The Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper, Treatise · Chapter 31
CHAP. XXXI. The Aggravations of the Sinne of Ʋnworthy Receiving.
§. 1 3. THe aggravation of unworthy receiving follows, foreign, He ſhall be holden guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord, or God will judge and repute him guilty of the body of Chriſt unworthily received and entreated, or guilty of the unworthy handling, or of the contempt and violation of Chriſts body and blood, the memorial of whoſe death is prophaned by your irreverence, and this appointed means of your participation of it is undervalued; What a high ſound is there in theſe words, He ſhall be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord? and the eclypſis is left open to be filled with ſome fearfull word, guilty of neglect, of contempt, of profane violation of, and injury to this body, the body of our Lord. For the right underſtanding of which phraſe,
§. 2. What it is to be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord.
§. 2 1. The Papiſts, and no leſſe the Lutherans, doe hence infer, That the very Body and Bloud of Christ is eaten and drunk by the mouth of the Communicant, which they call Sacramentall eating, and the reaſon is, How elſe is an unworthy Receiver guilty of his Body? We of our Confeſſion that hold the Corporeal Preſence of Chriſt under the Bread impoſſible, as well as falſe, do therefore inferre, That that Body which is not corporally there cannot be eaten, and therefore the guiltineſſe of Chriſts Body is not by the oral eating.
2. We expound it thus, Whatſoever irreverence, ſlightneſſe, neglect or contempt is Uſed by any in the celebration of this Ordinance is reputed and adjudged to redound to the very Body and Bloud of Chriſt: As it's TReaſon againſt the State to embaſe their coin, to abUſe a Picture is diſhonour to the perſon, to hang a man in effigie, or ſubvert ones Statue (as the Romans Uſed) are interpreted to the diſgrace of the man whoſe they are; And thus it is here, by Reaſon of that near relation and analogy which this Bread and Cup have to Chriſt himſelf, ſo the uncircumciſed man-childe, Gen. 17. 14. is ſaid to have broken my covenant, and therefore the Fathers reckon an unworthy receivers ſinne to be like that of Judas, the Jews, the Souldiers, that abUſed and diſhonour'd the very Body and Bloud of Chriſt; and this is a peculiar guilt that attends upon the celebration of this Ordinance, wherein Chriſt condeſcends to come ſo near us, by offering his Body and Bloud to us, and this condeſcention to be neglected and refUſed; Think of this, and meaſure not the ſinne by your own apprehenſion of it, but by the account which God makes of it, who accounts all them that come unworthily to vilifie the Body, the ſufferings of his Sonne our Lord, and to deſpiſe the Seal of that gracious Covenant, which we make our ſelves believe we doe not do.
The reſult from hence is,
§. 3 1. The ſins of wicked Chriſtians againſt Goſpel-Ordinances are of higheſt nature, and incurre greater guilt. It's ſaid of Chriſtians, That after illumination and taſte fall away, they crucifie to themſelves again the Sonne of God, and put him to open ſhame, Heb. 6. 6. And they that ſin wilfully after the knowledge of the truth, are ſaid to have trodden under foot the Sonne of God, and counted the bloud of the Covenant a common thing, and to have done deſpight to the Spirit of grace, Heb. 10. 19, 26. A meer Heathen is out of capacity of guiltineſſe of theſe high ſinnes; He is not guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord, which was never offer'd to him in this Sacrament. No aggravations of ſinne are like to the aggravations of the ſins of wicked Chriſtians, their guilt is not of ſo high complexion that never knew of Chriſt; either we muſt be ſaved, or we cannot be ſo eaſily damned, the weight of ſins againſt Chriſt is heavier than of thoſe that are meerly againſt the Law of God; We are the earth that drinks in the rain that cometh upon us; If we bear briars and thorns, we are nigh unto curſing, whoſe end is to be burned, Heb. 6. 7, 8.
2. How many do that, they think leaſt of, and are guilty of that, they once imagine not themſelves to be guilty of: but few of a thouſand will own this guiltineſſe of the Body and Bloud of Chriſt, and yet as often as they do or have eaten and drunk at this Table unworthily, ſo often they have incurred and renew'd this guilt? Do not they ſay at the laſt day, When ſaw we thee an hungry or in priſon? Did the Jews think they pierced their true Meſsiah? There are not many Chriſtians in name and profeſſion ſuch, that can be convinced, that they hate and deſpiſe Chriſt as much as the very Jews that crucified him, which yet may be demonſtrate by clear arguments. The Jew honour'd the name of the Meſsiah, and expected great things of him, and yet hated and rejected him blindfold; and ſo we call Chriſt Saviour and Lord, and beſprinkle him with ſweet water, but his reign and government over us, we utterly deſpiſe and hate, and prefer a ſordid luſt far before him.