N00426:273
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.
We are told in Heb 11.6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God. Even, Even so, at the Lords Table, Without Faith it is impossible to find Christ. We are coming to a rich Banquet but it is Faith by which we are to feed upon it. We cannot see what is upon the Holy Table; much less can we Take it, Eat it, Drink it ⟨p. 121⟩in a due manner, if we have no Faith in our Souls; and we shall at best have but a Seal unto a Blank, in this Glorious Ordinance.
We are then particularly to Examine our selves,
Do I yield a full Assent and Consent, unto the whole Word of God?
Can we truly say with him, in Acts 24. 14. I believe all Things written in the Law and the Prophets. When we look upon all the Revelations which the Lord in the Scripture has made unto us, do we say, These are True and Righteous altogether? Yea, do we find our Hearts Closing therewithal; and can we accordingly profess as in Isa 39. 8. Good is the Word of the Lord? Of the Doctrines in the Bible, have we that Resentment, These are pure words, like Silver purified seven times? Of the Commandments, do we say, These Laws are Holy and Just and Good? Of the Promises do we say, These are great and precious Promises? Of the Threatenings, do we say, These Words are True from the Beginning, and these Righteous Judgments endure for ever? In fine, Have all the Oracles of God, that Reputation with us, in