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A60147
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Sacramental discourses on several texts before and after the Lord's Supper by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S3683; ESTC R27487
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136,980
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352
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those who have formerly been at the Lord's Table but very often do tarry away though they have time and opportunity as being afraid to come by reason of their own Unworthiness 4. Consider further What are those sins that you charge your selves with as the ground of your Vnfitness They are either of Weakness or of Wilfulness Either such as can hardly be avoided by the Care and Watchfulness of Good Men as sins of daily infirmity These do not make you unfit for the Lord's Table For if they did who at all would ever be fit If a perfect sinless Fitness were necessary none could come aright And by such a thought we make Christ an hard Master But if they be sins of Wilfulness you are Self-condemned if you do not Reform And yet how many are there concerning whom we may charitably judge that they do not allow themselves in wilful sins that do yet tarry away from this Table 5. Let me ask you further Have you ever tryed to fit and prepare your selves as worthy Receivers of the Lord's Supper Have you endeavoured in the use of all God's appointed Means to obtain that Knowledge Repentance Faith and Love which should fit you for this Ordinance If you have never used the Means that God hath appointed if you have never seriously and in good earnest set about the Work of Preparation How can you say that you never shall or can be fitted for this Priviledge What Minister of Christ have you ever consulted about it It may be you mistake the very Notion of the Lord's Supper and understand not the True Nature and Design of it Have you set apart time to search your Hearts and examine your Coâ—sciences and Repent of all Sin and give up your selves to God in Christ and beg the help of Ministers and Friends to that purpose 6. Therefore let me ask you again Is not your Unfitness from sloath and Idleness or the distracting hurry of Worldly Affairs that you cannot be brought to spare so much time as is necessary for this Work How will you Answer this at the Great Day Will you then have the Courage to tell the Lord Redeemer to his Face what this Pretence amounts to Will you tell him in that Awful Solemnity Lord I would not have omitted the Ordinance of the Supper but have remembred Thee and thy dying Love by breaking of bread But I was unfit for it altogether unfit because my Mind was distracted with the cares of the World I had so much of other matters all the Week from Moneth to Moneth to take up my Thoughts and Time that I had no leisure for serious Preparation What self-condemning Excuses will these prove at last Lastly Is there not yet something worse at the bottom viz. That you are unwilling of that strictness and seriousness that you think such are obliged to as come to the Lord's Table Unwilling of that circumspect walking which such of all others should be exemplary in Are you not afraid that if you come you must abridge your selves of some Liberties that you now take That you must be more constant in secret Prayer That you must set up daily Family Prayer in your houses That you must spend more Time in Reading be more careful of your Company and be more faithful and exact in your Dealings and do many things that now you neglect How dreadful is the Import of such an Excuse for not Coming of such a Ground for staying away For it seems to lye in this That Men are resolved they will live at large and not be bound up by the Rules of the Gospel That is They never mean to take upon them the Yoke of Christ or to live as his Disciples If they would speak it out it must signifie thus much Thou shalt not be my Lord and Redeemer I will not deny Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and live Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this World Notwithstanding my baptism whereby I have sworn Fidelity to Christ he shall not reign over me This is practically and in effect their Sense For this Command and Order to do this in Remembrance of Christ is as much a Law of Christ as any in the Bible And yet many refuse to obey this Command lest they should be obliged more strictly to obey all the other How little do such Professors consider how unbecoming it is to call themselves Christians or that they are Antecedently by their Baptism and Christian Profession bound to obey Christ in all these Instances And at the Lord's Table we do but renew the Obligation upon our selves to do so We are bound to obey Christ as our Ruler and to yield Obedience to all the Laws of Christ whether we come to this Table or no Though we are also bound to come and to profess and promise Obedience there There are other Objections I may consider hereafter and therefore shall now close with a few words of Counsel 1. Let those of us who have eaten of this Bread and drunk of this Cup and so have professedly had Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ Let us Examine whether we have really and truly had any Fellowship with him in this Ordinance or no Whether we have only partaked of the outward Signs and been present at such a Feast of Love without any Spiritual Nourishment to our Souls Without attending to this the Design of the Institution is overlooked and all the Genuine Advantages of it will be lost Without this we have but played the Hypocrites and Acted a Part and shall pay dear for our Solemn Trifling as having slighted the Redeemer's Love and made our selves Guilty of his body and blood If we have not laboured to see the Evil of Sin and to have our hatred of it encreased If we have not found our Hearts set more against it and our Resolutions confirmed to forsake it If we have not felt the Attractive Influence of the Love of Christ to bring us to Adore him and Magnifie his Condescention and Love If we have not had Admiring Thoughts of the blessed God of the Purity of his Naâ—ure the Justice of his Government and all his Excellent Perfections which are so highly honoured in our Redemption by the bloody Sacrifice of Christ If we have not been cordial and unfeigned in the Dedication of our selves to him and all we have and are to be at his Dispose and Order for the rest of our Time If we have not had our Thoughts raised up to Heaven to a risen glorified Redeemer on his Throne as triumphing over all the Adversaries of our Salvation as able to save to the uttermost All that come to God by him as faithful to compleat what he hath begun and to preserve what is committed to him and to give us the full purchase of his Meritorious Death in the Heavenly Kingdom And if we have not been melted under the sense of pardoning Mercy to our selves and brought to a better Temper of Mind as to the
of thy Adorable Perfections that we may so Glorifie thy Name in the Eyes of the World that others seeing our Good Works may Glorifie Thee our Father who art in Heaven To this end Let thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom Come O Thou who Reignest among the Armies of Heaven and over all the Inhabitants of the Earth rule in our Hearts by the Power of thy Word and Spirit Subdue every Lust and inordinate Affection in us Mortifie all the Rebellion of our Wills and the Enmity of our Carnal Minds and Hearts that we may no longer be in Slavery to the Devil and to foolish Criminal Passions but our Understanding Will Affections Conscience and Conversation be more intirely Conformed to thy Holy Pleasure and Precept And after the Establishment and Advancement of thy Kingdom of Grace in our Souls perfect it in due time by admitting us to thy Kingdom of Glory And let all the Kingdoms of the World submit to the Scepter of our Lord Redeemer that he may Rule to the ends of the Earth Let all the People praise thee and Worship thee O God let all the People Praise thee Let not Satan the Usurping God of this world Tyranize over so great a part of this Earth But let the Kingdom of thy Grace be enlarged and thine Authority be more generally submitted to in all the World Let the everlasting Gospel of the Blessed God be publisht understood believed and obeyed from the Rising of the Sun to the setting of the same And as the Effect of the Coming of thy Kingdom in Power Let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Thy Will be done Thy Will O God is the Measure of Holiness and Peace the Rule of Justice Truth and Perfect Wisdom Oh that it may be the Rule of our Desires that our Will may be intirely conformed to Thine All thy Works are Wisdom and all thy ways of Providence are Judgment Let us adore thee as Infallible in all the Revelations of thy Mind and as Wise and Good Just and Holy and True in all Thou do'st Let us acquiesce in thy good Pleasure as knowing nothing can be better done than what thou orderest In Fulness and in Want in Joy and Sorrow in Life and Death thy Holy Will O Lord be done Let us obediently comply with thy Preceptive Will in all thou hast commanded and humbly submit to thy Providential Will in all thou shalt appoint and be satisfied with our Portion Station and condition here on Earth Let us be govern'd in all things by thy Holy Will with Cheerfulness and Readiness and Faithfulness and Zeal without Deceit Delay or Murmuring Complaints That we may observe and please thy Will on Earth as the Angels do in Heaven where thou art loved delighted in and obeyed in Perfection And let all the World we beseech thee joyn with us and them to praise and glorifie thee with one heart and one voice and one consent and be the Servants of thy Holy Will for ever But our Satisfaction in thy Declared VVill doth not hinder but we may Ask the necessary Supports of Life We pray thee therefore Give us tbis day our Daily Bread Thou takest Care of our Souls provide also we beseech thee for our Bodies Prolong our Lives till we have finisht the Work of Life and answered the Ends of Living Continue a suitable and convenient Supply for the Necessities of our Nature Give us that Health Protection Peace and Plenty which may best assist us in our present Duty and tend to our Comfortable Accompt in the Day of Reckoning Thou hast directed us not to Chuse either Poverty or Riches because of the Temptations of either extreme Give us therefore Food Convenient according to that Rank and State and Condition thou hast plac'd us in or may'st hereafter do That so the Temptations of the Right Hand may not make us Wanton Secure and Proud forgetful of Thee and our Selves and the greater Concerns of Eternity or our Hearts be set to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof And that on the contrary by the Snares of Poverty and pinching Straits we may not be tempted to doubt or deny Thy Providence or quarrel with it that we may not be exposed to Contempt and Misery and thereby to Impatience Distrust and Despair Keep us from undue Sollicitude about these things and give us Contentment with our present Condition Grant us that measure and proportion of Temporal Blessings which may enable us the better to serve and glorifie thee And whatever thou do with us let us be Calm and Quiet and Thankful and never admit any dishonourable Thoughts of thy Rule and Government Let us own Thee as the Original and Fountain of all our Good and faithfully depend on Thee for the Supply of all our Wants But whatever thou give us of Earthly Good Lord what will it avail us when our Sins are so many and great unless thou Forgive and Pardon us Therefore we beseech thee O Lord to Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Look upon us with a Merciful Eye for we are here before thee in our Trespasses Forgive our Sins of Ignorance and of Wilfulness those of Presumption and those of Infirmity secret and open in heart and word and deed the Vanity of our Minds the Carelesness of our Spirits the Wickedness of our Hearts the Irregularity of our Affections the Folly of our Lips and all the Omissions and Commissions of our past Lives from our Birth and Infancy to this very hour Look not upon our Offences but cast our sins behind thy Back Remember 'em not against us to our Punishment and Condemnation We beg this for the sake of our Blessed Saviour who hath made Expiation for Sin by his Cursed Death For his sake be Reconciled to us and remember our Iniquities no more and seal to us the free and full Forgiveness of them by the Witness of thy Holy Spirit that we may Rejoyce in God through Jesus Christ as having received the Atonement Enable us by a large and Evangelical Charity heartily to forgive all those who have any way troubled or injured or offended us lest our Prayer be turned into sin and thou deny us that Pardon which we deny to our Fellow Creatures That having by thy Grace this Character of thy Disciples and Children we may reap the Benefit of thy Pardoning Mercy here and in the other VVorld But because tho we should be forgiven for the Time past we shall run into the like sins again and contract New Guilt and fall an easie Prey to Temptation we beseech thee preserve us from being tempted or overcome when we are Lead us not into Temptation Lord we are Weak and Ignorant and Inclined to that which is Evil and our Adversary the Devil goes about like a Crafty Serpent and a Roaring Lion seeking whom he may deceive and destroy let us never be Careless Secure and Confident of our selves He is a Malicious Experienc't Watchful Envious Unwearied Enemy let us not be Ignorant of his Devices Enable us to Mortifie the Love of Sin and Inward Lust and diligently avoid the Occasions and Appearances of Evil the Incentives and Provocatives to Wickedness And suffer us not to be Tempted above what we are Able Order our Conditions and Affairs so as we may be free from great and Dangerous Temptations Help us that by taking to us the whole Armour of God we may be able to withstand the Wiles and Assaults of Satan that by the Protection and Guidance of thy Providence the Ministry of thine Angels and the Aids of thy Good Spirit we may not enter into Temptation and yield to it that Such as we cannot avoid may not prevail against us to thy Dishonour and our Eternal Ruin Deliver us from the Evil of every Temptation and from the Evil One the Tempter and from other Evils to which we are Incident But deliver us from Evil. Forgive what is Past Remove what is Present Prevent what may otherwise be to come from Sin and Shame from the Malice of the Devil and the Falshood and Treachery of Men from open Enemies and unfaithful Friends from the Deceits of the VVorld and the Lusts of the Flesh but above all from thy VVrath and Vengeance due to our Sins VVe Beseech thee to deliver and save us Pardon us so freely that all the Sufferings of this Life may be turned from Evil to Good that if thou smite us here with the Rod of a Father thou may'st spare us hereafter That all things may work together for our Advantage and that in every Condition we may be kept from Sin To that end Deliver us from the Evil One the Great Enemy of thy Glory and our Salvation Let us resist him stedâ—astly in the Faith that he may flee and we may Conquer We acknowledge our own Weakness and desire to be sensible of it and therefore humbly Invoke thine Aid and Help O save us from an Impenitent hard Heart while we live and let us Finish our Course in thy Fear and Love let us dye the Death of the Righteous and not have our Portion to all Eternity in that Region of Darkness and Torment which thou hast prepared for the Devil and his Angels For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Thou art able to do all this for us as the All-mighty Wise and Holy Lord and Governour of the VVorld whose Glorious Perfections are displayed and honoured in all thy Works We hope the granting these our Supplications will advance the Mightiness of thy Kingdom and Manifest thy Power Mercy and Truth For of thee and to thee and through thee are All Things to Thee be Glory for ever and ever Amen As Thou sayest so it is As Thou hast Promised So it shall be And as we have Prayed we Beg it may Be Amen and Amen THE END