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eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Men of every age and country, may eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily. By profaning the memorials of his death, they may forfeit the benefits of it, and increase the measure of their guilt and punishment. But as many well-disposed members of the church have been afraid of approaching the altar of the Lord, lest for the want of a proper frame of mind, they should eat and drink their own damnation; to remove the pious scruples of the timid, and awaken the attention of the inconsiderate, I will endeavour to explain the manner in which this passage of scripture is to be understood.

The first Christians, at the time they celebrated the holy communion, made a religious feast, and each family or individual contributed their portion of the victuals, according to their discretion and ability. This entertainment was called, a feast of charity, or brotherly love.* So long as it was conduc

*See Jude, 12 v.

ted in a religious manner, it was liable to no objection, although it was no part of the ordinance of Christ, nor was in any way necessary to the due celebration of the holy communion. But disorders soon attended it, and, after a time, it was left off, throughout the Christian world.

These disorders appear first to have arisen in the church of Corinth, a large wealthy and luxurious city, wherein St. Paul seems to have found more to reprove and amend, than in any other congregation, to which his epistles are addressed. Concerning the holy communion, and the feast of charity accompanying it, he thus reproves the Corinthians," Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the For first of all when ye come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you. When ye so come together, therefore, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, as ye ought, for in eating, every one taketh before other, his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?

worse.

or despise ye the church of God? and shame them that have not, or are poor? what shall

I

say unto you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not."

It is uncertain whether the Corinthians celebrated their feast of charity before the holy communion, or mixed them both together, in either case, they so united them, that a disorder in their feast, was a profanation of the communion.

Accordingly, the apostle thus rebukes them," When ye come together in the church, ye cannot be said to eat the Lord's Supper, which is a joint act of reverent devotion, accompanied by a religious feast, at one common table, for ye come in parties, divided by some evil dissension, or improper distinction, each party, family, or individual, eat their own supper, without waiting for others, the rich in particular, eating and drinking to excess, separate themselves from the poor, and suffer them not to partake of their abundance. What? have ye not houses, for meals and feasts? or despise ye the church of God, using it for these common

purposes; and even for intemperance? at the same time insulting the wants of your poor brethren? Is it thus that ye observe a religious feast, designed for the demonstration and improvement of inward charity, and outward benevolence? Is it thus that ye celebrate the holy communion of the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for all men?

This then was the point, wherein the Corinthians eat the bread, and drank the cup of the Lord unworthily, they did not discern the Lord's body, that is, they did not see and consider, that the sacramental bread and wine were figures and representations of his body and blood, and therefore to be distinguished and separated from common food, and to be received with singular veneration. For this reason, they were "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Treating with disrespect the holy things which represented his body and blood, they were greatly wanting in reverence to their Lord himself: abusing and profaning the memorials of his sufferings and atonement, they seemed to think lightly, or would soon learn to do so, of his D d

death itself; in some sense, "crucifying to themselves the son of God afresh, and counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing." They therefore eat and drank damnation to themselves. I observe that the original word in this place, rendered in our English Bible damnation, means judgment, or sentence of punishment. You will find the word, in this passage, so translated in the margin of our Bible. The English word itself, damnation or condemnation, at first meant each the same thing, although by long use, damnation is come to signify sentence of eternal punishment, to be inflicted by God, in another world; and condemnation more generally signifies punishment, to be inflicted by man in this world. “They eat and drank to themselves," that is, by so eating and drinking, they drew down upon themselves, judgment, or sentence of punishment. Of what nature this judgment or punishment was, and where to be inflicted, is manifest from the words immediately following: “for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep," that is are dead. Now weakness, and sickness, and death, are punishments inflicted in this present world.

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