Worthy Communicating, Title page – Dedication
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, P…inted by R. E. for Robert Kettlewell, at the Hand and S…ept…r over against St. Dunst…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 onelyonly 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 onelyonly 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 onelyonly Creditable Dress, to own it, and study to be thought so. For 'tis 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.