Nor can your constant attendance at the house of Prayer your Zeal and Devotion there your justice and integrity in dealing your sobriety and purity of life be sufficient to perswade me to think you have any truly considerable value for immortality or that you make any tolerable provisions for a happy Resurrection while you wilfully deny your selves the priviledge of feasting on the Body and Blood of our common Lord by which new life and Grace is conveyed to us O how can I believe you truly and earnestly repent of your Iniquities and desire a pardon of your Sins when you will not be at the pains to prepare your selves to come and beg it and to have it seal'd to you Or how can I think that you desire to be firmly united to Christ our head or to be united to each other when you refuse to come and strengthen the Union Surely one might be apt to think we have lost all sense and remembrance of the Love of God in sending his Son and of the Son in coming to lay down his life for us by this one intolerable neglect of ours How can we go to God in our Prayers and plead to him the meritorious Death and suffering of our Saviour and yet refuse to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come and wholly slight or very seldom attend on this highest Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving How long shall we call the Holy Jesus Lord and not do what he saith How long shall we thus refuse to keep the memorial of dying Love and obey a Command pronounc'd by his expiring breath Little O little do you consider how great a reproach to Christianity it self and how dangerous to your invaluable Souls the constant omission of this one excellent part of Christian Worship is Consider we do all believe that Christ dyed for Sinners and we have had the happiness to have been baptized into this belief we do profess to believe that there is no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved We all hope that his merits shall be applyed to us that so we may for ever partake of these benefits purchased for us and yet we are so imprudent as that we will not have them applyed in such ways as he himself hath appointed in the performance of those Conditions and the use of those means which he himself has ordained to that end and purpose And to use the words of a learned person I see no reason why men may not as well hope to be saved without Holiness by Christ Dr. Sherlock of Religious Assemblies as well as without eating his flesh and drinking his blood in the Sacrament For Holiness will not save us without the merits of Christ and I know not how we should come by the merit of Christ but only in such ways of dispensing conveying and applying them as he himself hath appointed he has appointed no other ordinary way but this Mysterious Supper Having seen the Custom and practice of the first Worthies of the Christian Church in the purest ages I shall upon the whole offer this further consideration to common reason Whether do we now suppose is most safe and Holy to imitate as far as we are able this pious practice of theirs of a very frequent communicating remembring also that those Devout Souls who lived so near the time of our Saviour better knew his mind in such cases than we at this distance or very rarely to address our selves to this Solemn Act of Christian worship In which are we more likely to please God and our Saviour to do his will and provide for a joyful Resurrection Thirdly Let us see and consider a few Reasons for the frequency of communicating The first is this That as our breaches of our part of the Covenant are too frequent so seeing God is willing that yet we should renew this Covenant again and Seal it at the Lord's Table how infinitely willing should we then be of so doing The Covenant which we entred into with God in our Baptism is this Almighty God is pleas'd on his part to promise Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory if we perform the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and sincere though not perfect Obedience Here then let us fix our foot and consider how frequently how miserably have we broken our part of this Covenant of Grace and is it not infinite mercy tenderness and compassion that God is still content and willing that we should come and renew this gracious Covenant Shall not we be ready and desirous to renew it for our own safety our eternal security shall not we be willing and earnest so to do when our God is willing and when he calls and invites us to it shall we not be ready and willing to renew it often when the great God often calls and invites us to it Oh how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation A second Reason for our frequent approaching this holy Table is That this is a Holy Duty which if duly and devoutly performed conveys great comforts benefits and blessings to us Thus Oh how would it confirm strengthen and encrease our Faith how would it promote and heighten our Love to our Lord and Master Jesus and make it more flaming and ardent more like the Zeal and Affection of the Cherubims and Seraphims How would it promote and encourage Religion and a Vniver sally Holy Life How would it it promote our Peace amd Charity and Love and mutual Endearments to each other as we are travelling together over this Wilderness to the Land of Canaan as we are passing along together over this World on in our journey to Jesus and Jerusalem How would it strengthen and confirm our Hopes How would it make our Repentance more serious more deep and more effectual Our holy Resolutions more fixt and stedfast How would it help us to subdue and get the victory over our Iniquities over our bosom darling Sin whether it were the Sin of our Calling or the Sin of our Company or the Sin of our Constitution How would it encourage us in all that is good in all that 's holy in all that 's just and all that 's upright and bring us to a better knowledge of our own State and condition of Soul How would it bring us to a nearer and more intimate acquaintance with the Holy Jesus and with our selves also What aids and assistances of the Grace and Spirit of God should we receive with it These and many more than these are the blessings and benefits and advantages which a frequent and devout communicating would convey to us Say now are not these great and inestimable blessings Are not these desirable Are they not truly amiable and lovely and to be earnestly wished for by all those whose hopes and expectations are in another World and not in this What my Beloved is it not an unvaluable blessing to have our Faith increased and yet by the due and constant
Mediator Jesus Thus 't is called the blood of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mat. 26.28 or of the new Covenant Now this new Covenant between God and us made by our Saviour is as was before said that God will give pardon of our Sins sanctifying Grace and everlasting Glory upon our Conditions of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience Our Lord in those Mysteries Seals this to us and assures us as he is the God of Truth and cannot lye or deceive us that he will perform his part We on the other hand seal back this to him that we will sincerely and heartily endeavour to perform our part We are then to remember that thus it was promised for us in our Baptism when we knew nothing of it but here we come in our own persons to take those advantageous Conditions on our selves to renew them by our own hand our own act and our own choice This is my Blood of the new Covenant says our Saviour to this our Lord invites us to shew first his death till he come and next to renew our Covenant with him to Seal it again and to declare our resolutions to labour more effectually and diligently for the remainder of our dayes to stand to our engagements and discharge our Conditions of it O my Lord say now upon this consideration who am I that thou shouldest leave thy Fathers bosom to be the compassionate Mediator of a new Covenant between God and me but oh who am I that after so many breaches of it thou shouldst call and invite me once more to come and renew it with thee again who am I that thou shouldst speak to me to come and enter again into a further confirmation of it what a tender mercy is this how blest a priviledge is this that thou art pleased to call me once more to come and receive my Pardon if but yet for the future I do in an honest sincerity perform my part of the Covenant What long-suffering is this that thou shouldst still bid me to approach and have my Pardon sealed too if my terms be but yet performed and how far have I been from deserving any thing of this at thy hands And O my Jesu shall I refuse to come and humbly accept of those mercies which thou art yet pleased to offer me and though I have broken my part of that Covenant which this Sacrament is a seal of shall I not thankfully come and accept of thy desires to make good thine if after all this I am not yet wanting to my self Shall I not rejoyce in an opportunity of confirming and ratifying in my own person that which was done for me without my knowledge in my Baptism shall I not come and declare my desires to be found now and ever within the Covenant of Grace Or shall I voluntarily withdraw my self from it and not come and put my hand and seal to it with others of my Christian Brethren shall I by my refusal to renew it declare for Sin for the World Flesh and Devil Far be it from me say O my dear Redeemer far be such thoughts as those No I come willingly and readily and chearfully with a Soul and Heart and Mouth full of Praises and Adorations to renew this gracious Covenant to own my self thy Disciple thy Servant thy follower I come to see thy dying bleeding Love and to imprint it afresh upon my memory I come to see thy earnest desires of accomplishing my Redemption represented to me I come to behold thy Agony and bloody sweat thy Cross and Passion thy Body broken thy Blood poured out for me I come freely and openly to own my unworthyness to come at all to own how undeservingly I have walked of those benefits I come to sue a Pardon for my breaches of my terms of the new Covenant I come to seal it again with thee and humbly and thankfully adore thee for this mercy that thou callest me once more to do so O that instead of ever entertaining a thought of absenting our selves we would imploy it in some such meditations as these Dr. Sherlock Relig. Assemb or with the words following of that excellent person before mentioned That frequent Communions are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holyness to repair the decays of our Graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of Sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their Souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food And if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing on the commission of any Sin when we have with tears bewailed our Sin and renewed our Repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are Sinners yet we are not Apostates that is we are not fallen from the Faith or the Christian Religion but that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live CHAP. III. Of Examination of our Selves I Come next in the third place to shew briefly how we are to come prepared to this holy Sacrament The chief parts of preparation are these First Examination of our selves Secondly To enter then into a holy Course of Life by Repentance and Resolutions of a future sincere Obedience Thirdly To bring with us a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ Fourthly To bring with us Charity to our Brethren Fifthly To bring with us Devotion and a pious frame of Soul Of each of these briefly First of Examination of our selves to this St. Paul adviseth Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 And here we are to examine as far as our memory can inform us what our breaches have been of that Covenant which we entred into with God and our Saviour in Baptism We told you that our part of the Covenant is Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience But alas we have most miserably gon astray and have often knowingly wittingly and willingly broken all these parts of that holy Covenant As to our Faith first how dull lifeless and unactive has that been how little have we shewed it by our works by works of Mercy Piety Charity or Devotion How little have we shewed our Faith by our Conformity of heart and life to those Gospel duties to God to others and our selves by which we should have shewn it St. Ja. 4.18 Again as to Repentance how unsincere has that been how have we return'd soon after our beginnings of it to our old iniquities like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet.
abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 Resolve hence-forward to step out of the way of these occasions whatever shame or reproach it may cost thee from man that so thou mayest follow Jesus uprightly and chearfully and ever hereafter be a ready willing joyful and prepared Communicant And when thou hast found out the occasions of it whatever they were Consider and say And is this that petty Interest or that vain delight that comes to rob me of my Soul my Heaven and my Immortality And is this all that it can ever give or promise me in exchange of them Is this all I shall get by my Complyance with them whenever they come again And shall I do so any more shall I embrace their motions any more No on my Soul on and as thou art going look back no more faint no more give out no more thou knowest the utmost of those Pleasures or Profits they can bring thee in but thou knowest little or not half of those vast felicities and joyes that await thee in the place of Glory On therefore my Soul and be content to stay for thy Delights and advantages till but after the death of one Life and that 's no longer than thou wouldst be content to stay for the Reversion of a large Estate and then sit down in the full Enjoyment of them to all ages and thou shalt be at rest forever at peace forever happy and holy and safe for ever And thus let us enter upon a holy course of life by resolutions of a future sincere obedience and by actually putting off all known Sin whatsoever And that 's the second thing as to Preparation Thirdly let us bring with us a lively Faith in God's mercy through Christ That is stedfastly believing that for his sake our offended Father will be reconciled to us if with Repentance and such Resolutions of a sincere obedience to his Commands and a future Reformation we give up our selves to him And not doubting of this let us consider and say who am I that after so many acts of wilful disobedience so many habitual Impieties so many known neglects of my holy Duties there should upon my sincere Reformation and new Life be any arms yet open to receive me What are there any possibilities for me of being yet accepted upon my hearty returning Can these arms that were once stretcht out upon the Cross and nail'd to it be spread still to embrace me upon my becoming a new Creature me who have as it were trampled upon the blood of the Covenant Are there hopeful possibilities yet left of my receiving infinite benefit by that blood if I am willing to have the merits of it applyed to me and fit my self to have them so applyed And may I yet be accepted to eternal ages if I go in the name of Jesus with a faithful penitent Conversion to my offended Father Why then with the Prodigal I will arise and go to my Father and if he should have Compassion upon me should I not rejoyce that ever I went to him and bid adieu to my impious Courses I will then arise and go to him and say Father I have Sinned And if I resolve thus to go to him I have one to go with me and intercede for me too One that can produce and shew to my Father the price of my Redemption One who if I thus penitently go will stand between me and my Father's Wrath between me and the sorrows of Eternity One that can shew Blood and Wounds to plead for me to my offended Father One who if we are truely desirous to wash our Sins in penitential tears and yet cannot can represent to my Father that he wept blood for me and 't is one in whom our Father is well pleased One that can prevail and do any thing with this our Father And because we cannot hope that he will be reconciled to us but by the merits and mediation of this our Redeemer let us go to him first and beseech him to intercede for us But where shall we go to find and meet him why at his holy Table he will not fail to meet us if we go thither faithfully penitently charitably and devoutly there 't is he often calls and invites us to meet him and expects and stays for us there ready if we come thus qualify'd to go with us to him O my Soul say Come let us go to this our Jesus then Let us go and Sup with him and humbly tell him how the Case stands with us how disobedient we have been and how heartily earnest we are to return and be accepted And having his Son our friend and Advocate Let us not fear to say to him with an awful humility Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee But oh my Father look upon thy Son and my Jesus I can only confess and sorrow and sue for pardon but he has atton'd for me too Let his wounds plead for me See O my Father that side the spear pierc't for me and there made way for me to his very Heart Look on those Sacred hands that were nailed to the Wood See there how the pointed Iron drew for me in his hand the line of Life the line of Life Eternal Let his bleeding palms be an Expiation for mine that have been so often lifted up to smite my brother so seldom raised in my Devotions Let those Feet the nail also bored be an Expiation for mine that have been swift to shed blood or slow to run the way of thy Commandments Thus O Father tho I have sinned he has suffered and atton'd though I have sinned against Heaven he is there to plead and mediate for me his merits are infinitely more than my Impieties And when thou hast thus in the Name of Jesus humbly sought the favour of thy offended Father would it not be matter of infinite Joy to think the Redeemer of the World should intercede for thee and say Behold O my Father a penitent a true and contrite penitent one that with the Prodigal had estrayed from thee but he is returning and he sorrows not only for fear of Hell and punishment but he grieves for having offended a tender and compassionate Father The consideration of his very ingratitude melts him into tears and his Contrition also has wrought in him sincere resolution of amendment of life Behold O my Father to such contrite penitents are my merits to be applyed to such hast thou promised mercy Let all his past Iniquities therefore be charged upon my accompt Say now would not this be a blessed consideration to have the Saviour of the World thus pleading and prevailing for thee with thy offended Father Why then go to him but so qualified as we have mentioned and he will be heard in thy behalf for thy Father is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness Joel 2.13 And that 's the third part of a Preparation Fourthly We are to bring with us
usual miscarriages in this case are two likewise either first we come to this feast of Charity without setting apart any thing for the needs of our poor brethren or else secondly we bring too little As to the first of these Consider when we relieve any at our doors that 's often because of their importunity with us or it may be to be rid of them when we relieve by a Rate that 's by constraint and the Laws compel us But this is a free-Will-offering Never let us fail therefore when we come to see fresh tokens of our Saviour's Love to us who for our sakes became poor 1 Cor. 8.9 then to set apart some evidence of our Charity to those who bear his Image and whom he has made his proxies and that our Lord takes it as done to himself and that for an Alms we may receive a blessing Never therefore in this Heavenly action let us appear before the Lord empty But secondly the other fault is that our alms are often too thin and slender 'T is true indeed the holy Scripture has not set down the exact measure or rule of giving but therefore even for that very reason we should do well to give even beyond our ability rather than fall short of it that being the course that is most safe and most holy considering that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 and ever remembring that 't is the observation somewhere of a pious Prelate Bishop of Down and Conner now through Christ reaping some of the fruits of his unknown Charity and Piety That the business of the great day of Judgment shall be transacted and the Sentence chiefly pass according to the measure of our works of Mercy and Charity as he infers from St. Matth. 25.31 to the end 'T were easie to produce admirable instances of the vast Charity of the Christians of old such as to this age might seem almost incredible for as a learned Person observes of them Dr. Cave Primitive Christ They looked upon the Poor as the Treasure and ornament of the Church by whom as by bills of Exchange they returned their Estates into the other World Let me therefore offer you this one Consideration to be seriously laid to heart in your next sober and retired thoughts would we be but content to cut off from our vain Expences needless visits our Excess and extravagancy our vanity or folly or what we may lay out on either Lust or Intemperance or in prosecuting our brother in a revengeful malicious and contentious Law-Suit or the like we might have a good portion for the Poor and opportunity for many more charitable actions than are yet recorded above and might have a large Treasure laid up in Heaven at the end of or Sixty or Seventy Years yet never the worse in our Estates at the end of the year or the end of our dayes besides the promise of a blessing here and hereafter from the Eternal God who has past his word to us And why then can we not secretly lay out that on our Kingdom on our Eternal Inheritance in Reversion which would else be expended on our jollity and excess in vain and useless Expences Further he that has injured his brother by fraud or deceit or any other injustice is in Conscience absolutely bound to restore or make restitution to him again but in case he be deceased we are then to make it to his Heirs or Executors But possibly it may so happen that we may have been unjust to some or in such wayes that we cannot possibly know who they are In this Case the Restitution is to be made to the Poor Now consider what an excellent opportunity we have of so doing by our Alms at this holy Sacrament alway remembring that the Restitution be rather beyond the injustice done than in the least degree to come short of it And that 's the fourth part of Preparation Fifthly we are then to bring with us a great Devotion and pious frame of Soul Let us be very careful to lay aside all thoughts and considerations of this lower World and all things else that may clog and hinder the Soul from being then wrought up to a Sprightly Holy Heavenly and Devotional temper and earnestly beg of God by prayer to assist us in our cloathing our selves in the Wedding Garment that so we may go to meet our Saviour acceptably and chearfully as we would to meet the dearest Friend on Earth whom we had not seen in many years before And having with us a deep sense and sight of our Iniquities begot in us by Examination and a lively Faith in the infinite mercies of our God through our Saviour having our Charity truely Christian and our Devotion high and Angelical let us with joy and pleasure go to Jesus and declare our resolutions to be his unfeigned and faithful Servants and followers utterly abhorring all known Sin and sincerely resolving for all known duty And let us say of our old Iniquities Be content to lay down your Necks quietly and submit to be thrown off for I am going to renew my Covenant with my dear Redeemer Be content ye my old Debaucheries Prophanesses Lusts and Intemperance Oaths and Blasphemies Malice and Injustice and the rest of you to part from me who am resolv'd to take my leave of you and to go and be more closely united to the Holy Jesus and to go on in my journey to the new Jerusalem adieu to you all and though we weep at parting 't is not because I must leave you but because I have been too long with you and had not done so sooner And now my Soul may the devout person say seeing we have done with them let us raise and exalt one affections for our Lord is coming and he is coming if yet we are not wanting to our selves to bring us a pardon sealed with him from God and to re-establish our title to a glorious Inheritance and we shall shortly bless the day that ever we were perswaded thus to do Stay methinks we begin to feel something of the pleasures of Religion already something of satisfaction in our very first resolutions of holyness Oh what will it then be when we are better acquainted with our blessed Saviour and his holy and Heavenly Doctrine what will it be when we come to his Table and have long frequented it and given up our selves intirely to him as we now hope to do Come then let us begin it now And oh my Soul could we but for a while steal out of the body that we might be the more free and lively and active and unwearied in our thanksgivings praises and Hosanna's to that Lord whom we are going to meet But however Let us now say I believe Lord help my unbelief for I come to have my Faith strengthned I am grieved and wearied with the burthen of my Sins but I come from them to
wilful Sin DRead Majesty of Heaven and Earth Forasmuch as I who was early dedicated to thee by Baptism and have frequently renewed that Covenant at thy holy Table have yet sadly fallen from my Baptismal holyness and broken my vows and resolutions even since the last Sacrament grieving thy holy Spirit wounding my Soul and provoking thy displeasure setting my self back deplorably in my journey toward Heaven by the Sin of †Here you may mention the Sin best known to thee when and where committed I do now heartily accuse and judge and condemn my self for it and for all other known and secret Sins and do earnestly repent my self of it and desire to rise from it again by a sincere Resolution of amendment of life a greater watchfulness and intire obedience and this I solemnly on my bended knees declare before thee O holy Trinity and do now likewise humbly beg fresh assistances of the holy Spirit to enable me to be more constant in my holy Resolutions and to please thee better And for my Lord Jesus sake and in his Name and for thy loves sake to mankind thy pitty and compassions sake humbly beg humbly hope my pardon may be as certainly now sealed in Heaven as I make this declaration here on earth Mercy O my God mercy for the sake of that immaculate Lamb that takes away the Sins of the World Amen Here again if you are able to write and sincerely do desire to rise from the Sin by Repentance you may before you go to the holy Table write out a Copy of these Words and having repeated them with a penitent heart subscribe your name on your bended knees as also the day when you made this Resolution January 1. 1681. N. N. That so you may the better discern what progress your soul makes in its Victory over all known Sin For no man can well observe his own growth in Grace Bishop Taylor Rule of holy dying but by accounting seldomer returns of Sin and a more frequent victory over temptations concerning which every man makes his observations according as he makes his inquiries and search after himself A Prayer before the Sacrament which may be used by them who never received it before O Blessed Saviour and Redeemer who wert pleased to admâ—â— me into thy holy Church by the Waters of Baptism in my Infant dayes before I knew it I do now being by thy Grace come to the knowledge of it from the bottom of my heart adore and bless thee for that mercy and with a penitent heart humbly and earnestly beg thy pardon for my great abuses of it that I should so wretchedly as I have stained and poluted those white and innocent Robes which I then put on and for my known and unknown breaches of those vows and promises which were then made in my name O my Lord I am accused judged and condemned by my own Conscience But O my Jesu whose sacred side once dropt Water and Blood for me as thou hast admitted me to the Water when I was baptized so be thou now graciously pleased to admit me to the Blood too and to partake of all the benefits of it that as I early partaked of the cleansing of the one so I may now receive the healing virtue of the other and let all my Iniquities I beseech thee that have been adventured on by me since my Baptism to this present hour be to thee as if they had never been at all O that I could now go to thy Table with the like innocence that I came from the waters of Regeneration But seeing I cannot O my Jesu who wert pleas'd to bring me to the honour and priviledge of Baptism before I could beg or desire it be thou likewise pleased by thy grace to carry me prepared to thy Table who can and do earnestly desire and beg this of thee and as thou wert pleased then to make me a lamb of thy flock so deny me not the favour how unworthy soever I have hitherto lived of it of being one of those faithful Sheep of thy fold that hear thy voice O my Lord as I was never yet at thy Table and come a stranger to this Heavenly feast so I intreat thee let me not miss of the mercy of being a welcome and acceptable guest there O make me to understand and consider the advantage that I have above many others who may now by thy Grace never be an unworthy Communicant Do thou therefore by thy gracious intercession supply my ignorance and by thy Mercy and Merits pitty and pardon the vanities and sins and follies of my youthful state particularly †Here you may mention the particulars and receive me with the Love and Compassion and Tenderness of a Parent that so I may love thee and adore thee and bless thee and obey thee betimes and may tast of the sweets and delicacies of an early Religion and Holyness I come then O my Jesu I come to give thee this first solemn Testimony of my Love to thee and to receive the first great tokens of thy Love to me O be pleased so feelingly to touch my heart now at the first with a deep sence of Love to thee and thy Religion that I may ever hereafter rejoyce in all opportunities of a holy Sacrament and have a never-ceasing Love to those holy Mysteries Do thou vouchsafe O my dear Redeemer at this our first most solemn meeting to bring all those Graces along with thee which thou would'st have my Soul to be fitted with and fix them there I beseech thee O my Lord I was early devoted to thee by others but suffer me now to dedicate my self to thee Come Lord Jesu come then take possession of my heart I beseech thee before ever the World Flesh or Devil get any more footing there and if either of them have got any already for my great neglects to present my self to thee and opening the door of it to thee sooner turn out O my Lord turn them out thence and with the rest of thy Church accept me even me also O my Father Let me take thee into my hand O my dear Lord and place thee in my heart before ever any more lusts or follies be admitted there and then be thou pleased to take me by the hand and place me in thy heart that there I may live and there I may dye Finally O my Lord let all my past Iniquities I beseech thee be so done away that thou mayst receive me so as if I were but now come from the Waters of Baptism With such hopes as these with such defires as these I come to lay my self at thy feet O blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen A Prayer and Thanksgiving after the holy Sacrament to be used only by such as had never received it before O Holy and merciful Jesus by whom the mercies of Eternity are conveyed to mankind I bless and praise and thank thee with my whole heart and all the
powers of my Soul for this first admittance of me to the mercy and the priviledges of the Holy Sacrament of thy Body and Blood for my having lately partaked of some of these joyes and comforts that are alone to be found with thee and in thy Service and till now were unknown to me O that having had the mercy and advantage of renewing my Covenant with thee I may now at least begin to spend my days as far as ever the necessary business of this present life will permit me in thy Service in all the parts of piety and virtue in works of Mercy and Charity and Devotion in meekness and humility in self-denial and Repentance in Chastity and Temperance in all that 's holy just and good O my Lord 't is the serious desire and resolution of my Soul thus to do that so early beginning to lay up my treasure in Heaven I may by thy Grace have a good account there in the Records of Eternity at the end of my sixty or seventy years O my Jesu whatever thou pleasest else to deny me here deny me not a grant of this my request I beseech thee that those desires and resolutions of mine may in some good measure be accomplished and effected Let not the allurements and perswasions of my Companions ever entice me from my Duty or the jeers or reproaches of any man whatever fright me from my Innocence O let me never suffer my self to be laught out of my Religion or be ashamed or affraid to perform my holy Duties before the face of any man but be ever looking unto Jesus and let me in view of him be content to endure the Cross and despise the shame or whatever else shall befal me for the sake of Piety and Virtue or obedience to any one Command of thine Let my youthful heart be never much inflam'd with any Loves or passions or desires but those of thee and thy holy Religion O my Lord grant that I may be perswaded to understand and consider what a great advantage I have of devoting and giving up my first and best dayes to Religion and Piety and that now is my time to shew that I am lead to Religion by Love and by my choice and not driven to it only by the fears and horrors of an approaching Grave and that I may often and betimes consider with how much greater comfort I shall leave Mortality if I may be able then to remember an early Love and Obedience to thee O Jesu Let me who have liv'd in thy family ever since I was baptized now at least begin to feel my self more powerfully drawn to thee than ever O make me in the beginning of my dayes to be truely serious and considerate to begin to withdraw from the World betimes and to love to be sometime alone to look into the state of my Soul and provide for a joyful Resurrection Make me to think it the greatest happiness in this World to choose thee O blessed Jesu betimes for my Lord and Master and to look on Religion as the Rest and Delight and Satisfaction of my Soul O fill my Soul with such a Love to thee and to those holy Mysteries in which I commemorate a dying Lord that I may be able to think it long before I have an opportunity to come to feast upon thy Body and Blood again and that as I grow in years I may in some measure grow in Grace and in the Divine favour To this end O that I may pass safely through this dangerous state of life freed from the Intemperance and Lusts the folly and vanity the heedlesness and inconsideration that often attends it and that I may the better be able thus to do Lord I now deliver up to thee all my Affections and Desires to be guided and directed by thy Holy Spirit I am willing to submit them all to thee that so as I have lately begun for Eternity I may go on and prosper and in an acceptable measure now keep up to the purity and Innocence of my first sanctification and never more give out till I come to the end of my hopes and the beginning of my joyes and be presented to my Father pure and spotless in the great day of Rewards and Punishments by thee O holy and merciful Jesus Amen A Prayer which may be used by them who before they come to the Sacrament set apart something to be then offered up to God in Alms. O Merciful Lord from whom every good gift comes and by whose bounty alone it is that I enjoy any thing which I possess I humbly offer up this small return of it to thee for the use of them whom thou hast made thy receivers the poor and the needy Let not the smalness of the offering or any unworthyness of mine I beseech thee keep it from being an acceptable Alms and Oblation to thee and let not the abuse of any of my possessions that have been laid out on Sin and Folly Gluttony or Vanity Lust or Intemperance Revenge or Malice be ever charged or remembred against me in the day of Judgement And O my God take from me a Covetous and Illiberal heart and teach me the truely Christian measures of Charity in Giving and Forgiving for Jesus sake Amen A Prayer for the Grace of Charity in forgiving with particular reference to that petition in our Lord's Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive c. which may be used either before the Sacrament or any other time O Blessed and holy Jesus who wert the great Example of Giving and Forgiving dying for Enemies ready and willing to forgive Iniquity and Sin and to give Heaven and Glory to all true Penitents Give me Grace to write after all this blessed Copy of thine in an acceptable measure And if there be or has been any offender or trespasser against me whom I have not forgiven according to thy Will and the measures of the Gospel forgive me O blessed Jesu and let me not fail to receive a full pardon of that Iniquity for thy mercies sake O let my desires and Petitions of being forgiven as I forgive never be answered according to that instance whatsoever it were or ever shall be wherein I have not heretofore or through the frailty of humane nature or any sudden surprize or inconsideration should not hereafter at any time keep up to thy sacred Rule and Will And O Lord guide and direct me for the Remainder of my dayes in the true measures of Patience and forbearance and take from me all malice and hatred and grudgings and heart-burnings and desires of Revenge on any that has injured me and plant in my Soul I humbly and earnestly beseech thee the true Charity and forgiveness O Lord for thy mercies sake thy Love's sake to mankind so pitty me and pardon all my former gratifications of my revengeful humour that they may never be so charged on me or remembred as to hinder thy forgiveness of me And