be the Lord for his Ministers the Stewards of the Mysteries of God especially for those faithfull and wise Stewards whom the Lord hath made Rulers over his houshold to give them meat in due season XXIV Matth. 45. 1 Cor. IV. I. When he begins the Offertory say Let every one of our Prayers together with our Alms and Oblations come up for a memorial before the Lord whose holy Angels I believe are present at these Solemnities A poor Servant may adde The Lord accept of my poor Mite who have little to offer but my self and all that I can doe which I dedicate to his service Then awaken your self to accompany the Minister in the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church c. and attend diligently to the following Exhortation which begins with these words Dearly beloved in the Lord which the Minister ought to speak and you hear with much affection Then joyn as heartily and earnestly as you are able in the General Confession and receive the Absolution with the comfortable words of Christ and his Apostles that follow after as you would do the most joyfull news in the world stirring up your selves as the Minister exhorts you when he saith Lift up your hearts to bless and praise the Lord together with all the Heavenly host for such everlasting consolation and good hope as He hath given us through his grace in Christ Jesus For those precious Promises ought to be sweeter to you as the Psalmist speaks then the honey and the honey-comb far dearer then thousands of gold and silver And now you may be assured though unworthy to gather the crums under his Table that receiving the Creatures of Bread and Wine according to Christ's institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion you shall be partakers of his most blessed Body and Bloud Unto to which words in the Prayer of Consecration say secretly to your self Amen Amen When the Minister himself Communicates say The Lord hear thee The Lord remember all thy Offerings and accept thy Sacrifice Grant thee thy heart's desire and fulfill all thy mind The Lord fulfill all thy Petitions both for thy self and for us and for all his people When you are going to approach to the Lord's Table Propound to your self by way of Question the Invitation which the Minister hath given you saying Do I truly and earnestly repent me of my Sins and am I in love and charity with my Neighbours and intend to lead a new life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his holy ways And finding your self able to return the Answer of a good Conscience resolve as it there follows Then I will draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to my comfort When you are placed there say Lord what am I that Thou shouldst be thus gracious to me What an honour is it that I am invited hither to feast at Thy Table upon the Body and Bloud of my Blessed Saviour To receive the pledges of his Love and to engage my Love to Him which I desire may abound more and more towards Him and towards my Christian Brethren and towards all men When the Minister hath delivered thee the Bread concluding in these words Feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving say I do believe O Lord that Thou art the Bread of life which came down from Heaven by whom we are nourished to eternal Life And I thank Thee with all my Soul that Thou hast both taught us the way of God in truth and also died for our Sins and rose again to give us hope of that immortal Life Blessed be thy Name I have now by thy own appointment received the sacred pledge and earned of it Wherefore my Soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Whose Grace I trust will be with my spirit that I may rejoyce in the Lord alway and ever delight in all well-doing Amen Or this I believe O Blessed Jesus that Thou art the Lord of all and give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for calling me to the knowledge of thy Grace and to Faith in Thee beseeching Thee that as I have now received this new token of thy Love blessed be thy Goodness so Thou wilt ever be my God and by continuance in well-doing bring me to everlasting Life Amen A shorter after the Bread I thank Thee O Lord for calling me into this state of Salvation and for giving me this new pledge of thy continued Love Assist me with thy Grace to doe my duty to Thee and to my Neighbour so faithfully that I may abide in thy love for ever through Jesus Christ c. After you have received the Cup when the Minister concludes with those words and be thankfull say I thank Thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth that Thou wouldst condescend to take our Nature upon Thee and therein suffer for our Sins yea shed thy precious Bloud upon the Cross for our Redemption Glory honour blessing and praise be unto Thee O Lord to whom in all reason I ought henceforth to live and not unto my self And therefore here I devote my self to thy faithfull service and resolve if need be even to take up my Cross and follow Thee Assist me good Lord and make me partaker of all the Benefits of thy Death and Passion according as Thou seest me sincerely resolved in all things for ever to obey Thee Amen Or this 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 Who forgiveth all thy Sin and hath now filled thy mouth with good things and who giveth thee hope of better in eternal Life Sanctify me wholly O Lord that I may not fall short of it but my whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen A shorter after the Cup. I thank Thee again O Lord for thy wonderfull Love in sending thy Son to lay down his Life and in making me partaker of the Benefits of his precious Bloud shedding for us Preserve in me for ever a sense of thy Love and thereby preserve me holy and without blemish to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Amen After you are gone from the Lord's Table to your seat say Blessed be the Lord for his exceeding great grace and mercy to us in Christ Jesus Blessed be the Lord who hath called me into fellowship with Himself and with his Son Christ Jesus Blessed be his Name that I have now received the tokens of his endless Love in which I ought to rejoyce without ceasing as more valuable then all the goods of this world It is my joy O Lord my highest satisfaction I have in this world that I am beloved of Thee who art able to make me more happy then I can conceive O preserve me for ever in thy Love and for that end preserve in me the same thoughts
A help to Communicants Ingredere ut Proficias A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS Or a Help to Young Communicants THAT They may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit By S. Patrick D. P. Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1680. To the READER THere is no Advice more wholesome or more necessary then that of Solomon in the conclusion of his Meditations upon the Vanity of all things under the Sun Remember thy CREATOR in the days of thy youth Which may serve in stead of a Preface to this little Book especially if I change one word and make it run thus Remember thy SAVIOUR in the days of thy youth Be sensible that is how much thou art indebted to Him and do not forget it but carry this always in thy mind that as thou didst receive thy being from Him so thou art bought with a great price and therefore ought'st to glorify God with Body and Soul which are His. 1 Cor. VI. 20. And doe this betime in thy best days before thou art tainted and corrupted by Vice and wickedness Into which dangerous ways if thou art so unhappy as to have entred be advised and leave them presently Betake thy self without any delay to the service of God and let no buisiness much less any vain pleasure hinder thee from acquainting thy self with the Duty thou owest Him or from performing it seriously Particularly that duty which He hath commanded thee to doe in Remembrance of Him The Nature the Necessity and the Ends of which together with the manner of doing it I lay before thee in the following pages Wherein I shall treat onely of such things as are most easy and obvious to every capacity hoping by God's blessing they will be usefull to such as will set themselves to consider them They that would have larger Instructions and Helps may find them in the Christian Sacrifice CHAP. I. Of the Duty WHEN God's Minister declares as he is required to do that he intends on such a day to administer the most comfortable Sacrament of Christ's Body and Bloud and invites you to it beseeching you to dispose your selves religiously and devoutly for it you must consider that it is your duty to prepare your selves to come and partake of so great a Blessing and not to think it enough that you have been present at Divine Service and heard the Sermon and then may turn your back on the Table of the Lord. Which is a very great disrespect to Him and forgetfulness of Him and cannot be excused so easily as mens naughty hearts incline them to believe For though God's Goodness is such that He prefers works of Mercy to your Neighbours before Sacrifice to Himself when one of them must be omitted yet He doth not make the same allowance for your Worldly buisiness which well may be let alone till another time much less for your vain Pleasures or Recreations which never ought to hinder or put by this or any other holy Duty in the season proper for it Come therefore as oft as you are invited and when God's Minister after Sermon ended goes up to the Holy Table to prepare this Heavenly food for you that is to consecrate Bread broken and Wine poured out that it may represent the Death of Christ to you and to give it you saying Take eat and drink this in remembrance of Christ do you stay in God's House and draw near unto his Table and thankfully receive it from him for that end for which he gives it in commemoration of Christ's Death and Passion upon the Cross for your sake It is the duty of God's Minister to set the Bread and Wine apart to present them unto God to break the one and pour out the other to bless them and to give them unto you And then it is your duty to look upon this Bread and Wine thus blessed as representing Christ unto you and accordingly to receive them not as mere Bread and Wine but as things deputed by Christ to be in stead of His Body and Bloud and to communicate them to worthy Receivers CHAP. II. Of the Necessity of this Duty TO doe thus you are ingaged First by the express Commandment of our Lord Christ which you find four times recorded in the New Testament by the three first Evangelists Saint Matthew XXVI 26 27. Saint Mark XIV 22 23. Saint Luke XXII 19 20 and by Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians XI 23 24 25. All which places especially the last you will doe well to reade seriously And then consider Secondly that there is the greater regard to be had to this Commandment Doe this in remembrance of me which Saint Paul saith he received of the Lord because it was his last and dying Commandment in the night when He was betrayed just before the day of his Passion We are wont in other cases to be inclined to remember and carefully perform the last desire of a dying Friend and therefore what other account can we give of it if we live in a neglect of this Duty so solemnly enjoyned but that we are strangers or at best very cold in our love to Him which you had need to quicken because Thirdly your care in this Duty will be a means to make you observe the rest of his Commandments better which now alas are little regarded because little or no regard is had to this last Commandment which our Lord seems to have added when He left the world for the security of all the other that He had delivered before For the doing this hath a mighty power in it to stir up the love of Christ in our hearts And the love of Christ constraineth us as S. Paul teaches 2 Cor. V. 14 15. 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 and rose again Doe this therefore in remembrance of Him which is such an efficacious means to make you always doe well Yea more then this Lastly it will be a means to make you observe his Commandments with love and delight which if they be wanting your Obedience will be little worth For without Love all that you doe will not be acceptable to Christ and unless you delight in what you doe it will not be acceptable to your selves But neither of these will be wanting if you religiously frequent this Holy Sacrament where He is represented to you as desirous to save you though it were by dying for you saying when this was first propounded to Him Lo I come I delight to doe thy will O God How can you then refrain when you think of this from expressing the same affection and the same joy when it is so much easier for you to doe God's will then it was for Him to suffer such things as he did in obedience to it CHAP. III. Of the Ends
for which it was instituted YOU will be the more inclined to this when you consider the Ends for which this Commemoration of Christ's Death was ordained Which were such as these First to profess that you are Christians and believe that Religion which Christ hath sealed by his Bloud to be the true and onely way to Happiness and that you mean to continue in it whatsoever it costs you though it should ingage you that is to follow Him to his Cross Secondly to give thanks to God the Father for sending his onely begotten Son into the world to be the Propitiation for our Sins And to God the Son our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ for humbling himself so low as to die the death of the Cross where He offered his own Body to put away our sins by the Sacrifice of Himself And to God the Holy Ghost who hath brought us glad tidings from Heaven since our Saviour's ascension thither that having purged our sins by Himself He sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high where He lives for evermore and is mindfull of us and of his Promises which He will certainly fulfill as we see by these Pledges He hath left us of his endless Love And therefore Thirdly you bind your selves by the remembrance of these things to be faithfull to Him and to keep that Holy Covenant wherein you are solemnly tied to be wholly His. For as the very coming to his Table naturally signifies you are of his Family and belong to Him so being there so kindly entertained by Him you stand bound to behave your selves as his Servants or rather Friends and engage so to doe Now ye are his Friends if you comply with his will in all other things as well as in this of commemorating his dying Love for your sake So He himself tells his Apostles in those memorable words XV. Joh. 13 14. where He represents to them in what consisted the greatness of his Love and the sincerity of theirs Greater love hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his Friends Ye are my Friends if ye doe whatsoever I command you For Lastly being thus of the number of the Faithfull you have in this Holy Sacrament Communion with Christ in his Death and Passion and in the Merits of them For though the things you receive be in themselves but Bread and Wine yet by a Divine and spiritual grave they become the Body and Bloud of Christ to the Faithfull who are thereby made partakers of all the Benefits which He purchased by his Sacrifice which He made of Himself for our Sins Thus one of the Prayers after the Communion excellently instructs you that God vouchsafes to feed those who duly receive these holy Mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Bloud of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and doth assure you thereby of his favour and goodness and that you are very Members incorporate in the mystical Body of his Son which is the blessed Company of all Faithfull people and are also Heirs through hope of his everlasting Kingdom by the merits of the most precious Death and Passion of his dear Son I need not adde that by doing this in remembrance of Him you have Communion with all your Christian Brethren for it is already expressed and that you beg his gracious assistence that you may continue as it follows in the Prayer now mentioned in this holy Fellowship and doe all such good works as He hath prepared for us to walk in for this holy action being a Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as it is in the Prayer going before wherein Christ's Sacrifice is commemorated it is in its own nature the most powerfull Prayer as all Sacrifices were 1 Sam. XIII 12. more powerfull then any other can be to supplicate for and to impetrate that is obtain the Divine Blessing upon us CHAP. IV. Of Preparation for it THIS may suffice one would think to excite all those who have any care of their future Salvation or present satisfacion to make it their buisiness to prepare themselves to be worthy Receivers of such great Benefits And that is not hard to doe For having learn'd your Catechism or the short Instruction in the Common-Prayer-Book to be learn'd by every person that is baptized and then seriously considered the Promise that was made at your Baptism in your name which is there explained you should in the next place take the first opportunity to have the benefit of Confirmation Wherein you both openly renew the solemn Promise and Vow made in your name at your Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in your own person and acknowledging your self bound to believe and doe all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you and also by the Laying on of hands have more of the Divine Grace imparted to you to confirm and strengthen you in your Christian resolution that you may continue his for ever After this you may without any scruple look upon your self as having a right to the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Bloud And the best Preparation to it will be I. To endeavour faithfully to live according to your Baptismal Vow And for that end to call to mind every day how solemnly you did such a time in the presence of God and such a Congregation ratify and confirm that Vow and also promised that by God's grace you would always labour to observe such things as by your own confession you have assented unto They are these three First that you should renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world with all covetous desires of the same and the sinfull lusts of the flesh so that you will not follow nor be led by them Secondly that you should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And thirdly that you should keep God's holy will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of your life II. Now those Commandments which you have promised to keep you are taught afterward contain your Duty towards God and your Duty towards your Neighbour Your Duty towards God you are instructed is this To believe in Him to fear Him to love Him with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship Him to give Him thanks to put my whole trust in Him to call upon Him to honour his holy Name and his Word and to serve him truly all the days of my life Then follows your Duty towards your Neighbour in these words as you your self are taught to confess My Duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as my self so doe to all men as I would they should doe unto me to love honour and succour my father and mother to honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him to submit my self to all my Governours Teachers spiritual Pastours and Masters to order my self lowly and
reverently to all my betters to hurt no body by word or deed to be true and just in all my dealing to bear no malice nor hatred in my heart to keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering to keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity not to covet nor desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to doe my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me All these things you promised with your own mouth before God and his People when you was confirmed that you would be carefull to observe and must therefore make this the constant Rule of your life and call upon God by diligent Prayer for his speciall Graces without which you will not be able to serve Him Which if you doe sincerely then III. I would advise you every evening before you go to sleep to take some time to think how well you have kept your Resolution and observed this Rule And where you find you have faln short of it or done contrary to it to make a new Resolution to be more carefull the next day And if you be able to set down in writing those Negligences or breaches of your Covenant with God when you take notice of them you will have the less to doe when the opportunity of communicating approacheth For then IV. Lastly you can with much ease examine your selves before the Communion and have a full account of your life and conversation ready at hand About which you will be lamentably puzzled and long in drawing it up if you do not constantly make some observation how things go with you but in this Method shall be able presently and without any perplexity to understand certainly and clearly in what case you are And so you have nothing farther to doe by way of Preparation to the Sacrament but onely first sorrowfully to bewail your Sinfulness and to confess your selves to Almighty God and that secondly with a full purpose of Amendment of life and of greater diligence and watchfulness hereafter especially in those particulars wherein you have miscarried For sorrowfull Confession and Affliction of spirit for your Sins is not sufficient but must end in this unfeigned Resolution And if you find thirdly that your Offences are not onely against God but also against your Neighbours then as you are directed in the Communion-Service to reconcile your selves unto them Being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your powers for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other and being ready likewise to forgive others that have offended you as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God's hand When all this is done then you ought not to discourage your selves with a fancy of your Unworthiness to partake of that Holy Table to which you are invited For you will always be unworthy in the strictest sense of the word but are really worthy in God's account when you are thus disposed and sensible at the best of your unworthiness of such great Blessings as God of his goodness is desirous to bestow upon you CHAP. V. A Prayer for that morning when you intend to receive Which may be used any time before BEsides those usuall Prayers wherein you constantly recommend your self to God and give him thanks for his daily benefits it will be fit to make a particular application of your self to Him for his gracious assistence and his blessing upon you in that holy Duty after this manner O Lord I most humbly abase my self before Thee confessing that I am unworthy of any of those mercies which I enjoy in common with the rest of thy Creatures For I have too much forgotten Thee my Creatour and Jesus Christ my Redeemer whom I have many ways offended either through ignorance or negligence or wilfull sins Here mention the particulars out of your daily observations And yet so great is thy Goodness Thou art pleased to give me an opportunity to partake of thy extraordinary love and kindness in thy dear Son the Lord Jesus For I am invited by his Minister to come and feast with Him at his Table by a thankfull Commemoration of the offering He made of his own Body and Bloud upon the Cross for us And I am very desirous to go if Thou wilt but be pleased graciously to pardon all my past offences either against Thee or against my Neighbour and to accept of my hearty sorrow for them and unfeigned resolution to doe my endeavour to amend them O be mercifull unto me be mercifull unto me I most humbly beseech Thee for the sake of Jesus Christ who died for me And though I am unworthy so much as at any time to approach into thy presence yet do not reject me now but permit me to come even unto thy holy Table For which if I am in any measure prepared it is to be ascribed to thy grace which hath wrought such good dispositions in me and therefore will I hope still so assist me that I may not be an unwelcome guest unto Thee but be filled with such a lively sense of thy Love to me and with such a sincere and ardent Love to Thee and with such satisfaction of heart in being one of thy Servants that I may be more sorrowfull then ever that I have offended Thee and more stedfastly resolved to be strictly obedient to Thee And O most gracious God let me find I beseech Thee all such godly Resolutions in me more confirmed and strengthned by the heavenly Food Thou hast prepared for me O that as I stand already engaged by former Vows which I have upon me so I may faithfully and chearfully obey thy holy will in all things and daily increase in thy holy Spirit more and more untill I come to thy everlasting Kingdom Hear me O Lord and help me so to perform my Duty in every part of that holy action which I am going to doe in remembrance of my Saviour that I may not onely at present rejoyce in his Love to me but be excited thereby to doe the rest of my Duty better and with more delight all the days of my life Which I humbly beg through his Merits and Mediation to whom with Thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour glory and praise both now and for evermore Amen CHAP. VI. The manner of Receiving THUS I have led you to the Holy Communion and now you will expect I should instruct your behaviour there I know no plainer or more natural method then to direct you what to doe in every part of that Divine Service When the Sermon therefore is done and you are conveniently placed that you may lose no time while the Minister is making himself ready and the Congregation that doth not receive is dismissing repeat the Prayer above written or some part of it When you see the Minister going up to officiate say Blessed