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A23830 A preparation for the Lord's Supper to which are added Maxims of true Christianity / written originally in French, by P. Allix ; Englished by P. Lorrain.; Préparation à la Sainte Cène. English Allix, Pierre, 1641-1717.; Lorrain, P. (Paul), d. 1719. 1688 (1688) Wing A1226; ESTC R5280 40,002 130

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A PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER To which are Added MAXIMS OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY Written Originally in French by P. Allix Englished by P. Lorrain LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1688. IMPRIMATUR Jun. 13. 1687. Guil. Needham TO THE Right Honourable The LADY MARGARET RUSSELL May it please Your Honour BEING to expose this Translation to a World who generally have a great indifference not to say aversion for the Mysteries of OUR RELIGION especially That of the HOLY EUCHARIST and have espoused Maxims quite opposite to Those here laid down I had reason to believe it would stand in need of a Powerful Authority to support and vindicate it against the Cavils and Prejudices that in the minds of many may rise against the Subjects it treats of And as I was looking about for such a PATRONAGE which at once might as well by its GREATNESS authorize and commend as by its GOODNESS exemplifie and attest them it was my happiness to fix upon YOUR HONOUR who is so signally and incontestably possest of both these Advantages This MADAM was the Consideration made me aspire to the boldness of craving YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS NAME to countenance these Papers in condescending to which as your HONOUR will do manifest Justice to PIETY so will it be interpreted a transcendent Favour to and ever acknowledged as such by May it please Your Honour YOUR HONOUR' 's most humbly devoted obedient Servant Paul Lorrain THE PREFACE THERE are three Things absolutely requisite for the making of any one a Worthy and Happy Communicant 1. HE must throughly understand those Truths the Memory whereof Our LORD design'd to preserve in the Institution of the Holy Eucharist For no Man can with any benefit receive this Sacrament unless his Spirit be filled with the same Thoughts which Our Saviour did thereby suggest to his Apostles 2. HE ought to have a lively Sense of those Comforts arising from a Consideration of the Important Truths which CHRIST so clearly represents to us in the Celebration of this Sacred Mystery for as much as our Communicating in the LORD'S SUPPER ought not only to consist in the having our Spirits possessed with the Image of Him who was crucifi'd for us but in our gathering the precious Fruits which accrew to us by his Death 3 and Lastly As it would be an extreme Injustice for us to be found wanting in our Faithfulness Acknowledgement Love and Obedience to GOD who so graciously acquaints us with and makes us sensible of these Wonders of his Mercy and Compassion towords us so we may easily conceive the Necessity Reasonableness and Extent of the Duties our Participation of the Holy Sacrament engages us to which we ought with a Religious Care to discharge through the whole Course of our Lives NOTHING can therefore be of greater Use to Christians with respect to the Holy Communion than to have the great Truths imply'd in the Eucharist distinctly propounded to them and be made apprehensive of those delightful Comforts treasur'd up therein to the end they may thereby be disposed to a ready performance of the Duties it layes upon them THIS is my Design in this small Treatise wherein I shall follow no other Method than that just now hinted at that is I shall First of all endeavour to make out that the Eucharist exhibits the most weighty and Fundamental Points of Christianity to our View In the next place demonstrate that the Meditating upon these important Verities which are frequently called to mind by this Sacrament kept up in the Church is to true Believers a Well-Spring of inexhaustible Comfort and indefectible Joy. And finally conclude with pointing at those several Duties which this Holy Institution does so necessarily charge us with that we cannot neglect the same but at the peril of our Everlasting Ruin. To which three things I intend to speak without entring upon any of those Controversies which divide Christians in this Matter my Design here being not chiefly to oppose Error but to excite and fortifie their Devotion and Piety who are already acquainted with the Truth though they do not always duly consider and reflect upon it GOD grant we may so plainly discover to them the Connexion there is between the Truths Consolations and Duties of OUR RELIGION that while they are seeking for Comfort in the Meditation of DIVINE TRUTHS they may at the same time meet with strong and urgent Motives to apply themselves with all Diligence and Perseverance to the Practice of True Holiness A PREPARATION FOR THE Lord's Supper CHAP. I. THE History of the Institution of the LORD'S SVPPER THE Meaning of Our LORD in his instituting of the Fucharist can no way be better understood than by a careful Examination of the Terms He us'd and the Circumstances of his Discourse HIS Words express the Thoughts He would suggest to the Minds of his Apostles and all other Christians after them and to the end we should the better apprehend the Sense of them the Evangelists have not only given us a plain Relation of his Institution but been very careful in describing all the Circumstances thereof to us THEY therefore acquaint us that JESUS CHRIST instituted this Holy Sacrament that same Night He was Betrayed and delivered up to the Jews by one of his Disciples after he had celebrated with them the Anniversary of their Fore-fathers Deliverance out of Egypt in eating the Paschal Lamb according to the Law of God. Exod. 12. AS to the Form or Manner which CHRIST observ'd in his Celebrating the Eucharist the Evangelists agree that after the Paschal Supper He took Bread and having given Thanks brake it and distributed it to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me THEN they tell us further that Our Lord having likewise taken the Cup and given Thanks He deliver'd it to his Disciples saying Drink ye all of this for this is my Bloud the Bloud of the New Testament which is shed for you do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me IN a word they intimate to us that the Disciples did all drink of it and that having sung an Hymn they accompany'd JESUS to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where after his having endur'd a most Bitter Agony He was laid hold of in order to be exposed to all the Reproaches He soon after suffered both from the Jews and Romans and sinally to be crucify'd Thus ending his Life by a Punishment that was equally painful and accursed MOREOVER it appears that the Design of our Lord JESUS CHRIST was That this Ceremony should be in all After-ages exactly observ'd in his Church This may plainly be seen First From his Substituting it to that of the Passover which was to continue as long as the Jewish Religion lasted as being that which took its Beginning from the Rise or at least the Grand
participating of the Sacrifice offer'd up by our Lord. INDEED if this Sacrament had been instituted by CHRIST after his Resurrection which wholly effaced the Pourtraiture of his Shame and Sufferings it would have been much more difficult to have thence inculcated to us this important Truth of the Christian Religion But Our Lord did expresly choose the time immediately before his Death that so the Ceremony which was to preserve the Memory of it might so fill us with the sense of the Shame and Punishment he endured that it might lead us to make a continual Reflection upon these Truths viz. That when JESUS CHRIST dy'd He dy'd for Sinners That when He was nail'd to the Cross He bore their Sins in his Body on the Tree That when He was wounded it was for our Transgressions and that by his Stripes we are healed THE fifth Truth which our Saviour was willing continually to set before our Eyes by the Celebration of the Eucharist is That this Bloody Death of his was the Blessed Means by which GOD entred into Covenant with Mankind Moses had said of the Blood he sprinkled upon the People Behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words Exod. 24.8 And Our Saviour plainly opposing his Blood to that says concerning the Cup This Cup is the New Covenant or Testament in my Blood which is shed for the remission of your Sins This Covenant is the greatest and most important Truth of our Religion By it GOD delivers Men from Hell and restores them to his Favour and Protection It is this also displays before us the whole Mystery of our Redemption as 1. That Man being created Innocent fell into Rebellion against GOD by list'ning to the insinuations of the Devil 2. That though Man deserved to be not only reduc'd to nothing from whence the Hand of GOD had raised him at the first but to be cast into Hell there to undergo the punishment due to his Disobedience yet GOD being mov'd with pity resolv'd to forgive all and make a New Covenant with him 3. That it was the Will of GOD that his Own Son taking in due time Human Nature upon Him should be the Person in whose Blood this Covenant was to be Established 4. That JESUS CHRIST having really shed his Blood this Covenant was fully ratify'd and confirmed and Remission of Sins offer'd to all that would repent For that is the thing which is meant by the New Covenant according as GOD expresses it in Jeremy 31.34 saying I will forgive their Iniquity and remember their Sin no more THE sixth considerable Truth is That our Saviour would have us always to bear in mind his Last Coming to judge the World and consummate the Work of Our Redemption Accordingly this Sacrament contains solemn Marks and Instances of the fulfilling of the Promises God had made to send the Messias into the World. It sets forth in what manner He began to act and suffer for Mankind But He being to continue but a little while here upon Earth and to be taken up to Heaven there to remain to the End of the World this Ceremony acquaints us that He is then to come again from thence in order to fulfil our Hopes by causing us to reap the last Fruits of his Expiation of Our Sins that is in destroying Death by a glorious Resurrection and making us to live for ever with GOD a Life that neither Sin nor Death which Sin has brought into the World can ever disturb And it may be said that as the first Coming of the Messias was the great Object of the Religion Desires and Hopes of the Jews Art thou say they He that should come or do we look for another Mat. 11.3 as likewise of the Promises of Blessings which GOD had made to the Gentiles themselves He being called the Expectation and desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 so is his second Coming the great Object of the Christian Religion This same JESVS said the Angels to his Disciples gazing up to Heaven who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven Act. 1.11 On this account also the Church is represented to us Rev. 22.17 calling for her Bridegroom And the Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that hears say Come And indeed as the Prophets describe these two Comings of the Messias under the notion of one single Object so we see that according to the mind of St. Paul who assigns for the continuance of this Holy Ordinance the whole Interval of time to the end of the World and Christ's Return Our Saviour has in this Sacrament united this his two Comings as being the greatest Objects of our Religion CHAP. V. Of the Comforts the Holy Eucharist administers to us THUS having explain'd the important Truths which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper engages us to meditate upon it is very Evident that Our Participation of this Sacrament furnishes us with most lively and refreshing Comforts which I now come to propose in order with reference to the foregoing Truths FIRST then What joy must we needs feel when we reflect upon this great Event viz. the Death of Our Saviour Let us but compare our Happiness with the Condition of the Patriarchs and we shall easily perceive how high a pitch our Joy ought to be raised to St. Peter tells us that the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently what or what manner of time the Spirit of CHRIST which was in them did signifie when it testifi'd before-hand the Sufferings of CHRIST and the Glory that should follow 1 Pet 1.10 11. The Promises of GOD did fill their Hearts with gladness even before they came to pass yea tho' it was revealed to them that it was not to themselves but to us that they ministred those things which have been declar'd to us by the Preachers of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.12 They rejoyced to see the Faithfulness of GOD in the future accomplishment of his Promises And to this purpose St. Paul informs us that the Patriarchs and Holy Men of old dy'd in the Faith not having receiv'd the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them Heb. 11.13 Yet all this at a distance Thus Balaam Numb 24.17 I see Him but not now I behold Him but not nigh But 't is our happiness that we are come to that Blessed State which Our Saviour appropriates to his Disciples We see those things which so many Kings and Righteous Persons desired to see and did not see them John the Baptist who Baptized Him bore Witness of Him and foretold his Death yet never saw it This was an Advantage reserved for us His Death is now in most lively Colours presented to our View It is Matter of Fact certain and indubitably attested He is come down from Heaven He has taken our Flesh upon Him discharged the Functions of his Ministery