celebration in relation to its overpowering nature appears confusing unless we are
aware of the historical context.^169 While the Church of England stipulated receiving
the Lord’s Supper three times a year, few congregants received it more than once a
year on Easter.^170 Puritans took St. Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthian 11:28 very
seriously and recognized the importance of proper preparation and self-examination.
In his teaching on the sacrament, Ambrose states, “Christ makes offer to come into
our hearts, and therefore we must open the gates.”^171 “Open the gates” refers to the
critical role that self-examination plays in preparation.^172 Two years later on May 7
Ambrose records his own experience while fencing the Table, “I administrated the
Sacrament of the Lords Supper; wherein I found much sweetness, and blessed
impressions of the Spirit of Christ, and Spiritual inlargements above my self, and a
return of Prayers, in that the Lord hedged his Sacrament, that some such came not in,
whom I desired to keep out. Hallelujah. Blessed be God.”^173 Most Puritans, at least
those of the moderate position of Ambrose, did not believe in the converting potential
of the Lord’s Supper.^174 But this was a meal of great power. Ambrose believed that
(^169) See for example Arnold Hunt, “Lord’s Supper Early Modern England,” 41 (^) - 5, 51-
57, 60-1, 74, 76, 82; Collinson, ”English Conventicle,” 255-8; Green, Print and
Protestantis 170 m, 289; and Spufford, World of Rural Dissenters, 88-91.
Arnold Hunt, “Lord’s Supper Early Modern England,” 41, 45. For the specific
practices of the Lord’s Supper among nonconformist ministers and laity in Lancashire
see Richardson, (^171) Ambrose, MediaPuritanism in North (1657), 418. - West England, 30-3, 48-9, 76-9.
(^172) The importance of self-examination produced numerous devotional manuals to
guide Puritans in preparing for the Lord’s Supper. See Green, Print and
Protestantism 173 , 290-1 and Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 206-18.
Ambrose, Media (1650), 78. For a broader description of “excluding ungodly
parishioners” from the Lord’s Supper see Richardson, Puritanism in North-West
England 174 , 48-9.
“converting ordinance” see Holifield, For a historical summary on the debate of whether or not tCovenant Sealed, esp. 110he Lord’s Supper was a -25.