The Communicants Guide, Part 4
Certaine EXCƲSES Made, and pretended by Ignorant People for not Receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ſo often as they ſhould do, removed.
Many are the Excuſes, which are made, and pretended by Ignorant People for not Receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ſo often, as they ſhould do: but the chiefeſt of them, and thoſe that are moſt common in the mouths of the ignorant, are theſe that follow.
I. Excuſe. They have no leiſure.
HAve they leiſure to fill their bodies every day, and want they leiſure to feede their ſoules? Our Saviour in Ioh. 6. 27 gives them better counſell. Labour not (ſaith he) for the meate that periſheth, but for the meate that endureth to eternall life.
II. Excuſe. They want Cloathes.
IT is not outward apparell, but the inward ornaments that make us gracious in the ſight of God. And therefore be 1 Pet. 3. 3, 4. Mat. 22. 12.our outward apparell never ſo meane, if wee have on us the wedding garment of Faith, made of the fleece of that Lambe John 1. 29 1 Pet. 5. 5. Mat. 5. 23. 24. Acts 2. 46 1 Cor. 5. 8.of God, which taketh away the ſinnes of the World, lined inwardly with humility, and trimmed outwardly with Charity, God will bid us welcome to his Table.
III. Excuſe. They are not in Charity.
WHat is this but to excuſe one ſinne with another? Our neglect, or contempt of Gods Ordinance, by our uncharitable affection to our brother, and that is ſo farre from excuſing us in the ſight of God, that it doth much aggravate our ſin.
For why are they not in Charity? What is the cauſe of it? Is it not their owne rankorous heart, their owne malitious, and revengefull will, and nothing elſe, that keepes them from it? And becauſe their neighbour hath wronged them, will they, rather than they will forgive their Neighbours wrong more wrong God, and their own ſoules?
IV. Excuſe. They are not prepared.
ARt thou prepared to pray, and art thou not prepared to receive the Communion? The ſame things that make us unfit to receive the Communion, make See B. Andrewes Sermon part. 2. page 36.us as unfit to pray: for except a man abandon the purpoſe of ſinne, Pſal. 66. 18. and except he be in Charity, Mat. 6. 14. hee is no more fit to pray, than to communicate, and therefore ſhould abſtaine from the one, as well as from the other.
V. Excuſe. Their Wives are ſick, or lie in, or their Husbands are from home, or not well, and therefore they will ſtay till they be returned, or well againe, and then they will come, and receive together.
INdeed for matter of ſickneſſe of the one, or other party, where there is a neceſſity of our attendance on them, there may be ſome excuſe, for I make no queſtion, but in this caſe God will have mercy, rather than Sacrifice. But where there is no ſuch neceſsity, I ſee not how we can be excuſed.
And as for the other, viz. the Husbands or Wives being from home, how that can excuſe any from communicating, when God calls them thereunto, I know not. For our Receiving of the Sacrament, muſt not depend upon others Receiving of it, albeit they be never ſo neere, or deare unto us.
VI. Excuſe. They uſe to Receive at Eaſter every yeare, and they hope that it is ſufficient.
THis Communicating once a yeare at Eaſter, was hatched in Popery, when ignorance prevailed in the Church: and is by no meanes to be followed of us, to whom God hath afforded better meanes of knowledge. And indeed it were a ſhame, that Proteſtants in profeſsion, ſhould be Papiſts in opinion.
But what is it, that makes them to put off their Receiving to this time?
If it were their reſpect, and reverence to the Sacrament, as fearing, if they ſhould receive it oftener, they ſhould not come ſo well prepared to it, as they hope to be then: that indeed were ſome (though but a poore) Excuſe. But that is not it: it is rather, either becauſe they place more holineſſe in that time above other, and ſo thinke the better the day, the better the worke, which is meere popiſh ſuperſtition, or rather, becauſe it is the cuſtome, and faſhion ſo to doe, which is prophane irreligion.
Whereas good Chriſtians looke rather to Chriſts Command, and their own neceſsity, than to any thing elſe, and becauſe he commands it, they doe it; and their own need, and neceſsity of it makes them to do it, not once in a yeare, but as often as it may be done.
VII. Excuſe. They would come, and Receive, but their Miniſters will not ſuffer them.
IF their Miniſters doe hinder them without cauſe, they ſhall beare their condemnation: but if for want of Knowledge, Repentance, Charity and the like, (which their profeſsion, or practiſe doe witneſſe) he do ſtay them from it, and be diligent, and willing to teach, and warne them, and they continue ſtill in their obſtinacy, and wickedneſſe, their bloud ſhall be upon their own heads.
VIII. Excuſe. That they are conſcious to themſelves of ſome great, and crying ſinnes, which they have committed, and of which they have not yet ſufficiently repented, and therefore they will ſtay till the next opportunity of receiving, hoping by that time to have more fully repented of them, and to be better prepared.
THis Excuſe indeed might be the more tolerable, if hee that hath committed ſuch ſinnes were ſure of theſe two things. Firſt, that he ſhall have longer time to repent in; and Secondly, that he ſhall have grace to repent having had ſuch a time. But of neither of theſe can any man for the preſent be aſſured of. 'Tis true, God hath promiſed indeed to have mercy upon a Sinner, at what time ſoever he ſhall truly repent, and turne unto him; but he hath no where promiſed to give him either time, or grace to repent when he will. And therefore if thou art wiſe, or deſireſt to be wiſe for the everlaſting good of thy Soule, diſpeede thy Repentance out of hand, and take the preſent opportunity that God offereth thee, as not knowing whether God will ever offer thee the like opportunity againe: being alſo aſſured of this for thy comfort, that God in all our graces, and ſo in Repentance too, looketh not ſo much at the meaſure of them, as at their ſincerity.