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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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