upon their people and earnestly beseech them to remember from whence they are faln and repent and do the first works When there was no need to use so many arguments as I have represented to prove this to be a Christian Duty nor so many motives to perswade men to the frequent practice of it but they ran forwardly to the holy Communion and were troubled above measure if they might not have the priviledge to receive it There were no quarrels then raised in those days against the manner of its Administration no disputes against the posture wherein it was received The Ministers of Christ had not their pretious time taken up in answering objections and satisfying doubts and scruples much less did they stand in need of the assistance of the Civil Power to inforce the practice of this duty Which all took to be a Commandment of our Lord and Master to commemorate his wonderful love and shew forth his death and passion for our sakes and therefore was no less chearfully and readily obeyed than if they had been invited to the most delitious Feast and promised to receive the greatest largesses in the World That it may be so again is the design of publishing these Papers in which I have represented those Truths which if they be weighed and laid to heart will save us this labour for the future For I have shown you a short way to be free from all fears and doubts about this matter which is not to leave your selves in uncertainty whether you shall go to Heaven or no but by making that sure to make your selves sit for the Holy Communion unto which you may go with an assured confidence if you have any good hope to be admitted into the Society of the blessed in Heaven If that be out of doubt you need not doubt of acceptance with Christ at his holy Table For which the best preparation is an holy Life or a serious Resolution of it for the future if hitherto we have lived otherwise What other Preparation had the Apostles for the partaking of the first Eucharist with our Blessed Lord and Saviour What other could they have when Christians received it every day If we have this therefore which is the main thing let us not stand upon little niceties nor waste that time in questioning and debating whether we be sit or no which ought to be spent in doing this and other Christian Duties whereby we shall be every day fitter to have Communion with our Saviour Remember that it is in actions of Piety as it is in those of Policy A Wisdom that is too scrupulous commonly doth nothing for fear of doing ill We read of Cities that have been taken while the Senators were gravely deliberating how to preserve them Even so is it here too over-much niceness about preparation makes men never to be prepared Therefore it is a fault when it hinders that duty which it keeps us still thinking how to perform Let us not confound our selves with words but understand the sense of things and then we shall not be perplexed as many have been in this business of Preparation Much less will any be affrighted from the holy Communion by being commanded to kneel when they receive it Which is no more than they do at their daily Prayers and therefore should the rather be inclined to do here when we pray and give thanks for the greatest blessings which we cannot do in too humble a manner We worship also and adore our Blessed Lord in this holy action and therefore one would think should be disposed of our selves without any injunction to fall down upon our Knees in token of the worship which we give Him Which is no Popish Ceremony being not so much as injoined by that Church in the act of receiving nor observed by the Pope himself who when he receives rather sits or leans a little forward upon his Throne but an ancient devout Posture of the best Christians which the people of the Roman Communion observe by long custom without bidding And therefore should much more be chearfully observed by us when we are enjoined to keep to the ancient reverence wherewith the Saints of God received the pledges of our Saviours love Vouchsafe I beseech you to give this small Book wherewith I present you a careful Reading and I doubt not it will free you not only from these but from all sorts of scruples if any of you be troubled with them which now hinder many people from the greatest duty and comfort too of our holy Religion Which if you would be perswaded to perform often the profit which would redound to you thereby would be as great as the Credit which it would do to our Church and Religion For no man can come seriously to the holy Communion but with some Resolutions of being better than he hath been which Resolutions are not presently broken but last for some time And therefore if there were not too long a distance between one Communion and another it is likely they might last for ever For before the force of the first Resolution were quite lost it would be backt and strengthned with a second and so being re-inforced from time to time while it remained in some power would become so firm that it would never be broken Make a trial I earnestly intreat you and suffer not this pains which I have taken to serve you to be thrown away without that good effect Which it will not be if you make the trial with the same seriousness wherewith I have written this Treatise In which you will meet with nothing to entertain the fancy not so much as with fine words and elegant composure but with good store I think of solid sense to inlighten the mind to inform the judgment to pierce the heart to stir up holy devotion nay to turn the will and produce godly Resolutions which if they be pursued and have their fruit unto holiness will in the end bring you to Eternal Life And that such Resolutions may be both produced and pursued I will here add one observation more for the removing the greatest of those hindrances to Holy Communion which lie in the way of those who pretend to Religion It is this That doubts and scruples being the weakness and sickness of the Soul they that readily entertain them and then suffer them to remain there quietly and peaceably are in a very ill case nay ought to look upon themselves as in a very dangerous condition For it is a sign all is naught within and that they deceive themselves with a vain opinion of their being Religious For they who are truly so groan under their doubts and scruples as under a sore Disease and therefore will not let them long dwell with them but seek with all speed to have satisfaction which when it is offered they receive with all readiness of mind and are not loth to be cured but rejoice that they are set at liberty to serve God
and one Soul that they never celebrated the Communion as we learn from Justin Martyr his first Apology but they sent it to those Believers who were absent particularly to those whose bodily infirmities kept them from the publick Assemblies that they might have Communion with the Church and it might appear by their partaking of the same Bread that they were one Body with those who were present And here let me briefly tell you that this Rubrick or Rule ought in reason to be the rather observed as it will hereafter in this and other Cathedrals that the people who live near or come upon occasion thither may have frequent opportunity to Communicate with the Mother Church Where anciently Christians were very desirous to receive this holy Sacrament as oft as they could that they might testify there was but Vnum Altare one Altar as they called it one Christian Society and Communion unto which they all belonged and with whom they were in Union Particular Parishes in the Diocess being not distinct Churches but parts and Members of one Church which is the Mother Church from whence they all in ancient time did originally spring For so we find in the Monuments of the Church that a Bishop and his Clergy having made Conversions in some considerable part of a Country there they seated themselves and from thence spread the Gospel into neighbour places who all lookt upon themselves afterward as depending upon that one prime place as a stream upon a Fountain which they owned by communicating there with the Bishop and his Clergy as oft as it was possible for them so to do Thus it is apparent by the History of the Acts of the holy Apostles that the very first Preachers of Religion began in Cities and afterward carrying the glad tidings of the Gospel into the adjacent Towns and Villages those Towns and Villages lookt upon themselves as but one Church with that City and thither repaired as oft as they could to testify their unity therewith Especially at the high Festivals when anciently there was such a multitude came to receive that in some places the Church could not contain them So we learn from a Letter of Leo the First Bishop of Rome to Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria in the Fifth Century where he advises him that when any great Festival makes the Assembly more numerous and there meets together so great a Company of Believers that one Church cannot contain them there is no question but the oblation of the Sacrifice must be renewed when the first company is gone and the Church is filled again with the presence of a new Assembly Epist 81. And St. Austin tells us in the famous Epistle before-named that the Thursday before Easter the numbers of the people were so great in some places that the Sacrament was celebrated both Morning and Evening whereas on that day the custom was to celebrate it only in the Evening Which as it shows the wonderful decay of Devotion among us in comparison with ancient times so reproves that grand error which is now crept in among us even among well-disposed people in many such places as this Where the people imagine that if they Communicate in the Parish Churches of the City where they live they need take no notice at all of the Cathedral there No they rather indeavour and sometimes with a factious kind of zeal to advance the credit of their Parish Churches in opposition to that great Church from which they all flowed and on which they still depend This is quite out of the way of ancient Religion which taught men to bear the greatest regard to the Mother Church where the Principal Pastor of their Souls was seated and thence called the Cathedral and to desire with him immediately to communicate as oft as they had opportunity or could conveniently For to do otherwise was in effect to throw off all respect to him or very much to neglect him and his See and was lookt upon as the principle and beginning of Schism by breaking the unity of the Church and in time led men to that pestilent fancy which now very much prevails that every Parish Church in the Diocess is a distinct Church which hath all power within it self VI. We therefore who are Priests and Deacons placed in a Cathedral should above all others be willing nay desirous to comply with the Order of our Church now recited and not easily admit of any cause as a reasonable excuse for our forbearance For let me further acquaint you that after the people contented themselves with receiving every Sunday at least still the Priests and the Deacons and such as were not intangled in secular business continued the ancient custom of receiving the Communion every day This we learn from Micrologus and Walfridus Strabo before-mentioned and the old Book of Divine Offices in Cassander and from Rhegino who lived not much above seven hundred years ago In whose Book of Ecclesiastical Discipline we find this memorable record that if any Priest or Deacon or Sub-Deacon or any other of the Clergy being in a City or a place where there was a Church did not come to the daily Sacrifice he should not any longer be accounted a Clergyman if upon reprehension he did not amend And can we think it unreasonable then to be tied unto less which is to attend upon this Sacrifice as it may be truly called in many respects every Lords Day at the least We should rather think it an honour and high priviledge that we may wait upon him so oft at his Altar and look upon our selves as bound to do him honour who hath so highly honoured us by restoring this Commemoration of him in his Church as near as we can to its primitive perfection VII And as a motive to it let me now proceed to tell you that when Christian People grew less frequent in receiving the holy Communion this neglect was attended with a great decay of holyness and good manners As when they grew less devout they grew more negligent in this holy duty so this negligence produced great sloth and carelessness in all the other duties of a Christian Life For becoming less sensible of their obligations to their Lord and Master Christ who bad them thus remember him they became unmindful of the rest of his Commands by forgetting this which was intended for the making of a perpetual Sacrifice of their Souls and Bodies to him As we may be convinced by observing what a wide difference there is between the first Christians and us in these dayes that is between them who had Christ continually in their thoughts and us who seldom remember him Then their thoughts were in a manner wholly imployed in contriving how to get to Heaven and now all our thoughts are how to get as much as we can in this present uncertain World Then they had but one Soul in the whole body of Christians and we are so many men so many minds Then they would
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
be none This do in remembrance of me For we can see no difference at all in the way and manner of the expressions wherein these things are delivered much less any such difference as makes the former to be enacting words as Lawyers speak and the latter to enact nothing Now if there were nothing but this express command alone to be urged for this duty one would expect it should be sufficient to awaken every man to the performance who hopes to find mercy with God and to be saved by Christ Jesus For ye are my Friends saith he himself who knew no other terms of it Joh. xv 14. if ye do whatsoever I command you Which he had said before in the very first words of the Gospel for this day Joh. xiv 15. If you love me keep my Commandments How are we then the Friends of Christ Where is our love to him if we do not this which is one of the things that he hath commanded in as downright and solemn terms as any other thing whatsoever His Friends No He that shall break one of the least of my Commandments saith he again and teach men so he shall be least in the Kingdom of Heaven that is he shall not have any share therein but be slighted and rejected as he slighted that Commandment Math. v. 19. And therefore what will become of those I beseech you consider it who break not one of the least but one of the greatest of his Commandments as this certainly is For it is his last and dying Commandment and therefore not the least The same night that he was betrayed he took Bread c. saith St. Paul here in this Chapter v. 23. The very night before he suffered he instituted this Sacrament and enjoined his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him as a means no doubt to make all the rest of his Commands the better observed by preserving him and his wondrous love perpetually in their memory Where will they appear then who refuse or neglect to do this Or what will they be able to say for themselves who have no regard to such a remarkable Commandment For suppose it had come only in the form of a request and not with the authority of a command could any sensible heart have refused to perform it What not yield to the desire of such a Friend as well as such a Master who hath laid such obligations upon us as none of mankind ever received nor can receive but from him alone This is strange this is unaccountable For all the World looks on him as a man of a barbarous nature void of all humanity who denies the last suit of a dying person though a mere stranger to him especially when it will put him to little or no trouble but rather be a pleasure to perform it What a wretched Creature then is he by what monstrous name shall we call him who puts away from him the last request of a dying Friend and of a great Friend one that hath merited ten thousand times more of him than his request comes to This adds the most hideous ingratitude to his Crime and is moreover such a shameful violation of the sacred Laws of Friendship that it makes him most odious both to God and man for ever And yet their guilt is not so small as this who mind not those last words of our blessed Saviour Do this in remembrance of me Which are more than a Request nay more than a command being his last Will and Testament which he was about to seal with his blood and the last Will of him who loved us better than his own life who dyed that we might live who of his own accord laid down his life which no body had power to take away For he had all things even Angels themselves at his command and more particularly was our most gracious Lord and Master and hath the most unquestionable Authority over every one of us Who cannot therefore neglect this his last Will and Testament without the most dreadful aggravations of such disobedience nay contempt as will remain without a Name till that terrible day when he shall come himself to charge men with this guilt of slighting his dying words Think of it I beseech you what sort of command this is And to use the words of an Excellent Man if you have any sense of shame you cannot any sense of duty you dare not any sense of love you will not neglect it but come as oft as you have opportunity and do this in remembrance of him Whose Command ought to over-awe you as he is our Lord since he might have expected to have prevailed with you by his bare intreaties as he is our Friend For it may be further added unto this consideration that it is a command of a peculiar nature having no reason for its performance but purely our regard to his will and pleasure and our true love and affection to him which is hereby tried more than by other duties of Religion Unto which there is something in nature to incline us and it is made our manifest interest by the frame of our Souls and Bodies and by the constitution of that Society one man hath with another to be just for instance and merciful to be sober faithful and grateful to live peaceably with our Neighbours and obediently to our Governours and to commend our selves also to God by Prayer and to give him thanks c. But of doing this we should never have thought had not our Lord required it And therefore the performance of it is a pure respect to him the mere effect of our Faith in him and a singular proof of the love and the reverence which we bear towards him as the neglect of it is an evident demonstration that whatsoever natural vertue men may have they have no Christian and so have no title to go to that blessed place where Christ our Lord and Saviour is This is the First upon which I have staid the longer because it layes the Foundation of all that follows For II. Secondly Upon this Precept of Christ the Apostles built their practice after his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension to Heaven from whence he sent the Holy Ghost to confirm that which he had instituted and ordained For immediately upon this on the very day that the Holy Ghost came down the number of Christians being inlarged by the addition of three thousand Souls to the Church all those Converts continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in Prayers Act. ii 42. Which shows that they did not understand the command of our Saviour about this matter to be one of those which the Hebrews call the precept of an hour that is to be observed only at that present time when it was commanded but to be of perpetual obligation in all future times For as soon as ever any man became a Christian he lookt upon this as one part
of his Christian duty as much as hearing the Sermons of the Apostles and Prayers I am loth to spend the time in going about to prove against vain Cavillers that by breaking of bread is here meant this holy action of receiving the Communion and not their bare eating together But to give full satisfaction in that matter let it be briefly considered First that breaking of Bread is here placed in the midst between other holy actions preaching fellowship or communicating to one anothers necessities and prayers and therefore in all reason must be concluded to be it self of that nature not a common but an holy action And besides secondly their eating at a common Table if it be at all mentioned in this Chapter Acts ii under the phrase of breaking bread is spoken of v. 46. and therefore not intended here No nor there neither I shall show hereafter for even in those words also they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house or at home c. the breaking of bread belongs to the holy Communion And to put all out of doubt thus the Syriack an ancient Translation understands it expresly turning it thus in the Eucharist As it doth also Act. xx 7. Vpon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them c. that is when they came to receive the Eucharist saith that Translation which was a part of their Lords days work nay the principal part for this was the thing for which the Disciples came together and not merely to hear the Apostle preach And who can give any reason why it should not be so now as it was then when in familiar speech it was as usual with them to say they would go to Church to receive the holy Communion as it is with us to say in these days we will go to Church to Prayers or to hear a Sermon III. But more than this not only the practice of the Apostles and first Believers after they were divinely inlightned by the Holy Ghost expounds the meaning and the obligation of this Precept to be perpetual but Christ himself showed it so to be after he went to Heaven and was exalted at Gods right hand For appearing to St. Paul to make him one of his Apostles and in order to it revealing himself and the whole Christian Religion to him which he gave him commission and authority to preach He declared this to be a part of his Will and a piece of his holy Religion For I have received of the Lord saith he in this Chapter v. 23 24. c. that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup saying This is the New Testament c. Observe here an evident proof that what our Lord did with his Apostles at his last Supper he intended should be done by them and by others when he was gone For sending one who was not then with him nor had any knowledge of him while he was on Earth to preach his Gospel he gives him particular instructions about this matter to take care to see this done in remembrance of him So St. Paul who was the man to whom he appeared and gave a special Commission after he went to Heaven avows to the Corinthians in this place telling them that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the Lord and what he delivered to them was this that they should do what the Lord Jesus had done with his Apostles in remembrance of him This he received from him that is it was of the Lords Institution and to be practised by his order and special command and therefore called the Lord's Supper v. 20. When ye come together into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper Where it is called the Lord's Supper not because it was eaten by the Lord with his Apostles for at that Supper the Corinthians were not present nor was that now done in this place where they came together but because it was instituted by the Lord both then when he eat that Supper with his Apostles and now again when he appeared to St. Paul and required him to see this practised in the Churches which he converted And accordingly was now practised in this Church at Corinth to whom this Discourse of St. Paul is directed IV. In which we find many things more to prove this to be a necessary Christian Duty which was the fourth head mentioned in the beginning I shall single out two which will make it evidently appear to all unprejudiced minds I. The first is very remarkable that the Apostle takes a great deal of pains and spends a great deal of time in showing the manner how the holy Communion ought to be celebrated among them Which he would not have done if this had not been a necessary duty incumbent on them by vertue of Christs Command and a Divine Institution Do but consider this I beseech you and be at the pains to ponder at your leisure how serious earnest and laborious the Apostle is here in this eleventh Chapter of his Epistle to make the Corinthians sensible by a long Discourse about it after what manner they ought to approach to the Table of the Lord reproving their scandalous behaviour at the Communion directing them how to reform it and make a due preparation to receive the benefit thereof And then tell me or rather tell your selves was there any cause for a reasonable man to write so much to show how and after what manner the thing should be done if the very doing of the thing had not been necessary and under the obligation of a Command Can the manner and way of doing an action be matter of duty and yet that action it self be no duty at all Or can a man of common sense be very solicitous in giving directions how men should order themselves in a place and about a business into which they may never come but let it alone Can the Apostle be supposed to say so and so you ought to eat this Bread and drink this Cup and yet there be no command tying them to eat it and drink it at all And so and so you ought to prepare your selves to partake of Christs Body and Blood and yet after that preparation they might chuse whether they would do the thing for which they were to be prepared Surely we cannot imagine the Apostle to have had so much idle time to spare nay to be so impertinent as to busy himself in ordering the circumstances of an holy action if the action it self had not been a necessary nay a very weighty duty and of exceeding great moment which therefore he was highly concerned and took due care
Flesh and of the World beyond the power of any means that we know of to rescue them from destruction But I hope better things of those who duly attend to what hath been said and that all those who have not now prepared themselves for this Holy Duty of showing forth the Lords Death whereby he purchased among other blessings the great gift of the Holy Ghost which it would have been most proper on this day to have most solemnly acknowledged will speedily set themselves about it and be ready against the next opportunity that is against the next Sunday or at least the next after that and so for the time to come be careful to perform this duty as oft as the Christian Religion requires Which I shall demonstrate in the next Discourse is much oftner than men imagine The end of the first Discourse Discourse II. THE FREQUENCY OF Holy Communion HAving demonstrated in the foregoing Discourse that it is a duty indispensably lying upon all Christians to receive the holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood a duty of great weight and importance for the neglect of which I do not see how we can atone by the performance of any other duty whatsoever I proceed to show that it is a duty which ought to be frequently repeated for as oft as ye eat this Bread saith the Apostle and drink this Cup ye do show the Lords Death till he come Which plainly insinuates that they did this often and that it was their duty so to do shall be the subject of this present Discourse And here now in the very entrance of it I must acknowledge that we are not told either in this place of Scripture or any other how often we ought to Communicate or how frequently the Church ought to make this Commemoration of Christs Death and Passion for our sake Of which observation men now make a very bad and preposterous use For finding that our Lord hath only said This do in remembrance of me but no where said when at what time or times it is to be done they imagine that they satisfy his will if they do not wholly withdraw themselves from his Table though they come never so seldom thither And truly by this sort of reasoning that because we are no where told how often we should do this we need only take care to do it sometime or other it may be thought sufficient if we do it but once in our whole life And so dangerous are such conceits which men frame to themselves from such Observations that vast numbers though otherwise not wicked live in a constant neglect of this Duty till they come to die and then upon their Death-Beds calling for this Sacrament and receiving it they think they have fulfilled the will of our Lord in doing this as he hath commanded because though he hath commanded it to be done he hath no where commanded when or how oft it should be done From whence we may certainly conclude that this is a false consequence which men draw from the silence of the holy Scriptures in this matter because it is so dangerous and pernitious that in a manner it quite destroys our Religion by taking away this part of it which is the principal and making it unnecessary as long as a man lives so he be but sure to receive when he is at the point of Death Of that indeed no man can be assured but supposing he doth receive the Communion at the very last gasp he is thus far safe and not guilty of the breach of this Commandment if this consequence be true that because our Saviour hath no where appointed the time or said how frequently we should do this in remembrance of him we do comply with his Institution provided we do it sometime or other Now to destroy this false notion from whence such absurdities flow I shall in the first place show you that the quite contrary naturally and necessarily follows from this observation of our Saviours appointing no time for the performance of that which he required to be done in remembrance of him From whence mens wicked hearts draw this conclusion as I have said that it may suffice to do this now and then though never so seldom I. But the true the genuine and honest conclusion which follows from thence is this that our Lord having named no fixed setled time or times for the performance of this holy action it is an argument that he designed and appointed it as a constant common and ordinary part of the Christian Service which he would have performed in his Church at all times Let those words of Christ this do in remembrance of me be well weighed and there is no man can infer less from thence than that if he had intended this should be done only at some such great and solemn times as the Passover was among the Jews when he first instituted this Feast and eat it with his Disciples he would not have suffered us to be ignorant of his meaning but told us in plain terms that upon some certain days and at some extraordinary Assemblies this should not be forgotten But that he having named no time whatsoever we ought to look upon his words as instituting this holy action to be a part of that Worship Honour and Service which he expected from his people in all their Religious Assemblies For being ordained in remembrance of him it is most reasonable to think he intended this Commemoration should be as constantly made as they met together to acknowledge him for their Lord and Saviour and only Mediator with God the Father And being a Commemoration ordained instead of all the Sacrifices whereby under the Law they daily implored the mercies of God or gave thanks for them it ought in all Conscience to be as continual a rite of Religious Worship as those Sacrifices were And thus when men had upright hearts and unbiassed affections they did honestly understand our Saviours meaning and accordingly made this a constant part of their Divine Service Which is the next thing I would desire you to observe For I would not have you to rely merely on my reasonings and inferences though I verily think this would appear a true way of arguing and a right conclusion unto any unprejudiced mind if we had no more to justify it but as a further evidence of this nay as a full conviction that we ought so to take it I beseech you seriously to consider that II. Thus the Apostles and the first Christians understood the meaning of our blessed Saviour in this Institution And can we have any better Expositors of his words any surer directors of our practice than such great Servants of his who were filled with the Holy Ghost Who never met together to worship God and our Saviour but this was a part and a principal part too of the service they performed in those Assemblies If I can make this good the other will follow for there can no other
account be given why they did this as constantly as they assembled themselves for Divine Service but because they took that to be our Saviours meaning and intention when he said This do in remembrance of me Now there is nothing more apparent in the holy story than this that the Apostles and those whom they first converted made this a daily part of the offices of Religion For we read that when three thousand Souls joined themselves to the Church upon the day of Pentecost they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and breaking of Bread and Prayers Act. ii 42. Where breaking of Bread I proved before signifies their receiving the Eucharist and now observe that the words we translate continued stedfastly which in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify that they were constant and assiduous in this holy action For the word imports frequency as appears from other places particularly from Rom. xii 12. Where there is the same word in the Apostles Command for Prayer and we translate it continuing instant in Prayer And Coloss iv 2. it is joined with watching thereunto with thanksgiving From which Observations we gain this that as frequent and instant as they were in Prayer so frequent and instant they were in breaking of Bread for they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constant and unwearied in them both alike Now what this constancy or frequency was is expounded in the 46. verse where St. Luke saith they continued the same word again daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from house to house or at home as the word is better translated in the Margin of our Bibles Where we see that breaking of Bread at home in their own private Houses was as daily as their going to the Temple publickly and can be meant of nothing but their receiving the holy Communion every day For no man can so much as imagine a reason why breaking of Bread should be mentioned as their daily practice at home together with their resort to the Temple service abroad but to signify that they communicated among themselves in the service of the Eucharist or Holy Communion proper to the Faith of Christians as they communicated with the Jews in the service of the Temple common to all the Disciples of Moses You may impute this it is possible to the warmth of their zeal but remember withal that this zeal was grounded upon knowledge which they wanted not in those dayes And the knowledge they had of Christian Religion taught them that when our blessed Saviour commanded them to do this in remembrance of him naming no time when it should be done he meant it should be done always in their Christian Assemblies as the perfection and Crown of that Service for which they Assembled III. And indeed if we had not had these records of the practice of the Apostles and of the first Christians to explain the meaning of our Saviours Institution yet we should have had reason to think it was so in the Apostles days and therefore the meaning of our Saviour because this practice of receiving the holy Communion every Day continued in the Church for some Ages I cannot say in every place for we have no Records of that but rather of the contrary but in many places and in the most famous that are come to our notice and where the vigour of Christian Religion remained and where they were awakened by more than ordinary dangers to consider their obligation Thus we find St. Cyprian in his Exposition of the Lords Prayer takes that Petition give us this day our daily Bread to signify in the spiritual sense our desire to be fit to receive the Eucharist every day for the food of Salvation And in his Epistle to the Church of Thibaris speaking of a more grievous and fiercer fight of persecution hanging then over their heads he tell them therefore the Souldiers of Jesus Christ ought to fortify and arm themselves well against it with an uncorrupt Faith and robust Vertue considering that they did for this end quotidie calicem Christi sanguinis bibere c. every day drink the Cup of Christs blood that they might also be able to shed their own blood for Christs sake In which words he addresses his Discourse to the Laicks as well as the Clergy exhorting all the faithful unto the constancy of Martyrdom which Men Women and Children indured Nay long after this we learn from St. Hierom in his Apology to Pammachius for his Books against Jovinian and other places that this Custom continued at Rome and in Spain as well as in Africk where St. Austin tell us in his famous Epistle to Januarius that in his time some did quotidie communicare c. daily communicate of the body and blood of our Lord though others he acknowledges did it only on certain days St. Basil also begins his Epistle to Caesaria Patritia in this manner to communicate every day and partake of the holy body and blood of our Lord Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a commendable and profitable thing and then adds that they did communicate four times a Week in his Church on the Lords day Wednesday Friday and the Sabbath that is Saturday and on other dayes if the memory of any Martyr fell upon them Nay three or four Ages more after this such a sense of this Devotion remained that Walafridus Strabo in his Book of Ecclesiastical Affairs c. 20. sayes it seems to be very full of reason that Christians especially Clergymen should every day be imployed in divine Offices and when some very grievous spot of mind or body doth not hinder receive the Lords Bread and Blood without which we cannot live imitating the wholsome diligence of the primitive Church concerning whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles that they persevered in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and Prayers and a little after they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House c. quoting the words I named before All which and much more that might be said make it apparent that the Church in the best times and the best men in the Church in after Ages lookt upon this as an ordinary part of Christian Worship which Christ intended should be performed in his Church as oft as they Assembled for Divine Service And what other ground could they have for it but this that Christ having confined it to no time they thought in reason it should be taken for a duty he expected from them at all times when they came to worship him and make their thankful acknowledgments unto him IV. And truly we can gather no less from the very nature of this holy action which sufficiently shows it was our Saviours meaning that it should be a daily part of the Churches Service It being as all know a solemn Thanksgiving unto God and a Form of Prayer and Petitioning which every one
Custom or rather O the power of Presumption The daily Sacrifice is in vain we stand at the Altar to no purpose there is no body to partake with us but then at Easter abundance of Company by all means will croud in upon us though as unworthy as at any other time I do not speak this that you should receive without any more ado but that you would prepare your selves to receive worthily oftner than you do considering if thou art unworthy of the Sacrifice if thou art unworthy to partake how art thou worthy to pray with us Thou hearest the publick Officer making Proclamation All ye that are under penance depart They then that do not partake are under penance If thou art one of those thou oughtest not to partake for he that partaketh not is in the number of the Penitents To what purpose doth he proclaim depart all ye that cannot pray viz. with the faithful and yet thou impudently stayest and dost not depart But thou art none of those and therefore thou dost not depart That is thou are in the number of those that may receive and art invited to it and yet thou regardest it not thou makest no account of this matter Mind I beseech you There is a Royal Table spread the Angels minister there the King himself is present and thou standest gaping carelesly refusing to partake with him What a shame is this Dost thou appear there in filthy Garments and art nothing concerned about it No thy raiment is pure why then dost thou not approach and partake How comest thou to be here if that be not thy business For all that are in their sins are first thrust out and therefore thou that stayest ought to partake of the mysteries or else thou art impudent and wicked too Had it not been better if a man invited to feast with a great person had not appeared than to come and not to touch a bit of the meat Even so it is with thee thou art come to this holy Banquet thou hast sung the Hymn with all the rest by this very thing thou professest thy self in the number of the worthy in that thou didst not depart with the unworthy how comes it to pass then that when thou stayest thou dost not partake of the Lords Table I am unworthy thou sayest Then I say again thou art unworthy of that Communion which is in the Prayers For not only for the holy mysteries but for the Prayers also and for the Hymns the Spirit descends always A great deal more saith he might be added as indeed he doth say much more which I have omitted but that I may not burden your minds this may suffice And they that are not reclaimed and brought to a better mind by what hath been said will not be mended though we should say never so much And these things are said by us But O that he who pierces the heart he that gives the spirit of compunction would vouchsafe to prick every one of our hearts That these things may be deeply ingrafted there and in his fear sprout and bring forth fruit so that with all confidence and freedom we may approach unto him and it may be said as it is in the Psalms though to a different sense Thy Children are like Olive Branches round about thy Table The end of the second Discourse Discourse III. A RESOLUTION OF DOUBTS About Receiving the Holy Communion THE Necessity of this Holy Duty the high Obligations we have unto it and the reasons why it ought to be frequently performed by Christian People have been so fully and so plainly laid before you in the two preceding Discourses that I cannot but think all that will take the pains to consider them must be convinced both of the one and of the other of the duty and of the repetition of it frequently For I have shown that it is a part of the daily service which Christ appointed in his Church a principal part of that service whereby we maintain our Communion with him and with his benefits and therefore cannot be neglected as now it generally is without the greatest offence to him and as great dishonour to our holy Religion Which I have demonstrated hath been many wayes corrupted and depraved by the lamentable carelessness of Christian People in this great office of it Who must be perswaded therefore if they make any Conscience of their wayes to resolve to do this in remembrance of their Saviour oftner than they have done And what impediment there can be to the putting such resolutions in Execution I cannot imagine unless it be some particular exceptions which they in their own private thoughts take not against the duty but against their performance of it at least for the present For how necessary how beneficial soever it be in it self and may be unto others yet unto them some fansie it is not so but rather they ought to forbear the Communion until they be satisfied about some things in which they are doubtful For while those doubts and scruples remain in their minds unremoved they think they have a just reason to hinder them from coming to the Lords Table nay they say they dare not come for fear of offending the Divine Majesty and so perswade themselves they are as religious in staying away as others may be in going thither Now these exceptions which they make against their performance of this duty are generally drawn from one of these three heads First From the form or manner wherein the holy Communion is now administred in our Church Secondly From the Company to whom it is administred and with whom it must be received Thirdly From the person himself who is called upon to receive it who judges himself altogether unfit for so solemn a duty Unto all which I doubt not to make a satisfactory Answer if men be as willing to be rid of their scruples as to retain them but shall most largely indeavour to satisfy the last because it is the greatest and most weighty I. About the first of these the form or manner wherein the Holy Communion is administred in this Church a long Discourse cannot be expected for it is not proper in this place Nor is there any need at all of it but it may suffice to say a very few things in answer to it For let it but be considered first how various the minds of men are how weak and captions which disposes them too oft to boggle at every thing with which they have not had a long acquaintance And then you will next of all grant me that it is impossible for any man before hand to know or imagine till he speak with them what such minds will object or scruple about this matter For some have a fancy against one thing some against another That which one allows another dis-approves and that which he disapproves another allows And the very best constitutions it is possible are disapproved by many narrow weak and scrupulous minds Now