thou throw back a Soul that would hang it self upon thee wilt thou disdain an Heart that is desirous after thee and would fain be no longer it s own but thine that thou mightest use it as it may best serve and honour thee O Blessed Jesu do not reject it for it is the Purchase of thy Blood Let not all that be thrown away which thou hast already done for it for want of thy further Care and Conduct of it Accept me Good Lord who here unfeignedly devote my self unto thee that both my Soul and Body and all I have may be employed as thou seest fit to order me I am nothing I have nothing and I desire nothing but to be with thee to be filled with thy Grace and obey thee perfectly that so I may have nothing of my self but do all things thro' Christ dwelling in me And when we thus Resign our selves to our Saviour's Use we must heartily repent of all our Sins faithfully promising never more to yield to them but to amend them all thenceforwards To Repent particularly of all our Sins we must first discover them by taking some Catalogue of Christian Duties and examining our own Hearts at every one Whether we have consented to transgress them And where we find we have there we must bemoan our selves and fully resolve That if God will be pleased to pardon what is past we will never yield to do the like again And what Man will not thus stedfastly resolve to leave all his Sins that has the patience to consider what will be the End of his Continuance in them For by that we shall infinitely offend our Saviour Christ who gave his own Life for ours and whom therefore we are bound to please above all Persons we shall certainly lose the Joys of Heaven and Eternal Happiness a Loss which the whole World put together cannot recompence we shall unavoidably be dâ—â—med to Hell-fire and Eternal Torments which is the utmost heighth of Misery that can possibly befal us This will infalâ—ibly be the Effect of our Perseverance in any Sins we find our selves guilty of And now let us ask our own Souls Whether we love them so well that we will â—ndure all this rather than forâ—go them Shall I prize my Sin to that degree as for its sake to act despite to my dearest Lord who died for me Must it be dearer to me than his Love that I should dishonour and offend him whensoever it bids me Is this the Return I make to my truâ—st dearest Friend to side with his professed Enemy Is this my Thankfulness for all his Kindness to stick to a Lust that aims at nothing but my Destruction rather than to him who gave his own Life to save mine Thou lovest it dearly O my Soul but canst thou value it at such a Rate as to part with Everlasting Life for it Hadst thou rather have it than enjoy the Face of God and be for ever Happy Art thou content for the short and unsatisfying Pleasures it affords to lose all the Joys and Glories of a Blessed Eternity Wilt thou die sooner than be divorced from it and accompany it even into the Flames of Hell and the midst of Eternal Torment God forbid will every May say whose Heart is thus particularly posed that ever I should be so desperately mad and unaccountably wicked I cannot despite so dear a Lord or throw away the Eternal Joys of the Heavenly State or endure the Smart of Hell and the insupportable Load of Everlasting Torment No Man can bear it and I stand amazed to think of it And therefore since this will be the Effect of my wicked ways I am resolved from this Moment to renounce them and by the help of God will never return to them any more Thus let the Drunkard think with himself on his Cups the Sâ—â—earer on his Oaths the unjust Man on his unlawful Gain the Contentious on his Quarrels the unclean Person on his Fornication and forbidden Pleasures the Revengeful Man on his spiteful Carriage the Slanderer and Evil-speaker on his reproachful Words Back-bitings and Defamations and every other Sinner on his particular Sins and when they seriously consider that this Saviour must be lost this Happiness of Heaven forfeited and this eternal Anguish and Extremity of Pain endured if they persist in it they will instantly resolve to forsake it and never yield to be guilty of it again O Blessed Lamb of God who hast redeem'd me with thy Blood will every Contrite Heart then cry out I am utterly ashamed to look thee in the Face considering all the cruel Usage I have brought upon thee I scarce know how to think of Feasting on thy precious Blood now I am most earnestly invited to it since mine own Sins have shed it I am alas a most polluted Creature who have daily offended in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty My Pride and contempt of God and Sensual Lusts and Covetous Desires and uncharitable Practices have cried aloud for Vengeance on me and that Cry would not be silenced unless thou my dearest Saviour wouldst die in stead of me Of all these Offences I am guilty and the horrour of that Guilt would fright me from thee were it not that thou freely callest me to accept of Mercy I come Lord in obedience to thy Word and with an humble and a penitent Heart most earnestly entreat thee to have pity on me I am sensible of these and all my Errours and utterly ashamed that ever I committed them I am weary of them and fully purposed by thy Graâ—e to become a New Man or else I durst not ask to be forgiven My Heart shall never more joyn with them nor will I ever hereafter yield to live in such ungrateful and wicked ways again They nail'd thy tender Hands and Feet to the accursed Tree and thrust the Spear into thy Side and can I then endure to see or any longer side with them They made God who is the Author of all I have and hope to enjoy my utter Enemy and shall I then be still a Friend to them They would bring me to eternal Destruction both of Body and Soul and whilst I consider this is it possible I should have any more to do with them No Blessed Lord I hate them and am utterly resolved from this time forth for ever to abandon them They have been the Shame of my Life and are now the Sorrow of my Heart as alas when thou enduredst such Anguish for them on the Cross once they were of thine I loath my self by reason of them and will never consent any more to live in them and with an humble and a contrite Heart beseech my Heavenly Father that thro' the Merits of thy Blood I may be forgiven And wilt not thou O God who sentest to seek after me whilst I was an open Rebel now meet me graciously as thou didst the Prodigal Son when I return again to my
AN HELP and EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating OR A TREATISE Describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from It. Together with SUITABLE DEVOTIONS ADDED By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Pâ—inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Sâ—eptâ—r over against St. Dunstâ—n's Church in Fleetstreet 1683. TO THE Right Honourable SIMON Lord DIGBY BARON OF GEASHILL MY LORD THe Holy Eucharist is a Rite of the greatest Honour and Endearment that ever God vouchsafed to Men and the most Sublime and Blissful Instance of our Communion with him For therein he calls us to his own Table not to attend as Servants but to Feast with him as his Friends He treats us with the most Magnificent Fare presenting That to us for our Food which one would think were not to be eaten but adored even the most Sacred Body and Blood of his own Son in which he conveys to us all the Benefits of our Redemption And being thus apt to excite in us the highest Devotion and to enrich us with the greatest Fulness of Grace and Blessing one would expect it should be had in Reverence and most Thankfull Received by every Christian. But yet in our Days what part of Religion doth so generally suffer or is so universally neglected among Men For the greatest Numbers have either little or no Reverence at all for it or too much which makes them afraid of it they Neglect it thro' Carelesness and Causeless Scruples or Prophane it by Unworthy and Disrespectful Usage So that among all the Professors of Christianity few pay that Honour to their Lord or secure that Benefit to themselves by Receiving which he intended All should do This My Lord is the Grief and Complaint of all who have any just Honour for their Dearest Saviour and this Venerable Ordinance or any generous Compassion for the Souls of others And that by the Grace of God I may help something to redress it I have endeavoured to describe a Worthy Communicating and to set out both the Duty and Advantages of it in this Treatise that thereby I may recommend it to the Choice of all who are Wise and to the Consciences of all that are Religious In the Management whereof I have shunn'd all fruitless Disputes and nice Speculations seeking onely to get it Authority among the Loose and Reverence with the Careless and to reconcile it to the Scrupulous and to make the Duty as Clear Easie and Useful as I can to all Particularly I have designed all along to make it not onely an Honourable Remembrance of our Dear Lord but a most Solemn and Strict Engagement to a Good Life in all that use it for then I am sure they will be infinitely Happy in it And this Discourse My Noble Lord I here humbly offer to Your Lordship desiring it may stand as a Publick Testimony of the great Honour and Affection I have for those Excellencies that shine so clear in You. God has endow'd Your Great Mind with a strong Love and a steady Choice of Virtue and what I have beheld with Pleasure with a Generous and as there is Place for it an Active Compassion for those that want it You have the True Wisdom upon Deliberate and Well-studied Reasons to be Religious and the Courage in this Audacious Age when Irreligion is set up for the onely Creditable Dress to own it and study to be thought so For 't is Your Lordships Honour to think that nothing can truly make You Greater than to be an humble Worshipper and Faithful Servant of Your Holy Saviour This Noble Piety and Zeal for Goodness will endear You My Lord to Almighty God and to all Good Men. And if by these Papers I may in any wise contribute to them I shall think my self happy in having serv'd to set on the Virtuous Growth of One whom I hope God has set out in a Time that so infinitely needs it for an Illustrious Example that may give both Ornament and Support to Religion But besides this My Lord I have another End in this Dedication and that is That these Sheets may remain a Lasting Monument of my Gratitude for the Endearing Favours I have received from Your Noble Hand They were Composed for the Benefit of a Place where I am now fixed and whereto I was design'd by Your great Generosity and Nobleness when I thought of nothing less For so truly Publick was Your Lordships Spirit in the Filling of that Church that You pitch'd upon a Person whose Face You had never known and who never knew of it only because You believed he would make it his Care to promote Religion and to Benefit those Souls which You had to commit to him And this My Lord I humbly beg Your Lordships Leave to mention not for Your own but for the Publicks sake For in this degenerate Age when either Filthy Lucre or at least some other mean and sordid End have made a Merchandise and bred Corruption even in the most Sacred Trusts I think the World has need of such Examples I have nothing more to add but to beg of Almighty God That he who brings about the Noblest Ends by the Weakest and most Unlikely Instruments would make this Book effectual to his own Honour and Service and also bless Your Lordship with a Continuance and Encrease of all Virtuous Excellencies Honour and Happiness in this World till at last he shall take You to shine in his own Immortal Glory in the World to come This is the most hearty Prayer of him who very much for Your Favours but more for the true Affection and Esteem You have for the God and Saviour he serves is in all sincerity My Honoured Lord Your Lordships most Affectionate obliged Chaplain and humble Servant John Kettlewell From Your Lordships House near Coles-hill Jun. 27. 83. THE CONTENTS PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament THree ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 〈…〉 in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most Gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shewn from the same thing being done in Baptisme Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which
are carried on by a sinful Management As they are when they make us transgress any of those Duties towards our Adversaries which oblige us towards all Persons To avoid all these in Suing is an hard Point So we must be slow in coming to it and very circumspect when we are forced upon it The Answer to this Hindrance summ'd up Page 304 CHAP. V. Of Three other Hindrances A Seventh Hindrance is because others are not in Charity with them so that they are afraid they want that Peace which is required to it As for other mens uncharitableness it is their sin and so unfits them but not being ours it unfits not us for Receiving If that ought to exclude any from the Sacrament it had excluded Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians since none had ever such implacable Enemies as they had Care to be taken that their Enmity be not continued through our Fault so that if we have given just occasion we must endeavour a Reconciliation and if we gave none be careful not to hate them again An Eighth Hindrance is because 't is a Presumption in us to come to it and therefore an Humble man ought in all modesty to abstain from it But 1. 'T is no Presumption to come when we are call'd and to do what we are bidden 2. 'T is a very great Presumption to stay away and leave it undone 3. If the height of Priviledge and Honour in it be sufficient to make an humble man refuse the Communion it will also carry him to renounce the whole Christian Profession A Ninth Hindrance is because many good People are seldom or never seen at it so that they have good Company and may be good too if they abstain from it But 1. In inquiring after our own Duty we are not to ask whether others practise it but whether Christ has any where enjoyn'd it 2. If any Good People keep from the Sacrament that is no part of their Goodness so that therein they are not to be imitated 3. Though they might be acceptably Good whilst through innocent Scruples and honest Ignorance they were afraid to come to it yet will it be a very great Fault even in them to Neglect it after they are better informed which will not be forgiven but upon their Amendment of it Page 362 CHAP. VI. Of Two more Hindrances A Tenth Hindrance is because others who are unworthy of it are admitted to join in it But 1. They ought not to be forward in judging others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from joining in it For if it be a sufficient Hindrance it had equally hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession but 't is plainly of no Force for either of them since one man shall not bear anothers but every man his own burden 3. If still any are really offended at the Communion of the Wicked upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denied the Sacrament An Eleventh Hindrance is the Gesture of Kneeling which is required to it When any are absent upon this account there is no excuse from it Three things insisted on to prevent their being hindred by it 1. Kneeling is no unsuitable Posture in receiving so that if we were left at Liberty we might have enough to justifie our selves in making use of it 2. It is appointed by our Governours whom God Commands us to obey in all lawful Things so that every Good man ought to observe it But if it neither had Authority to injoyn nor Reason to recommend it but another Posture might be better used Yet 3. Since it may lawfully though not so well be used too for the Sacraments sake which is not otherwise to be had we should at least comply with it No Hindrance to this Complyance because the Gesture of Kneeling is different from what our Saviour used For so is sitting too and therefore they and we are equally concerned to answer it The Posture he used was no part of the Institution so that the Institution is not broken when the Posture is altered Neither it nor any other has any Command of God for it so that none is necessary but all are still indifferent When a Posture different from that at the first Institution was introâ—uced in Sacraments our Saviour himself and they too have submitted to it Again no hindrance to it from the fear of worshiping the Bread or its being a Popish Rite A conclusion of this point Page 381 CHAP. VII Of some other Hindrances An Account of some other Hindrances One abstains because the day before he was at a Feast Another because his Child is sick or he himself is lighty indisposed A third because his Wife or Husband cannot come along with him to joyn in it A fourth because he has a Visit to make or a Friend come in who in all civility must be attended A fifth because of a Showr of Rain or a sharp Air abroad so that he must endure a piercing Blast or wet his Foot to go out to it These are no Excuse from it but still Men are bound to Communicate Some Devout Meditations and Prayers to help them in a Worthy Discharge of it After they have received they must be careful to make good those holy Vows and Promises which they made to God in the Holy Sacrament Page 421 Heads of Self-Examination for the use of those who would find out what Sins they have to Repent of either before a Sacrament or at any other Times Page 465 A Prayer before the Sacrament Page 474 A Prayer and Thanksgiving after the Sacrament Page 478 A Morning Prayer for a Family Page 484 An Evening Prayer for a Family Page 487 AN HELP AND EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating The INTRODUCTION IN this matter of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper there are two great Faults which are every where incurr'd and which all that Love their Saviour or their own Souls ought most carefully to avoid and they are a Refusal or Neglect and an unworthy Vsage or Prophanation of it both which are most offensive to Almighty God and to our dear Lord. For our Blessed Saviour has appointed it and expresly commanded us to come to it and shew'd us by manifest Tokens that he lays a particular weight upon it so that we are greatly undutiful and disobedient if we keep back from it And he has appointed it for sacred Ends and solemn Purposes which call for a very Reverent and Devout Carriage so that we prophane it if we come carelesly and behave our selves unworthily when we approach thereto It is a most necessary part of our Religion and therefore not to be passed over and let alone through Negligence and
Eating and Drinking not being to satisfie Hunger but for Sacred Ends 't is fit we come to it with a suitable and a Sacred Carriage and in that consists the Worthiness of the Usage Were it onely a Feast on Common Food we should behave our selves worthily at it by thanking God for it and being Temperate But being a Feast wherein Religion is concerned and whereat we are to remember the Death of our Lord and to Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love with all the Christian World to the doing this worthily and as 't is fit we should there is more required For we deal very unworthily in remembring the Death of our Lord if we are not thankful for it and in ratifying the New Covenant with God if we are not sincere in it and in promising Love to all the Christian World if we are in enmity and hatred These Religious Ends must be answered with a Religious Temper and a Devout Carriage and then they are treated as they ought and as their Worth requires This is signified by several Copies which in 1 Cor. 11.27 read not barely Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup OF THE LORD VNWORTHILY but whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord VNWORTHILY OF THE LORD i. e. in a way unworthy of him which clearly shews the Unworthiness to consist in the want of those Tempers wherewith 't is sit our Blessed Lord who is commemorated in it should be treated And this the Apostle plainly intimates when he places the unworthiness of Eating in not Discerning or rather Discriminating the Lords Body and putting a difference between it and Common Food by a different Carriage and Behaviour at it He that eats and drinks unworthily says he eats and drinks Damnation to himself for such unworthy usage which lies in his not discerning or rather not discriminating the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 Thus doth a worthy Eating of the Sacrament consist in answering its Sacred Ends with Sacred and suitable Carriage and Dispositions And therefore that we may see what Behaviour is worthy of it 't is fit we run over those several Ends and inquire what Tempers every one of them requires of us Those Ends are Three 1 st To Remember Christ our Blessed Lord and Saviour and particularly his Dying for us which call for Love Joy Gratitude Obedient Resolutions and such like Tempers 2 ly To Confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God which is not worthily done by us unless we come to it in Sincerity and Faithfulness and with full Purpose and Performance of that Repentance and Obedience which we profess and promise 3 ly To Confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren and Fellow-Christians which requires that we lay aside all Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Peace and Forgiveness of all that have any ways offended us If we Believe all these things which Christ our Great Prophet has revealed to us and our Faith shews it self in these Tempers and carries us on to these Performances we are Worthy Communicants and have that Faith which will render us welcom Guests at the Lords Table and acceptable to him at all other times 1 st One End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine at the Lords Supper is to remember Christ not onely as our Prophet and Teacher which I do not make a Distinct Head now because the Belief required to that is exercised thro' the whole Action and falls in at all the other but as our Blessed Lord Saviour and Benefactor and above all his Benefits particularly to remember his Dying for us and this to do it worthily calls for Love Joy Gratitude Resolutions of Obedience and other such like Tempers The Remembrance of any thing absent and long since past brings it back into our Minds and gives a sort of Presence to it And therefore when things are brought to our Remembrance they should work upon us and affect us as if they were before us When we remember our Saviour Christ then we must bear the same Mind towards him as we should if we saw him and were conversing with him and that will consist in these Things that follow We must Honour him and resolve to Obey him as he is our Lord and Master and Love him and Delight in him and give Thanks to him as he is our Friend and Benefactor and be humbled under the sense of our own Vnworthiness and abhor our own Sins as they brought him to bleed and die for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Vse as we are bought with his Blood and are thereby become his own Purchase 1 st In Eating and Drinking in the Lords Supper we are to remember Christ as our Lord and Master and to do that worthily we must remember him with Honour and Reverence and with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience which are Duties we owe and should pay to him were he present with us 1 st We ought to remember him our Lord and Master with Honour and Reverence These Tempers Lordship and Authority always call for whensoever they are lodged in any Persons A Son honoureth his Father saith God and a Servant his Master if then I be a Father where is mine Honour and if I be a Master where is my Fear Mal. 1.6 Honour the King says St. Peter and Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear 1 Pet. 2.17 18. And Render to all their Dues says St. Paul as Fear or Reverence to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour is due Rom. 13.7 But when this Authority is in the most absolute and full Degrees and is joyned with the highest Excellencies and tempered with the most Endearments and guided by the most surpassing Goodness as it is in Christ Jesus it calls for them most especially For he is every way wonderfully accomplished and has all those Endowments in their greatest Perfection which of right can challenge or are fit to excite them For he is boundless in knowledge he understands all things and infinitely wise in Counsel able to suit Means to every End and bring about every Purpose and surpassing in Might so that he may do what he pleases and holy in all his ways and faithful in all his Promises and just and equitable in all his Dealings and Glorious in his Divine Essence being the very Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person and Supereminent in Power having all Authority in Heaven Earth put into his hands and yet in the midst of all these Excellencies and the height of all this Greatness which are apt to puff us up with Pride and Contempt of others he is unspeakable in Love and wonderful in Condescensions vouchsafing to leave Heaven where he was Equal to God and be made in fashion of a mean Man for our sakes and unwearied in
Thoughts and resolving to shew Kindness both in Word and Deed to all about us nay to all Men as we have ability and opportunity but the Poor especially who ought not to be forgotten at such times which is the Great Thing required of us and becoming us in this part of the Service So that when we come to the Holy Communion where we are called to remember Christ particularly in his Death to seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Friendship with our Brethren we may do well to express our selves joyfully and affectionately thankful for all his Kindness especially that in Dying for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service and repent of all our Sins making him faithful and unfeigned Promises of amending all our Faults particularly those wherein we are most liable to do amiss and shew our selves in Peace and perfect Charity with all Persons By these things we shall duly answer the Ends of this Feast and in them lies the great Worthiness of our Carriage at it And this our Church has sufficiently intimated to us in her Publick Catechism when in return to that Question What is required of them that come to the Lords Supper It gives this Answer To repent them truly of all their Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life to have a lively Faith in Gods Mercy thro' Christ which as we have seen is thorowly exercised from the beginning to the end of this Holy Sacrament to have a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. When we come therefore to the Holy Sacrament whilst the Minister himself is Communicating or whilst others are Receiving we may lay out our selves on these things and spend the time in the Exercise of these Duties acting them in Devout Prayers and Holy Meditations in our own Hearts Or if we are not able of our selves but need the Help of others to suggest Thoughts and to go along with us in this Service let us joyn heartily in the Churches Prayers which it has appointed for this purpose For in them we have an Exercise of all these Virtues and they have excellently provided for our Needs in this Case so that we may duly express these Tempers if we are careful to joyn fervently with the Minister in all the Parts of the Communion-Service And because it may be of use to some to see how all these Duties are exercised in it that so being aware of it they may particularly design them when they come to it I will shew it of them all particularly 1. It leads us on to an affectionate Thankfulness and joyful Praise the first great Qualification in a strain which truly to me is most transporting For thus it helps us to give Thanks before Receiving It is very meet right and our bounden Duty that we should at all Times and in all Places give Thanks unto thee O Lord Holy Father Almighty Everlasting God Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnifie thy Glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most High And thus again after it Glory be to God on High and in Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee we give Thanks to thee for thy great Glory O Lord God Heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the onely Begotten Son Jesu Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the Sins of the World receive our Prayers Thou that sittest at the Right Hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the Glory of God the Father All which are words expressing joyful Praise and affectionate Thankfullness so meltingly that better I think have not yet been thought of 2. It leads us also to resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his Service in the Prayer immediately after receiving in these words And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto thee humbly beseeching thee that all we who are partakers of this Holy Communion may be fullfill'd with thy Grace and Heavenly Benediction 3. It leads us in professing an humble and hearty Repentance of all our sins and making God our Faithful Promises of new Obedience in the invitation to Communicate and the Confession of Sin before receiving in these words Ye that do truly and earnestly Repent you of your Sins and intend to lead a new Life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his Holy Ways draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to your Comfort and make your humble Confession to Almighty God meekly kneeling upon your Knees Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty c. We do earnestly Repent and are heartily sorry for these our mis-doings c. And to prepare us for this profession of Repentance in this place of the Service I think it very adviseable to take what time there is whilst the Bread and Wine are in preparing before the beginning of the Office to recollect our particular Sins which we are most liable to incur and at every one of them to make God promises and six Resolutions of amending them in our own minds after which we may the better say in General we Repent of them and will no more Commit them and thereupon beg Pardon for them and receive Absolution as it is in this part of the Service 4. And lastly it leads us to act Peace and Charity to all men when in the Exhortation before receiving it tells us we must be in perfect Charity with all Men and in the invitation calls such as are in Love and Charity with all their Neighbours at which words our hearts may strike in with it and earnestly profess they at present are and are fully resolv'd at all times after so to be Thus doth the Church it self in our Publick Service go before us and lead us on in these great Duties of joyful Praise and Thankfulness of Resignation of our selves of Repentance and Faithful purposes and promises of Obedience and of Charity to all Persons which are to render us welcome Guests and worthy Communicants Nay it doth not only call us to and bear us Company in these chief Duties wherein above all consists a Receivers worthiness but also in most others mentioned above so that scarce any
are no more able always wholly to forget what has past than we were at first to be wholly ignorant and insensible of it Nay in many Cases if we could it is not advisable that we should do it for whilst the injurious Person is Impenitent and ready to repeat the same again the Remembrance of it will do us good in quickning our care and making us more wary and watchful to prevent it But if once he has Repented of what he did so as that he ought to be admitted to his former state then indeed it may seem very desirable that as much as in us lies we should forget it by giving no entertainment or incouragement to the Thoughts of it For the Remembrance then can serve no good ends but may prove a very great snare to us in making us backward in kindness or fit to catch fire on small Provocations or uncandid in interpreting his words or actions afterwards It will not be our sin till these or some other ill effects are wrought by it but it will be our Temptation whereby 't is very like we shall sometimes be much indanger'd so that then it may be very fit to lay it aside for fear of receiving hurt by it 2. They fear that after an unkindness or injury received they are not so Charitable as they ought because they think the worse of him that offered it Now if they are uncandid in judging of the injurious action i. e. if they impute it to the worst cause and make not those Allowances of forgetfulness over-sight and the like which it would well admit and which Love would fix upon it were it to construe it 't is true they are so far wanting in it This indeed is hard for us always to avoid and therefore we must be sure to take the more care and keep the stricter watch against it And if after all through unwariness through an Accusers laying out only the interpretations of the ill side or our own suspicious temper insensibly leaning towards it we are ingaged in an uncandid Construction e're we can discover it there our inconsideration and unadvisedness will be our excuse for it But so soon as ever we can observe it or are shewn how the action is equally capable of a favourable Sense we must strike in with it and correct our hasty Judgment So that if by thinking worse they mean that they think worse than needs of the Action and incur an uncandid interpretation this is the Sentence they are to pass upon it Either it was an innocently inconsiderate escape and then their haste and unadvisedness must excuse it or it was a known sin i. e. it either was or had they not been grosly partial and evidently bent to think ill would have been committed with observation and then their Repentance and Amendment must atone for it But if by thinking worse they mean that when the Fact is evidently ill they have a worse opinion of the Person there is no want of Charity in that because they have just cause for it and cannot in Reason think better of him They judge only according to the plain Truth of things and that the best Souls may safely do and it is no uncharitable part in any of them For thus our Lord thought of Judas when he most affectingly suggested to him the baseness of â—is Bâ—trâ—ying him and that too with a Kiss the sign of Friendship and Affection And thus the Apostles thought of the Jews whom they looked upon as wicked Murderers for our Saviours Crucifixion And thus St. Paul thought of Peter when he blamed him for his sinful complyance and dissimulation And thus God himself thinks of us upon our miscarriages for he sees them and dislikes us for them and thereby magnifies the Honour of his Patience and loving Kindness in that he is good even to the unthankful and the evil and shews us Favour notwithstanding them And thus also may we very innocently and charitably too think ill of any others when they have evidently deserv'd it and given us just occasion for it For the work of Charity or Love to others is not to make us blind in a plain Case and see no Faults in them when they are clear before us For this is Love without Eyes which is by no means the Love of wise men or the Charity of Christians It is not always possible in Nature nor could be shewn if we should attempt it for when others Faults are evident there is no way of being dark against the Sun or shutting out the Light whilst our Eyes are opened But if it always could be done yet is it not in any wise proper to be advised for if we must see no hurt in any Persons it unavoidably destroys all wise choice of Friends and Companions Relations and Dependants all seasonable Counsel and Instruction Reproof and Admonition and so produces most sad effects both in Conversation and Religion The work of Charity to others then is not to wink against a Fault when 't is apparent but not to be quick in discerning and forward in presuming it when there is no just Cause for it So that if we would be Charitable to our Enemies we must not believe ill of them till it is sufficiently made out to us nor conclude them faulty in a doubtful case when there are Reasons on both sides and they are as likely to be otherwise nor presume they had an ill design in that which lies as open to a good and might have no hurt at all in it In these Cases where their offence is not clearly proved it is uncharitableness in us to be hasty in believing it But when their Enmity is profest and their Vnkindness or Injurious dealing is evident 't is no Duty in any man to shut his Eyes against the Light nor any Uncharitableness at all to esteem them the less for it We may think him a Dishonest man that has injured us and him a False Friend that has betrayed our Secrets to our Prejudice as our Saviour Christ did Judas and that he is not so kind as he professes who when he might refuses to do good to us When we judge of Persons not from rash Surmises but from clear Evidence and Experience we may judge as we find cause and if we judge ill of them it is not because we are inclined to it but because they have deserved it so that our ill Opinion is owing purely to their Faults and not to any want of Charity in our selves 3. Some Persons of Passionate Natures fear they have not that Charity for Enemies which is required of all Good men because when some have been most mischievous to them their hearts are troubled and they are inwardly moved as often as they see them not with any Angry or Revengeful Passion which would do hurt to them but only with a sad Remembrance of their own Losses which they have sustained by them Now where this is really the
stay away and not receive at all But that they may not be kept back by this hindrance I shall observe to them these three things 1. That they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from it 3. If it happen that any are really Scandaliz'd at the sight of such as are notoriously Wicked or have done any wrong to their Neighbours either in word or deed upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denyed the Sacrament 1. I say they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy to communicate lest they be mistaken in it For every Penitent Man who is fully Resolved to leave all his Sins is really worthy to receive the Sacrament and whether the Person they think unworthy be so resolved or no is very hard for them to judge since no Man can see into anothers Heart and only God and his own Soul are privy to it When he comes to the Lords Table every Communicant professes to Repent and promises to lead a New Life thenceforward and when he solemnly declares he is thus resolved 't is hard for another Person who cannot see into his Soul to say he is not but is still impenitent Tho all Good Men therefore may be free in judging of themselves yet ought they to be very wary how they pass a Judgment on the unworthiness of others They must not be forward to pronounce of it because 't is hard for them to know it so that when they give Sentence against their Brethren in this point 't is venturously done and they are liable to be deceived in it 2. When some others who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do Receive the Sacrament yet ought not that to hinder them from joyning in it Our Business should not be to move Questions and Disputes about the preparedness of others but to be careful duly to prepare our selves and when once we are sitly qualified for it we ought to come whether they be so or no. Their unworthiness will have all its effect upon themselves but will not hinder our acceptance nor ought to put us by from doing both our Saviour and our own Souls this Service To shew this I shall observe these three things 1. If the company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians 2. It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession But 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they we unworthy we are safe and may freely come and they alone are to be debarred from Receiving 1. If the Company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it is not so barely unto us but would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians For when our Lord eat hiâ— own Supper it was not with a Select Company of worthy Receivers but with a mixt multitude of Saints and Sinners Thus he found it in the Jewish Passover for all the Congregation of Israel both good and bad were to eat of it and none but Foreiners and hired Servants were excluded from it Exod. 12.45 47. And the like mixture of Guests he allowed when he instituted this Feast instead of it For in great likelyhood Judas who as the Scripture says was a Thief and the Son of Perdition was one of the twelve that Communicated with him Mat. 26.20 25 26. Luc. 22.20 21. And in the first times all Christians as I have shewn who came together to pray to God met also to receive the Holy Sacrament that being then a constant part of their Publick Worship The Number of Communicants in those Days was the same with the number of Christians or Baptized Persons for all Men then met in the Communion who were made Members of Christs Mystical Body the Church by Baptism and were not cut off again by Excommunication as St. Paul plainly intimates when he says of all those many who make up the one Body that they are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and of all those who have been Baptized into one Body that they have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 So that their Communions as well as ours were mixt Assemblies which were made up of worthy and unworthy Receivers and therefore if other Mens unworthiness ought to be our hindrance it should also have hindred our Blessed Saviour Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians who if this be a good Reason for it should all have forborn the Sacrament because Judas a lost man and other unprepared and unworthy Persons met also with them at the same time to partake in it 2. If the Company of unworthy Persons be a just impediment from the Communion it ought to hinder us also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession For the Church it self is a mixt multitude of fit and unfit of holy and unholy Persons It is compared to a Net wherein Fish of all sorts are caught both good and bad Mat 13.47 48 to a Field where both Wheat and Tares spring up and wherein both must grow together till the Harvest v. 24 25 30. All Christians are not such as their Saviour Christ was and such as their Religion requires they should be and therefore if we refuse to share in any holy thing whilst some unworthy Persons pretend to it and will not joyn in any Act or State wherein ill men participate we must not only shun the Communion but cease also to be members of the Church or Profess the Christian Religion Nay I might add further since all Communities have some Corrupt Members and in every Body of Men there are some Vicious as well as Godly Persons if we decline all Society and fellowship which has ill Men to partake in it we must not stop in avoiding the Communion and leaping out of the Christian Church and Profession but if we run on so far as this Principle will lead us become Out-Laws to Families Townships Kingdoms yea to all Mankind 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they are unworthy we are safe and may freely câ—me and they alone are debarr'd from receiving God will not punish one Soul for anothers fault or be angry at this because that Person has deserv'd it But every Man shall stand or fall by his own Work and either be approved or â—â—jectâ—d as it prepares him for it Let every Man prove his own Work saith the Apostle for every Man shall bear his own Burden Eph. 6.4 5. So that if we take care to come worthily our selves
seem sufficient to inforce a due Attendance on it And when once Men are so disposed and seriously resolv'd to communicate I shall add a few things to assist them in a right Discharge of it and so conclude this Subject When we come to the Holy Sacrament to commemorate the Death of our Bleeding Lord whose Body there is represented as broken and his most precious Blood as shed on our account we are to shew forth an affectionate and hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a Kindness and an intire Resignation of our selves to his Vse and Repentance of all our Sins fully purposing to amend them all thenceforwards and an universal Peace and Charity towards all our Neighbours all which we must excite in our own Souls by due Considerations 1. We must shew forth an affectionate aâ—d hearty Thankfulness for so invaluable a â—â—ndness And what Soul can be slow to 〈◊〉 this who considers how infinitely our 〈◊〉 Lord has deserved of us For he has got us the most precious and glorious things which Heaven it self could afford that all our Sins should be freely pardoned and that the Holy Ghost that Immense Eternal and All-sufficient Spirit should come in at all times to our help and that we should be in no less Quality than the Sons of God and Heirs of a Kingdom who are assured of eternal Joys and Glories in another World And ought not Gifts so august and superlatively excellent to be most affectionately acknowledged He has bought all these to bestow upon us at the dearest Rate not onely taking the most unwearied Pains but also paying the highest Price and laying down his own most precious Blood for the Purchase And must not such astonishing Kindness which was affrighted by no Hazards nor stopt at any Difficulties nor declined any Sufferings not the Suffering of Death it self for our sakes be always held in a most thankful Remembrance And in all this he had no Ends of his own to serve of us but was led on purely by the Pleasure he takes in our Happiness he was not won by our Deserts for alas we were his profest Enemies who had nothing to shew but highest Provocations he was not wearied out with the importunity of our Intreaties for it came as undeserv'd so altogether unask'd whatsoever he did for us he was â—ot moved by the Mediâ—tiâ—n of Friends â—or whom alas had we to intercede for 〈◊〉 And shall not such amazing Love and Goodness so frankly shew'd without any Eye at 〈◊〉 or Private Interests without 〈◊〉 or Deserts nay in spite of all Discâ—uâ—agâ—meâ—ts and highest Provocations be entertain'd with greatest Joy and grateful Acclamations He has been an infinitely endearing and entire Friend to us without any Inducement but his own most generous Kindness and against all Discouragements and beyond all 〈◊〉 and under the most frightful Hazards and at the highest Expences giving his own Soul even to Death for a Ransom to redeem ours And whensoever we hear or think of this I am confident it will not be difficult for any of us to embrace him with Hearts full of Love and high Desires and pay him most intire Thanks and burst out into Songs of Praise and find it a most joyful Business so to do What am I my dear Lord will a devout Mind then say that thou shouldest leave the Right-hand of God and come to visit me Hadji thou no Ease in thy own Breast so long as I lay plunged in Misery And couldst not thou be Happy in Heaven nor enjoy thy self amidst all the Joys and Glories of that Blissful Plaâ—â— unlâ—ss I were there too to bâ—ar thâ—â— Company How â—arnest thou being so highly exalted and the Eternal Son of God to have any Affectionate Concern at all for me Was nâ—t I a defâ—rred pâ—lluted Wretch and thy profest Enemy And werenâ—t either of these enough to turn away thy Face from me But if notwithstanding all this thy overflowing Goodness would put th◠〈…〉 something for my sake why must thou come thy self upon the Earth nay come to bleed and die to Redeem me Am I dearer to thee than thy own Life that thou shouldest part with it to save me Dost thou love me better than thou lovest thy self that thou wilt shed the last Drop of thy own Hearts Blood to make me happy Blessed Jesus how unfaâ—â—â—mable is thy Grace and what an unsearchable Depth of Love is this which thou hast opened to us O how happy do I think my self in it and how doth my Heart rejoyce at the Remembrance of it Lord I love thee dearly and long to love thee more Would I had the Heartâ— of a Seraphin that I might be all over Love and neither wish nor think of any thing besides thee Would I could feel my Soul affected to that degree which I desire and thou infinitely deservest of me I wish no greater Pleasure than to be found perfect in thy Love and to have thee so dear unto me that I can contemn all the gilded Vanities and Allurements of the World at the thoughts of thee O! do thou fill me with an Affection full and absolute like thine own that I may love thee infinitely as I am beloved by thee Possess me with such a Sense of thy Love and such Thankfulness for all thy Favours as is worthy of thee tho' should I offer the utmost Acknowledgments which the most affected and enlarged Heart can pay I should not give the thousandth part of what I owe thee Let all the Angels adore thy glorious Goodness and all the Sons of Men so long as they have a Tongue to speak set forth thy Noble Praise for thou O sweetest Jesu art the Son of the Blessed the Joy and Glory of the World the Lamb of God and the Saviour of Mankind who wast slain for our sakes and art alive again and sittest now for ever at the Right-hand of Power in the Glory of the Father that Angels may submit to thee and all the World may worship thee sing of thee and praise thy Goodness Power and Glory to all Eternity 2. We must shew our selves reconciled to all who have any ways offended us and that we are in Peace and Charity with all Persons And this we shall not think much to do if we consider how highly our dear Lord is concern'd for them and how earnestly he sues in behalf of them for then we shall be readily brought to it on his account tho we might be more averse to it on their own He has loved them so well as to shed his precious Blood for them and can we find in our Hearts to hurt any Person when we see him giving his own Life to save him He owns them as his Friends and Brethren and is not that enough to make us kind to see that he is so near akin to them He has made them Members of his Body and thereby Parts of his own self and can we study Revenge against them when he comes in at
Duty Wilt not thou my sweetest Saviour who diedst for me whilst I was thine unrelenting Foe now intercede for me when I come to serve thee O speak Peace unto my poor Heart and let me know and feel that thou forgivest me Send thy Holy Spirit to take possession of it to keep it true unto thy self that it may never more start back from thee Thou hast promised thy Grace to those that ask it and endeavour in expectation of it O! I desire it and will do what I can to be assisted by it and therefore humbly hope this Promise shall be made good unto thy Servant Whatsoever thou doest in other things deny me not this Grace O Heavenly Father for Jesus's sake who is infinitely dear to thee and who died for me Amen Thus may we Discharge the Duties of this Feast and excite and actuate in our own minds that Faith and Thankfullness and Charity and Resignation and Repentance which are to render us fit and worthy of it If any are destitute of other helps they may make use of these Meditations and Prayers to affect their own Hearts and to shew forth these Virtues of worthy Receivers They will not always find room for all these Devotions whilst the Sacrament is Administring but they may go thro' with all of them before they come for then they may allot what space they please for them and make use of such of them as the time allows when they are receiving And for a more actual adorning of their Souls with them at that time whilst the Minister himself or others before them are Receiving they may express them all in one Continued Devotion by lifting up their Hearts to God in the words following O Blessed Jesu who gavest thy self to die for my sake how near have I lain to thy kind heart when the precious Blood that streamed thence was not so dear to it I am utterly ashamed of my self that ever I should put thee to part with such a price and to endure such exceeding smart and tortures to bâ—friend me I blush to think of it and abhor my sins which brought thee to it But since my need required and thy Boundless Love would make thee undergo what thou didst in the utmost thankfulness of an humble heart I gladly accept the inestimable benefit for which I love thee most Affectionately and will serve thee most Faithfully and praise thee most joyfully evermore extolling thy boundless Goodness and glorious Excellencies and endeavouring that all others may do so too Thou hast Bought me with thy Blood and here with an unfeigned Heart I give up my Soul and Body my Goods and all I have to be employ'd in thy Service and disposed of as thy Providence shall order me Take Possession of me by thy Spirit that my Body may always be the Temple of the Holy Ghost my Soul and all its Faculties intirely Devoted to thy Behoof and Interest and all 〈◊〉 worldly Goods acquired so innoâ—â—ntly injoyed so thankfully spent so â—â—â—perately and laid out so charitablâ—â—s becomes thy Faithful Steward I 〈◊〉 not hence forward call any things my own when once my Lord has need of them I freely resign all up unto thee since thou hast paid so dear for me I have grievously offended thee by many sins particularly by c. I am perfectly asham'd of them and sorry at my heart that ever I committed them and would never do it were they to do again and faithfully promise that wittingly I will never more yield to them and humbly beg that for Christ's sake in whom thou offerest Pardon to every penitent Heart thou wouldst forgive them Thou hast purchased the Holy Spirit for all those who are ready to labour in an Holy Life and take pains with it and offerest him to all such industrious Souls in this Sacrament I desire O Lord to amend all these Sins which I have here acknowledged I am fully bent upon it and will endeavour what I can towards it and depend upon thy Grace and Aid to carry me through it Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word I am at Peace O Lord with all Persons and forgive all Offenders against me as I expect Forgiveness of my own Offences at thy Hands and am fully resolved to be kind to all the World but especially to all the Members of thy Mystical Body for thy sake that by these Returns of Charity I may in some sort answer that Infinite Love and Kindness I receive from thee Thy Blood O Blessed Jesus has procured and thou Holy Father for Christ's sake hast promised Pardon of any Sin to every one who repents of it and the Assistance of thy Spirit to every one that endeavours with it and Eternal Life to all that are entirely Obedient and callest us to receive Assurance that thou art still of the same mind and wilt make all this good in this Holy Sacrament Lord I heartily repent me of all my Sins for Christ's sake do thou pardon me I am fully resolved to shew Care and to labour in the Amendment of all my Faults let thy Grace and Holy Spirit come in to assist and enable me I am stedfastly purposed to keep thy Commandments do thou then graciously accept me for the sake of my Crucified Saviour whose Death I now most thankfully commemorate and who is here offered unto thee as our Atonement on this Table Or shorter thus O Blessed Jesus who diedst for my sake and daily still renewest thy Kindness by shewing thy self well-pleased with what thou hast done and calling me to meet thee in this joyful Commemoration of it I come at thy Command to shew my self humbly and thankfully mindful of so Infinite a Benefit Blessed yea for ever Blessed be thy Love which made thee think upon when I lay in misery nay forget thy self and throw away thy own Life to save mine I humbly adore thy marvellous Goodness which shall ever be the Joy and Praise the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels And O that I may always love thee better than I do my Life that so I may not flinch even to die for thee as thou hast done for me if ever thou shalt call me to it for thy Glory I see in this Bread that is broken and this Wine which is poured out what cruel Pains my Sins brought to my dearest Lord and how they stand guilty of his Body and Blood I come with shame and a troubled Heart to confess it I utterly abhor them for what they have done and declare since they have proved thâ—â—ruel Enemies they shall evermore be mâ—â—e and that I will never from this day admit of a Reconciliation I am here to assure thee that I will not live unto my self or them but unto thee and freely devote all I have to thy use since thou hast bought me I love all Men and will embrace them as my Brethren because they are thine and freely forgive all the World even as I
desire to be forgiven O Holy Jesus according to thy boundless Mercy accept of these small returns of thy poor Servant which though very mean alas are yet the best I have to offer thee and supply me with a more abundant measure of thy Grace that I may be able to pay back something more worthy of thee Let this Holy Sacrament be the Comfort and Refreshment of my Heart conveying Pardon and Peace to it and the Enriching and Establishing of my Spirit with all the Benefits of thy Blood make it a great increase of present Grace to me and a certain pledge of Immortality to assure me that I shall even live with thee and be near to that Heart which Dyed for me Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu Amen In these or such like words may we act over all those Virtues which are to render us worthy Communicants before the Holy Mysteries are brought to us And at the receipt of them we may lift up our Hearts to God in these or the like Expressions After the Receiving of the Bread we may say to our Dearest Lord with an Affectionate Heart I Receive this O! my Lord in remembrance of thy Death and thank thee most intirely for laying down thine own Life for me O! how I rejoyce in thy marvellous Love and in this Remembrance of it I will always live to thee and utterly renounce every sin whereby I have most ungratefully pierced thy bleeding Heart and am Friends with all the World for thy sake and will extol thy matchless Bounty whilst I have a Tongue to speak giving all Honour Glory and Praise to thee the Lamb of God who wast slain and now sittest upon the Throne for evermore And in like manner after the receiving of the Cup. THe Remembrance of thy Blood-shedding O! sweetest Saviour is dear to me I can never forget it since it was altogether for my sake and I owe my very Life to it In all the Affection of an infinitely obliged heart I humbly thank thee for what thou hast done and gladly consent to those Terms of Life and Mercy which were purchased by it and will never willfully yield to do any thing that is unworthy of so great a Benefit and embrace all my Brethren with open Arms since thou so requirest it and desire after this sort to fulfill thy will in all things and adore thy Glorious Goodness and shew forth thy boundless Praise to my Lifes end O! keep me unalterable in this mind may a Devout Soul then go on and never suffer my own Corrupt Lusts to turn me from it I have now O! Holy Saviour taken thee into my Heart O let thy Presence banish them away that they may never pretend to it again since now 't is Holy to the Lord nor ever appear to pollute that place wherein so Divine a Guest is lodged Now thou art pleas'd to enter under my Roof have me always in thy keeping for I am safe in no other hands Preserve the place thou hast taken possession of and let not thy Enemies and mine any more invade it Pour into my Heart all the Benefits of thy Crucified Body and Blood since now by thy wonderful Grace I am made Partaker of them Thy Blood was shed for the Remission of sins O! let me know and feel that mine are all forgiven It obtained the Assistance of thy Spirit and Grace O! let me ever enjoy that as I stand in need of it It was the Price thou payedst down for Eternal Life O! let that finally be my Lot since thou hast paid so dear for it Bid me hope assuredly O Blessed Jesu that all this shall be made good unto thy Servant because now thou hast given thy self to me and fed me with thine own Body whereby mayest thou ever dwell in me and I in thee Amen And when this is done whilst others are receiving we may employ our selves in some of the foregoing Devotions or when we have enough of them joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the Delivery of the Bread and Wine to others or strike in affectionately with the Psalm of Praise which for the ease and exercise of all but of those particularly who have already received is wont at that time to be sung in most Places After this sort then may we lift up our Hearts to God and discharge all those Duties which are required in every worthy Communicant When we have no other helps we may acceptably express them all in a Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers since in them as I have shewn there is an actual exercise of all these Duties But when we can do more either by the help of Books or our own invention we may act them over still more fully in these or such like forms of Devotion And when all this is done and this solemn Feast is concluded we must not think tho work of worthy Receiving is at an end for one thing still remains that must employ us always afterwards and that is a careful performance of all those Promises which we made to God in this Holy Ordinance In the Sacrament as has been shew'd we seek not only a Pardon for what is past but also vow and promise Amendment for the Future and these Promises must be made good afterwards and it must be our care whilst we Live to fulfil them This we are higly concerned to do and it will greatly increase our Guilt and Condemnation if we fall short of it For if we return to our former sins again after we have thus solemnly vow'd to forsake them We are false to our Word and treacherous where we seem to be most sincere and seek more especially to be trusted We break our Faith with God and go about to delude his Expectation had he been capable to be imposed upon and believed as we would have had him which is as great an abúse as we can well put upon him And this doubles the sin which we commit and sets God further off from being intreated for now we have not only the Fault it self to answer for but also this Perfidiousness and breach of Vows which adds a new one to it and makes it greater So that after every Sacrament if we still continue Impenitent our Guilt is aggravated and our Souls more endanger'd and we are greater sinners than we were before Thus highly are we concerned to perform the Promises which we made at the Table of our Lord. And this we shall be very like to do if we think often of them every day for some time especially after we are gone from it Indeed if we forget all we did and all the Vows we made there to Almighty God we are like to be the same men still and must not expect that it should amend us For the Sacrament as I have shewn doth not better us without our own Care but by helping and ingaging us to Good endeavours after it is over It works not as a
When thou bestowest Good on others let not us envy but rejoyce in it and when thou addest any to our selves let us own thy Mercy and humbly thank thee for it Afford us convenient Supplies in all our reasonable Necessities and protect us against the approach of all Dangers make us diligent in all our Business and give such Success to our Endeavours as thou seest most expedient for us and teach us contentedly to submit and not to repine at any thing that happens by the Allotment of thy Providence In all our Passage thro' this World and our manifold Concerns in it suffer not our Hearts to be too much set upon it but always fix our Eye upon the Blessed Hope that as we go along we may make all the Things of this World minister to it and be careful above all things to fit our Souls for that pure and perfect Bliss which thou hast prepared for all that love and fear thee in the Glories of thy Kingdom Extend thy Grace we further beseech thee to all Men in all Places especially to the Governours and Subjects to all both High and Low Rich and Poor that pray for it or need it in these Kingdoms Bless all our Relations who are near us in the Flesh and all our Friends and Benefactors who are endeared to us by their Kindnesses Forgive all our Enemies give them Hearts to fear thee and to be kind to us And supply all us and all others with whatsoever else thou seest proper for us for Christ his sake in whose Blessed Name and Words we still recommend our selves unto thee saying Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a FAMILY O Most Gracious God who daily multipliest upon us thy Mercies notwithstanding we every day renew our Provocations Accept we beseech thee of our most humble and hearty Thanks for thy unspeakable Kindness towards us Blessed be thy Goodness which has this day supplied us with Food and Necessaries and preserved us in Health the chiefest of all outward Enjoyments and prosper'd the Work of our Hands and lent us our Friends to be still a Support and Comfort to us Adored be thy Love and Patience which hast allowed us one Day more to amend our Ways and assisted us by the Suggestions of thy Spirit and thy gracious Providences to make up that Resignation Humility Contentedness Chastity Sobriety Meekness Charity and other Virtues which are yet wanting in our own Souls We desire to shew our selves duely sensible of these endearing Benefits by learning to depend upon thy Providence which has been so watchful over us and to be contented with thy Orderings which are so wisely fitted to our own Advantage and applying all Opportunities to the increase of that Righteousness and Holy Living which thou requirest at our Hands We fain would do it and are here sincerely resolved to endeavour it and thou hast promised to aid all those who labour in so good a Work Be it then O Lord unto thy Servants according to thy Word and enable us by thy Grace and Holy Spirit so to do We are sensible O God how highly we have offended thee altho' we stand thus indebted for all we have or hope to enjoy to thy Bounty How many ways have we dishonour'd our Profession and revolted from the Vows we made in Baptism by Pride and Envy and Anger and Discontent and Evil-speaking and serving divers Lusts which then we utterly renounced and promised never to live in again We are heartily grieved and ashamed for these and all other our Misdoings and are fully resolv'd by thy Grace hereafter to amend them We unfeignedly repent of them and for Christ's sake humbly beg to be forgiven and that thy Grace and Holy Spirit may rid us of them for the time to come Our full purpose is to endeavour it and thy Promise is to help us in it O let thine Arm be our Almighty Aid and then we shall return to them no more Keep us in thy good Providence this Night make our Sleep safe and refreshing to us Fit us for our great Change that it may not surprize us unawares but that having led holy Lives we may be happy in our Deaths and have Comfort and well-grounded Hope in thee Give all Men Grace to repent and become thy Servants Let all Christians live up to the Laws of that Religion which they profess Especially bless these Kingdoms wherein we live Let our Governours Rule with Justice and our People Obey with Chearfulness Make the Rich and Prosperous Temperate in Vsing and Charitable in Distributing of their Substance and the Poor and Afflicted Patient and Contented under their Burdens And cause us all to love as Brethren to be Pitiful and Tender-hearted towards all Men. Preserve our Friends in their Souls and Bodies forgive our Enemies and make them kindly affected towards us and do whatsoever thou seest fitting for us all for the sake of thy Son our Advocate Jesus Christ who has taught us in his own Words thus to pray Our Father c. FINIS Books printed for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter in Fleetstreet 1. THe Measures of Christian Obedience Or A Discourse shewing what Obedience is indispensibly necessary to a Regenerate State and what Defects are consistent with it For the Promotion of Piety and the Peace of Troubled Consciences By John Kettlewell Fellow of Lincoln-College in Oxford In Quarto Price bound 8 s. 2. A Journey into Greece by Sir George Wheeler in Company of Dr. Spon of Lyons In Six Books Containing 1. A Voyage from Venice to Constantinople 2. An Account of Constantinople and the adjacent Places 3. A Voyage thorow the Lesser Asia 4. A Voyage from Zant thorow several Parts of Greece to Athens 5. An Account of Athens 6. Several Journeys from Athens into Attica Corinth Baeotia c. With Variety of Sculptures In Folio Price bound 15 s. 3. A Vindication of the Primitive Christians in Point of Obedience to their Prince against the Calumnies of a Book entituled The Life of Julian written by Ecebolius the Sophist As also The Doctrine of Passive Obedience cleared in Defence of Dr. Hicks Together with an Appendix being a more full and distinct Answer to Mr. Thomas Hunt's Preface and Postscript Vnto all which is added The Life of Julian enlarged In Octavo Price bound 2 s. 6 d. 4. A Sermon Preached at the Worcester-Feast by George Walls Master of Arts and Student of Christ-Church Oxon. Quarto Price stitcht 6 d. 5. The Treasures of the Sea A Sermon Preached to the Mariners by William Thomson In Quarto Price stâ—itcht 6 d. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are approved may be made manifest * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whomsâ—ever you shall approve †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 5. c. 1. Diogenistae Antipatristae Panaetiastae appellati sunt qui stato anni Die Diogenis Antipatri Panaetii nobilium Philosophorum memoriam celebrarent Is. Casaub ad
Requisite to our worthy Commemoration of his Benefits in this Feast For Praising God is reckoned as one Particular of the Disciples Carriage in their Breaking Bread Act. 2. They continued daily breaking Bread says St. Luke which they eat with gladness praising God v. 46 47. Nay so great a share has Thanksgiving and Praise in this Business that the whole Action is called the Eucharist i. e. the Giving of Thanks to God for those Benefits which are therein Commemorated And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when we Commemorate him as our Friend and Benefactor in this Holy Supper We must love him for his Kindnesses and delight in his Benefits and be thankful for all his Favours particularly for that which is therein especially Commemorated his Dying upon our accounts bursting out into grateful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and being ready and resolved by our Zeal in his Service our Observance of his Laws and our Kindness to his poor Members to make him all the small Requital we are able so that he may never have any cause to repent of what he has done for us But besides this Remembrance of his Friendship to us and Benefits in general which require in us these forementioned Tempers we are especially to commemorate the Benefit of his Dying for us which more particularly calls for certain others In Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper I say we are to remember his Dying for us and shedding his Blood a Ransom for our Sins And to do this worthily we must be humbled under the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to bleed and die for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase 1 st We must remember his Dying for us in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness and in an utter abhorrence of our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings We must remember it I say in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness His Death was not for any thing that he had done but onely for our Sins and this shews what vile Wretches we are and how unworthy Persons It lets us see how hateful our Sins had made us unto God and what they had deserved at his Hands For he would not let them pass without inflicting the highest Shame and the most exquisite Pain and Tortures Yea when his own onely Begotten Son would intercede for them and bâ—ar the Burden of them in his own â—â—â—son so implacable was the 〈…〉 to them and so indispensable â—he Râ—â—sons that constrainâ—d him to punis◠〈…〉 that his most tender Love for him whom he valued as his own Right Eye could not hinder but that he should bleed and die for them It lets us see also how troublesom they had made us to our best Friends and how shamefully burdensom and expensive to the Blessed Jesus For when he long'd and labour'd to redeem us from them he could not be our Friend unless he would cease to be his own nor do us any good at all except he would give his own Life a Ransom And what Man now can ever think of this but he must hide his Face and be quite buried in a shameful sense of his own Unworthiness He may see how vile he was when God was so highly offended with him and thought no Punishment too heavy for him and would not be reconciled at the Intercession of his own Son unless he would die in stead of him and it was so dangerous and costly a thing no less than the laying down his own Life for his Saviour to shew himself a serviceable Friend to him And if this Sight doth not work shame and self-abasement in him he will be concluded by all to be the basest Man alive and utterly unworthy that â—ver any thing of all this unparallell'd Kindness should have been done him We must also remember his Dying for us with an utter abhorrence of our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings For if we do not hate and abhor them when we consider what Tortures he endured for them we shew we are very little concerned for his Ease nor have any feeling of his Pains nor any Zeal at all against the Occasion of his Sorrows And this is a very bad Requital of his undergoing all those Pains for our sakes and a most unworthy Usage So that if we would worthily Commemorate his Dying for us we must be humbled and ashamed of our selves at the sense of our own Unworthiness seeing we had deserved such insupportable Punishments and have put him to such exquisite and intense Pains and particularly we must turn our abhorrence on our Sins which caused all this Mischief and made him if he would befriend us to undergo such heavy Tortures 2 ly We must remember his Dying for us with a Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase He died in our stead and his Blood was given to God for a Ransom to buy us off from it that we might not die also The Son of Man saith he is come to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20.28 And since he has bought us and paid so dear for us to deliver us from Hell-torments and Eternal Death which is not his but our own Advantage in all Equity and Reason he ought to have the Use of us and we should be wholly devoted to his Service And this the Scripture requires of us The Love of God constrains us saith St. Paul to live to him because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5.14 15. And again Ye are not your own ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. And since his Dying for us has made us his own Propriety and acquired him an absolute Right over us to his own use which we had infinite Reason to desire but he had no need of if we would remember it worthily we must do it justly by honestly devoting our Souls and Bodies and assigning them over to him to be wholly at his Service And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when in the Holy Sacrament we Commemorate his Dying for us and shedding his most precious Blood a Ransom for our Sins We must be humbled with the sense of our own Unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings and resign up our selves both Bodies and Souls to be wholly at his use and employed where and in what he pleases as thereby they are become his own Purchase And thus it appears what Tempers are becoming
us and worthy of this first End of Eating and Drinking in the Holy Sacrament viz. the Remembrance of our Lord and Saviour Christ and his Dying for us We must remember him with Honour and Reverence with a careful Concern to maintain and promote his Honour among others with mindfulness of his Commands and Resolutions of Obedience as he is Lord over us with Love of him for his Kindness and Delight in his Benefits and thankful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and grateful Returns in any thing he can receive or we can give for all his Favours particularly his Dying on our account as he has so highly befriended and infinitely obliged us and with an humble sense of our own unworthiness and an utter abhorrence of all our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings and an intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use to be employ'd as his own Purchase in what he pleases as his Death was a Sacrifice for our Sins wherewith he bought and redeemed us All these are Duties which were he now before us and conversing with us we ought to pay him and which therefore in our Remembrance of him which makes him present to our Minds we must not deny him and in them consists the Worthiness of this Remembrance and Commemoration 2 ly A second End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God which Christs Death procured And to do this worthily we must come to it in Sincerity and Faithfulness and with full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which therein we solemnly profess and promise We must come to it I say in Sincerity and Faithfulness The great Qualification which is requisite in all Compacts is Faithfulness For they are the great Means of Security among Men and the great Thing which in their Expectations from each other they have to depend upon and therefore it is both pretended and expected by all that make them that they will not prove false and deceitful in them Every Man that Covenants expects those he Contracts with should mean what they profess and perform what they promise and makes shew also himself that he will do so likewise And if he doth not he is a very dishonest unworthy Man such as the Gospel condemns and will sentence unless he repent to eternal destruction Covenant-breakers being ranked among those who in the Judgment of God are worthy of Death Rom. 1.31 32. And this Sincerity or Faithfulness consists in this that we come in full purpose and performance of that Repentance and Obedience which we profess and make promise of In this Covenant to all us Believers God offers at present a Right to Pardon his Holy Spirit and Eternal Happiness and we again profess and make offer to him of our Repentance and Obedience And this Right he promises still to continue to us upon the same Terms and answerably we promise to perform them upon that expectation for ever afterwards And both in these Professions and Promises we must deal sincerely with him and neither pretend a present offer of them when we want them nor make Promises of them for the time to come when we have no fixed Design and well-weighed Resolution to perform them When we come therefore to renew our Baptismal Engagement and to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God giving him both the Profession and the Promise of these Duties and receiving from him the Proffer and the Promise of these Graces we must be hearty and unfeigned with him Our Souls must really be acted by that Repentance which we profess and fully intend to make good that Obedience which we promise And if we perform in both these we are faithful and sincere in this Business but if we fail in either we are Dissemblers and Hypocrites who act a Part and go to impose upon Almighty God which is a very unworthy part of us And this Sincerity God expresly calls for at this Feast and requires us to be faithful with him when we come to confirm the New Covenant by partaking of it Christ our Passover says St. Paul is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast not with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness by adhering still to our former wicked ways which therefore we are to repent of but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And as for Repentance particularly which is the great Condition of the Covenant renewed in it it is the great Qualification of all worthy Receivers and is most indispensably required in this Sacrament It is the chief thing that is looked at in every Confirmation of the Covenant and therefore is so peremptorily called for when we are Baptized it is the only thing that can recommend a Sacrifice and therefore the main point that must fit us for this Feast upon it And this the Ancient Church always thought of it as it plainly shew'd when at the Celebration of it the Bishop cry'd out These Holy Things must be taken only by Holy Persons and as St. Ambrose clearly informs us when he says This is the Order of dispensing this Mystery which every Church observes that first upon their true Repentance their Sins may be forgiven them and then this Heavenly Food shall be administer'd and reach'd out to them As this Eating and Drinking then is a Federal Rite and in Confirmation of the New Covenant it requires that we be Faithful and Sincere in doing it and then we come worthily and partake of it as we ought when we truly Repent of all our Sins as we profess and are fully purposed as we promise at all times after so to do 3 ly A third End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper is to confirm a League of Love and Friendship with all Christians and this requires that we lay aside all Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts and come to it in Peace and Forgiveness of all that have any ways offended us We must not come to it in Envy Hatred and Malicious Thoughts for that were to give the Lye to our selves and to contradict our own Professions For when we come there to partake of that one Bread we profess our selves as has been shewn to be all one Body and that we are all the Body of Christ and Members one of another We solemnly declare that we will be friends from that day forwards with all persons and fully reconciled even to our bitter Enemies and those who have given us the highest Provocations though not for their own sakes yet for the sake of Christ who has bore a thousand times more from us and deserves infinitely beyond what this comes to at our hands We promise mutually that we will lay aside all little Piques not fall out into Quarrels or Contentions nor bear Ill-will or be vexatious among our selves nor seek our own Pleasure Honour or Advantage at