First, We are to examine whether we have knowledge, else we cannot give God a reasonable service, Rom. xiii. L Know- ledge is a necessary requisite in a commu- nicant; without knowledge there can be no fitness for the sacrament ; a pei'son cannot be fit to come to the Lord's table who hath no goodness, but without knowledge the mind is not good, Prov. xix. 2. Some say they have good hearts though they want knowledge ; as if one should say, his eye is good, but it wants sight. Under the law, when the j)lague of leprosy was in a man's head, the priest was to pronounce him un- clean. The ignorant person hath the i)lague in his head, he is unclean ; ignorance is the womb of lust, 1 Pet. 14. Therefore it is requisite, befoi'e we come, to examine our- belves what knowledge we have in tiie main fundamentals of religion. Let it not be Baid of us, that " to this day the vail is u])on
their hearts," 2 Cor. Iii. 15. But f<ure, in this intelligent age, we cannot but liave some insight into the mysteries of the gos- pel. I rather fear, we are like Rachel, who was fair and well-sighted, but barren ; there- fore,
(2.) Let us examine whether our know- ledge be rightly qualified. — 1. Is it influen- tial ; doth our knowledge warm our heart, ClarUas intellecfu parit adoram in efftctu. Saving knowledge doth not only direct, but quickiri; it is the light of life, John viii. 12. — 2. Ls our knowledge practical ? We hear much ; do we love the truths we know ? That is the right knowledge which doth not only adorn the mind, but reform the life.
Secondly, This solemn preparing for the sacrament, as it consists in examining our- selves, so in dressing our souls before we come. And this soul-dress is in two things : L Washing in the laver of repenting tears ; to come to this ordinance with the guilt of any sin unrepented of, makes the way for the further hardening of our heart, and giving Satan fuller possession of us, Zech. xii. 10., " They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn lor him." The cloud of sorrow must drop into tears. We must grieve as for the pol- lution, so for the unkindness in eA'ery sin. To sin against Christ's love who died for us. Wjien Peter thought of Christ's love, who called him out of his unregeneracy, made him an apostle, and carried him up to the mount of transfiguration, where he saw the glory of heaven in a vision : and then, to think of his denying Christ, it broke his heart, " he went out and wept bitterly," Mat. xxvi. 75. To think, before we come to a sacrament, of the sins against the bowel-mercies of God the Father, — the bleeding wounds of (jl*>d the Son, — the blessed inspirations of God the Holy Ghost, — it is enough to broach our eyes with tears, and ])ut us into an holy agony oi grief and coni])unction. And we must be so distressed for sin, as to be divorced from sin. The serpent before he drinks, casts up iiis poison ; in this, we must be wise as ser- pents ; before we drink of the sacramental cup, we must cast up the poison of sin by repentance. Hie irre p/angit coimiiissa, qui mm cuimniltU plangenda, Aug. He doth truly
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bewail the sins he liath committod wlio a ri^^ht partjiking of it ; which riglit partici- doth not commit the sins he hath bewailed. i)ation of the sacrament is in three thinirs.
And this is the dres-siiifr our souls before we come, washing in the waters of true re- pentance.
1. When we draw nigh to God's table in an humble sense of our unworthiness. We do not deserve one crumb of the bread of
2. The soul-dress is the exciting and; life; we are poor indigent creatures, who stirring up tlie habit of grace into a lively have lost our glory, and are like a vessel exercise, 2 Tim. i. C, " I put thee in re- that is ship-wrecked ; we smite on our
membrance, that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee," /. e. the gifts and graces of the Spirit. The Greek word to stir vp signifies to bloiv up grace into a flame. Grace is oft like fire in the embers, which needs blowing up ; it is possible that even a good man may not come so well-disjiosed to this ordinance, because he hath not be- fore taken pains with his heart to come in due order, he hath not stirred up grace into its vigorous exercise ; and so, though he doth not eat and drink damnation, yet he doth not receive consolation in tlie sacra- ment. Thus you see what this dressing of our souls is, before we come.