N00426:339
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
DEVOTIONS At the SUPPER of the LORD; With Some Touches upon the con… › Conclusion 2: Conclusion, 2
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.
Conclusion, 2
The Exercise of Graces ought to be the Endeavour of Christians in all of those Blessed Ordinances. The Opus Operatum of coming to the Ordinances of the Lord Jesus, will be of no Advantage to us, if we have not a Spiritual Communion with Him there; as the Phrase is False Latin, so 'tis none but a False Heart that will be contented with the Thing. In every Ordinance we should be able to say, as in 1 John 1. •. Truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, Now, 'tis by the Exercise of Graces, that we maintain that Fellowship; tis by making Returns of Reverence, Repentance, Obedience, to Him, that there bestows of His Influences upon our Souls. The Matter of our Duties in coming to the Ordinances of our Lord, will neither please Him, nor profit us, unless we Look also to the Manner of it; now the right manner of attending upon Ordinances is to Exercise all ⟨p. 140⟩manner of Graces in the doing of it. The Ordinance of our public Praying, is well used, when our Graces are so Exercised in it, that we may say, as in Psal. 25. 1. Unto thee O Lord, I do now Lift my Soul; our Souls are therein with sincere and Lively Affections to address Him that is Invisible. An Amen should accompany every stroke▪ The Ordinance of our public Hearing is well used, when our Graces are so Exercised in it, that we do say, as in Psal 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak: We are herein with a most humble Submission to place our selves under the word, as indeed the word of God: He did so that would not flip an Head, or a Text brought in a Sermon, without a pertinent Ejaculation thereupon. The Ordinance of our Public Singing, is to have our Graces Exercised in it, according to that in