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
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
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
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
love of our blessed Saviour and too small valuation of his inestimable benefits Which I beseech you let us awaken our minds to weigh and ponder and then we shall make it part of our business to contrive our affairs in this World in such a manner that there never want some Company at the Holy Communion And it is no hard matter so to order things that some receiving one Sunday some another all may receive at least once a Month. What should hinder if we have any mind to it and will set our selves about it what can stand in the way of such a blessed and comfortable Reformation as this Of which though we have not heard a word from the great pretenders to Religion in an Age wherein so much hath been talkt of the Reformation of the Church yet all the true Children of it who understand and seek its good are sensible that the continual celebration of the Eucharist and the Discipline of penance to preserve the people in a disposition fit to receive it are such points of reformation in the Church as the great man before-named expresses it that without restoring these all the rest is but mere noise and pretence if not mischief And these are the things at which the Order of our Church aims for as it earnestly sighs and groans as you read in the Commination towards the restoring of publick penance which is the only means established by the Apostles to maintain the Church in condition to communicate continually so it enjoins as you have heard the continual celebration of the Eucharist in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Colledges every Sunday at the least which supposes it would be still more agreeable to its desires if it were done also upon other Festivals Now what should hinder us I ask again from coming thus near to the primitive Devotion though we do not come up quite to the utmost perfection of it Unless it be the fancy which works in many minds that to Communicate three times in the Year as the Church injoins every Parishioner at the least to do is sufficient for any Christian Which may well be called a fancy since it is manifest the Church names three times in a Year as the very lowest degree of Devotion less than which it would account prophaneness and I have demonstrated that we have little or nothing to say for our Communicating so seldom as once a Month but only this that in most places it is no oftner administred In the Mother Churches it will hereafter be more frequently which will in some measure conform us to those ancient Churches which communicated every Sunday For all the Country Churches in the Diocess being but parts of the Mother Church it may be truly said the holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood is administred once a Week in all our Churches Where I beseech you let us never want a competent number of Communicants And that we may not do not any longer imagine that you show sufficient respect to our Saviour if you resolve to come thrice a Year I wish every one were careful of doing so much but let me further tell you they that set themselves such a stint will be in danger too oft to fall short of that And therefore it is far safer and more becoming to aim at and endeavour after higher attainments by coming more frequently to the Table of the Lord. Hear how sharply that great person St. Chrysostome inveighs against those that contented themselves with receiving only at the Festivals especially at Easter It is in his third Sermon upon the Epistle to the Ephesians where having expounded the last words of the first Chapter which represent our blessed Lord as the Head of the Church advanced far above all principalities and powers c. He thus begins his Sermon Let us reverence our Head let us think with our selves of what Head we are the Body a Head to which all things are subject what an honour is this to be in some sort viz. in our Head advanced above the Angels and the Archangels Let us reverence then this kindred this affinity which we have with Christ our Head Let us fear lest any of us be cut off from this Body lest any of us fall away lest we appear unworthy of our relation to him If any body had set a Diadem or a Crown of Gold upon our Head would we not have laboured by all means not to appear unworthy of those liveless stones And yet now that there is not so little as a Diadem put upon our Head but Christ himself which is infinitely more is become our Head we make no account at all of it The Angels reverence it the Archangels and all the Heavenly Powers do him honour we only who are his Body neither for this reason nor for the other have any considerable regard to him What hope then is there of our Salvation Think upon that Royal Throne think upon that exceeding great honour God hath conferred upon thee and it will be more powerful than Hell fire it self to affright thee into a due regard towards him With a great many more such like efficacious words which I do but abridge he presses his people to the greatest purity of life and then at last comes in particular to press them from this Argument to a religious care of receiving the holy Communion I see saith he many of you receive the Body of Christ but it is rather from custom and for order sake than out of reason and understanding If it were the holy time of Lent saith one or if it were the Epiphany that is Christmas Day saith another who would not prepare himself to partake of the Holy Mysteries Is it then Christmas is it the time of Lent that makes a man a worthy Receiver I thought it had been sincerity of Soul holiness and purity of Life With these come always without these thou hast no right to come at all For as oft as you do this you show the Lords Death quoteing my Text that is you make a Commemoration of the Salvation wrought for you and of the benefit Christ bestowed upon you Consider then how abstemious how careful were they who did partake of the old Sacrifices under the Law What did they not do What expence were they not willing to make They were always purifying themselves that they might partake of the Altar But thou coming to a Sacrifice at which the Angels are astonished circumscribest the business and confinest it to certain periods of time thou wilt receive it at Easter at Christmas then thou wilt be pure and clean to partake of it But how wilt thou appear before the Tribunal of the Lord Jesus who darest with impure hands and lips to touch his Body For so it is at other times you will not come no not though you be pure but at Easter you will needs come though you have lately perhaps been bold to commit some great transgression O the power of
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
confesses are acts of Worship to be constantly performed and also a commemoration of that upon which the efficacy of all our Prayers and Thanksgivings depends viz. the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross which is here likewise represented unto God as that which appearing always before him in the Heavens intercedes for us and makes all our Sacrifices acceptable to his Majesty And besides all this is the peculiar worship which the Church gives unto Christ as a grateful acknowledgment of his unparallel'd love in laying down his life for us to purchase the most inestimable benefits which he herein also assures unto us and bestows upon us Which is in part declared in these words upon which I have built my Discourse wherein we are told the end of this holy Sacrament is to show or publish the Lords Death that is show it with praise predicate extol and magnify as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports proclaim with our highest praises the loving kindness of the Lord in the glorious work of our Redemption through his most pretious blood But is more fully declared in the very words of the Institution when he said Do this in remembrance of me which show that our doing this is the peculiar honour we do our blessed Lord by making a publick commemoration that he took our nature upon him that he died for us that he obtained thereby a glorious Victory over all our Enemies that he purchased for himself and for us immortal glory and is now at Gods right hand in full power to bestow it upon us In memory of all these things saith our Saviour do this that when I am dead I may always live in your hearts and the knowledge of all these things may go down to all posterity and be commemorated from one Generation unto another for ever with thankful praises but especially the memory of my Death may be transmitted to them and be celebrated with continual acknowledgments For it was but fit that he should be publickly honoured in that which when he suffered exposed him to the greatest contempt And no doubt it was the design of God in appointing this Rite of holy worship to have his Death commemorated with Everlasting praises which for the present had brought him into the utmost disgrace To which purpose is that passage in an Easter Sermon ascribed to Caesarius Bishop of Arles because he intended to remove out of our sight the body which he had taken and to place it in Heaven it was necessary that in the same day he should consecrate for us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood to the end that we should honour by the type that which had been once offered for the price of our Salvation In short this is the proper worship of God Incarnate and of our Crucified Saviour and therefore cannot be thought by wise considerers to have been intended to be left unto uncertainty whether we would perform it or no or when we would be pleased to perform it but to have been ordained as a daily Service which should be continually performed unto Christ Which in truth the continual necessities of the Church require it being the principal Act whereby we have Communion with Christ and partake of the Sacrifice he made on the Cross We are united unto him as Members of his Body in the other Sacrament of Baptism wherein also his holy Spirit is bestowed upon us as a principle of life and motion sutable to our Religion which directs us unto this Sacrament as the chief outward visible means of preserving our Union with Christ by having constant Communion with him and with his holy spirit Whose influences he here communicates unto us for our growth and increase in spiritual life and holiness and we therefore in reason should be desirous constantly to receive because we constantly want them and are too apt to start aside from him unto whom we ought to keep our selves stedfastly united by Faith and Love and uniform universal Obedience Put now all this together that it is an act of holy worship a worship altogether as peculiar to the Church as the Sacrifice on the Cross is peculiar to Christianity the only worship wherewith we honour our blessed Lord and Saviour a Commemoration nay a representation of that which makes all our Services acceptable unto God and the principal way and means whereby we have Communion with Christ from whom we stand in continual need of the Communication of his grace and we shall soon be satisfied that the plainest and most reasonable answer that can be given to those who ask how often did Christ intend we should eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup is this as often as we assemble publickly to worship God our Saviour For there is no worship peculiar to him but this nor is there any wherein we have such Communion with him as in this by which we do truly and indeed participate of the Sacrifice offered unto God upon the Cross as the Jews and the Gentiles did of their Sacrifices offered up on their Altars Thus the Apostle discourses at large in the Chapter before my Text 1 Cor. x. 16 17. c. where he takes it for an undeniable truth that Christians do communicate with God their Saviour in the merits of his Death by receiving the holy Eucharist And thence proves it to be unlawful for them to partake of the Gentile Sacrifices by proving that to eat of their Sacrifices was to be accessory to their Idolatries as the Jews by eating of such Sacrifices as were offered among them did partake of the Altar or did communicate with the Altar that is Communicate with God whose Altar that was upon which the Sacrifices were consumed Which evidently supposes that Christians also did in the Eucharist partake of a Sacrifice and were thereby joined to Christ who was that Sacrifice Which though carried by him into the most holy place of the Heavens there to be presented unto God is no less participated by Christians in this holy Feast of the Eucharist than the Jews did participate of their offerings of thanksgiving on the Altar I know very well it will be objected that by understanding our Saviours meaning in this Institution after this manner we prove a great deal too much and argue our publick service to be defective when it wants this peculiar worship of Christ which he ordained To which I shall only say this that if by discoursing thus we prove no more than is true our worship must be confessed to be but imperfect when the Holy Communion is wanting not so perfect at least as that of the ancient Christians was Which we had much better honestly acknowledge and beseech God to accept for Christs sake of such services as we do perform though in some regard and in comparison imperfect ones than by going about to defend untruths and establish false notions in Religion to make our selves more guilty before God I know also it will be urged
people Consider then in what disposition do you think you stand for Society with Christ in Eternal Life and Bliss in the Heavens if you are not disposed to have Communion with him in this holy Sacrament here upon Earth What likelihood can you fancy of having His Company there if He cannot have your Company here That which keeps you from the one will exclude you from the other I mean those things whatsoever they be that make you unmeet to partake of his Table at present will make you unmeet to feast with him in his Heavenly Kingdom hereafter The terms of admission unto both are the same for he that duly partakes of the holy Communion hath an earnest given him of Everlasting Bliss and therefore there cannot be different terms of exclusion but the very same also That is those sins which exclude men from the Kingdom of Heaven are they which exclude them from the pledge and earnest of it in this holy Sacrament And those sins which do not shut the gate of the Heavenly Kingdom against them cannot be a bar to their receiving the Sacrament Satisfy your selves what those sins are of both sorts and you will withal satisfy your selves that you are not unfit to come to the holy Communion unless you be unfit to enter into Heaven and if you be unfit for that I do not see how you can rest satisfied if you have any care of your Souls till by becoming capable to be received thither you become capable to be entertained at the Lords Table For which every sudden passion every rash word every sin that is committed by surprise against the setled purpose of our Souls and serious indeavours will not make us utterly unfit because such things will not shut us out of Heaven But those gross those deliberate and habitual sins that bar the Door of Heaven against us are the same that put a bar against our coming to the Lord's Table and the same that keep us from partaking of that are they that will keep us from being partakers of the other And therefore resolve what it is fit for you to do the matter being come to this short issue that if you are not fit for the Lord's Table neither are you fit for Heaven if you hope you are so fit for Heaven that you shall not be thrust out of it then are you not unfit for the Lord's Table Why then do you not come thither when you cannot stay away without acknowledging that you have no interest in Christ and his Eternal Love So the ancient Doctrine was as we learn from St. Austin who in his first Book concerning the deserts and remission of sins Cap. 24. tells us that in his Country they called Baptism SALVATION and the Sacrament of Christs Body by no other name than LIFE from an ancient and Apostolical Tradition as he thinks whereby the Churches of Christ hold for certain that no body can attain either Salvation or Life in the Kingdom of God without Baptism and the participation of the Table of the Lord. Which none can gainsay is thus far true that we know of no other gates but these Christ hath appointed no other to let us into his Kingdom and that they who are unworthy to partake of the holy mysteries of his Kingdom cannot be worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it self VI. If obstinacy as he speaks a little before in that Book did not knit its stubborn sinews against the force of evident truth I might here make an end But some still persist in their exceptions and say if we be not unfit yet we fear we are and how shall we free our selves from these fears and jealousies which extreamly disturb our minds and put us into such disorder that we cannot compose our selves for the holy Communion In the last place therefore I answer to this by asking a few plain and easy questions upon which if you will Examine your selves you will soon arrive at satisfaction Do you not make profession of Christianity Do you not believe what that Religion teaches Do you not indeavour impartially to practice according to that belief Do you not discern or distinguish the Lord's Body that is make a difference between this holy food and other meat and drink Do you not understand the ends for which it was appointed What can hinder you then from partaking of the Lords Body if therein you intend those ends Here is a sure and infallible Test unto which if you bring your selves you may try thereby whether you be fit or no to have Communion with Christ in this holy Sacrament and determine the case with such certainty as to be no longer perplexed with doubts and fears about it 1. The first of these questions need not be long considered for by receiving Baptism and being present at the Prayers where the Creeds are openly owned you make a profession of Christianity and therefore you are thus far fit and have a right and title to come and make this profession still more solemnly at the Table of the Lord. 2. The second also is soon resolved whether you believe with your heart what you profess with your mouth For these doubts and fears which you have lest you should receive the Communion unworthily and thereby incur the divine displeasure suppose Faith in Christ as the Lord and Judge of the World and that you look upon this as one part of a Christians Duty which ought to be performed with care and great circumspection 3. The third also need not cost you much labour for by reading over the rules of life delivered in the Gospel and comparing your manner of life with them you may be satisfied whether you impartially indeavour to practise according to your belief That is do you not willingly rest under any habit of sin which excludes from this Sacrament as they do from Heaven but make it your serious business to break them all Then you ought to use this means among others which God hath appointed and call upon him for his aid without which nothing can be effected in this sort of Supplication for weaknesses bewailed and indeavoured daily to be reformed do not exclude us from either of them But they rather require our diligence and constancy in the receiving this holy Sacrament that we may grow strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Which we therefore want because we neglect this means of obtaining it or are possessed with such vain fears as quite damp that Faith which should be exercised in the use of it 4. For which fears there is no cause when you are thus qualified provided also you discern the Lords Body in the holy Communion that is consider what that Bread and Wine imports which you see upon the Table of the Lord what they signify and represent unto you and what spiritual grace is imparted to you by their means which your very Catechism teaches you is the Body and Blood of Christ which are
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
press you by these two Arguments and so conclude I. The first is the great concern we have made show of about our Religion and the fears we have pretended lest we should be so unhappy as to lose it If we be in good earnest concerned for it why then I beseech you do we not take care to keep it by being truly Religious Is there any reason to think that they are troubled with fears of losing one half of the Communion who can be content with none at all Or with what Conscience do they find fault with the Church of Rome for taking away the Cup from the People when they themselves live as if the whole Sacrament were unnecessary It is a false zeal which declaims against the Priests receiving alone and doth not bring men to receive with him when they may but suffers him still to remain at the Altar with a very small Company In these things we accuse and reproach our selves demonstrating we are not led by Religion but by humour Worldly Interest or Faction For no man can be thought to be truly solicitous for the preservation of Religion when he makes no use of it nor receives any benefit by it Cannot he live without the name who lives without the thing It we be unseignedly desirous to maintain the estate of Religion here established let us seriously comply with its Institutions and serve God duly in all its Offices being afraid of this above all other things lest God should therefore remove our Candlestick out of its place because we will not walk in the light thereof therefore deprive us of the opportunities of the Holy Communion because we have no list to Communicate Unto which duty let us stir up our selves that it may stir us up to all other For what other way do we know like this nay what other way but this for our preservation II. That 's the second thing We of the Church of England profess to depend wholly upon Heaven in the use of spiritual Weapons alone for our protection in times of danger disclaiming the Lawfulness of taking up Arms to resist the Supreme Power upon the account of Religion Are we not strangely forgetful then if we accustom not our selves to the use of these spiritual means for our safety and security especially this of which I may say as David of the Sword of Goliah there is none like it What account can we give of such foul neglect of him unto whom we say every day there is none that fighteth for us but only thou O God Is not this to expose our selves to be a prey unto our Enemies if ever they have as much power as will to devour us For we openly declare by not seeking aid continually from above in that way wherein we are more likely to obtain it that we depend upon nothing at all but are the most defenceless of all Mankind So they would have thought in ancient dayes when they look'd upon those as left unarmed and naked who were not fortified with the protection of the body and blood of Christ. Which are the words of St. Cyprian who argues thus in his 57. Epistle since the Eucharist is made on purpose that it may be a defence and safeguard unto those who receive it let us arm those whom we would have to be safe against the Adversary speaking of the fight of affliction they were to encounter with the munition of the Lords plenteous fullness For how can we teach or provoke them to shed their blood for the Confession of his Name if entring the Combate we deny them the blood of Christ Or how shall we make them fit for the Cup of Martyrdom if we admit them not first to drink in the Church the Cup of the Lord Consider I beseech you how we in this Church profess to lean only upon the hope of his heavenly grace which is so necessary for us that we acknowledge in another Collect that the Church cannot continue in safety without his succour and therefore pray him to preserve it by his help and goodness Shall we not then seek this succour most solicitously shall we not implore this Heavenly Grace with ardent cries especially in this powerful way of prevailing with him by representing to him what Christ hath done and suffered for his Church which he purchased with his own most pretious blood We abandon all care of our selves when we thus forsake the only help we have to rest upon Nay it is to contradict our Prayers when we say we have no other Hope and yet do not flee to him our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble It is at least a vain and sensless leaning on him which makes us neglect him and lay aside the principal support which he hath left us for our incouragement and comfort in all our distresses If we really depend on him alone we had need apply our selves unto him with warmth of affection and great diligence If we rely on his help and goodness let us take care to please him in all things that so we may obtain the favour either to have the evils turned away from us which we have deserved or to be fortified against them with such a pious constancy that they may be stedfastly indured If we do not thus study to approve our selves his faithful Servants we foolishly confide in him against his own express Declarations that he will not patronize us in Irreligion and contempt of his Authority But if we faithfully obey him then we surely trusting in his Defence need not fear the power of any Adversaries but rest assured that he will keep his Church and Houshold continually in his true Religion that they who do lean only upon the hope of his heavenly grace may evermore be defended by his mighty power through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Books Written by the Reverend Dr Patrick and sold by Richard Royston THE Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with sutable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and for the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour The Sixth Edition The Devout Christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to God or a Book of Devotion for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane Life The Fifth Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth In two Parts in Octavo The Book of Job Paraphrased in Octavo New The Book of Psalms In two Parts Paraphrased in Octavo The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with the Arguments of each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting A Paraphrase upon the Books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon With Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon in Octavo New The truth of Christian Religion in Octavo New The Glorious Epiphany with the devout Christians love to it in Octavo A Book for Beginners or a Help to young Communicants that they may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit The Sixth Edition The Works of Dr Hammond in Four large Volumes viz. Vol. I. A Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical Vol. II. A Collection of Discourses in Defence of the Church of England 1. Against the Romanists 2. Against other Adversaries Vol. III. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament Vol. IV. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the Books of the Psalms A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the ten first Chapters of the Proverbs MS. Thirty one Sermons Preach'd upon several Occasions With an Appendix to Vol. 2.
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