26.

drink it, in remembrance of me." And as the Jews, as oft as they offered any bloody sacrifices, foreshewed the Lord's death until his first coming; so Christians, as the Apostle tells us, “as oft as they eat this bread, and drink this cup, 1 Cor. 11. they shew forth the Lord's death till His coming again." But still there is no precise time or times prescribed for doing it by Christ or His Apostles: neither was it proper or convenient there should be. For if there had, there would have been an indispensable necessity laid upon all Christians to do it at all such times, whereas some Christians may at some times be in such places, and under such circumstances, that it may be morally impossible for them to do it.

But how then shall we know how often we are bound to receive this holy Sacrament? There are two ways to know it from the practice of the holy Apostles and primitive Christians; and then from the reason of the thing, and the end of the institution.

First, We find the holy Apostles, who perfectly understood our Lord's mind, administering and receiving this holy Sacrament whensoever they met together upon a religious account; yea, so as that it seems to have been the principal end of their meeting, especially upon the Lord's Day for it is written, " that upon the first day of the week, Acts 20. 7. when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached to them, ready to depart on the morrow." From whence we may observe, that they received this Sacrament at least every first day of the week, which is the Lord's Day; and that the main end of their meeting upon that day, was not to hear sermons, but to break bread; only the Apostle being to depart on the morrow, took that occasion of preaching to them. And the same custom obtained, not only in the Apostles' times, but for many ages after; so that the primitive Christians looked upon this sacrament as the chief part of their public devotions; insomuch that they never held any religious assemblies, without the celebration of it; and if any one went away without receiving it, he was censured by the Church for it. Which plainly shews, that the Apostolical and primitive church understood our Lord's words in the institution of this Sacrament so, as that they looked upon themselves as obliged to do this in remem

SERM. brance of him, as oft as they met together to worship and serve God.

CXXX.

And verily he that considers the end of the institution, will find reason enough why they did; and we ought to receive this Sacrament as oft as possibly we can: for seeing it was ordained in remembrance of Christ, and seeing we cannot possibly remember Him too often Who laid down His life for us, it must needs be our duty to do it as oft as we can, especially considering that the oftener we remember Him, the better we shall believe in Him. For by frequent receiving of His most blessed body and blood, that faith whereby we do it, being frequently exercised, is thereby more and more confirmed, and by consequence all other graces and virtues whatsoever being derived by faith from Him, are thereby made more strong and vigorous in us. And therefore all that seriously mind the concerns of anther life, cannot but look upon it as their interest as well as duty, to take all opportunities they can of receiving this holy Sacrament, and to bless God for them. Be sure, He that came into the world on purpose to save us, would never have instituted it, but that He knew how necessary it was, and how much it would conduce to our Salvation by Him.

From hence, therefore, we may see what great reason our Church had to appoint the communion-service to be used every Lord's Day and holy-day in the year, that all her members, who desire it, might at all such times have an opportunity to receive this holy Sacrament. And so they generally did for some time after the Reformation. But now, if people do but receive it thrice a-year, and so avoid the penalty of the law, they think they do a great matter: as if we had no other obligations upon us to do it, but only from the laws of the land; which is a sad instance of the great degeneracy of the age we live in, and how far we are fallen from the zeal and piety both of the primitive Christians, and our first reformers.

It is not my design at this time to search into the reasons why this great duty is so commonly neglected among us. But it may not be amiss to observe, that one great argument which the Devil and his agents make use of to deter men from it, is taken from these words which I have now read,

falsely understood, or at least not rightly considered. For seeing the Apostle here saith, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,” according to our translation; people have been made to believe, that, if they be not worthy to receive the Sacrament, and yet venture to do it, they are certainly damned. But that you may see how great and dangerous a mistake this is, I desire you to consider ;

First, That this cannot possibly be the meaning of the words. For if so, no man ever did, or can receive the Sacrament, but he must be damned; forasmuch as no man ever yet was, or is, or will be, or can be worthy of so great a blessing. And certainly our Saviour would never command us to do that which we cannot do without being damned.

6

Moreover, the word which the Apostle here useth, xgía, doth not properly signify damnation,' as it is translated in the text, but only 'judgment,' as it is in the margin of your Bibles. And therefore the most that can be deduced from it, is," that they who eat and drink unworthily" are obnoxious to the judgment of God for so doing, as all they are who either pray, or hear, or do any other duty otherwise than they ought to do it. And what kind of judgment the Apostle here means, he himself plainly declareth in the words following my text, saying, “For this cause many are weak and [ver. 30.] sickly among you, and many sleep;" which are all temporal judgments, which God is often pleased to inflict for other sins as well as this; and are so far from eternal damnation, that they often prove the occasion of preventing it.

But that which is most of all to be considered is, what the Apostle means by "eating and drinking unworthily." For which we may observe, first, that he doth not say, he that, being unworthy" eateth and drinketh," but he that doth it unworthily, and so doth not speak so much of the qualifications of the person that doth it, as of his manner of doing it. And what he means by "eating and drinking unworthily,' or after an unworthy manner, we may easily and fully understand both from the context and the text itself.

For, first, as to the context, the Apostle is here speaking of the great disorders which he had heard of among the

SERM. Corinthians in their Christian assemblies; that there were

ver. 20.

CXXX. divisions among them, even at those sacred times; and that though they intended to receive the Sacrament, they did not really do it. "When ye come together therefore," saith he, "into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper," where he plainly intimates what I observed before, that their main design of coming together, was to eat the Lord's Supper; but as they managed the business, they did not do it. ver. 21, 22. "For," saith he, "in eating every one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken : What! have ye not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not?" From whence it is plain, that the sin which he here reproves in the Corinthians, was, that they ate the Lord's Supper as if it had been common food, without expressing any respect or reference to Christ's mystical body and blood; and as plain, that this is that which he here calls " eating and drinking unworthily." They carried themselves at the Lord's Table as if they had been at their own. The great and rich men ate and drank too much; the poor had nothing to eat and drink whence the Apostle saith, "These were hungry, and the other drunk." And they who eat this bread, and drink this cup, after this unworthy manner, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, as the Apostle tells us; that is, they violate and profane Christ's mystical body and blood, and so are guilty, in a manner, of the same sin, as the Jews were in deriding and crucifying of Him: which also shews what kind of unworthy receiving the Apostle here speaks [Heb. 10. of, even such whereby they trampled upon the Son of God, 29.] and accounted the blood of the Covenant an unholy or profane thing, and behaved themselves accordingly in the receiving of it.

ver. 27.

That this is the true sense of receiving unworthily, appears yet more plainly from the text itself. For here the Apostle saith, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation," or judgment, "to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Which last words fully explain the former; for by them the Apostle shews wherefore they who eat and drink unworthily, eat and drink damnation. to themselves, even because they do not discern the Lord's

ad Januar.

body; that is, they do not discern or discriminate Christ's body from common food, by taking it (Veneratione singulariter Epist. 118. debita) with that veneration which is in a peculiar manner due to it, as St. Augustine explains the words. Neither indeed can they admit of any other exposition. And therefore, to receive unworthily in the Apostle's sense, is plainly nothing else but to receive irreverently and profanely, in a manner unbecoming Christ's body and blood, unworthy of so great a mystery as that is. As for people to deport themselves no otherwise at the Lord's Supper, than they do when they dine or sup at home, making no difference or discrimination betwixt that and their ordinary meals; but eating this bread, and drinking this cup, as if it was not Christ's body and blood, but common meat and drink; expressing no more regard or reverence towards it, than they do to bread or wine at their own tables; this, which is but too common among some people, is that which the Apostle here calls "eating and drinking unworthily;" and they who do so, instead of Christ's body and blood, which they do not discern, eat and drink damnation, or judgment, to themselves.

Having thus discovered what it is to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper unworthily, we may easily see what is required to the worthy receiving of it. But howsoever, it being a matter of so great importance, I shall endeavour to explain it more fully to you. For which purpose we must know, that although this worthy receiving, as it is opposed to the unworthy before spoken of, consists properly in the carrying and demeaning ourselves, both in our souls and bodies, at the Holy Sacrament, in a manner worthy and suit. able to that body and blood which we there receive; yet that we may do so, it is necessary that our minds be first rightly disposed and prepared for it. In order whereunto, the Apostle lays down this general rule, "But let a man ver. 29. examine (or prove) himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." But he doth not tell us particularly what it is that we must examine ourselves about: and therefore, for that our surest way will be to consult our Church, which, in her Catechism, acquaints us, that it is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper to examine themselves