strongly of the sin of eating and drinking at the Lord's table unworthily.

W. Yes, he does. And this is a great reason, why we should "diligently try and examine ourselves;" but it is no reason why we should stay away altogether. You may be sure that St. Paul never meant that. He says, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup" he does not say, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him stay away from that sacrament."

T. Why, that is very true; yet the Apostle says, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself *." That seems an awful word. Pray, William, what do you consider to be the exact meaning of that word damnation?

W. Why, I consider it to mean condemnation. It does not, however, always mean everlasting condemnation. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it does not.

T. Which do you think it means in the 11th chapter of St. Paul's 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, where he says that unworthy communicants "eat and drink damnation to themselves ?"

W. Why, if you read that chapter, you will find that he does not mean everlasting condemnation. The Corinthians, you will see, were guilty of making the Lord's Supper like a riotous feast, eating and drinking, and quarrelling in a very profane and indecent manner: and so St. Paul tells them that this is not the way "to partake of the Lord's Supper;" and that by such conduct they justly brought down condemnation on themselves. The Apostle tells them what sort of condemnation they suffered; many," he says "are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." This shews that the Lord punished them with sickness and diseases, which car

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1 Cor. xi. 29.
11

ried off many of the people: a sore condemnation to awaken others to amendment, "that they should not be condemned with the world." This is very different from an eternal punishment.

T. Yes, that is certain; and I think if we take, all together, what St. Paul says about it, we shall see plainly that he never meant to keep any Christian away from the Lord's Supper; but expecting to see them all there, he desired to see them come with a right sense of what they came for.

W. Certainly.

T. But then there is one thing which just strikes me. It is this. Our Reformers, who wrote so long after St. Paul, seem to be quite as strict as the Apostle on this point. They, likewise, warn us against eating and drinking unworthily, and tell us, that in so doing we eat and drink our own damnation. Did they mean everlasting condemnation?

W. Certainly not: for they say we provoke the Almighty "to plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death." This shows that they understood the Apostle right, for these are not eternal punishments.

T. No, but they are sore afflictions though.

W. Yes, indeed, they are: and plainly show the anger of God against those who attend this sacrament, without seriously considering the solemn work they are engaged in; but we may clearly see that they were never intended to keep any devout Christian away, or to prevent any sincere follower of Christ from obeying the command of his dying Lord. They invite us to come; but they bid us to come prepared: they tell us "to examine ourselves whether we truly repent of our former sins," whether we stedfastly purpose to lead a new life." They exhort us to a 66 lively faith in Christ, a thankful remembrance of his death, and to be in charity with all men *." They do not allow us to come with

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Catechism.

proud pretensions of our own merits; but require us to acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness." They do not exhort us to "come to his table trusting in our own righteousness:" but resting all on the "manifold and great mercies" of our Lord and Saviour *.

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T. Yes, I see that it is useless to wait and delay, in a vain hope that we can, of ourselves, do away our past sins, and so fit ourselves to be welcome guests. Much better is it for us humbly to say, in the words of our Communion service, we are unworthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table." We must plead for pardon at the footstool of that "same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy," and humbly beg that "our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us

Communion Service.

THE END.

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