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SECTION XI.

The Doctrine of Remission of Sins, in and by the Eucharist, not an Encouragement to Vice, but an incitement to Virtue.

IT has been apprehended, with some appearance of reason, that the doctrine of repeated remission of sins, by a repeated participation of the Eucharist,, may be favourable to perseverance in vice. It certainly would be so, if it taught men, that by merely remembering an historical event, or merely performing a formal rite, an act of implicit obedience,. they could be cleared from all past guilt, however, enormous, and delivered from all dread of punishment, however well deserved.

But no such doctrine is maintained by any Christian Society, nor by any individual, whose mind is in the least degree improved by reading, by hearing, and by due reflection.

The Sacrament is no Sacrament to those who receive it without repentance, and a firm purpose to lead a new life; a life of holiness which, together with piety, includes all moral virtue. No man, though he may eat the bread and drink the wine, can receive the Sacrament, properly speaking, while he has a secret intention to run into the same sins which he professes to relinquish with abhor. rence; declaring, in the solemn words of the Communion Service," that he earnestly repents of his

past offences, is heartily sorry for them; that the remembrance of them is grievous unto him, and the burden intolerable."

The disposition of the worthy receiver is so much improved, by a participation in this awful rite, that it is impossible he should leave the Altar Table with a design to relapse into sin, under the encouragement of repeated remission. He cannot but consider such conduct as diabolical, and calculated to provoke most justly the wrath and indignation of that God whom he has just endeavoured to propitiate. An intention to repeat his sins, and a worthy reception of the Sacrament, are incompatible.

He may, indeed, fall into sin after communion, from the violence of temptation; from inadvertency, and from the frailty of human nature; but he cannot consistently with the hypothesis on which I argue, (that he received worthily,) he cannot, I say, sin purposely and presumptuously," that grace may abound." If he should plunge into his former sins, or any new ones, tempted with the prospect of absolution, whenever he chooses to receive the Sacrament, his conduct is a proof that he was not a worthy receiver, and that he had no just ideas of the important rite; and it is also certain, that he will be disappointed in his wicked purpose. Former sins were not remitted to him, though they might have been to every other Communicant, who, at the same time, knelt with him at the Altar. His sins

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were retained; and in his heart he must know it; for he must know his own hypocrisy and unworthiness.

Common sense decides the point, that no remission is granted to the unworthy receiver, who is, in fact, no receiver at all; and an unworthy receiver he must ever be, who comes to the Sacrament with a design to be pardoned what is past, that he may begin the same evil course with fresh alacrity."All men," says the judicious Hooker, "receive not the grace of God, who receive the Sacrament his grace. A blind man cannot receive light whe surrounded with it."

The truth is, that men wicked enough to enter tain such a notion, never come to the Sacrament all, unless from hypocrisy. Such men do not, an cannot believe, that remission of sins is annexed t it. They deride the idea. They commonly thin not of any thing so serious and sacred as the Sacrament, except to degrade and ridicule it. If they did not think of it, and really believed that they could obtain remission of sins by it, I have no doubt but that, in time, they would be completely reformed, and their sins would be forgiven them. They would be favoured by the grace of God; after which it is impossible that they could ever con sider the Sacrament as a rite which was to eas them of the old burden of their sins, in order tha E

they might have strength and spirits to load them selves once more with a new one.

Repeated forgiveness upon repeated repentance, solemnly attested by an act the most binding that can possibly be devised, is perfectly consistent with the character of an all-merciful Deity, and not at all injurious to virtue, if the repentance be sincere ; and if it be not, it is no repentance, and will not be indulged with pardon.

Repeated forgiveness upon repeated repentance, appears to me so far from favouring vice, as to be a powerful incitement to virtue.

Does not the prospect of forgiveness on repentance, naturally stimulate the mind to make an effort for the recovery of the peace of innocence, and the credit of virtue, by examining itself carefully, and using effectually the means of grace? Would not wicked men be apt to go on in their wickedness, stifling their consciences, drowning all thought, and adding to their enormities, if they saw no hope of pardon, but thought they could not be in a worse condition, though, already sinking, they should plunge still deeper into the gulph of per

dition.

Nothing, I think, can contribute more to making repentance sincere in the man who purposes to communicate, than a full persuasion that, if his repentance is not sincere, the Eucharist, instead of

conveying remission of sins, will aggravate all that is past, add to it the horrid crime of being " guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ;" and thus increase the danger and the severity of future condemnation.

After such solemn acts, a man of the least feeling and reflection, instead of growing careless, in consequence of the remission of his past sins, will be particularly attentive to his conduct, lest, on a relapse, he should not have grace to repent; and lest he should be cut off by death, before he can again become a worthy receiver. He will be watchful of his conduct, and take care not to deviate from the paths of virtue, a return to which he found attended with difficulty, requiring very painful efforts, and much self-denying resolution. He must know, that a formal participation of the Sacrament is, in fact, no participation; and that to be a true penitent, especially after presumptuous sins, requires a change of mind, which no rite, hypocritically performed, can produce.

An absolution is indeed pronounced at the Sacramental Table, in the hearing of all Communicants, whether worthy or unworthy; but this and all other absolutions in the Liturgy are, in their nature, conditional. If there be no sincerity of faith and repentance in those who are thus absolved, there is no efficacy in the absolution. Forgiveness is only given to repentance.

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