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
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
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
people might bring their offerings more freely though they did not receive together with him And they magnified his operation so much till at last it brought forth this prodigious conceit that he held the very natural Body and Blood of Christ in his hands after the Consecration Which fancy obtained the more easily by the help of the Wafers now mentioned which having neither the form nor figure of Bread nor being like any sort of food used in the World served to banish out of peoples minds the thoughts of any such thing as Bread which they received in the Holy Communion See here again how men have spoiled our most excellent Religion by neglecting the constant practice of it For this Doctrine of transubstantiating the Bread into the very natural Body of Christ is the more absurd because in reality there is not so much as true Bread presented unto the Priest to transubstantiate if such a feat could possibly be wrought For the best Christians after these Wafers were introduced lookt upon them as unfit for consecration being unworthy of the name of Bread and not being at all broken and therefore did ad Christum Ecclesiam nihil pertinere not at all belong to Christ or his Church as Bernoldus a Priest of Constance adventured to speak in the Eleventh Century For he is that ancient Writer whom Cassander mentions as the Expounder of the Roman Order and commends as a pious prudent person and well skilled in the Ecclesiastical Traditions excepting only the indignation he expressed at the reducing of the oblations of Bread for the use of the Sacrifice into this form of Wafers much different from the form of true Bread which he called therefore in contempt mites of nummulary oblations being in the form of little pieces of money and ascribes to them an imaginary shadowy lightness which deserve not the name of Bread they are so thin and inveighs against them in more and sharper words than these which Cassander in his Book of Liturgicks cap. 27. saith he thought it not expedient to transcribe in that place But what he hath transcribed abundantly shows how wise and good men resented this change in the Sacrament by reason of which the Divine Service and the Religion of the Ecclesiastical office as that Author speaks was much every way confounded IV. Lastly This very thing hath turned the holy Communion in that Church into a propitiatory Sacrifice offered up to God both for the quick and the dead Which hath proved a most horrible abuse having no other original than that now named the people 's not communicating but leaving the Priest alone at the Altar Who being loth to lose the oblations as well as the peoples Company began to speak very high things of the saving efficacy which from this action of the Priest alone redounded even unto those who did not Communicate with him Which opinion being once received as a popular conceit men gave money freely and abundantly for private Masses out of a perswasion that thereby they should procure remission of sins both for themselves and for others both for those alive and those who were dead By which things I hope you see the great mischief of neglecting the holy Communion which hath even undone the Christian World for it hath spoil'd Christs holy Religion and turned it into quite another thing by most gross depravations of it Which have had this effect even upon us who are called Reformed that they have rooted out the principal part of Gods Service from among us and made it lame and imperfect For the Church of Rome having retained the custom of celebrating the Communion every day but turned it into a Sacrifice for the quick and the dead though none but the Priest partake of it this is the use which the Enemy of Mankind hath tempted us to make of their abuses to perswade our selves that so long as private Masses are abolished we need not trouble our selves to be frequent in the Celebration and Communion of the Eucharist Now this is even according to the hearts desire of our grand Adversary the Devil who can be content with such a Reformation as this while we retain the very root and foundation of all the abuses which we have reformed viz. Negligence in frequenting this Holy Sacrament Which I hope we shall be careful also to reform at last if men will but lay to heart such things as I have laid before their Eyes Which let us see that though the particular time of communicating be not named in Christs Institution yet that is no argument we may take our own time for it and do not offend God so it be done some time or other but quite contrary that our Lord intended it should be performed at all times when we assemble for Divine Service Thus the first and best Christians understood it thus they practised and transmitted this practice unto Posterity who for some Ages continued it and though it be not continued till these times yet we are forced to acknowledge that the remembrance it importeth as that excellent man Mr. Thorndike speaks is so proper so peculiar to the profession we make that our Assemblies never look so like the Assemblies of Christians as when it is celebrated But are really naked without it or at least want the Crown of that Service for which we assemble that most excellent piece of Service which is peculiarly appropriated to the worship of our blessed Lord and Saviour By the neglect of which the love of God and the love of one another is deplorably decayed and the Christian Religion also so depraved that they who reformed it in many things have not been able to restore it to its integrity And therefore now that God hath put it into the heart of our pious Metropolitan to call upon us and enjoin us to live more strictly according to the Rules and Orders of our Religion by celebrating the holy Communion at all our more solemn Assemblies I hope none of us will be any longer disobedient and refractory to so godly a motion but rather forward to comply with the Command of God and of our Governours It may not be in the power of man perhaps so to command the occasions of this World as that all should be always disposed to communicate yet in so great a number as here come together to worship God there cannot but always some persons or other be found who are not so encumbred but they may be fit if they please to receive the holy Communion with us Certain I am it ought so to be and what ought to be may be and will be if the reason upon which it depends be duly considered If it be not so that for want of persons disposed to communicate the holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood cannot be celebrated every Sunday it is a wilful neglect for which nothing can be alledged but too much love of this World which arises from too little a sense of the
press you by these two Arguments and so conclude I. The first is the great concern we have made show of about our Religion and the fears we have pretended lest we should be so unhappy as to lose it If we be in good earnest concerned for it why then I beseech you do we not take care to keep it by being truly Religious Is there any reason to think that they are troubled with fears of losing one half of the Communion who can be content with none at all Or with what Conscience do they find fault with the Church of Rome for taking away the Cup from the People when they themselves live as if the whole Sacrament were unnecessary It is a false zeal which declaims against the Priests receiving alone and doth not bring men to receive with him when they may but suffers him still to remain at the Altar with a very small Company In these things we accuse and reproach our selves demonstrating we are not led by Religion but by humour Worldly Interest or Faction For no man can be thought to be truly solicitous for the preservation of Religion when he makes no use of it nor receives any benefit by it Cannot he live without the name who lives without the thing It we be unseignedly desirous to maintain the estate of Religion here established let us seriously comply with its Institutions and serve God duly in all its Offices being afraid of this above all other things lest God should therefore remove our Candlestick out of its place because we will not walk in the light thereof therefore deprive us of the opportunities of the Holy Communion because we have no list to Communicate Unto which duty let us stir up our selves that it may stir us up to all other For what other way do we know like this nay what other way but this for our preservation II. That 's the second thing We of the Church of England profess to depend wholly upon Heaven in the use of spiritual Weapons alone for our protection in times of danger disclaiming the Lawfulness of taking up Arms to resist the Supreme Power upon the account of Religion Are we not strangely forgetful then if we accustom not our selves to the use of these spiritual means for our safety and security especially this of which I may say as David of the Sword of Goliah there is none like it What account can we give of such foul neglect of him unto whom we say every day there is none that fighteth for us but only thou O God Is not this to expose our selves to be a prey unto our Enemies if ever they have as much power as will to devour us For we openly declare by not seeking aid continually from above in that way wherein we are more likely to obtain it that we depend upon nothing at all but are the most defenceless of all Mankind So they would have thought in ancient dayes when they look'd upon those as left unarmed and naked who were not fortified with the protection of the body and blood of Christ. Which are the words of St. Cyprian who argues thus in his 57. Epistle since the Eucharist is made on purpose that it may be a defence and safeguard unto those who receive it let us arm those whom we would have to be safe against the Adversary speaking of the fight of affliction they were to encounter with the munition of the Lords plenteous fullness For how can we teach or provoke them to shed their blood for the Confession of his Name if entring the Combate we deny them the blood of Christ Or how shall we make them fit for the Cup of Martyrdom if we admit them not first to drink in the Church the Cup of the Lord Consider I beseech you how we in this Church profess to lean only upon the hope of his heavenly grace which is so necessary for us that we acknowledge in another Collect that the Church cannot continue in safety without his succour and therefore pray him to preserve it by his help and goodness Shall we not then seek this succour most solicitously shall we not implore this Heavenly Grace with ardent cries especially in this powerful way of prevailing with him by representing to him what Christ hath done and suffered for his Church which he purchased with his own most pretious blood We abandon all care of our selves when we thus forsake the only help we have to rest upon Nay it is to contradict our Prayers when we say we have no other Hope and yet do not flee to him our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble It is at least a vain and sensless leaning on him which makes us neglect him and lay aside the principal support which he hath left us for our incouragement and comfort in all our distresses If we really depend on him alone we had need apply our selves unto him with warmth of affection and great diligence If we rely on his help and goodness let us take care to please him in all things that so we may obtain the favour either to have the evils turned away from us which we have deserved or to be fortified against them with such a pious constancy that they may be stedfastly indured If we do not thus study to approve our selves his faithful Servants we foolishly confide in him against his own express Declarations that he will not patronize us in Irreligion and contempt of his Authority But if we faithfully obey him then we surely trusting in his Defence need not fear the power of any Adversaries but rest assured that he will keep his Church and Houshold continually in his true Religion that they who do lean only upon the hope of his heavenly grace may evermore be defended by his mighty power through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Books Written by the Reverend Dr Patrick and sold by Richard Royston THE Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with sutable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and for the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour The Sixth Edition The Devout Christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to God or a Book of Devotion for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane Life The Fifth Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth In two Parts in Octavo The Book of Job Paraphrased in Octavo New The Book of Psalms In two Parts Paraphrased in Octavo The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with the Arguments of each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting A Paraphrase upon the Books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon With Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon in Octavo New The truth of Christian Religion in Octavo New The Glorious Epiphany with the devout Christians love to it in Octavo A Book for Beginners or a Help to young Communicants that they may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit The Sixth Edition The Works of Dr Hammond in Four large Volumes viz. Vol. I. A Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical Vol. II. A Collection of Discourses in Defence of the Church of England 1. Against the Romanists 2. Against other Adversaries Vol. III. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament Vol. IV. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the Books of the Psalms A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the ten first Chapters of the Proverbs MS. Thirty one Sermons Preach'd upon several Occasions With an Appendix to Vol. 2.