other and from any thing in the bare word or use of it in Authors sacred or profane we cannot restrain it to eternal damnation only because it is used by them to signifie temporary chastisements and punishments as well as that and therefore as in other like cases we use to find out the sense of an Author when he useth words of an indefinite signification by considering the circumstances of the discourse in that place so we must do here fix the sense of this indefinite word damnation by considering the circumstances of the Apostles discourse in this place Which if we do I have shewed secondly that we shall soon find the Apostle doth not use the word damnation here in the terrible dreadful sense of it nor intend eternal damnation in hell by it and consequently that men argue amiss and wide of the Apostles sense that fix that dreadful meaning upon it There are two things plain in the context to warrant me in this assertion First that the punishments inflicted for this crime are plainly temporal And Secondly that they are said to be inflicted on purpose to prevent this final damnation First all the punishments that he instanceth in are plainly temporary this you may see evidently in the following Verse for this cause many are sick and many are weak among you and some are fallen asleep This sin of yours hath provoked God against you and he hath inflicted several judgments upon you for it sundry sorts of diseases as our Church speaks rage amongst you and some are actually cut off by them Where you see there is not a word of eternal damnation in hell nothing like it nor any thing that can be interpreted to that meaning only sicknesses and diseases and at most death and that you may not think it means eternal death or spoken of as a preface to it as it is to all those that are finally damned it is expressed by the mild and gentle phrase of falling asleep a phrase that is always used in holy Scripture in a good sense for the death of good men and men capable of mercy and not of those upon whom the wrath of God abideth and whom he will turn into hell Secondly all these punishments are spoken of as medicinal inflicted by way of commutation and on purpose to prevent this final damnation this is plain from verse 30 31. for if we would judge our selves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world The plain meaning of all which is this you might by judging and calling your selves to account for this sin prevent Gods punishing of you with these judgments and his inflicting of them though it be just and justly due to so great a miscarriage yet it is in his mercy to bring you to reform this error and to prevent the being further punished for it Where these two things are very plain First that these punishments were as almost all the divine judgments in this world are purely medicinal i. e. intended to amend and reform those vices in them that suffered them and in them that beheld them they were not wrathful excisions and revengeful cutting men off in their sins without all hope of pardon or space given for repentance and amendment as God sometimes deals with great and notorious offenders sore sicknesses lingring diseases and great weaknesses wherein they had time to recollect themselves and amend their faults and over and beside had a Preacher sent on purpose to instruct them in these things And Secondly that where the wrath fell heaviest and the judgment proceeded furthest even to death it self yet even there that death was in commutation and the merciful justice of God satisfied with it so as to proceed no further in punishing we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world From both which observations it is plain that temporal punishments are all that the Apostle instanceth in or relates unto in this place and these without any the least reference to eternal damnation Yea these plainly in opposition to it exchanges for it and means finally to prevent it These things I think sufficient to our understanding the meaning of damnation in this place and that it signifies only Gods judging men and punishing of them with some temporary afflictions in this world so that though the word damnation do signifie and in some places of Scripture intend damnation in the worst and most terrible signification of it yet it doth neither intend nor signifie it in this place and therefore they that so understand it and argue from it do both these quite beside the sense and meaning of the Apostle in it SECT II. BUT there is another expression here that startles some men and will need explication and that is eating and drinking damnation to himself by this some ignorant people think that something extraordinary is certainly signified and some such meaning intended as if a man were more accessary to his own damnation or more immediately damned himself by this miscarriage than by any other sin To drink damnation to a mans self sounds harshly and is a terrible saying and no man needs be blamed for being unwilling to damn himself And truly by the way I heartily wish every man were so in all other cases as well as this but why men should be shie and fearful of damning themselves in this instance and not in others or why they should think they do it in this more than others I understand not In order to the giving satisfaction in this I shall first explain the phrase and secondly shew that it intends not to signifie any greater or more immediate influence upon a mans damnation in this than in other sins Thirdly to which I shall desire may be taken in what I have said before that no greater guilt is said to be contracted in this than in many other sins 1. As for the phrase of eating and drinking damnation to a mans self it is but a common phrase and intends no more than exposing a mans self to the wrath of God and making himself obnoxious to divine punishments I have shewed already what damnation signifies in this place and what the Apostle refers it unto viz. not eternal damnation in hell but external corporal castigations and afflictions in this world And then eating and drinking damnation can signifie no more than exposing a mans self to those punishments and provoking God to inflict them upon him So that in the true intendment and reference of it in this place it doth not respect eternal damnation at all nor is there any reason that I know of to dread it more in this than other transgressions and sins The form of speech is but answerable to those well known and often used phrases in other places of Scripture O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self And why will ye die O house of Israel c. in which
shall leap too far and never think himself removed enough from it till he sits down quite in the other extream The Nature of Man is sullen or impetuous and like a restive beast either unwilling to stir at all or to run away without any restraint or moderation and our spightful enemy is watchful and cunning and knows too well how to impose upon us It is indifferent to him in which extremity we fix since he knows both to be equally destructive to us and therefore he not only willingly permits but sometimes purposely pusheth on a transition from one to the other that he may the more effectually secure our destruction Since he not only gratifieth our humor and affectation of novelty and change thereby but cheats us into an opinion of being Converts and having quitted our sins when alas we have only shifted the Scene but the same act is continued still the same evil sticks close to us only it appears in another Garb and is acted in a differing instance There are not many instances in which all this is more unhappily visible at this day than in Mens deportment and carriage towards the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper from despising it on one hand Men come to dread it on the other and from thinking any preparation almost too much they come to believe that none is enough for it Time was when Christians crowded to this Holy repast as the Doves do to their own windows and the good Fathers of the Church were imployed in directing them how to come and not in perswading them to it heretofore want of due preparation was the crime but now neglect and contempt is the great guilt Men cannot have arguments against their coming unduly and unpreparedly to the Lords Table but they carry those arguments too far and make them to conclude against their coming at all That which S. Paul used as an argument to reform one Error among the Corinthians we have improved into an excuse of a worser among our selves and what he intended to shew the danger of coming amiss we make use of to fright our selves from coming at all Our duty lies in the middle and both these extremities are equally distant from it it is the latter of these which is the great distemper of this time and which this discourse is designed to endeavour the cure of and in order thereto to consider those words of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11.29 which sound so terribly to some men and which they have improved into so great an exception against coming to the Holy Sacrament for whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords Body From which words a great many Men have taken up a superstitious fear and dread to approach the Table of the Lord and from thence have fallen into an unchristian neglect and disregard of this service apprehending some extraordinary guilt would be contracted and some mighty danger incurr'd by any little failure in it above what may be feared or contracted in any of the other services of Religion though they do not perform them so well as they ought to do To this purpose you may hear them argue at this rate You see what a mighty great deal of preparation is necessary to our receiving the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper and that upon no less a hazard than eternal damnation you hear the Apostle saying expresly that whosoever eateth this Bread and drinketh this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and eateth and drinketh damnation to himself And what now would you have us to do We are very sensible of our own infirmity and know too well how far we shall fall short after all our care of being worthy to ingage in such a sacred service of Religion or discharge it so worthily as we ought to do and therefore since we know this beforehand is it not much safer to sit still than to run so great a hazard choose rather not to eat and drink at all than to damn our selves by doing so unworthily This is really the case and these are the reasonings of too many men the great danger of eating and drinking unworthily frights them from this service and they chuse rather wholly to neglect their duty than to venture so great a stake upon the undertaking of it This is that error and fault of Men that I would vindicate these words of S. Paul from having any influence upon and I am very confident whether I can successfully do this or not the Apostle was far enough from any such intention or thought in them his meaning was only to direct to carefulness and reverence in doing this duty and by no means to discourage or fright Men from it In the prosecution of this design I have proposed to do these three things I. To give a plain though short account of the sense of these words II. Draw some general deductions from them which I judge proper to satisfie these fears of Men and take off those objections which they make against coming to the Holy Sacrament upon the reason of them III. To make some plain practical reflections upon the whole Argument CHAP. I. The first thing proposed in this Discourse is to give a plain Exposition of these Words to which purpose it will be necessary to consider the import of three Expressions in them 1. WHat is the true sense of eating and drinking unworthily in this place 2. What discerning or not discerning the Lords body means 3. What we are to understand by damnation and by eating and drinking damnation in this Text. By considering these we may perhaps gain something towards the understanding the true intent and meaning of the Apostle in this place and freeing our minds from those affrightments which men are fallen into from their mistaking of it 1. In order to the understanding the true meaning of eating and drinking unworthily it may not be unexpedient to consider what the signification of the word is in other places that secondly we may better know what there is to determine the sense of it in this place 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render unworthily may perhaps best be understood by considering what the signification and use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is which it is the opposite unto Now though that do indeed signifie worthy in the strictest and most rigorous sense of worthy yet in the New Testament it is oftner used to signifie that which is fit and becoming or at least as often used in this sense as the other Thus to instance in a few places in Luke 3.8 bring forth fruits worthy of repentance that is such as are becoming repentance or as 't is rendered Mat. 3.8 meet for repentance in Rom. 8.18 for I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in Christ i. e. they are vastly
different there is no correspondence upon which a comparison may be made between them Eph. 4.1 that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called i. e. sutably to it and as becomes those that make profession of it And so in all the places where Christians are exhorted to walk worthy of the Lord worthy of God and worthy of the Gospel the true sense of all which the same Apostle expresseth Phil. 1.27 by letting their conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ And thus in all the places in the New Testament in which Men are either exhorted to endeavor or declared to be worthy of the Kingdom of God and worthy of the future glory you are not to understand worthy in the utmost sense of the word as it means merit in the sense in which that is now become matter of Controversie for that is against the constant sense and language of the New Testament but only as it signifies meet and fit and duly qualified for such glory Just as most of the Schoolmen when they come to talk closely of merit distinguish between meritum ex condigno and meritum ex congruo and when they would assert mans merit before God make it at last to dwindle into meritum ex congruo i. e. no merit at all properly speaking but only fitness and meetness to receive blessing from him and truly I do not know one place where the word is used of Man with respect either to God or future glory or doing his duty but it is used only in this sense for meet and fitting and so as becomes him in all these respects Now according to this sense unworthy must needs signifie unfit unmeet and unbecoming and accordingly you shall find it is used in two places in the New Testament which are all the places I think besides this Cup where it is meet with Act. 13.46 Seeing you judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life and 1 Cor. 6.2 Are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters i. e. are you unfit to make peace among the brethren and to umpire the small differences that happen between them This now is the signification and this the use commonly of the word in the New Testament viz. to signifie unfitly unbecomingly and not always unworthily in the strictest sense of that word But yet this is but the general signification of the word and the particular is to be determined by that particular matter that it is applied unto so that to determine that here in this place we need only to inquire what that particular worthiness and becomingness is which ought to accompany the doing any duty or service of our Religion and eating and drinking in the Holy Sacrament unworthily will and must needs be the contrary to it according to this signification of the word Now the great and necessary qualification to render the doing any service of Religion becoming and fit is great reverence and devotion out of a just sense of the sacredness of that service and the greatness of that God that it is done unto and therefore to perform any such service of Religion irreverently rudely carelessly and profanely is to do it unworthily and is that very unworthiness that our Apostle intends in this place And that we ought to understand it so here I think I may safely conclude from these two further considerations 1. The reason of the thing which will not suffer us to understand unworthily in the strict and rigorous signification of it for then no man in this present lapsed state could avoid eating and drinking unworthily after his utmost endeavour and care not to do so The best and most devout Man living falls short of that worthiness and perfection in doing this or any other service of Religion that it should be done with he fails in many circumstances of that exactness that ought to grace all religious performances The Lord is great and cannot worthily be praised as our old Translation renders that passage Psal 96.4 i. e. It exceeds the power of Man in this imperfect State to praise the great God in that sublime manner that he ought to be praised in many things saith S. James we offend all Jam. 3.2 and in all even our best things it is certain we offend in so many circumstances that should God be extream to mark what is done amiss no service of the holiest man living could expect to be accepted by him Who is sufficient for these things crieth the inspired S. Paul 2 Cor. 2.16 and yet he speaks it but of preaching the Gospel it were perhaps proper to move the question concerning this service and that with some advantage too Who is sufficient or able to perform it worthily and what Man is he that can think he dischargeth it anytime in every circumstance so as he ought to do we may safely enough answer the question and say not one So that the very reason of the thing concludes us to this sense of the expression for otherwise no Man living ought to commucate nor could do so without eating and drinking damnation to himself which I believe the strictest urgers of this place to this purpose do not believe Every Man finds it too true in daily experience and every good Man puts it into his daily confessions that he doth greatly fail fall very short of doing this or any other duty so worthily as he ought to do and consequently doth always eat and drink unworthily if that were the signification of that expression 2. The second thing that concludes us to this sense of eating and drinking unworthily is the expression that the Apostle explains it by afterwards in this Text and we need but let him expound his own meaning in order to our right understanding of it now that he doth in the last clause of it not discerning the Lords body this is added by the Apostle both as an explanation of the precedent phrase eating and drinking unworthily and a reason too of that punishment that is due to him that doth so he that eateth and drinketh unworthily doth not discern the Lords body and he that doth not so eateth and drinketh damnation to himself This expression I shall choose to explain in the second place as being indeed the true Key to this Text and what the import of it is we may easily learn both from the phrase and that particular error and miscarriage of these Corinthians which the Apostle doth here perstringe and which this whole discourse hath a direct regard unto The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not differencing or distinguishing the Lords body and is the word commonly used to signifie the differencing of meats and other things under the Law and being applied here to the body of Christ in the Holy Sacrament it signifieth plainly the eating and drinking the holy Symbols of it as common things The eating that bread as common bread and drinking that cup as common wine the putting no difference between that
the things that he prescribes in order to it 1. Of the first of these I have given account already and shewed that this crime of the Corinthians which he so sharply taxeth was a monstrous shameful disrespect and irreverence to the Holy Sacrament to which I shall only add that it was occasioned by these two precedent errors and miscarriages First their not discerning the Lords Body Secondly their intemperance in eating and drinking in the love-feast that preceded this Service 1. They did not discern the Lords Body they did not know or they did not consider that this was a solemn service of Religion and that there was a mystery in it they did not understand the reason of its institution that the Bread was Sacramentally the Body of Christ and the Wine in the same sense his Blood that both were to represent his Sufferings and Death and that our partaking of them was religiously to commemorate and gratefully to adore the love of God to sinners therein In plain terms as both the Sacramental Bread and Wine was part of what they had eaten and drank in the love-feast just before so they looked upon them to be still the same and but only a concluding morsel and a grace Cup with which that feast was to be ended for that as we ought to know was the common custom among the Jews and these Grecians too to conclude their feasts with a Loaf or small parcel of Bread of which every one took a little piece and a Glass or Bowl of Wine of which every one drank in token or in pledg of that unity and love that then was and afterwards should continue among the ghests that had then feasted together Now being so ignorant and uninstructed as it seems they were in the reason of the Holy Sacrament they might easily slip into this mistake and knowing that their former feast was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a feast of love and instituted to be a means of creating and continuing love among them they might easily take the Sacramental Bread and Wine being a portion of what they had eat and drank before to be but a tessera cheritatis such a pledge and token of love among them as was used at their other feasts This is the true state of this matter and it gives us one plain account of the irreverence and profanation of the Holy Sacrament which these persons were guilty of and how strange soever the thing may appear to us yet when these circumstances are considered the wonder ceaseth and the reason is plain 2. And yet this was not all nor the worst in this matter for their intemperance was worse than their ignorance and would more fatally prejudice their reverence and devotion intemperance in eating and drinking is the greatest hinderance of devotion possible and plain gluttony and drunkenness utterly inconsistent with it Now this you find the Apostle charging them roundly and plainly with at least the richer sort of them v. 21. one is hungry and another is drunk which though it may seem very strange and one would think incompetent to a Christian yet we have a plain account given us also how this happened For these love-feasts were upon a common stock to which every one contributed his single portion the poor you may well think could bring little or nothing but the rich brought more every Man saith the Apostle according to the ability which God had given And perhaps among these Corinthians than whom no Grecians were more vain proud every one might strive to exceed the other Now hitherto all was tolerably well only bating that some vanity might mingle with these contributions but here was the first fatal miscarriage these richer persons instead of casting in their symbols to the common stock feasted upon their own single portions and having much to eat and drink did eat and drink accordingly and commonly to that excess as to be downright drunk by that time they came to the Holy Sacrament which was always celebrated at the end of these feasts of such a portion of Bread and Wine as was separated out of the publick offertories Now coming to the Holy Sacrament in this sad condition no wonder if they profaned it indeed and shewed so little reverence and regard to it a drunken Man is every way as unfit for devotion as an ignorant Man can be but when Men are both these no irreverence can seem strange that they are guilty of These two things occasioned this terrible irreverence and profanation of the Holy Sacrament that our Apostle chargeth them with and from which these words are intended to reform and affright them for the future and by considering this we may surely collect what the great purpose of them was for as when we know a disease we can guess easily what the design of the Physick prescribed in cure of it is so by considering what the errror and miscarriage of these Corinthians was we may conclude what the design of the Apostle is in these words which he useth in remedy of it and therefore since the great fault of them consisted in their horrible irreverence and want of respect to this service we can assure our selves that what he intended was to reform that fault and bring them to that reverence and devotion that became a service of Religion and that so solemn too as he had instructed them the Holy Sacrament was So that since their eating and drinking so irreverently and profanely was that eating unworthily that he speaks of their doing this worthily would be by communicating with that Religion reverence and devotion that became a service so sacred as that was This I am confident is really the sense of these words and a true account of the Apostle's intent and meaning in them the consideration of which would be a great relief to scrupulous and timorous persons in this case and let them see how much others pervert and they themselves mistake the sense of this Text who conclude every error and miscarriage in communicating to be that eating and drinking unworthily which the Apostle so sharply blames and so severely threatens in these words I conclude by only adding this observation if eating and drinking irreverently and profanely be that eating and drinking unworthily which the Apostle means in this place then eating and drinking with that reverence and devotion that becomes such a service of Religion will set Men above the danger of that unworthiness and if to bring Men to this was the only thing he aimed at then Men do very ill to put other sences upon this Text and to fright themselves and others with the sound of words that do not concern them SECT I. THere is a second thing also I told you to confirm us in this account of the Apostle's meaning here and that is the phrase of the Text both that in which the Sin and the cause and the punishment of it too is expressed 1. The word expressing the Sin is unworthily
Imprimatur Hic liber cui Titulus The Case of eating and drinking unworthily stated July 20. 1688. JO. BATTELY THE CASE OF Eating and Drinking Unworthily STATED And the SCRUPLES Of Coming to the Holy Sacrament UPON THE Danger of Unworthiness SATISFIED Being the Substance of several Sermons Preached in the Parish Church of S. Hellens London By HENRY HESKETH Vicar of St. Hellens LONDON Printed for Walter Kettelby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1689. To the GENTLEMEN And others my beloved Parishioners THE INHABITANTS Of St. Hellens London SIRS I Have now at last been able to comply with your request of making this Discourse publick I heartily thank you for the good will you entertained it with at first for the satisfaction you are pleased to say you received from it and for the respect and kindness to me for that I know you intend in your repeated wishes it might be published I am pretty well assured of your respect to what your own desires have formed but I have no great reason to be so of others whom therefore I must beg to consider that it was delivered in a plain popular Pulpit-way at first and that as I have not concerned my self to alter it so I could not have done it without more time and labour than I was willing to allow to it You must be pleased to stand accountable for it and for my self I shall be no further concerned than to wish it may have that effect upon others that it hath had upon most of you and I should not wholly despair of it if Men were willing to receive satisfaction as certainly they ought in a matter of this moment I pray God Almighty preserve our excellent Church open mens Eyes to see the truth of our Religion and incline all our Hearts to comply carefully with this and all other institutions of our great Lord. To whose protection and Blessing I heartily recommend you all THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The first thing proposed in this Discourse is to give a plain Exposition of the Words to which purpose it will be necessary to consider the import of three Expressions in them pag. 6. CHAP. II. Having in the former Chapter cleared the true sense of the words I proceed in this to the second general that I proposed to draw some general Conclusions from them which may be proper to be considered in the present case and to which I shall reduce as to so many heads what I intend further to say in this Discourse The Collections that I purpose are three that follow pag. 18. CHAP. III. I advance to the second Collection that I made in order to the taking off the exception that men make against coming to the Holy Sacrament upon the reason of these words viz. That the possibility and danger of eating and drinking unworthily is not a sufficient reason for men to abstain from the Holy Sacrament upon pag. 66. CHAP. IV. I begin with the first of these Considerations which is indeed the foundation of all the rest and which when I have cleared the reasonableness of the other will easily follow the Argument is this the Communicating in the Holy Sacrament is a plain express necessary duty pag. 74. CHAP. V. The second Consideration that I named as an Argument for the Truth of our Collection is this The possibility and guilt of doing this service of our Religion is no greater than of doing others amiss which yet we count necessary to be done and our selves do keep up the exercise of pag. 81. CHAP. VI. The third Consideration that I proposed as an argument for this second Collection is this The Punishment threatned to eating and drinking unworthily is no greater than what may be feared upon our doing other services of our Religion amiss and is threatned thereunto pag. 102 CHAP. VII I advance to the fourth Consideration which I proposed for the truth of our present Collection viz. That whatever sin or guilt there is in eating and drinking unworthily there is the same yea there is greater in not eating and drinking at all pag. 124. CHAP. VIII I add a fifth Consideration to confirm the reasonableness of our second Collection viz. That this danger of eating and drinking unworthily is caused by our own only default and is what with competent care we may redress pag. 136. CHAP. IX The third thing proposed to Consideration on this head is this An ordinary competent endeavour and care with Gods common Grace may suffice to remove this unworthiness and put men out of the danger of it pag. 155. CHAP. X. I go on then to the fourth thing that was proposed on this head viz. that though men may have been careless and indisposed themselves for the Holy Sacrament for one time yet they ought to be more careful to prepare themselves against the next for continual indisposition can excuse no man so that if some present indisposition be upon a man now yet care ought to be taken for its removal that he may be fitted and prepared to Communicate the next time that providence calls him to it pag. 185. CHAP. XI We are come to the third and last Collection which was made from this Text viz. That the true and only design of the Apostle in these words and in this form of speaking was to engage the Corinthians to that reverence and devotion in the Holy Sacrament that became so solemn a service of Religion as that is I shall not need to stay long on this Argument for I design but two things only upon it and a little will suffice to dispatch them both pag. 198. CHAP. XII And then there is only the second and last thing remaining upon our hands For having shewed that to bring them to devotion and reverence in the Holy Sacrament was his design it will be proper now to shew how reasonably he might undertake that task and how becoming it is for them and us and all that engage into that service pag. 212. Books Written by the same Author A Serious Exhortation to frequent Communion Piety the best rule of Orthodoxy INTRODUCTION THere are few things more commonly instanced in the practice of Men and none of more pernicious and mischievous consequence than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks call it i. e. an extravagant humor of running out of one extremity into another I need not stay remarking the commonness of that which is instanced in every days experience nor seek for proofs of its bad effects when we see nothing more to debauch the opinions and practices of Men. For there being in almost all cases two extream vices for one real vertue it is very rare that Men running from the one stop in the intermedial stage or take up till they come to the utmost extremity on the other hand It 's a hard matter to make a sober Convert and so to bring a Man either to reform one Vice or quit such a false Opinion and evil Principle but that he
which is common and that which is holy the eating the Lords Supper just as men do a common Supper or Meal in their own Houses and making no difference in our respects and regards to the one more than to the other For it is plain and I shall have occasion hereafter to shew it fully this was the great miscarriage and fault of the Corinthians which the Apostle so sharply taxeth in this place they did eat the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Love-feasts disorderly and in great confusion yea to excess and drunkenness and the Holy Sacrament which they are in the close thereof they are irreverently and without any due sense of the sacredness of it just as they ate at home in their own houses without any sense of Religion or mystery in it and without making any difference between that and a common morsel of bread or cup of wine This is the particular sense of eating and drinking unworthily in this place and by this Key we may come to the true understanding of it and though perhaps we may extend it further and make it to comprehend some other failures beside this yet we do it but by Analogy and proportion in which we may possibly be mistaken and in which our own reasonings may fail us but whether they do or not nothing but this is that eating and drinking unworthily which the Apostle means in this place So that although those other things may possibly cause Men to eat and drink unworthily in some sense yet not to do so in the sense of this Text and therefore Men should be infinitely careful how they apply this to other things than what the Apostle did or assert the same guilt and danger to be incurred equally in one as well as the other 3. The naming of which brings me to the third and last expression that needs to be explained in his eating and drinking damnation to himself in doing which I shall but need to consider what the strict and particular reference of damnation is in this place for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being of a general and indefinite signification and being used to express any judgment whatsoever must be fixed only by the circumstances of the place and by that we shall best understand what it doth specially refer to I do not deny but the word is sometimes used to signifie what we commonly restrain it to i. e. that eternal damnation in hell that is prepared for the impenitent and unbelievers and those other appellatives of vice which the Scripture describes such as Whoremongers and Adulterers Extortioners and Covetous Drunkards Murtherers c. But because it is sometimes used in that sense therefore to understand it always so wherever we meet it is a great mistake and sometimes of very ill consequence I could shew this in some other instances besides that under present consideration were not the truth too visible in this alone For by this means Men have been frighted from the Holy Sacrament and as I observed before sate down in a total disregard and neglect of it chusing rather and thinking it the safer side of the question not to Communicate at all than to run an apparent hazard of damnation by doing so And I must confess were this really the case they would have at least some appearance of a reason to plead for themselves and would almost stand upon the same ground with us and have the same argument against coming to the Holy Sacrament which we use to perswade them to the same The highest Argument that we have to this purpose is that it is a plain duty relying upon the express command of our dying Lord which wilfully to transgress must most certainly be a damning sin Now the same would these Men have to plead against it were this the sense of damnation in this place and so would run no greater a hazard in not receiving it at all than they do in receiving it unworthily and amiss they must be damned in receiving it unworthily and they can be no more in not receiving it at all This I call a gross misunderstanding the sense of damnation in this place for whatever it may signifie in other places it is plain it doth not signifie so in this And this is evident if we consider what the punishments are which were inflicted for this sin which the Apostle instanceth in the following verse for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep i. e. This gross irreverence of yours towards the Symbols of his own Son's body and blood hath provoked God to punish you with many sicknesses and diseases and some among you have been cut off and have died by them In all which there is not one word of eternal damnation nor any mention made but of temporary of external or corporal punishments only nor is there any necessity of inferring the danger of damnation from these for Men may be punished in this world and spared and pardoned in the next and it is not only possible but common and ordinary to be so Eternal damnation is the final excision and last wrathful destruction of wicked Men it is the last unmixed cup of Gods vengeance in which there is no allay of mercy not one grain of favour mixed with it but such Judgments as these here are far from being so they are always medicinal and preventive to correct and amend former faults and to prevent the last and final destruction They are intended for the salvation of Men and do not always so much as preface to their damnation Yea when they proceed so far as to cut off Mens lives they may be only correcting and punishing of them here that they may be finally spared hereafter And so the Apostle plainly tells these irreverent Corinthians that these punishments were Vers 32. When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world i. e. God inflicts these judgments upon you to bring you to a sense of the sin that caused them and to learn you to reform and abstain from those things whose consequences you have found to be so bitter they are so far from intending your eternal damnation that they are purposely designed to prevent it They are the medicinal chastenings of your good Father which are inflicted indeed for this your great fault but intended as expiations rather of the guilt than eternal punishments for it This now I think is the plain true exposition of this place which I have therefore given in the first place because it may be of good use to take off something of the terror that seems at first sight to be in it and to let Men see that these words rightly understood according to the purpose of the Apostle in using them are not so frightful as at first perhaps they might apprehend them to be and may serve therefore in consequence of that to take off something of that fear and dread of coming to
the Holy Sacrament which their minds may have entertained upon the reason of them CHAP. II. Having in the former Chapter cleared the true sense of these words I proceed in this to the second general that I proposed to draw some general Conclusions from them which may be proper to be considered in the present case and to which I shall reduce as to so many heads what I intend further to say in this discourse the Collections that I purpose are these three that follow 1. That eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this place is a thing hardly to be committed by Christians in this age 2. The supposed danger of eating and drinking unworthily is not a sufficient reason for Men to abstain from the Holy Sacrament upon 3. The true purpose of this place is to deter Men from irreverence and rudeness in eating and drinking in the Holy Sacrament and ingage them to that devotion and reverence that becomes them that do discern the Lords body These are three material Collections proper to be considered by all scrupulous persons in this case and therefore I shall endeavour to the utmost of my power and skill to discourse them with that plainness and evidence that they require and deserve I begin with the first eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this Text is hardly to be committed by Christians in this age In order to the clearing the truth of this Collection it will concern me to do these following things 1. Shew what this eating and drinking unworthily was and wherein this sin of these Corinthians did consist 2. Consider the Circumstances that all Christians now are in which set them almost above the possibility of being guilty of it 3. I shall inquire what can be counted eating and drinking unworthily in proportion to this 4. And consider in the last place whether these also be not almost incompetent to Christians especially to any that are concerned in our present case SECT I. IN order to my discharging the first thing undertaken I shall need but to repeat a little of what I said in the explication of this Text and this phrase in it Not discerning the Lords body is certainly the Key to the meaning of eating and drinking unworthily and by considering the one we may come to the understanding of the other and by examining how the case stood with these Corinthians we may easily understand both By their not discerning the Lords body the Apostle means their not considering that this was an immediate service of Religion and that the morsel of bread which they did eat and glass of wine that they did drink were Sacramentally the very body and blood of Christ they put no difference between these sacred Symbolls of our Lords body and blood and common food and drink nor shewed greater reverence in eating and drinking the one than doing so to the other they ate in Gods House just as they did in their own and made no distinction between this and a common meal Yea and which is something worse yet they did this not only thus irreverently but in intemperance and downright drunkenness for so he tells them vers 21. One is hungry and another is drunk How this monstrous disorder happen'd among them hath been hinted already and may more fully now by giving a short account of the ancient practice of the Church in this matter Now that briefly stood thus the Holy Sacrament was usually prefaced unto by a publick feast of Charity which is called in antiquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love-Feast to which you have frequent reference in the New Testament to this Feast every one contributed and brought some portion according to his ability of which all feasted lovingly together reserving some portion for the Holy Sacrament which they always celebrated in the close of this Feast Now this grand profanation of this Holy Service happen'd thus instead of feeding lovingly all together of what was thus brought by all each one fed singly upon his own portion by which it came to pass not only that the poor had little or nothing to eat but the rich had too much which brought them to excess and even to plain drunkenness one is hungry and another drunk in which sad condition approaching to the Table of the Lord they were very unfit to consider the sacredness of it and very unlike to pay that reverence that was due to it That both these things contributed to their not discerning the Lords body and in consequence of that eating and drinking unworthily we may fully satisfie our selves by considering the Apostles dealing with them in the latter part of this Chapter where he falls upon this Argument For because they were so grosly ignorant in the reason and design of the Holy Sacrament he explains that fully to them from Verse 22d to the 27th acquainting them with the Author reason and purpose of this institution that it was an immediate service of Religion instituted by Christ himself just before his suffering and instituted to no meaner a purpose than to be a solemn rite of commemorating his death which should be used in his Church till his coming again to judgment For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus in the same night in which 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 when he had supped saying This cup is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come And because through their scandalous intemperance preceding they so horribly profaned this service therefore he shews them both the sin and great danger of it and presseth them to a serious care to reform it as you may see in the 27 28 29 and 30th Verses Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examin himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of that cup. For he this eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged In which words it is plain he refers to this scandalous abuse of theirs aggravating both the guilt and danger of it in words as high and dreadful as could well be thought on that thereby he might bring them to a dread of it and to the use of those means which he prescribes in order to the reforming of it This in short was the eating and drinking unworthily that the Apostle so sharply taxeth and God
had so severely punished these Corinthians for and when we consider seriously the horrible grossness of it I believe we shall subscribe to the equity and reasonableness of both this was so extreamly foul and gross a profanation of the Holy Sacrament that we cannot wonder either at the vehemency of the reproof or sharpness of the punishment it was such a crime as was scarce ever heard of in a Christian Church and at the very name of which I am perswaded a Christian heart cannot but tremble if damnation in the most dreadful sense of the word had been threatned or had been inflicted up on this sin it had been no wonder SECT II. 2. LET us therefore enquire whether any Christian now needs much to fear or can well be guilty of the like and we shall soon find that they are almost above the possibility of it 1. For first these preceding Love-Feasts are now abolished and wholly disused and have been so for many Centuries of years for these Feasts not only giving some colour of a reason to the Heathens to traduce the Christians upon as if they indulg'd to all manner of sensuality and uncleanness in them as they very well knew themselves did in their Bacchanalia and some other Feasts but also giving too much occasion to exorbitancy and disorder among themselves and coming in a little time to be abused indeed to some ill purposes were by publick Order and Canon of the Church prohibited and wholly laid down and continue so to this day So that to us there is no such possibility of this disorder and excess because we are out of the reach of that which was temptation and occasion of it in them and that custom and practice is wholly antiquated and laid aside among us which betrayed them into it 2. And secondly the time of communicating in the Holy Sacrament with us is wholly changed from what it was of old for the same reason it was then not only called the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but indeed was so i. e. in imitation of our Lords practice it was celebrated at Supper time though I cannot but by the by note that to me it seems plain it was celebrated antelucano tempore during those hot and raging persecutions in Pliny's time when the Christians were glad to meet early before day to perform the services of their Religion for fear of discovery by their persecutors But however that were it is certain that generally it was observed in the Evening at Supper time a time which was really more inconvenient in this respect and when men were in more danger of not observing it with that reverence and devotion that became both it and themselves too and that for these two plain reasons First that at night Mens minds and thoughts are commonly more loosened and far from that seriousness and consistency that they are usually in a morning Mark it and you will commonly find a great difference between a Mans morning and evening devotions in a morning our thoughts generally are both more clear and united but by that time the hurries of the day are over they are more pusled and disordered with the business that hath employed them so that they cannot so easily recollect themselves and fix upon God and Religion again upon which reason it is thought by some Divines that the Psalmist compared his early devotions to incense but those of the evening to the lifting up of his hands or to the common sacrifice So that in this we have greatly the advantage of them and the wisdom of the Church hath thought fit upon this reason to change the time for the observation of it long ago we receive it now in the morning and that upon Sundays and Holydays too i. e. both when our thoughts are more active and united and when we are out of all temptation from other business and before we can well have disordered our selves with any Secondly Another advantage on our side lieth in this that in the morning we are usually fresh and free from any steams of intemperance and from any temptations to it which in the progress of the day men too often meet with and by too easie compliances with are too often ruffled and disordered by before evening Men are generally sober in a morning and S. Peter thought Men could not be drunk at the third hour of the day i. e. according to the Jewish way of dividing the day at nine in the morning and though perhaps in this degenerate age and place some exceptions might be produced against the Apostles rule yet it is not ordinarily and commonly so Men are neither in such danger of being over taken nor so commonly so in a morning as God knows they too commonly are seen to be at night so that upon this reason also we have something the advantage of them in this respect and cannot well come drunk to the Lords Table unless we be beasts and monsters of intemperance 3. And yet there is a third instance in which the Christian Church hath taken care to secure us in this instance And that is its injoyning us to receive the Holy Sacrament fasting For this there are several Constitutions and Canons of the Church producible by which certainly it hath taken the utmost and most effectual care possible for the prevention of such profanation of this Holy Service For because that the custom of Communicating in the evening continued longer in some Churches than in others though they could not break that custom yet by this institution they thought they provided sufficiently against all possibility of this profanation and indeed so they did for it was not possible for them to come drunk to the Holy Sacrament in the evening who had fasted all the day preceding this constitution would either certainly change the time of the Holy Communion or it would secure it against this profanation or rather as we see it hath done already it would secure both purposes This Custom hath now generally obtained in this as well as all other Churches Men generally receive the Holy Sacrament fasting and I believe few do otherwise unless it be out of some necessary respect to health or some present infirmity in which the Church doth and always did allow a dispensation well knowing that God requireth mercy and not sacrifice 4. To these we may add in the fourth place that high respect and veneration that Men generally have and have long been accustomed and taught to have for the Holy Sacrament even above any other service and ministry of Religion The truth is instead of profaning the Sacrament by our Common and irreverent carriage at it we have run on the other hand into a superstitious fear and dread that keeps us from it and I believe there is not one instance in a whole age producible of a Mans being drunk at the Lords Table The worst of Men the worst profligate and debauched will lay some restraint upon themselves both before
same holy qualifications of mind and temper necessary to the discharging other services of Religion as to this the same zeal and fervour of spirit the same devotion and height of soul the same sequestring our minds from all other employments and thoughts the same high thoughts of God and his goodness the same close attention of mind the same care to free our selves from all injustice wrath uncleanness and every thing that might render us unfit to converse with our God and to receive blessings from him All these things and the same measures and degrees of them too are equally necessary for us when we pray as well as when we Communicate in the Holy Sacrament You will find the Scriptures still speaking thus and requiring all these things as necessary to endear us to God and to recommend any of our performances to his gracious acceptation And if so upon what reason can we suspect more difficulty in the acceptable performance of this service than in others I cannot think of any appearance of a reason unless it be that all these divine qualifications were more natural and easie in others than in this or something in them that is more naturally effective of them there than here Now this is so far from being true that all good men find the quite contrary to be so there is no service in Christian Religion that carries our souls higher in raptures of love and makes them mount in brighter flames of gratitude and praise than this nay none like it when we see our Lord crucified before our eyes behold and taste the sensible pledges of his bleeding and dying love it is now that our souls are ready to break their earthly Mansions 't is now that our hearts burn within us and that our thoughts burst into pure flames of devotion and love which unite us to our God and render our services as acceptable to him as the brighter flames of Angels and Seraphims above So that if the comparison between this and other services of Religion be made either upon experience or reason this should be accounted the easiest rather than most difficult of all SECT I. 2. THE guilt of failing to do this duty so well as we should is no greater than what it is in failing to do others so and we are not only as incident to failings in doing other services of Religion amiss as well as this but we contract as great guilt in them as in this Some men make a mighty stir and others perplex and puzle themselves with fears of an extraordinary guilt if they do not receive the Holy Sacrament just as they should do and this guilt they dread much more and think it to be much more terrible than the guilt of the like failure in other services of their Religion but for my part I could not understand any true reason for this it happens here as it usually doth in panick fears there is no real ground or cause of them and nothing that I know of besides words and a prejudicated opinion to incline us to think that there is It is doubtless a great sin to Communicate unworthily without due respect and reverence and without care to demean our selves as becomes so sacred a service of our Religion but so it is also to pray or to hear Gods word carelesly and regardlesly to rush into the divine presence rudely and profanely and to behave our selves in Gods House as irreverently and far from any sign of devotion as in our own to say over a few prayers without any due regard to the majesty of Him we are praying unto without any just sense of the importance of the things we are praying for and without any close intention of mind to what we are doing to lay our selves down to sleep when God is speaking to us and when a message is delivered unto us out of that divine word by which we shall be judged at the last day I am sure these are sins of a very grand guilt and I am sure the Holy Scripture always speaks of them as such I would to God men would soberly consider that they are so we might then hope to see the publick worship of God performed at another rate than generally it is And I add that according to the common language of Scripture they are sins every whit as big of as deep a dye as grand guilt as Communicating unduly in the Holy Sacrament is or can reasonably be thought to be when any man will undertake to make out the difference upon any sound reason we may begin to question this but till then should not let our own make surmises and fears prevail upon us to the contrary and fill our minds with unreasonable apprehensions and perplexities in this matter It 's a bad sign when men are scrupulous only one way mighty timerous in one thing but hardy and regardless in another and it 's a shrewd sign it is not true conscience that makes men so mighty shie and fearful of communicating unworthily but never concerned at hearing unworthily or praying unworthily the guilt is really the same in one case as it is in the other and therefore equally to be dreaded and avoided in both and if it be an honest true dread of sin that is upon us it will startle us and render us afraid of it in one case as well as in the other It 's a stale cheat that the Enemy of souls hath too often put upon men in rendring them mighty tender and scrupulous in some things but careless altogether in others as if care in one instance of our duty would attone our wilful regardlesness in another S. James I am sure tells us another story Jam. 2.10.11 where in his judgment he that wilfully indulgeth himself in the breach of one precept of the Law is guilty of all because the same authority of God is contemned in one that is in another or in all for he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. I heartily wish that men would not put the same fallacy upon themselves sin and guilt is to be dreaded in one thing as well as another and if it be not so by us if we be scrupulous only one way but not the other if we be so very fearful of sinning in doing of one service of our Religion amiss and not another it is too plain the devil or our own deceitful hearts put a trick upon us it is some other reason that governs us and keeps us from our duty and not an honest conscience and fear of doing it amiss for that fear will make us afraid of the same sin in doing other duties amiss and if it do not it is not that only which prevails with us I would willingly press this Consideration more home upon all mens thoughts and beg them to take heed of a superstitious fear of greater guilt and danger in doing this service of their Religion amiss than in others this is a
of their Religion since they are as apt to transgress and offend God in them as in this 2. This cannot be a good reason because it is much better and safer to do a duty as well as we can though we sin in it by not doing it so well as we should than wholly to neglect it and not endeavour to do it at all This is so evidently true that the universal reason of mankind will readily subscribe to the truth of it it is much better to do a duty as well as we can than not to essay it at all so that should we sin in doing our duty amiss and provoke God in strictness of justice to punish us yet we should sin more heinously and more grievously provoke him by wholly neglecting and disregarding that duty altogether You need but consult your own breasts for this you would much rather the children or servants c. should do what you command them though they do it imperfectly and amiss than that they should not go about to do it at all and you can much more easily pardon their errors in executing your commands than endure that they should wholly slight them and disregard what you give them in charge It argues some respect to God and some sense of a mans obligation and duty to do what he hath commanded though he do not do it so well as he should and perhaps might but it is next to extremity of profaness to neglect his duty altogether under a pretence that he cannot do it so well as it ought to be done and certainly God will bear rather with a bungler in his service than a neglecter of it and pardon an honest endeavour though attended with many failings much easier than him who never tries nor endeavours at all It is our happiness and comfort that God hath assured us he will deal with us by these measures and accept or reject mens performances by these rules of grace and mercy for so he hath assured us in the old Testament that he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax and so the Apostle hath let us know in the New that if there be first a willing heart an honest endeavour to do as well as a man can it shall be accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Now this must needs be a mighty encouragement and comfort to us and sufficient to set us right in this matter to make us think it much better and safer to do our duty as well as we can though we be too sensible that many errors attend our doing it than to sit down in a total disregard of it SECT III. 4. OUr own confession and practice is evidence also in this case as we do not count this a good reason to abstain from the services of Religion upon so we do act contrary to it whatever errors and failings attend mens holy things yet generally they keep up the practice of them the sense of sin or guilt in doing them seldom prevails upon them to that degree as to cause them wholly to intermit and lay aside the care of them Those men that are most conscious to themselves of their errors in hearing Gods word or in praying to him yet think it their duty to come to Church and joyn in the publick service of it esteeming it much better to do somthing of their duty than nothing at all and judge it a lesser guilt to err in the manner of doing their duty than wholly to neglect all doing of it I appeal to our common practice these are the measures that we act and judge by in all other instances we do not think we may safely neglect our duty because we fear we shall do it amiss nor do we think our selves discharged from the services of Religion upon a fear of sinning and offending God in the doing of them SECT VI. NOw from all these premisses the Conclusion methinks should follow very plainly viz. that since this equal sense of danger and guilt in doing other services of our Religion amiss doth not detain us from doing of them that therefore it ought not to do it in this In the doing other duties and services of Religion men do so far surmount the fear and danger of sinning in them as to keep up the regular and unconstant practice of them they do not suffer these fears so far to prevail upon them as to cause them wholly to cast off the care of them but they judge it much better to do somthing of their duty than nothing at all and a much less degree of guilt to do their duty though they fail in it and fall short of that exactness and care that it should be done with than to sit down in the total omission of it to live and die in the neglect of it as I fear a great many of men do in this Now in these cases men judge aright and have both the universal reason of Mankind and their own minds to acquit them therein and certainly they do choose the much safer side of the question I ask then why they should not proceed by the same measures in our present case why the same reason that is so evident to us and so effectual upon us in all other cases should not be equally so in this I wish men would soberly consider things and judge righteous judgment and not make differences where there are really none I told you before it 's an ill sign when men are scrupulous only on one side and when that reason which prevails so easily upon them in one case shall not at all affect them in another in such a case it is plain mens wills and passions make the difference and not their judgments And to deal plainly I am afraid it is just so in our present case men have no mind to come to the Holy Sacrament and therefore let every little shadow of a reason keep them from it it is not because they have any true arguments against it but because they have no inclination to the thing it self This I take to be the main reason why all our reasonings with men in this matter are so insuccessful they encounter prejudices and contrary passions which too commonly are obstinate and blind and men will not be perswaded to quit them no not when their reasons are convinced and all their exceptions and arguments satisfied It is not in this case only that men believe with their wills and affections more than with their judgments and choose or refuse things not as they have true reason and argument for them but as they have inclinations to or prejudices against them The main fault of mens being more careless to come to the Holy Sacrament than to other ministries of Religion lies in their wills more than real judgment otherwise the same measures would be observed in both and the arguments that prevail with them to act regularly in one case
would engage them to do so in this too I need not inveigh against this temper mens own reason would they but hear it would make them ashamed of it at present I only add that this argument which keeps men from a necessary duty instead of encouraging them to it can never be divine or true nor can it be safe to relie upon it so that although men were not able to see or answer the sophistry of it nor shew wherein the falshood of it did lie yet it would be its own confutation for that argument can never be of God which perswades men to live in the neglect of a duty that his commands have made necessary And therefore when we come to weigh arguments in this case we should always incline most to those which teach us our duty and encourage us in it because this is certainly the safer side Nay I add further that were our minds purely pendulous were there arguments on both sides of the question that appeared equally true and concluding so that we were not able to put a difference between them nor knew which to incline unto yet this alone were enough to turn the scales One doth invite and encourage me to do my duty what I see the plain command of God for the other doth discourage and fright me from it and therefore if I were not able to discover by any internal signatures on which side the truth doth lie yet this external consideration is sufficient to determine my choice for it is certainly more safe to do my duty as well as I can than wholly to neglect it and that argument which encourageeth me hereunto is certainly on the surer and safer side And therefore to conclude this period since we do proceed by this rule in all other cases we should proceed by it also in this since we do not permit the possibility and fear of doing other duties amiss to detain us from them we should not suffer it to keep us from this CHAP. VI. The third Consideration that I proposed as an argument for this second Collection is this The Punishment threatned to eating and drinking unworthily is no greater than what may be feared upon our doing other services of our Religion amiss and is threatned thereunto THis is an argument that ought clearly to be proceeded upon because it comes up directly to that which some men make the chief exception against coming to the Holy Sacrament and which they commonly urge this place in defence of they tell us they are loth to be damn'd and I readily grant they have good reason to be so but they are much more unwilling to damn themselves and for this they are not to be blamed neither Now both these they say they are greatly afraid of if they come to the Holy Sacrament unworthily for damnation is here expresly threatned to him that doth thus yea he is said to eat and drink his own damnation Now what I have already said before might go a great way towards taking off this exception and if Men remember the true notion of eating and drinking unworthily in this place it would go near to relieve wholly their fear in this thing for I have shewed that it is not every failure in receiving the Holy Sacrament that brings a man within the reach of eating and drinking unworthily in the sense of this Text but only that gross and scandalous profanation of it that the Corinthians were guilty of or something that in true proportion answers to it And consequently that it is not every such failure that brings a man within the danger of that damnation that the Apostle speaks of men need not presently fear being damned upon every error and little failure in doing their duty they have a more merciful God to deal with who doth not weigh men by grains and scruples but rates their services as he doth their lives by the general frame and bent of them and provided that men do their duty and honestly endeavour to do it as well as they can hath promised to accept them though many imperfections stick to them and such as should he deal in strict justice might cause him to reject and abhor them In short it is only that monstrous profanation of the Holy Sacrament which the Corinthians were guilty of that makes a man to eat and drink unworthily in the sense of this Text and therefore only that or somthing as bad that brings him in danger of that damnation which is here threatned so that unless men be guilty of the same sin they have no reason to fear the same punishment But I shall not put the satisfaction of this scruple only upon this but consider it in it self and examin whether there be any thing in it fit to be made an exception against this service in order to which I shall endeavour to do these two things 1. Give the true sense of the phrase and shew how men mistake in their apprehension of and deductions from it 2. I shall shew that if men did not mistake the meaning of it yet they do not deal justly and fairly in neglecting the Holy Sacrament upon that reason SECT I. THE first thing to be performed to our present purpose is to give the true meaning of this phrase and there are two expressions which will need explication First Damnation and Secondly eating and drinking damnation to himself The first word to be explained is damnation a word that makes a dreadful noise and carries terror in the very sound of it it indifferently signifies any judgment or punishment whatever but it is commonly appropriated and restrained to signifie that terrible punishment in Hell which God hath prepared for all obstinate and impenitent sinners Now the thing chiefly incumbent upon me is to shew what the signification of it is in this place and to inquire whether the circumstances of it do require us to restrain it to this dreadful punishment as those that make this objection always understand it for if men mistake in their understanding it thus then they mistake in their exception too and the reason of it falls to the ground I shall need to do very little more than repeat what I said in the literal exposition of the Text to my present purpose where I shewed First that the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of a very general and indefinite signification and is indifferently used to express any judgment or punishment from God or man temporal or eternal upon the body or the soul or both and accordingly is used in Scripture also somtimes for temporal sometimes for eternal punishment for any external chastisement in this world as well as those eternal ones in the next it were easie to instance the places in which it is used in both significations were the thing necessary or not well known From this signification therefore of the word we cannot infer any thing certain here it may signifie the one or it may signifie the
before doth not so much respect any thing to be done by way of preparation to the Holy Sacrament but rather to be added by way of advice how to attone for the Sin of having Eaten and Drank unworthily and to prevent those punnishments that they might expect and fear upon having done so The Apostle had convinced them of their Sin in this and let them know that the judgments which they lay under were the effects of that Sin and having told them in verse 28. how to reform and prevent the Sin for the future he tells them in this how to escape the punishments that were due to it viz. by anticipating God's judging of them becoming Assessors upon themselves and by their own remorse and sorrow inflicting that punishment upon themselves which otherwise they might expect from God this I think is the truest account of this passage and of what the Apostle means in it So that the great matter of preparation that he prescribes in order to their Eating and Drinking fitly and becomingly i. e. worthily in the sense of that word is comprehended under that examination that he adviseth to verse 28. Let a Man examine himself and so let him Eat of that Bread and Drink of that Cup. And therefore this is the great thing to be explained by which we may see what a reasonable measure of consideration and care the Apostle thinks sufficient to this purpose I do very well know and as readily acknowledg that some considerable Men understand this so as to comprehend all that strict and critical examination of a Man's self that may be needful to the understanding exactly the state of his Soul with respect to his Religion Faith Charity c. i. e. whether Men be Christians indeed or not and whether they resolve to continue so whether they have truly repented them of all their Sins both in general and particularly and whether their purposes of reforming from them be real and sincere Yet I think I have reason to differ from them a little in this for whatever may be the meaning of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other places of the New Testament yet I think it is not the meaning of it in this and by considering wherein the error and guilt of these Corinthians consisted we may pretty well understand the meaning of what he prescribes in remedy of it This I have considered at large already in this discourse and the truth is the Apostle expresseth it plainly enough to be not discerning the Lords Body i. e. putting no difference between this and common bread and therefore Eating with as little Reverence at the Lords Table as they did at their own in their own Houses This was the Sin and by considering that it was so we may easily collect the meaning of that examination which he prescribes against it to be primarily no more than this which I shall borrow the words of a great Man among us to express let every Man among you consider well with himself what a Sacred action that is which he is going about and what a devout and reverent behaviour becomes him that is going to Celebrate the Holy Sacrament which Christ hath instituted to represent and commemorate his own Body and Blood broken and spilt upon the Cross for Man's Redemption This is what the Apostle prescribes as a remedy against that profanation of the Holy Sacrament that they were guilty of and what he thinks sufficient to preserve them from it for the future to consider well what a high mysterious service of Christian Religion it is that the Bread and Wine are therein consecrated into the symbols of our Lord 's own Body and Blood that they are no longer common Bread and Wine but changed into a great mystery and in a Sacramental sence the very Body and Blood of Christ This is discerning the Lord's Body and this is the import of a Man's examining himself that he may discern it and he that doth this can never be guilty of such unworthy eating and drinking as these Corinthians were guilty of for he will see clearly what a mighty respect and deference is due to this service and what a profound veneration and reverence becomes those that eat at the Table of the great God and are admitted to a participation of his own Son 's most Sacred Body and Blood upon this reason Antiquity used to call these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most Sacred and dreadful mysteries and no Man that considers them as such but must put a difference between them and common food and can hardly but partake of with a Sacred dread of Spirit and a most profound reverence and devotion I only add what I undertook this notion for viz. That this self examination is therefore no such difficult thing as Men imagin it to be it is what all Christians know what they can easily consider and what it is indeed the greater difficulty for them not to consider and be affected withal But then suppose that it did imply something more and what some Men as I hinted before do extend it unto i. e. all that examination of a Man's self that is necessary to the true understanding the state and condition of his Soul with respect to his Repentance Faith Charity and the quality of his life First I say I will by no means discourage any one from care of this and setting apart some time for it in order to his eating and drinking becomingly at the Lords Table This is a thing upon many accounts very expedient and fit and especially in order to our understanding with what qualification we ought chiefly to come to this Holy Sacrament which may and ought to vary according to the variable circumstances of our Spiritual condition Besides this examination of a Man's self is a thing highly necessary to the great purposes of Religion and because no time can well be pitched upon for it more fit and proper than when Men are preparing themselves for the Holy Sacrament therefore it may be very prudent to take that time to do it in some time is necessary for it and that time may be as fit for it as any other and those that will so imploy it do well and are by no means to be discouraged But then Secondly I say this examination is but just necessary then as it is at other times for I see not why it may not be thought as necessany to examine our selves and consider what the state of our Soul is when we go to pray and when we go to hear God's word that we may both know what especially to pray for and how to apply that word to our selves as it is when we are addressing to the Holy Sacrament So that whatever it signifies it is no more necessary to the Holy Sacrament than it is to other services of Religion nor ought to fright us from the one any more than it doth from the other And Thirdly I add that surely
tell me if it ought not to be reformed and amended one would think there were no need to ask this question nor to doubt whether Men should amend their faults or not this is a thing not to be so much as deliberated about by any that consider what an evil Sin is in it self what a train of mischiefs it draws after it and what a dreadful thing it is to live in that which exposeth a Man to the wrath of an Almighty God and such a thing unfitness for the Holy Sacrament is if it be a Sin. I would therefore have Men as sensible and fearful of Sin in this as they appear to be of it on the other side and then they would no more dare to continue in this than be guilty of the other We see some Men mighty sensible of the Sin of eating and drinking unworthily and very fearful of being guilty of it Now I would fain have them as sensible of the Sin of being unworthy and unfit to eat and as much afraid to continue in it the guilt is the same in both cases and therefore if they be afraid of Sin upon a true reason in one they will be so in the other also I have often said and some Men cannot be told it too often that it is a bad sign to see Men scrupulous and tender only on one side and 't is an unaccountable thing to see Men so fearful of sinning in coming to the Holy Sacrament but never to scruple or be afraid of sinning in staying from it and being unfit to come Starting and trembling at the thoughts of Sin in the one but being regardless and insensible of it in the other 3. If it be then a Sin and what Men ought to amend I ask in the third place when Men intend to set about it and endeavour to become fitter must it be postpon'd and put off as many other good and necessary things are to hereafter and to a time to come no body knows when this is that unaccountable folly that Men are so ready to condemn all others for in other cases and therefore should not allow in themselves here All the great arguments that combine against the folly and danger of procrastinating in repentance and putting off good purposes to hereafter unite against this and Men that can urge them so readily to others in those cases should not resist them themselves in this Besides all which there is one consideration which seems peculiar in this case and ought to be of effect in it and that is that coming to the Holy Sacrament is one good means to become fit and to redress the unworthiness that Men complain of I said once before in this discourse that few Men become more fit by staying from it but many have by coming to it the longer Men stay away the more unfit in all probability they will be and one good way of coming fitly is to come as well as they can So that it is not only here as it is in some other cases the sooner Men set about redressing the unfitness the easier the doing it will be but the very setting about it is a good part of it and I not only say that the longer Men continue unfit the more guilt they contract and the heavier will the burthen of their Sin be the greater hazard they run and put their duty upon the greater uncertainty and chance but they aggravate their unfitness enhanse their indisposition and contribute to the difficulty of removing the same 4. Having got thus far then that this is an evil that it ought to be reformed and the sooner the better in all respects it will easily be considered that if Men do sit down under their unfitness it is plainly wilful and affected Men that know their faults and how greatly they are concerned to reform them and yet do not shew themselves to be greatly in love with them or enslaved to them and Men that will not strive against their diseases seem pleased with them Now in such a case the evil of the indisposition doubles and whatever guilt results from it swells in the same proportion he that wilfully indulgeth to a Sin enhanseth the guilt of it and he that neglects a duty because he cherisheth that which unfits him for it hath a double guilt to answer for involuntary unaffected indispositions that come upon Men by surprise by the violence of temptation or upon the score of unavoidable infirmity are pitiable and capable of mercy but he that cherisheth them to excuse him from duty stands doubly guilty before God. 5. To all which considerations I only add this one more that whether Men do or do not endeavour to redress their present unfitness for the Holy Sacrament they must be let know and they ought seriously to consider that continual unfitness can never excuse them from it The receiving the Sacrament I have shewed is a necessary indispensible Christian duty for which nothing that I know of but natural incapacities can excuse Men much less such moral indispositions as both should and easily may be removed a present accidental indisposition how fair soever it may bid yet can never excuse a single omission of the Holy Sacrament and if so then I am sure no indisposition can excuse the total continued neglect of it And of all things certainly it were most strange if Men should hope to be excused in the continual neglect of their duty upon pretences of continual unfitness to do it this is so abhorrent to human reason that it cannot be believed No Man living will allow it in a Servant in a Child or in any that owes duty to him and therefore hath no reason to hope that God will allow it in himself especially when he considers that that unfitness hath come upon him through his own fault and might be redressed by some competent care CHAP. XI We are now come to the third and last Collection which was made from this Text viz. That the true and only design of the Apostle in these words and in this form of speaking was to engage the Corinthians to that reverence and devotion in the Holy Sacrament that became so solemn a service of Religion as that is I shall not need to stay long on this Argument for I design but two things only upon it and a little will suffice to dispatch them both 1. I Shall endeavour to prove that this is really the sense of these words and the Apostle's great design in them 2. I shall represent the reasonableness of the thing and shew how fit and necessary devotion and reverence is for them that approach to the Table of the Lord. 1. That this is really the design and purport of the Apostle in these words I shall endeavour to make good from these three considerations First what the crime of the Corinthians was that these words were intended to reform Secondly the phrase of the Text in which he endeavours that reformation And thirdly
which cannot signifie strictly according to the literal sense of the word nor ought to be extended to every indisposition and to every failure to eat so worthily as Men should for then neither could any Man living eat worthily nor with his utmost care avoid doing it unworthily this is a state of insuperable imperfection and while we are in it some stains will stick to our best performances our best and most devout services will need the merits of Christ to expiate and the mercy of God to pardon the failures of them And had we not such a compassionate mediator to interceed for and such a merciful God to pity and pardon us we should have little reason to hope that any of our services should be accepted by him And therefore if this were the sense of eating unworthily there might be reason to fright Men from the Holy Sacrament as some teachers have done nay and the command of our Lord to keep up the practice of it in his Church would be strangely unreasonable it would be a hard thing to tie up his votaries to the observation of that which they could never do so as to hope to be accepted in the doing of but must most infallibly incur a certain danger of very great punishment And therefore unworthily in this place must signifie indecently unbecomingly i.e. in other words irreverently and profanely just as if Men were about common things for the great indecency in performing services of Religion is to do them carelesly rudely irreverently as if they were or we looked upon them to be common ordinary things things which by our behaviour we were not to distinguish from the common services of life and upon which we were not to believe that the momentous concerns of the divine favour and eternal happiness did depend upon This the word doth signifie and when both the nature of the thing and the matter of fact related to do require that signification then I am sure we have all to justifie that exposition of it that in reason can be desired 2. The words also in which the cause of this miscarriage is expressed conclude for this exposition of the Text also now those are not discerning the Lords Body which as I have often shewed signifie the not understanding the reason purpose and design of this service looking upon it as a common thing and taking the Bread and Wine to be but just like those with which their common feasts used to be concluded with So that by considering what the cause of this miscarriage was we are as planily shewed what it was and wherein it did consist as can be wished for if they did not understand that this was a Solemn service of Religion and if because of this they did eat unworthily then that unworthiness must mean irreverence common behaviour want of devotion that being the most natural and immediate effect of not discerning the Lords Body the cause plainly points us to the effect and gives us to understand what it was 3. And the word in which the punishment threatned to the miscarriage is expressed combines with the other also in assuring this exposition now that is this startling word Damnation which as the next verse shews plainly signifies here temporal punishments inflictions of sicknesses and diseases and at most but corporal death Now I observe that these were those chastisements with which profaning Sacred things and the Services of Religion used to be punished under the Law instances of these are frequent in the old Testament and well known to those that have considered it Thus Nadab and Abihu being drunk as the circumstances of the story plainly shew and in that disorder and that mistake which it caused offering strange fire are immediately slain Levit. 10. and thus Corah and his two hundred Men with him that durst usurp the Priests office and presume to offer incense as if it had been a common or ordinary thing are destroyed by fire that came from God Numb 16.35 Thus when the Men of Bethshemesh had ventured to rifle the Ark of God and to look temerariously into it they are smitten with divers punishments and Death 1. Sam. 6.19 And thus when Uzzah being a common person put forth his hand to touch it he is smitten dead upon the place 2. Sam. 6.6 7. And so when King Uzziah in his wrath and pride would perform the Sacredotal office and presume to offer incense the Leprosie presently broke out upon him 2. Croni 26.18 19. By which and many more such it appears that this was the punishment with which profaning the Services of Religion and Sacred things used to be punished among the Jews and this being the punishment threatned and actually inflicted upon these indevout Corinthians it is a fair presumption that as their Sin was a profaning the Holy Sacrament as a common thing so the design of the Apostle was to correct and prevent that profanation for the future and engage them to that devotion and reverence that became so Sacred a Service and institution of Religion The punishment plainly points to the Sin and by knowing one we may judge pretty well what the other was and by considering what both were we may conclude what the Apostle's design was in these words viz. to prevent that Sin and that punishment too for the future and to bring them to Communicate with that Religion awe and devotion that such an institution of Religion might expect and challenge from them I think these circumstances observable in the Text to be fairly argued from and to conclude strongly for that account and exposition that I have given of it SECT II. ANd yet there is a third thing observable to unite with these to warrant the present argument and that is to consider the things that he prescribes to this purpose and to remedy the precedent evil I shall need to mention only these three following all which are plain in the following part of the chapter The first is the difference that there was and ought to be made between their one Houses and that of God. The second is his instructing them in the nature and reason of this Service and the third is his pressing the serious consideration of these things there is a fourth that may be of some use to consider also though it more immediately relate to the love-feast that preceded 1. The first thing I observe used by the Apostle to remedy this fault among them is to consider that difference that there was and ought to be between their own Houses and that of God v. 22. what have you not Houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the House of God The plain meaning of which is this you have Houses of your own to perform the common acts and services of life in but God's House is appropriate to the service of Religion and all things that you are required to do there you ought to esteem as such and consequently to look upon them as things