Son When we lay polluted in our Filth and odious to thy pure Eyes thou opened'st for us in his precious Blood a Fountain for Sin and for Uncleanness Thou hast not disdain'd to admit me poor Sinner into thy holy Church and Family by Baptism and into a sacred Covenant of Grace and Peace with thy self through the Blood of the blessed Mediator And even now after so many careless and even willful Violations of this holy Covenant thy Mercy follows me with fresh Offers of Reconciliation and thou hast invited me to a Feast of Love in thy House and at thy own Table and on the Body and Blood of thine own dear Son and my blessed Redeemer O my most bountiful God how long have I plaid the ed Prodigal and pleased my self in Sin and Vanity and delighted in disobeying thy Commandments How often have I set light by the Bread of Life in the House of my Father and preferred the Trash of this World before it How often have I boldly and presumptuously without due Preparation approached unto thy holy Table And how often have I return'd thence with the same unclean Heart and unmortified Lusts which I carried thither When I consider this I tremble to think what Entertainment such a monstrous Sinner as I have been might expect from thee O let me not any longer through Impenitence and Negligence lose the Benefits of thy rich Mercy in Iesus Christ. For his sake pardon all my former Neglects Misbehaviours and Breaches of Covenant with thee and grant me now good God I beseech thee such a measure of thy Grace as may fit me for this sacred Ordinance Once more most blessed God I am preparing to come at thy gracious Call but what can I do without thy Help I am clogged with Sin and Corruption I have suffered my Lusts to get the upper hand and to lead me Captive O! shew thy Strength in my weakness pull down every proud and unruly thing in me that exalteth it self against thy holy Spirit strengthen me henceforward for ever to do thy Will Awaken and stir up my dull Affections to love thee and praise thee for thy wonderful love in redeeming us by the Sacrifice of thy beloved Son O Lord I do now renew most heartily my so often broken Vows and Promises to be wholly thine O Father Son and Holy Ghost for evermore Accept of me O my God and let not my great Unworthiness provoke thee to reject thy poor Servant whose Soul panteth after thee Enable me amongst those that keep Holyday in thy House worthily to shew forth the Death of our blessed Iesus even as he hath commanded us in a joyful and truly thankful Remembrance of his inestimable Love in an absolute and entire Dedication of our selves to his Service and Government in a total Reliance upon thy Mercy through his Merits in a cordial Love to him our Head to all his Members yea to all Mankind and even our Enemies for his sake And do thou O merciful Father for thy dear Son's sake herein seal unto our Souls the Pardon of all our Sins confirm and strengthen us in all Grace and Goodness and bring us by the constant and conscientious use of this and all other Instruments of Grace to everlasting Life through Iesus Christ our Lord in whose holy Words I farther beg whatever is needful for my self and for thy whole Church Our Father c. A Prayer after receiving this Sacrament O Father of Mercies and God of all Comforts I have this day tasted and seen that thou art good and that thy Mercy endureth for ever It is well seen O God that thou delightest not in the Death of a Sinner seeing thou vouchsafest so vile a Sinner as I am to feast my hungry Soul at thy Table and to drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures For ever blessed be thy Goodness and praised for evermore be thy Mercies to us poor Sinners in the Lord Christ Iesus O let the deep sense of this thy wonderful Love ever rest upon my Heart Let the spiritual Relish of this heavenly Feast so delight my Soul as to render all Sin and Vanity unsavoury and loathsome to it for ever Let this great Grace and Favour of admitting me this day to renew my Covenant with thee after so many Breakin gs of it oblige me to constant Thankfulness and continual Obedience to the greatest watchfulness over my Heart◠and Circumspection in all my ways And as I have been shewing the Death of Christ in this holy Sacrament in the midst of the Congregation so give me Grace and Strength to shew it daily in a Christian Life and Conversation and in the continual mortifying and crucifying of my sinful Affections and Lusts. Enable me to resist and vanquish all those Temptations to Sin whereby I have been formerly conquered O holy Iesus I have given my Heart to thee this day take I beseech thee such a full Possession of it by thy holy Spirit that neither the Devil the World nor Sin may ever again have any part or interest in it nor let me ever desire to be any otherwise my own than that I may continue wholly thine at thy sole Command and Disposal O good God pardon all the Infirmities and Failings whereof I have been guilty in the performance of this great Duty And bless I beseech thee this sacred Ordinance to thy whole Church so that Truth and Holiness and Christian Love may ever flourish and abound therein As we have one Faith one Baptism one Lord one Hope and profess our selves one Body by partaking this one Bread so grant us to hold the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace till we come to the Church triumphant in Heaven through him who loved us and hath wash'd us in his Blood even IESUS CHRIST our only Lord and Saviour Amen FINIS Books printed for and sold by John Baker at the Three Pidgeons in Saint Paul's Church-yard THE right Foundation of Quietness Obedience and Concord by Clement Elis. Lately published by Dr. Parker Arch-deacon of Canterbury An Account of Church Government for the first six hundred Years Religion and Loyalty or a Demonstration of the Christian Church within it self octavo in two Volumes The Service-Book in folio in 〈…〉 fit for Churches and Chapls Duport in Psalmos quarto Gr. Lat. idem in Homerum 4 o. idem 4 o. Graece separatim An earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 12 o. by Ioseph Glanvil A Sermon before the Artillery-Company by Dr. Calamy lately published FINIS Acts 4. 12. Iohn 14. 6. Heb. 5. 9. 2 Thes. 1. 8. Rom. 9. 5. Col. 1. 16. 1 Cor. 6. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 19. Matt. 28. 18. Matt. 17. 15. Act 3. 22. Iohn 15. 9. 10. 13. Rom. 5. 6. 8. 1 Cor. 11. 26. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 1 Iohn 1. 3. 1 Cor. 11. 17. Gen. 1. 27. Eccl. 7. 29. Gen. 3. Rom. 5. 12. Rom. 8. 7 8. Mat. 1. 21. 1 Thes. 1. 10. Mar. 16. 16. Act. 3.
that his Name may be glorified his Church may flourish in Truth and Purity and Peace and Love may abound amongst Christians Some short Directions and Prayers WHen you go to examine your Faith by the help I have herein given you or some other fall humbly before God on your Knees and heartily say O most glorious God who madest me that I might know thee and knowing thee might love thee and loving thee might be for ever happy in thy Love I poor Sinner do here most humbly bewail and confess my great and alas too willful Ignorance of thee O! for his sake whom thou hast sent to call us out of Darkness into Light by his Gospel even JESUS CHRIST in whom dwell all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge enlighten my dark Soul by thy Word and holy Spirit with the saving Knowledge of the Truth and incline my Heart firmly to believe it even to the end Remove from me all prejudice and blindness of Heart let not the God of this World any longer darken the Eyes of my Understanding or delude my poor Soul to believe a Lye or possess me with a desire of vain Knowledge which profiteth not unto Godliness but enable me daily to grow in all Grace and the Knowledge of thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Help me at this time to discern my Errors and the Imperfections in my Knowledge and Faith and to correct them Strengthen me to hold fast without wavering the form of sound Words which thou teachest and not Man that persevering stedfast in the same unto the Death I may receive the end of my Faith even the Salvation of my Soul through Iesus Christ my blessed Lord and Saviour Amen At the end of every Question consider well and if you find you so believe say For ever blessed be God who hath enlighten'd my Soul with the Knowledge of this sacred Truth and Faith in him O Lord encrease this Knowledge and confirm this Faith in me unto the end If you doubt in any point note it well and say O Lord pardon thy Servant I am weak and blind open mine Eyes what I know not teach thou me by thy holy Spirit guide me into all the Truth for Iesus Christ his sake Having noted all your Doubts take a fit opportunity to consult your Pastor for better Instruction At the end of this Examination thus pray O most blessed God if my Heart deceive me not I firmly believe all that I know of thy sacred Truth Thou know'st O Lord the scantness of my Knowledge and weakness of my Faith I most heartily beseech thee to pardon my Imperfections to keep me from Heresie and Error and to strengthen me daily in the true Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ. Let me not rest in an idle and dead Faith but make it lively and active in me purifying my Heart from all Hypocrisie and Uncleanness kindling in me a fervent Love to thee and to thy Laws working in me by Love an universal Obedience to thy blessed Will enabling me to overcome the World subdue the Flesh with the Lusts thereof to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil to resist all his Temptations unto Victory to be conformed daily more and more to the Image of Christ to be strong against all Sufferings and the Terrors of Death and finally to lay hold on eternal Life through thy Mercy and the Merits of my blessed Saviour Iesus Christ. Amen When you are to examine your Repentance and Obedience pray to this sense Most great and good Good the searcher of Hearts and trier of the Reins who art every where present and from whom no Darkness can hide us thou compassest my Path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways there is not a word in my Tongue nor a thought in my Heart but thou know'st it altogether My heart O God is deceitful above all things and I cannot find it out neither understand the errors of my ways nor the sincerity of my Purposes without the help of thy holy Spirit Help me O my God help me I beseech thee to know my self and the true frame and temper of my Soul shew thou me wherein I have offended thee in Thought Word or Deed grant me a true and a humbling sight and sense of all my Sins let not my Ignorance blind me nor self-love beguile me nor the common practice of the World delude me into a false Opinion of my self and my own Righteousness but enable me I humbly beseech thee to find out all my Sins together with all the Aggravations of my Guilt make me truly vile in mine own Eyes and heartily sorry for all my Failings enable me to hate and forsake every evil way and to turn unto thee by an unfeigned Repentance and a sincere Obedience to all thy holy and good Laws that I may have my fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life through Iesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour Amen After every Question pause a while and impartially judge your self and where you think you have done any part of your Duty say Blessed be my good God through Iesus Christ who by his holy Spirit hath enabled me either to will or to do any good thing in his Sight O Lord I have done all very weakly and imperfectly and most humbly beg thy pardon If I have done any thing well not unto me O Lord not unto me thy very unprofitable Servant but unto thy Name be the Glory through Iesus Christ my Lord. Where you see your sin lay it in earnest to your Heart and say O Lord I have herein sinned most grievously against Heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy Child God be merciful to me poor Sinner who deserve nothing but Hell and Damnation O grant me Repentance unto Life and enter not into Judgment with thy Servant but pardon my Sin and lead me in the ways of thy Commandments to eternal life through Iesus Christ. If you have offended or injured any man note it well and take some sit time to confess it to him satisfie him and beg his Pardon If your Sin be publick and scandalous think not you have done enough till you have publickly testified your Repentance as the Church shall require it of you When you are in any doubt resort again to the Minister confess your Sin freely to him and crave his Iudgment and Directions After Examination pray earnestly to this effect O most holy and just God who perfectly hatest all Iniquity and will not have Mercy on any impenitent Sinner how should so vile and polluted a Wretch as I am dare so much as to take thy holy Name into my defiled Mouth O Lord I am a most grievous and abominable Sinner and do altogether deserve thy fierce Wrath and heavy Indignation It is a very great wonder of Mercy that thou sufferest me yet to live and hast not long since cast me into Hell and given me the
and are not sufficiently instructed cannot examine themselves and therefore may not eat and they who either because they are afraid to awaken their Consciences and not be able to sin in Quietness or because they are loath to be at the Pains or take so much time from their worldly Business or Pleasures will not examine themselves may not presume to eat What then must such Persons do for if they eat not they die The ignorant must be Catechised and learn if they be ashamed of this they are ashamed of Christ and must perish for hating Instruction They that will not examine themselves must consider how they can dwell with everlasting Burnings Eat or Die Examine or eat not that 's all the Choice our Sins have left us Yet Examination is not a thing commanded for it self but in order to something else Counterfeit Gold is of no more worth than it was before for being examined or tryed by the Touch-stone We must examine our selves that we may know what we are Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves Know you not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. We might know whether we be Christians or no would we try our selves and not be content like false Gold to make a shew only And to this end must we by Examination learn to know our selves that we may be able to approve of our selves in our own Consciences before God that we are sincere Christians that we may not think our selves to be something when we are nothing and so deceive our selves let every Man prove his own Work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself Gal. 6. 4. In short we are to examine what Graces God hath given us and be truly thankful what is yet amiss in us and amend it what we yet want and endeavour to obtain it The difficulty of this Duty affrighteth many from this Sacrament and indeed considering how most of us live it is no wonder that it seemeth difficult But we should remember first That this Self-Examination is a Duty necessary not only now and then before a Sacrament but at all times that we may understand how far we are Christians indeed and therefore the Difficulty may as well affright us from being Christians as from this Sacrament and so I fear it doth too many who therefore abstain from the Lord's Table because they have no mind to be Christians any farther than in Name only And then secondly We must remember that whatever Difficulty there is in this Duty it is of our own making and we may make the Duty more easie if we will For 1. We continue willingly ignorant of the Word of God and its use and it must needs be hard for us to examine our selves by a Rule which we understand not But let us take pains to learn perfectly the particulars of our Christian Faith and Duty gathered from the Sacred Scriptures and explained in easie Catechisms and often beg the Minister's help for the right understanding and due applying thereof to our selves opening freely to him all our Ignorances and Doubts and this part of the Difficulty will be removed 2. We live loosly and carelesly not observing well our own Tempers and Actions and having let them slip without any notice of them we cannot recall to mind and examine what we never regarded Let us but once every day take a little time to consider what Inclinations in us have that day shewn themselves and what have been our Thoughts Words and Actions and comparing them with the Rule of Life observe how they agree or disagree with it and heartily blessing God for any Good that by his help we have done humbly bewailing confessing and begging Pardon for all our Failings of Omission or Commission praying devoutly and seriously for more Strength and Grace to live better resolve to do our utmost Endeavour to amend and improve daily we shall soon find all the Difficulty over especially if we would as often as we find cause to doubt of any thing open our Souls freely to our Spiritual Guides God's Ministers for their Assistance Which course till i be taken we shall every where find too few Christians but if we would do thus we should learn to know our selves so well that it would be a very easie matter to examine our selveâ— against a Communion Now that we may be worthy Communicants we must examine our selve both whether we be sound Christianâ— or no and whether we be rightly disposed for this particular Christian Duty 1. We must be of Christ's Family as Christians before we may feast at Christ's Table as Communicants Wâ— are solemnly admitted into the Family or Church of Christ by Baptism wherein we are dedicated to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and admitted into the Bond of a sacred Covenant with the ever Blessed and Glorious Trinity So long as we continue faithful in this Covenant so long are we Christians and therefore this is first to be enquired into Whether or no we faithfully stand to this Baptismal Covenant 2. Then are we duely disposed for this Duty of Communicating when understanding the Nature Ends and Benefits of this Sacrament we find the Affections of our Hearts in some measure suitable thereunto And to this purpose it is that we are more especially before our Approaches to the Lord's Table to examine our selves CHAP. III. How to examine our Selves about our Baptismal Covenant THE faithful keeping of our Baptismal Covenant is our Christianity We are therefore impartially to enquire both how we understand it how we have kept it and how we resolve to keep it 1. To help us to understand it we must know four things viz. 1. That our Good God having made man a rational Creature in his own Image and given him an immortal Soul void of any Inclination to Evil with sufficient Knowledge to understand his Duty and Power enough to do it did command him to live in perfect Obedience to God his Maker whereby he and his might live for ever happy in the Love of God 2. That Adam the first Man and common Father of us all by the Temptation of the Devil disobey'd this Command and thereby brought us all into a state of Weakness Sin and Death And now in such a Condition we come into the World that left unto our selves we would do nothing but sin against God and run upon our own Destruction 3. That our gracious God when he might justly have cut off at once the whole Race of Mankind in Adam and Eve or have left all their Posterity to perish by their own Doings of his wonderful Goodness and Mercy took pity on Sinners and opened â— to us a new way to Salvation by providing for us a Saviour even GOD the SON the only begotten of the FATHER who in our Flesh having taught us what God now requireth of us if we will be saved
so will I compass thine Altar O God I come O my God I come for whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee O hide not thy comfortable Presence from me ¶ Then humbly joyn in the Confession of Sins saying after the Minister and receive in the humblest Posture the Absolution as from Christ himself interceding for you at God's right hand and blessing you Draw Comfort from the Sentences of Scripture read unto you and lift up your Hearts with joyful Praises unto God as you are called upon to do heartily joyning in the following Devotions When the Minister consecrateth the Elements fix your Eye upon the whole Action and your Heart upon your crucified Jesus considering with what Pains and Tortures on the Cross he finished your Redemption When the Minister draweth near you with the Bread say Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me ¶ When you take the Bread say With all Humility and Thankfulness of heart I take this sacred Pledge of thy Love O dearest Saviour Be it according to thy Word with thy crucified Body feed my Soul to Life eternal ¶ Then eating the Bread say O Father Son and Holy Ghost one God blessed for ever I am wholly thine and not my own reign in me rule over me O blessed Iesus now and for ever By thee I live through thee let me grow in Grace and Goodness Keep me from hungring any more after Sin and Vanity Lord evermore give me this Bread till thou bring me to thy eternal Supper in thy Kingdom of Glory ¶ Receiving the Cup say I will receive the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. ¶ Having drunk of it say My Soul was a-thirst for the living God let thy Blood O holy Lamb of God cleanse me and this whole Congregation from all Sin Let thy holy Spirit be in us a Well of living Water springing up into everlasting Life I have confessed my Sin and thou art faithful and just to forgive my Sin and to cleanse me from all Unrighteousness Take now my blessed Lord a full and everlasting possession of thy dear Purchase As I believe we have Redemption through thy Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins so do I here deny my self and resolve by thy Assistance to follow thee even unto Death And O thou God of Peace that brought'st again from the dead our Lord Iesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant feed govern and protect thy whole Flock the Universal Church make us perfect in every good Work to do thy Will working in us that which is well-pleasing in thy Sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen ¶ During the time of the Distribution if no Psalm be sung or if a Psalm be sung then during the Oblation or at any other vacant times employ your selves in such Meditations as these following O how wonderful is the Love of God! How doth the Lord triumph in his Goodness and rejoyce in his Mercy We that have a thousand times over deserved to be weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in everlasting Fire are here admitted to feast and rejoyce at the Table of the Lord. O astonishing Love of the blessed Iesus O abominable Sins of us rebellious Wretches Was thy holy Body my dearest Lord and God thus broken and torn they precious Blood thus shed and poured out for our sinful Souls And shall we not abhor those cursed Sins of ours and with all due Hatred and Indignation cast them off for ever Shall we not renounce all Kindness to our beastly Lusts loath our selves for our Iniquities and give our selves entirely to thy Service which is perfect Freedom for evermore O ravishing Love that moved the eternal Son of God to rescue us from everlasting Torments by the sharpest Pains and Tortures of his spotless Body and the bitterest Agonies of his purest Soul That moved the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to condescend unto Sufferings Shame and Death and to be made a Curse for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Wast thou O blessed Saviour content for our sake to be despised and rejected of men to become a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief and have we so long hid as it were our Faces from thee Hast thou been despised and yet have not we esteemed thee Surely thou hast born ou◠Griefs and carried our Sorrows thou wast wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon thee and with thy Stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on thee the Iniquity of us all Thou wast oppressed and afflicted yet did'st thou not open thy Mouth thou wast brought as a Lamb dumb to the Slaughter thou wast cut off out of the Land of the Living for the Transgression of thy People wast thou stricken O holy Iesus I do most stedfastly believe that thou art the Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World that thou hast in thine own Body born our Sins upon the Tree and that in the Body of thy Flesh through Death thou hast reconciled us who were Enemies to present us holy and unblameable in God's sight Thou wast not ashamed to call us Brethren and because the Children are Partakers of Flesh and Blood thou 〈◊〉 thy self tookest part of the same and through Death hast destroy'd him that had the power of Death the Devil We have not an High-priest which cannot be touch'd with a feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted as we are yet without Sin Therefore may we come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Thou O blessed Iesus being made perfect through Sufferings art become the Author of Salvation unto all that obey thee O Lord I poor Sinner fly for Refuge to lay hold on the Hope now set before us Thou art able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by thee seeing thou ever livest to make Intercession for us By thine own Blood hast thou entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us Thou art entered into Heaven it self now to appear in the Presence of God for us Thou art our Advocate with the Father the Propitiation for our Sins and we look for thee to appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation O Lord seeing thou hast given us Boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having such an High-priest over thine House I here draw near with a true Heart in full Assurance of Faith having my Heart