Puritan Poetry

Before the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper

This day the Lord of Hosts invites
Unto a costly feast
I will take care, and will prepare
To be a welcome guest

But who and what am I, O Lord
Unholy and unfit
To come within Thy doors
Or at Thy table to sit

Awake repentance, faith, and love
Awake, oh, every grace
To meet your Lord with one accord
In His most holy place

Worldly distraction stay behind
Below the mount abide
Cause no disturbance in my mind
To make my Savior chide

Oh come, my Lord, the time draws nigh
That I am to receive
Stand with my pardon sealed by
Persuade me to believe

Let not my Jesus now be strange
Nor hide Himself from me
But cause Thy face to shine upon
The soul that longs for thee

Come, blessed Spirit, from above
My soul do Thou inspire
To approach the table of the Lord
With fullness of desire

Oh, let our entertainment now
Be so exceeding sweet
That we may long to come again
And at Thy altar meet

William Burkitt
1650-1703

Quoting The Puritans

"Think what it is to have a purified, cleansed soul; to be free from the slavery of the flesh and its concupiscence; to have the sensitive appetite in subjection unto reason, and reason illuminated and rectified by faith; to be alive to God, and disposed and enabled to love and serve him; to have access to him in prayer, with boldness and assurance to be heard; to have a sealed pardon of all our sins, and an interest in Christ, who will answer for them all and justify us; to be children of God, and heirs of heaven; to have peace of conscience, and the joyful hopes of endless joys; to have communion with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, and to have that Spirit dwelling in us, and working to our further holiness and joy; to have communion with the saints; and the help and comfort of all God's ordinances, and to be under his many precious promises, and under his protection and provision in his family, and to cast all our care upon him; to delight ourselves daily in the remembrance and renewed experiences of his love, and in our too little knowledge of him, and love to him, and in the knowledge of his Son, and of the mysteries of the gospel; to have all things work together for our good, and to be able with joy to welcome death, and to live as in heaven in the foresight of our everlasting happiness."

- Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, Chapter 1, pg 21