frequently and earnestly to sue for it at the Throne of Grace and then if we are not wanting to our own Interest but with diligence and sincerity and watchfulness and honest endeavours we set our selves to the performance of them the day will e're long be ours the Victory and the Crown ours Say then who would be so imprudent as not earnestly to sue for that which he may certainly have for the asking and the using and who would not diligently use and husband it when the so doing will not fail to procure more and then again who would not industriously imploy that More when like Interest upon Interest it would bring in more yet St. Mat. 13.12 and 25.29 St. Lu. 8.18 and 19.26 O let not the Grace of God be in vain and lost on us only for want of our own Diligence in imploying and using it and then let not our own watchfulness and labours and pious endeavours be all in vain only for want of suing for the assistance of divine grace frequently and devoutly beg of God therefore to aid thee in all thy holy purposes and desires and Resolutions that he will please to keep thee constant to them as thou art passing over this World to him and to a better that he would increase the hatred of thy Sins and the Love of Religion in thee both which he has lately graciously begun in thee Say to him O my Lord I have nothing I am nothing I can do nothing without thee These my Resolutions and purposes of amendment of life of piety and virtue will upon the next violent Temptation be wavering and tottering again without thee and thy aid By that be pleased to keep them warm and stedfast in me so warm that no length of time may cause them to grow cold again no violence of a Temptation break through them Fourthly Meditate on the guilt and the danger thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those pious purposes and thy Felicity if thou do I do not say so to keep them as to live without Sin and in an absolutely perfect Estate To live wholly without Sins of frailty and meer infirmity ignorance or sudden surprize that is those that may sometime or other rush on us e're we are a ware No but of not keeping thy Resolutions of Reformation of all known customary wilful Sin whatever and to retain no one such known Iniquity Remember the Sin if entertained again at least as familiarly as heretofore and returned to with as much love as ever will now ever be a Sin against more Mercy against more Love and against more purposes and resolutions of returning from it O run not thy Soul then upon this increase of Guilt and Danger But rathey say O my Soul shall we so soon forget our Lord our Master Jesus to whom we lately vowed obedience and swore Allegiance as to entertain and cherish a known Enemy of his within our heart and bosome Shall we soon forget whose sighing groaning bleeding dying Love we have seen represented to us lately and shall we add disingenuity and ingratitude and a vow-breach to the Sin it self And shall we thus keep our integrity and thus shew our endeavours to keep to our pious resolutions as tamely to yield up all lay aside all those considerations at the return of the next Sin that looks pleasantly and that comes with fair opportunities for the committing it shall we do this not only after so much love but after having our Covenant renewed and sealed again with Almighty God And after he has graciously declared that he is willing to be reconciled to us for what is past if we heartily give up our selves to him for the future and when we have promised so to do to our uttermost and to give up the whole man to him In sum shall we say in spight of so much Love so much mercy and Compassion such gracious offers on God's part and then in spight of many advantages purposes and resolutions on ours shall we return to our Lusts and Intemperance as frequently as ever to our old Oaths and Execrations our Revenge and Malice our Covetousness and Injustice our Pride or Ambition our Inconsideration or Uncharitableness to our darling Sin whatever it be No my Soul we will now at last more seriously weigh the Guilt and Danger of so doing We have begun and let us go on for Eternity whomsoever we displease by it whatever becomes of it as to this present life Let us now once more consider that possibly this may be the last opportunity that our Saviour may give us to be reconcil'd to him before we go hence and be no more seen the happy union and agreement between us has been lately sealed let us never more wilfully and knowingly break it lest all the old account be charged on us again Let us therefore now make the best advantage the best use of it we are able and return no more to the former state lest our Lord come and find us in such a breach of our part of our Covenant and never more permit us to renew it again till the day of Judgment And as now we have by our Lord 's infinite mercy got a good advantage to try once more for a Crown of Life and Glory let us be watchful and diligent unwearied and constant in our Race that our Lord when he comes may find us so doing Adieu then say once more my old Dalilahs farewel to ye and welcome Religion welcome my holy Duties ye that once seemed irksome and tedious to me Welcome now as the way and means by which I am to be qualified to have my Lord's merits applyed to me to keep me in his favour and to meet him in his Kingdome Welcome my Devotions ye that once seemed too tedious to me and to take up too much of my time the actions I once was even ashamed to be found imployed in Welcome though purchased at never so dear a rate or expence of time I am sure I can be no loser by you Welcome my Solitudes and Retirements from the World and my frequent being alone I find I can best see and consider the state of my Soul in ye and though ye were once very disagreeable to me I now perceive you are advantagious Welcome ye Christian Temperance and Sobriety and Purity and Chastity whatever self-denials or reproaches ye may possibly cost me no matter so I may sit at the Feet of Jesus to all Ages And welcom Alms and Charity though ye once seemed expensive to me and ill bestown I now see Cause infinite Cause to think otherwise when ye are laid out in order to the Inheritance of a Kingdome Welcome Humility Charity and Forgiveness and Love of Enemies ye that once seemed unreasonable and of all other Duties most disagreeable to flesh and blood and a heavy yoke but I now think otherwise of you when I consider how excellent an imitation ye are of that blessed Jesus
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
our ability you doubt of and think you can judge of your own State as well as a Spiritual Guide To this I answer that though it may be we are not all good Lawyers or skilful Physicians or cunning managers of our affairs of this World yet 't is not to be supposed but that such who have made it the chief business of their life to know the mind and will of God should at least know somewhat more of it than they who have been bred up in other Imployments Besides though you should suppose us to understand but little more of Divine things than your selves yet consider few men can so well judge of their own state and case as another for them But to put an end to this question I shall for my self declare and promise that if any of your scruples of Conscience in this Case or any other should be such as that you shall think my directions not to be safe and satisfactory that then I will undertake to procure you the opinion of some or one of the most wise and holy and learned persons of the Nation without giving you any further trouble But thirdly it may be you are willing to receive advice and directions in any scruples of Conscience but you cannot conquer your own loathness and unwillingness and secret fears when you would make them known If this be your Case I answer Be pleas'd to consider what you would do if you were really in as good earnest with Almighty God and your Souls as you are with respect to your Bodies and Estates and why should it be thought more a shame to be concern'd for an immortal Soul than for a temporal Interest when in truth it will be esteemed far more creditable and prudent too by all good men and as for others for ill men no matter what they shall think of you for so doing Nay as all wise and holy men will infallibly respect you much the more for so doing so also all the prophane sort of the World that outwardly reproach and scoff at you for it will inwardly and really reverence you the more Besides sit down a little and when you are next private and alone consider seriously what you would do on a sick Bed is not the company of a Guide of Souls welcome then is not his advice thankfully received and joyfully pursued and his prayers for you look't on as the greatest kindness he can do for you Remember it will come to this again and why then should you not be ready to advise with them sooner as well as later when they are capable of doing you more good and you capable to perform more And would you once but throughly perswade your selves of this as a great trueth that a pious Person would have a much greater value and esteem for you for such a care of your Souls I am apt to think that then you would as readily apply your selves to them in such Cases as you would be to make an advantageous bargain Consider further Self-denial is a great Christian-Duty St. Matt. 16.24 and to do violence to our selves in conquering and subduing that unwillingness that we have to open a doubt or scruple of Conscience to a Minister of Religion would be one great Exercise of that Duty Fourthly possibly neither of these may be the reasons why you will not ask their Counsel or direction but you are afraid that we would despise you for so doing or make known the secrets of your Soul I answer so far should we be from this that we should look upon them that would so do to have a greater care of and concernment for their eternal safety than the generality of the World have we should esteem you as those that are in good earnest with God and their Souls we should from thence have good ground of reason to believe that Religion is the Practice of such not their Profession only Nay we should be apt to hope that our pains and labours have had some success with them and that they are truely willing to be in safety with Jesus at Jerusalem when they thus are desirous that a Spiritual Guide should take them by the hand and assist and direct them in their Journies thither And then as for your fear that we will make known the Secrets of your Souls which you should at any time discover to us this is unreasonable for as 't is highly disingenuous and unjust so to do so are we strictly bound by the Canons that is by the wholsome and excellent Laws of the Church Can. 113. which every one of us have engaged to observe and obey to conceal all such cases and not at any time to reveal and make known to any person whatever any such trust committed to us Having thus taken off your great objection I see nothing more that you can justly plead in excuse for your absenting your Selves but what may possibly be spoken to in the following book If you shall not here meeâ— with helps sufficient to direct you in the particulars of Self-Examination or in your Meditations when you are at the holy Table that want will be abundantly supplied by another book I mean The wholâ— Duty of Man a book which aâ— you tender the welfare of youâ— Souls I desire no one familâ— may be without Two sorts of persons theâ— are among you which I woulâ— desire chiefly to read and consider this discourse First thoâ—â— who wholly absent themselves Secondly those who though they do not wholly neglect this Duty yet come to it very seldom As for them that wholly absent themselves my business in these Papers is to invite them earnestly to fit and prepare their Soul to come and take the very next opportunities that shall be given them whatsoever pain or self-denial it shall cost them to put on the Wedding-Garment lest all opportunities may shortly be at an end and over and they be found in the day of Judgment to have lived and dyed in the guilt of this dangerous neglect As for them who sometimes come but very rarely my earnest desire of them is to fit and prepare the Souâ— to come more frequently anâ— that they may be so persevering in this frequency thaâ— whenever their Lord shalâ— come he may come and find theâ— so doing At least that he maâ— come and find in them a Soâ—â— habitually disposed for it anâ— not long before to have beeâ— so doing That the good God of hâ—â— infinite mercy may open a your Eyes to see and with serious heart consider the necessity and advantages of a frâ—quent and devout use of thâ—â—â— holy Mysteries is the prayâ—â— of Your Friend and Servant in our Saviour Lewis Southcomb OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER CHAP. I. THE first great Infelicity that befel the World was the fall of Adam by which he lost Paradise and he and his Posterity became uncapable of being saved by the terms of the first Covenant But the greatest Blessing
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.
thy arms the Sanctuary of rest and peace where wearied Souls alone can lay their Heads and bring their Cares and Sorrows to be eased of them and to have them turn'd into Peace and Pleasure Thou Lord art he whom my Soul loves and suffer me to say with thy Servant St. Peter Lord thou knowest that I love thee And whatever thou please to deny me here deny me not thy Grace and Aid to cloath me in that Wedding-Garment which thou will please to accept And may the pious Soul further say Away away from me all my lesser Concerns of this life that are apt to draw aside my thoughts from Holyness Trouble me not now when I am about to sup with Jesus and come and welcom to me all holy thoughts holy desires and holy Resolutions for you my heart is open at the welcom news of going to feast my Soul with the Body and Bloud of the Saviour of the World And be entreated Lord to come and fill my heart and take up thy dwelling there and turn out thence every thought and desire and inclination whatever it be which thou art not willing should dwell with thee Be entreated Lord to possess thy self wholly of it for I am coming to offer it up and present it to thee And I am loath when thou shalt come to take possession that thou shouldst find any thing there but holy desires divine breathings earnest longings after thee pantings after Immortality holy hopes and devout affections Fill it O my Jesu fill it up with those for me who am coming to meet thy glorions Majesty by the nearest approaches I can make to thee on Earth that So I may never miss of thee at thy Table or ever go away without a blessing and when I shall go forth into the necessary concerns of this present life again ever let me keep such a flame alive in me that so the old Enemies may no more be lodged there or the old temptations prevail with me but that alwayes hereafter when they shall come and seek to be entertained again in my heart or affections I may have this answer ready for them Away from me Jesus has taken possession there already Trouble me no more the room is full and the door is fast shut to keep him there and you from thence With these or some such meditations as these let us raise our Devotions then and stir up our affections which in this are like other Flames the more they are moved and stirred they appear the more bright and shining Or let the pious heart again say Oh my Saviour thou hast touched me with secret but strong inclinations to be with thee at thy Table and to take henceforward all opportunities of so doing O make them greater than yet they are and may they never cease to be growing till I come to meet thee in thy Kingdom O that thou wouldest but look upon this heart of mine that pants after thee as a heart fit to be wrought upon by thee to be made to do so infinitely more than it does That it may never more be contented to take fewer opportunities to commemorate the Death and love of a crucified Lord than all that it can possibly have and when the day of my communicating is over that I may mourn and sigh and long for the return of it again O let the time come when my Soul shall be wrought up to this pitch and temper never to be so well at ease or so full of joy as when it has lately come from or is shortly to go to a holy Communion 'T is true O my Redeemer and 't is a sad trueth I have long carried a World of unholy desires and sensual inclinations about with me and they have long followed me and made my love to this Sacrament but dull and little But I now hope they are all going off from me to make way for that and thee I have long fancied I might have found happiness in some things of this World but I now begin to be perswaded and to find it is only to be found with thee and thy Religion I can easily remember when I have been greatly troubled at small disappointments of this lower World but never at my disappointing my self of this holy and Heavenly feast and can likewise as easily call to mind when I have longed for and been pleas'd in vanity and folly much more than for a holy Sacrament but 't is some comfort to me that at last I can feel the thoughts of it to begin to appear pleasing and joyous and that those old Clouds of Darkness begin to be scattered and let those flames of love to thee never go out again never more return to coldness and ashes and may I ever be much more afraid lest they should do so than at all the troubles and all the disappointments and all the reproaches of this World May I but live and dye with those and then let all other things be as thou pleasest And now O my Redeemer come and take possession of my heart while 't is thus warm with the Love and desires of thee while by it's pantings and divine breathings 't is moving towards thee and stands open for thee May my eager pursuits of either Riches Honours or Pleasures of this life never more shut thee out thence but be thou pleas'd to rest there 'till I shall be caught up in the Clouds to meet thee in the Air. 1 Thess 4.17 and be ever with thee As this of all things is now my earnest desire so may it ever be 'till that glorious day and then all my doubts and fears shall be over and at an end all my temptations and inclinations to Sin and my frailties and infirmities shall be cured all my scruples of Conscience my tremblings and my fears to displease thee shall be ended and be to me as if they had never been at all But before that time come suffer me O my Lord to sigh out my desires to be always with thee as near as I am able to be on Earth at this distance from thee And O my Soul shall we begin then to take this Heavenly course now at the holy Sacrament We will by Divine aid On then our Lord invites us and calls Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest St. Matt. 11.28 And seeing all things are ready and he expects us let us say to him we come to do thy will we are weary and heavy laden we come to find rest and ease we come Lord Jesu we come quickly With these or some such meditation let us then scrue up the Soul to a devout frame and temper And thus much of Preparation CHAP. IV. Considerations after Receiving Fourthly what is fit to be considered and done after Receiving FIrst thankfully meditate on the infinite mercy and long-suffering of God that he has been pleased to give thee this one opportunity more of renewing and sealing again the
Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Secondly labour to imprint a deep remembrance of any promises or holy resolutions there made between God and thy Soul and be watchful in the keeping of them Thirdly earnestly beg of God to assist thee in the keeping them and in the walking for the future in the wayes of Religion and Holyness Fourthly meditate on the danger and the guilt thou runnest into if thou labour not more sincerely afterward to keep those thy pious purposes and thy felicity if thou do Fifthly and Lastly by looking back on this divine and heavenly and pleasant duty think and meditate how lovely and chearful and pleasurable a Religious life must needs be First thankfully meditate on the infinite mercy and long suffering of God that he has been pleased to give thee this one opportunity more of renewing and sealing again the Covenant of Grace who hast so often broken thy Conditions of it Upon this Consideration who is there but must needs say with David Ps 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is good We that have lately tasted and have seen how good the Lord is how gracious to have given us one opportunity more of renewing our Covenant with him shall we can we forbear to publish it Can we ever cease to be thankful No surely rather let us be ready to encourage others ever hereafter to go from whence we have come and tast and see how good the Lord is However let each particular Soul be deeply sensible and considerate of this goodness of the Lord which he hath tasted O my Soul say has our Jesus admitted us once more to his Table and permitted us to seal our Covenant again to renew our resolutions and purposes of obedience and would he do it after so many old breaches of it and is he willing yet to be reconciled upon our reformation and future sincerity in Holyness and has he confirmed this to us in the Sacrament O infinite Mercy and Compassion of our God! Well my Soul let us never forget it but say with David Ps 103.1.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Let us consider a little might not God have snatcht away and have called us presently before him in the midst of such or such a crying Sin which we can easily remember and not have given us one call more one opportunity more of a reconciliation he might very justly Might he not have call'd us to our particular judgment in the middest in the very act of such or such an Impiety of this or that Lust or Intemperance injustice or perjury Oath or Execration Debauchery or uncharitableness Might he not have done so after our long and wilful neglects of this holy Duty before ever we approacht to it and how might it have been now with us had he taken that advantage against us Might he not have hurried us away to eternal unknown woes without giving us these advantages which we now by his Grace may improve to the purposes of a blest Eternity And shall we not my Soul shall we not improve them to the uses of Immortality when our Lord is thus willing we should Let us do so then and do it heartily chearfully and constantly and let this goodness of the Lord lead us to Repentance and Reformation and invite us to holyness and Religion that 's the first Secondly after receiving labour to imprint a deep remembrance of thy Promises or holy resolutions then made or before between God and thy Soul and be diligent in keeping of them O let not the old Love the former affection to Iniquity return any more but if the temptation do return stay and remember how odious how deformed and ugly the Sin appeared then to thee when thou wert at the Lord's Table and then it was that it appeared most truely as it is and then next let this engage thee to recal thy pious purposes there for alas these are not to abide with thee only for an hour or a day or a week but to the end of our dayes and how hypocritically should we deal with our God should we instantly forget that we have renewed our Covenant and our purposes of obedience with him upon the Alarum of a Sin that promises much and shows fair However Consider before-hand the temptation will come again whatever thy resolutions now are and do thou expect no other and 't is likely thou wilt not always be in this temper of Soul that thou now art in The opportunities for thy Sin will be fair again but dost not thou now resolve against it I suppose thou dost But alas this thou hast done heretofore perhaps often also and promised universal obedience to this Saviour and yet hast fallen again as surely as a man falls that is struck with a Thunderbolt and thus it may be thou hast gone round all the dayes of thy Life Sin'd and repented received the holy Supper and yet still fallen as frequently and as surely as ever and hitherto remain'd in a State of Sin and Death Thus I say it may be thou hast run on in this Course many years and doubled thy guilt with thy dayes and always upon the next occasion and opportunity forgotten that ever thou didst repent and resolve amendment of life Remember this is a very ill sign yet of thy Condition and it is extreamly dangerous Much perhaps above half thy days have gon round in this Circle And now if thou wouldest thou hast not half of them left to dedicate to Religion and the service of the holy Jesus and to the blessed Severities of Piety and virtue And what 's now to be done then O at last now be more strictly watchful and diligent in keeping thy Resolutions against it and against all occasions of it also whatever self denial or shame or reproach or difficulty it cost thee Get at least som tolerable ground against it now never leaving till thou hast crucified and subdued all known habituall wilful sin whatever and laid it dead at thy feet Remember too that now is thy time that now thou hast yet fair advantages but if thou imploy them not to the uses of Eternity and in order to the conquest and victory over thy darling Sin that has so often born thee down before it thy Lord may e're long bid thee lay aside all thy business here and come and appear before him and find it uncrucified unreformed and unmortified in thee Consider further if so why when thou art laid on the borders of the Grave and coming to the Neighbourhood of Death thou wilt then with sorrow perceive and find that by that hour all thy pains about it would have been over and all thy trouble at an end and would have been as if they had never been and nothing left to do but to sit down in eternal peace all thy combats
united to thee That I may come back again from thy Table with joy and thanks and Love and adoration and comfort and satisfaction O that at last my Resolutions may be fixt and stedfast the conquest of these Sins which I can easily remember have often foiled me may be such that they may no more prevail against me and get the Dominion over me And that now thou mayest abide with me forever and the holy Spirit may guide me into the paths of a cheerful sincere and persevering Holyness that so having past my days that are to come in the watchfulness and diligence and Labours of Repentance and a holy Life I may live with thee and dye with thee and rise again with thee and then ever sit at thy Feet in the mansions of Glory O my dearest Saviour Amen A Thanksgiving and Prayer after Receiving OHoly and Eternal Jesu I praise thee I bless thee I worship thee I glorifie thee I give thee thanks for those invaluable mercies from the participation of which I lately came for these representations of thy bleeding dying love to me Love infinite Love unspeakable Love eternal Love for me before I was born O compassionate Jesu who am I that thou shouldest please to receive me to renew my part of the Covenant of Grace with thee who have so frequently so miserably broken it O let the return which now I may ever hereafter make for so much love let it be Love and Obedience Love in some measure great like thine even to death it self and let my Obedience be as early as I can now make it and as chearful and universal sincere and constant O let the deep remembrance of this Love of thine constrain me to such an obedience Let neither the Love of the World the allurements and baits of the flesh or the temptations of the Devil ever force or draw me off from such an obedience O my dear Redeemer though I have now again resolved against all wilful known Sin particularly against the Sin of †Here you may mention the Sin to which you are most tempted and promised thee an obedience yet without the continuance of thy gracious aid and assistance I shall most certainly fall again upon the very next temptation Secure me therefore O Lord by that secure me save Lord or I perish Whatever thou pleasest to deny me here deny me not I beseech thee O Lord I beseech thee the assistance of that Grace of thine without which my Spiritual Enemies will soon prevail over me again Make me to see and consider the necessity of avoiding all appearance of evil all those occasions of my falling and to get instantly out of the way of Sin whatever I am like to lose by it whatever the disadvantage be in this World Let O let my Sacramental vows and promises and Resolutions be never so broken again as they have sometime been formerly but O my Jesu let my Sins and Iniquities ever hereafter appear so odious and hateful to me as they did then when I was at my Lord's Table O let them still be as vile and deformed as they then seemed to me Let none of my pious purposes and holy Resolutions be ever forgotten by me particularly †Here again if you think fit you may mention any holy Resolution made by you Let neither the cares of the World nor the disappointments of my expectations in the affairs of it nor the malice of my Enemies the charitable reproofs of my friends the trespasses of my Neighbours the hardness of my Labours the Importunity and earnestness of my Creditors the neglects and injustices of my Debtors any fears of being poor any distrusts concerning a provision for my posterity or my being despised or reproached by any man or my Losses of the World nor that World of Temptations through which I know I am to pass ever put my Soul out of frame or lead me to a discontented inconsiderate and troubled Spirit or put my holy purposes out of my mind but that in the midst of these and all other tumults of the World I may alway fly to Religion and take Sanctuary there and be safe and rest there and delight to do thy will and be ready to offer up my Soul and Body to thy Service That so the rest of my dayes that are yet to come in this World may be passed away in Humility and Charity in righteousness and holiness in mortification and self-denial in love and obedience to thee O holy and Eternal Jesu Amen A pious Resolution which may be solemnly made on their Knees by them who since their Baptism have had no opportunity to be confirmed by the Bishop but yet being ready and desirous to be confirmed are willing to receive the Holy Sacrament DRead Majesty of Heaven and Earth Forasmuch as thou hast received me in my Baptism into the Covenant of Grace sealed by the blood of Jesus when an Infant Lord I being now come to the knowledge of it do on my bended knees humbly and thankfully own and acknowledge that infinite favour and adore thy mercy And do really and heartily take upon my self what was then engaged for me and by the help of thy Grace which I earnestly beg do resolve to perform with an hearty sincerity my part of that Covenant to the end of my dayes I believe what was then promised I should believe Lord help my unbelief I renounce in my own person what was then promised I should renounce And for the conditions required on my part to wit a joynt performance of all the Gospel-Graces and Duties as Faith Hope Charity Self-denyal Repentance and the rest and an obedience to all of them in sincerity thô with weakness and Imperfection Lord I humbly and thankfully embrace and accept of them and declare my hearty desires and resolutions to discharge them acceptably through the holy Jesus And before thee O holy Trinity and the whole Court of Heaven I do solemnly make this Declaration and renew my Baptismal Covenant Promise and Engagement Amen If you are able to write you may write out a Copy of these Words and having repeated them before God with a deep humility and pious affections you may add these words to it and sign it on my bended knees And then before you rise subscribe your name to it and the day of the month January 1. 1681. N. N. Ever after remembring that now you have dedicated your self to God and that if you live the rest of your life according to these beginnings your passing over the World shall be safe and holy and you be intituled to the Merits of your Redeemer and qualified to receive the benefits of his death and sufferings An act of Resolution which may be humbly and devoutly made on their knees by those who since their last receiving the holy Sacrament have through the violence of a Temptation and it 's daily solicitation though constantly resisted sometime fallen into some one act of known