then all men living for ought we know must be unfit If they be sins of wilfulness then you do in these very words confess that they may be reformed For wilful sins in the judgment of all mankind are such as by care and diligence and watchfulness over our selves may be avoided As wilful Drunkenness is not being intoxicated with some liquor of whose strength we were ignorant but losing the Government of our selves when we were aware of the danger and could have prevented it 4. But this in effect hath been said already and therefore to bring this matter to a speedy issue let such as say they have no power to prepare themselves for the Communion by amending their lives consider that every man hath power to do what he can do To say otherways is a contradiction for it is to say he cannot do what he can Now do what you can and I will undertake God shall not charge you with what you cannot But if you do not what you are able you will be charged both with that and with the guilt of not doing that unto which in time you might have been enabled For God hath promised that they who seek shall find that he will open to them that knock and graciously answer them that call upon him faithfully Why then do you not address your self to the doing that which you certainly can do for instance call upon God and earnestly importune him for the help of his grace which is a thing you can do for in so doing God will not be wanting to you but inable you to that which for the present it may not be in your power to do 5. Unto which lastly let this be added which is of great moment You that say you cannot prepare your selves for the holy Communion have you ever tried have you gone about the work and made a serious and hearty attempt towards the reformation of your selves If you have not how come you to be so bold as to say you cannot do that which you have not yet tried and indeavoured to do what a prevarication is this with God and your own Consciences though I doubt this is the case of most of those men who plead inability when they never in good earnest made an experiment what might be done in the use of such means as God hath appointed and are in our power to use But if you have tried and miscarried why did you not try again and after that again and again and that with greater diligence and care than before For this you could have done and why should it be judged reasonable in our Worldly affairs to attempt over and over again the same thing wherein we have failed at the first in hope of better success at last and not be thought fit nay why should we not be willing to use the same repeated diligence notwithstanding such like discouragement in the weighty concernments of our Souls And since we find by experience we can do the one for we do it we ought to conclude that we can if we set our selves to it do the other For a Soul can do more for it self than for any thing else if it will but consider what a valuable being it is and where its true interest lies in the love and favour of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the first answer to the pretence of unfitness And what was last said may serve for an answer also to those that complain of hardness of heart and want of affection in the performance of this holy duty Let them do it as well as they are able and they will find acceptance with God and grow more affected with his love And for an Answer to those also that say they are never the better for coming to this Sacrament It is certain they were something the better by their very coming thither if they did not come without a resolution of amendment for that resolution was a good thing and the work of Gods grace Which though they did not keep they should not thereby have been discouraged from coming again but rather have renewed it which had been still a better thing And they ought not to have given over the attempt upon a new miscarriage but still laboured and indeavoured to settle this resolution so stedfastly by constant renewals of their Covenant with Christ that at last it might have stood unmoveable in all those temptations which were wont to overthrow it This is the way of Christ not to sit down contented with complaints of our unfitness to have Communion with him but never to rest satisfied till by our earnest and repeated indeavours we be better disposed II. And there is this great reason to inforce such indeavours which these complainers would do well to lay to heart that if they be unfit for this holy duty of Commemorating the Death of Christ and receiving the tokens and pledges of his love they have no cause to think themselves fit for other holy duties which are confessed by all to be of daily use viz. for Prayer for Thanksgiving and praising God Which duties if men be not fit to perform they ought to look upon themselves as not fit to live in the World or to go out of it but if they be not unfit for these then how can they say they are unfit for this since our part in the holy Communion is wholly performed by devout Prayer and Praise and Thanksgiving with such Faith and Love and holy resolutions as ought always to accompany those holy actions And our part being thus performed what reason have we to think that God will not perform his by accounting us worthy to receive those blessings which he there imparts For he is always more ready to give than we are to receive and we are not unmeet to receive when we are thus disposed to ask To this purpose you may remember I alledged St. Chrysostoms words in my former Discourse Art thou not worthy to partake of the Sacrifice then art thou not worthy neither to pray but thou oughtest to depart when the Deacon cries Be gone all you that are in penance c. For the holy Communion is a special way of praying and making Supplication to God through Christ Jesus for which they cannot be unfit who are fit to pray to God in his name at all No I am apt to think that many men who pretend this do not really think themselves unfit but use it only as a shift to excuse themselves from the performance of their duty For should the Minister of God upon this score keep those from the Communion who now keep themselves from it saying to them as of old Be gone you are not fit to partake with us they would take it very hainously at his hands and be apt to reply We are as fit as many whom you admit to partake with you you do us an injury in thrusting us away from the Table of the Lord where we see those
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
upon their people and earnestly beseech them to remember from whence they are faln and repent and do the first works When there was no need to use so many arguments as I have represented to prove this to be a Christian Duty nor so many motives to perswade men to the frequent practice of it but they ran forwardly to the holy Communion and were troubled above measure if they might not have the priviledge to receive it There were no quarrels then raised in those days against the manner of its Administration no disputes against the posture wherein it was received The Ministers of Christ had not their pretious time taken up in answering objections and satisfying doubts and scruples much less did they stand in need of the assistance of the Civil Power to inforce the practice of this duty Which all took to be a Commandment of our Lord and Master to commemorate his wonderful love and shew forth his death and passion for our sakes and therefore was no less chearfully and readily obeyed than if they had been invited to the most delitious Feast and promised to receive the greatest largesses in the World That it may be so again is the design of publishing these Papers in which I have represented those Truths which if they be weighed and laid to heart will save us this labour for the future For I have shown you a short way to be free from all fears and doubts about this matter which is not to leave your selves in uncertainty whether you shall go to Heaven or no but by making that sure to make your selves sit for the Holy Communion unto which you may go with an assured confidence if you have any good hope to be admitted into the Society of the blessed in Heaven If that be out of doubt you need not doubt of acceptance with Christ at his holy Table For which the best preparation is an holy Life or a serious Resolution of it for the future if hitherto we have lived otherwise What other Preparation had the Apostles for the partaking of the first Eucharist with our Blessed Lord and Saviour What other could they have when Christians received it every day If we have this therefore which is the main thing let us not stand upon little niceties nor waste that time in questioning and debating whether we be sit or no which ought to be spent in doing this and other Christian Duties whereby we shall be every day fitter to have Communion with our Saviour Remember that it is in actions of Piety as it is in those of Policy A Wisdom that is too scrupulous commonly doth nothing for fear of doing ill We read of Cities that have been taken while the Senators were gravely deliberating how to preserve them Even so is it here too over-much niceness about preparation makes men never to be prepared Therefore it is a fault when it hinders that duty which it keeps us still thinking how to perform Let us not confound our selves with words but understand the sense of things and then we shall not be perplexed as many have been in this business of Preparation Much less will any be affrighted from the holy Communion by being commanded to kneel when they receive it Which is no more than they do at their daily Prayers and therefore should the rather be inclined to do here when we pray and give thanks for the greatest blessings which we cannot do in too humble a manner We worship also and adore our Blessed Lord in this holy action and therefore one would think should be disposed of our selves without any injunction to fall down upon our Knees in token of the worship which we give Him Which is no Popish Ceremony being not so much as injoined by that Church in the act of receiving nor observed by the Pope himself who when he receives rather sits or leans a little forward upon his Throne but an ancient devout Posture of the best Christians which the people of the Roman Communion observe by long custom without bidding And therefore should much more be chearfully observed by us when we are enjoined to keep to the ancient reverence wherewith the Saints of God received the pledges of our Saviours love Vouchsafe I beseech you to give this small Book wherewith I present you a careful Reading and I doubt not it will free you not only from these but from all sorts of scruples if any of you be troubled with them which now hinder many people from the greatest duty and comfort too of our holy Religion Which if you would be perswaded to perform often the profit which would redound to you thereby would be as great as the Credit which it would do to our Church and Religion For no man can come seriously to the holy Communion but with some Resolutions of being better than he hath been which Resolutions are not presently broken but last for some time And therefore if there were not too long a distance between one Communion and another it is likely they might last for ever For before the force of the first Resolution were quite lost it would be backt and strengthned with a second and so being re-inforced from time to time while it remained in some power would become so firm that it would never be broken Make a trial I earnestly intreat you and suffer not this pains which I have taken to serve you to be thrown away without that good effect Which it will not be if you make the trial with the same seriousness wherewith I have written this Treatise In which you will meet with nothing to entertain the fancy not so much as with fine words and elegant composure but with good store I think of solid sense to inlighten the mind to inform the judgment to pierce the heart to stir up holy devotion nay to turn the will and produce godly Resolutions which if they be pursued and have their fruit unto holiness will in the end bring you to Eternal Life And that such Resolutions may be both produced and pursued I will here add one observation more for the removing the greatest of those hindrances to Holy Communion which lie in the way of those who pretend to Religion It is this That doubts and scruples being the weakness and sickness of the Soul they that readily entertain them and then suffer them to remain there quietly and peaceably are in a very ill case nay ought to look upon themselves as in a very dangerous condition For it is a sign all is naught within and that they deceive themselves with a vain opinion of their being Religious For they who are truly so groan under their doubts and scruples as under a sore Disease and therefore will not let them long dwell with them but seek with all speed to have satisfaction which when it is offered they receive with all readiness of mind and are not loth to be cured but rejoice that they are set at liberty to serve God
be none This do in remembrance of me For we can see no difference at all in the way and manner of the expressions wherein these things are delivered much less any such difference as makes the former to be enacting words as Lawyers speak and the latter to enact nothing Now if there were nothing but this express command alone to be urged for this duty one would expect it should be sufficient to awaken every man to the performance who hopes to find mercy with God and to be saved by Christ Jesus For ye are my Friends saith he himself who knew no other terms of it Joh. xv 14. if ye do whatsoever I command you Which he had said before in the very first words of the Gospel for this day Joh. xiv 15. If you love me keep my Commandments How are we then the Friends of Christ Where is our love to him if we do not this which is one of the things that he hath commanded in as downright and solemn terms as any other thing whatsoever His Friends No He that shall break one of the least of my Commandments saith he again and teach men so he shall be least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall not have any share therein but be slighted and rejected as he slighted that Commandment Math. v. 19. And therefore what will become of those I beseech you consider it who break not one of the least but one of the greatest of his Commandments as this certainly is For it is his last and dying Commandment and therefore not the least The same night that he was betrayed he took Bread c. saith St. Paul here in this Chapter v. 23. The very night before he suffered he instituted this Sacrament and enjoined his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him as a means no doubt to make all the rest of his Commands the better observed by preserving him and his wondrous love perpetually in their memory Where will they appear then who refuse or neglect to do this Or what will they be able to say for themselves who have no regard to such a remarkable Commandment For suppose it had come only in the form of a request and not with the authority of a command could any sensible heart have refused to perform it What not yield to the desire of such a Friend as well as such a Master who hath laid such obligations upon us as none of mankind ever received nor can receive but from him alone This is strange this is unaccountable For all the World looks on him as a man of a barbarous nature void of all humanity who denies the last suit of a dying person though a mere stranger to him especially when it will put him to little or no trouble but rather be a pleasure to perform it What a wretched Creature then is he by what monstrous name shall we call him who puts away from him the last request of a dying Friend and of a great Friend one that hath merited ten thousand times more of him than his request comes to This adds the most hideous ingratitude to his Crime and is moreover such a shameful violation of the sacred Laws of Friendship that it makes him most odious both to God and man for ever And yet their guilt is not so small as this who mind not those last words of our blessed Saviour Do this in remembrance of me Which are more than a Request nay more than a command being his last Will and Testament which he was about to seal with his blood and the last Will of him who loved us better than his own life who dyed that we might live who of his own accord laid down his life which no body had power to take away For he had all things even Angels themselves at his command and more particularly was our most gracious Lord and Master and hath the most unquestionable Authority over every one of us Who cannot therefore neglect this his last Will and Testament without the most dreadful aggravations of such disobedience nay contempt as will remain without a Name till that terrible day when he shall come himself to charge men with this guilt of slighting his dying words Think of it I beseech you what sort of command this is And to use the words of an Excellent Man if you have any sense of shame you cannot any sense of duty you dare not any sense of love you will not neglect it but come as oft as you have opportunity and do this in remembrance of him Whose Command ought to over-awe you as he is our Lord since he might have expected to have prevailed with you by his bare intreaties as he is our Friend For it may be further added unto this consideration that it is a command of a peculiar nature having no reason for its performance but purely our regard to his will and pleasure and our true love and affection to him which is hereby tried more than by other duties of Religion Unto which there is something in nature to incline us and it is made our manifest interest by the frame of our Souls and Bodies and by the constitution of that Society one man hath with another to be just for instance and merciful to be sober faithful and grateful to live peaceably with our Neighbours and obediently to our Governours and to commend our selves also to God by Prayer and to give him thanks c. But of doing this we should never have thought had not our Lord required it And therefore the performance of it is a pure respect to him the mere effect of our Faith in him and a singular proof of the love and the reverence which we bear towards him as the neglect of it is an evident demonstration that whatsoever natural vertue men may have they have no Christian and so have no title to go to that blessed place where Christ our Lord and Saviour is This is the First upon which I have staid the longer because it layes the Foundation of all that follows For II. Secondly Upon this Precept of Christ the Apostles built their practice after his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension to Heaven from whence he sent the Holy Ghost to confirm that which he had instituted and ordained For immediately upon this on the very day that the Holy Ghost came down the number of Christians being inlarged by the addition of three thousand Souls to the Church all those Converts continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in Prayers Act. ii 42. Which shows that they did not understand the command of our Saviour about this matter to be one of those which the Hebrews call the precept of an hour that is to be observed only at that present time when it was commanded but to be of perpetual obligation in all future times For as soon as ever any man became a Christian he lookt upon this as one part
of his Christian duty as much as hearing the Sermons of the Apostles and Prayers I am loth to spend the time in going about to prove against vain Cavillers that by breaking of bread is here meant this holy action of receiving the Communion and not their bare eating together But to give full satisfaction in that matter let it be briefly considered First that breaking of Bread is here placed in the midst between other holy actions preaching fellowship or communicating to one anothers necessities and prayers and therefore in all reason must be concluded to be it self of that nature not a common but an holy action And besides secondly their eating at a common Table if it be at all mentioned in this Chapter Acts ii under the phrase of breaking bread is spoken of v. 46. and therefore not intended here No nor there neither I shall show hereafter for even in those words also they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house or at home c. the breaking of bread belongs to the holy Communion And to put all out of doubt thus the Syriack an ancient Translation understands it expresly turning it thus in the Eucharist As it doth also Act. xx 7. Vpon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them c. that is when they came to receive the Eucharist saith that Translation which was a part of their Lords days work nay the principal part for this was the thing for which the Disciples came together and not merely to hear the Apostle preach And who can give any reason why it should not be so now as it was then when in familiar speech it was as usual with them to say they would go to Church to receive the holy Communion as it is with us to say in these days we will go to Church to Prayers or to hear a Sermon III. But more than this not only the practice of the Apostles and first Believers after they were divinely inlightned by the Holy Ghost expounds the meaning and the obligation of this Precept to be perpetual but Christ himself showed it so to be after he went to Heaven and was exalted at Gods right hand For appearing to St. Paul to make him one of his Apostles and in order to it revealing himself and the whole Christian Religion to him which he gave him commission and authority to preach He declared this to be a part of his Will and a piece of his holy Religion For I have received of the Lord saith he in this Chapter v. 23 24. c. that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night 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 saying This is the New Testament c. Observe here an evident proof that what our Lord did with his Apostles at his last Supper he intended should be done by them and by others when he was gone For sending one who was not then with him nor had any knowledge of him while he was on Earth to preach his Gospel he gives him particular instructions about this matter to take care to see this done in remembrance of him So St. Paul who was the man to whom he appeared and gave a special Commission after he went to Heaven avows to the Corinthians in this place telling them that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the Lord and what he delivered to them was this that they should do what the Lord Jesus had done with his Apostles in remembrance of him This he received from him that is it was of the Lords Institution and to be practised by his order and special command and therefore called the Lord's Supper v. 20. When ye come together into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper Where it is called the Lord's Supper not because it was eaten by the Lord with his Apostles for at that Supper the Corinthians were not present nor was that now done in this place where they came together but because it was instituted by the Lord both then when he eat that Supper with his Apostles and now again when he appeared to St. Paul and required him to see this practised in the Churches which he converted And accordingly was now practised in this Church at Corinth to whom this Discourse of St. Paul is directed IV. In which we find many things more to prove this to be a necessary Christian Duty which was the fourth head mentioned in the beginning I shall single out two which will make it evidently appear to all unprejudiced minds I. The first is very remarkable that the Apostle takes a great deal of pains and spends a great deal of time in showing the manner how the holy Communion ought to be celebrated among them Which he would not have done if this had not been a necessary duty incumbent on them by vertue of Christs Command and a Divine Institution Do but consider this I beseech you and be at the pains to ponder at your leisure how serious earnest and laborious the Apostle is here in this eleventh Chapter of his Epistle to make the Corinthians sensible by a long Discourse about it after what manner they ought to approach to the Table of the Lord reproving their scandalous behaviour at the Communion directing them how to reform it and make a due preparation to receive the benefit thereof And then tell me or rather tell your selves was there any cause for a reasonable man to write so much to show how and after what manner the thing should be done if the very doing of the thing had not been necessary and under the obligation of a Command Can the manner and way of doing an action be matter of duty and yet that action it self be no duty at all Or can a man of common sense be very solicitous in giving directions how men should order themselves in a place and about a business into which they may never come but let it alone Can the Apostle be supposed to say so and so you ought to eat this Bread and drink this Cup and yet there be no command tying them to eat it and drink it at all And so and so you ought to prepare your selves to partake of Christs Body and Blood and yet after that preparation they might chuse whether they would do the thing for which they were to be prepared Surely we cannot imagine the Apostle to have had so much idle time to spare nay to be so impertinent as to busy himself in ordering the circumstances of an holy action if the action it self had not been a necessary nay a very weighty duty and of exceeding great moment which therefore he was highly concerned and took due care
it I beseech you again and again If willful sins do not actually damn being continued in let us know for what sins they are for which men are damned or do you think there is any such thing as damnation at all Certainly if there be damnation it is for wilful sins and if there be wilful sins they are sins deliberately committed against a known Law and if there be any known Law among Christians this is one that they ought to receive this holy Sacrament in remembrance of their Lord and Masters Death for them and therefore the constant the affected the upbraided the reproved and yet not reformed omission of this duty is most certainly a deliberate nay a presumptuous omission of it or else there is no such thing as presumption in the World What will you think then of your selves I ask again if from time to time from month to month nay from year to year you wilfully neglect a plain an evident an undoubted Precept of our blessed Lord and Saviour a Precept commanding us to commemorate his Death to represent his Passion to admire his Love to praise his Kindness to partake of his Graces to share with him in his Comforts to knit our selves faster to him in holy Obedience and to rejoice in hope of feasting with him and all the Company of the blessed in his Heavenly Kingdom If you have not been hitherto convinced of this duty your sin is the less and may in some measure admit of an excuse But if being now convinced you stand out and still neglect the performance of it then can you not in any wise have the least excuse for your wilful disobedience And if you be not now convinced by these things which have been represented to your minds I must say it is because you wilfully refuse because you will not receive conviction And this wilful refusal to be convinced this shutting your Eyes against the clear light wherein this duty is shown to you is still another wilful sin added to the presumptuous neglect of the holy Communion II. Satisfy your selves about what I have now proposed determine what is like to become of you if you continue in a wilful sin as the neglect of the holy Communion most certainly is when the will of Christ in an express Law commanding it is made known to you and pressed upon you and then I may be the less earnest in beseeching you to remain no longer under this heavy guilt For how can you with your Eyes open run your selves into Eternal Damnation what need is there that I should beseech you not to throw your selves headlong into the Fire that never shall be extinguished It is sufficient to intreat you once more to consider what hath been said to believe it and to keep it in mind and then you will make an amends for former neglects by a more careful and zealous performance of this duty in time to come Especially if you consider how by neglecting this duty you neglect all those invaluable blessings which are represented offered and communicated to us in the right performance thereof This is the only Argument whereby I shall further urge you but I will press it in a few particulars I. And first there is nothing wherein all Christians do more universally agree than this that God in giving his Son to die for us demonstrated the greatest love that was ever shown to mankind Which incomparable love we all agree likewise is represented expressed and recommended to us in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ And can we think fit then to neglect this holy Communion For do we not therein neglect and undervalue that wonderful love which in the holy Communion is most effectually represented laid before us and exhibited unto us Is the love of God so inconsiderable a thing as to be slighted and passed by with careless neglect Is the Death of Christ wherein that love appeared so small a thing as to be forgotten or seldom thought of and that although he hath instituted a Sacrament on purpose for its Commemoration And do we not forget and slight it when we regard not that Institution and make no such Commemoration I know how loth men are to yield to these convictions and how desirous they are to support themselves in a belief that they neither undervalue that love nor forget this Death though they do not attend at the Table of the Lord. For they remember both they say in their own private thoughts and give God thanks for his inestimable love in giving Christ to die for them But suppose they say true that they have such a sense of God and of our blessed Saviour as not altogether to let them slip out of their minds nor wholly forget their benefits yet let them weigh this seriously that where a known divine institution appointed on purpose for the Commemoration of Christs Death and of Gods love therein manifested is neglected it must be confessed that the same love of God and death of Christ is in a very sinful degree undervalued and forgotten For no Friend will think himself remembred by him who lays aside that very thing which he left him and solemnly desired him to wear in token of his remembrance Let such men consider also that they stand bound not only to remember or call to mind Christs Death privately but openly to make that solemn and publick Commemoration of it which is commanded by our blessed Lord. And in like manner it is not sufficient to have a value of Gods love but we ought to show our esteem of it in the practice of that Institution wherein that love is signally represented to us In brief we deceive our selves if we imagine we remember Gods love in the Death of Christ as we ought to do while we do not express and show our remembrance by that sign and token which he hath appointed as a Testimony thereof If we do it not in this way He will look upon us as forgetful of him and of his love II. And by forgetting that it is not to be conceived how much mischief we do to our selves and others For we are all agreed that the consequence which St. John draws from what hath been now said is good and strong Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. iv 11. Which mutual love the Apostle presses by such Arguments in that Epistle as demonstrate a man hath nothing of God in him who wants this grace which contains at least one half of the duty of a Christian Do we not need then to have this love inkindled or rather inflamed nourished and increased in us by all means And is there any means so effectual as the consideration the solemn consideration how the great God hath loved us though utterly unworthy of his love nay deserving his heaviest displeasure And where is this represented so lively to us as in the holy Communion Which Christ hath also appointed on
Flesh and of the World beyond the power of any means that we know of to rescue them from destruction But I hope better things of those who duly attend to what hath been said and that all those who have not now prepared themselves for this Holy Duty of showing forth the Lords Death whereby he purchased among other blessings the great gift of the Holy Ghost which it would have been most proper on this day to have most solemnly acknowledged will speedily set themselves about it and be ready against the next opportunity that is against the next Sunday or at least the next after that and so for the time to come be careful to perform this duty as oft as the Christian Religion requires Which I shall demonstrate in the next Discourse is much oftner than men imagine The end of the first Discourse Discourse II. THE FREQUENCY OF Holy Communion HAving demonstrated in the foregoing Discourse that it is a duty indispensably lying upon all Christians to receive the holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood a duty of great weight and importance for the neglect of which I do not see how we can atone by the performance of any other duty whatsoever I proceed to show that it is a duty which ought to be frequently repeated for as oft as ye eat this Bread saith the Apostle and drink this Cup ye do show the Lords Death till he come Which plainly insinuates that they did this often and that it was their duty so to do shall be the subject of this present Discourse And here now in the very entrance of it I must acknowledge that we are not told either in this place of Scripture or any other how often we ought to Communicate or how frequently the Church ought to make this Commemoration of Christs Death and Passion for our sake Of which observation men now make a very bad and preposterous use For finding that our Lord hath only said This do in remembrance of me but no where said when at what time or times it is to be done they imagine that they satisfy his will if they do not wholly withdraw themselves from his Table though they come never so seldom thither And truly by this sort of reasoning that because we are no where told how often we should do this we need only take care to do it sometime or other it may be thought sufficient if we do it but once in our whole life And so dangerous are such conceits which men frame to themselves from such Observations that vast numbers though otherwise not wicked live in a constant neglect of this Duty till they come to die and then upon their Death-Beds calling for this Sacrament and receiving it they think they have fulfilled the will of our Lord in doing this as he hath commanded because though he hath commanded it to be done he hath no where commanded when or how oft it should be done From whence we may certainly conclude that this is a false consequence which men draw from the silence of the holy Scriptures in this matter because it is so dangerous and pernitious that in a manner it quite destroys our Religion by taking away this part of it which is the principal and making it unnecessary as long as a man lives so he be but sure to receive when he is at the point of Death Of that indeed no man can be assured but supposing he doth receive the Communion at the very last gasp he is thus far safe and not guilty of the breach of this Commandment if this consequence be true that because our Saviour hath no where appointed the time or said how frequently we should do this in remembrance of him we do comply with his Institution provided we do it sometime or other Now to destroy this false notion from whence such absurdities flow I shall in the first place show you that the quite contrary naturally and necessarily follows from this observation of our Saviours appointing no time for the performance of that which he required to be done in remembrance of him From whence mens wicked hearts draw this conclusion as I have said that it may suffice to do this now and then though never so seldom I. But the true the genuine and honest conclusion which follows from thence is this that our Lord having named no fixed setled time or times for the performance of this holy action it is an argument that he designed and appointed it as a constant common and ordinary part of the Christian Service which he would have performed in his Church at all times Let those words of Christ this do in remembrance of me be well weighed and there is no man can infer less from thence than that if he had intended this should be done only at some such great and solemn times as the Passover was among the Jews when he first instituted this Feast and eat it with his Disciples he would not have suffered us to be ignorant of his meaning but told us in plain terms that upon some certain days and at some extraordinary Assemblies this should not be forgotten But that he having named no time whatsoever we ought to look upon his words as instituting this holy action to be a part of that Worship Honour and Service which he expected from his people in all their Religious Assemblies For being ordained in remembrance of him it is most reasonable to think he intended this Commemoration should be as constantly made as they met together to acknowledge him for their Lord and Saviour and only Mediator with God the Father And being a Commemoration ordained instead of all the Sacrifices whereby under the Law they daily implored the mercies of God or gave thanks for them it ought in all Conscience to be as continual a rite of Religious Worship as those Sacrifices were And thus when men had upright hearts and unbiassed affections they did honestly understand our Saviours meaning and accordingly made this a constant part of their Divine Service Which is the next thing I would desire you to observe For I would not have you to rely merely on my reasonings and inferences though I verily think this would appear a true way of arguing and a right conclusion unto any unprejudiced mind if we had no more to justify it but as a further evidence of this nay as a full conviction that we ought so to take it I beseech you seriously to consider that II. Thus the Apostles and the first Christians understood the meaning of our blessed Saviour in this Institution And can we have any better Expositors of his words any surer directors of our practice than such great Servants of his who were filled with the Holy Ghost Who never met together to worship God and our Saviour but this was a part and a principal part too of the service they performed in those Assemblies If I can make this good the other will follow for there can no other
account be given why they did this as constantly as they assembled themselves for Divine Service but because they took that to be our Saviours meaning and intention when he said This do in remembrance of me Now there is nothing more apparent in the holy story than this that the Apostles and those whom they first converted made this a daily part of the offices of Religion For we read that when three thousand Souls joined themselves to the Church upon the day of Pentecost they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and breaking of Bread and Prayers Act. ii 42. Where breaking of Bread I proved before signifies their receiving the Eucharist and now observe that the words we translate continued stedfastly which in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify that they were constant and assiduous in this holy action For the word imports frequency as appears from other places particularly from Rom. xii 12. Where there is the same word in the Apostles Command for Prayer and we translate it continuing instant in Prayer And Coloss iv 2. it is joined with watching thereunto with thanksgiving From which Observations we gain this that as frequent and instant as they were in Prayer so frequent and instant they were in breaking of Bread for they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constant and unwearied in them both alike Now what this constancy or frequency was is expounded in the 46. verse where St. Luke saith they continued the same word again daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from house to house or at home as the word is better translated in the Margin of our Bibles Where we see that breaking of Bread at home in their own private Houses was as daily as their going to the Temple publickly and can be meant of nothing but their receiving the holy Communion every day For no man can so much as imagine a reason why breaking of Bread should be mentioned as their daily practice at home together with their resort to the Temple service abroad but to signify that they communicated among themselves in the service of the Eucharist or Holy Communion proper to the Faith of Christians as they communicated with the Jews in the service of the Temple common to all the Disciples of Moses You may impute this it is possible to the warmth of their zeal but remember withal that this zeal was grounded upon knowledge which they wanted not in those dayes And the knowledge they had of Christian Religion taught them that when our blessed Saviour commanded them to do this in remembrance of him naming no time when it should be done he meant it should be done always in their Christian Assemblies as the perfection and Crown of that Service for which they Assembled III. And indeed if we had not had these records of the practice of the Apostles and of the first Christians to explain the meaning of our Saviours Institution yet we should have had reason to think it was so in the Apostles days and therefore the meaning of our Saviour because this practice of receiving the holy Communion every Day continued in the Church for some Ages I cannot say in every place for we have no Records of that but rather of the contrary but in many places and in the most famous that are come to our notice and where the vigour of Christian Religion remained and where they were awakened by more than ordinary dangers to consider their obligation Thus we find St. Cyprian in his Exposition of the Lords Prayer takes that Petition give us this day our daily Bread to signify in the spiritual sense our desire to be fit to receive the Eucharist every day for the food of Salvation And in his Epistle to the Church of Thibaris speaking of a more grievous and fiercer fight of persecution hanging then over their heads he tell them therefore the Souldiers of Jesus Christ ought to fortify and arm themselves well against it with an uncorrupt Faith and robust Vertue considering that they did for this end quotidie calicem Christi sanguinis bibere c. every day drink the Cup of Christs blood that they might also be able to shed their own blood for Christs sake In which words he addresses his Discourse to the Laicks as well as the Clergy exhorting all the faithful unto the constancy of Martyrdom which Men Women and Children indured Nay long after this we learn from St. Hierom in his Apology to Pammachius for his Books against Jovinian and other places that this Custom continued at Rome and in Spain as well as in Africk where St. Austin tell us in his famous Epistle to Januarius that in his time some did quotidie communicare c. daily communicate of the body and blood of our Lord though others he acknowledges did it only on certain days St. Basil also begins his Epistle to Caesaria Patritia in this manner to communicate every day and partake of the holy body and blood of our Lord Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a commendable and profitable thing and then adds that they did communicate four times a Week in his Church on the Lords day Wednesday Friday and the Sabbath that is Saturday and on other dayes if the memory of any Martyr fell upon them Nay three or four Ages more after this such a sense of this Devotion remained that Walafridus Strabo in his Book of Ecclesiastical Affairs c. 20. sayes it seems to be very full of reason that Christians especially Clergymen should every day be imployed in divine Offices and when some very grievous spot of mind or body doth not hinder receive the Lords Bread and Blood without which we cannot live imitating the wholsome diligence of the primitive Church concerning whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles that they persevered in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and Prayers and a little after they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House c. quoting the words I named before All which and much more that might be said make it apparent that the Church in the best times and the best men in the Church in after Ages lookt upon this as an ordinary part of Christian Worship which Christ intended should be performed in his Church as oft as they Assembled for Divine Service And what other ground could they have for it but this that Christ having confined it to no time they thought in reason it should be taken for a duty he expected from them at all times when they came to worship him and make their thankful acknowledgments unto him IV. And truly we can gather no less from the very nature of this holy action which sufficiently shows it was our Saviours meaning that it should be a daily part of the Churches Service It being as all know a solemn Thanksgiving unto God and a Form of Prayer and Petitioning which every one
lay down their lives one for another now we kill and destroy at least hate and bite and are ready to devour one another Then they were for doing all the good they could to others now we are all for our selves and it is well if we be not contriving mischief and doing injuries or ill offices to our Neighbours Then they feared no dangers but now we are unwilling to suffer any thing Then they lived in absolute obedience to the worst of Governours but now we are apt to quarrel with just Authority and to find fault with every thing that is done by our Prince and our Superiours Unto what can we more probably ascribe this difference than to their frequenting and our neglecting of the Holy Communion In which opinion I am not singular for Dr. Jackson I remember sometime Dean of this Church thought it very likely that the Wars of Kingdoms the Contentions in Families the infinite multitude of Law-Sutes the personal hatreds and the universal want of Charity which hath made the World so miserable and so wicked may in a great degree be attributed to the neglect of this great Symbol and Instrument of Charity Which could not but closely knit us together in Brotherly love and affection if the nature of it were duly considered For that is such saith Mr. Calvin in the place before-named as shows it was not intended to be received once a Year only but to be in frequent use among Christians that in a frequent memory they might repeat the Passion of Christ and by that Commemoration support and strengthen their Faith praise the loving kindness of God and cherish mutual Charity among themselves nay give a testimony of that one to another whose Bond they beheld in the unity of the Body of Christ For as oft as we communicate of the Symbol of Christs Body we strictly ty our selves mutually one to another by giving as it were and receiving a token and pledge thereof to perform all the offices of love and kindness so that none of us will do any thing whereby our Brother may receive any harm nor omit any thing whereby we may be helpful to him when his necessities require and our abilities are sufficient VIII And now in the last place I shall further show the great necessity of this duty by representing to you this sad truth that as the seldom Celebration of the Holy Communion was attended with a lamentable decay of holy Living so thereby the Christian Worship it self was no less wofully corrupted and depraved For from hence have risen I can clearly show sundry dangerous corruptions in the Roman Church of which we complain very justly but do not charge upon the right cause I will mention three or four I. First The Priest's communicating alone by himself which in truth is no Communion arose from that gross negligence which I am now perswading you to amend The Church of Rome hath thus far preserved a right notion of the holy Communion as to conceive it to be a part of the daily Service upon which the people as you have heard attended more or less for some Ages But in process of time they growing cold left only the Priests and Deacons to communicate with him that ministred and the Priests and Deacons also growing remiss he was at last left alone Who in some places continued to say all the Prayers and read the Epistle and Gospel and all things else belonging to this Service until he came to the Consecration and there broke off but in other places he ventured to proceed further and consecrated and received the holy Communion by himself alone Which last way of proceeding being found most for the profit of the Priests it grew to be a custom in the Roman Church for the Priest that officiated to communicate alone when there was no Body to receive with him For if there had been no Communion there would have been no offerings and therefore they continued the Communion though there were none to communicate nay multiplied private Masses that there might be as many oblations as ever This is one corruption which hath most certainly sprung from the indevotion of Christian People II. Another as bad or worse is this the giving the holy Communion in a Wafer For the ancient custom being as we read in Honorius Augustodunensis for the several Families in a Town to bring to the Priest the flower with which the panis Dominicus as he calls it the Lords Bread was made or else to join together to bring a Loaf ready made by a common contribution to it which was called their oblation and the Host being for the representation of our Saviours Sacrifice on the Cross when the Church was increased in number but grew less in sanctity as his words are this Loaf dwindled from a great one into a little one according to the small number of Communicants till at last there being no Communicants at all it shrunk up into a Wafer that is a little thin bit of Bread in the form of a small piece of money the people offering such pieces of money in stead of Meal being just so much as the Priest could eat himself when there was no body to receive with him This is the Original of Wafers which still retained the name of the Host after it was no longer the offering of the people nor a representation of Christs Sacrifice these Wafers having brought in this corruption that now there is no breaking of the Bread in representation of the breaking of Christs Body Though it be expresly mentioned in the Institution of this Sacrament where we read that Christ took Bread and brake it c. and is so much belonging to the essence as we speak of the Sacrament that the Sacrament took its name from hence and is called in Scripture breaking of Bread Behold here again what Christian people have done by their indevotion Which hath given occasion to such a considerable depravation as this For St. Paul speaking of this part of the Eucharist calls it the bread that we break 1 Cor. x. 16. and our Lord himself explaining the Mystery of this Bread saith positively this is my body which is broken for you xi 24. Which evidently shows that the Bread ought then to be broken or else it cannot be Christs Body broken for us and therefore that this breaking of the Bread is not such a superfluous thing as the Church of Rome now makes it for the Bread is not broken there but such a part of this Sacrament as without it the sufferings of Christ upon the Cross are not fully represented to us But thus as I said the negligence of Christian People in not frequenting the Holy Communion hath maimed this Sacrament Nay III. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation in all probability came from the same original For the Priest being left alone at the Communion they found it necessary to magnify what he did there as much as it was possible that so the
Custom or rather O the power of Presumption The daily Sacrifice is in vain we stand at the Altar to no purpose there is no body to partake with us but then at Easter abundance of Company by all means will croud in upon us though as unworthy as at any other time I do not speak this that you should receive without any more ado but that you would prepare your selves to receive worthily oftner than you do considering if thou art unworthy of the Sacrifice if thou art unworthy to partake how art thou worthy to pray with us Thou hearest the publick Officer making Proclamation All ye that are under penance depart They then that do not partake are under penance If thou art one of those thou oughtest not to partake for he that partaketh not is in the number of the Penitents To what purpose doth he proclaim depart all ye that cannot pray viz. with the faithful and yet thou impudently stayest and dost not depart But thou art none of those and therefore thou dost not depart That is thou are in the number of those that may receive and art invited to it and yet thou regardest it not thou makest no account of this matter Mind I beseech you There is a Royal Table spread the Angels minister there the King himself is present and thou standest gaping carelesly refusing to partake with him What a shame is this Dost thou appear there in filthy Garments and art nothing concerned about it No thy raiment is pure why then dost thou not approach and partake How comest thou to be here if that be not thy business For all that are in their sins are first thrust out and therefore thou that stayest ought to partake of the mysteries or else thou art impudent and wicked too Had it not been better if a man invited to feast with a great person had not appeared than to come and not to touch a bit of the meat Even so it is with thee thou art come to this holy Banquet thou hast sung the Hymn with all the rest by this very thing thou professest thy self in the number of the worthy in that thou didst not depart with the unworthy how comes it to pass then that when thou stayest thou dost not partake of the Lords Table I am unworthy thou sayest Then I say again thou art unworthy of that Communion which is in the Prayers For not only for the holy mysteries but for the Prayers also and for the Hymns the Spirit descends always A great deal more saith he might be added as indeed he doth say much more which I have omitted but that I may not burden your minds this may suffice And they that are not reclaimed and brought to a better mind by what hath been said will not be mended though we should say never so much And these things are said by us But O that he who pierces the heart he that gives the spirit of compunction would vouchsafe to prick every one of our hearts That these things may be deeply ingrafted there and in his fear sprout and bring forth fruit so that with all confidence and freedom we may approach unto him and it may be said as it is in the Psalms though to a different sense Thy Children are like Olive Branches round about thy Table The end of the second Discourse Discourse III. A RESOLUTION OF DOUBTS About Receiving the Holy Communion THE Necessity of this Holy Duty the high Obligations we have unto it and the reasons why it ought to be frequently performed by Christian People have been so fully and so plainly laid before you in the two preceding Discourses that I cannot but think all that will take the pains to consider them must be convinced both of the one and of the other of the duty and of the repetition of it frequently For I have shown that it is a part of the daily service which Christ appointed in his Church a principal part of that service whereby we maintain our Communion with him and with his benefits and therefore cannot be neglected as now it generally is without the greatest offence to him and as great dishonour to our holy Religion Which I have demonstrated hath been many wayes corrupted and depraved by the lamentable carelessness of Christian People in this great office of it Who must be perswaded therefore if they make any Conscience of their wayes to resolve to do this in remembrance of their Saviour oftner than they have done And what impediment there can be to the putting such resolutions in Execution I cannot imagine unless it be some particular exceptions which they in their own private thoughts take not against the duty but against their performance of it at least for the present For how necessary how beneficial soever it be in it self and may be unto others yet unto them some fansie it is not so but rather they ought to forbear the Communion until they be satisfied about some things in which they are doubtful For while those doubts and scruples remain in their minds unremoved they think they have a just reason to hinder them from coming to the Lords Table nay they say they dare not come for fear of offending the Divine Majesty and so perswade themselves they are as religious in staying away as others may be in going thither Now these exceptions which they make against their performance of this duty are generally drawn from one of these three heads First From the form or manner wherein the holy Communion is now administred in our Church Secondly From the Company to whom it is administred and with whom it must be received Thirdly From the person himself who is called upon to receive it who judges himself altogether unfit for so solemn a duty Unto all which I doubt not to make a satisfactory Answer if men be as willing to be rid of their scruples as to retain them but shall most largely indeavour to satisfy the last because it is the greatest and most weighty I. About the first of these the form or manner wherein the Holy Communion is administred in this Church a long Discourse cannot be expected for it is not proper in this place Nor is there any need at all of it but it may suffice to say a very few things in answer to it For let it but be considered first how various the minds of men are how weak and captions which disposes them too oft to boggle at every thing with which they have not had a long acquaintance And then you will next of all grant me that it is impossible for any man before hand to know or imagine till he speak with them what such minds will object or scruple about this matter For some have a fancy against one thing some against another That which one allows another dis-approves and that which he disapproves another allows And the very best constitutions it is possible are disapproved by many narrow weak and scrupulous minds Now
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
this being granted which cannot be denied that it is impossible in so many several ways wherein several men wonder to trace every mans errors find out his particular conceits and pursue him from scruple to scruple till no more be started all that is pertinent to be said in this case will be reduced to so small a compass that there is but one advice only which can be given for such mens satisfaction Which is this That seeing it is certainly our Christian duty to communicate together at the Lord's Table in some form manner and method or other they that are dissatisfied with that order and method which our Church uses ought in Conscience to apply themselves to their spiritual Pastors privately and make known to them their objections against it with a mind ready and desirous to receive satisfaction For in an age which abounds with such various fancies and conceits as we sometimes meet withal no Minister of Christ can be able to guess before he confer with them what every one of his flock will object to the present established way of Worship and therefore cannot out of the Pulpit attempt an Answer to them without running the hazard of speaking at random and beating the air in guessing that to be objected which is not or omitting that which is and which perhaps he could not imagine would have been objected For which reasons it is impossible even for the Press it self to meet with every particular exception though a large Book should be written on the subject And therefore the short the sure and the easy way to certain satisfaction is for every one that hath any thing to say against the manner and form of divine administrations among us which hinder him from communicating to address himself to his spiritual Guide whom God hath set over him or to some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word and to lay open his whole mind before him that he may free him from his scruples Unto this every man is bound because he is bound to communicate but cannot he sayes till these scruples be removed which therefore he ought to indeavour to have removed by this means which is of Gods own Prescription And being used uprightly with a sincere desire to be rightly informed and a humble willingness to learn and being continued with constancy from time to time and not presently laid aside because the mind is not immediately convinced will I doubt not by Gods blessing in the issue dispossess that man of his doubts and bring him to conformity who seriously tries it with patience II. As for the second head from whence objections are drawn against the practice of this Christian duty viz. the Company which partakes at the Table of the Lord which some perhaps think unfit for them to communicate withal I shall answer to it a little more largely I. And first I take it to be undoubtedly certain that no Man or Woman who professes and understands Christianity and do not contradict their profession by a prophane and scandalous conversation can lawfully be denied the Holy Communion when they present themselves to receive it For who were they for whom Christ prepared this Table but his Disciples And what other rule have we whereby to judge who are his Disciples but only by mens professing Christianity and by their living for any thing that appears to the contrary sutable to this profession If such as these may not be admitted to the holy Communion and consequently we receive with such then none are to be admitted but we must turn all people whatsoever from it and so breaking all Christian Communion for want of Company to partake of this Sacrament extinguish the Ordinance it self which Christ hath most solemnly appointed II. Now this being setled as a well-grounded truth it follows that no good Christian can be forward to judge others to be unworthy to communicate but rather will be very scrupulous lest he offend in so judging For it is so much against the rules of Christianity to pass such censures on others that they who are too forward to do it are as unworthy for any thing that I can see as any other persons whom they censure Because they act contrary to the Christian Religion which makes it a sin to be hasty in condemning our Neighbours there being such great danger that we may be mistaken For though a man have contradicted his Christian profession in some things yet this is a truth wherein we all agree that whosoever is a true penitent and purposes to leave those sins whereby he hath contradicted it is by that repentance restored to Friendship with God and therefore really worthy to receive the holy Communion Now whether a man whom you judge unworthy have this serious setled purpose or no is very hard for you to know since you cannot see into any mans heart nor know what is between God and him in secret But he coming to the Lords Table you ought rather to judge that he doth so purpose and resolve because he is invited thither upon those terms and no other nay required to come so prepared or else not dare to approach unto it For so you find it in the Exhortation that is read when the Minister giveth warning for the celebration of the holy Sacrament And so he speaks again at the time of the Celebration in those known words Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins and are in love and charity with your Neighbours and intend to lead a new life following the Commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his holy ways draw near with faith and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort III. And that leads to the next Our Church you see proceeds according to the undoubted Rule I named at first for its Constitutions do not admit but exclude all scandalous persons from this holy Sacrament And therefore you ought not to depart from its Communion when any Minister thereof doth admit such evil Livers to it because it is his personal fault who alone is to be charged with it and not any fault of the Church which ought not to bear the blame nor upon this account to be forsaken Nay that Minister himself perhaps may not be in fault having no knowledge of the scandal and therefore not to be blamed And more than this he perhaps who complains of the scandal is the very man upon whom this blame will light at last For if he knew of any such notorious evil Liver who was admitted to the Communion his duty was not thereupon to withdraw himself from it but to make proof of the scandal whereof such a man stood guilty that he might not without amendment and open Declaration of his repentance be admitted to it again Which this Exceptioner neglecting to do his abstaining from the Communion because of such offence is the effect of his own negligence in another duty of Christianity And so he becomes doubly guilty both in
with-drawing himself from the holy Communion and in not acquainting those with the crimes which he pretends for the cause of his withdrawing who were concerned to redress them IV. And lastly suppose that after information given they who are concerned do not take care to redress those things but such scandalous Livers be still admitted to the Communion yet this not being the fault of private persons but of those who have power to exclude them it ought not to keep any good Man or Woman from the Table of the Lord. For there can be no reason why any man should be hindred by this from doing his own duty because another man doth not discharge his And let it here be seriously considered that if this were a just hindrance it would have hindred Christ and his Apostles and the primitive Christians from communicating For there was ill Company among the very first Communicants Judas the Traytor in all likelihood being there when our Lord himself administred And in this Church of Corinth it is evident there were such disorders that many did eat and drink their own Damnation and yet it did not hinder good Christians from partaking with them to their Salvation And the very truth is if this were a sufficient reason to hinder us from Communion it ought also to hinder us from being Christians and make us forbear to become members of any Church or profession For there is no Church but consists of a mixt multitude good and bad and therefore compared by our Saviour unto a Net wherein all sorts of Fish were caught Math. xiii 47 48. and unto a Field wherein wheat and tares sprung up which must grow together till the Harvest lest by an indiscreet indeavour to gather up the Tares the Wheat be also rooted up with them ver 24 25 29 30. And therefore this scruple driven home will destroy Christianity as it hath done in some places where men have divided and subdivided till by their separation from them whom they accounted wicked they have crumbled into nothing and left no Church at all remaining but what was in their particular person That is none for the Church is a Society and there is no Society nor can be any but we may find some exception or other against every person in it and particularly against such persons who judging others unworthy to Communicate with them abstain on that account from the holy Communion For besides the suspition of rash judging and pride that is in the thing they are apparently guilty of a gross sin in not coming to the holy Communion of Christs Body and Blood according to his Commandment The secret reason of which perhaps they do not declare and so others have as much authority to judge them unworthy as they to judge others and by this means all of them if this be a just excuse may let the holy Communion alone I hope you see by this short Discourse whither such exceptions as these lead and therefore that you will no longer be guided by them but notwithstanding the faults you think you can find in any person there present be perswaded by the weighty reasons you see for it to do your own duty at the Table of the Lord. III. Where we should have more Company than is usually seen there were it not for another hinderance arising not from others but from mens selves alone Who are wont sometimes to say we would come to the Table of the Lord being convinced it is our duty if we were worthy of so great a benefit but we are deterred from it by the consideration of our many sins or great frailties We have at least too many diversions by business too many avocations by the affairs of this World for I am alway in a hurry saith one I have no leisure to examine my self or I am not disposed for so serious a work saith another We had better forbear than be rash say all of this sort it is safer to honour the Sacrament by a fearful and reverent abstinence from it than by a careless and unprepared forwardness to partake of it prophane it In a word we conceive our selves to be utterly unfit therefore we dare not come to it Now in answer to this third Exception against the performance of this duty which hath a shew of humility in it and looks like a pious care not to do good things in an ill manner I have many things to propound to your consideration which are so convincing and will so unmask the dangerous deceit that lurks under such pretences that they will not suffer you to be cheated by it any longer I. And in the first place every one who complains of his unfitness and makes that the reason of his not coming to the Holy Communion ought to consider both whose fault this is and whether it be not likely he shall grow still more unfit every day than other that is be more in fault by not receiving it For you will not you cannot say it is our Saviour's fault who commands you to come that you are not sit to come to it Whose fault is it then but your own And why do you not then amend it lest you still grow greater strangers to him nay Enemies by evil works and by continuing to neglect the means of living better For this very unfitness which you alledge for your forbearing the Communion is your sin and will you turn your sin into an Apology and make it serve for your Plea for the neglect of a plain duty Can you think that this will pass at the Bar of the Divine Judgment when you appear before it Dare you thus excuse your neglect of the Sacrament by acknowledging another crime When an accusation a just accusation lies against you will you then go about to turn it into a defence of your self as you are bold to do now I come not to the holy Communion it is true but it is because I am unholy I am sensible of the looseness of my life which is not strict enough I am not in Charity or at best I am Worldly minded and too much distracted with the affairs of this life This is the plea of some men who do not mind how after a strange manner they make one sin an excuse for another For this is the plain sense of their Plea God we hope will be merciful to us in forgiving one sin because we commit another which is the cause thereof Pardon that is the neglect of the Sacrament because they neglect to fit themselves for it For none can deny that it is one sin not to commemorate the Death of Christ as he hath appointed and it is also another to neglect a due preparation for it And so instead of amending one such men add another to it heaping evil upon evil and aggravating their Condemnation by their very pleas and excuses Of which they could not be thus senslesly guilty were this plain truth duly considered that there is the same