come to Church draw neer unto the holy Communion Will you so saith the Apostle No first Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double-minded As if hee should say never think of drawing neer unto God or setting foot on this holy ground and handling those holy mysteries of Christ unlesse thou first purge thy heart and cleanse thy soule from all thy filthy lusts and cursed corruptions lest otherwise thou coming in thy sinnes with thy uncleannesse on thee and so receiving unworthily thou eatest and drinkest thine owne damnation as our English translation hath it damnation to thy selfe and not to another No God forbid that thou shouldest by thy unworthy coming eate and drink condemnation to another for thou that art a child of God and comest unto the Table of the Lord with repentance and a sound measure of preparation though others that sit in the same pew with thee for their prophanesse eate and drink their own damnation yet thou shalt be sure to receive the seale and assurance of thy reconciliation and salvation with free acceptance of God through the Lord Jesus Christ for every man shall bear his owne burden Reas 4 The last Reason is in regard of the end of the Sacrament which is Christ also For as he is the efficient materiall and formall cause so Christ is also the finall cause of the Sacrament So it is in the 26. verse As oft as you eate of this Bread and drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death untill he come Not that Christ may be eaten with the teeth or corporally received in the Sacrament or as if he were there productively or transubstantially as the Papists say no the Apostle shewes that the end of the celebration of this Sacrament is for to shew forth the death of Christ untill he come Object I but say the Romists unlesse we eate the body and drink the blood of Christ really and not the consâ—crated bread and wine how can any man by this unworthy communicating eate and drink his own damnation and make himself guilty of the body and bloud of Christ Answ I answer a man cannot bring this guilt upon himself by eating a peece of bread or drinking a cup of wine but the Apostle hath an answer so fitted for this as that all the Papists in the world shall never be able to gainsay and therefore I pray you to mark it for he hath joyned these two verses together As oft as you eate of this bread and drink of this cup you shew forth the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoever eateth this bread or drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord even for this cause because it is the shewing forth of Christs death till hee come Therefore if thou eatest and drinkest unworthily comming in thy sinnes and resolvest to goe on in them that as thou wert proud before thou camest to the Sacrament so thou art still as thou wert cholerick angry and impatient before so thou art still as thou wert luke-warme and dead-hearted in Gods service before so thou remainâ—st stiâ—l remember I pray thee that as oft as thou hast come unto the communion in those thy sinnes thou hast made thy self guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Therfore I beseech you to look to it and in time to repent and pray with the Prophet David Ps 51. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord even from the blood of thy Sonne left one day it bee laid unto thy charge and required straitly at thy hands For for this cause many are sick among you and many weak Vse 1 Is it so then that the Lord doth so severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Take notice I pray you then from whence commeth all sicknesse weaknesse and mortality and the reason why the Lord doth send so many kind of sorrowes crosses and miseries upon men namely because of the unworthy receiving of the Lords Supper So saith Mr. Calvin why doe you wonder to see such warres and rumours of warres that there is so many bloodsheds so many Townes and Cities ruinated and so many Countries sacked and depopulated so many calamities come upon the Churches abroad so many plagues and scourges to over-run Christendome at this day is not the cause plain enough men come unto the Table of the Lord carelesly and unworthily And beloved we shall never see the Lord take away his judgements here from the earth untill we betake our selvs to a more diligent and holy receiving of the Sacrament For this very cause there are so many strange diseases amongst us never formerly known or heard of untill these dayes as the French Pox the English Sweat as they call it that even the Physitians themselves are blunted at them and as Peter Martyr well observes hence are all diseases as plagues pestilences which were late amongst us dropsies bloody Flux Agues Apoplexies Convulsies burning Feavers and impostumes c. and all for this cause One man hath fallen into a Feaver and we wonder at the cause whence he took it but in truth the communion hath cast him into his Feaver and the Lord will avenge himself on him for the same Another is sick and he thinkes that a cold hath brought it upon him but it is the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament that is truely the cause of it A third man dieth before his time even in his full strength before in the course of nature he hath ended halfe his dayes but the cause is unworthy comming to the Communion which hath taken hold of him and cut off the thread of his life Many there be that expound these words in a spirituall sense Many are sick and weak and many are fallen asleep that is to say many have their consciences seared and their hearts hardned c. and this is true also that because men come unpreparedly they have their hearts hardened and their consciences seared and their soules plagued with many spirituall plagues But it is as true also in temporall judgements thou hast had many afflictions and much sickness laid upon thee but thank thy self for it namely because thou hast come unworthily unto the communion thou hast had much weaknesse in thy body which hath cost thee much mony and weakned thy estate but thy unholy comming unto the Sacrament is that which thou mayest thank for it Thou hast been reproached and contemned and endured much shame but take notice of it that it proceeds from the fore-going cause and that is a speciall reason why the Lord hath brought these and many other evils upon thee Thou canst say the commandements for the most part by rote but thou didst never know the mystery of this one commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Beloved the Communion is one of Gods own names and how many thousands are there in the world that take this
punishment which is the unworthy eating of the Communion For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep Secondly the punishment inflicted for this sinne weaknesse sicknesse and mortality For it seems saith Peter Martyr that the Lord sent a sore plague and pestilence among them for to revenge himself of them for their abuse of the Sacrament for this cause Thirdly there is the delinquents which are you Corinthians Many are sick and weak among you and in them all others that come unpreparedly to the Sacrament Chrysostome notes here that our Apostle doth not fetch here an Argument or example of judgment from others as he had done in the former chapter but he brings it from themselves who sensibly felt the wrath of God upon them for this very sinne As if the Apostle should have said How is it O Corinthians that you dare venture to come unto the Communion so unpreparedly and that you have no more regard of so weighty businesse as is the receiving of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ See you not the wrath of God upon your dwellings and the curse of heaven to take hold of your towne you see it this very time that some are weak and very sick amongst you neer unto death and others have been struck with death before your eyes and the wrath of God is not removed but lies yet upon you What will you alwayes goe on and never cease to provoke the Lord to indignation and wrath against you for your sinnes untill his jealousie hath utterly consumed you and clean cut you off And howsoever many of you may think that this sicknesse weaknesse and mortality comes upon you by chance as from the infection of the aire or other secondary causes I tell you nay but it is for this cause onely even your unworthy comming to the Supper of the Lord. Whence we may observe this point of instruction Doct. 2 That God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper He punished the Corinthians here with sicknesse weaknesse feavers pestilence death temporal and God knows how many with death eternal Theodoret observes that the Apostle told them of a thing that was acted amongst them for if he had told them of such judgements as had been hid from them and not manifest before their eyes as if they had not felt the sicknesse in their bodies and heard the bels tolling daily in their ears they might have thought that the Apostle had but lied unto them So the people of Israel as we may read in 1 Cor. 1.2.3 verses they were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and they did all eat the same spirituall meat and drink the same spirituall drink yet as it is in the fifth verse with many of them God was not well pleased Nay God was so wroth with them that within the space of fourty yeares many thousands of them were destroyed by death here and God knoweth how many thousands of them in hell For God speaketh of hell as well as of death and their sin was so great that it made God confirme it with an oath that they should never enter into his rest And Saint Cyprian saith that the Lord hath shewed many miracles and declared many fearfull judgements upon the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Judas who Ambrose thought received the Sacrament though Hilary and others that hee did not but only that he did eate the Passeover and was coming to this Sacrament also but see his doome John 13. as soon as ever he received the sop the Devill entred into him and so it is with all such as come to the Communion in their sinnes without repentance and unfained resolution of walking ever after worthy of the Sacrament I say unto all and every one of them that as soone as ever thou receivest the Bread and Wine into thy mouth thou receivest the Devil together with it as soon as ever it goeth down into thy body the Devill goeth after it and taketh more full possession of thy heart and soul Reas 1 Now the reason why the Lord doth so severely punish both with temporall judgements and with spirituall curses the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament is in regard of the author of the Sacrament who is Christ and that not onely as he was man as the Papists would make us beleeve but Christ as he was God did institute the same So saith the Apostle in the 23. verse The Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betrayed â—ok bread and brake it when he had given thanks and said Take yee and eate yee for this is my body which is broken for you Now if the Lord Jesus did institute it what a cursed thing is it for any to defile it and so sin against Christ It is a damnable thing to sinne against God but to sin against God as he is God in Christ is damnably damnable The holy Ghost in the second Psalm exhorts to kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and so thou perish As if he should say Adore the Sonne Adore the Lord Iesus Christ and so come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup for if he be angry thou wilt surely perish and if thou sin against God and so go out of the way Christ upon thy repentance will set thee in again but if thou sinnest against God in Christ who is the Way the Life and the Truth thou shalt surely perish from the right way for there is no other way for to bring thee in again Acts 4.12 Therefore wofull is thy case and miserable is thy condition if thou sinnest against Christ prophaning his holy ordinances which he himself hath instituted and abusest and despisest that blessed Spirit of his that comes to seale unto thee the redemption that he hath purchased by his bloud Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born for if he be wroth blessed only are all they that put their trust in him and come preparedly unto his holy Ordinance and that by faith embrace the Lord Iesus Christ But woe unto all prophane persons that live in their sinnes if his wrath be but a little kindled then woe to all drunkards swearers and uncleane persons but blessed is that man that is come out of his sinnes For if his wrath be so terrible when it is but a little kindled O how much more fearfull will it be when it is deeply incensed Therefore if thou comest unto this holy Sacrament in thy sinnes without due preparation and examination what doest thou but even set the wrath of God burning upon thy soul and body from the very bottome of hell When the Lord Delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai he commanded the people to sanctifie themselves yea if a beast did but touch the mountain he must die for the same even be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Heb. 12. Much more then now when
the Lord doth deliver the Gospel especially the ground-work and master-peece thereof the Lord Jesus Christ and that in the most blessedest manner that ever God exhibited himselfe unto man how much more doth God require purity and holinesse that all such as come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament should be sanctified purging their hearts and cleansing souls from all their sin and uncleannesse Should not a beast touch the mountaine where God did appeare and darest thou touch the body of Christ and drink his blessed bloud in thy sinnes The very Angels of heaven will curse thee and the clouds of heaven will poure down showres of vengeance upon thee for God hath more severe punishments to inflict upon sinners under the Gospel then he used under the Law though then he struck them with more visible and sensible plagues and judgements then ordinarily he bringeth upon men now as Gebezi for his covetousnesse was strucken with leprosie Corah Dathan and Abiram the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quick for their rebellion against the Lord Er and Onan were strucken dead for their wickednesse Jeroboam had his hand withered for stretching of it forth to strike the Lords Prophet And though the Lord bring not such sensible punishments now as he did then ye he knowes how to punish the world a thousand times more then he did then at this time As a father hath other kinds of punishments for his sonne when he is grown up then he had when he was in coates and but a child then a twigge or two would serve the turne but if he comes to mans estate and then rebell against his father it may be that he will disinherit him and cast him out of his family So in former time God did scourge and whip his people when they sinned against him but now he hath drawn out his Church to this age even to the age of the Gospel he hath severer strokes of plagues and curses wherewith to confound all prophane and impenitent sinners that dare to abuse that blessed Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ The second Reason is in regard of the matter of the Sacrament which is Christ also who as he was the efficient cause so in regard of Sacramentall relation he is the matter of the Communion 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ Now the better matter any thing is of the more heynous is the defilement of it A master will not be so angry for casting his earthen vessels into the mire as he will be for casting his rich jewels The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are the blessed Communion of the precious body and bloud of Christ and darest thou to defile them Knowest thou not that thou dost greatly increase the wrath of the Lord against thy soule thereby That soule whatever it was from Dan to Beersheba that came in his uncleannesse to partake of any of those holy things which the children of Israel hallowed to the Lord whether he were man or woman rich or poore that person was to be cut off from the presence of the Lord Levit. 12. whereto the Lord sets his seale for the confirmation thereof I am the Lord And as sure as I am the Lord so will I see it accomplished So my beloved let me say unto you of England from Dover to Newcastle or from the oâ—e end of the town unto the other that soul who toucheth any of these holy things with an impure heart and cometh to partake of them with his uncleannesse upon him living in his sinnes and wallowing in his lusts casting off the feare of the Lord and making no conscience to walk in Gods wayes that soule shall surely be cut off that cometh so unworthily unto the Table of the Lord not only the hand that taketh it and the mouth that eateth it but even the very soul of him that so cometh shall perish from the presence of the Lord. So Levit. 7.20 That soule that eateth of the flesh of the Sacrifices of peace offerings that pertaine unto the Lord having his uncleannesse upon him even that soule shall be cut off from his people Now you know that all those sacrifices had relation unto Christ but yet under the Law they were but shadowes and typicall relations and were not so lively and effectuall means for the exhibiting of Christ as the Lords Supper is And therefore if such as came in their uncleannesse unto them were punished with no lesse punishment then a cutting off from the fellowship with the Lords people what wrath and vengeance will the Lord bring upon thee that comest with thy uncleannes upon thee unto this holy communion Augustine saith that man that receiveth the Sacrament unworthily receiveth a greater plague to his own soule and a greater torment to his own conscience yea and heapeth up a store of wrath unto himself against the day of wrath Reas 4 Me thinkes thou that livest in thy sinnes and wilt not come out of them when thou hearest these words This is my body and seest the bread broken before thy face it should even make thee tremble and quake for to look upon it more for to touch it and most of all for to tast it for it is the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ and how darest thou come in thy sins for to defile it Reas 3 A third Reason is in regard of the forme of the Sacrament which is Christ too for as he is the efficient cause that instituted it and as he is also the matter of the Sacrament so in the third place Christ is the forme of the Sacrament also wherein the confirming grace of God is sealed up unto thee Now as it is treason for a man to offer contempt unto the Kings broad Seale so certainly is it high treason against this King of Kings to contemne this blessed Sacrament which is the Seale of the righteousnesse of faith If thou shouldst clip the Kings Coine I will say that thou art a Traytor Oh what a traitor art thou then yea an accursed traitor in the account of God and Christ if thou clippest his holy Communion if thou clip it of thy examination and due preparation and so come hand over head not regarding so holy an Ordinance Thou sinnest against the Court of heaven That which Saint James speaks in generall of the whole worship of God Draw neere unto God let me apply it in particular unto this drawing neere unto God in this holy Communion James 4.8 Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded Draw neer unto God in the hearing reading and meditating on Gods word draw neer unto God in prayer and in this holy Sacrament and receive it for your amendment of life Draw neere to God I that I will saith the wicked man I will
of the people he calls it the roaring of Beares The Lord had as lief heare the barking of a Dog or the grunting of a Swine as a man that doth not pray aright with a bleeding heart with contrition of soule and spirit with a spirit of grace and supplication When a man prayes and prayes dot aright his prayer leaves that name it is no more a prayer in Gods account And so preaching it is an admirable action but if a man doe not preach aright if it be flattering with the enticing words of mans wisdome or beating the aire and to shew his owne learning this overthrowes the action of preaching hee preacheth not Christ but himselfe himselfe not the Gospel though the Gospel bee in his Sermon all over yet himselfe hee preacheth the action is marred the circumstance marreth it So in the Lords Supper if a man come not prepared that he have not the Wedding Garment that he be not aright qualified according to the requisites of the Gospel this is not to eate the Lords Supper Saith the Apostle When yee come together this is not to eate the Lords Supper you think you eate the Lords Supper you take the bread and the cup and can say Blessed be God and I pray God to blesse me you may come and doe these actions but the action is altered the action is diversified when it is not done in a right manner So if a man come to reprove his brother if himselfe be faulty do you think this a sufficient reproof No it is hyhocrisie Thou hypocrite Matth. 7.5 his reproof of his brother is hypocrisie So for men to tell one another of their faults and to tell them with a spirit of bitternesse this is not Christian dehortation but biting one another Gal. 5.15 And so for eating and drinking beloved eating is lawfull and drinking is lawfull and marrying and giving in marriage all these are lawfull yet if a man eate not aright and drink not aright and marry in the Lord and eate and drink with title to the Lords creatures that he have interest in the covenant of God if Christ be not in it how shall he have comfort Nay that very nature of his eating is alrered his eating and drinking and marrying is a sinne As our Lord Christ shews of the old world They did eat and drinke and were marrying and giving in marriage till Noah entred into the Arke and the flood came and swept them away Matth. 24.37 He reckons their eating and drinking among their sins among the reasons and causes why the flood came upon them they did eate and drink and marry and give in marriage Object You will say Was that the reason the flood came And was that an argument of their security Did not Noah eate and drink and marry And were not his sons married that were in the Arke and he a grand-father Answ But he did it aright therefore his eating and drinking is not brought in as a signe of security but of the old world that were carnall and wretched people it was because they did not eate and drink aright There be Rules in eating and drinking in talking and discoursing in doing the duties of our callings There be Rules how you ought to buy and sell and to do every good word and worke If these Rules be not observed the Rules of Gods blessed word the actions themselves are altered though the things be commanded of God yet they are cursed and abominable things when the true form and fashion of them is not regarded though they be never so godly A garment though it be never so good if the Taylor handle it not well it is marred in the making if hee bring it not to a right forme and make it in a right manner the man that is to have the garment is disappointed So Timber though it be never so excellent though it be all Oke or Elm or whatsoever tree though it be never so fit for building if the Artificer deale not well in handling it the inhabitant that comes there may curse the day that ever he came there If it be not well built it may fall on his head and kill him and all that belongs to him So it is in all the Ordinances of God and the matters of Religion we must not only do them for matter but for manner too for that either makes or marres them Thirdly another Reason is because only the right manner of doing duties gets the blessing A man may pray a thousand times and never be heard he may hear a million of Sermons and never be converted a man may come to all the Sacraments in the yeare all his life long and never be sealed against the day of redemption A man may do the things and never get the blessing all the blessing lies in the right manner of doing Blessed is that servant who when his master comes shall find so doing Matth. 24.48 He saith not Who when his master commeth shall find doing Christ when he comes to judgement shall finde many doing it may be he will come in prayer time it may be he will come in the morning when many thousands shall be at their prayers in their families it may be he will come at night when all are at prayer in their houses it may be he will come on the Sabbath when all the Countrey is at Church hearing of Sermons hee shall finde many thousands doing and praying But blessed is that servant whom his Lord when hee comes shall find so praying so hearing so receiving the Sacrament He shall find many believing but so believing gets the blessing many professing but it is so professing that gets the comfort I say all the blessings of God are promised to the right manner of doing Now what is it when we doe duties what doe we look for Is it not for a blessing Why doe we doe the duties if we doe not doe them so as we may get the blessing Now except we observe the right manner of doing them all is to no purpose Fourthly another Reason is the example of Jesus Christ Christ hath given us an example that we should doe as he did Now hee did not onely doe that which his Father bid him doe for maâ—ter but for manner both in all the words hee spake and in all the deeds that hee performed For the words he spake As the Father hath said unto me even so speak I Joh. 12. And in Joh. 14.31 As the Father hath given me commandement even so doe I. Mark he did not onely obey his Father in the matter of his command but in the manner of it And as Christ hath done thus so all that are Christs all the servants of God in all ages they have been very carefull especially of the right manner of obeying God As it is said of Noah Gen. 6 22 As the Lord commanded Noah even so did he just as the Lord commanded