vouchsafed to the Jews no not to the Priests themselves for in all their Sacrifices he would never give them the Blood of Expiation to assure them of their Sins being atoned by it nay nor the Flesh neither in the Great Sacrifice of Expiation which was burnt without the Camp but ordered it always to be poured out upon the Altar or the Ground Exod. 29.12 Levit. 4.25 30 34. And to this 't is like St. Paul may have respect when he tells the Hebrews We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle Heb. 13.10 11. They convey to us also the Assistance of Gods Spirit and Grace to aid and strengthen us This is intimated by our Saviour Christ when he calls his Flesh which all must eat i. e. not in its Natural Substance but in its Effects or those Blessings which were purchased by it by the Name of Bread which is a thing that as the Psalmist says strengthens mans heart and gives Nourishment and Support to us I am the living Bread says he which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World Joh. 6.51 In the Sacrament we are called to eat Christs Flesh and drink his Blood not in their Natural Substances as I have hinted but in their Effects and he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood saith he dwelleth in me and I in him and when Christ dwells in any Man his Spirit dwells there too so that he cannot want Grace sufficient to assist him Joh. 6.56 And St. Paul alluding to the Power of Wine whose Natural Vertue is to enspirit and enliven Men says That in the Eucharist we are all made to drink into one Spirit i. e. we are all made to share in the same Holy Spirit which is the same to our Souls that a Draught of Wine is to our Bodies a Principle of New Life Strength and Vigour in us 1 Cor. 12.13 They convey to us lastly a Right and Title to Eternal Life and Happiness The Blessed Sacrament was thought anciently to have a peculiar Efficacy in preparing our Bodies for an Immortal State Thus Irenaeus says of it As the Bread that springs from the Earth after it is blessed is not Common Bread but the Eucharist consisting of an Earthly and an Heavenly Part i. e. the Sensible Sign and the Spiritual Thing signified so our Bodies receiving the Communion are not now corruptible as they were before but are put in hope of a Resurrection And St. Ignatius calls it the Medicine of Immortality which is an Antidote to preserve Men from Dying and give them a Life that is Everlasting And to this as 't is not unlike the Prayer at the giving of the Bread and Wine refers That they may preserve our Souls and Bodies to everlasting Life as it was long since in the Form of the Western Church and as it is still in use amongst us But whatever becomes of that Conceit viz. it s preparing our Bodies for it 't is plain that a Right to Life and Immortality is conferred by it Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood saith our Saviour hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.54 and again He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever v. 58. And if he had not in express Words declared it in all Equity and Reason this might most justly have been presumed For since in this Sacrament God gives us the Body and Blood of his own Son than which nothing can be dearer to him we may justly argue as St. Paul doth and say He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up both for and to us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Thus are all the Particular Blessings of the New Covenant which Christs Blood has purchased and which God has promised and made over in it conveyed to us in this Holy Sacrament And since they are so it must needs be a Federal Rite and a Solemn Ceremony of Covenantin◠with God because otherwise than 〈◊〉 Federal Performances and Engagements 〈◊〉 are not to be had God has suspended all these Benefits upon our Performance of certain Conditions so that we cannot have them conveyed to us on his part otherwise than by undertaking at the same time for these on our own He will not forgive any Believers their Sins unless they repent of them nor help them to any Graces unless they endeavour after them nor reward them at last with Eternal Life unless they have intirely obeyed him as we have already seen And therefore wheresoever those are bestowed these are either performed or sincerely promised too So that from this Reason also it appears that the Sacrament is a Federal Rite and a Ratification of the New Covenant and of our Baptismal Ingagement because all the Blessings of that Covenant are conveyed by it which otherwise than by Federal Performances or Engagements are not to be had And thus we see upon all these accounts that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is intended not onely for a Remembrance of the Death of Christ but also for a Renewal and Ratification of the New Covenant which was purchased by it For so much the General Nature of Sacraments which are Covenant-Rites of Baptism which goes hand in hand with it and of the Passover which preceded and answered to it do fairly intimate and so much also the Words of Institution at the Blessing both the Bread and Wine declare and its being a Feast on Sacrifice infers and its conveying all the Blessings of the Covenant proves concerning it And this is the second End of our Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament namely to renew our Baptismal Vow and in most solemn sort to confirm the New Covenant with Almighty God So that when we come to remember our Saviour Christ in this Feast we must come also to give and receive Engagements with our Blessed Lord promising that we will believe all his Words and endeavour after all Virtues and obey all his Laws and repent of all our Faults and then hoping assuredly that his Mercy shall forgive us his Grace and Spirit assist us and his Bounty reward us with Eternal Happiness when we do But besides these Ends of its being in Remembrance of Christ and his Dying for us and in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death procured us there is yet another 3 ly And that is in Ratification of a League of Love and Friendship with those Brethren that Communicate with us and with all others Eating and Drinking together at the same Table and joyning in the same Feast was always a Note of Friendship and a Profession of Love and Kindness among Men. It is the common way of the World to compose Differences to keep up
Requisite to our worthy Commemoration of his Benefits in this Feast For Praising God is reckoned as one Particular of the Disciples Carriage in their Breaking Bread Act. 2. They continued daily breaking Bread says St. Luke which they eat with gladness praising God v. 46 47. Nay so great a share has Thanksgiving and Praise in this Business that the whole Action is called the Eucharist i. e. the Giving of Thanks to God for those Benefits which are therein Commemorated And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when we Commemorate him as our Friend and Benefactor in this Holy Supper We must love him for his Kindnesses and delight in his Benefits and be thankful for all his Favours particularly for that which is therein especially Commemorated his Dying upon our accounts bursting out into grateful Acknowledgments and Words of Praise and being ready and resolved by our Zeal in his Service our Observance of his Laws and our Kindness to his poor Members to make him all the small Requital we are able so that he may never have any cause to repent of what he has done for us But besides this Remembrance of his Friendship to us and Benefits in general which require in us these forementioned Tempers we are especially to commemorate the Benefit of his Dying for us which more particularly calls for certain others In Eating Bread and Drinking Wine in the Lords Supper I say we are to remember his Dying for us and shedding his Blood a Ransom for our Sins And to do this worthily we must be humbled under the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to bleed and die for us and resign up our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase 1 st We must remember his Dying for us in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness and in an utter abhorrence of our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings We must remember it I say in an humble and deep sense of our own unworthiness His Death was not for any thing that he had done but onely for our Sins and this shews what vile Wretches we are and how unworthy Persons It lets us see how hateful our Sins had made us unto God and what they had deserved at his Hands For he would not let them pass without inflicting the highest Shame and the most exquisite Pain and Tortures Yea when his own onely Begotten Son would intercede for them and bâ—ar the Burden of them in his own â—â—â—son so implacable was the 〈…〉 to them and so indispensable â—he Râ—â—sons that constrainâ—d him to punis◠〈…〉 that his most tender Love for him whom he valued as his own Right Eye could not hinder but that he should bleed and die for them It lets us see also how troublesom they had made us to our best Friends and how shamefully burdensom and expensive to the Blessed Jesus For when he long'd and labour'd to redeem us from them he could not be our Friend unless he would cease to be his own nor do us any good at all except he would give his own Life a Ransom And what Man now can ever think of this but he must hide his Face and be quite buried in a shameful sense of his own Unworthiness He may see how vile he was when God was so highly offended with him and thought no Punishment too heavy for him and would not be reconciled at the Intercession of his own Son unless he would die in stead of him and it was so dangerous and costly a thing no less than the laying down his own Life for his Saviour to shew himself a serviceable Friend to him And if this Sight doth not work shame and self-abasement in him he will be concluded by all to be the basest Man alive and utterly unworthy that â—ver any thing of all this unparallell'd Kindness should have been done him We must also remember his Dying for us with an utter abhorrence of our Sins which were the Causes of his Sufferings For if we do not hate and abhor them when we consider what Tortures he endured for them we shew we are very little concerned for his Ease nor have any feeling of his Pains nor any Zeal at all against the Occasion of his Sorrows And this is a very bad Requital of his undergoing all those Pains for our sakes and a most unworthy Usage So that if we would worthily Commemorate his Dying for us we must be humbled and ashamed of our selves at the sense of our own Unworthiness seeing we had deserved such insupportable Punishments and have put him to such exquisite and intense Pains and particularly we must turn our abhorrence on our Sins which caused all this Mischief and made him if he would befriend us to undergo such heavy Tortures 2 ly We must remember his Dying for us with a Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as we are bought with his Blood and thereby become his own Purchase He died in our stead and his Blood was given to God for a Ransom to buy us off from it that we might not die also The Son of Man saith he is come to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20.28 And since he has bought us and paid so dear for us to deliver us from Hell-torments and Eternal Death which is not his but our own Advantage in all Equity and Reason he ought to have the Use of us and we should be wholly devoted to his Service And this the Scripture requires of us The Love of God constrains us saith St. Paul to live to him because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5.14 15. And again Ye are not your own ye are bought with a Price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. And since his Dying for us has made us his own Propriety and acquired him an absolute Right over us to his own use which we had infinite Reason to desire but he had no need of if we would remember it worthily we must do it justly by honestly devoting our Souls and Bodies and assigning them over to him to be wholly at his Service And these are the Things which must render our Remembrance worthy of him when in the Holy Sacrament we Commemorate his Dying for us and shedding his most precious Blood a Ransom for our Sins We must be humbled with the sense of our own Unworthiness and abhor our Sins which brought him to these Sufferings and resign up our selves both Bodies and Souls to be wholly at his use and employed where and in what he pleases as thereby they are become his own Purchase And thus it appears what Tempers are becoming
Duty Wilt not thou my sweetest Saviour who diedst for me whilst I was thine unrelenting Foe now intercede for me when I come to serve thee O speak Peace unto my poor Heart and let me know and feel that thou forgivest me Send thy Holy Spirit to take possession of it to keep it true unto thy self that it may never more start back from thee Thou hast promised thy Grace to those that ask it and endeavour in expectation of it O! I desire it and will do what I can to be assisted by it and therefore humbly hope this Promise shall be made good unto thy Servant Whatsoever thou doest in other things deny me not this Grace O Heavenly Father for Jesus's sake who is infinitely dear to thee and who died for me Amen Thus may we Discharge the Duties of this Feast and excite and actuate in our own minds that Faith and Thankfullness and Charity and Resignation and Repentance which are to render us fit and worthy of it If any are destitute of other helps they may make use of these Meditations and Prayers to affect their own Hearts and to shew forth these Virtues of worthy Receivers They will not always find room for all these Devotions whilst the Sacrament is Administring but they may go thro' with all of them before they come for then they may allot what space they please for them and make use of such of them as the time allows when they are receiving And for a more actual adorning of their Souls with them at that time whilst the Minister himself or others before them are Receiving they may express them all in one Continued Devotion by lifting up their Hearts to God in the words following O Blessed Jesu who gavest thy self to die for my sake how near have I lain to thy kind heart when the precious Blood that streamed thence was not so dear to it I am utterly ashamed of my self that ever I should put thee to part with such a price and to endure such exceeding smart and tortures to bâ—friend me I blush to think of it and abhor my sins which brought thee to it But since my need required and thy Boundless Love would make thee undergo what thou didst in the utmost thankfulness of an humble heart I gladly accept the inestimable benefit for which I love thee most Affectionately and will serve thee most Faithfully and praise thee most joyfully evermore extolling thy boundless Goodness and glorious Excellencies and endeavouring that all others may do so too Thou hast Bought me with thy Blood and here with an unfeigned Heart I give up my Soul and Body my Goods and all I have to be employ'd in thy Service and disposed of as thy Providence shall order me Take Possession of me by thy Spirit that my Body may always be the Temple of the Holy Ghost my Soul and all its Faculties intirely Devoted to thy Behoof and Interest and all 〈◊〉 worldly Goods acquired so innoâ—â—ntly injoyed so thankfully spent so â—â—â—perately and laid out so charitablâ—â—s becomes thy Faithful Steward I 〈◊〉 not hence forward call any things my own when once my Lord has need of them I freely resign all up unto thee since thou hast paid so dear for me I have grievously offended thee by many sins particularly by c. I am perfectly asham'd of them and sorry at my heart that ever I committed them and would never do it were they to do again and faithfully promise that wittingly I will never more yield to them and humbly beg that for Christ's sake in whom thou offerest Pardon to every penitent Heart thou wouldst forgive them Thou hast purchased the Holy Spirit for all those who are ready to labour in an Holy Life and take pains with it and offerest him to all such industrious Souls in this Sacrament I desire O Lord to amend all these Sins which I have here acknowledged I am fully bent upon it and will endeavour what I can towards it and depend upon thy Grace and Aid to carry me through it Be it unto thy Servant according to thy Word I am at Peace O Lord with all Persons and forgive all Offenders against me as I expect Forgiveness of my own Offences at thy Hands and am fully resolved to be kind to all the World but especially to all the Members of thy Mystical Body for thy sake that by these Returns of Charity I may in some sort answer that Infinite Love and Kindness I receive from thee Thy Blood O Blessed Jesus has procured and thou Holy Father for Christ's sake hast promised Pardon of any Sin to every one who repents of it and the Assistance of thy Spirit to every one that endeavours with it and Eternal Life to all that are entirely Obedient and callest us to receive Assurance that thou art still of the same mind and wilt make all this good in this Holy Sacrament Lord I heartily repent me of all my Sins for Christ's sake do thou pardon me I am fully resolved to shew Care and to labour in the Amendment of all my Faults let thy Grace and Holy Spirit come in to assist and enable me I am stedfastly purposed to keep thy Commandments do thou then graciously accept me for the sake of my Crucified Saviour whose Death I now most thankfully commemorate and who is here offered unto thee as our Atonement on this Table Or shorter thus O Blessed Jesus who diedst for my sake and daily still renewest thy Kindness by shewing thy self well-pleased with what thou hast done and calling me to meet thee in this joyful Commemoration of it I come at thy Command to shew my self humbly and thankfully mindful of so Infinite a Benefit Blessed yea for ever Blessed be thy Love which made thee think upon when I lay in misery nay forget thy self and throw away thy own Life to save mine I humbly adore thy marvellous Goodness which shall ever be the Joy and Praise the Wonder and Astonishment of Men and Angels And O that I may always love thee better than I do my Life that so I may not flinch even to die for thee as thou hast done for me if ever thou shalt call me to it for thy Glory I see in this Bread that is broken and this Wine which is poured out what cruel Pains my Sins brought to my dearest Lord and how they stand guilty of his Body and Blood I come with shame and a troubled Heart to confess it I utterly abhor them for what they have done and declare since they have proved thâ—â—ruel Enemies they shall evermore be mâ—â—e and that I will never from this day admit of a Reconciliation I am here to assure thee that I will not live unto my self or them but unto thee and freely devote all I have to thy use since thou hast bought me I love all Men and will embrace them as my Brethren because they are thine and freely forgive all the World even as I
our hearty Consent to it and Resolution to stand by it in all Sincerity and Faithfulness coming to it with that Repentance of all our Sins and those obedient Hearts which we profess and with a full purpose afterwards to make good all we promise And lastly we must Eat and Drink in confirmation of a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Envy and Malice towards them and making Restitution where we have wronged them and forgiving heartily where we have any Grudge against them and giving Alms as our Ability and their Necessities require them and so being in perfect Peace and Charity with all Men. And if we believe all these things and are thereby carried on to all these Tempers and Performances we have that Faith which will render us Worthy Communicants and acceptable to God at all other times If we believe Christ to be our Lord and Master and thereupon Reverence Honour and Obey him if we believe him to be our best Friend and Benefactor and thereupon love him and delight in him and are thankful to him if we believe he shed his own Hearts Blood for our Sins and for the Redemption of our Souls and thereupon are humbled with the sense of our own unworthiness and abhor our Sins which were so mischievous and resign up both our Souls and Bodies wholly to his use as they are his own Purchase if we believe his Death procured us the Grace and Blessings of the New Covenant which promises all Believers Pardon upon Repentance and the Spirits Help upon their own Endeavours and Eternal Life on their intire Obedience and thereupon heartily consent to it and perform that Repentance and Obedience which are the Condition of it and are faithful and sincere in our Promises and Resolutions to stand by it and lastly if we believe he requires us to love and live in peace with all the World and thereupon in this Sacrament confirm a League of Friendship with all our Brethren laying aside all Enmity and Hatred and being in perfect Charity with all Men If we have all this Faith I say which as appears is thorowly exercised in this Sacrament and can shew all these Fruits of it in these Tempers and Performances being effected by it we have that true saving justifying Faith the Scripture speaks of which purifies the Heart Act. 15.9 and works by Love Gal. 5.6 and is lively in Good Works Jam. 2.20 26 and this will make us Worthy Communicants at this Feast and welcom to God at all other times CHAP. III. A further Account of this Worthiness The Contents These recited Tempers are all necessary in the Person Communicating but not all necessary to be expresly exercised in the Time of Communion A Direction in which it may be fit to lay out our Devotion at that time All these are provided for in the Churches Prayers so that we may exercise them worthily if we go along devoutly at all the Parts of the Communion-Service IN the former Chapter I have reckon'd up those Tempers which render us Worthy Communicants and fit us to be bidden Welcome at the Lords Supper whensoever he invites and calls us thither But of them I must observe that altho ' they are all necessary in the Person Communicating yet are they not all of necessity to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They are all necessary I say in the Person Communicating and he is not worthy to remember such a Lord and Saviour to sign the New Covenant with Almighty God and a League of Amity and Friendship with all the Christian World who wants any of them They are altogether due from us as we have seen and may in all reason be expected of us as we stand in these Relations and are admitted to these Employments So that we act unworthily and fail of our Duty if our Souls are not endow'd with them when we are in those Capacities and about those Performances which do so justly challenge and call for them But they are not all necessary to be particularly and expresly exercised in the Time of Communion They will be all implied 't is true and virtually contained in what is then done but they are not all necessary to be particularly insisted on And for this there is a very good Reason because that Time doth not ordinarily allow sufficient Space for them For most Communicants are not of such active Minds and quick Apprehensions as that they can pursue so many Businesses or work themselves up into an express Fervour of so many particular Tempers at one Exercise And those that are chuse rather often-times to fix upon some few that so having the more time to stay upon them they may raise themselves up to greater Degrees and act them over in much higher Measures And because where all cannot be exercised it is of great use to know which are best and fittest to be singled out I shall here set down which of all those Tempers I conceive it were most proper to stir up at that time and vigorously to exert and heighten in our own Minds If any then who come to the Holy Communion find that they are either tired out with the length or distracted by the variety of many Particulars and that their Devotion in this Feast goes better on and is more full and perfect when they restrain it to a few I think they may do well to lay it out in these that follow In remembring our Saviour Christ who as then we are to believe died for us and purchased us the New Covenant by his Death offering us the Pardon of our Sins upon Repentâ—nce and his Grace and Spirit to help â—ut our Endeavours and Eternal Life upon our intire Obedience in remembring him I say we may do well to shew 1. A joyful and affectionate Thankfulness for this his unspeakable Love and Benefits particularly for his Dying for us 2. An intire Resignation of our selves both Souls and Bodies to his use as they are his own Purchase In which two consists the main Worthiness of this Part they being the Things which are most becoming us in this Remembrance And in confirming the New Covenant with Almighty God whereto we must believe we are then invited we may act 3. Repentance of all our Sins particularly of all those which we find are most apt to win upon us and make him Promises that in all the Instances of Duty but in them especially we will joyn our Endeavours to his Grace and obey his Laws and when we promise this it must be with a sincere and faithful Heart and with full Intentions of Performance which are the great Duty incumbent on us in these Engagements And in confirming a League of Love and Friendship with all our Brethren which we must think we are then called to likewise we may exercise 4. Charity towards all Persons forgiving all that have any ways offended us and laying aside all Envy Strife and malicious
then do not despise me for thine own Mercies and thy Sons sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray as he hath taught me Our Father which art in Heaven c. A Prayer and Thanksgiving After the SACRAMENT I Thank thee most intirely O! my God for calling me this day to thy own Table to shew me how thine only Son freely dyed in my stead and to assure me that now for his sake thou art fully Reconciled and wilt live in me by thy Grace now at present and raise me up to be Eternally happy with thy Self at last of all which thou hast given me the surest Pledges in his precious Body and Blood What can I render to thee Holy Father or to thee my dearest Saviour for so incomprehensible a Benefit I admire thy marvellous Love and magnify it above all things Thy Praise shall ever be in my Mouth and I will tell out thy wondrous works with Gladness And may all Hearts adore and every Tongue confess that thou Holy Jesus art the Saviour of the World and the Son of the Father whom Heaven and Earth must Honour and call Blessed for evermore Pardon O! Good God the unaffectedness of my dull Heart in the receipt of so inestimable a Treasure and fill me with Desires some way suitable to my needs and the richness of thy Mercies that whenever this Cup of Blessings shall again over-flow my Heart may run over with Joy and Thankfulness also Let me never forget the Love I have received and the Peace I have Seal'd and the Promises of New Life I have made this Day but as thy Grace has help'd me to them so keep me in a lively sense of them and inable me always to fulfill the same to my Lives end Now thou hast given me the Blood of Expiation to shew we are Friends O! never let me be guilty of any thing to break the Peace which is now so solemnly ratified betwixt us Now I have vow'd Obedience to thy Laws to be Humble Chast Temperate Just Charitable Patient Devout and entirely resign'd to thy Will and Pleasure O! let me not start back again from these Holy Promises for ever Now I have received my Blessed Lord never suffer me to do any thing unworthy of him now I am Partaker of his Body and Blood let his Holy Spirit go along with them and then I shall be what I ought when I am in his keeping My sins which I have renounced will return again except he chase them away and my false Heart which now seems fixt for God will revolt unless he establish it O! Sweetest Saviour let thy Body be my Food thy Strength my Guard thy Spirit my Life and the sense of thy Favour my greatest Joy and Comfort Go on Graciously to accomplish what thou hast now begun in me and let me ever be secure and happy in thy Custody Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu And then where there is time for it or afterwards where theâ—â— is not may they go on and say Give thy Grace O Holy Jesu to all the World and let all who were Redeemed by thy Blood acknowledge thee to be the Lord and become thy Worshippers and Faithful Servants Make all Christians Conscientious Practisers of that Holiness which they profess and above all inspire them with uniting Principles and charitable Hearts that by their loving one another as thou hast loved us all the World may know they are thy Disciples Let all Governours Rule with Wisdom and Justice and Subjects obey with Love and Chearfulness Let the Priests of the Lord be Exemplary in their Lives and Discreet and Diligent in their Labourâ— having a most compassionate Love for Souls and let the People be Humble and Towardly most desirous to hearken and fully bent to follow wise Instructions Be a help at hand to all that need and are afflicted Send supplies to all that are in want and assist them contentedly to depend upon thee Raise Friends to the Widow and Fatherless the Prisoners and Captives and all that groan under Oppressors who are thrown upon thy Mercy Give Repentance Patience and Resignation to all that are sick and Ease when thou seest it convenient for them Be a Comforter to all troubled Consciences helping them to an acceptable Holiness and enlightning their minds about all causeless Scruples that they may not fear where no Fear is Succour all that are tempted with such a measure of thy Grace as may inable them to stand in all their Tryals Think particularly on all my Friends who are especially indeared to me by their Kindnesses or Acquaintance on all my Relations in the Flesh on all that Pray particularly for me or desire my Prayers Teach us all to desire what thou approvest and then grant us whatsoever as desired Prevent us in all our Actions and Guard us against all Dangers and Relieve us in all Straights and grant that we may always make thee our Stay and Confidence and take all things well which thou orderest for us Shorten all our Sorrows and prevent all our Sins and fit us all for that Eternal Kingdom which thou hast prepared for us for Jesus's sake in whose Holy Name and Words I further pray unto thee Our Father c. Being sensible how plain minds who are ready to do it so far as they are inabled are oft-times at a Loss for their Daily Devotions and not knowing but this Treatise may fall into some such Hands I have added two Prayers which such Persons may say Morning and Evening in their Families A Morning Prayer FOR A FAMILY O God who art the Giver of all good Gifts and the Father of Mercies We thine unworthy Servants intirely desire to praise thy Name for all the Expressions of thy Bounty towards us Blessed be thy Love that gave thy Son to die for our Sins to put us in a way of being happy if we would obey thee and after all our wilful Refusals of thy Grace still hast patience with us and hast added this one Day more to all we have mis-spent already to see if we will finish the Work thou hast set us to do and fit our selves for Eternal Glory Pardon Good Lord all our former Sins and all our Abuses of thy Forbearance for which now we are sorry at our Hearts and give us Grace to lead more holy Lives and be more careful in improving all future Opportunities Make thy self present to our Minds and let thy Love and Fear rule in our Souls in all those Places and Companies where our Occasions shall lead us this Day Keep us Chaste in all our Thoughts Temperate in all our Enjoyments Humble in all our Opinions of our selves Charitable in all our Speeches of others Meek and Peaceable under all Provocations Sincere and Faithful in all our Professions and so Just and Vpright in all our Dealings that no Necessity may force nor Opportunity in any kind allure us to defraud or go beyond our Neighbours
AN HELP and EXHORTATION TO Worthy Communicating OR A TREATISE Describing the Meaning Worthy Reception Duty and Benefits OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND Answering the Doubts of Conscience and other Reasons which most generally detain Men from It. Together with SUITABLE DEVOTIONS ADDED By John Kettlewell Vicar of Coles-hill in Warwick-shire LONDON Pâ—inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Sâ—eptâ—r over against St. Dunstâ—n's Church in Fleetstreet 1683. TO THE Right Honourable SIMON Lord DIGBY BARON OF GEASHILL MY LORD THe Holy Eucharist is a Rite of the greatest Honour and Endearment that ever God vouchsafed to Men and the most Sublime and Blissful Instance of our Communion with him For therein he calls us to his own Table not to attend as Servants but to Feast with him as his Friends He treats us with the most Magnificent Fare presenting That to us for our Food which one would think were not to be eaten but adored even the most Sacred Body and Blood of his own Son in which he conveys to us all the Benefits of our Redemption And being thus apt to excite in us the highest Devotion and to enrich us with the greatest Fulness of Grace and Blessing one would expect it should be had in Reverence and most Thankfull Received by every Christian. But yet in our Days what part of Religion doth so generally suffer or is so universally neglected among Men For the greatest Numbers have either little or no Reverence at all for it or too much which makes them afraid of it they Neglect it thro' Carelesness and Causeless Scruples or Prophane it by Unworthy and Disrespectful Usage So that among all the Professors of Christianity few pay that Honour to their Lord or secure that Benefit to themselves by Receiving which he intended All should do This My Lord is the Grief and Complaint of all who have any just Honour for their Dearest Saviour and this Venerable Ordinance or any generous Compassion for the Souls of others And that by the Grace of God I may help something to redress it I have endeavoured to describe a Worthy Communicating and to set out both the Duty and Advantages of it in this Treatise that thereby I may recommend it to the Choice of all who are Wise and to the Consciences of all that are Religious In the Management whereof I have shunn'd all fruitless Disputes and nice Speculations seeking onely to get it Authority among the Loose and Reverence with the Careless and to reconcile it to the Scrupulous and to make the Duty as Clear Easie and Useful as I can to all Particularly I have designed all along to make it not onely an Honourable Remembrance of our Dear Lord but a most Solemn and Strict Engagement to a Good Life in all that use it for then I am sure they will be infinitely Happy in it And this Discourse My Noble Lord I here humbly offer to Your Lordship desiring it may stand as a Publick Testimony of the great Honour and Affection I have for those Excellencies that shine so clear in You. God has endow'd Your Great Mind with a strong Love and a steady Choice of Virtue and what I have beheld with Pleasure with a Generous and as there is Place for it an Active Compassion for those that want it You have the True Wisdom upon Deliberate and Well-studied Reasons to be Religious and the Courage in this Audacious Age when Irreligion is set up for the onely Creditable Dress to own it and study to be thought so For 't is Your Lordships Honour to think that nothing can truly make You Greater than to be an humble Worshipper and Faithful Servant of Your Holy Saviour This Noble Piety and Zeal for Goodness will endear You My Lord to Almighty God and to all Good Men. And if by these Papers I may in any wise contribute to them I shall think my self happy in having serv'd to set on the Virtuous Growth of One whom I hope God has set out in a Time that so infinitely needs it for an Illustrious Example that may give both Ornament and Support to Religion But besides this My Lord I have another End in this Dedication and that is That these Sheets may remain a Lasting Monument of my Gratitude for the Endearing Favours I have received from Your Noble Hand They were Composed for the Benefit of a Place where I am now fixed and whereto I was design'd by Your great Generosity and Nobleness when I thought of nothing less For so truly Publick was Your Lordships Spirit in the Filling of that Church that You pitch'd upon a Person whose Face You had never known and who never knew of it only because You believed he would make it his Care to promote Religion and to Benefit those Souls which You had to commit to him And this My Lord I humbly beg Your Lordships Leave to mention not for Your own but for the Publicks sake For in this degenerate Age when either Filthy Lucre or at least some other mean and sordid End have made a Merchandise and bred Corruption even in the most Sacred Trusts I think the World has need of such Examples I have nothing more to add but to beg of Almighty God That he who brings about the Noblest Ends by the Weakest and most Unlikely Instruments would make this Book effectual to his own Honour and Service and also bless Your Lordship with a Continuance and Encrease of all Virtuous Excellencies Honour and Happiness in this World till at last he shall take You to shine in his own Immortal Glory in the World to come This is the most hearty Prayer of him who very much for Your Favours but more for the true Affection and Esteem You have for the God and Saviour he serves is in all sincerity My Honoured Lord Your Lordships most Affectionate obliged Chaplain and humble Servant John Kettlewell From Your Lordships House near Coles-hill Jun. 27. 83. THE CONTENTS PART I. The meaning of Feasting in the Sacrament CHAP. I. Of the meaning of our eating and drinking in the Sacrament THree ends of Feasting in the Lords Supper 1 〈…〉 in Remembrance and Commemoration of our Saviour Christ and of his dying for us To remember him is not barely to call to mind that once there was such a Person but to think of his particular Quality and Relation to us which are worth remembring as of his being our most Faithful Teacher our most Gracious Governour our most intire Friend and noble Benefactor These things usually commemorated by Festivals 2 End is in confirmation of the New Covenant which his Death purchased for us An account of the New Covenant Christs Death purchased it It is ratified in the Holy Sacrament which is shewn from the same thing being done in Baptisme Circumcision and the Passover which answered to it more particularly 1. From the Words of Institution wherein the Cup is call'd the New Covenant and we are bid to drink of it which
entred and established by it Exod. 24.3 4 5 6 7 8. And thus he did in other Compacts but particularly in all those wherein he promised Pardon of Sin for without shedding of Blood i. e. of some Sacrifice says the Apostle there is no Remission Heb. 9.22 Thus did God in all Contracts of Pardon and Reconciliation require the Blood of some Sacrifâ—ce that therein he might ratifie and confirm them And this was the great Use whereto all Sacrifices of Expâ—ation such as our Saviour Christs is in most signal manner whereon we Feast in the Lords Supper served among the Jews they were solemn Compacts and Stipulations wherein he promised Pardon and they Amendment after any Offences He ingaged to accept the Life of the sacrificed Beast in lieu of theirs and to exempt them because it had suffered and they engaged to amend the Fault which they sought to have atoned and never more to repeat it This 't is plain they did from that Form of Penitential Confession in use among them when they brought an Expiatory Sacrifice to the Lord O Lord I have sinned and dealt wickedly and rebelled against thee in doing this or that now I am sorry for it and ashamed of it and will never more return to it and therefore beg this Sacrifice may atone for it And if they had not thus repented of it the Sacrifice would have been of no avail to the Forgiveness of it For to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord so long as you shew no Repentance with them But wash you make you clean cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together tho' your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow Isa. 1.11 16 17 18. The Sacrifices of God says the Psalmist are a broken Spirit i. e. they must be offered and presented with it a broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise Ps. 51.17 Thus were Sacrifices a mutual Stipulation and Engagement consisting of a Promise of Pardon on Gods part and a Promise of Repentance and Amendment on Mans so that they were in the nature of a virtual Contract and Covenant between them And this God plainly intimates concerning them when he tells of his Saints making a Covenant with him by Sacrifice Gather my Saints saith he who have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Ps. 50.5 and calls Salt wherewith every Oblation of Meat-offering was to be seasoned the Salt of the Covenant because it was to season all those Sacrifices wherein the Covenant was confirmed Levit. 2.13 And as Sacrifice is one way of Covenanting with God so is Feasting upon it the way of sharing and partaking in it He who joyned in the Feast was looked upon by God himself to joyn also in the Offering to promise all the Duty which it engaged and to partake in all the Blessings which it procured for them They which eat of the Sacrifices says St. Paul are Partakers of the Altar 1 Cor. 10.18 And therefore he forbids them to joyn in the Gentile Feasts where they sacrificed to Devils because that were to partake and have Fellowship with Devils v. 20 21. And thus from this also viz. the Lords Supper being a Feast on Sacrifice it appears to be a Federal Rite because Sacrifice is the great way of Covenanting with God and by Feasting on it we joyn in and partake of it In eating Bread and drinking Wine at the Lords Table agreeably to what the Jews and Gentiles did at their Religious Feasts we feed on the Sacrifice of Christ and that Sacrifice confirmed the New Covenant with Almighty God that being as he says sealed in his Blood so that by our Feasting on it we are made to share in it and give our full Consent thereto 3 ly That our Eating and Drinking at the Lord's Table is a Covenant-Rite appears from all the particular Blessings of the Covenant being conveyed by it which otherwise than by Federal Promises and Performances are not to be had The Particular Blessings promised in the Covenant I say are all conveyed by it Our Saviour tells us of the Bread we eat and of the Wine we drink that they are his Body and Blood This is my Body says he and this is my Blood of the New Testament Mat. 26.26 28. By which altho' we are not to understand that they are so in their Natures yet the least we can understand is that they are so in their Effects i. e. that they convey to us all those Blessings which the piercing of his Body and the shedding of his Blood procured for us Those Blessings are contained in the New Covenant and as I said are chiefly these three viz. the Forgiveness of Sins the Assistance of Gods Spirit to aid and strengthen us and Eternal Life and Happiness and all these the Eating of Bread and Drinking Wine in the Holy Sacrament are designed to convey to us They convey to us Forgiveness of Sins and assure us when we perform them as we ought that God is in Favour and at Peace with us Of this we have sufficient Assurance because we Feast upon a Sacrifice which is Gods Meat and are entertained at his own Table as his Guests whom he has invited and the least which that can mean is that he admits us into a State of Love and Friendliness since we do not invite those we will not be Friends with to our own Tables When any one calls another to a Treat it is a plain Sign he either would be or is or at least makes shew of being reconciled It is a most Natural Sign and now every where is and always was a Note of Friendship and Endearment And as such the Scriptures are wont to speak of it When those whom he had shut out should knock at the door to be let in and claim Acquaintance our Saviour tells us they will say to him We have eaten and drunk in thy presence Luc. 13.25 26. And when he shews his Apostles how high Favour and what great Interest they shall have with him he tells them they shall eat and drink at his Table in his Kingdom Luc. 22.29 30. And when he declares how kind he will be to those that hear his voice and open unto him he â—ays he will come in and sup with them and they wâ—th him Rev. 3.20 So that when God entertains us at his own Table and invites us to Feast with him as he doth in the Holy Communion we may be sure if we come worthily as we ought he is in Friendship with us and our Sins are forgiven And this our Saviour plainly intimates when he tells us at the giving of the Cup that it is his Blood shed for the Remission of Sins and bids us drink of it that so we may have it in our selves and be assured we have received the Atonement And this we must observe is a Privilege which God never
Church of Christ has still thought concerning it In the Sacrament says St. Ambrose thou receivest the similitude of the Body of Christ i. e. the Bread and Wine which râ—presâ—nt it but together with tâ—at all the Grace and Virtue which the true and real Body obtained This Sacramental Food says St. Cyprian or whoever was the Author of that Tract is in outward appearance a bodily Substance but by invisible Efficiency it works all the Effects of a Divine Power and Presence They that partake of the Eucharist by Faith says St. Clement of Alexandria are sanctified thereby both in Body and Soul And we eat the Bread says Origen which by Prayer is made the Body of Christ Holy in it self and making those Holy who feed on it with Resolutions of New Life and Holy Purpose And this is another way whereby the worthy Receiving of the Sacrament confirms and Augments in us all Spiritual Graces viz. As it is an Instrument in Gods Hands who at the presence of it ministers and conveys them to us And by this it appears that the Holy Sacrament confirms and increases us in all Graces both by the Natural Virtue and Tendency of those Duties which it excites and improves in us and also by those inward Assistances and Spiritual Aids which it ministers and conveys to us And thus we see how the Holy Sacrament is full of Grace and a quickning Spirit and helps mightily to set us on in an Holy Life and in the work of Reformation and Amendment And therefore when any Persons turn Penitents and resolve to lead new Lives one of the best Rules that can be given them is to frequent it For it will carry them forward in their work and what by the Natural Tendency of the Duties themselves that are exercised in it what by the Assistances that are conveyed by it increase their Strength and give them Power to go through with it It will perfect them in Obedience by exercising and exciting and by both improving in them that Faith Love Thankfulness Resignation and Repentance which are the most Genuine Principle and Effectual cause of it It will bind it upon their Souls and ingage them to it by their repeating every time they are at it their solemn Vows and sacred Promises to go on in it And it will inable them to succeed in it by bringing down from God those inward Helps and Spiritual Assistances which shall bear them through it So that if any man begins to look towards God and longs to go forward with the work of Reformation and Amendment He ought in all Reason to seek out and press in to be admitted to the Holy Sacrament For it is one of the best Rules that can be prescribed in his Case and serves his end above any thing and therefore he must not in any wise shun it but lay out for it above all men living A man that will not Repent indeed whilst he continues in that mind must not come to it for he would not receive Good but hurt by it But if he resolves to amend his ways and seeks out for help and would make use of any means which would do him most Service in effecting it let him be constant at the Lords Table and frequently Communicate It will quicken him when once he is in the way to become Good and amend his pace where he has need to be set forward and strengthen him in those Parts where he is weak and most lyable to be assaulted as St. Ignatius told the Ephesians when he advised them to be frâ—quent in it saying Shew haste to assemble often in the Eucharist for the oftner you meet in it the more your standing is secured and the Power of Satan is destroyed It will fortifye him in all Tryals wherein he is like to be most endanger'd enlivening in him that Holy Zeal and steady Purpose and other Graces which must bear him through it for which cause it was used anciently and upon a like occasion would be so still as a Preparation for the greatest Tryals and to fit men to Dye Martyrs for the Cause of Christ. Those says St. Cyprian and the other Africane Bishops whom we would preserve safe and invulnerable against the fiercest Darts of the Adversaries we arm first with the Lords Supper wherewith they may be guarded as with a shield and wherein they may be secured as in an impregnable fortress It is an excellent means of confirming every Grace and affording Spiritual Help and Strength to all that want it and that is inducement enough were there no Command for it for every man who desires to be intirely good and strong in Spirit to resort to it And thus at last it appears what those Blessings are which come by the Sacrament and which are sufficient to ingage all good Souls to press to it of themselves though it had no where been commanded For it is a most effectual means to prevail with God in all their Prayers and thereby to obtain all Mercies it Seals to them the pardon of their sins for the Peace of their Consciences and Confirms and Augments in them all their Graces So that if they have I will not say any Duty and Service for their Saviour but any Love of themselves and care of their own Souls they will seek to be admitted and come hastily when they are called thereto To conclude this point then the sum of what I have said to ingage mens presence at this Feast and to Communicate as often as an opportunity is offered amounts to this It is their Duty to come to the Communion as much as it is to come to Church to be Temperate Humble Just or to perform any other Precepts of their Religion For they have Christs express Command for it who by injoyning it has required Obedience in such an Instance as best shows their peculiar Reverence and Love to him and to ingage them to it has freed them from all the load of Jewish Ceremonies and imposed no heavier Burden than it and Baptism instead of them and to make it take the more effect left it among the last Words which he spâ—ke to them and to shew it is a matter of no small moment would have it expresly specified in St. Paul 's Commission and tells them that unlesâ— they come therein to eat his Flesh and drink his Bloâ—d they have no Life in them and will punish the neglect or abuse of it as he 〈◊〉 of the Jewish â—â—ssover which answered to it with Excision And the Nature of those things which are meant by it and wherein they are to imploy their minds when they are present at it most straitly oblige them to it For therein they shew they have Fellowship with Christ and appertain to his Religion and thankfully remember him and Seal the New Covenant with God and a League of Love and Friendship with their Brethren and are vouchsafed the highest Honour and receive Tokens of
stay away and not receive at all But that they may not be kept back by this hindrance I shall observe to them these three things 1. That they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy lest they be mistaken in it 2. When some who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do receive yet ought not that to hinder them from it 3. If it happen that any are really Scandaliz'd at the sight of such as are notoriously Wicked or have done any wrong to their Neighbours either in word or deed upon complaint made in the Congregation they are to be suspended from the Holy Table and denyed the Sacrament 1. I say they ought not to be forward in judging any others unworthy to communicate lest they be mistaken in it For every Penitent Man who is fully Resolved to leave all his Sins is really worthy to receive the Sacrament and whether the Person they think unworthy be so resolved or no is very hard for them to judge since no Man can see into anothers Heart and only God and his own Soul are privy to it When he comes to the Lords Table every Communicant professes to Repent and promises to lead a New Life thenceforward and when he solemnly declares he is thus resolved 't is hard for another Person who cannot see into his Soul to say he is not but is still impenitent Tho all Good Men therefore may be free in judging of themselves yet ought they to be very wary how they pass a Judgment on the unworthiness of others They must not be forward to pronounce of it because 't is hard for them to know it so that when they give Sentence against their Brethren in this point 't is venturously done and they are liable to be deceived in it 2. When some others who as they have great cause to think are unworthy do Receive the Sacrament yet ought not that to hinder them from joyning in it Our Business should not be to move Questions and Disputes about the preparedness of others but to be careful duly to prepare our selves and when once we are sitly qualified for it we ought to come whether they be so or no. Their unworthiness will have all its effect upon themselves but will not hinder our acceptance nor ought to put us by from doing both our Saviour and our own Souls this Service To shew this I shall observe these three things 1. If the company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians 2. It ought not only to hinder us from the Communion but also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession But 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they we unworthy we are safe and may freely come and they alone are to be debarred from Receiving 1. If the Company of ill and unworthy Persons be a sufficient hindrance it is not so barely unto us but would equally have hindred our Saviour Christ and the Primitive Christians For when our Lord eat hiâ— own Supper it was not with a Select Company of worthy Receivers but with a mixt multitude of Saints and Sinners Thus he found it in the Jewish Passover for all the Congregation of Israel both good and bad were to eat of it and none but Foreiners and hired Servants were excluded from it Exod. 12.45 47. And the like mixture of Guests he allowed when he instituted this Feast instead of it For in great likelyhood Judas who as the Scripture says was a Thief and the Son of Perdition was one of the twelve that Communicated with him Mat. 26.20 25 26. Luc. 22.20 21. And in the first times all Christians as I have shewn who came together to pray to God met also to receive the Holy Sacrament that being then a constant part of their Publick Worship The Number of Communicants in those Days was the same with the number of Christians or Baptized Persons for all Men then met in the Communion who were made Members of Christs Mystical Body the Church by Baptism and were not cut off again by Excommunication as St. Paul plainly intimates when he says of all those many who make up the one Body that they are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 and of all those who have been Baptized into one Body that they have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 So that their Communions as well as ours were mixt Assemblies which were made up of worthy and unworthy Receivers and therefore if other Mens unworthiness ought to be our hindrance it should also have hindred our Blessed Saviour Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians who if this be a good Reason for it should all have forborn the Sacrament because Judas a lost man and other unprepared and unworthy Persons met also with them at the same time to partake in it 2. If the Company of unworthy Persons be a just impediment from the Communion it ought to hinder us also from being Members of the Christian Church and Profession For the Church it self is a mixt multitude of fit and unfit of holy and unholy Persons It is compared to a Net wherein Fish of all sorts are caught both good and bad Mat 13.47 48 to a Field where both Wheat and Tares spring up and wherein both must grow together till the Harvest v. 24 25 30. All Christians are not such as their Saviour Christ was and such as their Religion requires they should be and therefore if we refuse to share in any holy thing whilst some unworthy Persons pretend to it and will not joyn in any Act or State wherein ill men participate we must not only shun the Communion but cease also to be members of the Church or Profess the Christian Religion Nay I might add further since all Communities have some Corrupt Members and in every Body of Men there are some Vicious as well as Godly Persons if we decline all Society and fellowship which has ill Men to partake in it we must not stop in avoiding the Communion and leaping out of the Christian Church and Profession but if we run on so far as this Principle will lead us become Out-Laws to Families Townships Kingdoms yea to all Mankind 3. One shall not bear anothers but every Man his own Burden so that if not we but only they are unworthy we are safe and may freely câ—me and they alone are debarr'd from receiving God will not punish one Soul for anothers fault or be angry at this because that Person has deserv'd it But every Man shall stand or fall by his own Work and either be approved or â—â—jectâ—d as it prepares him for it Let every Man prove his own Work saith the Apostle for every Man shall bear his own Burden Eph. 6.4 5. So that if we take care to come worthily our selves
desire to be forgiven O Holy Jesus according to thy boundless Mercy accept of these small returns of thy poor Servant which though very mean alas are yet the best I have to offer thee and supply me with a more abundant measure of thy Grace that I may be able to pay back something more worthy of thee Let this Holy Sacrament be the Comfort and Refreshment of my Heart conveying Pardon and Peace to it and the Enriching and Establishing of my Spirit with all the Benefits of thy Blood make it a great increase of present Grace to me and a certain pledge of Immortality to assure me that I shall even live with thee and be near to that Heart which Dyed for me Be it even so for thine own sake Blessed Jesu Amen In these or such like words may we act over all those Virtues which are to render us worthy Communicants before the Holy Mysteries are brought to us And at the receipt of them we may lift up our Hearts to God in these or the like Expressions After the Receiving of the Bread we may say to our Dearest Lord with an Affectionate Heart I Receive this O! my Lord in remembrance of thy Death and thank thee most intirely for laying down thine own Life for me O! how I rejoyce in thy marvellous Love and in this Remembrance of it I will always live to thee and utterly renounce every sin whereby I have most ungratefully pierced thy bleeding Heart and am Friends with all the World for thy sake and will extol thy matchless Bounty whilst I have a Tongue to speak giving all Honour Glory and Praise to thee the Lamb of God who wast slain and now sittest upon the Throne for evermore And in like manner after the receiving of the Cup. THe Remembrance of thy Blood-shedding O! sweetest Saviour is dear to me I can never forget it since it was altogether for my sake and I owe my very Life to it In all the Affection of an infinitely obliged heart I humbly thank thee for what thou hast done and gladly consent to those Terms of Life and Mercy which were purchased by it and will never willfully yield to do any thing that is unworthy of so great a Benefit and embrace all my Brethren with open Arms since thou so requirest it and desire after this sort to fulfill thy will in all things and adore thy Glorious Goodness and shew forth thy boundless Praise to my Lifes end O! keep me unalterable in this mind may a Devout Soul then go on and never suffer my own Corrupt Lusts to turn me from it I have now O! Holy Saviour taken thee into my Heart O let thy Presence banish them away that they may never pretend to it again since now 't is Holy to the Lord nor ever appear to pollute that place wherein so Divine a Guest is lodged Now thou art pleas'd to enter under my Roof have me always in thy keeping for I am safe in no other hands Preserve the place thou hast taken possession of and let not thy Enemies and mine any more invade it Pour into my Heart all the Benefits of thy Crucified Body and Blood since now by thy wonderful Grace I am made Partaker of them Thy Blood was shed for the Remission of sins O! let me know and feel that mine are all forgiven It obtained the Assistance of thy Spirit and Grace O! let me ever enjoy that as I stand in need of it It was the Price thou payedst down for Eternal Life O! let that finally be my Lot since thou hast paid so dear for it Bid me hope assuredly O Blessed Jesu that all this shall be made good unto thy Servant because now thou hast given thy self to me and fed me with thine own Body whereby mayest thou ever dwell in me and I in thee Amen And when this is done whilst others are receiving we may employ our selves in some of the foregoing Devotions or when we have enough of them joyn heartily in the Prayer which is made at the Delivery of the Bread and Wine to others or strike in affectionately with the Psalm of Praise which for the ease and exercise of all but of those particularly who have already received is wont at that time to be sung in most Places After this sort then may we lift up our Hearts to God and discharge all those Duties which are required in every worthy Communicant When we have no other helps we may acceptably express them all in a Devout Concurrence with the Churches Prayers since in them as I have shewn there is an actual exercise of all these Duties But when we can do more either by the help of Books or our own invention we may act them over still more fully in these or such like forms of Devotion And when all this is done and this solemn Feast is concluded we must not think tho work of worthy Receiving is at an end for one thing still remains that must employ us always afterwards and that is a careful performance of all those Promises which we made to God in this Holy Ordinance In the Sacrament as has been shew'd we seek not only a Pardon for what is past but also vow and promise Amendment for the Future and these Promises must be made good afterwards and it must be our care whilst we Live to fulfil them This we are higly concerned to do and it will greatly increase our Guilt and Condemnation if we fall short of it For if we return to our former sins again after we have thus solemnly vow'd to forsake them We are false to our Word and treacherous where we seem to be most sincere and seek more especially to be trusted We break our Faith with God and go about to delude his Expectation had he been capable to be imposed upon and believed as we would have had him which is as great an abúse as we can well put upon him And this doubles the sin which we commit and sets God further off from being intreated for now we have not only the Fault it self to answer for but also this Perfidiousness and breach of Vows which adds a new one to it and makes it greater So that after every Sacrament if we still continue Impenitent our Guilt is aggravated and our Souls more endanger'd and we are greater sinners than we were before Thus highly are we concerned to perform the Promises which we made at the Table of our Lord. And this we shall be very like to do if we think often of them every day for some time especially after we are gone from it Indeed if we forget all we did and all the Vows we made there to Almighty God we are like to be the same men still and must not expect that it should amend us For the Sacrament as I have shewn doth not better us without our own Care but by helping and ingaging us to Good endeavours after it is over It works not as a
When thou bestowest Good on others let not us envy but rejoyce in it and when thou addest any to our selves let us own thy Mercy and humbly thank thee for it Afford us convenient Supplies in all our reasonable Necessities and protect us against the approach of all Dangers make us diligent in all our Business and give such Success to our Endeavours as thou seest most expedient for us and teach us contentedly to submit and not to repine at any thing that happens by the Allotment of thy Providence In all our Passage thro' this World and our manifold Concerns in it suffer not our Hearts to be too much set upon it but always fix our Eye upon the Blessed Hope that as we go along we may make all the Things of this World minister to it and be careful above all things to fit our Souls for that pure and perfect Bliss which thou hast prepared for all that love and fear thee in the Glories of thy Kingdom Extend thy Grace we further beseech thee to all Men in all Places especially to the Governours and Subjects to all both High and Low Rich and Poor that pray for it or need it in these Kingdoms Bless all our Relations who are near us in the Flesh and all our Friends and Benefactors who are endeared to us by their Kindnesses Forgive all our Enemies give them Hearts to fear thee and to be kind to us And supply all us and all others with whatsoever else thou seest proper for us for Christ his sake in whose Blessed Name and Words we still recommend our selves unto thee saying Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a FAMILY O Most Gracious God who daily multipliest upon us thy Mercies notwithstanding we every day renew our Provocations Accept we beseech thee of our most humble and hearty Thanks for thy unspeakable Kindness towards us Blessed be thy Goodness which has this day supplied us with Food and Necessaries and preserved us in Health the chiefest of all outward Enjoyments and prosper'd the Work of our Hands and lent us our Friends to be still a Support and Comfort to us Adored be thy Love and Patience which hast allowed us one Day more to amend our Ways and assisted us by the Suggestions of thy Spirit and thy gracious Providences to make up that Resignation Humility Contentedness Chastity Sobriety Meekness Charity and other Virtues which are yet wanting in our own Souls We desire to shew our selves duely sensible of these endearing Benefits by learning to depend upon thy Providence which has been so watchful over us and to be contented with thy Orderings which are so wisely fitted to our own Advantage and applying all Opportunities to the increase of that Righteousness and Holy Living which thou requirest at our Hands We fain would do it and are here sincerely resolved to endeavour it and thou hast promised to aid all those who labour in so good a Work Be it then O Lord unto thy Servants according to thy Word and enable us by thy Grace and Holy Spirit so to do We are sensible O God how highly we have offended thee altho' we stand thus indebted for all we have or hope to enjoy to thy Bounty How many ways have we dishonour'd our Profession and revolted from the Vows we made in Baptism by Pride and Envy and Anger and Discontent and Evil-speaking and serving divers Lusts which then we utterly renounced and promised never to live in again We are heartily grieved and ashamed for these and all other our Misdoings and are fully resolv'd by thy Grace hereafter to amend them We unfeignedly repent of them and for Christ's sake humbly beg to be forgiven and that thy Grace and Holy Spirit may rid us of them for the time to come Our full purpose is to endeavour it and thy Promise is to help us in it O let thine Arm be our Almighty Aid and then we shall return to them no more Keep us in thy good Providence this Night make our Sleep safe and refreshing to us Fit us for our great Change that it may not surprize us unawares but that having led holy Lives we may be happy in our Deaths and have Comfort and well-grounded Hope in thee Give all Men Grace to repent and become thy Servants Let all Christians live up to the Laws of that Religion which they profess Especially bless these Kingdoms wherein we live Let our Governours Rule with Justice and our People Obey with Chearfulness Make the Rich and Prosperous Temperate in Vsing and Charitable in Distributing of their Substance and the Poor and Afflicted Patient and Contented under their Burdens And cause us all to love as Brethren to be Pitiful and Tender-hearted towards all Men. Preserve our Friends in their Souls and Bodies forgive our Enemies and make them kindly affected towards us and do whatsoever thou seest fitting for us all for the sake of thy Son our Advocate Jesus Christ who has taught us in his own Words thus to pray Our Father c. FINIS Books printed for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter in Fleetstreet 1. THe Measures of Christian Obedience Or A Discourse shewing what Obedience is indispensibly necessary to a Regenerate State and what Defects are consistent with it For the Promotion of Piety and the Peace of Troubled Consciences By John Kettlewell Fellow of Lincoln-College in Oxford In Quarto Price bound 8 s. 2. A Journey into Greece by Sir George Wheeler in Company of Dr. Spon of Lyons In Six Books Containing 1. A Voyage from Venice to Constantinople 2. An Account of Constantinople and the adjacent Places 3. A Voyage thorow the Lesser Asia 4. A Voyage from Zant thorow several Parts of Greece to Athens 5. An Account of Athens 6. Several Journeys from Athens into Attica Corinth Baeotia c. With Variety of Sculptures In Folio Price bound 15 s. 3. A Vindication of the Primitive Christians in Point of Obedience to their Prince against the Calumnies of a Book entituled The Life of Julian written by Ecebolius the Sophist As also The Doctrine of Passive Obedience cleared in Defence of Dr. Hicks Together with an Appendix being a more full and distinct Answer to Mr. Thomas Hunt's Preface and Postscript Vnto all which is added The Life of Julian enlarged In Octavo Price bound 2 s. 6 d. 4. A Sermon Preached at the Worcester-Feast by George Walls Master of Arts and Student of Christ-Church Oxon. Quarto Price stitcht 6 d. 5. The Treasures of the Sea A Sermon Preached to the Mariners by William Thomson In Quarto Price stâ—itcht 6 d. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are approved may be made manifest * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whomsâ—ever you shall approve †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 5. c. 1. Diogenistae Antipatristae Panaetiastae appellati sunt qui stato anni Die Diogenis Antipatri Panaetii nobilium Philosophorum memoriam celebrarent Is. Casaub ad