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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60693	The unworthy non-communicant a treatise shewing the danger of neglecting the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper, and rectifying the mistakes of many in this age concerning it : the first part / by William Smythies ...	Smythies, William, d. 1715.	1683 (1683)	Wing S4380; ESTC R2617	44,747	144

again with them to the Lords Table we would not have imagined that ever there should be a Nation in which the Christian Religion should be professed that should have thousands in it who had rather be without the Sacrament than have it Who should think that they can better be Saved without it and that their Receiving of it would rather endanger than further their Salvation And if we consider likewise that our Saviours Institution of it was after he had spent the last and therefore we account it the best part of his time in perswading and commanding his Disciples to love one another and to be one as he and his Father were one which we may take as preparatory to his Instituting the Blessed Supper and if to all this we add how careful the Primitive Christians were to obey them that had the Rule over them and watcht for their Souls in observing those Rules which they prescribed for the Administration of the Sacrament which Rules are many of them observed in the Church of England at this day It cannot but seem very strange and be very grievous to all good Christians amongst us that there should be such causeless Divisions and Separations from this Blessed Ordinance To the end therefore that men may not dishonour their Profession nor be cheated of that Spiritual Food which Christ appointed for the nourishing of their Souls to eternal Life upon any pretence whatsoever I earnestly intreat and beseech all Non-Communicants seriously and impartially to consider these following things I. It is the great Duty as well as the great Priviledge of every Christian to Receive the Lords Supper It is our Saviours Command This Do and it is great and apparent Disobedience in every Christian who does it not I think it very necessary that this should be my first Assertion because the Practice of most men doth suppose that every man is left at his Libery and ought to be so whether he will Receive it or not And if he Receives not in a whole year or many years or not in all his life-time or not till he is in his last sickness and then calls for it not for any love that he hath to Christ or any delight that he takes in the Ordinance but to make an experiment whether that will ease his tormented mind when nothing else will that in all this neglect he hath not offended God That if he should come to the Sacrament he might have cause to repent but his turning his back upon it though never so often needs no Repentance There are a great many who if they are required to come to the Lords Table answer That they are not satisfied to Receive But I would fain know of those men how they can be satisfied to let it alone and to to turn their backs upon it when others under the same Obligations do make their solemn Approach to it I am sure there never was any Divine Institution concerning which the people under that Dispensation thought they were left at their liberty whether they should observe it or not Every Male was Circumcised Concerning the Passover we read Exod. 12. v. 28. And the Children of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron so did they It is strange to consider how all the Ritual and Ceremonial Laws were Observed That Burthen which they were not able to bear they did not dare to throw off And yet that the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper should be slighted as if it were no Divine Institution but only that which our Saviour mention'd and left it to the pleasure of his Disciples and Followers whether they would observe it I can not Imagine what exposition the Non-Communicant can make of the words of the Institution This Do in Remembrance of Me. He can not but say that it is positively Enjoyned and he cannot but say that it is of Universal Extent Our Saviour did not say you may do This in Remembrance of Me if you please He did not say lest the Best of my Disciples do This those that are strongest and of the highest Rank and let others omit it That had been to leave both unsatisfied The strongest being humble and modest would alwayes be suspicious that they had not Arrived at a Degree high enough there being no Standard and the weakest would be troubled that they were not permitted to partake and knew not when they should But he said This Do without any Restriction or Limitation commanding the Observance of it by all those who expect Salvation by His Death and Sufferings Besides the Institution of it by our Saviour that Admonition of the Apostle to the Corinthians is very Observable 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man Examine himself and so let him Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup. The Apostle doth not say Let a man Examine himself that he may know whether he shall Receive or not That he may either Eat or let it alone according as he finds himself disposed in his own mind If he be Religiously disposed let him go to the Lords Supper if not let him stay away But Let a man Examine himself and so let him Eat c. plainly intimating that the Sacrament was an Ordinance not to be dispensed with but to be prepared for and that no man can satisfy his mind to neglect it because he is Unworthy but must prepare and partake of it I think I need not say any more to shew that it is the duty of every one who calls himself a Christian to Receive the Blessed Sacrament It will be only requisite that I speak somewhat for the determination of one case and that is How often every one is Obliged to Receive Because some may think that unless they partake at every Communion they are guilty of a sin of Omission and if they should the Number of Communicants being very great in some places it is impossible to be performed To this I may Answer that in regard our Saviour made no Determination in this Matter It is requisite that every one should take his Measures from the appointment of the Church and from his own particular exigences and necessities At first the Christians met together and received every day of the week their Hearts were Inflam'd with Love to their Saviour and they were in continued expectation by Martyrdome to be sent to him Afterwards it came to four times in the week besides the Festivals The appointment of our Church is that every one should Receive at least three times in the year and I conceive that the monethly Administration of it in great and populous Cities is partly that there should not be so great a concourse at the Festivalls as that it should be impossible to Administer it to all at once and much more that those who are zealously affected and find a greater necessity than others do of Receiving it often might have the more frequent Opportunities For the reason why it is not

Gospel And if they are in any sence such Believers as are entituled to Salvation they are such Believers as have a right to Baptism If the Estate belongs to a Child in the Cradle the Indentures and Seals of that Estate belong to him likewise The Child of a Believer may as well be called a Believer as the Child of a Proselite was called a Proselite If God gives Children but the Denomination of Believers it is sufficient to entitle them to Baptism 5. Those that consider the Case of the Anabaptists must needs be of another Opinion This in conjunction with the former Arguments must needs be of great force to those that are serious and considerate and not conceited and resolute in a case which they have espoused As the condition of the Jews is a living Argument of the Truth of Christianity and the badness of their case So I may say that the Condition of the Anabaptists and their Unsuccessfulness in all their attempts to establish their Opinions doth shew that God doth not nor ever did shew any such Favour to them as might give any sober person cause to think that they were Gods Church and People however they plead his Word to be their Rule but that Infant-Baptism is an Ordinance which God allows of and hath countenanced ever since there was any opposition made to it There is a Writer yet alive who gives a large and strange account of the mischievous Practices of the Anabaptists in Germany and other places what Disturbers and not Promoters of Religion they have been wheresoever they have come But I wave all that can be said against them either in this Nation or beyond the Seas and will only say That if I had the highest Opinion of them for their Morals that I have for any sort of men in the World yet I could never believe That all the Primitive Christians who owned and practised Infant-Baptism and the Martyrs in all Ages were not Members rightly admitted into the Church of Christ That not only the Papists but all the Reformed Churches in the World are mistaken in this point and that the Anabaptists are the only True and Rightful Members of Christs Body He must be very weak and notorously partial who considers these things and doth not conclude that they are a Sect that Separate from the True Church which God hath owned in all Ages and not the True Visible Church of Christ This I thought fit to mention in Conjunction with other Arguments by which many wavering minds have been established in the Truth and God grant there may be the like success to those in the like case who shall read them V. Those Excuses which men generally make for their not Receiving are so far from Justifying their Neglect that they do not so much as extenuate it Nay they exceedingly aggravate the Guilt of most Non-Communicants The Truth is no Excuses must be made in such a weighty matter as the Sacrament is There may be Interruptions but there must be no Excuses An Interruption is when a man really intends to receive the Sacrament but somewhat happens by which he is prevented and it is a great trouble to his mind that he is so It is with Christians in this case as it was with those Israelites which we read of Num. 9.6 7. who being hindred from eating the Passover by the legal defilement of a Dead Corps were extremely troubled and came to Moses to know what they should do There were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man that they could not keep the Passover on that day and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day And those men said unto him we are defiled by the dead body of a man wherefore are we kept back that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed Season among the Children of Israel Observe how farr those men were from making Excuses for neglecting Gods Ordinance in that they were extreamly troubled at an interruption which probably they could not help for he that was in a Tent in which a man dyed or came into it was unclean chap. 19.14 and continued so Seven-days This being of great moment Moses said unto them stand still and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you And we read that God in that Case appointed that they should keep the Passover the next Month. God allowed of the Interruption for that time but there must be no Excuse We read Num. 9.13 that the man who was not thus hindered if he did not keep the Passover at the time appointed The same soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the Offering of the Lord on his appointed Season A place of Scripture very fit for Non-Communicants to consider who if they have no Impediments will make Excuses instead of them they will pretend somewhat to be the cause of their Neglect which is not really the cause but the little regard which they have for the Ordinances of their Religion is the cause of their Neglect I shall first consider what the General Excuses are and then consider some more special Cases 1. Some pretend that the Solemninity of the Ordinance is the cause of their Neglect It is a very great Ordinance and they durst not adventure to make their approach to it I know that there are some very good Christians to whom this is not an excuse but is a real Cause of their absenting from the Sacrament They think that it is too great an Adventure for such as they are to come to their Lords Supper although they are such as love him and do sincerely desire and endeavour to keep his Commandments What I have already said may give satisfaction in this Case viz. That Humility and a Sense of Unworthyness is a good qualification for a Communicant and that as the Sacrament is a great and Solemn Ordinance so it is a very great Duty to partake of it and therefore Christians must take care that they do not complement our Saviour but that the examine themselves and reverently observe his Institution Great men do sometimes allow of such excuses when they make Invitations but the Great God commands when he invites and there can be no Neglect but it is a great sin as I have already shewed But this is not the Case I have now in hand My design is to speak of those who make this a Pretence for their Non-Communicating They say the Sacrament is a solemne Ordinance and therefore they dare not come to it But I would have such persons to consider whither they go when they turn away from this Solemn Ordinance If it be to their Lusts and a continuance in a sinful course of Life their condition is unspeakably miserable What an Affront is this to the Great God and our Blessed Saviour I may say to them as the Apostle to the Galatians Be not deceived God is not mocked The best that can be