Page:Preparation sermon, before receiving the Holy sacrament.pdf/10

, "Will Chriſt indeed come to this feaft? Sad will it be for me if I miſs him." When deſires opens the heart wideſt, then God opens his hand largeſt. Pſal. 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. O go home and cry for a hungry heart; "Acrumb, Lord, from thy table, elſe I ſtarve and die."

13. It is to communicate without exerciſing Faith, and saying hold on Chriſt by arms of faith. If you communicate aright, you ſeal a marriage covenant and bargain with Chriſt. And you muſt take Chriſt intirely on his own terms. You are unworthy comunicants if you think of halving it with Chriſt. Embrace him not only as a prieſt, but as a king; not only to be ſaved by him, but to ſerve him, and live for him, and cleave to him, come death, come life. Do all this with full deliberation and reſolution, ſo that all the threatnings of devils, the pleaſures of ſin, the allurements of the world, ſhall cover periwade you to part with your precious Chriſt again. O go home this night, and take another view of this bargain and covenant, and the vaſt priveleges of it; and come to-morrow fixedly reſolved to embrace it and adhere to it.

14 Thoſe communicate unworthily who do not communicate with ſtrong and unalterable reſoluti- ons againſt ſin as the mortal enemy of Chriſt and of their precious ſouls. There are many that caſt by their groſs ſins, ſuch as drunkenneſs and ſwearing, and reſolve to be holy, and to pray, for the time of a ſacrament; but when it is over, they become juſt as they were. If there be any ſuch here, I warn you of your danger, that you will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. O it is a ſad thing, to appear as Chriſtians at a communion table, and to live like divels utterwards. I tell thee, O, man, to come with a heart reſolved to go on in impenitency, is to be worse than Judas, who was ſtruck