Preparing for the Lord's Supper
Preparing for the Lord’s Supper presents practical instruction from two Puritans. William Bradshaw’s contribution explains the dangers of taking Communion unworthily and how to prevent it. His work concludes with a set of questions to aid Christians in self-examination as they prepare for the Lord’s Supper. Bradshaw’s piece is supplemented with Arthur Hildersham’s thorough catechetical tool for understanding and properly partaking of the sacred meal. These treatises exemplify what Puritan ministers taught to common people in ordinary, obscure towns and villages as they prepared to take the Lord’s Supper. They are a similar challenge to us today to prepare ourselves thoughtfully and prayerfully before coming to the Lord’s Table. In the broadest sense, they supply a helpful guide for proving our faith through self-examination. As Bradshaw says, “The duty of trying and examining a man’s self is of use to the best of Christians.”
Authors and Editor
William Bradshaw (1570–1618) graduated from Cambridge University and quickly became a target for anti-Puritan authorities within the Church of England. He spent most of his ministry as a household chaplain for Alexander and Katharine Rediche. He preached regularly at the local church of Stapenhill and was also engaged with Hildersham and others in the preaching exercises at Burton-upon-Trent and Ashby. In addition to his devotional writings, Bradshaw published controversial works on justification, Puritanism, episcopacy, separatism, and baptism. He died in London in 1618 at age forty-eight.
Arthur Hildersham (1563–1632) completed his studies at Cambridge University and was invited to minister at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, in 1587. He was a ceremonial nonconformist and one of the main organizers of the Puritan Millenary Petition, presented to King James I in 1603. Hildersham suffered greatly for his Puritan convictions, being dismissed from preaching, excommunicated, heavily fined, and even sent to prison. In 1625, on the death of King James I, Hildersham was relicensed as a minister and was enabled to preach again in Ashby. He died on Sunday, March 4, 1632, and was buried two days later in the chancel of St. Helen’s Church, Ashby.
LESLEY A. ROWE is an associate fellow in the history department of the University of Warwick. She has written several journal and magazine articles and is the author of The Life and Times of
Arthur Hildersham: Prince among Puritans.
