Part 3

With respect to others, in reference to Church Orders, this must be left to the Consciences of Believers, whether they are led to approve of strict or mixt Communions; as there are Ministers who are faithful and experimental, of both Parties.—I must pass by many other Objections I have heard, as scarcely worth attending to. I close, with answering the old Objection, which arises from the Apostle’s language, _He that eateth and drinketh unworthily_, _eateth and drinketh his own damnation_, _not discerning the Lord’s Body_. This has frightened many, and kept them, through their own legality, from the Table. As to Worthiness, we shall never possess it; we may as well object to every meal, to the light of the sun, to every breath we draw, as object to the Table because of our Unworthiness. To set this Passage in a fair light, it appears there was a custom in the Corinthian Church, of having a Supper before the Sacrament: this was, as they said, to imitate Christ, who, with his Disciples, first kept the Passover Feast, then celebrated his own Supper. At this Anti-Feast or Supper, they acted so disorderly, exceeding the bounds of Temperance and Sobriety, that in the midst of such Cheerfulness and Gaiety, they were not fit to attend to the Lord’s Supper.—_See ver._ 20, 21.—All are worthy whom he invites, his Friends, his Beloved, his Children, because they in the Supper discern the Lord’s Body; but all others, who have no Knowledge of Christ, nor the Nature of the ordinance, are considered as unworthy, or unfit persons; and when this Ordinance is dishonored by such Characters, they dishonor the Saviour it holds forth, and eat and drink, not eternal _damnation_, but _condemnation_ to themselves; God testifying his disapprobation of the Abuse of any of his Ordinances—this he did in the Corinthian Church, (_see ver._ 30) the Lord chastened them who had behaved in such a disorderly manner, with bodily infirmity; and although he saved their Souls in himself, yet he actually took away some by Death. The Unworthiness then spoken of in this Text, is not of the Persons, but of the unbecoming conduct of those who would come in a state of Intoxication or Gluttony, to the Lord’s Table; and the Damnation spoken of, is Guilt, and of course, the sad consequences attending it; so that this Objection to the Lord’s Table must fail—only let a Man examine himself, whether he is a Child of God—whether he is in the Faith and the Faith in him—a Faith, that works by Love—goes out of self and embraces Christ as his Atonement, Righteousness, and Strength—that produces good Works, and animates the Mind in the Prospect of that Joy which never fades away.

JESUS, thy Feast we celebrate, We shew thy Death, we sing thy Name, Till thou return, and we shall eat The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

[Picture: Decorative graphic with FINIS on it]

Thomas, Printer. Red Lion St. Borough.