A Familiar Guide TO THE Right and Profitable Receiving OF THE LORD's SUPPER Wherein also the Way and Method of our SALVATION is briefly and plainly Declar'd By Theophilus Dorrington LONDON Printed by J. H. for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over-against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1695. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST Excellent Majesty May it please Your Majesty TO permit me most Thankfully to Acknowledge That it is Your MAJESTIES very Gracious Approbation of Another Endeavour to revive the Decay'd Piety and Vertue of the Age which as it Animates me to proceed in that and has almost brought it to Perfection so it was the great Encouragement of this In which I have endeavour'd to persuade and direct to the right use of this Blessed Sacrament Which is perhaps the best and most Effectual means that our Lord has left in his Church to promote and maintain in it the Love of God and of our Neighbour And may it please Your Sacred MAJESTY to give leave That I may Encourage my self from the Favour mention'd to Implore and Hope for the Honour of Your MAJESTIES Patronage to this Small Piece also I am and desire to be as long as I live Your MAJESTIES Most Obedient and Dutifull Subject Theophilus Dorrington AN Advertisement I Have in this little Book distinctly stated and represented that Solemn Covenant with Almighty God which we all of us enter into in our Baptism Because since the Receiving of the Lord's Supper is design'd for a Renewal and Confirmation of that Covenant the distinct Knowledge of that is necessary to our Fitness for this Sacrament And I have further dispers'd through the whole many weighty Arguments to Induce Men to keep close to that Covenant It being to us the Onely Way of Salvation That so I might at once promote in many a Religious and Good Life a Fitness for this Sacrament and the Attainment of their Everlasting Salvation And having made this the Subject and Scope of this Book I think it may not be amiss to suggest that it is very fit to be recommended and presented by those who have taken upon them the Charitable Office of being God-fathers or God-mothers to such as they have presented to God at the Sacred Font. It is the Certain Duty of these Spiritual Parents and the Charge laid upon them by the Church to concern themselves afterwards and take all the Care they can That the Child may be taught as soon as it is able to learn what a Solemn Vow Promise and Profession it has made by them This Duty and Charge they would hereby in some measure perform especially if they would also concern themselves after a time to know what Vse their Spiritual Children have made of it Certainly if the Duties and Charge of this most usefull Spiritual Relation were conscientiously minded and in this and the like ways perform'd we should not see so much deplorable Wickedness among Professours of Christianity as there is and we might reasonably hope to see the next Generation at furthest deliver'd from the Vices and Madness of this And since this Covenant is implied in Baptism when it is not express'd in our Way This Book will be usefull to be read in all Families in order to train up Young People in the Knowledge of their Engagements to God and in the Way of their Salvation and to a Fitness for this Blessed Sacrament that they may be confirm'd in that Way To Adapt it the better to such an Vse I have added in the End a Prayer which is proper to be used after the reading of any part of the Book in the Family or Closet I think fit to recommend this Book also to the Societies of Religious Young Men in and about this City That they may hereby at a cheap Rate and with little Labour gain a right Vnderstanding and a distinct Knowledge of the Nature and Design of this Blessed Sacrament To whom as Young Persons this may be necessary and usefull Advice That they do not satisfie themselves with Ardent and Devout Affections in their coming to the Sacrament but endeavour to have their Judgments well informed too For as it will be of great Advantage to them towards a Holy and Good Life to have their Devotion built upon the Foundation of a solid Knowledge so without this the Adversary of their Souls will have many Advantages against them To whom as the Glory of our Time I most heartily wish that Grace Mercy and Peace may be exceedingly multiplied from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ The CONTENTS of this Book Sect. 1. Introduction p. 1 Sect. 2. The Creation of Man p. 5 Sect. 3. The First Covenant p. 9 Sect. 4. The Sacraments of That p. 11 Sect. 5. The Sin and Fall of Man p. 14 Sect. 6. The New Covenant p. 17 Sect. 7. On Our Part. p. 20 Sect. 8. On God's Part. p. 31 Sect. 9. The Sacraments of this Covenant p. 37 Sect. 10. The Lord's Supper a Confirmation of it p. 42 Sect. 11. An Earnest Persuasive to the Lord's Supper p. 51 Sect. 12. Of Fitness to come to this Sacrament p. 60 Sect. 13. An Exercise of Thankfull Remembrance of the Death of Jesus Christ p. 64 Sect. 14. An Exercise of Repentance p. 89 Sect. 15. An Exercise of Good Resolutions p. 100 Sect. 16. An Exercise of Faitb p. 111 Sect. 17. An Exercise of Charity p. 123 Sect. 18. Prayers for Preparation p. 139 Sect. 19. Directions for a Devout Behaviour at the Communion p. 147 Sect. 20. A Meditation on the Communion p. 164 Sect. 21. Prayers for a suitable Conversation p. 179 Sect. 22. A Prayer of Recollection p. 183 A Familiar Guide TO The Right and Profitable Receiving of the Lord's Supper SECT I. The Introduction Christian Reader THOU hast here represented to thee in a little room I think all that is necessary to render thee a meet and profitable Receiver of the Holy and most Comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. And I suppose it is in such a Manner represented as is most fit and likely with the Blessing of God to possess thee with all the Qualifications requisite in him that comes to this Sacrament if thou wilt afford this little Book a serious and frequent perusal If thou hast been so unhappy and so much mistaken in thy true Interest as never to have laid these things to Heart before and to have liv'd in the neglect of this Blessed Ordinance I would advise I would entreat thee often to read and study these things till thou art familiarly acquainted and deeply affected with them that thou mayest to thy Advantage come well prepar'd to this Sacrament If the things herein contain'd have already affected thy Heart and had a good Influence on thy Life and thou art a frequent Attendant upon this Sacrament it may suffice to read this Book as often as thou canst on the Week before thou comest to it as a good Weeks preparation for
Nourish me in all Goodness and of thy Great Mercy keep me in the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen V. O Lord who hast taught us that all our Doings without Charity are nothing worth Send thy Holy Spirit I beseech Thee and pour into my Heart that most Excellent Gift of Charity the very Bond of Peace and of all Vertues without which whosoever liveth is Dead before Thee Grant this for thy Onely Son Jesus Christ's sake Amen VI. ALmighty God who hast given thy Onely Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for Sin and also an Example of Godly Life Give me Grace that I may always most Thankfully accept that his Inestimable Benefit and also daily endeavour my self to follow the Blessed Steps of his most Holy Life through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen VII GRant I beseech Thee Almighty God that like as I do believe thy Onely-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have Ascended into the Heavens so I may also in Heart and Mind thither ascend and with Him continually dwell who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost One God World without End Amen VIII MAy the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding keep my Heart and Mind in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord And the Blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be upon me and remain with me always Amen IX GLory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be World without End Amen SECT XXII A PRAYER of Recollection THIS contains the Sum of this Book and is made fit to be used after the reading any parts of it in the Family or Closet O Most Great and Glorious God! Lord of Heaven and Earth Infinite in Majesty and Glory and in thy Greatness unsearchable All things that are do derive from Thee the Fountain of Beings all their Excellency and all their Power Thou art worthy of the greatest Reverence from the Highest Angels worthy of our Godly Fear and most Awfull Adorations art Exalted in thy Greatness above all our Blessing and Praise And as thy Greatness is Infinite so is also thy Goodness which Thou hast exercised in a manner suitable to thy Excellent Greatness For Thou art in all things like thy self and there is none besides Thee like unto Thee In wondrous Wisdom and Goodness hast Thou made the World bounteously communicating Being and Happiness among thy Creatures But thy Goodness has peculiarly shown it self in thy dealing with Mankind and appear'd in amazing Glories It appears within us and in all things that are round about us Thou hast made Man a Noble Creature little lower than the Angels Thou didst Endow Him with thy Glorious Image in Righteousness and true Holiness Thou Crowned'st Him with Honour and Dignity giving Him Dominion over the Works of thy Hands Thou hast built this Beautious World for his Habitation and plentifully furnish'd it with all things necessary and delightfull to Him All our Sences present us with many Instances of thy Goodness to us the Earth is full of it Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth the Knowledge of This. We cannot without the greatest and the most wilfull Blindness fail to see it nor without the most unworthy and disingenuous Ingratitude forget or neglect to Acknowledge it But this O Lord is that which we must with Shame and Self-abhorrence accuse our selves of All thy Goodness and the Obligations of it were soon forgotten by our First Parents and they rebell'd against Thee And we are their true and vile Off-spring going astray from the Womb living in Enmity against Thee and despising thy Commandments All the Wickedness of the World and the Affronts Thou hast receiv'd from it Thou didst foresee and yet of thy great Patience and Forbearance didst spare our First Parents and permit Them to propagate their base and corrupt Nature And this gives us occasion O Lord to reflect upon the greatest and most glorious Exercise of thy Goodness to Mankind When we were all guilty before Thee and Obnoxious to thy Eternal Wrath And thy Honour and thy Justice did require our utter Rejection and Perdition Yet even then did thy Wisdom and Goodness contrive and afford us a Way and Means of Salvation And thy Infinite Greatness though so exceedingly Affronted did condescend to a Concern to save us And a way was found out suitable to thy Greatness and our Necessity Even then did God the Father so love the World that He gave his Onely-begotten Son that whosoever Believes in Him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life And then did God the Son in his Infinite Compassion to Mankind offer Himself to be our Mediatour And He undertook to purchase for us the Divine Favour which we had lost at the Cost of his own Abasement in taking our Nature and of dying a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men. Oh how unwearied Lord has thy Kindness and Mercy been towards us And how odious and detestable are all our Transgressions against Thee When we consider Thee O Lord and the Obligations which Thou hast laid upon us we are even confounded to think of the exceeding Vileness and Enormity of our Sins We are therefore forced O Lord to abhorr our selves We humble we abase our selves before Thee We acknowledge thy greatest Displeasure against us to be Just and Righteous and must own that we have deserv'd Thou should'st throw us into the Everlasting Fire which is prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels But Blessed be thy Name there is Mercy with Thee and Thou art through the Undertaking of our Blessed Mediatour a God forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin We praise Thee we magnifie Thee O Lord for thine Inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost for this wonderfull Favour and Relief in our low and desperate Condition Encouraged O Father by the Sacrifice of thy Son and relying upon the Merits of it we return unto Thee We desire to return to our Duty We gladly and thankfully accept of the new Offers of Grace and Favour with Thee which Thou art pleased to make us We submit to the gentle and easie Terms thou requirest of us and we humbly seek thy Favour upon those Conditions We were O Lord by the kind Dispensation of thy Providence in our early Infancy dedicated to Thee and engag'd in that Happy Covenant which Thou affordest us as the Way of our Salvation But we must with shame confess that we have broken this Covenant and liv'd in too great Neglect of it and have added to the other Heinousness and Wickedness of our vile Sins the great Guilt of breaking our Vows and Promises to Thee As sensible of our unworthy Behaviour again O Lord we desire to renew those Bonds and we earnestly desire they may
be so confirm'd by this renewal of them as that they may never be broken any more We renounce this wicked World our own corrupt Nature and thine Adversary the Devil We purpose not to suffer our selves to follow nor be led by them We will receive O Lord what Thou requirest us to believe And we devote our selves to keep and obey thy Holy Just and Good Commandments through the whole Course of our Lives To be always under the Influence and Power of Love to Thee and to our Neighbours To love Thee with all our Heart with all our Soul and with all our Might and our Neighbour as our selves O Father of Mercies graciously accept of our Repentance and return unto Thee Look upon the Death of thy Son and turn from us all thy Wrath Justifie us freely by thy Grace Pardon all our Sins upon the account of it take us into thy Service and grant that we may ever hereafter please Thee in Newness and Holiness of Life Jesus Thou Son of God have Mercy upon us O Christ hear us be Thou our Advocate with thy Father By thy Holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Meritorious Cross and Passion by thy Precious Death and Burial by thy Glorious Resurrection and Ascension take us into thy Care and Protection Thou that hast done all these things for us have Mercy upon us O be Thou Jesus to us and save us from our Sins Give us according to thy promise to them that receive Thee the Glorious Priviledge to become the Sons of God We accept of Thee O Lord as a King to Rule us and will study to know and endeavour to Obey thy Commands We earnestly desire thy Teaching as our Great Prophet and will receive and comply with thy Divine Instructions however contrary they are to the corrupt Byass of our Nature and our Love of this World Lord we purpose to conform our selves to them by the Direction of thy Excellent Example and not to be conformed to this World And we will always acknowledge our utter unworthiness of the least Good and place all our Hopes in thy Merits and Intercession as our Great High Priest O let us find by the good success of all our Humble Addresses that Thou hast Compassion on our Miseries and dost ever live to make Intercession for us But alas we have promised and resolv'd more than we are able to perform without the Influence and Assistance of thy Good Spirit We therefore Address our selves to Thee O Blessed Spirit Come down we beseech Thee into our Hearts replenish us abundantly with thy Grace let us become thy Sacred Consecrated Temples and do thou evermore dwell in us Banish and purge out of us for ever all that is contrary and displeasing to Thee Teach us that denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we may live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World Write thy Law in our Hearts that we may never depart from it Increase and maintain our Faith Increase and continue our Love Cherish all Grace in us and cause us to persevere in Holiness and Vertue and Well-doing to the End of our Lives Keep us in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. We purpose O Holy Spirit duly to wait for thy Blessed saving Influences in a diligent attendance on thy Sacred Ordinances the Word and Sacraments Oh let us be always in due fitness to attend them when the happy Opportunities of doing so are afforded us and let them be always blest to us and be effectual to promote our Sanctification and Salvation Insert this when this Prayer is used in the Morning We give Thanks to the God of all Mercies for the safe Protection the quiet and comfortable Rest of the last Night We devote this Day and all our Lives to thy Service in the Duties which Thou givest us to do Assist us mercifully O Lord in all and Accept us in Jesus Christ Insert this when this Prayer is used at Night Enlighten our dark Souls we beseech Thee O Lord with all the Knowledge that is necessary to our Salvation Fill us with Devout Affections and let thy Love always possess and rule us Be Thou we pray our Protection this Night from all the Perils and Dangers of it May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all henceforth for evermore Amen Our Father which c. FINIS Books printed for B. Aylmer SIX Sermons One of Stedfastness in Religion Two of Family Religion Three of the Education of Children and One of the Advantages of an Early Piety A Perswasive to Frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper In Octavo Price 3 d. Both by his Grace John late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury The Four Last Things viz. Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Practically Consider'd and Apply'd in several Discourses By William Bates D. D. Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals Books Publisht by the Author of this Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for Every day in the Week and every Holy-day in the Year The Excellent Woman describ'd by her True Characters and their Opposites being part of a Translation out of French Family Devotions for Sunday-Evenings throughout the Year being Practical Discourses with Suitable Prayers Vol. I. II. containing each Thirteen Sermons The other Two intended to make a Sett for the whole Year are almost finisht and design'd to be committed to the Press soon after Christmass to be Publisht together Printed for John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard
it And for those who Communicate every Lord's Day as I wish all Christians did it may suffice commonly to retire sometime on the Day before or get up the sooner on the Sacrament-Day and seriously Meditate on the Exercises herein proposed which are design'd to excite him that has an habitual fitness for this Sacrament into an actual one and are usefull for that purpose I say commonly this may be enough for such but yet even they also may find it necessary and usefull sometimes when leisure allows to read the whole To make it as short as I could and yet as comprehensive too I have ventur'd to leave out what might have been said to justifie the Method and Parts of it presuming also that this will not be necessary Because what is requisite to render a Man a meet Receiver of this Sacrament is also necessary and is sufficient to constitute a good Christian and to bring him to Heaven Therefore I have said in the Title that the whole Method and Way of our Salvation is herein plainly declar'd So that if any Soul be solicitous about that Grand and most Concerning Question What must I do to be saved he may find it herein resolv'd And whether this Holy Sacrament may be accounted and used as a Means of Conversion to a Good Life or not yet I hope that by the Blessing of God this little Book may be such a Means to many if Men will but think it worth their while to do so much towards their own Everlasting Happiness as to read and consider so small a Treatise That another Book should be publish'd on this Subject after so many which have gone before it will not seem strange to any one who knows the Incomparable Pleasure of Devout Thoughts and the peculiar aptness of this Subject to afford them together with the Inclination both of Grace and Nature to endeavour to possess others with what-ever has made a great Impression on our selves And I believe when this Book is well consider'd it may appear after all the rest to have its Necessity and Usefulness The Prayer MAY the God of all Grace Lover of Souls to whom the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind is so very dear and who invites us to this Sacrament as the way to Heaven and that he may herein give us the happy fore-tasts of it Bless this my weak Endeavour and give it a success according to the Greatness of his Power and Love to the promoting in many Hearts the Love of this Sacrament and their frequent and comfortable Attendance upon it and to the bringing many Souls to happiness and glory for the sake of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen SECT II. The Creation of Man WHEN it is said in the first Chapter of Genesis that God saw every thing that He had made and behold it was very good This means that the Creatour upon the review of his Works was pleased and delighted in them and that He hated nothing that He had made For what we Hate we wish that it were not especially not such as it is If therefore the Creatour had hated any thing that He had made He had made it to be such as He would not have it to be Which is not to be supposed of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness and of such Power as is able to make every thing what He pleases it shall be Mankind therefore among the other Works of God were made very good and were pleasing to our Maker Indeed He made Man a very Noble and Excellent sort of Creature such as must be peculiarly pleasing to Himself above all things in this lower World As we may judge by those words in Gen. 1. 27. God created Man in his Own Image This was the peculiar Glory of Man and that which chiefly advanced Him above the Creatures about Him And it did principally consist in these things following That as He had Faculties capable of knowing loving and obeying God He was disposed to do so He knew God to be the most Excellent Being and did accordingly Reverence and Esteem Him He knew Him to be the Fountain Good and His chief Good and did accordingly fix the choice of his Will upon Him and valued His Favour and Love by which we enjoy God as his greatest and only Felicity There was then no Errour nor false Reasoning in his Understanding no perverse Choice in his Will no Inordinacy in any of his Appetites no Motions in them contrary to His Reason In nothing was Man enclin'd to contradict his Duty to God or any of the Eternal Laws of Righteousness Upon this account it was that Man was very good and belov'd of His Maker And being so belov'd He liv'd in perfect Peace and Happiness He was not encombred with any Evil He wanted nothing that He had occasion for It appears His kind Creatour would not cease doing for Him till He had provided for all His Necessities and Desires that so He might be compleatly Happy Man then enjoy'd the willing and ready Service of all the Creatures about Him He enjoy'd Himself and could with pleasure consider and praise God for the Noble and Excellent Nature which his Maker had given Him He had an easie and a quiet Mind had no conflicts within himself had no occasion to rebuke or fall out with himself He enjoy'd then his God too being assur'd of his Favour and receiving the constant Communications of it He could with great delight contemplate and praise the glorious Attributes of God And the Divine Wisdom Power Righteousness Goodness and Truth were very pleasant to Him while he was assur'd that all these were friendly and would be favourable to Him This was Man's first Condition a very Excellent and Happy one but alas through his own default it did not last long SECT III. The First Covenant between God and Man IT is very probable that all the Particular dealings of God with Man in this condition are not told us in that short account which Moses gives us of the Beginnings of the World It being enough for us to know in General what is the Spring and Source of all that Sin and Misery which is now found among Mankind The knowledge of which is of some Use and Importance towards our getting free from both But what is told us of the Transactions between God and Man in that state we may think we shall most truly Understand and most rightly Interpret if we guide our selves herein by the Tenour of his dealing with Mankind since that From what is told us then of that time and from what appears since we may learn That it pleased the Creatour when He had made Man and had so highly oblig'd Him to take upon himself the Relation of a Governour to his Creature as He had the undoubted Right of one and he very justly thought fit to exercise a Dominion over him for his Good It was therefore we may suppose promised to Man that He should enjoy the Favour