come from the Lord's table: Why? He is exceeding malicious, and hellish in his enmity against fouls; and he knows, if he can draw them into fin upon the back of fuch a near approach to God, it is the way to make their fins out of measure finful before God, and exceedingly to widen the breach betwixt God and their fouls. Look how Sennacherib dealt with, Hezekiah after he had reformed the church, fettled the worship of God, and put all in good order, 2 Chron. xxxi. 1. There it is faid, " After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Affyria came and entered into Judah, and encamped againft the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himfelf." In like manner doth fatan deal with communicants, after they have been at the facrament, and have renewed their covenant with God, and established their resolutions against the commiffion of fin, and for the performance of duty: After these things will the devil come with all his forces, and encamp against the fenced cities, (the communicants hearts) and feek to win them for himself. He hath an army of ftratagems, wiles, devices, fnares, and temptations always at command; and lays many ambushments against the communicant: Oh what need have we to be on our guard after fuch a folemn ordinance, and to labour to foresee and prevent fatan's hellish designs against us! It were happy if we could fay with the apostle, "We are not ignorant of his devi

ces."

O communicant, when fatan comes to tempt thee to fin after the facrament, fay, What! wouldft thou have me perjured before God? Shall I, who have been at God's table, and have ate and drunk with him, lift up my heel against him? Shall I take the members of Chrift, and make them the members of an har ot? Shall I defile that body, wherein he hath chofen to refide? Shall I force him out of his habitation by any impurity, or offend him by entertaining naufeous thoughts, or the vile fuggeftions of that unclean spirit? Shall these hands, that have received the facred elements, work deceit ? Shall these eyes, that have been filled with tears at the Lord's table, be filled with luft or envy? Shall the mouth,

mouth, that hath drunk of the confecrated wine, be full of rotten difcourfe? Imitate Jofeph, when tempted, flee with haste out of temptation's way, and fay, "How fhall I do this wickednefs, and fin against God ?" Or fay, with the spouse, "I have washed my feet, how fhall I defile them?" I have washed my foul, how fhall I pollute it with fin? I have taken on with Chrift, and how thall I turn my back on so good a Master ? "Get thee behind me, fatan."

DIRECT. V. Study that bleffed art of improving and feeding on the facrament, and a crucified Jesus represented therein, after you gone from it.

WE should not only feed on Chrift while at the facrament, but we fhould continue to feed on Chrift, the master of this feast, when the communion table is removed. As the Ifraelites in the wilderness, they did not only drink of the rock when they were at it, but, after they were removed and gone from it, they ftill continued to drink of it. But, how could that be? The apostle tells us, that the rock followed them, I Cor. x. 4. i, e. the water that iffued out of the rock followed them as they journeyed, in all their stages and removes. So, when we are gone from the clefts of the rock that were streaming to us in the facrament, we should continue to make ufe of thefe ftreams, and fhare of the virtue and efficacy of this water of life, which follows us, and ftreams after us, all the while we are travelling in the wilderness of this world, till we come home to the heavenly Canaan. And as the ftreams of the rock not only followed, but also accompanied the Ifraelities, and run before them too; fo we must have Chrift with us, and depend on him in every step of our journey, and likewise have our eye ftill upon him as our guide and leader to heaven. O that we could learn the heavenly art of living by faith on the Son of God, by continued dependence on him, and making application to him for righteousness and ftrength; righteoufnefs for removing our guilt, and justifying our perfons before God; and strength for performing du

ties

ties, conquering lufts, and bearing croffes! O that we could come with our daily fins and pollutions to a crucified Jefus, and make renewed and daily application of that blood we were bathing our fouls with in the facrament! May we ftill drink of the fpiritual rock, and daily find the virtue, efficacy, and benefit of the facrament, following and streaming after us while we are in the wilderness! May we conftantly meditate on the love and death of our lovely Jefus, carry the print of the nails in our hearts, and continually bear about with us the dying of the Lord Jefus; that we may ftill look to him, draw nourishment from him, and walk on in the ftrength of the fpiritual meal we have been receiving, till we come to perfection!

DIRECT. VI. Endeavour to keep up the lively and lasting impreffion of the vows of God upon you.

CONSIDER feriously the engagements you have come under at the facrament: You have done like the people of Judah in Nehemiah's time, Neh. x. 29. who entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, and to obferve and do all the commandments of the Lord. It is a folemn oath, and a fearful imprecation you come under at the Lord's table, to be faithful fubjects and fervants to Chrift: You fwear allegiance to the King of heaven, over the broken body and shed blood of the Lamb of God: You imprecate upon yourfelves, that a cup of wrath may be put in your hands, inftead of the cup of the new Teftament, if you deal fally with God in his covenant, which you do here seal. Now, if you perjure yourselves, confider the hazard; you incur not only all the curfes of God's law, but the fore vengeance of his gospel alfo: You not only draw down upon you the wrath of a juft God, but likewife the wrath of a merciful Mediator: And whom have you to interpofe for you, if he be against you?

O communicant, if thou shouldft, like Samfon, break all these bands afunder, and venture to fetch that facrifice away from the altar, which thou hadst tied to it

with such strong cords of oaths, vows, and covenants; mayst thou not expect to bring fire from the altar along with it, that will confume thee?

There are fome who remember their vows no longer than the sacrament lafts: While they are at the Lord's table, they have perhaps fome fenfe of their obligations to ferve God and leave fin; but, when they rife and depart from the table, the fenfe of their engagements departs from them. I have read of the Abylines, that after the facrament they think it not lawful for them to fpit that day till the fetting of the fun. This is fuperftition in them; but yet their fuperftition will rife up in judgment against the profane carriage of many after the facrament. Would they not spit that day? What fhall we think of those who fo foon forget their vows, that they do not ftick to fpit in Chrift's face on that very day they eat his bread, by their loose and ungodly practices afterwards?

There are others not quite fo grofs, that will lay themselves under some restrictions for a day or two after the facrament; but then, alas, they drop all their engagements, and return to their former finful liberties. Oh, doth the facramental covenant bind but for a day or two? Doth the efficacy of that folemn ordinance laft no longer with you? Is not the bond thereof as ftrong on thy confcience the next month, or the next year, as the very day thou receivest? The facrament of baptifm is but once adminiftered, and that in our infancy; and yet we own that the baptifmal vow and covenant doth bind to the day of our death, though we should live an hundred years. Now, is it not the fame covenant and vow we renew at the Lord's fupper, which we make in baptifm? Why, then, fhould not the bond in this facrament be as binding and lafting as in the other?

communicant, keep up always upon thy fpirit a fresh sense of thy facramental covenant; renew the impreffions thereof every morning in thy fecret retirements, and then thou wilt be in better cafe to beat off all temptations to apoftacy through the day. Say ftill VOL. I.

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to ter ptations, tempt me not from my allegiance and fidelity: The vows of God are upon me sealed at the facrament, and recorded in heaven: Not one of my fellow communicants, but will be witneffes for God, that they faw me perfonally, and publicly own and renew my covenant with him: Wherefore, for my oath's fake, and those that fat with me, I will not do this evil, and fin against God. Shall I alienate and pollute the heart fo folemnly devoted to God? Shall I make light of my oath, turn difloyal to my King, and falfe to my God? Shall I ever be fo ingrate or perfidious, as forget his kindness to me, or my vows to him? Shall he efcape that doth fuch things? or, fhall he break the covenant and be delivered?

Thou haft great need to pray that God may fix the lafting impreffion of thy vows upon thy heart, for it is naturally deceitful, prone to forget God and gad after the vanities of time Cry with the Pfalmift, Pfal. cxix. 36 37. "Incline my heart unto thy teftimonies, and not unto covetoufress: Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way." Let me never be so eager upon the world, as to forget to retire to converfe with my Saviour: Let me never fo perplex myself with worldly bufinefs, as to omit to pray, to meditate, to read and fing due praifes to my God. No, no; I will fay to the world and all time's things, I am not at my own difpofal: "I have fworn, and will perform, that I will keep God's righteous judgments." O how deeply am I obliged to him that has paid my debt! What fhall I render unto the Lord? Lord, though I can do nothing that is fatisfactory, let me do fomething gratulatory. Chrift gave himself a fin-offering for me, let me give myfelf a thank-offering to him, let me offer up myfelf a living facrifice to my Redeemer, who offered up himfelf a dying facrifice for my redemption.