To reform this, he reminds them of the original Inftitution; ed? What fhall I fay to you on this Occafion? have not? What thall I fay Shall I praife you in this [Refpect?] I wish I could to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praife you not. fairly and honourably do it; but at prefent, I praife [you] not; I must rather blame you, and exhort you to amend what is fo grofsly amifs.

23 For I have received of the Lord, that which alThat the Lord Jefus, the fame Night in which he was betrayed, took Bread:

fo I delivered unto you,

And that my Admonitions and Exhortations
may come with the greater Weight, let me lead
back your Thoughts to the original Inftitution of
this profaned and affronted Ordinance; which if
you
reflect upon, I am fure you must be heartily
grieved at the Indignities you have offered it, and
will be engaged to refolve will never repeat
you
them. Now I am able to speak of this Matter
with great Certainty and Exactnefs: For my
Knowledge of it did not depend upon any hu
man Tradition whatfoever; but I received by
fpecial Revelation from the Lord (f) Jefus Chrift
himfelf, that which I alfo delivered to you, in my
former Preaching on this Subject, in which, as
in all Things elfe, I have been careful moft ex-
actly to adhere to my original Inftructions. And sont
you know the Subftance of it was this, that the
Lord Jefus Chrift, the very [fame] Night in which
be was betrayed, and amidst all thofe ferious
Thoughts, which his own nearly approaching
Sufferings muft fuggeft, after he had finished the
Pascal Supper, took Bread, fome of the Re-
mainder of thefe unleavened Cakes with which
that folemn Feaft is celebrated; And having,
in a moft reverent Manner, given Thanks to GOD,
the great Author of all temporal and fpiritual
Bleffings, and looked up to him for his Bleffing
upon it, for the Purposes to which it was going.

to

24 And when he had given

(f) I received by fpecial Revelation, &c.] This Epiftle feems to have been written before any of the Gospels; and it feems to be intimated, Gal. i. 17, &c. that when he wrote it, he had feen none of the Apofties. 'Tis very remarkable, that the Inftitution of this Ordinance fhould make a Part of that immediate Revelation, with which Chrift honoured him; and it affords a ftrong Argument for the Perpetuity of it in the Church. For had others of the Apoftles, (as Barclay prefumes to infinuate,) miftaken what paffed at the laft Paffover, and founded the Obfervation of the Eucharift on that Miftake, furely Chrift would rather have corrected this Error in his New Revelation to St. Paul, than have administered fuch an Occafion of confirming Chriftians in it. For fome Notes, which might have been inferted here, fee Vol. ii. Sect. 172.

(g) This

The Defign of which was to how the Lord's Death. given Thanks he brake it, and faid, Take, eat; this is my Body, which is broken for you: This do in Re

membrance of me.

25 After the fame Manner alfo he took the Cup, when he had fupped, saying, This Cup is the New Tel. tament in my Blood: This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in Remembrance of me.

24.

337

to be appropriated, he brake [it] into feveral Sect. 22. Pieces, and diftributing it to his Difciples who were prefent, faid, Take this Bread, and cat it 1 Cor. XI. with due Reverence and Regard; for this is the folemn Representation of my Body which is just going to be broken, by the most bitter Pains and/ Agonies, for you and your Salvation; this therefore do in all the fucceeding Ages of my Church, as a Commemoration of me (g): that the Memory of my painful Death may be kept up in the World; and your Hearts, and thofe of all my faithful Followers, be properly affected with the Review of it. In like Manner alfo [he took] the Cup; 25 which, you will remember, was after he bad Supped; fo that it was by no means a Part of that Meal they had been making, but fomething quite diftinct from it: And he likewife diftributed that to them, as he had done the Bread; faying, this Cup is the folemn Seal and Memorial of the New Covenant, which is established in my Blood, by which all its invaluable Bleffings are derived to you. This likewife do, as often as ye as ye drink [it] in Commemoration of me, and in order to maintain the Memory of my Bleeding, dying Love in the 26 For as often as ye eat Church and the World. You therefore (b), as 26 this Bread, and drink this often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup (i), do indeed perform a very folemn and important Action: for, according to his own Interpretation and Institution, you fhew forth, and as it were proclaim,

Cup,

(g) This do, &c.] Becaufe the Word To fignifies, in fome few Inftances, to facrifice, Dr. Bret would render it, facrifice this: Whence he infers, that the Eucharift is a Sacrifice. And a learned Prelate in the Council of Trent, pleaded with much like the Judgment; that when Chrift uttered thefe Words before the Cup, he ordained them Priests; whereas he gave them the Bread as Laicks. See Father Paul's Hift. of the Council of Trent, pag. 510.

(b) Therefore, as often as ye eat, &c.] 'Tis plain, that yap, muft here have the Force of an illative Particle; as it alfo has, Luke xx. 38.

(i) Eat this Bread, &c.] 'Tis no Wonder, a Text in which this Element is fo plainly called Bread after Confecration, fhould be urged against the popish Doctrine of Tranfubftantiation. And it fignifies little for them to plead, that the Scripture fometimes calls Things changed, by the Name of the Thing out of which they were made, (as Adam is called Duft, Gen. iv. 19. Aaron's Serpent, a Rod, Exod. vii. 12.) or calls them according to their fenfible Appearance, (Job. v. 13. Mark xvi. 5.) for thefe Inftances rather turn against them, by proving, that where the literal Interpretation is evidently abfurd, we must have Recourfe to the figurative.

VOL. IV.

U u

(k) Until

338

26.

27 Wherefore, whofoever fhall eat this Bread, and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily, fhall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

He who does it unworthily, is guilty of Chrift's Body and Blood: Sect. 22. proclaim, the Lord's Death in its most affecting Cup, ye do fhew the Lord's Circumftances; which the Church muft through- Death till he come. 1 Cor. XI. out all Ages continue to do, until he come (k) to close the prefent Scene of Things, and to receive all his faithful Servants to a Place, where, for ever dwelling with him, they will no more 27 need thefe Memorials of an abfent Saviour. So that you fee, by a farther Confequence, whofoever fhall eat this Bread, or (1) drink [this] Cup of the Lord, unworthily, that is, in an irreverent Manner, without a due Regard to him, and to the great original Purpose of its Appointment, Shall be counted guilty of profaning, and affronting in fome Meafure, that which is intended to reprefent the Body and Blood of the Lord; and confequently the Affront does evidently rebound to our Lord himfelf, who was pleased with infinite Condefcenfion, for our Sakes, to affume human Flesh, and to fuffer in it.

28

29

Let none therefore come to the Ordinance in a
rafh and irreverent Manner; but let a Man exa-
mine himself as to his Knowledge of its Intent,
and his Defire to comply with its great Defign;
and fo let him eat of the facramental Bread, and
drink of the Cup, which is ufed with it.
be that eateth and drinketh in an irreverent, pro-
fane, and unworthy Manner (m), muft certainly

For

displease

(k) Until he come.] Nothing can be more unreasonable, than to refer this, (as the Quakers do,) to the Time, when Chrift fhould come, by his fpiritual Illumination on their Minds, to take them off from carnal Ordinances; for not to infift upon it, as we have at least as much Need of the Lord's Supper, as the primitive Chriftians had, (not having fo many Advantages as they, to keep up the Memory of Chrift in our Minds, to quicken us to Holí nefs, and to unite us in Love :) It is evident the grand Coming of Chrift by the Spirit was, when it was poured out on the Day of Pentecoft; an Event, which had happened many Years before the Date of this Epifle.

(1) Eat, or drink.] So it is in the Original, nwn; nor could our Tranflators furely be under any Temptation to render it, eat and drink, to elude the Argument drawn from hence, for Communion in one Kind only; fince, as that excellent French Preacher Monf. Superville obferves, (Serm. Vol. iv. pag. 245.) it might as well prove, that the Cup may be received without the Bread, as the Bread without the Cup, So that it is furprizing Affurance in a late popish Writer, to plead from hence, that Communion in one Kind only was the Practice of the Corinthian Church. See Mod. Controv. pag. 100.

(m) In an unworthy Manner.] To receive to Purposes of Faction, or Intemperance, was, receiving very unworthily; but the Senfe of that Phrafe muft extend to every Manner of receiving contrary to the Nature and Design of the Ordinance; and confequently, to the

Cafe

And therefore drinketh Judgment to himself.

and drinketh Damnation to himself, not difcerning the Lord's Body.

339
difpleafe and provoke GOD; fo that it may truly Sect. 22.
be faid, that he eateth and drinketh Judgment to
himself (n): he takes the readiest Way to bring I Cor. XI.
down the Judgments of God upon him, not dif-
tinguishing the Lord's Body, nor making that pro-
per Difference which he ought to make, between
that and common Food.

And accordingly many of you have actually 30
brought fuch Judgments upon yourselves; and I
must plainly tell you, it is upon this Account, and
to manifeft the Divine Difpleafure against you for
fuch shameful Irregularities, that God hath fent
Distempers among you, so that many of you [are]
now weak and fick, and fome confiderable Num-
bers of your Society are fallen afleep in Death.
Survivors therefore ought to lay the Matter seri-
ously to Heart, and fet about an immediate Re-
formation. For if we would judge ourselves (0),
with a due Severity and Impartiality, we should
not surely be so severely judged, and animadverted
upon by GOD. But when we are thus judged, 32
it is not in a Displeasure wholly inexorable, but
with kind Defigns of paternal Goodness; and we
are corrected of the Lord, that we may not be con-
demned with the impenitent World, and configned
over to final and everlasting Destruction.

31

Therefore, my Brethren, in one Word, when ye 33 come together to eat in these Love Feafts, which

fre

Cafe of doing it merely in a secular View; which I heartily pray, that all concerned in it may feriously confider.

(n) Fudgment to himself.] I think it the most unhappy Miftake in all our Verfion of the Bible, that the Word xa, is here rendered Damnation. It has raised a Dread in tender Minds, which has greatly obftructed the Comfort and Edification they might have received from this Ordinance. The Apostle afterwards fays, we are judged, (that is, as he afterwards explains it, we are corrected,) that we may not be condemned; which plainly fhews, the Judgments spoken of might be fatherly Chaftifements. This Sin, as Sin, does indeed expofe us to Condemnation, fhould God be extream to mark it, as an irreverent Behaviour under any other Ordinance does; but 'tis Superftition to fet this at fo vaft a Distance from all the reft, as many do.

(0) Fudge ourselves.] Alanpvwv, Ver. 29, fignifies to distinguish; here, daxivov fignifics, examining that we may diftinguish, and judge of our own Character and Fitnefs for the Sacrament. Mr. Locke juftly obferves, that he is little attentive to St. Paul's Writings, who has not obferved, that he often repeats a Word he had ufed before, tho' in a Senfe fomething different from the preceding.

29.

340

34.

Reflections on the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper;

another.

34 And if any Man hunger, let him eat at Home; that ye come not together unto Condemnation. And

when I come.

Sect. 22. frequently precede the Adminiftration of this Or- ther to eat, tarry one for dinance among you, wait decently and refpect1 Cor. XI. fully one for another, till the whole Affembly be convened. And if any one be fo hungry, that he cannot conveniently ftay till that Time, let him eat at his own Houfe (p); or at leaft take a Kind of Antepaft, that may prevent any Inconvenience the reft will I fet in Order arifing from a little neceffary Delay; that you may not come together to your Condemnation, and in fuch a Manner, as to provoke the Judgment of GOD against you. It may fuffice to have faid thus much, for the prefent, on this Subject; and what remains farther to be adjufted, I will regulate, when I come to Corinth; which if Providence anfwer my Hopes, and fucceed my Schemes, will be in a little Time.

Ver. 23.

Ver. 26.

Ver. 29.

WE

IMPROVEME N T.

HAT juft Matter of Thankfulness to our bleffed Redeemer, does that Account of the Inftitution of the Sacred Supper afford us, which St. Paul affures us be received immediately from him. Let us often reflect, that it was in that very Night in which he was betrayed, that his Thoughts fo compaffionately wrought for our Comfort and Happinefs; when it might have been imagined, that his Mind would be entirely poffeffed with his perfonal Concerns, with the doleful Scene of his approaching Sufferings. We learn from this Account, the Perpetuity, as well as the great leading Defign, of the Ordinance. We fhew forth the Lord's Death, and we fhew it forth till he come. If we do indeed defire to preferve the Memory of Christ's dying Love in the World; if we defire to maintain it in our own Souls; let us attend this bleffed Inftitution; endeavouring by the lively Exercife of Faith and Love, to difcern, and in a fpiritual Senfe, to feed upon, the Lord's Body. Nor let any humble and upright Soul be difcouraged, by thefe Threatenings of Judgment, to the profane Sinners who offered fuch grofs Affronts to this holy Solemnity; Affronts, which none of us are in any Danger of repeating. Thefe fcandalous Exceffes, when they pretended to be worfhipping GOD on this great Occafion, might juftly provoke the Eyes of

his

(p) Let him eat at his own Houfe.] Mr. Amyraut and Mr. Cradock, (Apoft. Hift. pag. 174.) understand this, as a Prohibition of Love Feafts; but I think it evident from Antiquity, they were retained in the Church long after; tho' dubious whether they prevailed fo foon.