Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	apostle_n	reason_n	word_n	1,618	5	4.0680	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

Administred every Lords-day as it was formerly and for that reason the Communion Service is still continued in the Church when there is no Administration is not because Christians may receive the Sacrament too often but because the Commonness of it may lesson that Reverence and Esteem which is to be had for that great and solemn Ordinance It would be a happiness indeed if from the number of Zealous Communicants we should find it necessary to Administer the Sacrament every Lords-day II. The danger of Unworthy Receiving is not so great as many think it is who flee from the Sacrament as that which would bring them into a very great and irrecoverable danger It is not an unpardonable Sin but that which may be amended I mention this in the second place for the satisfaction of those who are under such terrible fears of being Unworthy Communicants that they Communicate not at all which I am apt to think is the common case of Non-Communicants in our Dayes These disquieting Fears proceed from a mistake of two expressions in the Apostles Admonition to the Corrinthians 1 Cor. 11.29 For the that eateth and drinketh Vnworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lords Body They do not rightly understand what is meant by eating and drinking Vnworthily nor by eating and drinking Damnation And for want of a right understanding of these Expressions they start from the Sacrament as if the Lords Table were become a snare They are so affrighted that Christs Command signifies nothing to them nor yet the benefit which he declared to his Disciples they should receive by it When they hear how former Ages frequented the Sacrament they regard it not but think that they have discovered a danger which their fore fathers never found out They think that they are in the surest way to Salvation that come not to the Sacrament and the seldomer that any one Receives the less danger he does incur to himself And from a mistake of this place it is that many very Pious therefore Worthy Communicants come not to the Lords Table with that Joy and Alacrity of Spirit which become the Welcome Guests of our Blessed and Bountiful SAVIOUR but are oppressed with Fears and Terrours as if they suspected their coming would be to their Prejudice As for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnworthy The sense in which we commonly make use of it is a good interpretation of the Apostles meaning We do not call a man Unworthy because he hath not attained to any high Accomplishments because he is of meaner or lower degree than others nor do we call a man Unworthy because of some Faults that he is guilty of considering that in many things we Offend all But we call him Unworthy who doth a base Act from a base Design We call him Unworthy who is a Dissembler who pretends Friendship to another for his own ends but it appears that he hath no real Kindness for him He is Unworthy who easts contempt upon him whom he ought to reverence and honour as his Superiour In such a sense as this is we are to understand the meaning of the Apostle He is an Unworthy Communicant who pretends to be the Disciple of the Lord and takes no care to keep his Commandments He is an Unworthy Communicant who pretends great honour and reverence for his Saviour and his Ordinances and yet comes Unreverently before him which was the Corinthians case For the right understanding of this word no man must make the esteem which he hath for himself to be his Rule for then we should conclude that our Saviour made a Feast with a resolution that none should partake of it The impenitent Sinners Guilt tells him that he is Unworthy and the penitent Sinners Humility tells him that he is Unworthy and so by consequence none must come to the Sacrament According to this Rule the Apostle himself was an Unworthy Communicant for he calls himself the Chief of Sinners If this were the Rule every man should be a Worthy Communicant according to the good conceit that he hath of himself The boasting Pharisee should be Worthy and the poor humble and penitent Publican should be Unworthy It is great pity but that every good Christian should understand the true sense of the Word because otherwise those who are most Worthy by reason of their great Humility and self-Abasement are most apt to conclude themselves Unworthy It had been great pity that the Centurion should have lost his errand to our Saviour because he accounted himself Unworthy that he should come under his Roof Our Saviour would have accounted it great pity that the woman of Cana should have been rejected because she accounted her self as Unworthy as a Dog It is a great pity that any humble Christian should be kept from the Sacrament because he thinks himself Unworthy of it for the sense of his Unworthyness doth shew that he is Worthy Those who are under this mistake may be better Informed by reading the Form of Administration in our Church We do not come to the Lords Table and say Lord we have now gotten a great Conquest over our sins we are now Arrived to a high measure of Grace and Piety beyond other men and therefore now we account our selves Worthy Communicants and such as are fit to Sup with our Lord. But on the contrary we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we have grievously committed we acknowledge that we are not Worthy to gather the Crumbs under his Table c. By which it appears that none are to Receive the Sacrament but those that in this sense judge themselves Unworthy of it That every one therefore may have a right Notion of this Word Vnworthy The Rule which they must judge by is the Word of God Every man must account himself Worthy or Unworthy to Receive the Sacrament not according to what he thinks of himself but according to what God's Word declares concerning him They are Worthy whom God accepts of according to his Covenant of Grace declared in and by the Gospel He that is sincerely Penitent though he cannot think himself Worthy yet God declares him to be so and therefore he is a Worthy Communicant and is offensive to God and injurious to himself if he comes not to the Blessed Sacrament He that sincerely desires and endeavours to walk in the wayes of God and Religion though by reason of his many failings in his Duty he thinks himself Unworthy yet God accounts him Worthy and therefore he ought to come to the Sacrament and to come with great Joy and Alacrity of mind and the Sacrament is very proper for him because it is an excellent meanes to help him against that which troubles him There is a twofold Unworthyness as to the Person and as to the manner of Communicating As to the Person when he is in a sinful and impenitent State when he allowes himself in sensual Practises and takes pleasure in

them though he knows that he Acts contrary to the Command of Christ either trying to satisfy himself with Atheistical hopes that there is no World but this or else with the hopes of an after Repentance which is the common snare of the Devil This Person can not be a Worthy Communicant for he is at enmity with God in his mind He is a Rebel against the Law of Christ which his intention to repent afterwards doth suppose He is one who cannot not think himself welcome to Christ because he will not suffer him to be his Lord to Rule over him There is Unworthyness likewise as to the manner of Receiving and that is when a man doth not Receive with Reverence as becomes him in that solemn Approach to God This was a great fault which the Corinthians were guilty of they came Unreverently and disorderly to the Sacrament from their love-Feasts forgetting that they were not in their own Houses but in Gods House and that they were not eating at their own Tables but at the Lords Table This is the proper meaning of the Apostles expression in the next words Not discerning the Lords Body an expression which I have heard some Papists make use of for their whimsey of Transubstantiation as if they Eat and Drank Unworthily who did not discern by Faith that it was the very Body of our Saviour but most certain it is that the Apostle had another meaning The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both to discriminate and to sanctify and so the properest Account that can be given of it is that he who doth not Receive after a devout and religious manner is Unworthy I hope I have said enough to take off the unnecessary and causeless fears of those who are humble Christians that they will not any longer give the Enemy of their Salvation this advanvantage against them but that they will take right Measures and be so far from keeping from the Sacrament because they think themselves Unworthy that they will account it a good qualification for their Welcome at the Lords Table Let such persons look into the Holy Gospel and they will find that such persons as they are were not only accepted of Christ but highly commended by him and therefore are the most Welcome Guests at the Lords Table The next thing to be considered is what the Apostle means by eating and drinking Damnation which is the affrighting expression that makes thousands afraid to Receive the Sacrament The trembling sinner is affraid that this brings men into the condition of those who were guilty of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that they have committed a sin which shall never be forgiven them That they having received Unworthily are irrecoverably Lost and Ruin'd That they have swallowed down Poison to their Souls and can never vomit it up again And if these be the interpretations that sinners make of those Expressions that it is very hard to say who is worthy to Receive and yet if a man be an Unworthy Receiver he is from thenceforth in a state of Damnation It is no wonder that there are so few Communicants That I may therefore rectify these mistakes I desire these things may be considered 1. It was not the design of the Apostle by this Expression to scare the wickedest men amongst Christians from the Sacrament but only that they might Repent and come to it He did not suppose that what he said he would make any afraid to perform their Duty in observing this Ordinance nor had it any such effect upon those to whom he wrote this Epistle He was a more faithful steward and Servant of Christ than to do any thing with design to discourage those from coming to his Masters Table who were invited to prepare to come to it If he had he had been as Unworthy a Minister as the worst sinner can be an Unworthy Communicant It is of great moment and may exceedingly tend to the satisfaction of the scrupulous when they read the Scriptures to consider well what the design of the Pen-man is for by this meanes they will prevent misapplications which are of very ill Consequence 2. The word which is translated Damnation is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Judgment and doth as well signifie any temporal evil which befalls men in this world as the punishment in the hellish State And so the meaning is this and no more He that Eateth and Drinketh Unworthily offends God and provokes the Judgment of God against himself 3. The case of the Corinthians is to be considered and that may tend exceedingly to the satisfaction of those that are thus affrighted 1. They had received Unworthily but yet the Apostle doth not tell them that they are Damned or that they are in a lost condition and must now perrish for ever but Admonishes them to be more careful for the time to come that they might come with better Preparation than they had before 2. In eating and drinking Unworthily they had eat and drank Damnation to themselves in the Apostles sense They had eat and drank Judgment as appears in the next Verse For this cause many are weak and sickly amongst you and many sleep From which it is concluded that God sent a Plague at Corinth for their Unworthy Receiving 3. It must be consider'd that the Apostle only blames the Corinthians for that Fault which they were then guilty of which was their Unworthy Receiving There were no Christians in those dayes that were Non-Communicants They generally Valued the Sacrament above their lives and an opportunity of receiving though it were Administred every day in the week above all the enjoyments of the World There was therefore no occasion for the Apostle to tell them the Danger of living in the neglect of the Sacrament If there had no Man in his Wits can imagine but that the Apostle would have threatned Damnation as well to Unworthy Neglecters as he did to Unworthy Receivers of the Blessed Sacrament 4. If this which the Apostle saith of Eating and Drinking Damnation be the cause of Mens being afraid to come to the Sacrament they may for the like reason be afraid to perform other Duties of Religion If any Impenitent Sinner Prayes to God without a resolution to avoid the same course of Life he cannot think but his Prayers will provoke God to punish him rather then obtain favour to him that he hath reason to expect that the Judgment of God both in reference to this Life and that which is to come should be the consequent of it he is one who confesseth his sin to God but doth not so much as intend to forsake it for the time to come And this must certainly be a great Provocation of the All-seeing God For a Man to pretend that he is sorry for what he hath done when he is not resolved to amend If an earthly King could know that the Malefactor who beggs his Life intended to do the same wickedness for which