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

i. Connection. After stating in the preceding Article ” that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ,” the xxixth Article proceeds to speak of ” the Wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith,” who yet draw near to this Holy Feast. At a time when it was the great aim of those, who drew up the Articles, to emphasize the idea of Communion, it was natural to fear that people, “who would not part with their sins, would thrust themselves into holy things to their own hurt.”

ii. History. The xxixth Article was altogether wanting in 1553, and did not appear in the early printed

• From the Parker Latin MS. of 1563.

copies of the draft of 1563. It owes its origin to Arch- bishop Parker, and we may conclude that it was probably composed in 15631, but was not absolutely and fully adopted till 1 571. In drawing it up, the Archbishop took his statements almost word for word from a passage in S. Augustine’s Commentary on the sixth Chapter of S. John’s Gospel2. But the Benedictine editors3 of that great Father’s works deemed portions of the passage to be interpolated, and the fairness of the quotation was called in question by Cecil4, Elizabeth’s minister, at an interview between him and Parker, and the passage was verified by reference to the treatise, out of which it was taken.

iii. The Title. Though the Title forms no part of the Article yet it deserves attention. It is, then, to be observed that it does not say that the wicked ” receive not,” but that they ” eat not ” the Body of Christ ” in the use of the Lord’s Supper.” Now the expression ” eat not the Body of Christ ” is taken from the sixth Chapter of S. John’s Gospel, and imports that the wicked eat not in such a way, that they “thereby dwell in Christ and Christ in them,” they neither eat nor drink of the. Bread and Wine

1 It is found in the Parker Latin MS. of 1563, and in the Parker Eng- lish Ms. of 1571, also in the Latin edition of 1571, printed by John Day, and published by the Queen’s au- thority.

3 The passage, as it runs in S. Augustine, is as follows : ” Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo, et in quo non manet Christus, procul dubio nec manducat (spiritaliter) Carnem Ejus, nec Libit Ejus Sanguinem (licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat ilenli- btis Sacramentum Corporis et San-

guinis Christi), sed magis tantae rei Sacramentum ad judicium sibi man- ducat et bibit.” The parts deemed interpolations by the Benedictine edition are enclosed in brackets, and are put in italics. The clauses are found in the Commentaries of Bede and Alcuin on S. John.

for any purpose or effect unto which Christ ordained these Elements to be received1.

iv. Analysis. This consideration of the Title pre- pares us for the Article itself, which states that

(a) ” The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively- faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ;

(/3) But rather, to their condemnation, do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing.”

v. The Phraseology here used is very important. It is not said that the wicked are not partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ ; it is said that ” in no wise are they partakers of Christ.” The expression “partakers of Christ” occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer says, We are become partakers of Christ2, if we liold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end (Heb. iii. 14), and in another place he speaks of those who were once

1 In S. John vi. 50, our Lord says, This is the Bread, -which comet h down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die; in vi. 51, He says, If a man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever ; and in vi. 54, He that eateth My Flesh and drinkelh My Blood hath eternal life. R.V. “To eat, therefore, the Body of Christ is used of such eating, whereby a man dwelleth in Christ and Christ in Him ; whereby he shall ’ live for ever,’ whereby he hath eternal life, and liveth by Christ, as Christ liveth by the Father.” Pusey, Seal Presence, p. 255. ” Nowhere in Scripture do we hear of an eating and drinking of the true Body and Blood of our Lord which is not profitable. The Body and Blood are of that nature, that they are in the reason of

the case, by the simple fact of being eaten and drunk, beneficial ; and no such thing is contemplated as a real eating of them, which is not a bene- ficial eating of them also. ” Professor Mozley, Lectures and Theol. Papers, p. 205.

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3 So

enlightened and tasted of tlie heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost1 (Heb. vi. 4). To be a par- taker of the Holy Ghost is to have a share of Him, Who is the gift of God, shed abroad in the hearts of all those, who are His by the Spirit ; it is to be a partaker of Christ Himself. Now the impious and wilfully impenitent, so long as they remain such, are the enemies of the Cross of Christ, they belong to those who are said to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame (Heb. vi. 6). Clearly, so long as they remain im- penitent and void of a living faith, they are not and cannot be ” partakers of Christ.” And there was much reason in the times of Archbishop Parker to warn those, who would thrust themselves into holy things, that to approach the Lord’s Table in a spirit of unbelief, contempt and diso- bedience, was to expose themselves to grievous risk ; that they might ” carnally and visibly press with their teeth the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ2,” but could not be ” partakers of Christ.” They might receive the ” Sacramentum ;” they could not receive the “Virtus Sacramenti3.”

1 Mcr&XOVS yevriOivTas llvd’naTOS aylov. ” The compound expression (/mtoxovs ■yev-qtHi’Tas), as distinguished from ixeTaaxbvTas (Heb. ii. 14), marks more than the simple fact of partici- pation (Heb. vii. 13; 1 Cor. x. 17). It brings out the fact of a personal character gained ; and that gained in a vital development.” Bp. Westcott in he.

• ” The spiritual food of our Lord’s Body and Blood, cannot be eaten except spiritually… But if it cannot be eaten except spiritually, how does the carnal man supply the spiritual medium and instrumentality of eating? The carnal man has only the natural mouth and teeth to apply ; this is all he has ; but this is totally irrelevant to spiritual

food.” Professor Mozley, Lectures and Thcol. Papers, p. 205.

3 It is the Virtus Sacramenti which the unworthy and impenitent do not receive. ” Aliud est Sacramentum, aliud Virtus Sacramenti. Quammulti de altari accipiunt et moriuntur, et accipiendo moriuntur.” S. Aug. Tract, in Joann. xxvi. II. In theo- logical language the word Sacramen- tum has two senses ; it may mean (i) the “outward and visible sign,” the bare signum, (ii) the signum to- gether with the res significata, not the Virtus Sacramenti the “whole- some effect or operation.” It is in the second and more comprehensive sense that the word is here used by S. Augustine.

vi. The Words of S. Paul, when he found it neces- sary to correct the disorders that had crept into the Church at Corinth as regards the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, support the language of the Article. The Apostle writes, Whosoever shall eat the Bread or drink* the Cttp of the Lord unworthily*, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of

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judgement unto himself if 3 he discern not the Body* (i Cor. xi. 27, 29). It is plain from this that the Apostle draws a distinction between a worthy and an unworthy mode of approaching the Blessed Sacrament, between a reverent recognition of the presence of the Lord in this holy Feast, and a profane and irreverent attitude, which fails by its “unhallowed sense5” to discern the inward part of the Sacrament. The just inference from the Apostle’s words is that there can be no beneficial reception6 of the Sacra- ment by those who persist in living in a state of wilful sin, for to them Christ is present not to bless, but to judge.

1 “H ttIvt) “or drink,” not “and drink,” a translation not only er- roneous but detrimental to the signi- ficance, of the warning. ” Unworthy and irreverent partaking, whether of the one element or the other, involved the guilt of which the Apostle is about to speak, — guilt in regard of the whole blessed Sacrament ; hence toD cd/iaros Kal rod ai/iaros in the clause that follows. Bp. Ellicott in loc.

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3 The participle is here used with a hypothetical or conditional reference. See R. Version. It is ixr) SiaKpLvuiv not ov SiaKphuv.

4 ” Note these words, ‘The Lord’s Body.’ It is not here said, ’ The sign or Sacrament of the Lord’s Body, nor the grace or fruit of the Lord’s Body, nor the memory of the Lord’s Passion, but plainly, ’ The Lord’s Body,’ to teach us that the evil men

of the Church do receive Christ’s Body.” Bishop Guest’s Letter to Cecil, State Papers, Elizabeth, 1571. ” Corpus enim Domini et sanguis Domini nihilominus erat etiam illis quibus dicebat Apostolus, Qui man- ducat indiguc, judicium sibi manducal et bibit.” S. Aug. De Baptismo contra Donat. v. 9.

Notes

• In the Latin Parker MS. there is a marginal reference ” super Joann. Tract 26,” and also in a unique copy of the English Articles of 1571”. I Iardwick, Hist. Art., p. 3 1 5, ed. 1 859.
• Cecil’s gentleness in dealing with the adherents of the Old Learning, whether Romish or Lutheran, is well known. For the letter to Cecil by Bishop Guest, May 1 5 7 1 , which may have occasioned this interview between the Minister and the Archbishop, see Bishop Guest, Articles xxviii., xxix., by the Rev. G. F. Hodges, p. 24, quoted from the State Papers, Domestic, Elizabeth, 1571, Vol. lxxv., No. 36.
• Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, p. 440, E. T.
• ” The thing offered to them is iden- tical with that which is offered to the faithful, but they lack both the will and the power to assimilate it. Honest faith, however rudimentary, and right intention, however weak in practice, may count on receiving the Body of Christ; but the touch of positive un- belief and contempt and disobedience profanes the Sacrament.” Mason, Faith of the Gospel, pp. 300 sq., ed.