resolutions and devout affections which I now feel in my heart Keep them alive by the powerfull assistences of thy Holy Spirit of which Thou hast given me an assurance in thy precious Promises and in these sacred Pledges of thy Loving-kindness For which I again most humbly thank Thee and desire I may never forget how much I am indebted to Thee but be still praising Thee and saying I will extoll Thee my God O King of Heaven and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever Every day will I bless Thee and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever While I live will I praise the Lord I will sing praises to my God while I have any being My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever Amen While others are Communicating you may say Preserve us all O Lord pure and acceptable Sacrifices unto Thee that we may be all presented spotless before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy Or this As we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one Bread and have drunk of the same Cup so help us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to love one another with a pure heart fervently Or this Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant us to be like-minded one towards another after the example of Christ Jesus That we may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ This may be added Let all the people praise Thee O God let all the people praise Thee From the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same let the Name of our Lord be praised Blessed be the Name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Vpon Christmas day and seven days after you may adde this to your other Devotions More particularly I now remember O Lord thy stupendious Love in sending thy Son so unexpectedly to visit us when the World thought not of Thee but were Strangers or rather Enemies unto Thee Blessed be the Lord who hath so highly honoured our Nature as to dwell among us and to appear in the likeness of sinfull Flesh Preserve in me such a remembrance of it that I may never dishonour Him nor my self by consenting to any filthiness either of the flesh or spirit but alway behave my self sutably to the relation I have unto Him in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of my life Amen V pon Easter day and seven days after I bless Thee O Lord who hast fulfilled thy promise unto our Saviour that Thou wouldst not leave his Soul in hell nor suffer thy Holy one to see Corruption Blessed be God who hath thereby confirmed our Faith in the Promises He hath made to us This is the day or time the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it This is the day when my Saviour was begotten again from the dead and thereby hath begotten us again unto a lively hope of immortal Life This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes The Lord hath shewed us light even the light of Life I will offer to Him therefore perpetually the Sacrifice of righteousness together with these Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for his Mercy towards us which I see by this endureth for ever Vpon Ascention day and seven days after Blessed be God that I see Jesus who was humbled a while and made lower then the Angels for the suffering of death crowned now with glory and honour Lift up my heart O Blessed Jesus to that high and holy place where Thou art exalted and keep it fixed there That setting my affections on things above where Thou art at God's right hand I may never doe any thing that is unworthy of my Christian Profession but have my Conversation in Heaven from whence I expect Thee O Blessed Jesus who hast told us Thou art onely gone before to prepare a place for us Where Thou art O Blessed Lord there let me be also And at last change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto thy glorious Body according to the working whereby Thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy self Vpon Whitsunday and six days after I rejoyce in the comfort Thou hast brought us O Holy Spirit of Grace I rejoyce to hear as Thou hast testified by the wonderfull Gifts bestowed on the Apostles that my Dearest Saviour is alive and that He lives for evermore and will never cease his Love to us till we be there where He is O inspire me more and more with thy heavenly Grace that being stedfast in this Faith I may bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit and not onely resist but overcome all Temptations in my way to Heaven Guide me by thy Counsel strengthen me with thy Might support me with thy Comforts in all necessities streights and dangers that I may at last safely arrive at eternal glory Amen Vpon the Feast of Trinity onely Adored be the incomprehensible Majesty of the Eternal undivided Trinity in whose Name I was baptized and whom I humbly worship with praises and thanksgivings saying Blessed be thy Name O God the Father Almighty the Creatour of Heaven and Earth in whom we all live and move and have our being And blessed be the Eternal Son of the Father our Saviour and Redeemer the Prince of Peace who hath purchased an eternal Redemption for us And blessed be the Holy Ghost the Comforter who inspires me with good thoughts pious desires and godly resolutions and will conduct me I hope unto everlasting Life Amen CHAP. VII Meditations and Prayers afterward IF there be more time left before all have communicated as there is generally on these great Festivals and where many receive upon other days you may spend it in Meditating as well as you are able upon the Ends for which this Sacrament was ordained Turn to the Third Chapter of this Book and there reade them in order I. Saying to your self when you think that you have now solemnly owned your self to be a Christian c. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant I am sensible that I am not my own for I am bought with a great price and therefore ought to glorify God in my body and in my spirit which are God's And Good Lord assist me as becomes one who names the Name of Christ to depart from all iniquity II. And when you think of the next thing how thankfull you ought to be to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost you may easily turn those words you reade there into a Thanksgiving or have some such short Ejaculation as this What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me especially for this that He hath not spared his own Son but delivered him up for us all III. To which you may give an
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
Answer when you think of the Third thing your Fidelity to him saying I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end CXIX Psal 106.112 It is reasonable that whatsoever I doe in word or deed I should doe all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by Him III. Coloss 17. IV. And when you think lastly of having Communion with Him say What greater Happiness can I wish then to be one with Christ and to be made partaker with Him in the Merits of his Death whereby I am sure that I shall partake with Him in the glory of his Resurrection By this I know that I dwell in Him and He in me because He hath given me of his Spirit O make me Blessed Lord more and more one with Thee by making me more perfectly of the same mind spirit and disposition with Thee A Prayer at home on that day If you be by such means as these duly affected with our Saviour's Love towards you the remembrance of it will not presently slip out of your mind nor will you be willing to part with it And while it continues there it will make all your Christian Duty easy and delightfull and it will be a hard matter to persuade you to offend Him Do not fail therefore to endeavour to preserve it by affecting your heart again with such thoughts as these repeating some time or other on that day the foregoing Meditations and adding this Prayer I can never thank Thee enough O Father of mercies and God of all comfort for the innumerable benefits I have received from thy bounty And therefore ought to take all opportunities to bless Thee and to speak good of thy Name especially now that I have newly tasted how gracious Thou art in giving thy onely Son our Saviour Jesus Christ not onely to die for us but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Sacrament which I have this day received When I think onely what a kindness it is that I have my daily bread and never want things convenient for the support and comfort of this present life I find that I am indebted to Thee upon that account exceedingly above all that I can express But that Thou art pleased to admit me to thy own Table and there entertain me with the blessed hope of being with my Saviour where He is and rejoycing with Him for ever Lord how much doth it surpass the highest of my thoughts and with what delight and satisfaction ought it to fill my heart Possess me I beseech Thee most mercifull Father with such a lively sense of this Love that I may never forget how happy I am in being so nearly related to Christ Jesus But always account it such an honour to be one of his Servants that I may constantly and chearfully obey Him and delight in this and all other Duties of a Christian life It is a great favour I ought to be sensible that I may have the liberty alway to resort unto Him as my most gracious Lord and Master and enjoy Him not onely in the publick Offices of Religion but here at home in these private addresses unto Him 0 that by all such means I may grow more like Him and carry away such a resemblance of his Holiness Goodness Humility Meekness and Patience that every body may see I have been with Jesus O that there may be such a pious sense of his Love and such devout affections towards Him left in my heart that I may not content my self merely with my daily Prayers much less with these present expressions of Love to Him but it may he my constant care every day to approve my self unto Him so faithfully in all well-doing that I may not be afraid to appear again before Him at the next invitation I have to his Table And let the hearts of all those who have this day devoutly attended on thy service be joyfull and glad in Thee Help us all to keep our selves pure and undefiled and to walk so steddily in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost that others seeing our good conversation in Christ may be in love with Religion and glorify Thee our heavenly Father Have mercy also as we have this day most humbly prayed upon the whole Church And so rule the heart of thy chosen Servant CHARLES our King and Governour that in all his thoughts words and works he may ever seek thy honour and glory and study to preserve thy people committed to his charge in wealth peace and godliness And grant also unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Religion that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their Profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same for thy dear Sons sake Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen If this seem too long here follows a shorter I prostrate my self here again before Thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth to bless and praise Thee for all thy Mercies towards me especially for those which Thou hast this day bestowed on me I would not be so ungratefull as presently to forget such a wonderfull Grace as Thou hast vouchsafed me but desire most earnestly to have a lasting remembrance of it in my heart provoking me to love and to good works And for that end I now renew my humble supplications unto Thee that Thou wilt constantly excite and assist me by thy Holy Spirit to walk worthy of my high and heavenly calling in Christ Jesus by such a sober righteous and godly life adorning his Doctrine in all things that He may own me for his good and faithfull Servant at that great Day when we shall see Him not in these shadows and figures of Him but face to face And have mercy upon thy whole Church Whose Prayers I beseech Thee to hear for every Member of the same more especially for our Sovereign and all that are in authority under him that by their pious care and watchfulness thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. VIII Directions for a godly Life sutable to this holy Communion I. TAKE some time every day to call to mind how much you stand engaged to our Saviour Christ first by your Baptismal Vow secondly by your solemn Ratification of it at your Confirmation and thirdly by your renewing it lately at the Holy Communion when you professed how much you were indebted to Him both upon the account of his offering Himself upon the Cross for you and of his giving Himself there again to you II. If these three come into your mind as soon as you awake in the morning it will be a great security to you And to make your self more sensible of your obligation you may begin the day with this Reflection I am not my own but the Lord