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
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
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