Then the Minister of God, as the Steward of Christ's Houshold, applies these Blessings to every Person, who receives this Sacrament, in this devout Prayer:The Body and Blood of Christ, which were given and shed for Thee, preserve thy Body and Soul unto everlasting Life.

And we may be assured of it, that this Sacrament will be to every worthy Communicant, what the Tree of Life would have been unto Adam and Eve in Paradise ;And that as they, had they continued obedient, would have been in no Danger of temporal Death: even so we, while we feed on this Bread, now endued with a Lifegiving Spirit, and live as we ought to do, are in no Danger of Death Eternal.

These being Pledges to assure us, that as certainly as Bread and Wine do nourish our Bodies, so do these seal to us all the Benefits which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us, by his Sacrifice and Death.

And when any Christian does wilfully, and for want of Faith, deprive himself of this Spiritual Food, he falls, as our First Parents did, into a State purely natural, and destitute of the Means of Grace and Salvation.

For

For the Happiness of the World, and of every Soul in it, depends upon the Sacrifice of Christ; of which we are bound to keep up the Remembrance after this solenin Manner.

That, whenever we pray for any Favour or Blessing, we may remember to do it in his Name:-That, whenever we are so unhappy as to have done any Thing which may displease God, we may remember to pray to be forgiven for Christ's Sake.

For God grants whatever we ask, and which he sees to be for our good, when we ask in Faith, that is, in his Son's Name; and therefore the Church concludes all her Prayers in these most prevailing Words:For Jesus Christ's Sake.

In one Word, we do by this Sacrament keep up a continual Correspodence with our Lord in Heaven, and Holy Communion with him, and with all the Members of his Body, which receive Nourishment and Growth from him, as the Branches from the Tree in which they are grafted, and from which, when they are separated, they can bear no Fruit, and are only fit to be burned.

As every Christian is obliged, at the Peril of his Soul, to observe it, so the Duty

must

must be such, as every one, even the most unlearned, may understand, if it is not his own Fault.

And so indeed it is: For as an Israelite, Levit. i. 4. under the Law, being obliged to lay his Hand upon the Head of his Sacrifice, confessing his Sins, and laying them, as it were, upon that Creature-as he did easily understand, that this was to shew him, that Death was the due Reward of Sin; that this ought to humble him before God, and to give him the greatest Abhorrence of Sin, which could not be pardoned but by the Loss of the Life of an innocent Creature.

As this was plain to the meanest Israelite, even so the most unlearned Christian, when he considers that our Lord Jesus Christ became a Sacrifice for us, and that on him all our Sins were laid, -on him who knew no Sin; he will easily understand how sad our Condition was, which required such a Sacrifice :-That this therefore ought to humble us, to lead us to Repentance,- -to make us fearful of offending God,—and to abhor those Sins which cost Jesus Christ his Life, before God could be prevailed with to pardon them.

He

He will also easily understand, that the Love of Christ, and the Remembrance of his Death, ought to be very dear to us; and that the oftener we remember it in the Manner he ordained, the more Graces we shall receive from God: the firmer will be our Faith, the surer our Pardon, and the more comfortable our Hopes of meeting him not as an Enemy but as a Friend, at whose Table we have been so often entertained.

And now, if you have considered what you have read with any degree of attention, you will pause awhile, -until you have expressed your Gratitude for this Mercy, after some such Manner as this following:

THE PRAYER.

O JESUS who hath loved us, and washed us from our Sins, and purchased us by thy own Blood,- -and didst or dain this Sacrament, in order to secure us to thyself, by a grateful Remembrance of what thou hast done and suffered for us, make me truly sensible of thy Love, and of our sad Condition, which did require such a Sacrifice.

May I always receive this Pledge of thy

Love,

-The Offers of Mercy, Pardon and Grace, tendered to us in this holy Ordinance, with a thankful Heart, and in Remembrance of Thee, our great and best Benefactor; in Remembrance of thy holy Example,- Of thy heavenly Doctrine,

Of thy laborious Life,-of thy bitter Passion and Death, Of thy glorious Resurrection, Of thy Ascension into Heaven, and of thy coming again to judge the World!

And may I never forget the Obligation Thou hast laid upon us, to live as becomes thy Disciples; and to forsake every Course of Life contrary to thy Gospel: Cease not, O Lord, to love us; and by thy Grace vouchsafed in this Ordinance, cause us to love thee with all our Hearts. Amen.

SECT. III.

How a Christian ought to prepare himself for this Sacrament.

As the above Account of this holy Ordinance is easy to be understood, even by the most unlearned Christian: so the Preparation required is such, as will neither

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