife thee no more: Oh my heart is cold, my tongue is flow: Let heaven and earth, angels and men, join and extol his free-grace and wondrous love: Let all the world ring with his praise." X. Come with hope and expectation, depending on God's promises and Chrift's merits. You ought greedi ly to look to Chrift, expecting fomething from him, as the poor cripple did from Peter and John, Acts iii, 4. 5. Peter faid" Look on us: And he gave heed to them, expecting to receive fomething from them." We ordinarily receive little, because we expect little; " God's mercy is upon us, according as we hope in him,". Pfal. xxxiii ult. O raife your defires and expectations; for you come to a merciful and liberal God, that will not let the expectation of his poor creatures perish, Pfal. ix. 18. "The needy fhall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." Object Object." Alas! I am a poor, weak, heartless creature: I have little ground to hope." Anf. You have God's call and promise to encourage you Groan under your deadnefs, and use the means; aim honeftly at your duty, and look to God for accomplishing his promife. Do as the Ifraelites did in the wildernefs, Num. xxi. 16. 17. 18 God had called them to the place where he promised them water, which was very much valued in that dry defert: Well, did they fit ftill idly, waiting till the water fhould fpring? No, the nobles put to their ftaves, and digged in expectation of God's fulfilling his promife, and fung, Spring up, Orwell, &c. Make an honeft mint, look up with hope, and cry for the fpringing of the well. Come, bring all your empty veffels to the fountain, in expectation of a fill: Do as the poor widow, 2 Kings iv. " bring not a few:" for I am fure the veffels will fail before the oil fail. Plead with God for the accomplishing of his word: Say, "Lord, though we cannot fay pour water on us, for we are thirsty, yet we can plead, pour floods on us, for we are dry ground: Lord, make us as hungry as we are empty, and thirsty as we are dry: Lord, if thou deal with us according to our sense of need, we will get little; but, Lord, we plead, thou wilt deal with us according to our real need, and thy royal bounty, and then we will be right enough." O poor foul! Art thou longing for the springing of the well, faying, "O that I knew in what part of this valley of Baca the well would fpring, what ordinance, what duty, would be the mean: There I would wait and lie, there I would dig and cry: One gufh of these living ftreams would fatisfy my longing foul?" Poor foul, thou shalt not die for want: you have the word of a king for it, ifa. xli. 17. 18. "When the poor and needy feek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Ifrael will not for fake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the vallies; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land fprings of water." DIRECTION 3 T 2 DIRECTION IV. AFTER you have this morning meditated, dealt with your hearts, wrestled with God, read his word, and performed family worship, with faith and fervency fuitable to this folemn occafion: You ought timeously to repair to the church against the folemn worship begin. And let your hearts be breathing forth many heavenly ejaculations by the way; fuch as that, Pfalm xliii. 3. 4. "Send forth thy light and thy truth: Let them lead me, and bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy." O, it were a pleasant frame this morning, to be going with joy to draw water out of the wells of falvation! Let us be very thankful, that the waters of life do flow fo pleasantly and plentifully to us, betwixt the banks of gospel ordinances; bless God, that has not made the barren wildernefs our dwelling: But let us think, as we go, that as God rained down manna from heaven on his people, fo he rained down fire and brimftone on Sodom and Gomorrah. This ferves to teach us to rejoice fo in the mercies which God rains down upon us in the facrament, as to fear his judgments in cafe they be abused. Again, think, " I am now upon my way to mount Calvary Lord, forbide that Chrift's traitors be my attendants: Let all my lufts and idols be for ever banished from me: May they never find lodging in my foul any more: Lord, help me to go this day, with fuch a melted heart and weeping eyes, as the holy Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and the other tender-hearted women of Jerufalem had, when they went to mount Calvary, to behold Chrift crucified. Am not I going up to fee the fame crucifixion reprefented before my eyes?? As it was a part of your fecret work this morning, to plead earnestly with God to direct his meffengers to fpeak fuitably to your cafe; fo you ought by the way to be fending up ejaculations for this end, and frequently to be crying, Awake, O north-wind, and come thou fouth, blow, &c. The minifter's words will be but as wind, and a beating of the air, (unless the wind of the Spirit blow) blow)" O Spirit of God, come, influence my heart this day; I dare not go to the table without thy presence: Lord, ftand not this day behind the wall;" for there cannot be a fadder fight in the world, than a poor hardhearted communicant, with God's back turned on him. "If thy prefence go not with me, carry me not up hence." O Lord, it is time for thee to work; I never ftood more in need of thy prefence than at this time: It is my errand to meet with thee at thy table: Lord, fend me not away with a fore heart. A communionday, without communion with Chrift, will never fatisfy my foul." * ...Plead with God, O young communicant, that this may be the day of your acquaintance with Chrift, even the day of your espousals, and a day to be had in everlasting remembrance. And, indeed, if you enter this day into the bond of the covenant, it will be a very memorable day. God will blefs the memory of this day, for he will gain a fon; Jefus Chrift will write this day in his kalender, for he will gain a brother; the Holy Ghoft will rejoice, for he will gain a temple; angels and faints will be glad, for they will gain a fellow-fervant; and you, especially, may rejoice with exceeding great joy, for you will gain an eternal inheritance. : Directions concerning our Carriage when the time of receiving the Sacrament doth approach. 1. WHEN the time is come, or near, that you are to go to this holy table; confider that this is the most folemn and auguft ordinance under heaven, and requires the most profound awe and reverence from you. The place is holy, the table is holy, the bread and cup are holy; and "God is terrible from his holy places." Who is able to ftand before this holy Lord God? Your danger is great, if you make a rath approach, and feek him not after the due order. The leaft wrong look or wrong touch at this time is criminal, and may coft you your eternal falvation It may provoke the Lord to make a fearful and vifible breach among you, as he did upon Uzzah and the men of Bethfhemesh; for, the nearer |