A Book for Beginners, Chapter 4 – Chapter 5
CHAP. IV. Of Preparation for it.
THIS may ſuffice, one would think, to excite all thoſe who have any care of their future Salvation, or preſent ſatisfacion, to make it their buiſineſs to prepare themſelves, to be worthy Receivers of ſuch great Benefits.
And that is not hard to doe.
For, having learn'd your Catechiſm, or the ſhort Inſtruction in the Common-Prayer-Book, to be learn'd by every perſon that is baptized; and then ſeriouſly conſidered the Promiſe that was made at your Baptiſm in your name, which is there explained: you ſhould, in the next place, take the firſt opportunity to have the benefit of Confirmation. Wherein you both openly renew the ſolemn Promiſe and Vow made in your name at your Baptiſm, ratifying and confirming the ſame in your own perſon, and acknowledging your ſelf bound to believe and doe all thoſe things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you; and alſo, by the Laying on of hands, have more of the Divine Grace imparted to you, to confirm and ſtrengthen you in your Chriſtian reſolution, that you may continue his for ever.
After this you may, without any ſcruple, look upon your ſelf as having a right to the Sacrament of Chriſt's Body and Bloud. And the beſt Preparation to it will be,
I. To endeavour faithfully to live according to your Baptiſmal Vow. And for that end, to call to mind every day how ſolemnly you did ſuch a time, in the preſence of God and ſuch a Congregation, ratify and confirm that Vow; and alſo promiſed that, by God's grace, you would always labour to obſerve ſuch things as by your own confeſſion you have, aſſented unto.
They are theſe three. Firſt, that you ſhould renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, with all covetous deſires of the ſame, and the ſinfull luſts of the fleſh; ſo that you will not follow, nor be led by them. Secondly, that you ſhould believe all the Articles of the Chriſtian Faith. And thirdly, that you ſhould keep God's holy will and Commandments, and walk in the ſame all the days of your life.
II. Now thoſe Commandments which you have promiſed to keep, you are taught afterward contain your Duty towards God, and your Duty towards your Neighbour.
Your Duty towards God, you are inſtructed, is this: To believe in Him, to fear Him, to love Him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my ſoul, and with all my ſtrength; to worſhip Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole truſt in Him, to call upon Him, to honour his holy Name and his Word, and to ſerve him truly all the days of my life.
Then follows your Duty towards your Neighbour, in theſe words, as you your ſelf are taught to confeſs; My Duty towards my Neighbour is, to love him as my ſelf, ſo doe to all men as I would they ſhould doe unto me: to love, honour and ſuccour my father and mother; to honour and obey the King, and all that are put in authority under him; to ſubmit my ſelf to all my Governours, Teachers, ſpiritual Paſtours, and Maſters; to order my ſelf lowly and reverently to all my betters; to hurt no body by word or deed; to be true and juſt in all my dealing; to bear no malice nor hatred in my heart; to keep my hands from picking and ſtealing, and my tongue from evil ſpeaking, lying and ſlandering; to keep my body in temperance, ſoberneſs, and chaſtity; not to covet nor deſire other mens goods, but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to doe my duty in that ſtate of life unto which it ſhall pleaſe God to call me.
All theſe things you promiſed, with your own mouth, before God and his People, (when you was confirmed) that you would be carefull to obſerve: and muſt therefore make this the conſtant Rule of your life; and call upon God, by diligent Prayer, for his ſpeciall Graces, without which you will not be able to ſerve Him.
Which if you doe ſincerely, then,
III. I would adviſe you, every evening, before you go to ſleep, to take ſome time to think how well you have kept your Reſolution, and obſerved this Rule: And where you find you have faln ſhort of it, or done contrary to it, to make a new Reſolution to be more carefull the next day. And if you be able to ſet down in writing thoſe Negligences, or breaches of your Covenant with God, when you take notice of them; you will have the leſs to doe when the opportunity of communicating approacheth. For then,
IV. Laſtly, you can with much eaſe examine your ſelves before the Communion, and have a full account of your life and converſation ready at hand. About which you will be lamentably puzzled, and long in drawing it up, if you do not conſtantly make ſome obſervation how things go with you: but in this Method ſhall be able preſently, and without any perplexity, to underſtand certainly and clearly in what caſe you are. And ſo you have nothing farther to doe, by way of Preparation to the Sacrament, but onelyonly, firſt, ſorrowfully to bewail your Sinfulneſs, and to confeſs your ſelves to Almighty God: and that, ſecondly, with a full purpoſe of Amendment of life, and of greater diligence and watchfulneſs hereafter; eſpecially in thoſe particulars wherein you have miſcarried. (For ſorrowfull Confeſſion and Affliction of ſpirit for your Sins, is not ſufficient; but muſt end in this unfeigned Reſolution.) And if you find, thirdly, that your Offences are not onelyonly againſt God, but alſo againſt your Neighbours; then (as you are directed in the Communion-Service) to reconcile your ſelves unto them: Being ready to make reſtitution and ſatisfaction, according to the utmoſt of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other; and being ready likewiſe to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveneſs of your offences at God's hand.
When all this is done, then you ought not to diſcourage your ſelves with a fancy of your Unworthineſs to partake of that Holy Table to which you are invited. For you will always be unworthy in the ſtricteſt ſenſe of the word: but are really worthy in God's account, when you are thus diſpoſed; and ſenſible, at the beſt, of your unworthineſs of ſuch great Bleſſings, as God, of his goodneſs, is deſirous to beſtow upon you.
CHAP. V. A Prayer for that morning when you intend to receive. Which may be uſed any time before.
BEſides thoſe uſuall Prayers, wherein you conſtantly recommend your ſelf to God, and give him thanks for his daily benefits: it will be fit to make a particular application of your ſelf to Him, for his gracious aſſiſtence and his bleſſing upon you in that holy Duty, after this manner.
O Lord, I moſt humbly abaſe my ſelf before Thee, confeſſing that I am unworthy of any of thoſe mercies which I enjoy, in common, with the reſt of thy Creatures. For I have too much forgotten Thee my Creatour, and Jeſus Chriſt my Redeemer; whom I have many ways offended, either through ignorance, or negligence, or wilfull ſins. [Here mention the particulars out of your daily obſervations.]
And yet, ſo great is thy Goodneſs, Thou art pleaſed to give me an opportunity to partake of thy extraordinary love and kindneſs in thy dear Son, the Lord Jeſus. For I am invited by his Miniſter, to come and feaſt with Him at his Table, by a thankfull Commemoration of the offering He made, of his own Body and Bloud, upon the Croſs for us.
And I am very deſirous to go, if Thou wilt but be pleaſed graciouſly to pardon all my paſt offences, either againſt Thee, or againſt my Neighbour; and to accept of my hearty ſorrow for them, and unfeigned reſolution to doe my endeavour to amend them.
O be mercifull unto me, be mercifull unto me, I moſt humbly beſeech Thee, for the ſake of Jeſus Chriſt who died for me. And though I am unworthy ſo much as, at any time, to approach into thy preſence; yet do not reject me now, but permit me to come, even unto thy holy Table.
For which if I am in any meaſure prepared, it is to be aſcribed to thy grace, which hath wrought ſuch good diſpoſitions in me; and therefore will, I hope, ſtill ſo aſſiſt me, that I may not be an unwelcome gueſt unto Thee: but be filled with ſuch a lively ſenſe of thy Love to me, and with ſuch a ſincere and ardent Love to Thee, and with ſuch ſatisfaction of heart in being one of thy Servants, that I may be more ſorrowfull then ever that I have offended Thee, and more ſtedfaſtly reſolved to be ſtrictly obedient to Thee.
And, O moſt gracious God, let me find, I beſeech Thee, all ſuch godly Reſolutions in me more confirmed and ſtrengthned by the heavenly Food Thou haſt prepared for me. O that (as I ſtand already engaged by former Vows which I have upon me, ſo) I may faithfully and chearfully obey thy holy will in all things, and daily increaſe in thy holy Spirit more and more, untill I come to thy everlaſting Kingdom.
Hear me, O Lord, and help me ſo to perform my Duty in every part of that holy action, which I am going to doe in remembrance of my Saviour, that I may not onelyonly at preſent rejoyce in his Love to me, but be excited thereby to doe the reſt of my Duty better, and with more delight, all the days of my life.
Which I humbly beg through his Merits and Mediation; to whom, with Thee, O Father, and the Holy Ghoſt, be all honour, glory and praiſe both now and for evermore. Amen.