be the Lord for his Ministers the Stewards of the Mysteries of God especially for those faithfull and wise Stewards whom the Lord hath made Rulers over his houshold to give them meat in due season XXIV Matth. 45. 1 Cor. IV. I. When he begins the Offertory say Let every one of our Prayers together with our Alms and Oblations come up for a memorial before the Lord whose holy Angels I believe are present at these Solemnities A poor Servant may adde The Lord accept of my poor Mite who have little to offer but my self and all that I can doe which I dedicate to his service Then awaken your self to accompany the Minister in the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church c. and attend diligently to the following Exhortation which begins with these words Dearly beloved in the Lord which the Minister ought to speak and you hear with much affection Then joyn as heartily and earnestly as you are able in the General Confession and receive the Absolution with the comfortable words of Christ and his Apostles that follow after as you would do the most joyfull news in the world stirring up your selves as the Minister exhorts you when he saith Lift up your hearts to bless and praise the Lord together with all the Heavenly host for such everlasting consolation and good hope as He hath given us through his grace in Christ Jesus For those precious Promises ought to be sweeter to you as the Psalmist speaks then the honey and the honey-comb far dearer then thousands of gold and silver And now you may be assured though unworthy to gather the crums under his Table that receiving the Creatures of Bread and Wine according to Christ's institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion you shall be partakers of his most blessed Body and Bloud Unto to which words in the Prayer of Consecration say secretly to your self Amen Amen When the Minister himself Communicates say The Lord hear thee The Lord remember all thy Offerings and accept thy Sacrifice Grant thee thy heart's desire and fulfill all thy mind The Lord fulfill all thy Petitions both for thy self and for us and for all his people When you are going to approach to the Lord's Table Propound to your self by way of Question the Invitation which the Minister hath given you saying Do I truly and earnestly repent me of my Sins and am I in love and charity with my Neighbours and intend to lead a new life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his holy ways And finding your self able to return the Answer of a good Conscience resolve as it there follows Then I will draw near with Faith and take this Holy Sacrament to my comfort When you are placed there say Lord what am I that Thou shouldst be thus gracious to me What an honour is it that I am invited hither to feast at Thy Table upon the Body and Bloud of my Blessed Saviour To receive the pledges of his Love and to engage my Love to Him which I desire may abound more and more towards Him and towards my Christian Brethren and towards all men When the Minister hath delivered thee the Bread concluding in these words Feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving say I do believe O Lord that Thou art the Bread of life which came down from Heaven by whom we are nourished to eternal Life And I thank Thee with all my Soul that Thou hast both taught us the way of God in truth and also died for our Sins and rose again to give us hope of that immortal Life Blessed be thy Name I have now by thy own appointment received the sacred pledge and earned of it Wherefore my Soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Whose Grace I trust will be with my spirit that I may rejoyce in the Lord alway and ever delight in all well-doing Amen Or this I believe O Blessed Jesus that Thou art the Lord of all and give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for calling me to the knowledge of thy Grace and to Faith in Thee beseeching Thee that as I have now received this new token of thy Love blessed be thy Goodness so Thou wilt ever be my God and by continuance in well-doing bring me to everlasting Life Amen A shorter after the Bread I thank Thee O Lord for calling me into this state of Salvation and for giving me this new pledge of thy continued Love Assist me with thy Grace to doe my duty to Thee and to my Neighbour so faithfully that I may abide in thy love for ever through Jesus Christ c. After you have received the Cup when the Minister concludes with those words and be thankfull say I thank Thee O Lord of Heaven and Earth that Thou wouldst condescend to take our Nature upon Thee and therein suffer for our Sins yea shed thy precious Bloud upon the Cross for our Redemption Glory honour blessing and praise be unto Thee O Lord to whom in all reason I ought henceforth to live and not unto my self And therefore here I devote my self to thy faithfull service and resolve if need be even to take up my Cross and follow Thee Assist me good Lord and make me partaker of all the Benefits of thy Death and Passion according as Thou seest me sincerely resolved in all things for ever to obey Thee Amen Or this Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Who forgiveth all thy Sin and hath now filled thy mouth with good things and who giveth thee hope of better in eternal Life Sanctify me wholly O Lord that I may not fall short of it but my whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen A shorter after the Cup. I thank Thee again O Lord for thy wonderfull Love in sending thy Son to lay down his Life and in making me partaker of the Benefits of his precious Bloud shedding for us Preserve in me for ever a sense of thy Love and thereby preserve me holy and without blemish to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Amen After you are gone from the Lord's Table to your seat say Blessed be the Lord for his exceeding great grace and mercy to us in Christ Jesus Blessed be the Lord who hath called me into fellowship with Himself and with his Son Christ Jesus Blessed be his Name that I have now received the tokens of his endless Love in which I ought to rejoyce without ceasing as more valuable then all the goods of this world It is my joy O Lord my highest satisfaction I have in this world that I am beloved of Thee who art able to make me more happy then I can conceive O preserve me for ever in thy Love and for that end preserve in me the same thoughts
's He hath bought me with a price and I have devoted my self again and again unto Him Therefore I will glorify Him with body and Soul which are his Or to affect your heart the more you may put it thus O how happy am I in being ingaged to serve such a gracious Lord and Master as Christ Jesus I will never lose this Happiness by being unfaithfull to Him and unmindfull of his Love III. To keep your self stedfast in this Resolution reade seriously every day your Duty to God and your Duty to your Neighbour as they are plainly set down in the Church-CATECHISM See p 29. of this Book And say at the end of it This I have promised this I have vowed when I became a Christian this I have again confirmed and this by God's grace I will faithfully perform IV. And resolve at the same time to be watchfull all that day especially in those things wherein you observed at your last examination of your self you have been most defective and most apt to be surprised Excite your self therein to use greater diligence and set a stricter guard upon your heart carefully avoiding such places company and occasions as have been wont to indanger you And call your self to an account at night according to the Advice p. 33. of this Book V. There is no body sure so imployed but may find time for such short Exercises as these In which if they would be serious and not slubber them over too fast they would find the happy fruit of them in their hearts and lives And to make them the more effectual adde this short Prayer as oft as you can every day Almighty God who hast given thine onely Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for Sin and also an Ensample of godly Life give me grace that I may always most thankfully receive 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 VI. If your buisiness be such that you cannot every day reade over your Duty to God and your Duty to your Neighbour do not fail to doe it once or twice a week And pause a while at the end of every particular saying This is my Duty this I will doe by God's grace And at the end of all to make your reading the more effectual say I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that He hath called me upon these terms into the state of Salvation and I beseech Him to give me his grace that I may continue in the same unto my life's end VII Resolve also by this means to fit your self to receive the Holy Communion as often as you can remembring that as by Baptism you are made a Member of Christ and enter into the state of Salvation so by this Communion with Him you continue in that blessed state Which they cannot justly pretend unto who constantly neglect to doe this in remembrance of Christ They give no sufficient testimony that they are of the Christian Society nor have any reason to look upon themselves as living Members of Christ and in a state of Salvation VIII And if you do not come up to your Resolution in every thing but find rather you have severall ways failed in the performance of your Duty to God and your Neighbour let not that hinder you from going to the Communion when you have opportunity But onely humble your self the more before God by unfeigned Repentance and go to strengthen your Christian Resolution by receiving the spiritual Food which Christ hath prepared for you and beseech Him to impart more spiritual strength unto you IX And if you still start back again let not that discourage you nor make you think you shall never grow better But hope in God rather that by the constant and frequent use of this and all other holy means you shall at last be stedfast and unmovable in well-doing You will never be so if you leave off to communicate but you will grow more and more careless in other things and therefore continue to doe this as Christ bids you and doe it for this end that you may tie your self faster to Him and increase in power and strength to have victory and to triumph over the Devil the World and the Flesh X. And lastly be not hindred by Doubts and Scruples wherewith many are wont to perplex and dishearten themselves from receiving the benefit of frequent Communion I have not room to consider them all in this little Book but if any person cannot in this way which I have directed satisfy his Conscience let him not fail to follow the Counsel which is given him in the Communion-Service which is to goe to his Guide or some other discreet and learned Minister of God's Word and open his grief to him that by the Ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of Absolution together with ghostly counsel and advice to the quieting of his Conscience and avoiding of all Scruple and Doubtfulness CHAP. IX Touching Doubts and Scruples IT will doe some service perhaps to well-disposed Souls if I shew how easily some of their most common Scruples may be satisfied if they will but advise with God's Ministers about them though I cannot insist upon all the causes of their Doubtfulness I will bestow this Chapter therefore upon that buisiness I. We ordinarily hear this objected to us when we tell men of their neglect of this Duty I do not delight in that nor in other holy Duties and therefore to what purpose is it to doe them The plain Answer is this If you prefer the doing of your Duty before your Pleasure or your Gain then you cannot but take a rational satisfaction if you understand your self in what you have done Nay if you consider it well you will have a high Satisfaction proportionable to the greatness of the Pleasure or the worldly Advantage which you denied for God's sake Who you must remember is satisfied in your doing what you can especially when you are tempted another way and therefore so should you be too Hoping that by constant practice of Vertue He will give you that Delight in it which you desire I am sure this is the way to get it if it be to be had II. Others complain of a great Dulness that is upon them in holy Duties which makes them have no list to them This doth not differ much from the former and therefore I shall onely adde that when you have taken all the pains with your self which I have directed in the foregoing Chapter you ought not to be troubled at your Dulness but ascribe it either to your natural Constitution or to some present Indisposition of body Neither of which is in your power to remedy but onely to submit unto and endure with patience In short let not this afflict you much less hinder your Communicating if by your receiving the Holy Communion you find that you are made more
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
Sermon on the Mount recorded in the V. VI. and VII Chapters of Saint Matthew Reade these at least once a week VIII Then follow the Acts of the Apostles which abundantly declare their authority by whose Ministry we have received the Gospel and bid us attend to their Instructions which are left us in their Epistles as the words of men divinely inspired And in these content your selves with those parts of them which are most easy and plain and of general use and concernment and meddle not presently with those which are hard and obscure and which relate to some particular cases which now are not so well known as to make their sense apparent to every one For it is a very ill sign when you stand puzzling your selves about some dark passages in the Apostolical Writings when there are plain ones in abundance to exercise your thoughts I will direct you to some that will be fittest for your Meditation In the Epistle to the Romans reade often the XII and XIII Chapters with the XIII of the first to the Corinthians the IV. V. VI. to the Ephesians III. and IV. to the Colossians IV. and V. of the first to the Thessalonians and to omit others the I. II. X. XI XII XIII of the Epistle to the Hebrews the whole Epistles of Saint James and of Saint Peter And when you reade them let it be with a design to grow better rather then more knowing And then think you grow better when you are made more humble more sensible of God's love and your own undeservings more thankfull more meek and patient more submissive to God's Providence and to your Governours whether civil or spiritual private or publick IX When you are thus disposed by these and such like Christian Vertues you may venture to reade the harder parts of Scripture and not be in danger to wrest them as those doe who are settled upon no principles to your own destruction For then you will not be forward to frame a sense of those places out of your own head but confess your ignorance and look upon them as containing things not necessary to be known for all necessary things are plainly set down and perhaps some of those very things about which you trouble your selves are else-where delivered in clearer words As you may be satisfied if you take the next opportunity to consult with those whose lips are to preserve knowledge Which is the best way to be resolved in such cases X. As for other good Books besides the Scripture you may find some time to reade them And the less you have on other days spend the Lord's days and other Holy days the more seriously in this work When I would advise you to reade V. VI. and VII of Saint Matthew with some part of the Whole Duty of Man And when you have made some proficiency in knowledg reade Dr. Hammond's PRACTICAL CATECHISM where you will find that Sermon of Christ's upon the Mount expounded XI But whatsoever godly Book you reade whether the Holy Scriptures or any other be sure you indeavour to come away bettered by the reading of them For if you get no good by them that very thing will incline you at last to slight and neglect them as many do we see the hearing of good Sermons because they do not perceive that they or others are at all the better for them but after much hearing there is little doeing of God's will But this the Scripture it self foretold and hath exactly described such people as are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. III. 5 6 7. and intended hereby to breed in every one of us a due caution least we be of that unprofitable number Which you must prevent by being more serious attentive and diligent in reading holy Books for that end for which they were writ and hearing Sermons not for fashion sake but that you may be taught or remembred of your Duty and excited or directed to doe it with greater care and constancy XII And if you meet with the very same thing over and over again either in reading or hearing do not therefore nauseate it or grow weary of it or pass it by hastily and carelesly But rather look upon it as a very usefull Truth of which you have great need because it comes so often in your way and thankfully acknowledging that God is very kind to you in putting you so frequently in mind of that which is so necessary to your Salvation give the greater heed to it and ponder it with such seriousness as a thing of that moment deserves CHAP. XVI A necessary qualification to receive benefit by all this IF every one had so much Humility and such a hearty desire to be truly good wrought in their Souls betime they would reade and hear God's word to better purpose I. Therefore Parents should above all things instill this into their Children very early how necessary it is and how much it becomes them to be humble and that by no means they grow conceited of their own parts or understanding but be desirous to learn of every one with simplicity and meekness without any other design but to know their Duty II. This we may be sure would dispose them to receive benefit by the Holy Scriptures and by all other good instructions For it is the very qualification which Christ requires to make a person fit to be one of his Disciples that He first become like a little Child XVIII Matth. 3. There is no good to be done upon him in Christ's School unless he first learn to be humble subject to his Teachers simple hearted and without guile contented with a little heartily in love with those that take care of him And when he is thus freed from pride ambition desire of Riches or any thing else but onely of Knowledge as little Children naturally are till the seeds of those vices be stirred up in them by others he will be a fit soil to receive Christ's heavenly Doctrine III. And doubtless he had reason to say it who told this Nation long ago that it is for want of acquainting Childhood and Youth with such plain Rules as this which the Scripture it self delivers for our right understanding it that the Scripture either seems obscure and difficult to them or that they mistake it where it seems evident IV. For when they grow to mens estate or are engaged in worldly buisiness or come to honour before they be acquainted with the Holy Scripture and especially these plain directions which it gives us for our profiting by it one of these three things is the consequence of it The seeming difficulty of the Scripture either makes them to seek for other Rules which they apprehend more easy or 2. not to care for any Rule of Faith at all or else 3. to transform this which God hath given for the renewing his image in them into the nature of their corrupt affections V. Let this