348 SERMONS ON THE SACRAMENTS.
that he may relish the fatness and marrow that is here prepared, that Christ's flesh may be meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed, John vi, 55. Brethren, thus it is written, and then you eat the passover ac- cording as it is written when you thus prepare your hearts, and fit them for the ordinance ; that you come with a longing after it, and desire to seek God in it, when your affections are suitable to the mys- tery. But of this preparation I must speak hereafter. I am as yet but in the doctrinal part.
2. There is also something to be done about the heart in duty, and that is stirring of it up ; and therefore, if you would come to the rule, to the commandment, you must not scant God in that neither. Many men make conscience of the work and come to the performance, but they do not do it as it is written ; they do not rouse up their spirits, and stir up their hearts while they are receiving, and shake off that drowsy dulness which casts a damp upon their affections. Brethren, it is not the outward presence that maketh acon'^-^'iuicant ; for a man may receive, and yet not receive, as it is too o^^ey ^^^jj^an fiot do what God requireth of him. A duty done without li;^^^ "^ 'thee to' is as a duty not done at all, because it is otherwise ti* jirr^m. y^'^s 'written and God hath commanded. Mark that expression, 1 Cor. xi. 20, ' When you come into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.' Dull and dead receivers, they only come into one place ; they do not eat the Lord's sujiper, even when they eat it, because they do not stir up themselves to see the beauty of the Lord in his worship. We come short of the rule if we come not with holy life and activity, with a working, waiting spirit, that will warm our hearts within us, and make them burn under the ordinances. Mark how the church complaineth : Isa. Ixiv. 7j ' There is none that calleth upon thy name, tliat stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' They were many that prayed there, but they did not stir up themselves in ]')rayer. Many called upon God, but they did not cry to him. The offence of the duty was because it was not performed as it is written, with zeal, care, and ardency of affection. If a mere repetition of words were prayer, if a dead sitting under the word and ordinances were hearing, and if our actual presence at the sacrament were receiving, everjhody would do it as it is written, and none would eat the })assover otherwise. No, brethren ; the word requireth more of you. Your hearts mu.st be actuated and spirits quickened. You must not only have graces, but exercise them. You must awaken your hearts and souls. The apostle would have Timothy, dva^ojTrvpetv, 2 Tim. i. 6, to stir up the gift that was in him ; so must a christian at the sacrament, dva^wTrvpelv, stir up the graces of God's spirit in him , he must blow away the ashes from them, and make them glow and sparkle ; he must rouse them up, as you would a little fire in a brand that is ready to go out. Duties are but dead things without this stirring. We are far below what is written if we do not take pains with our hearts, that they may be quickened at the time of performance. See what a qualification James requireth in prayer, chap. V, 16 ; ' fervent and effectual ' it must be ; in the original it is but one word, Berjai^ ivepyovpievy], a prayer animated and actuated with zeal, life, and holy fervency, put up with great afiection. As in prayer, so in receiving ; a christian's heart should even sweat with bestirring itself
SERMONS ON THE SACEA3IENTS. 341)
to lay hold upon the Lord. There is an expression, Acts xxvii. 7, 'Instantly serving C4od day and night.' In the original it is eV eKTeveia, with the forcible putting to of all their roight and strength, with their stretched-out strength. Oh ! brethren there can never be too mnch done in respect of the spiritual part of the commandment. Let us not then lag behind, but aspire to the fulness of the precept, that we may do according as is written.
3. And, last of all, if we would not do too little, there is something to be done after duty ; and that is recollecting and running over all the carriage of the heart towards God in the duty, and the gracious intercourse that the soul had with God. Brethren, when we strive to keep to the rule, all will be suspected. Christians will think they have never been vigorous enough in their performances, that all is too little to come near the strictness and spirituality of God's law. Therefore they will call their hearts to an account, call themselves before them- selves, that they may be humbled for their failings, and thankful for their supplies of grace. They are afraid they have not kept to the rule, therefore they will beg for pardon of their holiest things, and say, as Nehemiah, chap. xiii. 22, ' Kemember me, 0 my God, concerning this also, and save me according to the greatness of thy mercy.' Thus you see, brethren, what is required and what is written ; what we must do that we may neither go beyond the commandment nor beneath it ; that we must not overlash in the outward part, nor come short of the purity and fervency of the inward,