Page images
PDF
EPUB

ACCOUNT

OF THE

NATURE and END

OF THE

SACRAMENT

OF THE

Lord's-Supper.

IN WHICH

All the Texts in the New Teftament, rela-
ting to it, are produced and explained:
and the Whole Doctrine about it, drawn
from Them alone.

To which are added,

FORMS of PRAYER.

The THIRD EDITION.

LONDON:

Printed for JA MES, JOHN, and PAUL KNAPTON'
at the Crown in Ludgate-Street. MDCC XXXV.

ASHMOLEAN

OXFORD
MUSEUM

5 FEB 1957

ART

THE

PREFACE.

N the following Treatise, I have endeavoured to establish and explain the true Nature, End, and Effect, of the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper. The Substance of it is What I preached, many Years ago, in feveral Sermons, when I had the Care of a Parish in London.

In that Relation, I thought it my Duty always to have a View to the particular Demands of Those I was to inftruct. Efpecially, I esteemed my felf obliged to have a very peculiar Regard to the Wants of Some of the Beft and moft fincere Chriftians; whom I found often in danger of great Errors, or great Superftition; and too commonly disturbed and perplexed by fuch Fears and Terrors, as indeed made their Defire of being truly Religious, the Burthen and Mifery, instead of the Delight, of their Lives.

As therefore, for the fake of One Sort of Chriftians, I never ceafed to inculcate the Neceffity of Univerfal Obedience to the Will of God; that there might be no hope left to Them of Acceptance, without This: So, for the Defenfe and Support of Others, in their fincere Endeavors to please God, against all those uneafy impreffions of Superftition, which They had a right to be freed from, I made it my care to ftate and explain the Commands peculiar to Chriftianity, from the firft Declarations of Christ himself, and his Apostles, in fuch a Manner, as that They might appear to Honeft Minds to have as little Tendency to create Diftrefs and Uneafinefs, as They were defigned, in their firft Simplicity, to have. Amongst these, I found that, in no one inftance of Chriftian Duty, there was more need of Affiftance, than in this of their Attendance upon the Lord's-Supper; which had been rendered very Uneasy to Them by the Notions They had, by fome means or other, embraced about it.

What I then preached, not without fome Succefs, I now publish with the fame honest Design of instructing Those who want Inftruction; and have no better at hand. I have thrown the Whole into a new Form; and made feveral Additions to what I first preached, in order to a more clear underftanding of this Subject: and this, in such

a manner,

a manner, that All who are concerned may, I hope, be led into the right way of judging about it. To this I have endeavored to guide Them by directing and confining their Attention to all that is faid about this Duty by Thofe, who alone had any Authority to declare the Nature of it: neither on one hand diminishing, nor on the other augmenting, what is declared by Them to belong to it.

It ought certainly to be far from the Thoughts of Every Chriftian, to leffen any Privileges, or undervalue any Promifes, annexed by Chrift to any Duty or Institution of his Religion. It is an inexcufable Fault wilfully to attempt it: and an inexcusable Carelessnefs to do it for want of Due Confideration. It is indeed, a Fault, to which No Christian can have the least Temptation: All fuch Privileges and Promifes being of equal Comfort, and of Equal Importance, to All; and the Nature of them fuch, as that no one can be fo much his own Enemy, as not to be willing to find the Truth and Certainty of Them, if He can.

But this, I think, may with truth be faid, that an Error of this fort, (fhould it be fupposed) does not really hurt any Chriftian; nor alter the Effect of the Duty at all. GOD will certainly perform what He has promised to Every One who partakes of the Lord'sSupper worthily, notwithstanding that One

Man

« PreviousContinue »