N00426:139
A companion for communicants. Discourses upon the nature, the design, and the subject of…
A companion for communicants. Discourses upon the nature, the design, and the subject of the Lords Supper; with devout methods of preparing for, and approaching to that blessed ordinance. / By Cotton Mather, Pastor of a church at Boston. ; [Seven lines from Augustine]
Boston: printed by Samuel Green for Benjamin Harris, 1690
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Would you exact the utmost •••vency and Constancy of Devotion from your Souls, while you do not use the Ordinance which is above all proper to maintain ⟨p. 73⟩it? Methinks, thy very Soul within thee, should reproach thee as worse than an Egyptian Task master for thy Cruelty.
Your Souls must also loose the Joy of God, while you continue in this Omission. Would you come suitably to the Table of the Lord, you might come singing the Song usual with the Jews, that fetched water from Siloam▪ at the Feast of Tabernacles, in Isa 12.3. With Joy shall ye draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation. Truly, the Lords Supper is an Ordinance of such Obsignations as might cause you to Rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory; alas, that you should undervalue all that Joy! There is many an Hannah, that will not Eat of the Peace-Offering, because of their being able to say, I am of a sorrowful Spirit. Nay, but their Eating might prove a cure for their Sorrow. Many a devout Soul has Experienced those Vital Touches from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, in this Ordinance, which have caused them to cry out, as the Dying •levian did, O my joys, O my joys, they are unspeakable! and with, Peter, Lord, it is Good to be here! and with Simeon, Lord, now Lettest thou thy Servant Depart in peace! It is a Dark •ime with many a Soul, they are dismally harassed with Doubts and Pears and Astonishments; because of this Fault, They come not unto the Banqueting House where the Banner is Love! Oftentimes, The Comforter that should Relieve Souls, is far from them, because they will not here come near to the Redeemer that has bought their Souls.
Your Souls must also loose the Joy of God, while you continue in this Omission. Would you come suitably to the Table of the Lord, you might come singing the Song usual with the Jews, that fetch'd water from Siloam▪ at the Feast of Tabernacles, in Isa 12.3. With Joy shall ye draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation. Truly, the Lords Supper is an Ordinance of such Obsignations as might cause you to Rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory; alas, that you should undervalue all that Joy! There is many an Hannah, that will not Eat of the Peace-Offering, because of their being able to say, I am of a sorrowful Spirit. Nay, but their Eating might prove a cure for their Sorrow. Many a devout Soul has Experienced those Vital Touches from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, in this Ordinance, which have caused them to cry out, as the Dying levian did, O my joyes, O my joyes, they are unspeakable! and with, Peter, Lord, it is Good to be here! and with Simeon, Lord, now Lettest thou thy Servant Depart in peace! It is a Dark ime with many a Soul, they are dismally harassed with Doubts and Pears and Astonishments; because of this Fault, They come not unto the Banqueting House where the Banner is Love! Oftentimes, The Comforter that should Relieve Souls, is far from them, because they will not here come near to the Redeemer that has bought their Souls.