blessed it and brake it and gave to the Disciples saying take eat this is my body And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of this for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Here it is plain the Sacrament is instituted by our Saviour and delivered to his Disciples with a command to eat and drink of it and you meet with the very same words Mark 14.22 23 24. In S. Luke the matter is something plainer where it is not only instituted by our Saviour as the others relate it but a command given for their doing it likewise after his death in remembrance of him Luk. 22.19 And he took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me And that it was not a command that injoyned the doing of this at that time only S. Paul shews clearly in 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25 26. where it is observable that he speaks of it as a thing which our Lord charged him also with as well as the other Apostles For I have received that of the Lord which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus in the same night that 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 shew the Lords death till he come I beseech men to consider what is said in all these places and then to say if any thing can be plainer if there ever was or could be a more plain command than this is do this in remembrance of me if this be not an express command never any was such and if we may disobey this at our pleasure I know not why we may not disobey all others as well 2. It is not only a command a positive institution that relies only upon the will and authority of Christ commanding it but upon a very great and good reason and is recommended upon an argument that shews it to be eternally reasonable and becoming Not only do this as S. Matthew and S. Mark speak but do this in remembrance of me as S. Luke and S. Paul relate the matter which the latter repeats again as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew the Lords death till he come These words make it to relie upon a reason that is both becoming and obliging also even until the final coming of our Lord to Judgment for nothing can be more reasonable and fit in it self than to keep up in the Christian Church the solemn and most grateful remembrance of Christs death and they that can think otherwise are unworthy to share in the benefits of it Besides the instituting of it to this end makes it perpetually obliging also I mean to the end of the world and as long as there shall be a Christian Church in it for so long it will be fit to keep up the memory of it and this reason will not only hold but improve and grow stronger in every succeeding age and period of the world in which the sense and memory of it will be in danger to expire and wear off so that every such age will rather have greater than lesser reason to keep up this solemn commemoration of it 3. To these intimations I may add one thing very considerable to our purpose from the practice of the Apostle and the circumstances of his discourse in this Chapter a learned Man hath taken notice of them before me so that I shall but just name them First that the Apostle takes so much pains to instruct the Corinthians in the right way of Communicating in the Holy Sacrament and to reform the profanation of it that they were guilty of Now can any man reasonably think that he would have done this if he had not looked upon it as a necessary duty tied upon Christians by Christs own command and institution Certainly no he that gives direction how to do a duty supposeth the obligation and necessity of it or else he speaks to little purpose And as that great Man speaks can any man think the way and manner of doing an action to be a duty and yet that action it self no duty this is not supposable And we may be sure the Apostle would never have spent so great a part of this Chapter in directing how to eat and drink how to order and prepare themselves for it but that he looked on it as a duty necessarily incumbent on them nor be so impertinent as to concern and busie himself in directing the circumstances of an action which was not necessary to be done but arbitrary and at their pleasure whether to do it or no. The second circumstance is what I observed before that he did this even when the Corinthians run a very great hazard and incurred a grand guilt by their profanation of this service and coming so unworthily to it Certainly had the Apostle looked upon this as any thing less than a necessary duty he would have gone another way to work with them he would have discoursed to them at another rate and have told them it were much the better and safer way to stay away from the Sacrament than incur so great guilt and punishment by coming so unworthily this would have been the advice that a great many Men now according to their principles would have given to them and indeed do give themselves and others too But it is evident the Apostle speaks not one word to this purpose nor knew of any warrant he had to do so he had no authority to grant them any indulgence or licence to stay away though they were apt to come so very unfitly He was to recommend it as a necessary duty and to press the serious and becoming observation of it but he had received no warrant from the Lord to dispense with that observation he would have them to look upon the Sacrament as a necessary standing service of their Religion to count it their duty to eat and drink and his province was only to direct them how they might do it acceptably and not to their condemnation These Considerations are sufficient to convince all Christians that this is a plain necessary indispensable duty instituted and intended by our Lord to be a standing service in his Church 'till his second coming to judge the world And its being so becomes one very good argument to our present purpose and a good foundation to superstruct the truth of our observation upon for that which is necessary must be done and the
blood of the Lord. But whatever that expression may seem to imply it doth really signifie no more than the expression in this Text that I am all this while considering it means only this in plain English that such persons are guilty of a great disrespect and dishonour to the body and blood of Christ of which the Bread and Wine in the Holy Sacrament are the representatives and Symbols for a profanation of these reflects upon him whom they represent and was ever interpreted and thought to do so The sense is well expressed in this Text not discerning the Lords body i. e. not considering what a sacred and venerable thing they represent and signifie and therefore using them with as little respect or religious regard as men do common bread and wine in their own houses This I have shewed the Corinthians did and something worse and the truth is the guilt of such a gross profanation cannot well be represented in too terrible a phrase So that still for any thing either said in this Text or that can reasonably be deduced from the phrase of it my argument stands firm viz. that there is no greater punishment threatned to a failure in this than may be dreaded upon the like failure in other services of our Religion Damnation signifies here only divine judgment and punishment at large and there is no reason to restrain it only to that tremendous punishment in hell Yea there is that plain in the context which is evidently against that sense of it for when the Apostle had spoken of damnation here he presently instanceth in temporal inflictions being sick and weak and falling asleep all which he not only calls being chastened in this world but being chastened that they should not be condemned with the world And then consonantly to this the eating and drinking this damnation to a mans self signifieth no more than exposing a mans self and becoming obnoxious to these punishments and chastenings of the Lord. These things I think are plain sufficient to make out the truth of my argument and in consequence of that to shew how much wide of the Apostles meaning here those men argue that talk so dreadfully of everlasting damnation being eminently due to every failure in mens receiving the Holy Sacrament and that they stand accountable to God for a greater sin and an higher profanation of Religion in this then they do by their miscarriages in other duties and services of it SECT III. WEll but because it may yet be objected against the purpose of this argument that whatever the minute and prime signification be yet eating and drinking unworthily cannot but be accounted a great sin highly affrontive to the body and blood of our Lord and therefore a high provocation of God and a fault that he may most justly punish with eternal damnation Therefore I proceed to the second thing that I proposed on this argument that whatever the meaning of damnation be in this place yet men do not deal fairly in urging it against coming to the Holy Sacrament or staying from it upon that reason And this I shall endeavour to make good upon these two reasons amongst others First because if it should mean eternal damnation yet it is not threatned to every degree of eating and drinking unworthily but only to that gross and monstrous doing this that the Corinthians were guilty of And Secondly because this damnation doth not restrain men from other sins which they must acknowledge to be as damning as this 1. The first of these I need but just name because I have insisted upon it largely already here I shall only add two short Considerations further relative to this matter First That it is not fair dealing with Scripture to extend the signification of it beyond the proper intendment and meaning or to take a liberty of frighting people with the danger of eating and drinking unworthily upon every failure when the Apostle used that phrase only in the case of such a prodigious profanation of the Sacrament as the Corinthians were now guilty of I have already said their miscarriage might well be counted eating and drinking unworthily indeed but therefore to infer that every failure to eat and drink so reverently so fitly and so becomingly as men should is presently eating and drinking unworthily in proportion to them is putting our own sense upon Scripture and judging the things of Religion by our own measures only And Secondly I add that it is unreasonable as well as uncharitable to affright men with danger of the same punishment when they are far enough from the same sin It is Gods prerogative to apportion punishments unto sins and not ours and as much our duty as it is our interest to make a difference there where it is plain the divine mercy doth It is greatly for our comfort and the ease of our guilty minds that we have a God to serve who transacts with us by the measures of a great mercy and an infinite goodness that weighs us not as I observed before by grains and scruples but rates our services and our lives too by the general frame and bent of them and provided we be industrious and honest in the main and sincerely endeavour to do our best will accept them and not be extream and rigorous to mark every thing that is done amiss or every little imperfection that may attend them This is the great comfort and support of our hopes and to rob us of this is certainly a mighty injury and disservice to us and yet this in their proportion they do that alarm and frighten men with danger of damnation upon every little failure in this matter though never so short of that to which it is only threatned I have shewed you it is not an easie thing for any Christian to be guilty of this sin related to in the Text and I verily believe it and therefore why they that are really so far from it yea who tremble at the very thoughts of it should be so amused and perplexed with apprehensions and fears of the punishments due to it I know not I am sure in all other cases men desire we should bend the bough rather the other way and think themselves severely judged and hardly dealt with if we do not and therefore to teach men to believe and fear so in this is to make them sad whom the Lord hath not made sad and to bring an evil report upon the divine goodness yea justice too SECT IV. THe second thing upon which I charge men with unreasonableness in urging the danger of damnation in coming to the Holy Sacrament and pretending to stay from the one upon a fear of the other is this because this fear of damnation doth not restrain them from other sins which they must confess are as damning as this can be There are other sins in which men incur the danger of eternal damnation as really as they can be thought to do in failing to Communicate so
whose immediate service Religion is will not only offer the Sacrifice of Fools but of somthing worse not only defeat the end and acceptance of their worship but turn it into guilt and an argument against them 2. It is not only a service of Religion but the highest and most solemn service of it so it hath been alwaies accounted in the Christian Church and for that reason she hath used to consummate and end all others with it it is her most august and Solemn Sacrifice the great and chief rite of Prayer and her most devout and solemn Eucharist and expression of praise And let me add if it may signifie any thing with this Generation it is the only band and testimony of our full communion with the Christian Church our Baptism admits us into the Church gives us a right to all the priviledges and blessings of it and our going to Church and ingaging into the standing Services of Religion may procure us the Name of Christians and cause the World to repute and take us for such but it is this Holy Sacrament that makes us to be in full Communion with Christs Church It is a vain thing for Men to say they are no Papists no Sectaries c. they are Protestants of the Church of England when they do not communicate in Sacraments with her they may be of any Church or of no Church for all they do without this and for any thing I know to the contrary they do as actually cut off themselves from the communion of the Church by the neglect of the Holy Sacrament where they may have it as they can do so by Heresie Apostacy schism or can be cut off by the highest censures of the Church herself This is a thing that ought to stick fast upon some Mens thoughts for if there be no Salvation out of the Church of Christ and those be not in this Church that do not join in her communion and those do not do this who do not communicate in her Sacraments then some Mens conditions must be very hazardous and then we may assert the necessity as well as duty of the Holy Sacraments in order to Mens Salvation the necessity I mean of them where they may be had Nay I know not why I may not say more viz. that the neglect of this Holy Sacrament doth as really forfeit Church membership as the want of Baptism doth hinder it and those that live and dye amongst us without receiving the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper are no more true members of our Church than they that dye unbaptised those that have been admitted into the Church and come not up to the terms of its communion may forfeit that membership as truly as they who were never admitted into it cannot pretend to it For though Men may enter their names into a society yet unless they submit to the Laws and usages of it they will neither be accounted members of it nor suffered to injoy the immunities and priviledges thereof 3. I add it not only is and hath ever been accounted the highest service of the Church but that in which we are thought to have a nearer access unto and a more intimate communion with God than in others I do not urge its being so lively and visible a representation of that which is the most affecting meditation in Christian Religion and that upon this reason the Apostle tells the Galatians that Christ had been set forth before their Eyes and Crucified among them Gall. 3.1 though that alone were argument enough to ingage Men to all reverence in it But I argue it upon another reason namely that herein we are admitted to the Table of the Lord where we not only feed with him but feed upon him we eat his Flesh and drink his Blood we partake of him and are incorporated into him we are made one with him and he with us we dwell in him and he in us as our Church speaks I do not here undertake the dispute about Transubstantiation that hard word and that worser thing which the Church of Rome hath taken upon her to teach as an article of necessary faith contrary to the nature of a Sacarament to the plain sence of Scripture to the doctrine and beliefe of the Primitive Church and Fathers of it and to the common sence and reason of all Mankind It is a doctrine that came forth with the doctrine of their infallibility and methinks 't was very fit those two monsters should be born together to let the World see how Gigantick the faith of a Romanist is and I will say those that can believe the infallibility of their Popes after so many instances of their having erred and contradicted one another may believe the doctrine of transubstantiation contrary to all and the plainest evidences of things that it is possible for Mankind to have But I am not for admitting dispute or controversie into this discourse and therefore let that Doctrine pass as a thing more monstrous and abhorrent to humane reason than any that is to be met with even in the Pagan Poetick Theology And yet notwithstanding all this I add and still assert that we do as truly and to all real effects partake of Christ in the Holy Sacrament as if we did literally eat his Flesh and drink his Blood our advantage is as real and true by the one as it could be by the other The Church of England is for a real presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament but it is that real presence which the Primitive Church and good Fathers of it were for and meant when they spake to that purpose viz. a real Spiritual presence a conferring all the great effects and benefits of his Body and Blood as truly as if they themselves were actually present there A Spiritual presence is as real a presence as a Bodily and the effects and benefits of Christs Body and Blood are real things too So that the Body and Blood of Christ may be said to be really and truly there where all the effects and Blessings of them are really bestowed and the Church of England doth truly say that they are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper when all the real benefits and effects of them are taken and received by them This I am pretty well assured is all that the Primitive Church and Fathers meant by the real presence and this is sufficient both for our faith and comfort too and while we are satisfied and assured of this we neither need more nor are obliged to puzle our selves about any further questions Now this surely is such an argument and obligation to reverence and devotion in this service as can never miss effect upon them that entertain the thoughts of it For if we do thus discern the Lords Body and take the Bread and Wine in the Holy Sacrament not only to be the signs and symbols of our Lord's Body and Blood but in a Sacramental
the Holy Sacrament which their minds may have entertained upon the reason of them CHAP. II. Having in the former Chapter cleared the true sense of these words I proceed in this to the second general that I proposed to draw some general Conclusions from them which may be proper to be considered in the present case and to which I shall reduce as to so many heads what I intend further to say in this discourse the Collections that I purpose are these three that follow 1. That eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this place is a thing hardly to be committed by Christians in this age 2. The supposed danger of eating and drinking unworthily is not a sufficient reason for Men to abstain from the Holy Sacrament upon 3. The true purpose of this place is to deter Men from irreverence and rudeness in eating and drinking in the Holy Sacrament and ingage them to that devotion and reverence that becomes them that do discern the Lords body These are three material Collections proper to be considered by all scrupulous persons in this case and therefore I shall endeavour to the utmost of my power and skill to discourse them with that plainness and evidence that they require and deserve I begin with the first eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this Text is hardly to be committed by Christians in this age In order to the clearing the truth of this Collection it will concern me to do these following things 1. Shew what this eating and drinking unworthily was and wherein this sin of these Corinthians did consist 2. Consider the Circumstances that all Christians now are in which set them almost above the possibility of being guilty of it 3. I shall inquire what can be counted eating and drinking unworthily in proportion to this 4. And consider in the last place whether these also be not almost incompetent to Christians especially to any that are concerned in our present case SECT I. IN order to my discharging the first thing undertaken I shall need but to repeat a little of what I said in the explication of this Text and this phrase in it Not discerning the Lords body is certainly the Key to the meaning of eating and drinking unworthily and by considering the one we may come to the understanding of the other and by examining how the case stood with these Corinthians we may easily understand both By their not discerning the Lords body the Apostle means their not considering that this was an immediate service of Religion and that the morsel of bread which they did eat and glass of wine that they did drink were Sacramentally the very body and blood of Christ they put no difference between these sacred Symbolls of our Lords body and blood and common food and drink nor shewed greater reverence in eating and drinking the one than doing so to the other they ate in Gods House just as they did in their own and made no distinction between this and a common meal Yea and which is something worse yet they did this not only thus irreverently but in intemperance and downright drunkenness for so he tells them vers 21. One is hungry and another is drunk How this monstrous disorder happen'd among them hath been hinted already and may more fully now by giving a short account of the ancient practice of the Church in this matter Now that briefly stood thus the Holy Sacrament was usually prefaced unto by a publick feast of Charity which is called in antiquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love-Feast to which you have frequent reference in the New Testament to this Feast every one contributed and brought some portion according to his ability of which all feasted lovingly together reserving some portion for the Holy Sacrament which they always celebrated in the close of this Feast Now this grand profanation of this Holy Service happen'd thus instead of feeding lovingly all together of what was thus brought by all each one fed singly upon his own portion by which it came to pass not only that the poor had little or nothing to eat but the rich had too much which brought them to excess and even to plain drunkenness one is hungry and another drunk in which sad condition approaching to the Table of the Lord they were very unfit to consider the sacredness of it and very unlike to pay that reverence that was due to it That both these things contributed to their not discerning the Lords body and in consequence of that eating and drinking unworthily we may fully satisfie our selves by considering the Apostles dealing with them in the latter part of this Chapter where he falls upon this Argument For because they were so grosly ignorant in the reason and design of the Holy Sacrament he explains that fully to them from Verse 22d to the 27th acquainting them with the Author reason and purpose of this institution that it was an immediate service of Religion instituted by Christ himself just before his suffering and instituted to no meaner a purpose than to be a solemn rite of commemorating his death which should be used in his Church till his coming again to judgment For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus in 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 shew the Lords death till he come And because through their scandalous intemperance preceding they so horribly profaned this service therefore he shews them both the sin and great danger of it and presseth them to a serious care to reform it as you may see in the 27 28 29 and 30th Verses Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examin himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of that cup. For he this eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged In which words it is plain he refers to this scandalous abuse of theirs aggravating both the guilt and danger of it in words as high and dreadful as could well be thought on that thereby he might bring them to a dread of it and to the use of those means which he prescribes in order to the reforming of it This in short was the eating and drinking unworthily that the Apostle so sharply taxeth and God
forward to make any thing eating and drinking unworthily which I have reason to believe the Apostle did not intend so I will not be hasty in agreeing with them that do unless I be very well satisfied that the Analogy is true and that the circumstances in both cases be the same 2. Another thing that I would have observed here is this that nothing can be eating and drinking unworthily in analogy to what the Apostle means here but that which argueth or infers as great an irreverence to this service and as gross a profanation of it as this of the Corinthians made them guilty of Their eating and drinking unworthily consisted in this and therefore if men make any thing else to be eating and drinking unworthily like them they must prove the same or as great irreverence and profanation to be in it If they can find any other thing which equally hinders men from discerning the Lords body or yielding any more respect to the sacred Symbols of it than the Corinthians did then I will yield that that may be allowed to come within the guilt of eating and drinking unworthily that the Apostle here refers to This is that Key that lets us into the Apostles meaning in this Text and opens to us his sense of eating and drinking unworthily and therefore if men will use it to any other things they must see that the wards exactly agree or else it will do no more service to them in this cause than a common Key will do towards the opening a Lock which it never was fitted for The Corinthians did eat and drink unworthily because they did not discern the Lords body and therefore those that do eat and drink unworthily like them must as little discern the Lords body as they did This is the rule that we must proceed by in this case if we will conclude rightly concerning any other thing it must be something that sets men as far from discerning the Lords body and renders them as unfit or unable to shew any becoming respect to it as this disorder of the Corinthians did them otherwise it is not eating and drinking unworthily in proportion to them in this the Analogy must truly hold or else all our deductions will miserably fail SECT IV. HItherto we have been smoothing the way and so far I dare say we have gone upon sure ground but now we must advance to a more uncertain and slippery path and to that in which the difficulty pincheth most 3. And that is the third thing proposed viz. to inquire what can according to this rule of proportion be admitted to be eating and drinking unworthily as these Corinthians did what it is that can hinder us from discerning the Lords body and paying that reverence and respect to it in the Holy Sacrament that men ought to pay as that disorder and intemperance of these persons did them This is the main question and the resolution of it will set us pretty well to rights in this difficulty There are but two things that after my best considering of this question I dare pitch upon to bring into any comparison with this unworthiness of the Corinthians and they are these gross ignorance and wilful resolved impenitence I name these two because I think I can make the correspondence to hold and I name no more because I cannot see that Analogy to hold in any others Upon the reason of one of these men cannot and upon the other they will not discern the Lords body and therefore in both cases are as far from any due respect and reverence to it as the Corinthians were I shall consider them distinctly and examin them upon this reason of not discerning the Lords body 1. Gross ignorance I mean it in the great principles of Christian Religion especially in that great mystery of our redemption by Jesus Christ when men understand little or nothing of Christs coming into the world or of the reasons of it or that bitter suffering and death that he underwent for us When they know not what the reason of this institution was or what our Lord would have signified in it If any adult Christian be thus grosly ignorant and being so communicate in this service I do not know how to excuse him from eating and drinking unworthily as the Corinthians did for it is plain in this case he cannot discern the Lords body He will look upon the Elements but as common Bread and Wine he will not consider that they are the Symbols of Christs body and blood and that the breaking of the one is to signifie the breaking of Christs body on the Cross and the pouring out of the other the shedding of his blood for our redemption and that our communicating in these is communicating in the blessed effects and benefits of both He doth not know that by this solemn rite of Religion he is to commemorate with gratitude and transport the amazing love of his dying Lord and that in this he may expect those communications of divine grace that shall strengthen and refresh his soul as really and truly as his body is by the Bread and Wine And being thus profoundly ignorant in these things such a man will eat that morsel of Bread and drink that Wine but just as these Corinthians and their fellow Grecians used to do the like in the end of their feasts as a Concluding Morsel and as a Grace Cup in token of that love which was amongst the ghosts for so they used always to end these their conventions And just like them he will be far enough from apprehending any thing of Religion and Mystery to be in it and consequently to that far enough from that devotion and reverence that becomes every Communicant in this service This was the reason why converts in the ancient times of the Church were usually kept in the rank of Catechumens for some time and competently instructed in the principles of Christian Religion before they were admitted to full Communion and to this service and this is the method that the Church of England proceeds in to this day to have all baptized persons Catechised and competently instructed in their Religion and thereupon Confirmed before she admit them to the Lords Table And by the way I would to God that this were so carefully kept up and practised as it should be and then we should have but little reason to fear any mens such gross ignorance or communicating unworthily upon the reason thereof 2. The other thing that we may allow to be the cause of eating and drinking unworthily in proportion to this of the Corinthians is resolved wilful impenitence In this case it is as plain the Analogy doth hold or indeed exceed rather and the not discerning the Lords body is alike in both cases a resolute impenitent wretch doth as little discern the Lords body as the Corinthians did and besides that doth despight to it instead of shewing forth the Lords death he comes to avow it instead of
'till they have a little better strengthened their good resolutions and tempers than to venture presently upon that service which they may abuse and profane by being false to the resolutions they take up and the promises which they make in it This is the case and to the scruple taken up upon it I return these three things in answer and satisfaction to it 1. That every man ought indeed to be true to his vows and promises as near as he can and when he hath taken up such a resolution and given his faith to God he ought to perform it and to do his utmost to stand to it It is certainly a dreadful fault to play fast and loose with God almighty to promise and never take any due care to perform what a man doth promise there is not a sadder instance of a loose careless trifling spirit than to be prodigal in our promises and niggardly in our payments of them to be forward upon all occasions to promise great things to God what reformed what good men we will become and be but yet to be regardless and careless afterwards whether we be such or not and never to apply our selves in earnest to make good what we have promised and to put our good purposes in execution 2. But yet Secondly a mans doing thus afterwards doth not make his Communicating in the Holy Sacrament to be eating and drinking unworthily in any proportion to what is intended in this Text. His having received the Holy Sacrament may aggravate the guilt of his after failure but that subsequent failure doth not so affect his precedent communicating as to render it eating and drinking thus unworthily if the purpose of the mind be then serious and sincere his receiving the Holy Sacrament is far enough from being unworthy or faulty and as I said his failing afterwards doth not affect it all But then do I consider what I say can that purpose of mind be sincere and serious which afterwards is not put in execution doth not a mans failing afterwards to make it good shew that he was perfidious and an hypocrite in making of it why no I say it doth not a man may be in earnest and sincere in making a promise and taking up a resolution and yet possibly fail of making it good afterwards his failing afterwards is no argument that he was not in earnest when he made it it is argument indeed of his carelesness and irresolution but it may arise from a thousand reasons besides his falsehood or hypocrisie when he made it Many a man in the time of affliction and sickness for example makes fair promises to God what he will be and what he will do if God please to spare him and this I doubt not really and in earnest and with a sincere purpose of mind at that time to be or to do as he promiseth and yet afterwards that sense of things may wear of and that purpose of mind abate and that specious promise may come finally to nothing but this is not because the man was not then really in earnest but because afterwards he is careless and trifling and easily led away with temptations that interfere with his former promise and purpose of mind And so I doubt not it may be and too often is with men when they come to the Holy Sacrament their pious purposes for that time may be sincere and in earnest and yet afterwards wear off and come to nothing 3. And therefore Thirdly I affirm a man in this case doth come with one great qualification which should attend his communicating in the Sacrament i. e. a purpose of repentance and reformation and which will most certainly secure him against all possibility of eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this Text or any like it So that instead of staying away for fear that he should change his mind afterwards he ought I think the rather to come that he may not do so the great reason certainly lies on this side seeing there is not any better course that he can at present take to fasten his good purpose and to secure it of effect than this for by this means he will make his promise more solemn and affecting upon himself cause it to stick the deeper and closer upon his own thoughts and receive that grace most infallibly from God which if he be faithful and true unto his pious resolution will continue and he may be enabled to act according to the intention of it SECT VI. 4. I Add now a fourth thing worthy to be considered in order to our satisfaction in this inquiry viz. that whatever the sense of eating and drinking unworthily is in this Text or whatever men can think to be like it discerning the Lords body will secure them from it What discerning the Lords body means I have shewed already and I need repeat very little of it again it means these two things First putting a difference between the consecrated Elements and common Bread and Wine the looking upon the Holy Sacrament as an immediate duty and service of Religion and consequently performing it with that devotion and seriousness that reverence and respect that men use to shew in other services of Religion the want of this was the cause that made the Corinthians to eat unworthily and provoked God to punish them with sundry diseases and death as he afterwards tells them they did not make any difference between this and a common meal in their own Houses they did not take it to be any peculiar act of Religion they came intemperate and drunk to the Lords Table and therefore to be sure were far enough from that reverence and devotion that so sacred a service ought to have been performed with Secondly discerning the Lords body means something more not only to look upon this Holy Sacrament as a solemn and immediate act of Religion but as the Sacrament and immediate representation of Christs body i. e. his body broken and slain for the sins of the world and the Communicating therein to be the commemoration of his death and partaking in the blessed effects of it to look beyond the Elements to that which they are designed to signifie and Sacramentally are to look upon the bread not as common bread but the substitute of Christs body and the wine not as ordinary wine but the figure of his blood and so regarding the whole service both as the most devout and solemn commemoration of Christs death and passion for the expiation of our sins and partaking as truly and effectually in the benefits and blessings of his body and blood as if we did eat and drink that very body and blood themselves This is the great end of this service and the reason of our Lords institution of it and to discern the Lords body is to understand it so and look upon it as such which it is most certain these Corinthians were far from doing either so ignorant as not to understand the reason of
worthily as they should and yet it is too notorious that this fear of damnation doth not restrain them from them It is a hard saying but it is too true those very men that are so very scrupulous and so very fearful of damnation in this yet appear openly regardless and proof against all fear of it in other things wherein it is as reasonable and necessary to be feared There are too many men on one hand that can live and persist obstinately in plain Schism allow themselves in rebellions and the most factious courses opposing government speaking evil of dignities pride and uncharitableness judging and rash censuring of their brethren fraud and hypocrisie injustice and knavery and all sorts of such spiritual vices as these without the least remorse And I would to God I could not say as truly that there are too many on the other hand that will allow themselves in open debauchery make no conscience of raillery and profaness of intemperance and uncleanness of whoredom and drunkenness and that cursed humour of Swearing which hath obtained so among us to the shame of the Nation and for which it mourns There are too many I say of both sorts that live without any apprehension or fear of damnation in these things who yet when invited to the Holy Sacrament or reproved for the neglect of it seem wonderful scrupulous and fearful of damnation if they should come to it and think to excuse the neglect of one with their fears of the other which they always plead in vindication of it Now I appeal to the reason of all men whether this be fair and honest dealing or whether it be not plain collusion and subterfuge were there any true reason to fear damnation here which yet I have shewed there is not yet men were not just and fair in pretending so much fear of it in this and yet surmounting so easily that fear in others I have told you before in this discourse often and I shall have occasion to tell it you again that it 's a bad sign to see men scrupulous only in some few things and there is not a plainer mark of an hypocrite than to be shie and fearful of sin and damnation in some lesser things but venturous and regardless of it in others that are perhaps far greater It was this which our Saviour so often charged upon the Pharisees and for which he so sharply condemned them as a pack of fulsom errant hypocrites and men had need to look to it for they will draw upon themselves the same imputation if they be of the same temper and practice If the fear of damnation therefore influence you in this one let it in Gods name do so in other instances that are more gross and obvious If the fear of damnation in this be true and sincere it will do this for damnation is still the same thing and equally to be dreaded but if it do not it is plain you use it as subterfuge and artifice you proclaim your own insincerity and hypocrisie in it and the excuse it self not only aggravates but becomes part of the crime I have added this Consideration only ex abundanti and to argue with some men even upon their own pretences and if they will honestly reflect upon it it will hardly fail of some effect on them but to others that are really scrupulous and fearful of damnation upon every failure to receive the Holy Sacrament so well as they should and argue their fears upon the reason of this Text to these I say the former Consideration will be sufficient since it is not this eternal damnation that the Apostle means in this place And let me add that if eternal damnation be not threatned to the Corinthians here who so shamefully and grosly profaned this holy service much less is it presently to be feared by those who receive it as well as they can though not so well as they should if so extream gross and scandalous a profanation be not threatned with it surely every small failure needs not fear it CHAP. VII I advance now to the fourth Consideration which I proposed for the truth of our present Collection viz. That whatever sin or guilt there is in eating and drinking unworthily there is the same yea there is greater in not eating and drinking at all THe truth and reasonableness of this relies upon a reason that I have made good already and that is that eating and drinking in the Holy Sacrament is a necessary indispensible duty tyed immediately upon all Christians by the command of their Lord and that upon a reason which will ever have effect upon all those that have any love and respect to him yea which will still improve and in every age grow stronger and stronger I shall not and I hope I need not resume this argument because I have discharged it pretty well already and therefore shall little more than give in the heads of what hath been more fully represented 1. First Then I have observed that the command for this duty is as positive and express as any command for any other duty either is or can be and this we shall be satisfied of if we look into the story of it's institution This is related by three Evangelists and almost in the very same words Mat. 16. from 26. to the 29. Vers As they did eat Jesus took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of this for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins The same you have also in the other two Evangelists S. Mark Cap. 14.22 23 24. Verses and in S. Luke also Cap. 22.19 20. Verses in all which places our Lord doth not only Addminister this Holy Sacrament himself but expressly commands them to do so likewise Do this in remembrance of me This that you have seen me do do you take care to do also after that I am gone from you in which words it is plain that our Lord institutes this and enjoyns it to be a standing service in his Church and to be observed and practised by all the members of it For First The Apostles were at this time Christs little flock the first fruits of that Church which he was going to plant in the world and it is plain in the story that he administred it to them all And Secondly If we are to respect them here peculiarly as Apostles whom he designed to be the first and chief Pastors and governors of the Church the argument is equally concluding still for making it their duty to Consecrate and Administer the Holy Sacrament he doth make it the duty of others also to partake of it and to have it administred to them And if we take in part of the Ecclesiastical story to this Acts the second Chapter at the latter
before doth not so much respect any thing to be done by way of preparation to the Holy Sacrament but rather to be added by way of advice how to attone for the Sin of having Eaten and Drank unworthily and to prevent those punnishments that they might expect and fear upon having done so The Apostle had convinced them of their Sin in this and let them know that the judgments which they lay under were the effects of that Sin and having told them in verse 28. how to reform and prevent the Sin for the future he tells them in this how to escape the punishments that were due to it viz. by anticipating God's judging of them becoming Assessors upon themselves and by their own remorse and sorrow inflicting that punishment upon themselves which otherwise they might expect from God this I think is the truest account of this passage and of what the Apostle means in it So that the great matter of preparation that he prescribes in order to their Eating and Drinking fitly and becomingly i. e. worthily in the sense of that word is comprehended under that examination that he adviseth to verse 28. Let a Man examine himself and so let him Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup. And therefore this is the great thing to be explained by which we may see what a reasonable measure of consideration and care the Apostle thinks sufficient to this purpose I do very well know and as readily acknowledg that some considerable Men understand this so as to comprehend all that strict and critical examination of a Man's self that may be needful to the understanding exactly the state of his Soul with respect to his Religion Faith Charity c. i. e. whether Men be Christians indeed or not and whether they resolve to continue so whether they have truly repented them of all their Sins both in general and particularly and whether their purposes of reforming from them be real and sincere Yet I think I have reason to differ from them a little in this for whatever may be the meaning of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other places of the New Testament yet I think it is not the meaning of it in this and by considering wherein the error and guilt of these Corinthians consisted we may pretty well understand the meaning of what he prescribes in remedy of it This I have considered at large already in this discourse and the truth is the Apostle expresseth it plainly enough to be not discerning the Lords Body i. e. putting no difference between this and common bread and therefore Eating with as little Reverence at the Lords Table as they did at their own in their own Houses This was the Sin and by considering that it was so we may easily collect the meaning of that examination which he prescribes against it to be primarily no more than this which I shall borrow the words of a great Man among us to express let every Man among you consider well with himself what a Sacred action that is which he is going about and what a devout and reverent behaviour becomes him that is going to Celebrate the Holy Sacrament which Christ hath instituted to represent and commemorate his own Body and Blood broken and spilt upon the Cross for Man's Redemption This is what the Apostle prescribes as a remedy against that profanation of the Holy Sacrament that they were guilty of and what he thinks sufficient to preserve them from it for the future to consider well what a high mysterious service of Christian Religion it is that the Bread and Wine are therein consecrated into the symbols of our Lord 's own Body and Blood that they are no longer common Bread and Wine but changed into a great mystery and in a Sacramental sence the very Body and Blood of Christ This is discerning the Lord's Body and this is the import of a Man's examining himself that he may discern it and he that doth this can never be guilty of such unworthy eating and drinking as these Corinthians were guilty of for he will see clearly what a mighty respect and deference is due to this service and what a profound veneration and reverence becomes those that eat at the Table of the great God and are admitted to a participation of his own Son 's most Sacred Body and Blood upon this reason Antiquity used to call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most Sacred and dreadful mysteries and no Man that considers them as such but must put a difference between them and common food and can hardly but partake of with a Sacred dread of Spirit and a most profound reverence and devotion I only add what I undertook this notion for viz. That this self examination is therefore no such difficult thing as Men imagin it to be it is what all Christians know what they can easily consider and what it is indeed the greater difficulty for them not to consider and be affected withal But then suppose that it did imply something more and what some Men as I hinted before do extend it unto i. e. all that examination of a Man's self that is necessary to the true understanding the state and condition of his Soul with respect to his Repentance Faith Charity and the quality of his life First I say I will by no means discourage any one from care of this and setting apart some time for it in order to his eating and drinking becomingly at the Lords Table This is a thing upon many accounts very expedient and fit and especially in order to our understanding with what qualification we ought chiefly to come to this Holy Sacrament which may and ought to vary according to the variable circumstances of our Spiritual condition Besides this examination of a Man's self is a thing highly necessary to the great purposes of Religion and because no time can well be pitched upon for it more fit and proper than when Men are preparing themselves for the Holy Sacrament therefore it may be very prudent to take that time to do it in some time is necessary for it and that time may be as fit for it as any other and those that will so imploy it do well and are by no means to be discouraged But then Secondly I say this examination is but just necessary then as it is at other times for I see not why it may not be thought as necessany to examine our selves and consider what the state of our Soul is when we go to pray and when we go to hear God's word that we may both know what especially to pray for and how to apply that word to our selves as it is when we are addressing to the Holy Sacrament So that whatever it signifies it is no more necessary to the Holy Sacrament than it is to other services of Religion nor ought to fright us from the one any more than it doth from the other And Thirdly I add that surely
sense the very Body and Blood themselves and by the grace and blessing of God upon them to convey to us all those effects and benefits which the very Body and Blood and our feeding upon them could do Then certainly we cannot but pay all possible adoration to Christ when we partake of them nor partake of them without the profoundest reverence that our Souls are capable off And as I may well think that those who can be rude irreverent and profane when they partake of these Holy Symbols would be so to Christ were he visibly and corporally present so I may safely say that upon the same reasons that we would pay respect and reverence to our Lord were he so present we may and we should pay it when we partake of those things which he hath instituted and commanded us to observe as representations and memorials of him The truth is the argument in this case is rather too great than any way defective and upon every good Heart the effect must be according It can scarce fail of running our devotion into rapture and our reverence into extasie and transport to consider that the great God should put such an honor upon poor creatures not only entertain us at his own Table but give us his own Sons Body and Blood and all the blessed effects and benefits of them to feed upon Lord what is Man that thou art so mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou so regardest him and what name is bad enough for that Man whom such love and condescension such Majesty and such Blessing will not engage and strike into the profoundest reverence and devotion when he actually communicates in the Blessed Pledges of them all CONCLUSION ANd now I have brought this discourse to its designed conclusion and have little more than to beg of God that it may have at least some part of that effect upon Men that was designed in it I do think a scruple of this nature necessary to considered and I have endeavored to satisfie it as well as I can and I hope no Man will blame the undertaking how defective soever he may think the performance to be Is it not great pity that any scruple should keep Men in a total negligence of a necessary duty and cause them to think themselves innocent in it Is it not a strange thing and lamentable that Men should lye under such fatal mistakes as to think themselves at liberty whether they will obey the last dying command of their dear Lord or that their love and homage to him can consist with a constant disregard of it Is it not pity that Men should be easily perswaded to slight that which is so mighty advantageous to all the great purposes of the Spirit and Salvation and in which the greatest kindness and honour is offered to Men that God can put upon them Is it not pity and a shame that so many should call themselves Christians and of the Church of England too and yet neglect that which is the highest duty of Christianity and the great band of communion with the Church Is it not a shame for a Church to be without Sacraments or for that Church to have members that never communicate in them If any things in the World can be pitiable these things are so And if any thing can be necessary it must be to consider what that thing is that is the great cause of them Now this I would fain hope is a fear that Men have taken up upon the reason of what is said in these words I would gladly hope that it is neither obstinacy in some nor carelesness in others that keeps them from the Holy Sacrament but only fear and scruple in all fear of coming unworthily and incurring that Damnation that is threatned by the Apostle to all that do so come If this be the case of Men they are really pitiable and it is for the sake of them that this discourse hath been undertaken in which I hope somthing hath been offered that may be considered to good purpose and Men may find their account in 1. For first Men by attending to it may understand what the notion of eating and drinking unworthily is and upon what reason the Apostle chargeth the Corinthians with it viz. their not discerning the Lords Body their being drunk at the Lords Table as well as their own and putting no difference between these and common things and that no Christians now can be guilty of the like Sin but by somthing that sets them as far from discerning the Lords Body and paying due respect to it as they were 2. And secondly by considering this Men may perceive both how far they themselves are from the Sin and how little they need to be afraid of the same danger if they find that by the grace of God they are secured from the one they may confidently hope that his mercy will secure them from the other 3. They may hence also learn what a reasonable measure of knowledge devotion and care will most certainly set them above all possibility of this unworthiness and of that damnation threatned to it 4. And fourthly by considering that it is their necessary duty and the mercies and compassions of God as great and ready to pardon the common infirmities of humanity in this as in any other Services of Religion they may learn to slight and surmount all their fears in this as they do in them and to come with as much chearfulness sense of duty and hopes of divine acceptation in this as in others 5. This discourse may be of some use to the directing and encouraging Men in their preparations for this Holy Sacrament and not fright them by the labour difficulty length of time and curiousness of preparation that some have accidently done The effect of all which should be the ridding Mens minds of those unreasonable and superstitious fears that they have too generally taken up in prejudice against the Holy Sacrament and addressing themselves conscionably and chearfully unto it And I have nothing more but to beg them to give it this effect to take heed that they shut not their eyes against clear light that they pretend not scruples to keep them in the neglect of a known necessary duty and that they cherish not those scruples and wilfully retain them against all reasonable ways of satisfaction there is not a worse nor a more dangerous temper of mind than this and he that considers that for this cause God gave up the Heathen to a reprobate sence to vile affections and left them at last to follow things which reason and nature did abhor had need to fear transcribing the same temper of mind lest he succeed in the same dreadful punishments It were certainly much better to look upon our scruples of this sort to be as they really are diseases of our minds and be as desirous and ready to have the cure of them as we are of the diseases of our Bodies to give God Almighty thanks whose providence orders us these helps for the one as well as the other That so as the Apostle speaks both he that sowes and they that reap may rejoyce together The one for that they are satisfied and relieved and the other for that God hath honoured him so far as to be an instrument in it Which I pray God almighty grant may be the issue of all at last Amen FINIS