N00426:167
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.
The First is, an Antecedent Duty which is enjoined upon us, to Qualify us for the Discharge of the t'other.
The First is, an Antecedent Duty which is enjoyned upon us, to Qualifie us for the Discharge of the t'other.
Let a man examine himself] What Man is to do this? why, the Man that would be a Communicant at the Holy Table; the Man that pretends a Right and Claim unto the Supper of the Lord. The man is to Examine himself. A Metaphor is here taken from the Action of a Goldsmith upon a Metal. The Word of God is compared unto, A Fire; and in this Heavenly Fire we are to make a Trial of our selves: which no way excludes or hinders a further Trial to be made of us, by those that have in their Hands the Keys of that House, which we demand an entrance into.
The other is, a Consequent Duty, and it is propounded as likewise a Privilege to be enjoyed by those that upon Examination find themselves ready for it.
The other is, a Consequent Duty, and it is propounded as likewise a Priviledg to be enjoy'd by those that upon Examination find themselves ready for it.