THE GREAT Duty of Communicating EXPLAIN'D and ENFORC'D THE Objections against it Answer'd AND THE Necessary Preparation for it Stated WITH DEVOTIONS To be Us'd Before At and After THE Lord's Supper By the Author of The Duties of the Closet LONDON Printed for Thomas Speed over against Jonathan's Coffee-house in Exchange-alley Cornhil 1700. Price 3 d. but 20 s. a hundred to those who give them away TO HIS PARISHIONERS Dear Neighbours IT being my design to settle a monthly Sacrament amongst you beginning from Easter-day now at hand I cannot satisfy my self without endeavouring by all ways in my power to dispose and prepare you for a constant attendance at it For which end I send you this little plain Book which contains the sum of all that is necessary for you to know and all that I have already Preached to you on this Subject And I most earnestly beseech intreat and require you as you will answer it at the Great Day when men must give a strict and severe account how they have us'd those means and opportunities of being acquaintâ—d with their Duty which have been offer'd to them especially by the hands of their Spiritual Teachers and Pastors to peruse and consider it with the same seriousness and concern for your Souls with which I call God to witness it was written And if it should not reach all your Scruples and answer all your Difficulties I beg of you that you will let me know wherein you shall remain unsatisfied that so I may give you such farther Helps and Directions as shall appear to be needful This as it will show your sincerity and honest desire of coming to the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus so will it likewise be the shortest and surest way of your coming at it it being impossible by Writing or Preaching to give the same exact and speedy resolutions to the doubts and difficulties of particular Persons as by verbal conferences wherein they have the satisfaction of puting their Case and hearing it answered in their own way May it please God of his Great Goodness so to excite direct and bless your Endeavours in this as well as in all Religious Matters that you may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and by so doing Glorify God make your calling and election sure and fulfil the joy of Your most Faithful and most Loving Pastor Feb. the 20th 1699. THE GREAT DUTY OF Communicating c. CHAP. I. Of the Nature End and Design of the Lords Supper the benefits which Christians are made partakers of by receiving it and the obligations which they lie under to receive it IN order to a full and clear understanding of the Nature of the Lord's Supper we shall do well seriously and particularly to consider the Account which the Scriptures give us of our blessed Masters Institution of it And this by comparing together Matt. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. 1 Corinth 11. we shall find in short to be this Our Blessed Saviour when he was eating the Passover with his twelve Apostles the evening before his Passion took Bread and gave thanks or blessed it and brake it and gave it to them saying Take eat This is my Body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me Likewise also the Cup after Supper and when he had given thanks he gave it to them and they all drank of it And he said unto them This is my Blood of the New Testament or the new Testament in my Blood which is shed for you and for many This do in remembrance of me For the better explaining of which words and ascertaining the extent of their Obligation we will distinctly consider these three things First What it is that is here commanded to be done Do this Secondly Who the Persons are that are concern'd to Do this Thirdly The end for which it is to be done in remembrance of me First What it is that is here commanded to be done and this can be nothing else than what our Saviour and his Apostles had been just then doing viz. taking Bread and blessing and breaking it and likewise taking Wine and giving thanks and partaking of and distributing both To this and every part of this action must the words do this necessarily refer because they immediately follow the doing of all this and no part of this is excepted in our Saviours command Those who are to provide and distribute are to provide and distribute both Bread and Wine for so had our Lord done and those who are to receive are to receive both Bread and Wine for so had the Apostles received And therefore the Church of Rome is inexcusable which directly contrary to our Lords Institution gives the Bread only to some Receivers without the Wine Secondly Who the Persons are that are concerned to do this and they are all Christians whatsoever By which I mean First All Successions and Generations of Christians that shall be in the World as long as it shall last For they being all equally concerned in the benefits of our Saviour's Death and Passion must according to reason be supposed to be equally obliged to keep up this Holy Supper in commemoration of them So that if we had had no Direction about this matter in Scripture the reason of the thing it self must then have taken place and that would have made this Supper perpetual But the Scriptures have not been silent in this point but have plainly told us that we are thus to shew the Lords Death till he come That is till his second coming to judge the World Secondly All sorts of Christians the Laity or People as well as the Clergy or Ministers of the Gospel For tho it is pretended by some that because our Lord gave the Bread and Wine only to the Apostles who were all Ministers and not any one Lay Disciple therefore he design'd this Supper only for the Ministers of the Gosspel but not at all for the People yet I think the contrary may very plainly be proved both from reason and Scripture From reason both because it appears most probable that the Apostles in the Institution of this Supper were the representatives of the people and not of the Ministers who were then much better represented by our Great High Priest Christ Jesus and whose Office it is plain he then alone executed and likewise because it is certain that the people who are as much partakers of the benefits of Christ's death as the Ministers have as great reason to commemorate 'em as they From Scripture both because it is evident from thence that the Apostles constantly administred this Supper to the people as to give one Instance for all we read Acts 2.42 where we have no less than three thousand Lay Converts at once receiving this Supper and likewise because we there find St. Paul spending great part of a Chapter in urging and directing the Lay Corinthians how they ought to receive 1 Cor. 11. 'T
in any of Gods Ordinances it being downright Hypocrisie and a meer mocking of God to declare ourselves his Servants by communicating in these outward Rites of his Religion when yet at the same time we are not inwardly disposed at all to serve him in the most important parts of our duty living Righteously soberly and godlily in thiâ— present world And therefore we find the Scriptures â—…nstantly representing God as one that abhorreth and abominateth the service of the wicked and resents their prayess and sacrifices their incense and solemn meeting as abomination and iniquity Much less can a wicked man be fit to join in this holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper for the end of this being to lament and bewail those sins which were the occasion of our blessed Lord's death and to rejoice in that victory which our Lord by his death obtain'd over sin he must certainly be a very unfit man to do this who still taketh part with sin sheweth a favour and liking to it and instead of being Servant to Christ is indeed the Servant of sin Besides we know the Lord's Supper is a covenanting ordinance wherein we are to engage our selves to the service of Christ and God upon supposition of such our engagement is to make over to us all the benefits of Christ's death and passion remission of Sins Grace to enable us to live according to the Rules of the Gospel and eternal Salvation upon our so living But now the wicked man is utterly unqualified for both parts of this Covenant For how shall he engage himself to the service of Christ who is not resolv'd to forsake his Sins Or what Title can he possibly have to the benefits of Christ's death who will not perform that obedience which is a necessary condition of his coming at them so that such a person can have nothing to do at the Lord's Supper he is not concern'd in the business of it and therefore if he does come to it must be look'd upon as an intruder and one that purposely designeth to provoke and affront God Unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reform'd and castest my words behind thee Secondly As to Faith without this the Scripture tells us it is impossible to please God For he that cometh to God he that draweth near to him in any of his ordinances must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him God is not to be put off with outward professions and pretences 〈◊〉 be worshipp'd only with our Lips while our hearts are far from him but he is a God of the Heart a searcher of our Reins and a tryer of our most inward thoughts and therefore it will be better for us not to worship him at all than not to worship him in earnest never to pretend by any outward signs to believe in him than not to believe as we pretend And indeed can any thing possibly be more absurd and ridiculous as well as blasphemous and provoking than for those to pretend to commemorate Christ's dying for us who do not believe one tittle of it For those to acknowledge him the Saviour of the World the Lord and Judge of it who say in their hearts it is no such thing This is certainly either to question God's Omniscience or his regard to sincerity or else to defy his Power and therefore sure we cannot think this an acceptable service to him Besides are not all the Blessings of the Gospel which we hope to have confirm'd to us in the Lord's Supper promised to Believers only or can we think that the inestimable benefits of Christ's death are to be had at so cheap a rate that there is no need either of believing any thing of them or so much as being thankful for them no certainly the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation unto every one that believeth and to none else to him that believeth with a lively Faith not a Faith without works which St. James tells us is dead and aboundeth therein with thanksgiving To what purpose then but to aggravate his condemnation shall that man dare to come to the Lord's Supper in expectation of the Blessings of the Gospel who is so far from abounding in Faith with Thanksgiving that he has neither Faith nor Thanksgiving Lastly As to Charity this is upon many accounts a necessary qualification for our worthy receiving the Lord's Supper For First It cannot be supposed that any man can be fit to commemorate the great Love and kindness of our blessed Lord in dying for us who is not so far affected with it as to endeavour all he can to transcribe and imitate it How great things soever we may say in commendation of it how much soever we may in words extol it we shall not be accepted of God it we in our Actions blaspheme it And it is in truth no less than to call our Saviour Fool in dying for us when we were his Enemies to think that we are not obliged to love forgive and help one another Either his Love to us had no good grounds and reasons for it or if it had and we think so we ought to shew that we do so by letting the same grounds and reasons influence our Love Secondly Without Charity one of the great ends of our meeting at the Lord's Supper will be defeated which is to propagate Love and Charity amongst Christians Thirdly Without this the Scripture assures us all our Services all our Gifts and Graces will stand for nothing in the sight of God Though we speak with the Tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity we are become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal And though we have the Gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though we have all Faith so that we could remove Mountains and have not Charity we are nothing Fourthly Without this we are uncapable of receiving any benefit from the Lord's Supper for remission of sins which must first be obtain'd before we can hope for any other mercy from God is promised only to the charitable If ye forgive men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Lastly Our blessed Lord has commanded us not to dare to bring any ill will or enmity along with us when we come to his Supper nay farther if we are come to it and find that we have unawares brought any to go away and lay them aside before we presume to partake of it If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Thus much is I think sufficient to prove
obliged to in behalf of him who has done more to engage our Love and deserve our thanks than all the Friends that we ever had in the world put together Base and ungrateful wretches then must we needs be if when he only desires any thing of us we do not make hast to fulfil his desire but most especially base and ungrateful if when he desires of us only that we would meet together now and then to commemorate all his kindness towards us we refuse to hear or regard him as tho he were unworthy our remembrance Fifthly This is a command to do a thing vastly for our own good So that we must be Fools as well as Rebels if we omit to do it Of how much advantage the receiving the Lords Supper is to every faithful Christian you have already seen and from thence may judge how much it is your interest to receive it And certainly where your duty and your interest are so closely link'd together it must be a strange Spirit of contradiction and rebellion or at least a strange degree of carelessness and supineness that can make you forget or neglect your duty You must have a mighty mind certainly to quarrel with our Saviour who will rather forego your own interest then obey his commands Sixthly This is a command in which the honour of God and our Saviour are in a very extraordinary manner concern'd and which therefore we ought to be most particularly careful to observe For since the Holy Supper was instituted on purpose for the solemn commemoration of the great loving kindness of God and our Saviour in Redeeming us and for showing forth to the World their great Power Wisdom and Goodness 〈◊〉 the Redemption of us and likewise the new Title â—…ey hereby acquired to our service and obedience â—…e cannot possibly do any thing more for their hoâ—our than to attend this solemn commemoration â—nd join with our fellow Christians in acknowledging â—ll Glory service and obedience to God who hath â—av'd us not according to our works but according to his â—wn purpose and grace and hath bought us with a price â—nd likewise to our Lord Jesus Christ who was slain and â—as redeemed us to God by his blood And the refusing to â—o this looks as if we did not really believe Christiaâ—ity but counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith we â—re sanctified an unholy thing And how high an affront â—his must needs be to God and our Saviour your own â—earts will tell you Seventhly This is a command which tends mightily to â—rocure and promote love and unity amongst Christians as has â—een before prov'd and upon that account challengeth a very particular regard and respect from us Every member of a Society is in an extraordinary manâ—er obliged to pay a most exact obedience to those Laws which do more immediately concern the well-â—eing of that Society of which he professeth himself â— member and consequently every Christian must â—ye under more than ordinary obligations to obey â—his command of Christ concerning his Supper because the good of the Christian Church in general is very much concerned in it It was design'd and is very fit to unite and bind the members of Christs Church closer and closer together and so to strengâ—hen the main body and those who will not joyn â—n this design plainly betray the trust repos'd in them and as far as they are able defraud all their fellow-members of those blessings of love peace mutual â—riendship c. which must have been the natural effects of their obedience in this point Lastly This is a command which we are often put in mind of We hear of our obligations to it both from the Desk and from the Pulpit we read of them in the Church Catechism and have a sensible remembrance of them every now and then at the Communion Table We are frequently exhorted intreated and in the name of Christ commanded to attend his Holy Supper we are told of the great danger of neglecting it and both the mercies and terrors of the Lord are made use of to draw and compel us to it And now if after all this we still continue obstinate and undutiful what can we expect but a punishment answerable to our obstinacy a punishment that shall no more relent than we have done but being deaf to all our prayers and crys for mercy shall with the same continued torments prey upon us and be to us the sad remembrancers of our fatal obstinacy to all eternity CHAP. II. Of Preparation for the Lord's Supper IN discoursing on this head it will be convenient from the very beginning to distinguish betwixt necessary preparation without which no man ought to come to the Lords Supper and such as is only expedient or adviseable under certain circumstances it being plain from experience that for want of this distinction men have been strangely confounded in their notions about this matter To the necessary preparation no doubt those words of St Paul refer'd Corinth 11.28 Let a man examine try or prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup because this is laid down at large as a general rule to all Christians and it is here plainly supposed that no man ought to to eat of that bread and drink of that cup who has not first examined himself Examined himself as to what Our Church tells us in few words whither he repents him truly of his former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life has a lively faith in Gods mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and is in charity with all Men. In which words three things are propounded as necessary qualifications for the worthy receiving the Lords Supper First a sincere and compleat Repentance which shall not only look backwards with unfeigned sorrow for our sins past but likewise forward with stedfast purposes of leading a new life for the time to come Secondly a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ such a firm and hearty persuasion and assurance of God's having redeem'd us from sin and death by the death of Christ and of his having made him our Lord and Master and promis'd eternal life to us upon condition of our obedience to him as shall work in us a readiness of mind to serve and obey him in all things and more especially shall dispose us to commemorate his death with the highest gratitude and most affectionate Thanksgiving Lastly An universal Love and Charity which shall extend to all men even our very enemies and make us not only forgive all their trespasses against us but likewise bless them pray for them and in one word do them all the good we can Now that every of these is really a necessary qualification for the worthy receiving the Lords Supper will most evidently appear by considering them a little apart And First as to Repentance it is plain even from reason that without this we must needs be unfit to joyn
is true indeed that the part which our Lord had in the institution of his Holy Supper viz. The blessing of Bread and breaking it and taking Wine and giving thanks and distributing both belongs only to the Minister of the Gospel because these are all special Acts and Exercises of the Ministerial Function and as such have been always reserved to them alone But the receiving of the Bread and Wine wheâ— broken blessed and offered to us is the common dutâ— of all Christians as well people as Ministers Thirdly The end for which this is commanded to be done in remembrance of me or rather in commemoration of me For so the word which we here translate remembrance sometimes signifieth and this indeed seems to be the most proper signification of it in this place For commemoration is a solemn act of remembrance and such an one no doubt our Saviour here expects from us We are always bound habitually to remember him but this his Supper is particularly design'd to excite in our Souls a present and actual remembrance of him of him that is of his death and Passion of his Body that was broken and his Blood which was shed for us For the Bread and Wine which are here administred to us were appointed by him as signs and representations of his Flesh and Blood as he himself tells us at his Institution of this Holy Supper This saith he speaking of the Bread is my Body which is given for you that is this is a sign or representation of my Body which shall very suddenly be offer'd up upon the Cross for you and again speaking of the Cup This is my Blood of the New Testament or the new Testament in my Blood which is shed for you and for many as if he had said the Wine which you now see in this Cup and which I commanded ye all to drink of is a sign or representation of my Blood which will be shortly shed to ratify or confirm the New Covenant which I have made between God and Man When therefore we eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup we must be sure to put both parts of our Lord's Commandment together and to fulfil both by doing it in remembrance of his Body that was given and his Blood that was shed for us And such a remembrance as this necessarily implies these two things First An acknowledgement of Christ for our Saviour and Redeemer For what else is it to commemorate his dying for us but to declare that we are sensible that our peace is made with God through the blood of his Cross and that we who before were all under sin and lyable to wrath aliens from and Enemies to God shall now not have our trespasses imputed to us but be saved from wrath through Christ and in the body of his flesh through death be reconciled unto God To declare I say and shew both to God and Man that our hope is only in the Lord Jesus who hath now appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself and in whom alone we have redemption through his blood even forgiveness of sins This you see is what the Scripture means by Christ's Body being broken and his Blood shed for us and therefore all Christians who sincerely remember those must sincerely acknowledge this Secondly An acknowledgement of Christ for our Lord and Master For besides that by submitting to his Rites and Institutions we plainly declare our selves his Disciples besides that by acknowledging of and partaking in his Sacrifice we do according to the sense of all Nations own our selves members of his Church besides this I say by acknowledging Christ's dying for us we do manifestly acknowledge our obligations both to love and obey him To love him who hath so loved us as to lay down his life for us to obey him whose purchase we are who hath bought us with a price even the inestimable price of his Blood and has therefore a right to us as the Scripture tells us as a peculiar people to himself And this the Primitive Christians were so sensible of that they look'd upon every receiving of the Lords Supper to be a new tie and obligation a new vow and dedication of themselves to Christ And hence it was that the word Sacrament which signified among the Romans that Oath of Fidelity which their Soldiers took was given as a name to the Lords Supper because Christians were suppos'd to bind themselves there as it were by an Oath to Christ's Service The ends for which our blessed Lord instituted this holy Supper seem to have been these three First His Father's and his own Glory which could no way better be illustrated and extoll'd than by making all Christians whatsoever join in ascribing their Redemption and Salvation to them For this is at once to own both their power and wisdom and goodness which were so eminently display'd in these great works and likewise their Soveraignty and Dominion over us which are the natural effects of them Secondly The preserving the unity of his Church towards which nothing could contribute more than the frequent meeting together of its Members to acknowledge one hope of their calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all above all through all and in them all and this is most effectually acknowledged by our being all partakers of that one bread for thus as St. Paul teacheth we being many are one bread and one Body And likewise their meeting to commemorate the noblest instance of Love that ever appeared in the world and consequently the noblest Example for Christians to follow the noblest motive to excite them to love one another Thirdly The good and edification of every particular Christian and this end will appear to be admirably well serv'd this way if we will give our selves leave to reflect a little on the benefits which every Christian is made partaker of by receiving this Holy Supper And First If we consider this Holy Supper only as a Commemorative Sign or sign to put us in mind of Christs dying for us yet even thus it will prove of vast advantage to us For this will naturally tend to inflame our Love and exalt our Gratitude towards him to confirm our Faith and strengthen our Hope in him and to fix and stablish our purposes of obedience to him All this I say will be the natural result even of a bare contemplation or remembrance of Christs having freely given up himself to death even the death of the Cross for us and of his having thereby procured remission of all our Sins and a promise of Eternal Life and Happiness to all those that obey him But Secondly If we consider it as it is the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ that is as it is to all faithful Christians an actual participation of the benefits of Christ's death and passion viz. of remission of sins of the hope of eternal happiness upon our obedience and of the grace
that Repentance Faith and Charity are necessary qualifications for the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper That they are the only necessary ones is very plain because they are all that is necessary to Salvation all that is necessary to give a Man a Title to all the Promises and Blessings of the Gospel and certainly more cannot be necessary to fit a Man for the Lord's Supper than to fit him for Heaven to fit him for the seal of the Promises than for the Promises themselves But here I shall be asked If this be all the preparation necessary how comes it to pass that we have so many Sermons preached and Books written about setting apart some time suppose a week for private Devotion and Examination every time before we receive the Lords Supper How comes it to pass that many very good men if they happen to be disturbed by any worldly business so that they cannot attend this their weekly preparation look upon themselves as unfit for that time to attend the holy Communion To this I answer First that I told you before that there was a preparation tho not absolutely necessary yet under some circumstances expedient and adviseable Where men have time and other opportunities it is very commendable in them to do all they can by reading the Scriptures and other good books and by prayer and other exercises of Devotion to excite and encourage to actuate and quicken all their graces and virtues that so they may appear in their best Robes at their Lord's Table This is such a piece of respect to God and our Saviour as cannot fail of being well accepted of them But then Secondly We must be careful not to carry this matter too far and make other necessary conditions of communicating worthily besides what God has made He has no where commanded us to say a certain number of prayers to fast so many days and to ask our selves just so many questions before we communicate nor doth the nature of our duty require any such thing of us And if our Spiritual Pastors have put us upon these things they have done it as a matter of prudence and good advice and not of necessity and absolute Duty at least if they have not they have gone beyond their commission and departed from the Doctrine of the Church which solemnly invites all such as do truly and earnestly repent them of their sins and are in love and charity with their neighbours and intend to lead a new life following the commandmentâ— of God and walking from henceforth in his holy ways t0 draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to their comfort without asking them whether they have made any farther preparation Lastly As for those who refrain from coming to the Lords Supper because they have been hinderd frem making this particular preparation let them be never so good and never so wise in other things yet in this I praise them not For certainly it is an argument of a weak mind and not of a sound Judgment for men to make to themselves duties which God and Reason have not made it is Superstition and not Religion for men to place their duty in little niceties and punctilio's and to overlook the weightier matters of the Law And yet this they certainly do who excuse themselves from the great and important duty of communicating purely upon account of their not having perform'd some little forms and exercises which nothing but their own fancies and other mens imprudent discourses and examples have made duties Besides they do by this means debar themselves from the great and inexpressible benefits of communicating they omit a most happy occasion of glorifying God and their Saviour and doing good to their brethren and themselves only to humour groundless scruples and unreasonable curiosities Nay even themselves at other times condemn themselves they can readily come to other Ordinances as praying hearing the word c. without any such preparation as this and yet this would be every whit as commendable here as for the Holy Sacrament We may hear and pray as well as receive unworthily and yet this they seem not to be much concern'd about which plainly shows that they are guided in this matter more by example and fancy than Reason and Religion The summ of all is this We cannot possibly by any preparation make ourselves too pure and devout Guests for the Lords Table and therefore when we have opportunity it will highly become us by prayer and other such means to trim and deck our selves for it But still we must always remember that the great and only necessary preparation is Repentance Faith and Charity a pure innocent mind a firm and stedfast faith in Christ an ardent and impartial affection to our Brethren Without these all other preparations are vain and of no account and with these we are fit guests to receive the Lords Supper where-ever we meet it tho never so unexpectedly and without the least warning He who is possess'd of these Divine Graces is always fit without any further preparation for Death and Heaven and then undoubtedly fit for any means and ordinances of Religion whatsoever But here I shall be ask'd how a man can know hat he is thus prepar'd I answer his own mind must tell him and if he doth but consult it honestly and with sincerity it will No body but himself can inform him whether he be in temper and disposition in firm purpose and resolution to quit all his sins without the least reserve and to endeavour to the utmost of his power to live for the future as becometh the Gospel of Christ No body can tell him what he believeth what he unfeignedly acknowledgeth to be true but himself nor can any other be able to inform him whether he heartily forgiveth all men their trespasses and is ready upon all occasions to do them the most good he can No man knoweth the heart of a man but himself and he may know it if he be faithful to himself Otherwise we are in vain call'd upon in Scripture to examine ourselves to try our thoughts and consult our Consciences Well but you have formerly examin'd your self and thought your self rightly dispos'd in all these points but you found by your after-behaviour that you deceiv'd your self and therefore how shall you trust your self again I answer the more sensible you are of any mistake you have formerly made in this matter the more heedful and watchful over your self ought you to be for the future It may be your heart was in right temper before when you thought it so but you let it slide back afterwards therefore though you think you stand now take heed lest you fall It may be you were careless and remiss in examining your self before and then it is no wonder that you found your self mistaken therefore be strict and severe with thy self now that thou may'st be mistaken no more But may you venture to go to the Sacrament immediately
O Lord help thou my unbelief I believe that the blessed Jesus laid down his life for me and acknowledge with all possible thankfulness his inexpressible kindness in so doing I believe that he gave himself for me and all Mankind that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works therefore will I I endeavour to manifest my Faith by my works I believe that there is none other name under Heaven given among Men whereby they must be saved but the name of the Lord Jesus therefore in his name only I implore thy mercy increase of Faith here and of Glory hereafter Amen For Charity O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into my heart that most excellent gift of Charity the very bond of peace and of all Virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee More especially now when I am going to commemorate the unspeakable love of my blessed Saviour in dying for me let me not be destitute of love towards my Brethren O let my readiness to forgive others their trespasses fit me for thy forgiveness of mine let me not be an enemy to any man lest I be thy enemy too but give me that Charity which covereth a multitude of Sins that Charity by which all Men may know me to be Christs Disciple which shall dispose me to be of a meek patient long suffering forgiving temper like him and to do good to all men as he did that Charity which shall never fail but shall go along with us into and make us fit Inhabitants for that City of Love the new Jerusalem Grant this O merciful Father for the sake of thy Son Christ Jesus through whose love alone we are encouraged to present these our requests to thee Amen A Prayer to be said in the morning before we communicate after our usual Prayers O Most gracious and ever merciful Lord God who art always wont to give more than we either desire or deserve accept I beseech thee my most humble and hearty thanks for thy great mercy in bringing me to the light of this day and thereby giving me an opportunity of meeting my dear Redeemer at his holy Table of testifying my love and gratitude to him and of communicating in all the blessed effects of his love towards me of renewing to him my Baptismal Vow of Faith and Obedience and of receiving from him fresh confirmations of the benefits made over to me in my Baptism even remission of sins grace and eternal life O that I may be careful duly to improve this happy opportunity now before me that I may eat and drink so worthily as to eat and drink my own Salvation that my sins which are many and great more especially all such as have been committed knowingly and wilfully such as Here mention those wilful sins if there are any such which thou knowest thy self to have been guilty of may be forgiven me and that henceforward whither I live I may live unto thee or whither I dye I may dye unto thee that so living or dying I may be ever thine And the same mercies which I beg for my self I beg likewise for all my fellow Christians more particularly those who shall this day any where partake in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ O let not one of their precious Souls perish who seem to be so near to the Kingdom of Heaven but do thou by thy Grace so assist and direct strengthen and support them now and evermore in doing thy will and working out their own Salvation that in the end they may obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A short Prayer to be said after that which we commonly say at our first coming into the Church GRant O blessed Jesu that the nearer I draw to thy Table the nearer I may likewise draw to thee in purity of heart and affections in strength and liveliness of Faith in fervency and extensiveness of Charity That so being of the same mind which was in thee and thinking believing and doing as becometh thy Disciple I may be meet to be partaker of those pledges of thy favour which thou now offerest at thy holy Table to all thy faithful Servants and of those Joys in another world which thou in thy mercy hast prepared for them Amen Just before we receive HEar those Prayers O Lord which have been offer'd up by thy Congregation and for the sake of thy well beloved Son Jesus Christ suffer us to draw nigh unto thee and to hope for thy mercy In his name alone it is that I a most vile wretch and miserable Sinner am bold to call thee Father and to intreat thy favour and forgiveness O let his merits answer for my unworthiness let his death preserve me from dying let his Body and Blood preserve my Body and Soul unto everlasting life Amen Immediately after receiving the Bread O Merciful Lord Grant I beseech thee that by virtue of thy dear Son's Body given for me and represented to me by this Bread I may become acceptable in thy sight obtain thy pardon and peace thy grace and assistance thy everlasting happiness and glory And do thou O Lord so fill my heart with thankfulness for the inestimable benefits of my Saviour's death and passion that I may be ready to do any thing even to lay down my life for him and that loving nothing more than him he may vouchsafe to think me worthy of him and to crown me with eternal Glory in his Kingdom Amen Immediately after receiving the Wine I Thank thee from the bottom of my heart O gracious God that thou hast redeemed us to thy self by the blood of thy Son O let me evermore bear in mind thy inexpressible kindness and condescension in so doing and shew forth my sense of them in a sincere universal and constant obedience to thee That so the Lord Jesus may be indeed the Author of Salvation to me and I being wash'd and cleans'd from all my sins in his Blood may appear pure and spotless before thee and be admitted to partake of those rivers of pleasure which are at thy right hand for evermore Amen When you return to your Seat GRant O blessed Lord that I and all those who meet together this day under pretence of commemorating thy death may so effectually remember it as for ever after to hate those sins which were the occasion of it so effectually remember it as constantly to love and adore thee for it so effectually remember it as to use our utmost endeavours to imitate and transcribe it so effectually remember it as to remember that we are thine bought with the price of thy Blood and are therefore bound to serve thee with our Bodies and Spirits which are thine Amen A Prayer to be used the evening after communicating with our other Devotions ACcept O Blessed Lord accept my