The Communicant's Companion (continued)
with, and put off with,) if we come short of the favor of God. Herein therefore we should labor, this we should be ambitious of as our highest honor, the top of our preferment, "that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord." About this, therefore, we should be very solicitous in our inquiries: "Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord," so as to please him? For this we should be very importunate in our prayers: "O that I knew where I might find him!" O that I might be met at the table of the Lord with a blessing, and not with a breach! O that God would smile upon me there, and bid me welcome! O that the beloved of my soul would show me some token for good there, and say unto me, I am thy salvation! "Son, daughter, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for his love is better than wine." O that it might be a communion indeed between Christ and my soul! That which is in vogue with the most of men is, "Who will show us any good?" But when I am admitted to touch the top of the, golden scepter, this is my petition, this is my request: Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon me; and that shall put true gladness into my heart, greater than the joy of harvest.
4. Pray that what is amiss may be pardoned in the blood of Christ. This prayer good Hezekiah has put into our mouths, (God put it into our hearts!)
"The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart in sincerity to seek the Lord God of his fathers, "and aims honestly," though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." We cannot but be conscious to ourselves, that in many things we come short of our duty, and wander from it. The rule is strict, it is fit it should be so; and yet no particular rule more strict than that general and fundamental law of God's kingdom," Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and might." But our own hearts know, and God, who is greater than our hearts, and knows all things, knows, that we do not come up to the rule, nor "continue in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." By our deficiencies we become obnoxious to the curse, and should perish by it if we were under the law; but we are encouraged by a penitent believing prayer to sue out our pardon, having an advocate with the Father.
Would we take with us words in these prayers? David's psalms and St.
Paul's epistles will furnish us with great variety of acceptable words; words which the Holy Ghost teaches; and other helps of devotion, of which, thanks be to God, we have plenty, may be used to much advantage: and if in these prayers we stir up ourselves to take hold on God, our experience shall be added to that of thousands, that Jacob's God never said to Jacob's seed, "Seek ye me in vain."
Chapter 7. Directions in What Frame of Spirit We Should Come to, and Attend Upon this Ordinance. o make up the wedding garment, which is proper for this wedding feast, it is requisite, not only that we have a habitual temper of mind agreeable to the gospel, but that we have such an actual disposition of spirit as is consonant to the nature and intentions of the ordinance. It is an excellent rule in the Scripture directory for religious worship, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God;" that is, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." Look well to the motions of thy soul, and observe the steps it takes. When we are to see the goings of our God, our King, in the sanctuary, it concerns us to see to our own goings: "Keep thy foot," that is, do nothing rashly; but, "when thou goest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee." It was not enough for the priests under the law that they were washed and dressed in their priestly garments when they were first consecrated, but they must be carefully washed and dressed every time they went in to minister, else they went in at their peril. We are spiritual priests to our God, and must do the office of our priesthood with a due decorum, remembering that this is that which the Lord has said, (God by his grace speak it home to our hearts!) "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me;" that is, I will be attended as a holy God in a holy manner, "and so before all the people I will be glorified." We then sanctify God in holy duties, when we sanctify ourselves in our approaches to them; that is, when we separate ourselves from every thing that is common or unclean, "from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit," and consecrate ourselves to God's glory as our end, and to his service as our business. If we would have the ordinance sanctified to us for our comfort and benefit, we must thus sanctify ourselves for it. Joshua's command to the people, when they were to follow the ark of the covenant through Jordan, should be still sounding in our ears the night before a sacrament: "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." When the God of glory admits such worms, such a generation of vipers as we are, into covenant and communion with himself; when he gives gifts, such gifts, to the rebellious; when by the power of his grace he sanctifies the sinful, and comforts the sorrowful, and gives such holiness and joy as is life from the dead,—surely then he does wonders among us. That we may see these wonders done, and share in the benefit of them—that we may experience them done in our souls, "Jordan driven back at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob," to open a passage for us into the heavenly Canaan,—let us sanctify ourselves, and earnestly pray to God to sanctify us.
For our help herein, the following directions perhaps may be of some use: —I. Let us address ourselves to this service with a fixedness of thought.— There is scarcely any instance of the corruption of nature, and the moral impotence which we are brought under by sin, more complained of by serious Christians, than the vanity of the thoughts, and the difficulty of fixing them on that which is good. They are apt to wander after a thousand impertinences; it is no easy matter to gather them in, and keep them employed as they should be; we all find it so by sad experience. "Vain thoughts lodge within us," and are most a hinderance and disturbance to us when good thoughts are invited into the soul, and should be entertained there. When, therefore, we apply ourselves to a religious service, which will find work for all our thoughts, and which presents objects well worthy of our closest contemplation, we are concerned to take pains with ourselves, to get our hearts engaged, and to bring every thought into obedience to the law of this solemnity.
This is a time to set aside' the thoughts of every thing that is foreign and unseasonable; and all those foolish speculations which used to be the unprofitable amusement of our idle hours, and the sports and pastimes of our carnal minds; away with them all; clear the court of these vagrants, when the doors are to be opened for the King of glory to come in. Are they thoughts that pretend business, and are as buyers and sellers in the temple?
Tell them you have other business to mind; bid them depart for this time, and at a more convenient season you will call for them. Do they pretend urgent business, as Nehemiah's enemies did when they sought to give him a diversion? Give them the repulse that he gave, and like him repeat it as oft as they repeat their solicitations, "I am doing a great work; why should the work cease, while I leave it and come down to you?" Do they pretend friendship, and send in the name of thy mother and thy brethren standing without to speak with thee? Yet dismiss them as Christ did, by giving the preference to better friends. Let not thoughts of those we love best, divert us from thinking of Christ, whom we know we must love better.
This is a time to summon the attendance of all the thoughts, and keep them close to the business we are going about. Suffer none to wander, none to trifle; for here is employment, good employment for them all, and all little enough. Though a perfect fixedness of thought without any distraction during the solemnity, is what I believe none can attain to in this state of imperfection, yet it is what we should desire and aim at, and come to as near as we can. Let us charge our thoughts not to wander; keep a watchful eye upon them, and call them back when they begin to rove; keep them in full employment about that which is proper and pertinent, which will prevent their starting aside to that which is otherwise; come, "bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar," that it may not be to seek when it should be sacrificed. Be able to say through grace, "O God, my heart is fixed;" though unfixed at other times, yet fixed now. Look up to God for grace to establish the heart and keep it steady; look with sorrow and shame upon its wanderings; shut the door against distractions; watch and pray against temptations; and when those birds of prey come down upon the sacrifices, do as Abraham did, "drive them away." And while you sincerely endeavor to keep your hearts fixed, be not discouraged; the vain thoughts that are disallowed, striven against, and repented of, though they are our hinderance, yet they shall not be our ruin.
II. Let us address ourselves to this service with an evenness and calmness of affection, free from the disorders and ruffles of passion.—A sedate and quiet spirit, not tossed with the tempests of care and fear, but devolving care on God, and silencing fear by faith; not sinking under the load of temporal burdens, but supporting itself with the hopes of eternal joys; easy itself, because submissive to its God; this is a spirit fit to receive and return divine visits. They were still waters, on the face of which the Spirit moved to produce the world: the Lord was not in the wind, was not in the earthquake." The prince of the power of the air raises storms, for "he loves to fish in troubled waters;" but the Prince of Peace stills storms and quiets the winds and waves, for he casts his net into a calm sea: "The waters of Siloah run softly," and without noise. And that "river, the streams whereof make glad the city of our God," is none of those, the waters whereof roar and are troubled.
Let us therefore always study to be quiet, and, however we are crossed and disappointed, "let not our hearts be troubled, let them not be cast down and disquieted within us." Let us not create or aggravate our own vexations, nor be put into a disorder by any thing that occurs; but let the peace of God always rule in our hearts, and then that peace will keep them. They whose natural temper is either fretful or fearful, have the more need to double their guard; and when any disturbance begins in the soul, should give diligence to suppress the tumult with all speed, lest the Holy Spirit be thereby provoked to withdraw, and then they will have but uncomfortable sacraments.
But especially let us compose ourselves, when we approach to the table of the Lord. Charge the peace then in the name of the King of kings; command silence when you expect to hear the voice of joy and gladness; stop the mouth of clamorous and noisy passions, banish tumultuous thoughts, "suffer not those evil spirits to speak," but expel them, and let your souls return to God, and repose in him as their rest. Bring not unquiet distempered spirits to a transaction which requires the greatest calmness and serenity possible. Let all intemperate heats be cooled, and the thoughts of that which has made an uproar in the soul be banished, and let a strict charge be given to all about you, to all within you, "by the roes and the hinds of the field," those innocent and pleasant creatures, that they stir not