N00426:220
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
PREPARATIONS for the SUPPER of the LORD With The MARKS of a Good St… › Application.
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.
You may do well to consider,
Secondly, That it is beside the daily custo•• ⟨p. 103⟩of common prudence to live without a thorough Self Examination. Men count it a rare and a fine Accomplishment for them to Travel, till they are acquainted with other men; they admire the Traveller, who Multorum •• res vidit & urbes. But what a pitiful thing is it for a man to be a all this while unacquainted himself; and for his own Soul to be a Terr•• Inc•gnita unto him! certainly 'tis of more concernment for us to understand our own state, than to see the Qualities or Attainments of our Neighbours. We will not thus put our selves off about our own more inferior Affairs! How solicitously do we consult our Doctors about the Prognostics, or the Diagnostics of our Bodily Diseases? And shall we be contentedly ignorant of what has been or shall be befalling our immortal Spirits? Many in the World, are so wicked as to request the Information of a Juggling, Lying Fortune-teller, what is hereafter to betide them; and shall we be less careful to be informed about ou• own eternal Circumstances? Profane ••• ziah sends unto an Heathen Oracle, to heat, whether he were to Live or to Die, and shall not we be as desirous to know whether Life or Death be like to be our portion throughout Never-ending Ages? To be defrauded of our Silver, is a vexation to us: but shall it not much more be so, for us to be defrauded of our of ⟨p. 104⟩Souls? We are not willing that Another should put a Trick upon us, and shall we do it upon our selves? Awake, ye Immortal Souls; O Awake; and Examine whether GOD be thy Father? whether CHRIST be thy Surety? and whether Heaven be thy Inheritance; yea or No? You say, I hope tis so! But man, art thou sure of it? what if thou shouldest immediately be arrested and summoned unto an Appearance before God the Judge of all? canst thou upon good ground say, I have made my peace with Him? Our pretence is that in