should be duly performed II. To which add this consideration that had not this been a divine Institution and the practice according to it a duty incumbent on them it is not to be conceived that the Apostle would have suffered the Corinthians to have run so great a hazard as they did by the rude manner of doing that action if they might innocently have omitted it and without any guilt not have done it at all Nor would the Corinthians themselves have been so unreasonably cruel to their own Souls as to have incurred the dreadful danger of Damnation and Death by an unprepared participation of this Sacrament if they could have satisfied themselves that it was no duty to participate or not of such consequence but that it might with safety be let alone He that eateth and drinketh unworthily saith the Apostle eateth and drinketh damnation to himself and for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep That is the divine judgment being passed against you hath seized on you and struck many of you with sicknesses others with infirmities aches and pains and some with Death for your riotous eating of the Supper of the Lord. Doth it not concern you then unless you be content to lie still under this scourge of God till you be all cut off to be better advised and not expose your selves in this manner to the wrath of God which it is plain by terrible Executions is more than kindled against you Now unto what course doth he direct them that they might avoid these Judgments Doth he advise them to abstain from the Holy Communion for fear of prophaning it to forbear to come to the Table of the Lord lest there he stretcht out his hand against them and gave them their Deaths wound This had been the shortest and the safest way according to the ignorant resolutions men make in this present Age to prevent the danger of Damnation unto which the Apostle no doubt would have charitably directed them if he had not known that the thing it self was a duty and such abstinence from it a sin He could not otherways have refrained when he beheld the Sword of Divine Vengeance thus hanging over their Heads and many already lie bleeding under it being strucken down to the ground by Sicknesses Plagues and Death he could not I say in this lamentable case have abstained from calling to them with the greatest earnestness and compassion saying why do you thus venture your Souls and Bodies to destruction Why do you not rather stay away and wholly forbear to approach to the Table of the Lord where you are in danger to be undone for your unworthy receiving the sacred pledges of Gods love But we hear no such language because the Apostle had not thus learnt Christ nor thus received of the Lord. Who commanded and expected that they should not abstain from the Sacrament as the manner now is but come to it net rudely indeed as they did but in an holy decent and prepared manner Which it had been in vain to discourse of if it would have been as well or would have sufficed to abstain from the act of receiving This was an invention not thought of in those early dayes when they took themselves not to be Christians if they did not frequent the Holy Communion as St. Paul proves they were not good Christians if they did not take care to come in an holy manner unto it That 's the thing to which he presses them and the only way he knew of to avoid Damnation Abstaining from the Communion would not secure them but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup ver 28. Not to eat and drink of that holy food he could not give them a licence He had no such authority but lay under an obligation to enjoin the doing of the thing and to press it earnestly as a duty that could neither be safely omitted nor practised without serious Examination of themselves that they might not come together to condemnation v. 34. To come together for this purpose to eat and drink that Bread and that Cup there was a necessity their only care was that it might not be to condemnation Which things being well considered do convincingly demonstrate that this is not only a duty but a weighty duty strictly enjoined and not to be omitted no not in that Church where the profane doing of it had brought down Death and destruction upon them from Heaven V. The same is evident from the end for which our Lord instituted this Sacrament and commanded us to receive it which is the publication of the Lords Death till he come That 's the meaning of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye do show you do publish the word signifies and tell it abroad you profess this and declare it to all the World that Christ died for you and is Lord over you having purchased you by his blood and that you own him so to be and are the Servants and Worshippers of that Jesus who gave himself to be Crucified and to die for you This is the general meaning of this holy action Wherein we publickly own Christ and profess his Religion and give it out to all the World who see what we do that we are his and that we are sensible of it nay glory in it and intend to continue his for ever Now who can have the confidence to call himself a Christian and not think he stands bound thus to own Christ Crucified And therefore he is bound to do that whereby he doth own him which is to receive the holy Sacrament Which as often as we do we show forth the Lords Death and as often as we neglect we do as good as say we are ashamed of him and of his Cross or that we repent of our Christian Profession For if to do this be to show forth Christs Death then not to do it is to stifle and smother it as much as in us lies so that no such thing as the Death of our Lord should be published or known in the World This I am sure is a true consequence and our neglect of this duty will be thus interpreted by our blessed Lord when he shall come to take cognizance of it Why will some say we testify the contrary every time we say the Creed when we make an open and solemn confession of our Faith in him But let such persons observe how they argue in this against themselves For our Lord in whom they profess to believe requires that we should not merely in words though never so express but in plain actions also represent his Death and Passion for our sakes and thereby our high obligations to him That 's the Doctrine of the Apostle in this place For to what end do you break the Bread but to show the breaking i. e. the wounding and crucifixion of the Lords Body And to what end do you pour out the
purpose to be a sacred Bond of love unity peace and concord among Christians by their all eating of one and the same Bread and drinking of one and the same Cup. Which while they neglect how can they pretend to the love of God or how can they hope to have this mutual love one to another rooted in their hearts when they never or seldom communicate together in the most holy things never own that they are members one of another nor link themselves together by that common tye of Charity which their Lord hath instituted and commanded them to use for this very end among others that they may be knit together in one body be of one mind and heart and live in peace No they are all broken in pieces they are torn in sunder and continue so and hate and malign and bite and devour one another and that with a most implacable rage and malice to the great scandal of Religion the spoiling of humane Society the danger of over-turning Government and thereby ruining all our outward comforts And shall we heighten this guilt by adding this aggravation to it that we love to have it so If we have any kindness left one for another nay any kindness for our selves let us not refuse the means of a cure this Sovereign means which alone will prove an effectual remedy Being a remedy of Gods own prescription and appointment for the quenching all our unnatural heats and the killing all our unchristian hatreds and the burying of all our animosities and quarrels so that they shall never rise again Or if they do be immediately extinguished and laid again in their Graves by laying a new obligation upon our selves in this Sacrament to love one another and to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Eph. v. 2. III. In which Sacrament I might represent how many comforts there are contained besides those of love comforts infinitely more satisfactory than those vain those perishing pleasures of which sensual men are so greedy that they make them neglect this holy Communion and thereby lose those divine those heavenly joys which Christ in the serious use of it imparts unto his members But to shorten this Discourse let it suffice to ask you what is there in the love of God towards Mankind which you can think more valuable than the Covenant of Grace by which alone you have the promise of remission of sins assured unto you And consequently how can you forget that most pretious blood which ratifies which confirms and seals that gracious Covenant Or how can you neglect that special means which the love of God our Saviour hath ordained for the preserving the remembrance of his most pretious blood-shedding fresh in your minds If you do truly remember that blood which was shed that body which was broken for you you must at the same time judge it fit and necessary to demonstrate you remember it by making that Commemoration of it which our Lord requires and not neglect to see that represented to the Eye and expressed by real actions lively signifying the Death of Christ which you pretend gratefully to Commemorate in your hearts It is much to be feared that they do but deceive their own Souls who pretend to the one without the other For did not God frame and fashion you in your Mothers Womb And doth not he who framed you there know your frame â—…d your mould better than you 〈◊〉 do your selves And did he not therefore appoint this outward representation of his love in the holy Communion because he knew otherwise you would not be sufficiently sensible thereof What other reason can there be assigned for this Institution but the wise goodness of God who knows that divine things accommodated to sense do by affecting the Eye better affect the heart than it would be affected without such sensible applications This is the reason why he hath made spiritual things to become in great measure sensible in accommodation to our nature and compliance with our frame which he best knows because it is of his own contrivance Who hath clothed our Spirits with flesh and therefore moves the inward powers by 〈…〉 Which if we slight 〈…〉 these means of being affecâ—… 〈…〉 spiritual things which God 〈◊〉 most perfectly understands how our minds may be best moved hath accommodated and appointed for that end it is evident we despise the Wisdom of God or are vainly conceited of our selves and presume to think that we can be as well affected without these outward means and sensible helps which he hath instituted for our spiritual improvement A strange presumption this But which every one is guilty of who contents himself with bare thinking of Christ and of his love in dying forus without the use of those sensible signs which he hath appointed to awaken our minds unto a more lively and deep apprehension and sense of his love than any thing else can give us 〈…〉 which consideratiâ—… 〈…〉 be added that the 〈◊〉 â—…pport and comfort the â—…fe of every Christian Soul is to be in a state of Friendship with God by continuing in the Holy Covenant we have made with him and he with us in Christ Jesus If this be not preserved carefully all true joy in this World is lost together with it Now do you not find your selves too prone to break your Baptismal Vow and thereby to violate that Covenant wherein you stand engaged and sacredly promised to keep And shall not that Covenant after you have violated it be solemnly and speedily renewed that the breach between God and you may be healed and you may notwithstanding look upon him as your Father And is not the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood appointed for this renewal Do you know any other solemn way of being reconciled again What account then can be given of it that so many having broken this Covenant are not at all concerned to renew it but remain separated from God and from holy Communion with him How come we to be so careless of our Souls so negligent of God so unconcerned in the Covenant of Grace as wilfully continuedly from time to time to forbear that Holy Ordinance wherein not only this Covenant is renewed but so many mercies of God as you have heard commemorated and represented so many joyes so many comforts and spiritual assistances communicated unto us There is no account to be given of this matter no reason that can be assigned but only this that men will not seriously consider either their duty or their interest Or if they do when they are clearly represented to them they forget and lay aside all those considerations and do not immediately pursue them whither they would lead them And so they turn to something else which takes up their thoughts and their time and ingages their affections till they be carried away Captive by the Lusts of the
without impediment and that there is nothing left in their Souls to oppose their duty Whereas bad people in a quite contrary way give admission to those scruples and doubts into their minds with a secret pleasure and having entertained them let them rest and take up their lodging there very willingly because they will plead their excuse they fancy for not doing their duty and be a defence to their lazyness Worldly mindedness and other naughty affections In short Doubts and Scruples never arise in good mens minds without grief nor stay there without much trouble and therefore they long to be rid of them and are glad when they are discharged because they hinder the performance of their Christian Duty but bad men not only listen to them willingly but embrace them as welcome Guests which they cherish and never part withal without difficulty and some sort of inward displeasure because they desire the Worldly Spirit that is in them should not be left without all excuse but have something to say for it self when it is pressed by the force of Religion against its inclinations Search and try your selves by this mark and the Lord give you a right judgment in all things for Jesus Christ his sake In whom I remain Your Faithful Servant S. Patrick Discourse I. THE NECESSITY OF Receiving THE Holy Communion THE neglect of the Holy Communion of Christ's Body and Blood was so general and so long continued in the late distracted times being laid aside in man whole Parishes of this Kingdom for near twenty years together that in some Ages of the Church it would have been interpreted a downright Apostasie from Christ and a renunciation of the Christian Faith And though blessed be God since the Happy Restauration of his Majesty to his Throne and the settlement of the Church upon its ancient foundations it hath not been so generally neglected yet it is not so much frequented as it ought to be No not upon such great and solemn dayes as this when we are assembled to commemorate that stupendous Grace which our Lord purchased for us by his pretious Blood and bestowed upon his Church in sending the Holy Ghost the Comforter to be a Witness of his Resurrection and Exaltation at God's right hand and to confirm us in the belief of all that he hath taught and appointed in his Church For we content our selves only with the Common Prayers and I wish I could say that they are duly attended and with the Sermon and then turn our backs on that part of the Divine Service which is properly Christian and consequently is above all other most acceptable unto Christ and unto his Holy Spirit Which I shall therefore at this time press upon your Consciences as a means to revive that ancient Devotion wherewith such Festivals as this was kept which now alas is wanting among us And I shall do it from those words of St. Paul 1 Cor. xi 26. wherein he recommends this duty unto us upon this particular account that as oft as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup we do show the Lords Death till he come In which words it is easy to observe these three practical truths The two first whereof are plainly supposed and the other is affirmed and enjoined I. The first thing here supposed is that it is a Christian Duty to eat this Bread and drink this Cup here spoken of that is to receive the Holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood II. The second is that it is a Christian Duty which ought to be often performed And then III. It is here plainly asserted that when it is performed the thing designed in it and which we ought to aim at is to show the Lord's Death till he come The last of these will be sufficiently explained in the handling of the other two viz. the Duty and the Frequent repetition of it unto which I shall confine my Discourse And of the first at this time I. THat it is a Christian Duty incumbent upon every one of us to eat this Bread and drink this Cup that is to receive the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood This is supposed in the words Which are not to be understood as a mere permission that we may do this if we think good and when we think good but as a command of something we ought to do For when he tells us what it is we do when we eat this Bread and drink this Cup in which we show forth Christs Death it plainly implies that it must be done and is not left to our choice whether we will show forth the Death of our Lord or no. Of which more anon when I have laid some other things before you which will convince you if they be considered of the Obligation that lies upon you to the serious performance of this Duty And for our clear and orderly proceeding I shall cast my Discourse into this method I. First I shall show you that there is a plain institution of this Sacrament and a command that it should be received And then II. Secondly I shall show from the practice of the Apostles after â—hat time when they first received it with our Saviour that it was no temporary command but of Everlasting Obligation III. Thirdly That there is more â—han their practice to interpret the meaning and obligation of this command IV. Fourthly That in this Discourse of St. Paul to the Corinthians there are evident proofs of the necessity of its performance V. Fifthly That the very Text shows the same by the end for which it was instituted VI. Lastly That all these reasons are exemplified by the practice of the Universal Church of Christ I. And first let it be considered that this Holy Sacrament is a Divine Institution Ordained Commanded and required by Christ Himself Who the same night that he was betrayed took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to his 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 it For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matth. xxvi 26 27 28. Here is as manifest an Institution of this Sacrament and as formal a Command to take and eat and drink what Christ then gave as can be contrived in words Unless they be plainer which we read in other places for the Institution is recorded by the two next Evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke and here again in this Chapter by St. Paul Which two last named say that our Saviour added these words in the Institution of this Sacrament This do in remembrance of me Luk. xxii 19. 1 Cor. xi 24 25. Which enjoin this duty by as express a Command as those of old Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy And Honour thy Father and thy Mother Which may henceforth be blotted out of the number of the Commandments if we take this to
that is grievous punishment was For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Now what is all this to you who are not guilty of any such crimes For no such scandals as these are committed among us now adays any where And therefore why should you fear so much as the judgment or sentence to suffer the grievous punishments now mentioned seeing you are not guilty of their faults Which I have purposely represented as they are set down by the Apostle that finding your selves free from them you may not fright your selves away from the Communion by a dread of that damnation which fell upon them But will not fall upon you who cannot be accused of their Crimes nor of any other like to them if you discern the Lords body and in a solemn manner come to commemorate his Death and Passion renouncing all your evil wayes and being in perfect Charity with all men Upon such God will pour down his blessings and not plague them with Diseases Sickness and untimely Death much less with Eternal Damnation to suffer the punishment of Everlasting Fire Which as it is not meant in the Apostles words as I have shown elsewhere so will not be the portion of those who come thus prepared to the Table of the Lord but rather of those who stay away out of a pretence of unworthiness when the true reason is because they will not be at the pains to prepare themselves to partake of it Or if it be timorousness of spirit and a scrupulous fearfulness that keeps them from it let them seriously weigh what hath been proved in this Discourse that they have the same reason to be fearful they shall not enter into Eternal Life For they that are not fit to have Communion with him in these Types and Figures of him how can they be presumed to be fit to have the immediate sight and injoyment of his Divine Majesty And what serious Christian is there that can live with any comfort who hath no hope of that How can he be quiet or take any rest till he hath rid himself of every thing which he thinks makes him unmeet to have fellowship with Christ in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood that so partaking of it religiously he may have no cause not to look upon himself as an heir through hope of Gods Everlasting Kingdom by the merits of the most pretious death and passion of his dear Son Who invites all those to come and feast with him that abide in no habitual sin such as shuts out of the Heavenly Kingdom and they ought to come without any fear of provoking his Majesty without any apprehension of danger to themselves thereby nay draw near with faith and take this holy Sacrament to their comfort and high satisfaction and to the joy of the Church of Christ which is highly honoured by having abundance of worthy persons in it fit to communicate with their Lord at his Table Such worthy Communicants let us all for our parts study to be by resolving now and indeavouring ever hereafter to quit all known sins and to live suteably to our Christian profession and Belief Then let nothing hinder you from taking frequent occasions of presenting your selves to the Lord at his Table Let no scruples fears and doubts that stick in your mind hinder you but rather get them pulled out by some skilful hand Do not believe you are religious because you are scrupulous but rather suspect your selves not to be so because you neglect the great duty of Religion And of this be scrupulous above all other things lest you offend God by not coming to the Communion or rather do not dare to be so bold and fearless in a matter of such great danger Let not the fault of others who communicate be a stop to your performance of that duty That is if they sin one way let not that tempt you to a sin of another kind If they go wrong on the right hand be not you moved thereby to turn too much to the left Let not the danger of unworthy receiving deter you from receiving but only from receiving unworthily Of which there is the less danger if you be really afraid of it for that will move you to be careful to prevent it And remember that nothing will make you more unworthy than neglect of it And therefore let not the thoughts of your imperfections hinder you for they will always hinder and staying from the holy Communion is not the way to be more perfect but coming to it Nay let not the breach of your resolutions by relapsing into sin after you have communicated keep you from communicating again but rather come the sooner and take the first opportunity that is presented you to renew your Covenant with God to strengthen your Christian resolutions to fortify your selves against temptations and to obtain assurance of a pardon for the unfaithfulness to your Saviour To fall is not so dangerous as not to rise again presently after we are faln Much less let business hinder for if you be honestly imployed in honest business it is part of your preparation for the holy Communion And let no man say he wants time to fit himself to receive it for this is in effect to say he wants time to live well Of which if you take a constant care that 's the main preparation And for the composing your mind and considering the ends for which you go to the Lords Table take as much time as your condition of life and the circumstances of your condition will allow and that is sufficient Be not hindred from the Heavenly Comforts of which you may there partake by an opinion of the necessity of a long examination of your selves before-hand for that necessity arises only from long neglect of the Communion Receive frequently as the first Christians did and then you will be as ready for this on all occasions as you are for other duties of holy Worship For you will be well acquainted with the state of your own Souls and with the nature and end of this part of your Religion especially if you take some account of your selves every day which will make your account short and easy before the Communion And let not dulness and indisposition be thought a reason why you should forbear to receive it but rather come thither to be quickned And if you continue dull there yet beliâ—ve you have pleased God by doing as he commanded though not so lively as you desired Let us not hear any man say I have not profited thereby and therefore had as good stay away For it is very profitable to do our duty constantly to express our gratitude to God to receive the tokens of his Love to tye our selves faster to him in renewed resolutions of holy obedience to be put in fear of offending him and in hope of his favour and there is no man that with any kind of care partakes of the holy Communion
but receives more or less such benefit as this by it Let no fancy therefore of this nature hinder you but oppose to them all the necessity of doing your duty as well as you are able Some for instance complain of hardness of heart and therefore dare not come but let such understand that it is yielding and compliance to do what Christ hath commanded and not to do it is that very hardness which they bemoan And if any quarrel or contention happen among Neighbours let not that hinder neither but rather let them come to the Communion and there be reconciled It is too much that wâ— have faln out one with another let us not fall out with our God too If these contentions have risen up to heats and anger nay wrath and evil speaking do not continue them by refraining holy Communion but repenting of the evil extinguish all by renewing your Fellowship with God and one with another It hath staid too long if one Sun hath gone down upon your wrath be afraid to let it rest a whole Week till another Communion day be come and gone And suppose this wrath improves into hatreds and enmities which you think you discern in some hearts against you let not that hinder you though it do them but come rather and testify you bear no hatred towards them but are in charity with all men To love an Enemy is the highest proof of our love to God our Saviour And if you be at any time ingaged in a Suit of Law let not that hinder your performance of this duty For Suits at Law to recover or defend that which you judge your right are not sinful nor is it difficult to manage them without sin with a Friendly and Christian mind both parties referring themselves to an indifferent judge and resolving to acquiesce as common reason directs in his sentence for there would be no end of contention if every man should be a judge for himself And do not say it is too great presumption want of humility and modesty to be seen oft at the Lords Table For it can be no presumption to love him very much and to accept of the honour he doth us in inviting nay commanding us there to attend him it will rather be rudeness and careless neglect of him if we do not frequent it And as for other hinderances if we have some Relation or Friend that is sick or we our selves are something out of order or we have been in a Journey or had a Visit to make which could not well be avoided or had a Friend came to see us the day before the Communion with whom we could not but in civility spend a good deal of time these and such like I am ashamed to do more than mention they are so trivial and by no understanding Christian can be thought a reasonable cause for putting by the intention we have at any time of receiving this holy Sacrament I shall only add therefore that the want of something to offer at the Communion which the poor and needy may make an exception against coming to it frequently is no reason to keep any body away from it For God who accepted of the Widow that cast a mite into the Treasury would have accepted her if she had not had a mite to give she having a willing mind to give him even all she had Some must receive relief out of the oblations and it is not required that such should make any but only the oblation of themselves Or if out of the abundance of their Love and Devotion they do as the poor Widow did offer all they have they may and ought to receive back again out of the offerings much more than they gave Let not these therefore nor any other exceptions keep us any longer from this holy duty The ends of which if we often call to mind or rather constantly keep in mind with a resolution frequently to come to the Table of the Lord and there to snow the affection we have to him and the earnest desire of our Souls to partake more and more of his grace that we may be inabled to live better and better and get a more absolute conquest over all those evil lusts and affections which struggle for the Mastery in us and by perswading us to neglect the holy Communion get a great advantage of us we shall be well enough disposed to partake of it with great fruit and profit and no less comfort and joy in God And that at any time when an opportunity presents it self though we have no notice till it comes of the opportunity Suppose it be when we go to see a sick Friend or Neighbour who is desirous to receive the Communion or when we come upon occasion into a Church where we are Strangers and did not know it would be there at that time administred I make no question it will be far more acceptable to our Lord Christ if with no other preparation than I have now mentioned we take the boldness to approach to his Table than if out of a mistaken humility and caution we turn our backs of it and go away because we had not so much time as we desired to dispose our selves for it For the Lords sake let us root out those false notions whereby we are prejudiced against our certain duty and be at the pains to settle true Christian Principles in our minds with a stedfast purpose to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and then we shall find no cause at any time to refuse holy Communion with him but rather be stirred up to embrace the occasion with ardent love and devotion Which the more it burns in our hearts the fewer scruples we shall have in our minds And those few if there be any that remain will soon be overcome when we feel what mischief they do us by keeping us from the most advantageous means of being eternally happy Nay from that present happiness which the sweet tasts of His love and of the benefits He hath purchased by his Death and Passion impart unto those Souls which devoutly partake of the holy Mysteries of Salvation Which were ordained by our Lord saith Theodoret upon Hebr. viii 4. for this very end that beholding the type of them we may call to mind the sufferings themselves he indured for us and may thereby have our love inflamed towards our Benefactor and expect the enjoyment of the good things which are to come hereafter Conclusion THus I hope I have cleared the way to the Table of the Lord so that there is no obstacle left in it to hinder your chearful approach unto it if you have any will to partake of it And the consideration of what I have represented in my First Discourse hath I trust formed such a will in you as the second cannot but dispose all those who seriously weigh it to have a will to do it frequently Unto which I shall
verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper 5. Of this therefore you cannot be ignorant and if you believe it and expect it understanding also what your eating and drinking of that Bread and Wine means and for what end you come to the holy Table what can there remain to be done to make you know certainly whether you may partake thereof safely nay profitably or no but only the last thing I mentioned 6. Whether you intend to do there what the Lord Commands and to receive those benefits which he there imparts Not eating and drinking that is as at a common Table to satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst not receiving with the same common spirit and the same unattentiveness wherewith you receive other food but composing your self seriously as at the Lords Table in a holy place where he is present thankfully to Commemorate his Death to partake of that Sacrifice which he offered for us on the Cross to give up your selves Souls and Bodies unto him and to thank him that you have the honour to be his Servants and that he hath purchased you at so dear a rate as with the price of his own most pretious blood to implore the continuance of his gracious and ready help upon all occasions c. If I say with this Spirit and for these and such like ends you approach to this holy Communion you need not have the least fear of being rejected as unworthy Guests but ought to be confident that you shall be welcome to that holy Feast as those that are faithful unto Christ For wanting none of these conditions which are all that can be thought requisite you want nothing to make you fit and prepared to have Communion with Christ in the merits of his Death which is there commemorated Yes will some perhaps further object there may be something still wanting For how came the Corinthians to be so severely punished as we read they were for their unworthy receiving the Communion if these things be sufficient to make men meet partakers of it Do you not think that they had all the forementioned qualifications and yet they did eat and drink their own Damnation I answer No it is most manifest from the very words which mention their Damnation that they were not thus prepared 1. For first they proceeding to partake of these Holy Mysteries at the end of their Feasts of Charity which was a common meal where they eat and drank all together for the maintaining Brotherly kindness among them they so perfectly confounded and blended these two the Holy Feast on Christs Sacrifice and the common Feast on ordinary food one with the other that they made not the least distinction but did eat this holy Bread and drink this holy Wine as they did common meat and liquors not discerning the Lords Body as you read v. 29. of this Chapter This was one horrid sin which they committed not to consider what they were doing for they went to the Lord's Table as if it had been still their own Table and did not distinguish between this Sacred and their ordinary food 2. One cause of which undiscerning spirit which would not let them see the difference was their riot and drunkenness at that Feast of Charity which ought to have been only a sober refreshment They revelled upon that good chear which should only have filled their hearts with love to God the Giver of all good things and to their Christian Brethren and thereby have prepared them to be partakers of a diviner food which followed the other This was another fearful sin of which you read v. 21. where the Apostle saith that as some were hungry at that Feast of Love and Friendship so others were drunken 3. Which leads me to take notice of a third Crime that the rich despised the poor and that in so vile a manner as not to suffer them to feast with them but to separate from them and to eat and drink by themselves and also to eat and drink up all the provision leaving the poor little or nothing For in eating viz. at the Feast of Charity every one taketh before his own Supper and so it came to pass that one was hungry and another drunken 4. Which suggest this further crime consequent upon the former that they turned a common Feast into a private the rich looking upon what they had brought to it as their own Whereas in truth they had no longer any propriety therein now that they were come together into one and the same place ver 20. Where there ought to have been no difference made between one man and another nor any part of the provision lookt upon as continuing any mans own proper food after it was brought thither for the entertainment of all 5. And that was another aggravation of their guilt that they committed all these crimes in that holy place where they assembled for the most holy action of their Religion to commemorate the Death of Christ ver 22. What have ye not Houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God c. Which question supposeth that they might in their own private Houses have eaten their own Supper alone by themselves or with whom it pleased them to invite but in the House of God and in his divine presence it was intolerable because there they met upon no private but a publick account to thank God for his love in Christ and to testify their mutual love to each other 6. Which they were so far from doing that they did the quite contrary For true love delights to keep others in countenance but they put such to the blush as were in a poor and mean condition and could bring nothing to the common Table but themselves Who were by the Laws of the Feast and by the rules of Charity to have feasted at the charge of the rich and with as much freedom and confidence as if they had brought the provision themselves but were lookt upon with such scorn that it made them sneak like wretched Beggars that were to be content with the scraps which the rich would leave them That 's the meaning of the last words of that Exprobration ver 22. and shame them that have not that is are not able to bring any thing to eat and drink at the Feast of Charity These were the grievous scandals committed in that Church some of them in the very act of holy Communion and all of them in their preparation to it and in the holy place where they were assembled to worship Christ with mutual affection one to another Which therefore brought down heavy judgments upon them as you read ver 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment as the margin of the Bible hath it to himself not discerning the Lords body Which that it is spoken of the Church of Corinth the next words shew which inform us also what this judgment