the sake of worldly Profits I will not say but it had been a less evil to have lived in the Neglect of it It being a great Affront to our Blessed Saviour to come to his Supper for the sake of this world a great Contempt of the Ordinance and of very ill consequence to others who will by such Examples be brought to a very low Esteem of it But may it not be Objected That it is therefore a very grievous thing that the Sacrament should be imposed Is it not that which tends to the dishonour of Religion and the prejudice of mens Souls Ans I know this is Objected and there is a fearful Stir about it amongst men of discontented Spirits who cry What have Governours to do to deprive me of the liberty of Receiving then and then only when I find my self most fit for it Why should it be required that All should come to the Sacrament when it is not to be imagin'd but most are unfit for it Can it be supposed that All men have true Grace in them Do All belong to the Election of Grace These and such like Questions we meet withal But I do earnestly desire the Reader to consider in the first place who they are that are thus offended I have known none or very few but those who Receive not at all who make this Cavil And the truth is there is more Reason why we should pitty and pray to God for them than that we should otherwise regard what they say They have two very pernicious designes in it One is to indulge their Lusts which make them afraid to Receive the Sacrament any where The other is to do mischief to the Church for they do thereby endeavour to exasperate others against a lawful Command that they might separate from her Communion That the King may Command his Subjects to Receive the Sacrament is so reasonable that I wonder any should offer to Object against it I should think him very Arrogant who should say that although Christ said This Do yet Christian Kings and Princes are not at all concern'd to see it done That although Kings under the Old Testament-Dispensation were favoured or rejected of God according to their Care that the people should observe the Ordinances of God or their Neglect in that great Concern yet under the New-Testament-Dispensation Kings are not to be concern'd whether the Ordinances of Christ be observed but are to leave every one to their liberty I could almost as well say that Constantine was to blame for setling Christianity in his Dominions by a Law as that Christian Kings in succeeding Ages are to blame for taking Care that the Ordinances of that Religion should be duly observed If any say that the King must then Command the Receiving it after the manner that our Saviour prescribed I answer that that Objection will only serve to throw the Ordinance out of the World for neither Christ nor his Apostles prescribed any way But more of this under another Head As to what is said concerning the Qualification of Persons That all have not the grace of God All are not of the number of the Elect c. I shall give no other Answer but this When there comes a man to me and tells me that he is required to Receive the Sacrament and in order to it he hath striven against his Lusts with his utmost diligence He hath implored the Grace and holy Spirit of God with the greatest earnestness and yet he is forced to continue under the power of his sin and must eat and drink his own Damnation I will then conclude that the Objection is of great force but till then I wish that all persons would take care of passing such a Construction of obscure places of Scripture as shall make them contradict the plainest Expressions of it and the Experience of every man that comes into the world This Objection being answered for the sake of which I have made an unwonted Digression let me desire every one who is required to Receive the Sacrament as a Test to prove that he fears God and is fit to be entrusted take heed that what I have said concerning the great Danger of Unworthy Neglecting do not encourage him to go to the Sacrament without due Examination and Preparation for it I would be very loath to be the occasion of his Death-bed anguish of mind when his departing soul shall be full of horrour to think that he is going hence and must appear before the Judgment Seat of him whom he regarded not but for the sake of this present World It must likewise be considered that I have been speaking of those who live in the Neglect of the Sacrament and not of those who seldom Communicate I know it is the great fault of Christians in this age that they do not Communicate so often as the Reverence which is due to the Ordinance and the Necessities of their Souls do require But their fault is not to be compared to the fault of those who live in the continued Neglect of it I have no design to extenuate the danger of Unworthy Receiving in any For although I have I hope made it appear that the danger of Unworthy Refusing the Sacrament is the greatest Yet when I consider what a fearful thing it is for Sinners who do not fear God and savour the things of Religion to come as the true Disciples of Christ to this Ordinance I scarce know how to say that their danger is less Let not therefore an ill use be made of what I have said but let every one conclude having often heard the danger of Unworthy Receiving and now read the danger of Unworthy Neglecting That the Sacrament is a great and solemn Ordinance which lies in the sinners way to stop him in his broad way that leadeth to destruction and is a great argument to him to enter into the path of Life For it is on one hand a dreadful thing that the Children and Servants of the Devil who yeild Obedience to him should come to the Lords Supper amongst those that are the Children and Servants of God as if they could come undiscovered to the All-seeing God That those whom Christ calls his enemies because they will not suffer him to Rule over them should come as if they were his Friends and Subjects And on the other hand for men to turn their backs upon this Ordinance for the sake of their Sins and thereby to throw away the great Institution of him from whom they declare that they expect Salvation This admits of greater aggravations Let every one therefore resolve that he will avoid both these Rocks by betaking himself to the sincere Practice of Religion and by frequenting this Holy Ordinance by which he will enjoy great Pleasure and Satisfaction to his mind in this world and obtain good Assurance of everlasting Glory and Happiness in the World to come IV. The Non-Communicant is Unworthy in that he doth not only cast
there were nothing of sad Experience to be alledged So long as men keep in societies though but civil Societies and are Obliged to observe Rules and Orders If any Controversie arisie the dissatisfied person partly by his obligation to those rules and orders and partly by the advice and councel of the rest of the society doth not presently separate but submit or if he be stubborn and insolent he may be turn'd out of the Society and be liable to severe penalties till he be more modest humble and compliant But if he thinks himself under no obligation to observe the rules and orders of that Society and no penalty be inflicted then he breaks away and makes Parties and brings all into confusion and disorder In the case of the Sacrament If every one who is admitted by Baptism to be a member of the Church of Christ doth account it his duty as a member of that Society to observe the rules and orders of the Church Peace and Union is maintain'd but if men think they are not oblig'd but wholly left at their liberty whether they will partake of this Ordinance or let it alone then it 's no wonder if the members of that society be Scattered into as many divisions and parties as the great Enemy of the Sacrament and of their Salvation please For many years after our blessed Reformation from Popery there were so many received the Sacrament that the number of inhabitants in every Parish was best known by the number of Communicants In those happy dayes of the Churches peace Masters and Mistresses came at one Communion their Servants after publick Catechising and private Examination by their Ministers came the next Communion It could not be Imagined but that there were some Unworthy Communicants amongst them There were such in the Church of Corinth and will be in all Churches to the end of the World But that Evil was nothing in comparison of the mischiefs that have happen'd since men took their Liberties and forsook the Sacrament Parishes now may better be computed by the number of Non-Communicants and those that run from the Sacrament rather than of those that come to it I cannot in this place forbear mentioning the substance of what I lately heard from a very Aged Grave and Pious Person who is now very conformable to the Church of England We were lamenting that the people would not be perswaded to come to the Sacrament and that their absenting was occasion'd by the sad Distractions and Divisions that are in the Church I was said he one of those who in the begining of the late troubles found fault with the Surplice and with the Cross in Baptisme and there were others who were discontented at those things who were good and holy men But I am confident if they could have foreseen the dreadful mischiefs that have happened unto the Church they would never have so much as opened their lips much less have done any thing against the Church as it then was I know there ought to be great care taken to keep off scandalous Communicants and there would be greater care taken if the Divisions of the Church did not hinder it But I think all sober People will say that if all the vicious men in England came to the Sacrament it would not be so great a scandal to Religion as the dreadful Divisions and Separations that have been in the Church since the People took their liberty to turn their backs upon that holy Ordinance and many Ministers made it their business to make them afraid of it by Preaching the danger of Unworthy Receiving but not of Unworthy Neglecting of it Another great Evil which is the Consequence of Non-Communicating is horrid Debauchery and Prophaneness such as never was or could be whilst the Sacrament was Frequented There are thousands in this age who call themselves Christians and often say that they hope to be saved but are so far from living like Christians that they would be abandoned by sober Heathens as unfit for Humane Society If we look into the Records of antient times we shall find that though there were grievious Wickednesses Impieties yet they were attended with some kind of fear and shame but in our age Wickedness insults as if it hoped to have a better reputation than Piety and Vertue in the World The Apostle speaking of the sins of Heathens Eph. 5.11 calls them the Vnfruitful Works of Darkness And in the next Verse he tells the Ephesians that it is a shame to speak of those things which are done in Secret But in our age wickedness appears Openly as if there were no fear or shame that belonged to it In former times they that were drunk were drunk in the Night but now t is Scarcely accounted a sin and therefore is become a Noon-day Entertainment In former times it was the sin of a rude ungovern'd Rabble When Hannah was falsely accused of being drunk count not said she thine handmaid for a Daughter of Belial Belial signifies without Yoak and it is as if she had said I am none of those unruly forlorn Miscreants that will be drunk I suppose the proverb may be very antient As drunk as a Beggar But now t is the sin if I may be so bold as to call it so of Lords and Gentlemen and is in as much Esteem amongst too many of them as if it were some brave Atchievement for which a man is willing to adventure the Ruine of himself and family Whoredome is another sin which hath exceedingly abounded It is an Old sin but the Impudence that attends it is new In Jobs time the eye of the Adulterer waited for the twilight Chap. 24.15 The Whore which Solomon speaks of Prov. 7.9 was only to be found in the Twilight in the Evening in the black and dark night and she was accounted to have an impudent face v. 13. But how impudent are those Whores who appear in the open streets at noon day tempting all that pass by to their filthy Embraces Wee read in the Scripture of the Attire of a Harlot but now there is in this immodest age no distinction but by the shew of women wee may suspect that the Attire of Harlots is all the fashion These two Sins have of late years so much abounded that there are thousands who are so far from living like Christians that they are degenerated from the common Principles of Humanity and would be a shame to Heathens if they lived amongst them These sins have made many to become worse than beasts in the esteem of all that are vertuous And I am sure they have made them become Devils to themselves and families There is another dreadful Sin which abounds and that is profane Swearing A Sin which men commit only because the Devil will have it so for there is neither profit nor pleasure in it Some are seldom guilty of it but when they are provoked to Anger and then they must be revenged by abusing the name
and benefit and there are a great many who would not endure it but take occasion to run from the Church In the mean while there are thousands who have lived long enough to be teachers of others but had need themselves to be taught which are the First Principles of the Oracles of God Men that can give no Account of their Faith nor upon what Account it is that they expect Salvation And I am sure one great Cause of this hath been Neglect of Receiving the Lords Supper For if men were frequent Communicants they would be under a great Necessity and Obligation to enquire after Truth that they might understand at least the Principles of their Religion They would be sensible of their Ignorance and come to their Minister or Converse with other Communicants concerning the things of God and of Religion The Sacrament would be a Means by which they would grow in Grace and Knowledge But whilst they are only concerned to come sometimes to the House of God and think that it is enough that they have been there though they neither know nor Practise more than they did before and neglect that Solemn Institution which would make them more deeply concerned in the things of Religion they remain most grosly Ignorant I do not think that any man will say that the frequent Communicants are as Ignorant as those are that never come to the Sacrament By this time I hope I have sufficiently proved my Assertion viz. That there is generally more danger in Unworthy Neglecting than there is in Unworthy Receiving and therefore the Sinner is not secure unless it be in his Sin who turns his back upon this Ordinance from a supposition that he avoids danger or that of two Evils he doth choose the least Yet I am not willing to pass to another head of Discourse till I have earnestly intreated all Persons that they would not make an ill Use of what I have said As the Apostle never intended by telling the Corinthians the danger of Unworthy Receiving that any should absent from the Sacrament So far be it from me to design by shewing the danger of Unworthy Neglecting that any should come unworthily to Receive it There is no Need nor any Reason for such an ill Inference to be made from it Besides I have only asserted that it is GENERALLY more dangerous I do not say that it is so in every Particular Case It may be there are some who come to the Sacrament on purpose to carry on wicked Designes that they may be accounted not only Upright towards men but likewise Religious towards God 'T is possible there may be some who come to the Sacrament that they may covertly carry on Treasonable and Rebellious Designes but I am loath to suppose that there are any such who are no friends to Popery If there be it had been well for those Judas's that they had never been born and it would be well for the world too if a Milstone were hanged about their Necks and they were cast into the Sea Or it may be there are some who come to the Sacrament that they might be thought fit to be intrusted with the Concerns of Others and in the mean while intend to cheat them No man can think but it had been better for such men if they had never come to the Holy Ordinance Whether their Designes be against publick or private Persons though the first is the most dreadful Case It was not Christ and his Commands but the Devil and his Instigations that brought them to the Sacrament and from him they must expect their reward in the place of Torments There is besides open debaucheries another particular Case which renders the Condition of men so bad and is in some the Occasion of so great a scandal to Religion and to the Holy Ordinance that I will not say but it had been better if those that are Communicants had never been so And that is That men should Receive the Sacrament only for the sake of their Employments and that they may keep places of Trust which are profitable and beneficial to them Christians are to receive the Sacrament because it is an Ordinance which Christ Commanded but these receive it not upon any such account So long as it was only the Command of Christ they regarded it not but when it became the Command of the King they made hast to it Christians are to receive the Sacrament for the good of their immortal Souls that having begun a Religious Life they may grow in Grace and be more and more confirm'd and strengthned in the wayes of Religion and of Godliness But this is none of their business These men come to the Sacrament about a business in which their Souls are nothing concerned And well it were for them if their Souls could be nothing concern'd in it He that will be a Worthy Communicant must Examine himself whether he can be content to forsake the World and all the Enjoyments in it for the sake of Religion He is a Worthy Communicant indeed who is satisfi'd that the Love he hath for his Saviour is such that he had rather quit the World and all the Enjoyments of it than live without this Ordinance But this man upon Examination of himself finds that instead of being willing to forsake the World for the Love he hath to the Sacrament he could be very well content to forsake the Sacrament if it were not for the regard that he hath to the World If when men are under a Necessity of receiving the Sacrament that they may continue in Places of Profit as well as Trust they take this opportunity to Examine their own Minds Whether they are in the number of those that fear God and sincerely minde the things of Religion and find that they might have been Worthy Receivers and that it hath been their great fault that they lived in the Neglect of the Sacrament which hath been the Case of many Or if upon Examination they find that they are impenitent Sinners that have allowed themselves in sins either of Commission or Omission and do resolve that for the time to come Sin shall not have Dominion over them but they will every day Pray to God in their Closets which our Saviour requires every one of his Disciples to do and that they will attend the Prayers of the Church with Devotion and the Reading and Preaching of the Word with honest Hearts If they are truly penitent for their former sins and resolve to avoid the Occasions of Evil for the time to come If in order to these things they go to their own Minister or to some other whom they may think more fit to give them Advice which the Church allowes because it is a very tender Case And if they resolve that they will be frequent Communicants for the time to come They may then bless God for that happy occasion of bringing them to the Sacrament But if men are Communicants only for