it is too with People under the Gospel, as to matters of the like Condition. Варtifm now is neceflary; yet not fo neceffary as Faith and Regeneration; nor muft we presume to fay, that all Perfons who die Unbaptized are everlastingly miferable For though it be faid St. Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized fhall be faved; yet in the next words, Damnation is the Punishment of Unbelief only; it is not faid, He that is not Baptized fhall be Damned. Baptifm is indeed the ftanding and ordinary Means, which we are tied to ufe; but it doth not follow that God fo tieth up his own hands, that he cannot, by Virtue of his unlimited Prerogative, difpenfe with a Rite, and fhew his Mercy at his Pleasure. 'Tis even thus in the cafe concerning the receiving of this bleffed Sacrament. It is an Ordinance of Divine Inftitution, and fo it is communiter & ordinariè, in its Kind; and in a general conftruction neceffary to Fternal Happiness. But yet fome Perfons are not capable, nor in a condition to prepare themselves for it, as Children, and Lunaticks, and the like: Now, in fuch a cafe, the Rule is, that no man is obliged to act nifi pofitis omnibus ad agendum requifitis, unless there be a fufficient pre fence fence of all Qualifications that are neceffa ry for the Action: Or fome inevitable cross Accident may unexpectedly happen, fo that a Man cannot eat that Bread with his Mouth which his Soul longeth after: And in this cafe the Rule is, that no man is bound to Impoffibilities; nor fhall any one be condemned for not performing that which is out of his reach and power! Ones cafe may be fuch, that it may not be in his Power to receive; and therefore to communicate of the outward Sym bols is not fo abfolutely neceffary, as it is to Believe and Repent. HOWEVER, out of thefe two Cafes, it is very highly neceffary to receive the Sacramental Bread and Wine; that is, fuppofing a Man be capable of Receiving, fo that he cannot plead want of Understanding, or want of due Information; at least, cannot pretend that he wants Means of being inftructed: And fuppofing that he hath Occafions and Opportunities of Receiving, fo that he cannot plead want of Time or Power (and I am fure this cannot be our Plea, who have been bred up under the Inftructions of a moft indulgent and provident Church) in this cafe (I fay) the Receiving of the Sacrament is fo neceffary, that the neglect of it makes Men very guil ty of Sin, especially if that Neglect be cus ftomary and habitual, as indeed it is in very many Profeffors of Chrift's Religi on. THE Sinfulness and Danger of this Negligence is fairly proveable from the bare Analogy that is between this, and those Sacrifical Banquets of old, efpecially the Pafchal Feaft. Such as might celebrate it, and refus'd to do it, were under God's Wrath and Curfe; fo that if a Man was clean, and not in a Journy, and yet forbore to keep the Paffover, that Soul was to be cut off from his People, Numb. 9. 13. Now if the Sin was fo great in that cafe, where they faw nothing but a Figure and a Shadow, it cannot but be far greater in this cafe, where Men have the Body and Subftance. To be fure, the Guilt cannot be lefs, in an inftance that is of a more Noble and Excellent Nature: Nor, can we fuppofe, that when Chrift inftituted a better Ordinance, he should abate of our Duty; or that Mens defpifing of fuch an important, fixt, and permanent Solemnity is not Criminal, when it was fuch a Sin to difregard a temporary and vanishing Rite, which our Redeemer did put an end to. But if this Argument be not enough, the wickednefs of Men in this cafe is further demonstrable, from a threefold Con Confideration. 1. It is a direct Act of Difobedience against Christ's plain and peremptory Command. 2. It proceedeth mainly from an evil Confcience. 3. It is a moft injurious Sin against a Mans own Soul. I. IT is a direct Act of Difobedience against Christ's plain and peremptory Command. Concerning the Inftitution of this Mystery, thefe four things are very obfervable. I. That the Command about the Celebration of it, is as ftrict and Imperial, as any other Law whatsoever, that is about things which are of a moral nature, and of Eternal Obligation. Take and Eat, faith our Lord, Matth. 26. and Do this in remembrance of me : So St. Luke delivers it, Luk. 22. Now this runs in as commanding a Style,as that Precept doth, Matth. 4. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only fhalt thou ferve: And as the other Precepts run, Matth. 19. Thou fhalt do no Murder, Thou shalt not commit Adultery, Thou shalt not Steal, Thou shalt not bear falfe Witness, Honour thy Father and Mother, and, Thou shalt love thy Neigh bour as thy felf. I do not here compare Thing with Thing, a Ceremony with Morality, but one Command with another; And feeing all of them are equally as plain and peremptory on the one hand, as they are are on the other, it neceffarily followeth, that though the nature of the thing it self doth not, yet the Command doth bind us to Obedience in one point, as well as in the reft; the Divine Law being Authoritative, and the Will of God being Obliging in smaller, as well as in the more weighty matters. 2.This Command touching our receiving the Bleffed Sacrament, is one of those new Laws which are strictly and properly called Chriftian Precepts. Thofe Everlasting Duties of Godliness, Righteoufnefs, and Sobriety, tho' Chrift did Adopt them, and make them a part of his Law, yet we cannot call them the peculiar Laws of Jefus Chrift, because they were enacted and written in Mens hearts from the Beginning, and they are common to Chriftians, and Jews, and Heathens alfo. But the Law touching this Sacrament is perfectly an Evangelical Command; and the Obfervation thereof is a direct and immediate Profeffion of our Difcipleship, and of our Faith in him, and Love to him, who came to take away the Mofaical Rites, whereby Jews were distinguished from other People; and inftituted this Solemnity as a fœderal Rite of his own, to be the outward Mark and Cognizance of a Chriftian. 3. It is obfervable, that Christ gave no plain and pofitive |