ret takes notice, that the Apostle in verse the 27th, where he speaks of receiving unworthily, obliquely rebuked the ambitious, and the fornicators, and those also who had eaten of things offered unto idols; and, in short, all that come to the Communion with a guilty conscience1. 4. Let it be considered, whether such as the Apostle forbids us to eat withs, and whether those whom the Apostle censures as "partakers of the table of devilst," and those whom he elsewhere describes as making one body with harlots", could be capable, while so abiding, of receiving worthily? If they could not, then the general rule of the Apostle, laid down in 1 Cor. xi. about receiving unworthily, must be understood to extend farther than to the particular disorders which occasioned it. But if it be said, that such, so abiding, might notwithstanding receive worthily, then these absurdities will follow; that persons who are not fit for Christians to eat with, or who are communicants of devils; or who are incapable of being living members of Christ, or temples of the Holy Ghost, are yet capable of worthily receiving that symbolical body and blood of Christ, which are appointed to strengthen our union with him, and which suppose men to be living members of him, at their coming to receive. Add to this, that St. Paul himself has elsewhere laid down a general rule, obliging all Christians to come clean to the Christian passover, drawn from the consideration of what was prescribed with respect to the Jewish one*. For if the feast there mentioned does not directly mean the eucharistical feast, but the whole Christian life considered as a feast of holiness; yet the reason there given, will hold more strongly for those particular seasons, when we are actually celebrating the memorial of "Christ our "passover Lamb," as " sacrificed for us." For, as at all times, so then more especially, ought we to "purge out Theodoret in 1 Cor. xi. 27. t 1 Cor. x. 20, 21. * 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. s 1 Cor. v. 11. " 1 Cor. vi. 15, 16. "the old leaven," and to keep the sacred feast with the "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Upon the whole, it must be allowed, that St. Paul's general rule will by parity of reason reach farther than the particular cases there mentioned, and must be understood to exclude all impenitent offenders. This the Socinians themselves make no scruple to allow y; as indeed it is so clear a case, that there can be but very little room left for any reasonable dispute. It remains still to be considered, what repentance really means, or wherein it consists. In the general, it means a new heart, or a serious resolution to amend what we find amiss, to the utmost of our power, and a deliberate intention to live a life of holiness z for the future; squaring our conduct, as near as human infirmities will permit, by the unerring rule of God's commandments. To be more particular, there are four principal articles, which the ancients, in this case, most insisted upon, as previous qualifications for receiving the holy Communion: I shall consider them one by one, but as briefly as may be. 1. One was, restitution or reparation for any wrongs done to others in their persons, estate, or good name, to the utmost of our ability a. This is but common justice, or moral honesty, and therefore must be looked upon as an essential article of amendment. It would lead me too far, to undertake here to state the exact rules or measures of it: those may be learned from sound casuists, who have professedly weighed and considered the subject b. y Crellius, Ethic. Christian. lib. iii. c. 10. p. 354. Slichting. in 1 Cor. xi. 28. p. 58. Przipcovius in loc. The ancient way was to proclaim before the service began, ayıa ças aylos. Cyrill. Hierosol. Mystag. v. p. 331. A form occurring in all the old Liturgies, and which Chrysostom interprets to mean, Eï tis oùx šotiv åyios, più xgorira, If a man is not holy, let him not come near. In Hebr, hom. xvii. p. 585. See also above, p. 295. a See Bingham, b. xv. c. 8. sect. 10. Bishop Tillotson's Posth. Serm. cxvi. cxvii. p. 82, &c. fol. edit. Placete, Christian Casuist, or Treatise on Conscience, book i. chap. 20, 21, 22. Abridgment of Morality. In ordinary cases, an honest mind will not much need an instructor, but every well disposed person may be his own best casuist. All I shall hint is, that for public wrongs, public satisfaction is most proper, as being perhaps the only one that can sufficiently repair the public injury: but for secret wrongs, the more secret the reparation is, so much the better, other circumstances being equal; because so the wrong is repaired, and at the same time ill blood prevented, future suspicions obviated, peace and amity secured. To this head belongs what our Lord says; "If thou "bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that "thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy "gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled "to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift c." The Lord's Supper was not instituted when these words were spoken: nevertheless they are applicable to it, in a view to the general reason on which the rule stands; and they have been often so applied both by ancients and moderns. Mr. Mede has well proved, that the precept is evangelical, though worded in Jewish terms, suited to the time wherein it was given. The disciples of our Lord (that is, believers at large, to whom that Divine sermon was directed) were Jews and Christians both in one, and therefore could not be properly addressed in any language, but what might competently suit them in such their double capacity. The like was the case with respect to the Lord's Prayer, which though a Christian prayer, was yet formed in such general terms, as might indifferently serve a religious Jew, at the time when it was given. I say then, that the precept delivered by our Lord, about the great duty of reparation to be made to every injured brother, before we offer to God, though an evangelical precept, was yet so worded as to comport with • Matth. v. 23, 24. d Mede, Disc. xlvi. p. 357, &c. edit. 1664. Compare Johnson's Propit. Oblat. p. 19, &c. and Lewis's Answer to Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 32. • See Blair on the Sermon in the Mount, vol. i. serm. ii. iii. p. 27, &c. the then present circumstances of the persons to whom it was directed. When circumstances came to be altered, the general reason still continued the same, and the application of it was easy and obvious to every capacity. Irenæus quotes the text, and adapts it to Christian circumstances in a very just and natural way. Gifts he interprets to mean Christian worship, alms, and oblations : and by altar, he understands the high altar in heaven f. Tertullian, in like manner, accommodates it to the case of Christians coming to offer up their prayers to God; intimating, that they ought first to be at peace with their offended brethren, and to bring with them a forgiving temper, as they hoped to be forgiven 5. Both parts are true but the latter appears foreign with respect to this text, which relates not to pardoning others who have injured us, but rather to the seeking pardon where we have injured. However, as the two parts are near allied, it was easy to blend ideas, and to run both into one; as several other Fathers did. Cyprian also accommodates the precept to Christian circumstances, interpreting the gift of prayers, which ought to be offered with a pacific temper of mind h. Elsewhere he 'applies it to the eucharistical prayers and services i. Eusebius and Cyril apply the text much in the same way k. And Origen interprets the gift to mean prayer. The Constitutions called Apostolical interpret gift of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and the precept of entertaining no enmity against others, and taking what care we can that they may have no just ground of complaint against us m. Chrysostom accommodates the precept to the prayers and alms offered at the holy f Iren. lib. iv. cap. 18. p. 250, 252. Conf. Pfaffius, p. 57, 58. 8 Tertullian. de Pœnitent cap. xii. p. 147. de Orat. cap. x. p. 133. et contr. Marc. lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 420. h Cyprian. de Oratione, p. 211. i Cyprian. de Unit. Eccl. p. 198. * Eusebius de Vit. Constant. lib. iv. cap. 41. Cyrill. Hierosol. Mystag. v. Communion, which would not be accepted, if not brought in charity, and with a peaceful mind". In another Homily, he presses the point somewhat farther, and says many good things of the care we ought to take to make up differences, if possible, even with those who without any just cause are our enemies; that so we may restore them, and heal their sores, and gain them over to good will. All which is right, if tempered with the rules of Christian prudence, and not strained so far, as to make well disposed and truly peaceable persons stay away from the Lord's table upon needless scruples; arising either from the irreconcileable temper of others, or from a want of due discernment of what is safe, prudent, or proper, under such or such circumstances. Improper or indiscreet overtures made by the offended party towards an offender, may often widen the breach which they mean to heal, and may increase the mischief, instead of curing it. Jerome, upon the text, appears rather argute than solid; where he comments to this effect, if I understand him: "It is not said, if you take any thing amiss of your brother, "but if your brother takes any thing amiss of you; to "make the terms of reconciliation so much the harder. "So long as we are not able to pacify the party, I know "not whether we ought to offer our gifts unto God P." This is straining the point too far, if it means any thing more than the using all safe, prudent, and reasonable endeavours to remove causeless offences, where a person is ignorant or froward. St. Austin, who had a cooler head than Jerome, and was a more exact casuist, has given the justest and clearest account of this text that I have met with; perhaps with a n 0 Chrysostom. in Matt. hom. xvi. p. 217. edit. Bened. tom. vii. ℗ Non dixit, si tu habes aliquid adversus fratrem tuum, sed si frater tuus habet aliquid adversum te; ut durior reconciliationis tibi imponatur necessitas. Quamdiu illum placare non possumus, nescio an consequenter munera nostra offeramus Deo. Hieron. in loc. tom. iv. pag. 16. edit. Bened. |