Mot. 5. This would be a matter of the greatest utility, if followed through, both to believers and unbelievers. To the former it brings the comfort of their faith, clears up their gracious state, and gives them so many evidences for heaven as they have proofs of their faith. To the other it may be the beginning of good; it will give them the knowledge of their disease, which is the first step to the cure; and if once they be thoroughly convinced of their sinful and damnable estate, they may be induced to leave no stone unturned till they be rescued therefrom, by application by faith to the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ, who saves from sin, and delivers from the wrath to come.

Mot. 6. Try now your state, for God will try one and all of you, and no wrong judgment will pass before him. O to what purpose should we shift a trial, which we know we will certainly undergo, from an infallible hand? We cannot by any sleight or artifice cast a blind before his eyes, Gal. vi. 7. 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. All things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do,' Heb. iv. 13. Not the least thing in or about us cần escape his all-piercing eye; for he says, 'I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees,' Zeph. i. 12. God has trying times for lands, and for particular persons, wherein he sets them. And such a trying time we have just now. O! let us regard the operation of his hands, lest he proceed against us by terrible things in righteousness. However, should we pass untried in this world, we will most certainly be tried in the other, and there will be no altering of the decision then made. Should we not then be stirred up to try ourselves now, and see how matters stand betwixt God and us, that we may not be condemned in the great day of decision and judgment?

Mot. last. It is the express command of God, that ye should try yourselves, whether ye be in the faith or not. God has not only warned you to try this important point, both by his word and providence, but has expressly interposed his authority, binding it as an indispensable duty upon you to try yourselves, as ye will answer it on your highest peril. I say then, Try yourselves as to this weighty affair, lest ye be found to be fighters against God, to spurn at his yoke, and to throw his cords from off you. Try yourselves then, I say, whether ye be in the faith or not, as ye would regard the authority of the great Lord of heaven and earth, and would not fall into the hands of the living God, from which there is no deliverance.

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THE DANGER OF UNWORTHY COMMUNICATING."

1 COR. xi. 29.-For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Ir is a seasonable advice which Solomon gives, Prov. xxiii. 1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee.' We expect the great Ruler of heaven and earth is to cover a table for us in this place; but at it some may get their viaticum for heaven, others theirs for hell. The Jews say of the manna in the wilderness, that it tasted according as every one desired. This I may say of the sacrament, it will be different according to the different palates and constitution of the communicants, like the word; to some the savour of life unto life, and to others the savour of death unto death. The apostle compares baptism to the passing through the Red Sea, which to the Israelites gave a passage to Canaan, but it was a grave to the Egyptians, to swallow them up. The Lord's supper is an open pit for destruction to some, and a chariot to carry others on in their way to heaven. The apostle tells us here the danger of unworthy communicating, notwithstanding which people mostly need rather a bridle than a spur to it.

1. The connection, in the particle for; which shews the words to be a reason of that exhortation, ver. 28, 'But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup,' viz. in the right manner for the hazard is great if we do otherwise.

2. A duty supposed, eating and drinking; which looks sternly on the sacrilege of the Papists in taking the cup from the people, and putting in only wafers into their mouths, contrary to Christ's express command, 'Drink ye all of it.' It is the people, as well as the minister, that eat and drink judgment to themselves, ver. 30.

3. The way that many mar this duty: They do it unworthily, that is unsuitably, unmeetly; they mar it in the making, not going about it in the right way and manner. They are guests, but not meet guests, for the holy table. They come to the marriage-feast, but not with wedding-garments.

Though this discourse was not delivered in the course of this work, but many years before, when the author was minister at Simprin, it was judged advisible to insert it here, as a proper addition to, and in further illustration of the preceding discourses on the Lord's supper. And as unworthy communicating is in itself a great sin, and one of the epidemical evils of the present time, a discourse on such a subject must be deemed extremely seasonable in the present juncture; and the reader will do well to peruse it with that seriousness and attention the matter of it requires.

4. What comes of it. The consequences are dreadful. They ext and drink damnation [Gr. judgment] to themselves. This judgment to some is temporal, to others eternal. This they are said to eat and drink to themselves; it becomes poison to them, and so they take their death with their own hands. While the meat is in their mouth, wrath goes down with it, as the devil did with Judas' sop.

5. A particular sin lying on them, which provokes God so to treat them: They do not discern the body of the Lord Christ; they do not duly consider the relation betwixt the elements and Christ, and so they rush in upon these creatures of bread and wine, that are of so deep a sanctification as to be the symbols of the body and blood of the Son of God; they sit down at that table, as to their ordinary meals, without that reverence and devotion that ought to be in those who sit down at such a holy table.

Two doctrines may be observed, viz.

DocT. I. Though the right way and manner of communicating be the main thing to be studied in that solemn action, yet many content themselves with the bare doing of the thing, neglecting the doing of it suitably or in a right manner.'

DocT. II. He that communicates unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, while he eats the sacramental bread, and drinks the wine.'

I shall prosecute each doctrine in order.

DocT. I. Though the right way and manner of communicating be the main thing to be studied in that solemn action, yet many content themselves with the bare doing of the thing, neglecting the doing of it suitably, and in a right manner.'

Here I shall shew,

I. The necessity of communicating suitably and in a right man

ner.

II. Why it is, that though the right way and manner of communicating be the main thing to be studied in that solemn action, yet many content themselves with the bare doing of it, neglecting the doing of it suitably, and in a right manner.

III. Make some improvement.

I. I am to shew the necessity of communicating suitably, and in a right manner.

1. God commands it, ver. 28. 'So let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.' The particle is emphatical, as John iv. 6. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus [or so] on the well.' Acts vii. 8. 'So Abraham begat Isaac.' The matter and manner of all duties are linked together in the command of God. What God hath joined, let no man put asunder, He will have his

service well done, as well as done, 1 Chron. xxviii, 9. And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts.' Masters on earth challenge to themselves a power to cause their servants to do their work as they would have it; but though they leave the way of doing it sometimes to the discretion of the servants, yet the Lord never does so, but always commands not only what, but how to do, 1 Thess. iv. 1.

2. No duty is pleasing to God, unless it be done in a right manner, ib. Unless it be so done, it is not done to his mind. It gives not content to the heart of Christ, though it may give content to men's own blinded hearts. God's will is the supreme law; for we are his own, and what we do, we ought to study to do it to his mind: otherwise we cannot please him, do what we will.

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3. Because nothing is a work theologically good, but what is done in a right manner, Heb. xi. 6. Without faith it is impossible to please him.' There was a vast difference betwixt Cain and Abel's offering, Gen. iv. 4, 5. The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering: but to Cain and to his offering he had not respect.' See the reason, Heb. xi. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.' Bonum non, nisi ex integra causa oritur, bonum est. Hence the good works of the heathens were but splendid sins; and those of the unregenerate are so; for they may do much, but not with a perfect heart. One sins and damns his soul at the Lord's table, another communicates worthily. What makes the difference, but the manner of doing? Hence praying is accounted but howling; eating and drinking is not to eat the Lord's supper, 1 Cor. xi. 20. Common eating and drinking are sins, Matth. xxiv. 37. Cloth may be good, and yet the coat base, if it be marred in the making.

4. Though the work be in itself good, yet if it be done unsuitably, not in a right manner, it provokes God to inflict heavy strokes on the doer. Is not a master often at that, he would rather men had not done the work, than that it should be so done? 1 Chron. xv. 13. 'For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.' So Jehu did something for God, but not in a right manner; hence the Lord says, Hos. i. 4. 'I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.' And the Corinthians having communicated unworthily, or not in the right manner, the apostle observes concerning them, 1 Cor. xi. 31. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.' In the mean, little is accepted, if it

is rightly done hence it is said of Asa, 1 Kings xv. 14.

:

The high

places were not removed; nevertheless Asa, his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.'

5. Only the duty done in a right manner does prosper, and get the blessing. Mark that so, Matth. xxiv. 46. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. A man may pray ten thousand times, and never be heard; and go from one communion to another, and never be sealed to the day of redemption. A groan from the heart will do more than all these, Rom. viii. 16. Our meat can do us no good, and our clothes cannot warm us, if we do not use them in the right manner. No wonder that many are never the better of all the sacraments they get, for they communicate not aright.

6. If we communicate not in a right manner, we do no more than others, than hypocrites actually do, and Pagans may do. Hypocrites eat and drink, who shall drink eternally of the wine of the wrath of God, Luke xiii. 26, 27. Pagans can eat bread and drink wine; nay, the very beasts may do it. And shall a Christian think that he does enough when he does no more?

7. Lastly, God gets no glory otherwise from us in our duty, Matt. v. 16. He gets much dishonour by the way that many of us partake of his table. The means must be suited to the end; and therefore our duty must be rightly done, if we would glorify God.

II. I proceed to shew, why it is, that though the right way and manner of communicating be the main thing in that solemn action, yet many content themselves with the bare doing of the thing, neglecting the doing of it suitably, and in a right manner.

1. Because to communicate is easy, but to communicate in a right manner is very difficult. It is easy to wait on several days and hear sermons, to get a token, and eat the bread and drink the wine: but it is a hard task to plough up the fallow-ground, to mourn for sin, to get the heart in case for communion with Christ, and by faith to feed upon him. It is easy to say, we resolve to be for Christ; but it is hard to pluck out right-eyes, and cut off right hands; it is hard to set idols to the door, and give the whole heart to a Saviour.

2. Because they obtain their end by the bare performance of the duty. As, (1.) Peace of mind. Many consciences are half-awakened; though they be not so far awakened as to give men no rest without doing duty in a right manner, yet they will not hold their peace should a man neglect duties altogether. (2.) It gains a man credit in the world, and that is a strong cord to draw a man to the outside of duties, Matth. vi. 2. It is no small matter to have a name, and to seem good; and to be called godly, is affected by those who