Beveridge on Article XXIX: Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord's Supper

of Christ are eaten and drunken in the sacrament, it must needs be a spiritual person, not a carnal, that can eat and drink it. For though a spiritual person may do some things carnally, yet a carnal person can never do any thing spiritually. And therefore, though godly and spiritual men may feed upon the body and blood of Christ * out of the sacrament as well as in it, yet wicked and carnal men miss of the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament as well as out of it. They may indeed eat the bread which signifies the Lord, but they cannot

a Bibere autem dicimur sangui- nem Christi, non solum sacramen- torum ritu, sed et cum sermones ejus recipimus in quibus vita con- sistit. Origen. in Numb. xxiv. [hom. xvi. fin. vol. II. p. 334.] Nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum tuncunum- quemque fidelium corporis sangui- nisque Dominici participem _fieri,

uando in baptismate membrum hristi efficitur, nec alienari ab illius

panis calicisque consortio, etiamsi antequam panem illum comedat et calicem bibat, de hoc szculo in uni- tate corporis Christi constitutus ab- scedat. Sacramenti quippe illius participatione ac beneficio non pri- vatur, quando ipse hoc, quod illud sacramentum significat, invenit. Aug. serm. ad infantes de sacra- mento, apud Bedam in 1 Cor. x. [Bed. p. 365. vol. VI.]

492 Of the Wicked, which do not eat the Body Arr.

feed upon the Lord which is signified by the bread. They may take down the bread and wine into their bodies, but not receive the body and blood of Christ into their souls. And truly, we need not go far to prove this, even that wicked men do not eat the body and blood of Christ; for if they eat the body and blood of Christ they are not wicked men, but such as dwell in Christ, and have Christ dwelling in them; as Christ himself assures us, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him, John vi. 56. He that dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him, can be no wicked man ; but he that eats and drinks the body and blood of Christ, dwells in Christ, and hath Christ dwelling in him, and there- fore cannot possibly be a wicked man. And if he that eats and drinks the body and blood of Christ can be no wicked man, it must needs follow that no wicked man can eat and drink the body and blood of Christ.

But this is not all: for a wicked man doth not only miss of the grace signified by the bread and wine ; but in eating and drinking the bread and wine that signify that grace, they do but eat and drink damnation to themselves. For the apostle saith expressly, Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, 1 Cor, xi. 27; yea, He that eateth and drinketh un- worthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discern- ing the Lord’s body, ver.29. Not as if the sacraments them- selves were the cause of their damnation; but because their coming with sinful hearts to it bbecomes an aggravation of their sins; even as Christ himself, who came into the world for our salvation, by reason of their unbelief, becomes to many an occasion of their greater damnation, John iii.19. And thus the same sacrament that is to the godly the savour of life unto life, and not of death unto death, to the wicked is the savour of death unto death only, and not of life unto life ; the one finds a blessing in it, and no breach, the other finds a breach in it, and no blessing ; the one so eats and drinks the

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XXIX. and Blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. 493

bread and wine, as to partake of the body and blood of Christ, the other eats and drinks the bread and wine, so as to be guilty of the body and blood of Christ; the one eats and drinks salvation, the other damnation to himself.

And this was the doctrine of the primitive church. Origen saith, ©“ Many things may be spoken also concerning the Word itself, which was made flesh and true food, whom who- soever eateth shall certainly live to eternity, whom no wicked man can eat. For if it could be that he that still remains a sinner should eat the Word which was made flesh, seeing he is the Word and the bread of life, it would not have been written, Whosoever eateth this bread shall live for ever:” and how they get hurt too as well as no good at the sacrament, the same Father expresseth it elsewhere, saying, 4“ Dost thou not fear to communicate of the body of Christ when thou comest to the eucharist, as if thou wast clean, as if thou hadst nothing of unworthiness in thee ? and in all these things dost thou think thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Dost thou not remember what is said, For for this cause many are weak and sick, and many sleep amongst you? Why are many weak ? Because they do not judge nor examine themselves, nor under- stand what it is to communicate with the church, nor what it is to come to such and so great sacraments. They suffer what they that are sick of fevers use to suffer whilst they presume to eat the meat of the healthful, bringing destruction to themselves.”

To this purpose makes that of St. Cyprian ; © “ The sacra-

¢ Multa porro et de ipso verbo dici possent quod factum est caro, verusque cibus, quem qui comederit omnino vivet in eternum, quem nullus malus potest edere. Etenim si fieri posset, ut qui malus adhuc perseverat edat verbum factum car- nem, cum sit verbum et panis vivus, nequaquam scriptum fuisset, Quis- quis ederit panem hune vivet in eter- num. Origen. in Mat. xv. [p. 500. vol. III.] :

d Communicare non times corpus Christi accedens ad eucharistiam quasi mundus et purus, quasi nihil in te sit indignum, et in his omnibus

putas quia effugias judicium Dei? Non recordaris illud quod dictum est, Quia propterea in vobis infirmi et egri et dormiunt multi? Quare multi infirmi? Quoniam seipsos non dijudicant neque seipsos examinant, nec intelligunt quid est communi- care tam eximia sacramenta. Pati- untur hoc quod febricitantes pati so- lent, cum sanorum cibos presumunt sibimetipsis inferentes exitium. Id. in Psal. 37. hom. 2. [p. 688. vol. II

e Sacramenta quidem, quantum in se est, sine propria esse virtute non possunt, nec ullo modo divina se

494 Of the Wicked, which do not eat the Body Arr.

ments, as much as in them is, can never be without their proper virtue, neither doth the Divine Majesty any way absent itself from the mysteries. But though the sacraments suffer themselves to be taken and touched by unworthy per- sons, yet they cannot be partakers of the Spirit, whose infi- delity and unworthiness contradicts so great piety. There- fore to some these gifts are the savour of life unto life, to others the savour of death unto death.” And elsewhere : f« He that is down threatens them that stand, and the wounded such as are whole; and because he may not pre- sently receive the body of the Lord with his polluted hands, or drink the blood of the Lord with his defiled mouth, the sacrilegious fellow is angry at the priests. But O thy exceed- ing madness, thou furious person! Thou art angry at him that strives to turn the wrath of God from thee! Thou threatenest him that beggeth the mercy of God for thee, who is sensible of thy wound, which thou thyself art not sensible of !”

But I need not search the Fathers for the confirmation of this article, for it is indeed almost word for word taken out of a Father, St. Augustine by name, who is quoted in it; for he in his Comment upon the Gospel of St. John hath this passage, e“ And by this, he that doth not dwell in Christ, and in whom Christ doth not dwell, without all doubt doth not spi- ritually eat his body nor drink his blood, though he may carnally and visibly press with his teeth the sacrament of the

absentat majestas mysteriis. Sed titur! ei minaris qui pro te Domini

quamvis ab indignis se sumi vel contingi sacramenta permittant, non possunt tamen spiritus esse parti- cipes, quorum infidelitas vel indig- nitas tante sanctitudini contradicit. Ideoque aliis sunt heec munera odor vitze in vitam, aliis odor mortis in mortem. Cyprian. de cena Do- mini, [p. 41. ad cale. |

f Jacens stantibus et integris vul- neratus minatur, et quod non statim Domini corpus inquinatis manibus accipiat, aut ore polluto Domini sanguinem bibat, sacerdotibus sa- crilegus irascitur. Atque o tuam nimiam furiose dementiam ! irasceris ei qui abs te avertere iram Dei ni-

misericordiam deprecatur, qui vulnus tuum sentit, quod ipse non sentis! Id. serm. de lapsis, |p. 131.]

XXIX. and Blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. 495

body and blood of Christ; but rather, to his judgment or condemnation, eateth and drinketh the sacrament of so great a thing ; because being unclean, he presumed to come to the sacraments of Christ, which no one can worthily receive but he that is clean.” In which passage the sense of this article being so fully contained, and it being the place, I suppose, cited in the article itself, I shall not add any more to it; but only conclude with that of St. Basil: » “Let us therefore cleanse ourselves from all defilements, and so let us come to these holy things, that we may escape the judgment of those that killed the Lord. For whosoever eateth this bread, and drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

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Notes

• Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo et in quo non manet Chris- tus, proculdubio nec manducat spi- ritualiter carnem ejus nec bibit ejus sanguinem, licet carnaliter et visibi- liter premat dentibus sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi. Sed magis tante rei sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducat et bibit, quia immundus presumpsit ad Christi accedere sacramenta que aliquis non digne sumit nisi qui mundus est. Aug. in Joh. tract. 26. [18. vol. III. par. 11. | ;