confesses are acts of Worship to be constantly performed and also a commemoration of that upon which the efficacy of all our Prayers and Thanksgivings depends viz. the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross which is here likewise represented unto God as that which appearing always before him in the Heavens intercedes for us and makes all our Sacrifices acceptable to his Majesty And besides all this is the peculiar worship which the Church gives unto Christ as a grateful acknowledgment of his unparallel'd love in laying down his life for us to purchase the most inestimable benefits which he herein also assures unto us and bestows upon us Which is in part declared in these words upon which I have built my Discourse wherein we are told the end of this holy Sacrament is to show or publish the Lords Death that is show it with praise predicate extol and magnify as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports proclaim with our highest praises the loving kindness of the Lord in the glorious work of our Redemption through his most pretious blood But is more fully declared in the very words of the Institution when he said Do this in remembrance of me which show that our doing this is the peculiar honour we do our blessed Lord by making a publick commemoration that he took our nature upon him that he died for us that he obtained thereby a glorious Victory over all our Enemies that he purchased for himself and for us immortal glory and is now at Gods right hand in full power to bestow it upon us In memory of all these things saith our Saviour do this that when I am dead I may always live in your hearts and the knowledge of all these things may go down to all posterity and be commemorated from one Generation unto another for ever with thankful praises but especially the memory of my Death may be transmitted to them and be celebrated with continual acknowledgments For it was but fit that he should be publickly honoured in that which when he suffered exposed him to the greatest contempt And no doubt it was the design of God in appointing this Rite of holy worship to have his Death commemorated with Everlasting praises which for the present had brought him into the utmost disgrace To which purpose is that passage in an Easter Sermon ascribed to Caesarius Bishop of Arles because he intended to remove out of our sight the body which he had taken and to place it in Heaven it was necessary that in the same day he should consecrate for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood to the end that we should honour by the type that which had been once offered for the price of our Salvation In short this is the proper worship of God Incarnate and of our Crucified Saviour and therefore cannot be thought by wise considerers to have been intended to be left unto uncertainty whether we would perform it or no or when we would be pleased to perform it but to have been ordained as a daily Service which should be continually performed unto Christ Which in truth the continual necessities of the Church require it being the principal Act whereby we have Communion with Christ and partake of the Sacrifice he made on the Cross We are united unto him as Members of his Body in the other Sacrament of Baptism wherein also his holy Spirit is bestowed upon us as a principle of life and motion sutable to our Religion which directs us unto this Sacrament as the chief outward visible means of preserving our Union with Christ by having constant Communion with him and with his holy spirit Whose influences he here communicates unto us for our growth and increase in spiritual life and holiness and we therefore in reason should be desirous constantly to receive because we constantly want them and are too apt to start aside from him unto whom we ought to keep our selves stedfastly united by Faith and Love and uniform universal Obedience Put now all this together that it is an act of holy worship a worship altogether as peculiar to the Church as the Sacrifice on the Cross is peculiar to Christianity the only worship wherewith we honour our blessed Lord and Saviour a Commemoration nay a representation of that which makes all our Services acceptable unto God and the principal way and means whereby we have Communion with Christ from whom we stand in continual need of the Communication of his grace and we shall soon be satisfied that the plainest and most reasonable answer that can be given to those who ask how often did Christ intend we should eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup is this as often as we assemble publickly to worship God our Saviour For there is no worship peculiar to him but this nor is there any wherein we have such Communion with him as in this by which we do truly and indeed participate of the Sacrifice offered unto God upon the Cross as the Jews and the Gentiles did of their Sacrifices offered up on their Altars Thus the Apostle discourses at large in the Chapter before my Text 1 Cor. x. 16 17. c. where he takes it for an undeniable truth that Christians do communicate with God their Saviour in the merits of his Death by receiving the holy Eucharist And thence proves it to be unlawful for them to partake of the Gentile Sacrifices by proving that to eat of their Sacrifices was to be accessory to their Idolatries as the Jews by eating of such Sacrifices as were offered among them did partake of the Altar or did communicate with the Altar that is Communicate with God whose Altar that was upon which the Sacrifices were consumed Which evidently supposes that Christians also did in the Eucharist partake of a Sacrifice and were thereby joined to Christ who was that Sacrifice Which though carried by him into the most holy place of the Heavens there to be presented unto God is no less participated by Christians in this holy Feast of the Eucharist than the Jews did participate of their offerings of thanksgiving on the Altar I know very well it will be objected that by understanding our Saviours meaning in this Institution after this manner we prove a great deal too much and argue our publick service to be defective when it wants this peculiar worship of Christ which he ordained To which I shall only say this that if by discoursing thus we prove no more than is true our worship must be confessed to be but imperfect when the Holy Communion is wanting not so perfect at least as that of the ancient Christians was Which we had much better honestly acknowledge and beseech God to accept for Christs sake of such services as we do perform though in some regard and in comparison imperfect ones than by going about to defend untruths and establish false notions in Religion to make our selves more guilty before God I know also it will be urged
upon their people and earnestly beseech them to remember from whence they are faln and repent and do the first works When there was no need to use so many arguments as I have represented to prove this to be a Christian Duty nor so many motives to perswade men to the frequent practice of it but they ran forwardly to the holy Communion and were troubled above measure if they might not have the priviledge to receive it There were no quarrels then raised in those days against the manner of its Administration no disputes against the posture wherein it was received The Ministers of Christ had not their pretious time taken up in answering objections and satisfying doubts and scruples much less did they stand in need of the assistance of the Civil Power to inforce the practice of this duty Which all took to be a Commandment of our Lord and Master to commemorate his wonderful love and shew forth his death and passion for our sakes and therefore was no less chearfully and readily obeyed than if they had been invited to the most delitious Feast and promised to receive the greatest largesses in the World That it may be so again is the design of publishing these Papers in which I have represented those Truths which if they be weighed and laid to heart will save us this labour for the future For I have shown you a short way to be free from all fears and doubts about this matter which is not to leave your selves in uncertainty whether you shall go to Heaven or no but by making that sure to make your selves sit for the Holy Communion unto which you may go with an assured confidence if you have any good hope to be admitted into the Society of the blessed in Heaven If that be out of doubt you need not doubt of acceptance with Christ at his holy Table For which the best preparation is an holy Life or a serious Resolution of it for the future if hitherto we have lived otherwise What other Preparation had the Apostles for the partaking of the first Eucharist with our Blessed Lord and Saviour What other could they have when Christians received it every day If we have this therefore which is the main thing let us not stand upon little niceties nor waste that time in questioning and debating whether we be sit or no which ought to be spent in doing this and other Christian Duties whereby we shall be every day fitter to have Communion with our Saviour Remember that it is in actions of Piety as it is in those of Policy A Wisdom that is too scrupulous commonly doth nothing for fear of doing ill We read of Cities that have been taken while the Senators were gravely deliberating how to preserve them Even so is it here too over-much niceness about preparation makes men never to be prepared Therefore it is a fault when it hinders that duty which it keeps us still thinking how to perform Let us not confound our selves with words but understand the sense of things and then we shall not be perplexed as many have been in this business of Preparation Much less will any be affrighted from the holy Communion by being commanded to kneel when they receive it Which is no more than they do at their daily Prayers and therefore should the rather be inclined to do here when we pray and give thanks for the greatest blessings which we cannot do in too humble a manner We worship also and adore our Blessed Lord in this holy action and therefore one would think should be disposed of our selves without any injunction to fall down upon our Knees in token of the worship which we give Him Which is no Popish Ceremony being not so much as injoined by that Church in the act of receiving nor observed by the Pope himself who when he receives rather sits or leans a little forward upon his Throne but an ancient devout Posture of the best Christians which the people of the Roman Communion observe by long custom without bidding And therefore should much more be chearfully observed by us when we are enjoined to keep to the ancient reverence wherewith the Saints of God received the pledges of our Saviours love Vouchsafe I beseech you to give this small Book wherewith I present you a careful Reading and I doubt not it will free you not only from these but from all sorts of scruples if any of you be troubled with them which now hinder many people from the greatest duty and comfort too of our holy Religion Which if you would be perswaded to perform often the profit which would redound to you thereby would be as great as the Credit which it would do to our Church and Religion For no man can come seriously to the holy Communion but with some Resolutions of being better than he hath been which Resolutions are not presently broken but last for some time And therefore if there were not too long a distance between one Communion and another it is likely they might last for ever For before the force of the first Resolution were quite lost it would be backt and strengthned with a second and so being re-inforced from time to time while it remained in some power would become so firm that it would never be broken Make a trial I earnestly intreat you and suffer not this pains which I have taken to serve you to be thrown away without that good effect Which it will not be if you make the trial with the same seriousness wherewith I have written this Treatise In which you will meet with nothing to entertain the fancy not so much as with fine words and elegant composure but with good store I think of solid sense to inlighten the mind to inform the judgment to pierce the heart to stir up holy devotion nay to turn the will and produce godly Resolutions which if they be pursued and have their fruit unto holiness will in the end bring you to Eternal Life And that such Resolutions may be both produced and pursued I will here add one observation more for the removing the greatest of those hindrances to Holy Communion which lie in the way of those who pretend to Religion It is this That doubts and scruples being the weakness and sickness of the Soul they that readily entertain them and then suffer them to remain there quietly and peaceably are in a very ill case nay ought to look upon themselves as in a very dangerous condition For it is a sign all is naught within and that they deceive themselves with a vain opinion of their being Religious For they who are truly so groan under their doubts and scruples as under a sore Disease and therefore will not let them long dwell with them but seek with all speed to have satisfaction which when it is offered they receive with all readiness of mind and are not loth to be cured but rejoice that they are set at liberty to serve God
account be given why they did this as constantly as they assembled themselves for Divine Service but because they took that to be our Saviours meaning and intention when he said This do in remembrance of me Now there is nothing more apparent in the holy story than this that the Apostles and those whom they first converted made this a daily part of the offices of Religion For we read that when three thousand Souls joined themselves to the Church upon the day of Pentecost they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and breaking of Bread and Prayers Act. ii 42. Where breaking of Bread I proved before signifies their receiving the Eucharist and now observe that the words we translate continued stedfastly which in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify that they were constant and assiduous in this holy action For the word imports frequency as appears from other places particularly from Rom. xii 12. Where there is the same word in the Apostles Command for Prayer and we translate it continuing instant in Prayer And Coloss iv 2. it is joined with watching thereunto with thanksgiving From which Observations we gain this that as frequent and instant as they were in Prayer so frequent and instant they were in breaking of Bread for they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constant and unwearied in them both alike Now what this constancy or frequency was is expounded in the 46. verse where St. Luke saith they continued the same word again daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from house to house or at home as the word is better translated in the Margin of our Bibles Where we see that breaking of Bread at home in their own private Houses was as daily as their going to the Temple publickly and can be meant of nothing but their receiving the holy Communion every day For no man can so much as imagine a reason why breaking of Bread should be mentioned as their daily practice at home together with their resort to the Temple service abroad but to signify that they communicated among themselves in the service of the Eucharist or Holy Communion proper to the Faith of Christians as they communicated with the Jews in the service of the Temple common to all the Disciples of Moses You may impute this it is possible to the warmth of their zeal but remember withal that this zeal was grounded upon knowledge which they wanted not in those dayes And the knowledge they had of Christian Religion taught them that when our blessed Saviour commanded them to do this in remembrance of him naming no time when it should be done he meant it should be done always in their Christian Assemblies as the perfection and Crown of that Service for which they Assembled III. And indeed if we had not had these records of the practice of the Apostles and of the first Christians to explain the meaning of our Saviours Institution yet we should have had reason to think it was so in the Apostles days and therefore the meaning of our Saviour because this practice of receiving the holy Communion every Day continued in the Church for some Ages I cannot say in every place for we have no Records of that but rather of the contrary but in many places and in the most famous that are come to our notice and where the vigour of Christian Religion remained and where they were awakened by more than ordinary dangers to consider their obligation Thus we find St. Cyprian in his Exposition of the Lords Prayer takes that Petition give us this day our daily Bread to signify in the spiritual sense our desire to be fit to receive the Eucharist every day for the food of Salvation And in his Epistle to the Church of Thibaris speaking of a more grievous and fiercer fight of persecution hanging then over their heads he tell them therefore the Souldiers of Jesus Christ ought to fortify and arm themselves well against it with an uncorrupt Faith and robust Vertue considering that they did for this end quotidie calicem Christi sanguinis bibere c. every day drink the Cup of Christs blood that they might also be able to shed their own blood for Christs sake In which words he addresses his Discourse to the Laicks as well as the Clergy exhorting all the faithful unto the constancy of Martyrdom which Men Women and Children indured Nay long after this we learn from St. Hierom in his Apology to Pammachius for his Books against Jovinian and other places that this Custom continued at Rome and in Spain as well as in Africk where St. Austin tell us in his famous Epistle to Januarius that in his time some did quotidie communicare c. daily communicate of the body and blood of our Lord though others he acknowledges did it only on certain days St. Basil also begins his Epistle to Caesaria Patritia in this manner to communicate every day and partake of the holy body and blood of our Lord Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a commendable and profitable thing and then adds that they did communicate four times a Week in his Church on the Lords day Wednesday Friday and the Sabbath that is Saturday and on other dayes if the memory of any Martyr fell upon them Nay three or four Ages more after this such a sense of this Devotion remained that Walafridus Strabo in his Book of Ecclesiastical Affairs c. 20. sayes it seems to be very full of reason that Christians especially Clergymen should every day be imployed in divine Offices and when some very grievous spot of mind or body doth not hinder receive the Lords Bread and Blood without which we cannot live imitating the wholsome diligence of the primitive Church concerning whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles that they persevered in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and Prayers and a little after they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House c. quoting the words I named before All which and much more that might be said make it apparent that the Church in the best times and the best men in the Church in after Ages lookt upon this as an ordinary part of Christian Worship which Christ intended should be performed in his Church as oft as they Assembled for Divine Service And what other ground could they have for it but this that Christ having confined it to no time they thought in reason it should be taken for a duty he expected from them at all times when they came to worship him and make their thankful acknowledgments unto him IV. And truly we can gather no less from the very nature of this holy action which sufficiently shows it was our Saviours meaning that it should be a daily part of the Churches Service It being as all know a solemn Thanksgiving unto God and a Form of Prayer and Petitioning which every one
verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper 5. Of this therefore you cannot be ignorant and if you believe it and expect it understanding also what your eating and drinking of that Bread and Wine means and for what end you come to the holy Table what can there remain to be done to make you know certainly whether you may partake thereof safely nay profitably or no but only the last thing I mentioned 6. Whether you intend to do there what the Lord Commands and to receive those benefits which he there imparts Not eating and drinking that is as at a common Table to satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst not receiving with the same common spirit and the same unattentiveness wherewith you receive other food but composing your self seriously as at the Lords Table in a holy place where he is present thankfully to Commemorate his Death to partake of that Sacrifice which he offered for us on the Cross to give up your selves Souls and Bodies unto him and to thank him that you have the honour to be his Servants and that he hath purchased you at so dear a rate as with the price of his own most pretious blood to implore the continuance of his gracious and ready help upon all occasions c. If I say with this Spirit and for these and such like ends you approach to this holy Communion you need not have the least fear of being rejected as unworthy Guests but ought to be confident that you shall be welcome to that holy Feast as those that are faithful unto Christ For wanting none of these conditions which are all that can be thought requisite you want nothing to make you fit and prepared to have Communion with Christ in the merits of his Death which is there commemorated Yes will some perhaps further object there may be something still wanting For how came the Corinthians to be so severely punished as we read they were for their unworthy receiving the Communion if these things be sufficient to make men meet partakers of it Do you not think that they had all the forementioned qualifications and yet they did eat and drink their own Damnation I answer No it is most manifest from the very words which mention their Damnation that they were not thus prepared 1. For first they proceeding to partake of these Holy Mysteries at the end of their Feasts of Charity which was a common meal where they eat and drank all together for the maintaining Brotherly kindness among them they so perfectly confounded and blended these two the Holy Feast on Christs Sacrifice and the common Feast on ordinary food one with the other that they made not the least distinction but did eat this holy Bread and drink this holy Wine as they did common meat and liquors not discerning the Lords Body as you read v. 29. of this Chapter This was one horrid sin which they committed not to consider what they were doing for they went to the Lord's Table as if it had been still their own Table and did not distinguish between this Sacred and their ordinary food 2. One cause of which undiscerning spirit which would not let them see the difference was their riot and drunkenness at that Feast of Charity which ought to have been only a sober refreshment They revelled upon that good chear which should only have filled their hearts with love to God the Giver of all good things and to their Christian Brethren and thereby have prepared them to be partakers of a diviner food which followed the other This was another fearful sin of which you read v. 21. where the Apostle saith that as some were hungry at that Feast of Love and Friendship so others were drunken 3. Which leads me to take notice of a third Crime that the rich despised the poor and that in so vile a manner as not to suffer them to feast with them but to separate from them and to eat and drink by themselves and also to eat and drink up all the provision leaving the poor little or nothing For in eating viz. at the Feast of Charity every one taketh before his own Supper and so it came to pass that one was hungry and another drunken 4. Which suggest this further crime consequent upon the former that they turned a common Feast into a private the rich looking upon what they had brought to it as their own Whereas in truth they had no longer any propriety therein now that they were come together into one and the same place ver 20. Where there ought to have been no difference made between one man and another nor any part of the provision lookt upon as continuing any mans own proper food after it was brought thither for the entertainment of all 5. And that was another aggravation of their guilt that they committed all these crimes in that holy place where they assembled for the most holy action of their Religion to commemorate the Death of Christ ver 22. What have ye not Houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God c. Which question supposeth that they might in their own private Houses have eaten their own Supper alone by themselves or with whom it pleased them to invite but in the House of God and in his divine presence it was intolerable because there they met upon no private but a publick account to thank God for his love in Christ and to testify their mutual love to each other 6. Which they were so far from doing that they did the quite contrary For true love delights to keep others in countenance but they put such to the blush as were in a poor and mean condition and could bring nothing to the common Table but themselves Who were by the Laws of the Feast and by the rules of Charity to have feasted at the charge of the rich and with as much freedom and confidence as if they had brought the provision themselves but were lookt upon with such scorn that it made them sneak like wretched Beggars that were to be content with the scraps which the rich would leave them That 's the meaning of the last words of that Exprobration ver 22. and shame them that have not that is are not able to bring any thing to eat and drink at the Feast of Charity These were the grievous scandals committed in that Church some of them in the very act of holy Communion and all of them in their preparation to it and in the holy place where they were assembled to worship Christ with mutual affection one to another Which therefore brought down heavy judgments upon them as you read ver 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment as the margin of the Bible hath it to himself not discerning the Lords body Which that it is spoken of the Church of Corinth the next words shew which inform us also what this judgment