The Order

of the

Celebration of the Lord's Supper

or

Holy Communion.

The Prayer after Sermon being ended, the Minister may give this Exhortation

Dearly beloved,-As we are now about to celebrate the Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ, let us consider how St Paul exhorteth all persons to examine themselves before they eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a truly penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy sacrament (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood; then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us; we are one with

Christ and Christ with us), so is the danger great if we receive the same unworthily. For then we are guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour; we eat and drink our own condemnation, not discerning the Lord's body.

Therefore, in the name of the eternal God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, whose minister I am, I warn all who are not of the number of the faithful, all who live in any sin against their knowledge or their conscience, charging them that they profane not this holy Table.

And yet this I pronounce, not to exclude any penitent person, how grievous soever his sins have been, but only such as continue in sin without repentance.

Examine your own consciences, therefore, to know whether you truly repent of your sins, and whether, trusting in God's mercy, and seeking your whole salvation in Jesus Christ, you are resolved to follow holiness, and to live in peace and charity with all men.

If you have this testimony in your hearts before God, I announce and declare that your sins are forgiven through the perfect merit of Jesus Christ our Lord; and I bid you, in His name, to His holy Table.

And although you feel that you have not perfect faith, and do not serve God with such zeal as you ought, but have daily to fight against the lusts of your flesh; yet if, by God's grace,

you are heartily sorry for these weaknesses, and earnestly desire to withstand all unbelief, and to keep all His commandments, be assured that your remaining sins and infirmities do not prevent you from being received of God in mercy, and so made worthy partakers of this heavenly food.

For we come not to this Supper as righteous in ourselves, but we come to seek our life in Christ, acknowledging that we lie in the midst of death. Let us, then, look upon this Sacrament as a remedy for those who are sick, and consider that the worthiness our Lord requireth of us is, that we be truly sorry for our sins, and find our joy and salvation in Him. United with Him who is holy, even our Lord Jesus Christ, we are accepted of the Father, and invited to partake of these HOLY THINGS WHICH ARE FOR

HOLY PERSONS.

Then the Minister gives out a hymn (35th Paraphrase).

The Holy Communion.

While the hymn is being sung, the Minister and Assistants bring in the elements and place them on the Communion Table [the alms are collected]; and the Communicants take their places at the Table.

Minister. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

Amen.

The Institution.

Minister. Beloved in the Lord, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are delivered by the holy apostle Paul (1 Cor. xi. 23-26): "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come."

The Address.

Dearly beloved,-You have heard in what manner the Lord hath instituted His Holy Supper, and how we are to

remember Him by it.

Taking and setting apart these elements, by the Word and prayer, to be sacramentally the body and blood of Christ, we must be fully persuaded in our hearts of the mystery of His holy incarnation-God manifest in the flesh; that He was chosen by the Father to be Mediator, sent by Him into the world, and assumed our

flesh and blood, as the second Adam, the Lord from heaven.

That having taken our nature, He endured for us the curse and punishment of sin, and thereby satisfied divine justice; that He was bound that we might be set free; was reviled that we might come to honour; was condemned that we might be acquitted at the judgmentseat of God; yea, that He suffered His blessed body to be nailed to the cross, and bowed His head in death, that we might be accepted of God and raised to life in Him;-and this one offering up of Himself once for all we are to commemorate and show forth in the breaking of bread, with a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same.

And as the Lord hath ordained that we are to eat of this bread and drink of this cup, to assure us of our union with Him, and that He giveth us His body and His blood to be our meat and our drink unto life eternal, we are not to doubt His goodness, but to be firmly persuaded that He accomplisheth spiritually in us all that He outwardly exhibits. For "the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"

And as by His death, resurrection, and ascension, He hath obtained for us the life

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