A frequent question, "Who should come to the Lord's table?" Many have come who ought not to have come as they were; not a few have been deterred from coming who were quite suitable. Many have not pondered sufficiently the duty of observing the Lord's Supper; many have been alarmed by certain expressions contained in this passage.

I. GLANCE AT THE SCENE. It lies in gay, voluptuous, immoral Corinth. A city magnificent externally; abased and abandoned internally. A meeting of Christians in some private house, light amid darkness, truth surrounded by error, holiness in the centre of corruption. The gathering is for the love feast and the Supper of the Lord. A love feast, alas! in which love is largely absent; a Supper of the Lord in which the Lord is strangely dishonoured. The light is dimmed, the truth is alloyed with error, the holiness is defiled by guilt. There are divisions (1 Corinthians 1:11, 12); there are pride, selfishness, irreverence (vers. 21, 22); there is even drunkenness (ver. 21); yea, even further, the hideous head of immorality is raised in the midst of this little Christian society (1 Corinthians 5:1). This Epistle arrives from the founder of the Church - a letter smiting Corinthian transgression and transgressors hip and thigh. Picture the scene!

II. GLANCE AT CERTAIN WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS.

1. Damnation. This word has so terrified some that they have never been able to summon sufficient courage to obey the dying command of their Lord. They have supposed that an unworthy participation in the sacred feast would seal their doom and consign them to perdition without remedy. But the word does not justify such a view. Instead of "damnation," we should read, as in the Revised Version, "judgment." And ver. 32 explains what "judgment" means: "When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." Judgment here means "chastisement," and note particularly that this chastisement is sent to prevent us from being condemned with unbelievers. What follows upon unworthy participation at the Lord's table, if we are believers, is not something to destroy us, but something to prevent us from being destroyed. If we will not benefit by the chastisement, if under it we harden our hearts like Israel of old, then we shall be cast away. The sin of unworthy participation is great, and the correction will be severe, but neither is what some sensitive natures have dreaded,

2. Unworthily. Note that the apostle speaks of the unworthiness of the act, not the unworthiness of the person. To say, "I am unworthy," is doubtless to speak the truth, but it is irrelevant. Unworthy persons may participate worthily. Nay, further, only those who feel that they are unworthy are in a right state to sit at the table. The self righteous are never "fit." The supper is for penitent sinners; for such as Paul, "the chief of sinners." But the act may be unworthy, and that from many causes. Anything that hinders us from "discerning the Lord's body" (ver. 29) will cause us to eat and drink unworthily. We have to recognize the bread and wine as emblems of that body, as set apart to show this forth, and therefore to be dealt with solemnly, thoughtfully, reverently. We must enter into the meaning of the feast, and through the outward reach the inward and spiritual. At the supper we do not halt at the emblems; we have fellowship with Christ, we remember him, we renew our vows, we profess to be his followers, we show forth his death "till he come." Now, many things may hinder us from doing this, and thus cause us to cat and drink unworthily; such as:

(1) Thoughtlessness, leading to irreverence.

(2) Ignorance of the meaning of the ordinance. This may be very culpable ignorance.

(3) Unconverted condition. Quite unfit for supper because have not received what it sets forth.

(4) Worldly spirit. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." We may be trying, and thus be charging Christ with falsehood, even as we approach his table.

(5) Unbrotherly feeling. That which separates us from believers is very likely to separate us from Christ.

(6) Immorality. If we hug sin, we cannot embrace the Saviour. Such unworthy participation involves:

(1) Guilt. We become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, seeing that our sin is concentrated upon that observance which specially sets these forth.

(2) Punishment. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (ver. 30). Present chastisement, and, if this prove inefficacious, future and final punishment.

III. A REMEDY. This is not to see that "we are good," according to a very current expression and impression. In one sense we can never be "fit." It is to examine or prove ourselves by

(1) appeal to conscience,

(2) God's Word,

(3) God's Spirit.

And what we have to ascertain is whether we

(1) repent Of sin,

(2) believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and.

(3) are seeking to live in the fear and love of God.

If we are right upon these points, we need have no dread in approaching the Lord's table, but rather draw near in joy and confidence and in anticipation of large spiritual blessing.

IV. A WARNING. Remark that none are here told to absent themselves from the Lord's table. Not even the Corinthians most blamed, an apparent exception being the immoral person (1 Corinthians 5:1), and he was excluded only until he had shown repentance for his sin (2 Corinthians 2:7, 8). The reason is that to abstain from the Lord's Supper is to sin. We ought to be "fit," in the true sense of the expression. There is only one place which is right for us, and that is at the table. We may be wrong in coming; we must be wrong in staying away. To refrain is to condemn ourselves at once. "This do in remembrance of me" is one of the most sacred of commands. If we are bound to break it because of our carnal and lost state, we do but multiply transgression. We are not bound, for we may escape from the condition which unfits us, and then draw near with boldness and with hope. There is a false humility restraining many from coming to the Lord's Supper; it is a very false humility and a very deceptive humility - it is the adding of another sin. Away from Christ we are altogether wrong, and in escaping from one sin (coming to the table whilst unconverted) we only fall into another (disobeying the dying command of Christ). There is every obligation resting upon us to repent, believe, and live to God; then we are fitted to discharge the other obligation, "This do in remembrance of me." Failure in the one involves failure in the other, and our condemnation is increased. There is no right place for the unbeliever. - H.

I. THE SIN consists in doing it —

1. Ignorantly.

2. Irreverently.

3. Uncharitably.

4. Sensually.

II. ITS GUILT includes —

1. A contempt of Christ's sacrifice.

2. A denial of its efficacy; and by implication.

3. A repetition of His sufferings.

III. ITS PUNISHMENT.

1. Condemnation.

2. Temporal chastisement (ver. 30) corrective in its design (ver. 32).

IV. ITS PREVENTION is secured.

1. Not by neglect or abstinence.

2. But —

(1)By self-examination.

(2)Faithful and conscientious self-discipline (ver. 31).

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

1. Ver. 27 has operated as a hindrance to the approach of many of our best to the Lord's table; but it is not so appalling as it looks. "Unworthily" must be understood relatively to human ignorance and imperfection; otherwise it would act as a bar to the approach of any. Were the right based upon righteousness there would be none but the Great Host at the table. The unworthy are they whose habitual temper is unchristlike, who, being unworthy, are content with their unworthiness. The qualified are those who wrestle with their bad spirit and tendencies, and who pant to be worthier men and the true children of God.

2. A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward experience. And this is the profanation — when he who gives the sign does not yearn for the thing signified.

3. The scruples that hold some back from the Lord's table are —

I. AS TO THE AGE AT WHICH A PERSON SHOULD MAKE PUBLIC DECLARATION OF HIS DISCIPLESHIP. Now, the condition of time does not enter into the question at all. The spirit of life in man does not regulate its arrival by the chronometer. When the hour of conscious life in God and conscious fellowship with Him comes, then also comes the hour when you may give the sacred symbolic signs, and take your seat at the guest table of the Lord, no matter how young in years you may be. And, indeed, till the hour does come when you freely place yourself at the disposal of Christ's influence, you have no right to claim a place at that board, no matter how many your years.

II. THAT THEIR MINDS ARE UNSETTLED BY DOUBT. Well! the doubting temper is not the most blessed; but at the same time all doubts are not sins. It is not seldom by doubt that God leads us to faith. And as long as doubt does not spring from worldliness or levity; as long as it does not shake our faith in God, in Christ, and in conscience; as long as it drives us to the feet of God in prayer, and not away from them in pride; as long as we wish to believe the things we find it hard to believe, so long may doubt be a schoolmaster to bring us home to Christ. Doubt of dogma is no sin; indifference to Christ's claims is; and the Lord has spread this table for the loving and the docile, not for the clear-headed system-maker and the scientific expert. The doubter who sits in the scorner's chair, deriding, jeering, sneering, let him alone stay away! and let the reverent and lowly listening doubter come, and Christ, the Host, will not withhold His hand.

III. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF PERSONAL UNWORTHINESS OF NATURE. But, if that table were only for the worthy, it were arrogance in any mortal man to appear. Christ invites not the righteous but the sinful to come. Indeed, it is in the feeling that we are unworthy that our only qualification lies. It is not that we be holy, but that we aspire to be holy; and in whomsoever there is this desire, no matter how poor and imperfect his actual attainments are in such, and not in the self-satisfied Pharisee, you find the true disciple who may take his place at the guest table of the Lord.

(J. Forfar.)

I. THE SIN, unworthy eating and drinking of the sacrament.

1. One may do an action worthily in a threefold respect.(1) As "the labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7). This exact worthiness may claim a reward due unto it, and the denier doth this worthy party wrong. Now no saint can receive with this worthiness, as appears by the humble confessions of Jacob (Genesis 32:10), John Baptist (Matthew 3:11). So communicants say, "We be not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table."(2) Though not in a perfect and exact proportion, yet in some fitness unto that which is required (Matthew 3:8; Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27) — i.e., let not your life shame your belief; let not your practice be inconsistent with your profession. And we must know that sins of infirmity, through God's mercy, may subsist with this worthiness. In this acception to "eat worthily" is to eat so fitted and prepared as may bear some resemblance and agreement to the solemnity of the work we go about.(3) The worthiness of acceptance, when God for Christ's sake is pleased to take our actions in good worth. That is well spoken which is well taken; and that man is worthy who by God is accepted so to be (Revelation 3:4).

2. Two sorts of people, then, do eat and drink unworthily.(1) The unregenerate who (Hebrews 6:1) have not as yet "laid the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith." Without this foundation, the fair side-walls of a good nature, and the proud roof of all moral performances, will both totter and tumble to the ground.(2) The regenerate, but guilty of some sins unrepented of, who eat unworthily till they have sued out a special pardon out of the court of heaven.

II. THE SINFULNESS OF THE SIN. "Shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." As those that deface the stamp or abuse the seal of a king are traitors, so the unworthy receivers of these elements, which personate and represent Christ's body, sin against the body of Christ itself. Christ's person is out of the reach of your cruelty; as for His picture, it is with us in the sacraments; and unworthy receivers show to the shadow what they would do to the substance if it were in their power. Conclusion: Men generally hate Pilate and Judas, being more angry with them than David with the rich man that took away the poor man's ewe lamb; whereas in some sense it may be said of many of us, "Thou art the man." Yet, as for those which hitherto have not taken notice of the heinousness of this sin, let me say to them what St. Peter doth (Acts 3:17). And let us all pray with David (Psalm 51:14).

(T. Fuller, D.D.)

Perhaps no words in all the Bible have given so much distress as these, yet they need not have given any distress at all. The sufferers have created clouds in their own sky. I want to lift the cloud and to —

I. RECALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES TO WHICH PAUL ADDRESSED HIMSELF.

1. In connection with other abuses there arose a peculiar method of celebrating the Lord's Supper. As it was originally instituted after a common meal with Christ and His disciples, people at Corinth said, "We must have a meal first." In conducting that the rich brought their viands and their rich wines, the poor what they could; and this love feast became a revel. The rich man held up his viands and mocked the poor man, and the poor looked with hungry eyes upon the rich man's banquet; and after they had been thus infuriated alike by passion and by drink, they proceeded to add to their intoxication by the very wine that was meant to symbolise the sacrificial blood. Now you see the exact purport of the apostle's words. He says, "Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? etc. Take care, this is not for gluttons and drunkards. You do not come to it in a right spirit, you misconceive its meaning, and if you do not take it worthily you eat and drink damnation to your soul."

2. Now there is no church in England in which this practice is indulged. Your mistake has been in applying the word "worthily" to yourself instead of to the Supper. You must take it in a manner worthy of it, quietly, reverently, self-distrustingly, casting yourself with your sin upon the heart of the Saviour. That is to take the Lord's Supper worthily. How can I speak in terms strong enough against the rubbish about people making themselves fit to come to the Lord's Supper? Shame on the Pharisaism that gets itself ready to come, and blessings on the penitence that comes all tears and yearnings and self-distress, and says, "Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee." Unfitness may arise from two opposite points: the man who thrusts forth a drunken hand to take this cup, and the man who takes it with a hand soaped and dried in the tub of his own morality. These two hands thrust a sharp cold arrow into the Lord's heart. I will presently sit there and say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

II. WHAT IS THE TRUE AND PROPER IDEA, THEN, OF THE LORD'S SUPPER?

1. It is a memorial.(1) Christ did not say, "This do because ye are angels amongst men," but "This do in remembrance of Me." Is He worth remembering? He took just what was going on, and made it sacred by His touch and blessing. He did not go to far countries and bring rich luxuries which only wealth could supply. He never said anything about morally trimming ourselves up for the purpose of being fit for it. All the fitness He requires is to feel our need of Him.(2) Now, why should any of us go away from this sacred opportunity? Take the children away? Take the poor, broken-hearted sinner away? Take away the poor soul that loves Christ, but knows nothing about theological metaphysics? God forbid. Take away the man who thinks he is fit to sit here, the man who thinks he is conferring patronage upon the table.(3) Then is this feast to be taken without any self-examination? I think not. There must be self-examination, but beware, if you please, of vivisection. A man may lacerate himself, and he will find noworthiness in his own nature. I examine myself to find whether I am really penitent.

2. Being an act of memorial it is an act of love. Make a ceremony of it, and all the pathos is gone, all the deep, holy significance evaporates.

3. It is also an act of happy prospects. It goes back to the past, and it sets forth the Lord's death till He come.

III. MANY ENDEAVOUR TO PERSUADE US THAT THE WORD "DAMNATION" OUGHT TO BE SOFTENED INTO CONDEMNATION. Let the word stand; only apply it properly. If we had been spending the last hour in eating and drinking, in gluttony and wine-bibbing, the word "damnation" would itself be too gentle a word to apply to our case.

(J. Parker, D.D.)

The man who tramples on the flag of his country, insults his country; and he who treats with indignity the representative of a sovereign, thereby offends the sovereign himself. In like manner, he who treats the symbols of Christ's body and blood irreverently is guilty of irreverence towards Christ.

(C. Hodge, D.D.)

I. WHAT UNWORTHY RECEIVING IS.

1. Something negatively.(1) Unworthy receiving is not proper only to a man in a natural state. The apostle chargeth here unworthy receiving, not only upon the professing, but the regenerate Corinthians.(2) Unworthy receiving is not to be measured by our sensible joy or comfort after receiving. Two men that have perfect health, have not equal stomachs, nor equal appetites, and consequently not the same joy in their meals, yet both in health. We should more consider how graces are acted, than how comforts are dispensed. God's dispensations are not equal to all; some have no tastes, others full draughts; so we may have more joy than strength, others more strength than joy. But —

2. Positively that is an unworthy receiving.(1) When evil dispositions and beloved sins are not laid aside and for-saken.(2) When, though beloved sins are discarded, yet there is not a due preparation suitable to the quality of the institution.(3) It is an unworthy receiving when we rest only in the ordinance, expecting from the work done what we should expect only from Christ in it. When we content ourselves with Elijah's mantle, without asking for the God of Elijah.(4) When there is a garishness and looseness of spirit in the time of our attendance. Not discerning the Lord's body, say some, not minding the Lord's body, but letting the thoughts run at rovers, which should be fixed upon Christ's dying.

II. THE SINFULNESS OF THIS. It is a contracting the guilt of the body and blood of the Lord. He that doth despite to the image or arms of a prince, would do the same to his person were it as much in his power.

1. It is an implicit approbation of the Jews' act in crucifying Christ. If we are not affected with that state of Christ, we consent to, and approve of that act of His crucifiers; not positively, but privatively; not having that temper and affection of spirit which such an action doth call for from us. They were the authors of the first crime, and an unworthy receiver the abettor.

2. It exceeds the sin of the Jews in some circumstances, as well as that exceeded this in others. That was against His person, this against His propitiation.

3. In regard of the relation the ordinance hath to Christ. There is an analogy between the bread and the wine, and the body and blood of Christ. The nearer relation anything hath to God, the more heinous is the offence. It disparageth the whole covenant of grace. How base a disposition is it to sit down at the table of a man with an hostile mind against him, to slab the master of the feast at his own table while he is treating and entertaining us with dainties!

4. It is a great sin, as it is against the greatest testimony of His love.

III. THE DANGER OF THIS SIN: he eats and drinks damnation to himself. That which is not melted by the sun grows into a greater hardness. Christ, as a sacrifice on the Cross, was pleasing to God; as the murdered Innocent a burden of guilt on the Jews: so as He is grateful food in the sacrament to a worthy receiver, He is the bane of an unworthy communicant, by reason of his unholiness.

IV. THE USE.

1. The manner of duties must be regarded as well as the matter. The matter of this ordinance is participated by both the worthy and the unworthy receiver: the manner makes the difference.

2. The holiness of an ordinance will not excuse a miscarriage in it. Some are nourished by this ordinance, others pollute themselves. The fruit is not according to the holiness of the ordinance, but the disposition of the receiver.

3. The sins of those that draw nearest to God are the blackest.

4. The ground of our mischief is always in ourselves. It is not from the emptiness of the ordinance, that is a full cistern; nor from the shortness of God's grace, He is an overflowing fountain; but from want of those graces, or of exercising those graces which are the bucket to draw, and the mouth to drink.

5. We see here the base nature of sin. It changeth the brightest ordinances, makes the waters of the sanctuary bitter, turns food into poison, and a cup of salvation into one of damnation.

6. If an unworthy receiver be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, a worthy receiver hath a special interest; in the body and blood of Christ. He hath as much advantage thereby as the other hath guilt.

7. Should not all of us, that have at any time of our lives been partakers of this ordinance, reflect upon ourselves, yea the best of us?

8. How then should we take heed, whenever we approach to the Lord's table, of any unworthy demeanour towards Him, whereby to contract such guilt, and incur such displeasure?

(Bp. Hacket.)

Corinthians, Judas, PaulCorinthAnyone, Blood, Body, Bread, Cup, Drink, Drinks, Eat, Eats, Guilty, Lord's, Manner, Profaning, Respect, Responsible, Sinning, Sins, Spirit, Takes, Unworthily, Unworthy, Wherefore, Wrong1. He reproves them, because in holy assemblies,
4. their men prayed with their heads covered,
6. and women with their heads uncovered;
17. and because generally their meetings were not for the better, but for the worse;
21. as, namely, in profaning with their own feast the Lord's supper.
25. Lastly, he calls them to the first institution thereof.

1 Corinthians 11:27

     7317   blood, of Christ

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

     4476   meals
     7028   church, life of

1 Corinthians 11:23-29

     6755   union with Christ, nature of

1 Corinthians 11:23-30

     7110   body of Christ

1 Corinthians 11:23-32

     7933   Lord's Supper

1 Corinthians 11:23-34

     4438   eating

1 Corinthians 11:24-28

     8670   remembering

Second Sunday Before Lent
Text: Second Corinthians 11, 19-33; 12, 1-9. 19 For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves. 20 For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face. 21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. 22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

'In Remembrance of Me'
'This do in remembrance of Me.'--1 COR. xi. 24. The account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, contained in this context, is very much the oldest extant narrative of that event. It dates long before any of the Gospels, and goes up, probably, to somewhere about five and twenty years after the Crucifixion. It presupposes a previous narrative which had been orally delivered to the Corinthians, and, as the Apostle alleges, was derived by him from Christ Himself. It is intended to correct corruptions …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Danger of Deviating from Divine Institutions.
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." St. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles. The care of the churches gathered among them devolved particularly on him. At the writing of this epistle he had no personal acquaintance with the church to which it is addressed.* Epaphras, a bishop of the Colossians, then his fellow prisoner at Rome, had made him acquainted with their state, and the danger …
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

The Remembrance of Christ
The cause of this is very apparent: it lies in one or two facts. We forget Christ, because regenerate persons as we really are, still corruption and death remain even in the regenerate. We forget him because we carry about with us the old Adam of sin and death. If we were purely new-born creatures, we should never forget the name of him whom we love. If we were entirely regenerated beings, we should sit down and meditate on all our Saviour did and suffered; all he is; all he has gloriously promised …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

1 Corinthians xi. 26
For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. When I spoke last Sunday of the benefits yet to be derived from Christ's Church, I spoke of them, as being, for the most part, three in number--our communion in prayer, our communion in reading the Scriptures, and our communion in the Lord's Supper; and, after having spoken of the first two of these, I proposed to leave the third for our consideration to-day. The words of the text are enough to show …
Thomas Arnold—The Christian Life

Covenanting Recommended by the Practice of the New Testament Church.
The approved practice of the Church of God in Covenanting, is recommended to us by these two things,--that it displays a voluntary regard to his will, and that it exhibits his power accomplishing his purpose. The example of the people of God, while they walk in all his ordinances and commandments blameless, is a warranted motive to duty. "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."[778] Their practice in the discharge of the duty of Covenanting, accordingly, is worthy of imitation. Were …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Meditations for the Sick.
Whilst thy sickness remains, use often, for thy comfort, these few meditations, taken from the ends wherefore God sendeth afflictions to his children. Those are ten. 1. That by afflictions God may not only correct our sins past, but also work in us a deeper loathing of our natural corruptions, and so prevent us from falling into many other sins, which otherwise we would commit; like a good father, who suffers his tender babe to scorch his finger in a candle, that he may the rather learn to beware …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church on the Babylonish Captivity of the Church.
Jesus. Martin Luther, of the Order of St. Augustine, salutes his friend Hermann Tulichius. Whether I will or not, I am compelled to become more learned day by day, since so many great masters vie with each other in urging me on and giving me practice. I wrote about indulgences two years ago, but now I extremely regret having published that book. At that time I was still involved in a great and superstitious respect for the tyranny of Rome, which led me to judge that indulgences were not to be totally …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

Concerning the Lord's Supper
There are two passages which treat in the clearest manner of this subject, and at which we shall look,--the statements in the Gospels respecting the Lord's Supper, and the words of Paul. (1 Cor. xi.) Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that Christ gave the whole sacrament to all His disciples; and that Paul taught both parts of it is so certain, that no one has yet been shameless enough to assert the contrary. Add to this, that according to the relation of Matthew, Christ did not say concerning the bread, …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

The Secret of the Lord
T. P. I Cor. xi. 9; Eph. v. 23 In the depths of His bright glory, Where the heavens rejoice, I have seen Him, I have known Him, I have heard His voice. He has told me how He sought me In the cloudy day, On the waste and lonely mountains Very far away. Words unutterable He speaketh, Words that none can tell; Yet, O Lord, Thy wondrous secret Knows my heart full well. I, in wonder and in silence, Listen and adore, Whilst the heart of God He tells me-- Whilst my cup runs o'er. Blessed light, within …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

(On the Mysteries. Iv. )
On the Body and Blood of Christ. 1 Cor. xi. 23 I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, &c. 1. Even of itself [2445] the teaching of the Blessed Paul is sufficient to give you a full assurance concerning those Divine Mysteries, of which having been deemed worthy, ye are become of the same body [2446] and blood with Christ. For you have just heard him say distinctly, That our Lord Jesus Christ in the …
St. Cyril of Jerusalem—Lectures of S. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Beatific vision.
Reason, revelation, and the experience of six thousand years unite their voices in proclaiming that perfect happiness cannot be found in this world. It certainly cannot be found in creatures; for they were not clothed with the power to give it. It cannot be found even in the practice of virtue; for God has, in His wisdom, decreed that virtue should merit, but never enjoy perfect happiness in this world. He has solemnly pledged himself to give "eternal life" to all who love and serve him here on earth. …
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

If Anyone Shall Despise those who Out of Faith Make Love-Feasts and Invite the Brethren...
If anyone shall despise those who out of faith make love-feasts and invite the brethren in honour of the Lord, and is not willing to accept these invitations because he despises what is done, let him be anathema. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XI. Whoso spurns those who invite to the agape, and who when invited will not communicate with these, let him be anathema. There are few subjects upon which there has been more difference of opinion than upon the history and significance of the Agape or Love-feasts …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

That by Men who are Fasting Sacrifices are to be Offered to God.
That by men who are fasting sacrifices are to be offered to God. That the Sacraments of the Altar are not to be celebrated except by those who are fasting, except on the one anniversary of the celebration of the Lord's Supper; for if the commemoration of some of the dead, whether bishops or others, is to be made in the afternoon, let it be only with prayers, if those who officiate have already breakfasted. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XLI. The holy mysteries are not offered except by those who …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Entering the Gospel Field
During the seven years that had elapsed since my call to preach the gospel, years in which God had so wonderfully taught me and so gently led me, I never doubted my call. By the help and grace of God I had been able to live pleasing to the Lord, and throughout the entire time had no knowledge of his condemnation or displeasure. I was still engaged to the young man of whom I have already spoken; and after my healing, began to make preparations for the wedding. I was fully submitted to the Lord on …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

Second Sunday in Lent
Text: First Thessalonians 4, 1-7. 1 Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk,--that ye abound more and more. 2 For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; 4 that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Tenth Sunday after Trinity Spiritual Counsel for Church Officers.
Text: 1 Corinthians 12, 1-11. 1 Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led. 3 Wherefore I make known unto you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema [accursed], and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

A Question for Communicants
"What mean ye by this service?"--Exodus 12:26. IN A SPIRITUAL religion, everything must be understood. That which is not spiritual, but ritualistic, contents itself with the outward form. Under the Jewish dispensation, there was a very strong tendency in that direction; but it was kept to some extent in check. Under the Christian faith, this tendency must not be tolerated at all. We must know the meaning of what we do; otherwise we are not profited. We do not believe in the faith of the man who was …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

He Accuses Abaelard for Preferring his Own Opinions and Even Fancies to the Unanimous Consent of the Fathers, Especially Where He Declares that Christ did Not
He accuses Abaelard for preferring his own opinions and even fancies to the unanimous consent of the Fathers, especially where he declares that Christ did not become incarnate in order to save man from the power of the devil. 11. I find in a book of his sentences, and also in an exposition of his of the Epistle to the Romans, that this rash inquirer into the Divine Majesty attacks the mystery of our Redemption. He admits in the very beginning of his disputation that there has never been but one conclusion …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Second State of Prayer. Its Supernatural Character.
1. Having spoken of the toilsome efforts and of the strength required for watering the garden when we have to draw the water out of the well, let us now speak of the second manner of drawing the water, which the Lord of the vineyard has ordained; of the machine of wheel and buckets whereby the gardener may draw more water with less labour, and be able to take some rest without being continually at work. This, then, is what I am now going to describe; and I apply it to the prayer called the prayer …
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus.
[3712] I.--Comments [3713] On the First Epistle of Peter. Chap. i. 3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by His great mercy hath regenerated us." For if God generated us of matter, He afterwards, by progress in life, regenerated us. "The Father of our Lord, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:" who, according to your faith, rises again in us; as, on the other hand, He dies in us, through the operation of our unbelief. For He said again, that the soul never returns a second …
Clement of Alexandria—Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?

The Loftiness of God
ISAIAH lvii. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. This is a grand text; one of the grandest in the whole Old Testament; one of those the nearest to the spirit of the New. It is full of Gospel--of good news: but it is not the whole Gospel. It does not tell us the whole character …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Of Preparation.
That a Christian ought necessarily to prepare himself before he presume to be a partaker of the holy communion, may evidently appear by five reasons:-- First, Because it is God's commandment; for if he commanded, under the pain of death, that none uncircumcised should eat the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 48), nor any circumcised under four days preparation, how much greater preparation does he require of him that comes to receive the sacrament of his body and blood? which, as it succeeds, so doth it …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

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