Members of my Body which thou hast giv'n me for thy Service and ought to have been instruments of holiness I have daily made weapons of iniquity mine understanding which should daily have delighted in thee and thy law hath been daily busied in the search of sin mine affections which I should have wholly fixt upon thee the highest holiest and most happy object in whom is alsufficiency have been foolishly and falsly bestowed on the emptiness and vanity of the Creature in which I have found nothing else but shortness and uncertainty falshood and flattery weariness and misery Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have not wisely nor timely considered that the grace of repentance is thy heavenly Gift and ought to be early begg'd of thee by Prayers and Tears but have sinfully imagin'd it in mine own power to repent when I would when I have been neither sure of time to ask it of hope to obtain it grace to receive it or of mercy to enjoy it Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have not only turned thy grace into wantonness but even thy choicest of thy gifts bestowed on me into wickedness by being spiritually proud of my endowments so that while I have pharisaically seemed in mine own eyes to be much better than others I have in thy â—ight been far worse and have thereby lost the blessed presence of thy holy Spirit who resisteth the proud and givest grace to the humble Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have not daily and duly as I ought examined my Soul by each particular of thy Commandments that so my Conscience might be throughly convinced of my sins and I thereby with holy fear might heartily bewail them utterly forsake them perfectly hate them and together with thy Justice condemn my self for them but have only looked on them with a carnal eye as common spectacles of mans misery and proper objects of thy Mercy from whence it is that I have not died unto sin daily as I ought that this my sorrowing for sin hath been but superficial my hope of thy pardon deceitful and even my very mortification to sin exceeding sinful Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have readily remembred that there is no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus but sinfully forgotten that it is to those only which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit thus have I wretchedly put of the punishment of sin from the guilt of it and am thereby become guilty of thy double punishment that for the committing of evil and this for denying thee in Christ to be the rewarder only of good Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have willingly believed that it is the blood of God which cleanseth me from all iniquity and that if I believe in thee although I were dead yet shall I live and that if I live and believe in thee I shall never die but I have wilfully forgotten that by my daily sinning I have daily trampled on thy precious blood and am therefore dead while I live and may therefore justly fear that without mercy I must live in endless torments when I am dead Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have sometimes promised the general amendment of my own evil ways by my thorough Mortification to Sin and Sanctification to Righteousness in my more frequent watchings fastings Prayings holy strivings against my corruptions and holy hungrings for thy heavenly graces but all these to my Souls grief were soon forgotten by me and my sinful affections instead of drawing nearer to thee alienated every day more and more from thee Lord be merciful to be a sinner I have missed many happy opportunities of going to thy holy Table under the false pretences of unfitness to receive want of Charity to forgive and of Faith to believe whereas these sinful wants which have all proceeded from my want of grace ought much rather to have been graciously repair'd with earnest prayers and truly repented of with daily tears Lord be merciful to me a sinner I have not so freely and so fully forgiven and forgotten those injuries which man hath offer'd unto me as I ought to have done but have too often come unto thy holy Table with reproach in my mouth and malice in my heart Thus O Lord have I had sinfully to do with malice that stood in so grea need of mercy and by refusing to forgive my brother upon Earth may justly fear to be denied forgiveness by thee in heav'n Lord be merciful to me a sinner From these my sinful inconsiderations undue preparations ungracious absentings and more ungodly frequentings of thy blessed Table have proceeded these my declinings in grace and decayings in goodness so that without thy rich mercy unto me in Christ whose precious blood thou hast spilt for me and by this thy blessed Seal confirm'd unto me I may justly fear I have received unworthily and thereby eaten and drank unto my self mine own damnation Lord be merciful to me a sinner A Prayer after Confession of sins to Almighty God I. ALmighty God I have sinned and I desire to repent I am heavy laden with the burthen of my sins and can find none on earth to releive me to thee therefore O thou father of mercies and God of all consolations who invitest weary Souls to come unto thee and easiest them when they are come do I apply my self for mercy and forgiveness O thou blessed fountain of eternal good who hast freely given me thine only Son to dye for me and in him thy self to be for ever reconciled to me who desirest not the death of me a miserable sinner but rather that I should repent and live have mercy upon me O thou blessed Shepherd of my Soul who aimest to seek and to save those that were lost that findest all whom thou seekest and looseth none of those whom thou hast found have mercy upon me O thou sacred and for ever blessed spirit who visitest and cherishest the drooping Souls of thine Elect assist and comfort me Lord save me or I perish Lord help me or I faint Lord seek me or I am lost for ever II. With all humility of soul I humbly acknowledg that I have too long sinfully depended on the vain shadows and deceitful shews of mine own imperfect holiness and have too sinfully neglected the improvements of thy heavenly graces whereby I have too long deluded my own Soul with hopes of my heavenly assurance and have then thought my self to be spiritually rich when in thy sight I have been wretchedly poor sinfully blind wilfully naked distressedly miserable III. Lord open thou mine eyes by thy precious Eye-salve of thy Sacred Word that I may clearly see the sadness of my mine own condition in these my sad mistakes by this the great deceit of my own deluding heart enrich my poverty with the gifts and graces of thy holy Spirit cover my nakedness with the precious robes of Christs righteousness swallow up this my
and favour of God detaining my mind in such degrees of ignorance as may render my sin less odious to me and make me less sensible of my misery and want of Mercy hardning and consirming my will against those Pious and Good motions by which the Spirit of God oftentimes attempts to soften it to an ingenuous submission to God and his Will disordering my affections and diverting them from those right Objects which Reason and Religion propound and my own Conscience cannot but approve VI. Which makes my sin out of measure sinful and dangerous so that in the shame and confusion which this sight of it self casts upon my Soul I have enough to do to see and weigh my own unworthiness and fill my Conscience with that fear of the Wrath of God and horror of Eternal Judgment which I confess might justly punish all my sins with despair and it as the greatest of all sins with Damnation And beyond these thoughts I could noâ— I durst not go in this gulfe of sin and the apprehensions of my misery should I sink not daring to send up the least thought to Heaven for a better Estate nor apply my self to the means of any Use or Happiness VII If I did not see by a Divine and Glorious Light of Truth a Hand of Mercy and means of recovery and Salvation stretched out to me and assuring me by the unerring and undeceiveable veracity of God and the infallibility of his Promises that his Thoughts are thoughts of Mercy and Pardon to sinful Mankind that he hath graciously found a way of satisfying his Justice and taking off the Guilt and Punishment of our sins from our Souls by the sufferings of Jesus Christ God and Man transferring the Guilt and punishment of our sins to him and imputing the Merits of his Righteousness to us upon condition we believe on him and cast our Souls how sinful soever they be into the Arms of his Mercy and by the serious apprehension of this infinite Love and Goodness be won from the Love of sin to Repentance and Amendment of Life Upon this Truth and Grace revealed by God to his Church and my Soul in particular I lay hold and cast my self with all the Guilt and Burden of my sins what aggravations soever for number or quality they admit being assured that they are infinitely less than the Mercies of God and Merits of Jesus Christ This wonderful Truth of God which I dare not I cannot deny this Mercy which above all things I need adds new Mercy to my dead and languishing Soul this represents God to me in the face of Jesus Christ as the highest Good most to be desired loved and admired VIII This shews me my sin in the true colours of ingratitude vileness end unworthiness against that Mercy which offers Pardon for my sin against a Saviour who hath died for me This stirs up a hatred and resolution against sin out of a principal love and apprehension of a wonderful desert and obligation of love and unspeakable Kindness to me that as I have the greatest cause that can be to be humbled in the sight of my sin and self so that the surest ground that can be whereon to settle my Faith and Comfort is the Truth and Mercy of God which by the Word Spirit and Son of God is assured to me that although by my sin I have highly displeased and dishonoured God Almighty yet by my trust and believing in his Truth and Promises of Pardon and Salvation through Jesus Christ I shall greatly please and honour him giving him the Glory of his Grace and Mercy by sealling to his Truth which to question or deny or not to believe is to make all my other sins unpardonable and add a sin of a higher nature than any I have yet committed that is unbelief or giving God the lye and its inseperable companion impenitency IX Won therefore and melted by this great certain and preventive Kindness and Love of God which in no sort I could deserve yet cannot deny or doubt of I grow dayly to see more clearly and embrace more firmly affectionately the Goodness of God to my Soul and from thence to a more tender sense and greater detestation of sin not so much now daring to sin as not willing to sin denying the motions and occasions to sin not so much out of fear of punishment as a love to please and an extream secret shame of returning evil to such wonderful Goodness abhorring sin not so much for the evil which follows it as for the evil which is in it and deformity and vileness of it which I see by the glymps of that Beauty and Loveliness which I discover in Holiness and Vertue the Image of God the highest Ornament and Happiness of the Creature X. Thus in some degrees freed from the Fear and Love of my sin Holy desires and good affections as followers of the Sun's Accession in the Spring begin to arise in my heart and though they suffer a great allay by the Earth of the Body in which the Soul is planted yet they assure me that the Spirit of God hath moved upon that Chaos the deadness and barrenness of my Soul and by a secret but most effectual influence hath made me a New Creature by ingrafting me into the Tree of Life Jesus Christ and washing me in that pure Fountain of his Blood which was shed for the Remission of my sins Thus now I desire nothing more than daily to attain a fuller Sight and Capacity of this admired Mercy that as my knowledge in the Greatness and Truth of it increaseth so my Faith in the applying of it may be strengthened my Affections in the thankful return of my self may be enflamed my Charity and Virtue towards others may be excited glad to have occasions really to express my Love Pity and Forgiveness of others that grateful Sense I have of God's Love to me in Christ XI And that the whole course of my Life may be so ordered as becomes one who is united to the Son of God not only by the Community of the humane Nature but by the efficacy of the same Holy Spirit and raised to the hopes of the same Glory and Happiness that now nothing is more acceptable to me than to meditate of this great Mystery of man's Salvation nothing more delightful than the thoughts of God reconciled to me in Jesus Christ nothing more welcom than the use of those means by which God doth further confirm and assure this Mercy and Truth to my Soul whose many failings though they often shake my confidence and obscure my comfort yet the sight of the Promises and the seals of the Sacrament annexed to them in which I behold Jesus Christ crucified does again establish my heart and assure me that the All-powerful Love and Grace of God will not be overcome by the sin and wickedness of man but will effectually repair the breaches of my dayly infirmities and satisfie the doubtings of
my misguided Conscience and further assure me of the pardon of my sins and interest in his love and favour by the renewed use of his sacred Ordinances XII To which he calls and invites me both by the outward overture of fit occasions and inward incitation of good and earnest desires to pertake of them as the pledges and conduits of my greatest comfort and happiness which happiness I esteem and seek after not only in a freedom from the punishment and misery of my sin but from the power of and the pleasure that seems to be in sin nor do I count it a less degree of Grace and Mercy which enables me to serve and love him than that which saves me from Hell Torments nor do I come to the Sacrament only to quit the score of my sins but to get strength and grace against them to deny mortify and overcome them which above all things that the World accounts will I most abhor and desire to avoid and am most grieved if I do not I make new and reinforced vows and resolutions between God and my Soul against my sinful self which although I have often failed to keep as I intended yet I am not quite overcome while I truly desire pray and endeavour to get the victory and am never more displeased than when I fail of it XIII Thus having tryed and renewed my repentance by my sighs sorrow and humiliation for sin my serious purpose and earnest prayer against sin my faith by my love of God dependence upon him submission to him desire to please him arising out of an apprehension and perswasion of his love to my Soul my love to God and my Saviour by my hatred of sin fear to and greif for offending by my love of his Servants delight in his word zeal for his truth and glory an earnest desire and stedfast hope to enjoy him and by my particular appetite and desires to this holy Sacrament as a special means of communion with my God and Saviour and pertaking of his Grace My charity and love to others by my care and endeavour by all means to further their Souls good by my affectionate prayes for them though they have deserved ill of me by my tenderness of giving offence my slowness to take offence by my grief when any arise by my proneness and joy in reconciling and though I find all these graces in me but in weak and small degrees with mixture of much infirmity and many imperfections nay a contrary power daily opposing and with much impatience striving to break the Cords of pious and solemn resolutions I am as well becomes me humbled and emptied of all opinions of my self XIV Yet am I not discouraged from coming since what did most deter me in it self from coming to Christ my sin and unworthiness is by the operation of faith made as the greatest incitement to provoke me to come being one whose great wants and unworthiness will afford a fit subject whereon to magnifie the Riches of that free Grace and infinite mercy which becomes the majesty of God and may answer the merits of our Saviour from whom as a principle of a new life I expect all the grace comfort strength and happiness which I want and to whom I give the glory of all that I enjoy who as the head derives to every part of his body the Church life motion health and whatever is in his own fullness and perfection whose love and compassion to my Soul to all Eternity will be too little to comprehend and magnify XV. Which that I may more fully discover I have a more lively assurance of be more thankfully affected and live more worthy of it I repeat again this sacred memorial and seal of his love and mercy having first sought by frequent earnest and humble prayer and in some measure obtained the assistance of his holy Spirit which by its preparatory Grace stirs up earnest and hungring desires to receive renew its habitual graces planted in my heart Knowledge Faith Repentance love of God charity to others and thankfulness by actuating a new before I receive assistance in receving by Sacred devout and pertinent Meditations seals and testifies to my Conscience my acceptance and efficacy of receiving by increase of holiness in my heart and care of better obedience in my life after the surest evidence and truest I can have or expect of my worthy receiving XVI Having thus faithfully discharg'd my Duty and Conscience in the way of preparation to the Sacrament though still conscious to and humbled in the consideration of my own unworthiness in any proportion to the great good I aim at yet I will not deprive my self of so neâ—r and inestimable a comfort by refraining nor dare l so far distrust the mercy of God and dignation of my Saviour who propounds not my personal worthiness in a strict sense as the object of my comfort and hopes in coming but his gracious acceptance and merciful indulgence such indeed as becomes the infinite goodness and honour of the Christians God and Saviour XVII The same holy frame and devout temper of Spirit I labour to continue in my receiving carrying my Faith by the visible Representations before me and given to me to behold its invisible but most credible object Jesus Christ crucified and dying for my sins whose love and merits I consider with as great an obligation of love thankfulness and obedience upon me as if he had laid down his life for me alone these meditations raise me to thankfulness to admiration to exaltation of the love of God my Saviour above all XVIII Finally so I endeavour to receive this blessed Sacrament as if each opportunity were my last as if I were to appear before God in Judgment that in the power of that grace I there receive I may live the remainder of my short life virtuously and holily in the hope of its reward and perfection in Heaven I may die willingly and chearfully in the Merit and Righteousness of it I may attain to the Resurrection of the just appear justified before God at the last and great day and obtain the Consummation of all in that glorious estate of Immortality with God and Christ in Heaven XIX The Duty of examining my self is by precept clearly enjoyning me by the Spirit of God let a Man therefore examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup 1. Cor. 11. Chap 28. verse which alone were enough to exact my performance but since all the commands of God who is the most perfect reason to rational Creatures are most reasonable though oft times ignorance or blindness doth not or will not discover it to the equity of this injunction my own reason must needs subscribe for knowing that every thing is received according to the capacity and disposition of the recipient and that a worldly sensual and meer humane mind is unapt to receive things intellectual Spiritual and Divine and perceive objects the
Soul receiving no more of its objects what ever they be than it doth by intention and design apply himself to them XX. It must needs be that unpreparedness through ignorance or inconsideration of what I do cannot but frustrate my Soul of the good end of any action and most of all in so sacred and solemn a one as this is which concerns my Souls good in so high a nature and the negligent performance of it must needs render me guilty of a great sin of prophaneness and irreverence towards the Majesty of ingratitude towards the mercy of my God and Saviour whose ordinance this is and with whom in it I have to do besides I am conscious to my self that although for the habits of grace and general purpose of my heart I may be or strive to be at no time utterly indisposed to the service of God in holy duties as they are presented to me in private or publick occasions yet I see not without some degree of sorrow and humiliation that through the variety and distraction of secular affairs and the cares that attend them the commotions and suddenness of passions and irregular affections the common but then of humane and corporal infirmities the multitude and vanity of sensual objects and desires sin daily prevails upon me and my mind is much taken off from that constant regard and delight which I would and ought to have of God and his commands and becomes indispos'd to holy duties XXI By all which my faith and hope in God my Saviour is much weakned and undermined while my understanding grows dim and clouded in the knowledge of them my memory is blotted and defaced in its notions and impressions of them my will is declined wraped from its conformity with them and my desires are cool and indifferent to them as objects of a pure and remote nature of a sublimer speculation pleasure than these which are present and fall under the senses to which our Souls have a daily nearer and more easy access so that my Conscience tells me by the light of nature that it is necessary for me to recollect my Soul by a special and renewed preparation when ever I approach these holy and extraordinary duties to recover the lost and forgotten notions to clear that dimness which the light of knowledge hath contracted to rectify the swervings and obliquities of my will to compose the levity and extravagancies of my thoughts to reinflame the coolness and deadness of my affections to reinforce my vows and resolutions against sin in a word by unfeigned repentance and renewed sorrow by a serious meditation of God my Saviour my self and the means of Communion between us by frequent and servent prayer to settle and reestablish my faith and hope in the mercies of God and merits of Christ to wind up and raise my Soul judiciously to see seriously to intend earnestly to desire succesfully to obtain the hope and comfort of my Eternal happiness which is that great and highest end to which this as all other holy actions are by Divine ordination appointed XXII This then being the present state of my Soul in this vale of mortality both of its self by an innate burthen alwaies sinking and declining towards the Creature and besides wanting not many temptations which daily seek to quench depress and indispose it from aspiring to Heaven and a supernatural end and happiness it is necessary for me before I use these means which may advance me towards that end to take a survey of my heart by examining both the register of my Conscience for sins past and the present state and disposition of my will as also my after purpose and intentions how they stand inclined to good or evil to God or the Creature to things of this life or that to come that so I may recover what I have lost renew what I am decayed in repent what I have offended in and reform what I have failed in obtaining what grace and power I want and daily advance to what high measure and ability I can till I attain the end of all my prayers and endeavour the glory of God in the salvation of my Soul XXIII I examine my understanding what thoughts and conceptions I have of this holy Sacrament for if in this I am either grosly ignorant or damnably erroneous I must necessarily miscarry in my receiving and fail of my duty and its end nor will the goodness of my Intentions or Devoutness of my affection which cannot be lively and hearty but flashy and languishing true and sound knowledge being the fuel which feeds the flame of good and constant affections those I say countervail so gross defects in my Judgment but as in physick misapplying in the use must needs follow mistaking in the doctrine and nature of it although I do not aim or presume to attain a full and exact comprehension of this great mystery in the manner of its being and working which is most secret divine and spiritual in the cloud and dimness of mortality this knowledge then of this great mystery I conceive necessary to be had and I hope to be true and agreeable to the nature of the thing and the Will of God revealed concerning it Rules and directions to a weeks preparation I. When thou hearest the warning read in the Church by the Minister consider and contemplate with thy self that God Almighty hath sent forth his servant to bid thee to this great Supper where not his fat Oxen are killed but his only beloved Son and thy dear Saviour who was crucified on the Cross for thine and for the sins of the whole World is offered to thee to feed upon in thine heart with faith and thanksgiving therefore to fit and prepare thy self for this royal Feast thou must put on the Wedding Garment and cast off those filthy rags thy sins from thee and desire of God that he would remove them as far from thee as the East is from the West and to remember them no more II. Thus by a serious and narrow search into thy heart thou mayest become a worthy receiver and eat and drink this spiritual Food with comfort to the benefit and improvement of thy immortal Soul but if on the contrary thou receive it unworthily thou eatest and drinkest thy own damnation not discerning the Lords Body therefore examine thy heart and search and try thy ways and turn unto the Lord. How canst thou tell but this is the acceptable time of working out thy own Salvation therefore work now while it is day for the night cometh wherein no man can work use all possible means and endeavours to receive the same worthily and endeavour to purge thy Conscience from dead works to serve the living God and so will I conclude this Section in the words of St. Paul Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Morning Devotions MOnday morning and the rest of the week
requirest of me look not upon me I meekly beseech thee as I am in my self in my frailties of sinful nature but graciously behold me in the beauties and perfections of thy blessed Son Lord give me that holy hungring and thirstings after thee that my longings may be earnest for thee let thy holy Table be delightful to me and sweeter than all outward enjoyments that I may truly love it and joyfully possess thy Heavenly comforts by it III. Almighty God who so perfectly hatest sin that thou hast most severely punished it in thine only and beloved Son whom thou freely gavest not only to dye for sin but also to condemn it and to call sinners to repentance for it have mercy upon me I humbly beseech thee thy vile sinful and most unworthy servant Who have not only foolishly and sinfully imagined that thou wouldst cherish that in me which thou hast so sharply punished in my Saviour but also wickedly divided thee in thine own essence and there by my self from thee in the loosing of thy gracious presence have pity upon me and release me from these misty fogs of sin and ignorance and lead me by thy blessed light of grace to those thy blessed paths which lead to glory IV Lord I have sinned and I desire to repent I tremble at the greatness of my sin and humbly beg thy pardon for it in the richness of thy mercy O let thy sweet saving and preventing grace make this my humiliation effectual unto me O let me no longer vainly think the guilt only of sin to be mine and the punishment my Saviours but let me faithfully believe that untill by thy grace I am made truly conformable to him I have no part nor portion in him but am yet in my sins and thereby liable to thy sorest punishments Lord give me a saving Faith to believe in him a sanctified life to be a true follower of him and a Blessed death to live for ever with him Amen Meditations for Thursday Morning on the Holy Sacrament AFfliction is the proper object of Compassion misery the proper object of mercy and therefore we read how Pilate willing to release Jesus he brings him forth having his back surrowed with the Whips his Head harrowed with the Thorns and his derisive purple stain'd yea drencht with blood and presents him thus ghastly a spectacle to the Jews with an Ecce homo behold the man supposing so sad a sight would have moved malice to mercy and envy it self to Compassion now what Pilate did to the Jews with Christ Christ in a fit resemblance and apt allusion does with the penitent to his Father he brings him forth in the Court of Conscience having his heart wounded with sorrow his Spirit broken in Contrition and his Soul fainting in Languishments of repentance and presents him so sad a spectacle to the Father with an Ecce homo behold the max. II. Behold the man once so lofty in his pride now so lowly in his penitence once so hardned in his rebellion now so humbled in his contrition once so obstinate a Sinner now so pittifull a Penitent and oh whilst this man of sorrows mourns in affliction how does the Father of mercies melt in Compassion when the wounded sinner is presented by the wounded Son and the penitents tears cry aloud with the Mediators Blood how must the Fathers compassion needs melt into sins remission III. This affliction and pain is either that of the penitent sinner or that of the devout Saint that of the penitent sinner who having withdrawn himself from the World and retired into the secret closet of his conscience how does he with Hezekiah even overturn the Annals of his life in the bitterness of his Soul and after a strict survey having faithfully observed the sins which he hath committed and the several circumstances by which they are aggravated he then summs them up into a Catalogue which is no sooner in his eye but sorrow is in his heart endeavouring to blot our those letters of guilt with his tears of repentance through faith in the Blood of Christ IV. And whilst he sets his sins in order before him oh how does a secret affrightment chill his blood and make his heart to tremble in apprehension of their loathsom filth and dreadful curse yea in beholding himself under the heavy sentence of the Laws condemnation oh how is he wholly encompassed with terror and amazement when he looks within him oh the terrors of an accusing conscience and a killing guilt when he looks without him oh the horror of a deserved death and a tormenting Hell when he looks above him oh the dread of an offended Majesty and an avenging Judge oh whither then shall this poor penitent fly for succour where oh where shall his affrighted and afflicted soul seek for shelter where but at the Cross of his Redeemer V. And when Christ so full of pity so full of love when he beholds the humble suppliant and sincere penitent in the lowest depths of his humiliation pouring out his complaint at the foot of his Cross when he hears his mournful sighs his painful groans the earnest messengers of his asslicted soul it is then as impossible for Christ to forget the passions of sorrow which he suffered as not to compassionate this poor penitent for whom he suffered he who stopped not his ears at the Jews blasphemies will certainly not stop his ear at the penitents complaints he that turned not away his face from his enemies buffetings will not turn away his Eyes from the suppliants tears though the Devil hath bereav'd the sinner of his purity yet can he not deprive his Saviour of his pity Christ doth not Christ cannot so remember the sins that man hath committed that he forgets the soul which himself hath purchast his eye and nothing else indeed can do it but his eye of mercy that looks through the guilt of sin to behold the sorrow of the sinner and that affliction moves his compassion VI. The sorrow of affliction and pain in the penitent becomes destructive of sin through the power of faith in the blood of Christ for that God will be sanctified in all them that come nigh unto him and therefore he being a consuming fire in the fury of his vengeance when we humble our selves before him tho with the deepest of afflictions unless it be by faith in Jesus Christ as the Mediator God will be a just Judge to condemn rather than a merciful Father to forgive for it is not our tears without Christs blood not our sorrows without his sufferings not our affliction without his passion that can quench the fire of Gods wrath satisfie the severity of Gods Justice and move the tenderness of his mercy when therefore acted by love and strengthned by faith we pour out our complaints unto our God in a sincere repentance our affliction and pain shal become the proper object of his divine mercy A Prayer for Thursday Morning preparatory to the
THE Whole Duty OF A Communicant BEING Rules and Directions for a worthy receiving the most Holy SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S Supper By the Right Reverend Father in GOD JOHN GAVDEN Late Lord BISHOP OF EXETER He being dead yet speaketh The second Edition with Additions out of the Reverend Prelates original Copies LONDON Printed by E. R. for L. C. and Hen. Rodes next door to the Bare Tavern near Bride-lane in Fleet-street 1685. THE ANGELLS ADMIRE THE DIVINE GOODNES TO THE Truly Honourable THE LADY RICH. Most honoured Lady THE Confidence of your Nobleness and Piety makes the least intimation of your Desires to have upon me the force of Commands being assured that your Piety and Judgment directs you to what is good and your Nobleness and Ingenuity will favourably interpret what a mind truly honouring you doth intend to answer your desires Such is this small Tract occasioned by a motion your Ladyship once made of having some Preparatory Form written with such brevity yet fulness and perspicuity three rare qualities in one Subject as might neither dull nor confound nor yet leave unsatisfied à Mind studious to inform its Judgment and devoutly to prepare its Affections so oft as it receives the Holy Sacrament and great Mystery of the Lords Suppee These Notions do not presume nor pretend to have attained such a Compleatness as may either satisfie your Ladyship's desires or add any thing to your Knowledg which is fitter to judge of the consent of these with your own than needs any information by them such they are and their Author seeks to appear as may rather deserve the censure of Devout than Curious in an Argument of so mysterious a Depth good Affections are rather to be raised and inflamed than Subtilties searched and disputed what I come short in Depth of Knowledge I endeavour to supply in belief of the Truth in love to the Goodness in thanks for the Benefit in admiration of the Mercy and Dignation the less I reach to its height the more I retire to my own Heart which I can sufficiently prepare by Humility for the receiving of that whose divine Excellency though I cannot comprehend yet the Benefit and Happiness by it I may obtain It will be easie for your Ladyship at your leisure to add or amend what my defects or haste have failed in or omitted Nor do I present this as a Copy to be imitated so much as inlarged and corrected by you it is enough for my design if either I do or receive good the one may shew how willing I am the other may make me abler than I am to express that willingness and pious Ambition I have to appear worthy the honour and esteem of Madam Your Ladyship 's humble Servant J. Gauden THE WHOLE DUTY OF A Communicant OF THE SACRAMENT IN GENERAL THE ever Blessed Testator as the Author to the Hebrews doth fitly call him Heb. 9. 16. hath left us two Sacraments only as generally and necessary to Salvation Baptism the Sacrament of Initiation and the Lords Super the Sacrament of Confirmation the first admitteth us into Christs visible Body the Church the second feedeth and strengthneth in the same and this happy opportunity being offered me of coming to the most holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper I will joyn with the Church in the celebration of this great Mystery and endeavour to put in practice that duty which the Command of God and just reason requires in preparing my self for that great Solemnity and Angelical Feast I. Which is by setting apart some hours three or four several daies before Receiving withdrawing my thoughts from worldly and temporary business and placing them upon serious and devout Meditations of my souls good and eternal happiness being fully perswaded of its Immortal Estate after this short life and the happiness of that state only to consist in the vision and fruition of God the chiefest good and only satisfactory to an Intellectual and Eternal Being among all other means appointed to men by the wisdom and goodness of God for the attaining that happy state this of the blessed Sacrament is one of the most eminent for Comfort and Efficacy II. A Sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible Grace a holy Seal ordained of God to strengthen our Faith in his promises in Jesus Christ for the free remission of our sins which God therefore annexed to his word to confirm us by representing the sufferings of Chirst to our sight and tasting as the Gospel preacheth it to our ears and it is called the Lords Supper because Christ ordained it at his last Supper Math. 26. 26. Wherein to fulfil the Law he eat the Paschal Lamb and to shew the determination and change of the Levitical Law and Priesthood he ordained for this new Covenant of Grace a new Sacrament and seal thereof that it succeeding the Passover might declare him to be the Lamb of Go◠which taketh away the sins of the world John 1. 19. to shew and represent his death until his coming again to leave his Church a Badg of distinction from Infidels and a parting token and pledge of his great love assuring the faithful of his continual care of them III. The visible signs are bread and wine the thing signified is the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ the benefits of whose Death and Passion being apprehended by Faith accrew to us as our mystical Union with Christ our Incorporation into him our reconciliation with God and the nourishment of our most precious souls to eternal life John 6. 54. Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at tht last day and this Sacrament if we do receive truly and faithfully God hath promised to accept us and to give us all those benefits in this which he was ready to bestow in the Sacrament of our Baptism had we not forfeited them by our transgressions and the renewing of our Covenant at this time is very necessary That we may rightly understand the mercies promised on God's part and the Duty on our own seeing this is a matter of so high Concernment it importeth every Christian First To Consider the End for which it was Instituted Secondly The Author by whom it was Instituted Thirdly The outward Means suitable to that end Fourthly The mystical Vnion by which they effectually attain and convey to us that end and benefit which is propounded Fifthly How we ought to Prepare our selves Sixthly How to Receive it worthily And Lastly How to Live well a righteous godly and sober Life after Receiving this most holy Sacrament First The End for which it was Instituted I. For its End which in every action is the first in the intention of the agent and that hath proportion and influence into all the means used for attaining it this I conceive to be a Divine spiritual and supernatural end even the highest God hath or man can propound to himself namely the glory of
crosses and mercies may serve as so many steps in that Ladder that may carry me to Heaven mind me of my latter end and teach me so to live that I may not fear to die that when I die I may be sure to live in the mean time O Lord assist my weakness and strengthen my faith that I may receive with comfort that heavenly Feast which thou hast prepared for me and all that believe and call upon thy holy name in whose blessed name and word I conclude my weak and imperfect prayers saying Our Father c. Meditations for Tuesday Evening on the holy Sacrament I. BY means of this divine food the Soul is united to Christ and receives that strength and vigour which continually sets it forward in its spiritual ascension Who can give worthy thanks for so great a benefit Who will not be altogether resolv'd into Tears when he sees Almighty God united to him the more we go about to consider the excellency and vertues of this Soveraign Mystery the more do we want words to express it and the more doth our understanding fail us II. What pleasant sweetness and delightful Savours of a good life doth the Soul of the just man feel when he receives this divine Sacrament there is no other sound heard at that time but the musick of the heart which are vehement bursting out of holy desires and yielding of thanks all tending to the praise of the ever blessed institutor there the devout Soul through the vertue of this most holy and blessed Sacrament is altogether renued and replenished with joy unspeakable and fully satisfied with those good things which the richness of his mercy hath found out and doth bestow upon all true penitents III. Such are thy gifts O sweet Saviour such are the works and delights of thy love which thou art wont to communicate to thy friends by the means of this divine Sacrament and this thou dost to the end that we being filled with these heavenly delights should despise all vain and transitory pleasures Now what glory can be greater then this What gift more precious What benefit of more value or what greater token of love let all the works of nature keep silence let all the works of grace give place for this is a work exceeding all works and a singular grace above all graces it is the burning Coal from the holy Altar to enkindle the fire of the love of God in us the means whereby to receive grace the pledge of everlasting felicity and the treasure of a Christian Life IV. Our blessed Redeemer of the World intending to restore man unto his former dignity and to raise him up by grace as he had faln by sin did ordain and leave as his last Legacy this most divine Sacrament of his Body and Blood whereby man might recover his lost Estate and be made partaker of the divine nature we have it express'd in his own words Joh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Now when the time drew near that Christ should be betrayed and delivered up to death he communeth with his disciples after this manner Luk. 22. 15. I have an earnest desire to eat the Passeover with you before I suffer having so said he took Bread and blessed it in like manner he took the Cup in Consecrating the Elements of Bread and Wine his Prayers ascended to Heaven but his benefits remain with his Church here on Earth the visible Elements declare two things the one that he was to offer up himself an oblation for the redemption of the whole world the other that he would become unto the faithful by his means a divine sustenance for their Souls V. Consider what great care our Saviour hath shewed towards us in instituting this Sacrament seeing nothing could be given more excellent more dear when he loved his which were in the World he loved them unto the end he hath given us of his own Bread and of his own Cup nay he hath given us his own Body as Bread his own Blood as Wine for the nourishment of our Souls had he bestowed this so great a gift on Saints and Angels it had not been so wonderful but bestowing it on poor Sinners was love unspeakable O what shall we render unto the Lord for all the benefits we have received at his hands let us meditate on his Love and pursue that holy resolution with the Prophet David to take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. VI. Who is there now that will neglect coming to this holy Table nay neglect their own Salvation when they may purchase it at so easie a rate O Lord if to obtain this benefit thou hadst ordain'd hard Fasts long Pilgrimages shedding of Blood and other sharp usages all these labours and afflictions ought worthily to have been suffer'd to tast even but once thy sacred Body but O Love unheard of that hadst rather make the entrance easie and delectable that I might the oftner receive this great benefit O Adam how much better is the condition of thy posterity than thine own was which is now brought to pass by the means of our loving and liberal Jesus thou wert driven out of Paradise and that thou shouldst not return thither to eat of the Tree of Life and live one of the Cherubims armed with a fiery Sword was set by the righteous God to keep it VII We thy Children living in the Paradise of the holy Church are not only driven away by an Angel with a fiery Sword but are invited of the Lord of Angels by the fire of his Love to taste often the fruit of the Tree of Life yea to receive him who hath given all strength to it and that giveth us a blessed and everlasting life for so he inviting us hath promis'd he which eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Joh. 6. 58. A Solliloquy for Tuesday Evening I. O thou only begotten Son of Almighty God great and wonderful are the benefits O Lord which I have received of thee thou hast raised me from the mire and dust of the Earth and hast created my Soul of nothing after thine own Image and likeness and hast made it eapable of thy glory thou hast given me understanding memory will free choice with all my other Members and Senses to the end that with them I might know thee and love thee thou hast preserv'd me even while I was yet in my Mothers womb thou hast patiently born with me a long time after so many sins committed even until this present hour where as others having less offended then I are now per adventure tormented in Hell fire II. Besides all this it was thy pleasure to become man and to be conversant among men for my sake and for me to be afflicted punished troubled and covered all over with a bloody sweat to be taken bound buffeted and spit upon to be dispised blasphemed reviled and
Holy Sacrament O Lord who weeled for me as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb so thou opened'st not thy mouth thou did'st good to thy Enemies and pray'dst earnestly for thy persecutors O plant in my heart gentleness patience and meekness that I may not be transported with the violent passion of anger disorder'd by peevishness or thoughts of revenge but patiently bear all crosses and with charity may return blessing for cursing keeping peace with all men and loving my Neighbour as my self and thee more than my self and more than all the World I may at last come into the regions of peace and Eternal Charity where thou livest who lovest all men and wouldest have none to perish but all men to be saved through thee O most merciful Saviour and Redeemer II. O thou who sitteth between the Chérubims and whose throne is in the highest Heavens purge me from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit that I may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy holy Name all the dayes of my life For thou art gracious and full of Compassion and givest meat unto them that fear thee and drink from the wells of Eternal Salvation thou preparest a table for us and anointest our heads with thy heavenly Vnction and our Cup runneth over let thy precious blood which was shed for me and the water which gushed from thy side wash me clean that I may with a pure heart and a clean soul come to Eat of that best Sacrifice the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World III. O Lord in the wonders of this holy Sacrament thou givest thy self to be the food of our souls in the faith of thy word in the blessings and graces of thy holy spirit perform that in me thy unworthy Servant which thou hast prepared and effected in thy Son enkindle in my heart a bright devotion Extinguish all the fires of Hell pardon all my sins and fill me with thy holy spirit that by obedience and love I may adore and honour thee all the days of my life IV. Thou hast opened unto me the fountains of thy mercy and hast invited all penitent sinners to come and receive pardon the oppressed to be eased and the sorrowful to be comforted admit me O Lord to this great Celebration of thy loving kindness that I may be comforted in all my griefs healed of all the wounds of my Soul and the bruises of my Spirit and finish my Journey through this valley of Tears unto my portion of thy Heavenly Kingdom Amen Meditations for Thursday Evening on the most Holy Sacrament O Lord thou not only art good and gracious but thou wilt also be so acknowledged so declar'd yea as such worshipped and adored that thy name then be not dishonoured let me though a sinner be accepted pardon mine iniquity that it may not be said thou ever rejectedst a poor penitent and thereby loose the glory of thy name whose name is merciful Exod. 34. 5 6. a merciful clemency is a royal virtue and honourable in every Soveraign Majesty thou then O Lord who art the King of Glory Psalm 24. 7 8. make this thy Holy Sacrament to be the Broad-Seal to my pardon and this for thy Names sake even for thy mercy sake II. I plead not Lord my merits who am less than the least of thy mercies and as I look not upon my merit do thou not look upon my demerit as I do not view my worthiness do not thou view my unworthiness but be merciful unto my sin of which I cannot say as Lot of Zoar is it not a little one no it is great for that it is against thee so great a God and so good to me great for that my place my office my calling is great the Sun the higher it is the less it seems but my sins the higher I am the greater they are even in thine and others eyes III. My knowledge of thee and thy ways is great I knew thy will and did it not my conscience checked me and yet I obeyed not thy Spirit moved me and yet I yielded not the number of my sins is numberless those I know and confess are few in comparison of what are unknown and hidden from me Wherefore O Lord hide not thy great mercy from me who hide not my great sins from thee and the greater is the guilt of my sin the greater shall be the glory of thy mercy to pardon it let it be the glory of thy mercy then to pass by my offences so shall the greatness of my sins make the glory of thy mercies more conspicuous for that where sin hath abounded there grace doth much more abound Rom. 5. 20. IV. And thus though I went against mine own knowledge in sinning yet do not thou Lord go against thine own nature in punishing who hast promised if we believe and repent 1 Cor. 10. 12. thou wilt forgive and now as my sins teach them that stand to take heed least they fall so let thy pardon of my sins teach them that are fall'n upon their repentance not to doubt of thy mercy and so giveness which mercy and forgiveness do thou seal unto my Soul and to each humble penitent through Jesus Christ in a return of peace unto our consciences by this Blessed Sacrament A Prayer for Thursday Evening on the most Holy Sacrament O Most blessed Fountain of Eternal love who hast tender bowels of Compassions and multitudes of rich mercies for all those sinful Souls that cry to thee for mercy and forgiveness forgive the sinful failings wilful Errors and most dangerous mistakes of my wretched life past and grant me that true repentance for the time to come which may truly convert me unto thee II. Lord where Sin hath abounded there let thy grace abound much more Let my degrees of Sin be truly answered with my degrees of sorrow my measure of pollution with my measure of Sanctification Lord hear my Prayer and let my cry come unto thee for thy Names sake for thy promise sake for thy blessed Son Christ Jesus sake Amen III. O most sacred and for ever blessed being who hast therefore Commanded me to be holy that I might be happy look not upon me I meekly beseech thee as I am in my self in the deceitfulness of mine own heart falshood of mine own wayes but in the Righteousness of Christ in whom alone thou canst not but be well pleased Lord open my sinful Eyes that I may see the folly of my great mistakes unvail the faces of my close Corruptions that I may thereby see the foulness and deformity of Sin and apprehend the greatness of thy wrath against it that so I may truly and timely repent and gain thy gracious pardon for it IV. Search me throughly O Lord and try me that none of those false ways of wickedness may hereafter be found in me that so my heart may be clean my Conscience pure my Conversation upright my life Holy