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the Holy Sacrament is à Figure, both of that Natural Body of Chrift which Suffered upon the Crofs, and moreover of that Mystical Body of Chrift, of which he was made the Head after his Resurrection :And one Reafon of that Unity which ought to be among the feveral Members of this Body is, because they are all fed and nourisht at one Table,and fo St. Paul himself tells us,that we being many are one Bread, and one Body,becaufe we are all partakers of that one Bread (or Loaf) 1 Cer.10.17. This then is another peculiar Reason, why we should appear at this Solemnity, a New, and unleavened lump, with Minds purged from all ferment of Malice and Wickedness, like Children of the fame Father, and of one Family round about his Table, with Souls full of the moft extenfive and unfeigned Charity, and with Spirits enflamed with the Love of God, and with Love to all that belong to God; the true Spiritual Incenfe which gives a fweet smelling Savour to all our Offerings at the Altar. I beseech you, Brethren, (faith St. Paul in the beginning of that Epiftle, wherein he taxed afterwards the diforders of the Corinthians at the holy Communion, I beseech you, Brethren) by the Name of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that ye all Speak the fame thing, and that there be no divifions among you: but that ye be perfectly joined together in the fame

Mind, and in the fame Judgment,1 Cor.1. 10. 4. TO this Solemnity we come to receive the pledges of our reconciliation unto God, the Ratification and Seal of our own Pardon and Forgiveness. This (faith our Saviour, fpeaking of the Creature we are to drink, of the Fruit of the Vine, as 'tis exprefly called in the very next verse, this) is my Blood, or the Communion of my Blood of the new Covenant, which is fhed for many, for the remiffion of Sins, Mat. 26. 28. But how can we expect to be pardoned our felves, if we do not let all Hatreds and Animofities drop to the ground before we go unto the Altar? If we do not freely, heartily, and fincerely pardon all others, as we our felves would be pardoned? If ye forgive Men their Trefpaffes, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not Men their Trefpaffes, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your Trefpasses; faith our bleffed Lord, Mat. 6. 14, 15. Whence it is clear, that mutual Charity is one of thofe many conditions which are neceffary to make us capable and receptive of God's Mercy. As when Christ gave the Keysof hisKing. dom to Peter,he intended all the other ApoPerro foli ftles fhould have an equal fhare of the Audit, cæteris thority; and to this purpose, he said af communi terwards to all the Apostles, when he vt. breathed on them, Whofe foever Sins ye

claves de

candas. Op

remit,

remit, they are remitted unto them; and whofe foever Sins ye retain, they are retain ed, Joh. 20. 23. So, where pardon of Sin is promised to this or that Grace, there all other Graces are taken in, and suppofed, because there is required a Complica tion of all Virtues in order to perfect Remiffion. Now of these Virtues, mutual Charity, or our forgiving each other, is one. Not that it procures our forgiveness by way of Merit (take heed of that con ceit, fo vain in it felf, fo deadly in its confequences, fo reproachful to the free Grace of God,and to the infinite Merits of our Redeemer) but that this mutual Charity doth difpofe, qualifie, and fit us for God's pardon. Therefore 'tis obfervable, that when our Lord gave his Church a Form of Prayer of his own compofing, and in it taught us to pray; Forgive us our Trefpaffles, as we forgive them that Trespass against us. As foon as ever he had ended that Prayer, he prefently fingled out this part of it to fpeak to, inculcating and reasoning upon this fole point of fraternal forgiveness, as being a point of fuch great Moment and Weight, that without the practice of it, the rest of the Prayer would be to little or no purpose. And to ftrengthen the neceffity of this thing farther yet, he spake of it again afterwards, Matth. 18. where we find a Parable of a

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wicked Servant, to whom his Lord forgave a Debt of ten thousand Talents; but because upon his forgiveness, he dealt unmercifully with his Fellow-Servant, taking him by the Throat, and cafting him into Prifon for an hundred Pence, his Lord was very wroth with him, faying, O thou wicked Servant, shouldeft not thou have had Compaffion on thy Fellow Servant, even as I had pity upon thee? And fo he deliver ed him to the Tormenters, till he fhould pay all that was due unto him. The Ap plication of all wich is very plain, but very terrible; fo likewife fhall my Heaventy Father do alfo unto you, if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trefpaffes, Mat. 18. 35.

3. TO draw now to a Conclufion, and to bring down this whole Matter clofer yet to our Chriftian Practice. Let Charity and perfect Love be at once both the Rule and the Tenor of our whole Life in all Inftances and Occurrences. Whatever Objections against our Religion are wont to be made by fome (who yet of all Mankind are most to be blamed for their Uncharitablenefs) let us never give them occafion to lay this blame upon our Manners (though it doth not fo much as touch our Profeffion it felf) that a Spi rit of Strife and Hatred is among us.

But

when

when we are about to Celebrate the blessed Eucharift, then especially we should confider the Angels Doxology, and prepare our Minds fo that we may use it with enlarged and devout Hearts, Glory be to God on high, on Earth Peace, good will towards Men. Then all undue Heats that by any Emergency may have been raised, fhould vanish away from us like Smoak; then we fhould put on, as the Elect of God, Holy and Beloved, Bowels of Mercy, Kindness, Humbleness of Mind, Meekness, Long Suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any Man have a quarrel against any, even as Chrift forgave us, fo fhould we; and above all things put on Charity, which is the bond of Perfectness; and let the Peace of God rule in our Hearts, to the which also we are called in one Body; as the Apostle himself speaks, Col. 3.

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TO provoke you hereunto,many arguments might be drawn, not only from the fenfe of the best Heathens, who held it unlawful to revenge Injury with Injury, (upon which Subject Maximus Tyrius fpends a whole Difcourfe) but from the Noble Examples of many of them alfo, Elian. and particularly that of Phocion, who. 12.c. 49. after all the eminent Services for his Country-men, the Athenians, being at last condemned to be poisoned, before he drank

Var. Hift.

off