The worthy communicant, or, A discourse of the nature, effects, and blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper and of all the duties required in order to a worthy preparation : together with the cases of conscience occurring in the duty of him that ministers, and of him that communicates : to which are added, devotions fitted to every part of the ministration / by Jeremy Taylor ...

SECT. VI. Whether may every Minister of the Church and Curate of Souls reject impenitent persons, or any criminals from the holy Sacrament, until themselves be satisfied of their repentance and a∣mends?

SEparation of sinners from the Blessed Sacrament was either done upon confession and voluntary submission of the penitent; or by publick convicti∣on and notoreity. Every Minister of religion can do the first, for he that submits to my judgment, does choose my sentence; and if he makes me Judge, he is become my subject in a voluntary Govern∣ment: and therefore I am to judge for him when

it is fit that he should communicate: only, if when he hath made me Judge, he refuses to obey my counsel, he hath dissolved my Government, and therefore will receive no further benefit by me. * But concerning the latter of these; a separation upon publick conviction or notoreity; that requires an authority that is not precarious and changeable. Now this is done two waies; either by authority forbidding, or by authority restraining and com∣pelling; that is, by the word of our proper mini∣stry, disswading him that is unworthy from com∣ing, and threatning him with Divine judgments if he does come; or else rejecting of him, in case that he fears not those threatnings, but persists in his desires of having it.

Now of the first of these, every Minister of the Word and Sacraments is a competent Minister; for all that minister to souls are to tell them of their dangers, and by all the effects of their office to present them pure and spotless unto God; the Seers must take care that the people may see; lest by their blindness they fall into the bottomless pit. And when the Curates of souls have declared the will of God in this instance, and denounced his judgments to unworthy Communicants, and told to all that present themselves who are worthy, and who are not, they have delivered their own souls; all that remains is, that every person take care con∣cerning his own affairs.

For the second, viz denying to minister to Cri∣minals though demanding it with importunity; that is an act of prudence and caution in some cases, and of authority in others. When it is matter of cau∣tion, it is not a punishment but a medicine; ac∣cording

to those excellent words of S. Cyprian; To be cast out (viz.; for a time, from the Communion) is a reme∣dy and a degree towards the recove∣ry of our spiritual health:* 1.1 and be∣cause it is no more; it cannot be pretended to be any mans right to do it; but it may be in his duty when he can; but therefore this must depend upon the consent of the penitent. For a Physician must not in despite of a man cut off his leg to save his life: the sick man may choose whe∣ther he shall or no. But sometimes it is an act of authority; as when the people have consented to such a discipline, or when the secular arm by assi∣sting the Ecclesiastical, hath given to it a power of mixt jurisdiction; that is, when the spiritual power of paternal regiment which Christ hath given to his Ministers the supreme Curates, is made opera∣tive upon the persons and external societies of men. Now of this power the Bishops are the prime and immediate subjects, partly under Christ, and partly under Kings; and of this power, inferiour Ministers are capable by delegation,* 1.2 but no other∣wise; they being but Deputies and Vicars in the cure of souls under their superiours, from whom they have received their order and their charge. And thus I suppose we are to understand the Ru∣brick before our Communion office; which war∣rants ••he Curate not to suffer open and notorious evil livers by whom the Congregation is offended, and those between whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign, to be partakers of the Lords Ta∣ble. In the first, the case is of notorious Criminals, and is to be understood of a notoreity of Law; and in this the Curate is but a publisher of the Judges sentence: In the second, the Criminal is

ipso facto excommunicate; and therefore in this the Curate is but the Minister of the Sentence of the Law, or at least hath a delegate authority to pass the Churches Sentence in a matter that is evident. But this is seldom practised otherwise than by reje∣cting such persons by way of denunciation of the divine Judgments; and if it be so understood, the Curate hath done his duty which God requires; and I believe the Laws of England will suffer him to do no more by his own authority.

But this is to be reduced to practice by the fol∣lowing measures.

1. Every man is to be presumed fit, that is not known to be unfit; and he that is not a publi••k Criminal, is not to be suppos'd unworthy to Com∣municate. It may be he is; but that himself only knows, and he can only take care; but no man is to be prejudiced by imperfect and disputable princi∣ples, by conjectures and other mens measures, by the rules of Sects and separate Communities:* 1.3 And if a man may belong to God and himself not know it, he may do so when his Curate knows it not.

2. No man may be separated from the Com∣munion for any private sin, vehemently or lightly suspected. This censure must not pass but when the crime is manifest and notorious; that is, when it is delated and convict in any publick Assembly, Civil or Ecclesiastical, or is evident to a Multi∣tude, or confessed. This is the express Doctrine

of the Church in St. Austin's time,* 1.4 who affirms that the Ecclesiasticks have no power to make separati∣ons of sinners not confessed nor convict. And besides many others it relies upon this prudential consi∣deration which Linwood hath well observed; [

Every Christian hath a right in the receiving the Eucharist,* 1.5 unlesse he loses it by deadly sin: Therefore when it does not appear in the face of the Church that such an one hath lost his right, it ought not in the face of the Church to be denied to him; otherwise a licence would be given to evil Priests, according to their plea∣sure with this punishment to afflict whom they list.

]

3. Every sinner that hath been convict, or hath confessed, and affirms himself to be truly penitent, is to be believed, where by the Laws of the Church he is not bound to passe under any publick disci∣pline: For no man can tell but that he says true; and because every degree of repentance is accepted to some dispositions and proportions of pardon, and God hath not told us the just period of his being reconcil'd, and his mercy is divisible as our return, and unknown to us; he that knows that without repentance he eats damnation, and professes upon that very account that he is penitent, may be taught as many more things as the Curate please, or as he is supposed to need; but must not be rejected from the Holy Communion, if he cannot be per∣swaded. ••or this judgment is secret, and is to pass between God and the soul alone; for because no man can tell, no man can judge; and the Curate

who knows not how it is, cannot give a definite sentence.

4. But if there come any accidental obligation upon Criminals; as if by the Laws of a Church to which they are subjected, it be appointed they shall give publick evidence and amends, they are to be judg'd by those measures, and are not to be restor'd ordinarily,* 1.6 till they have by publick measures pro∣ved their repentance. This relies upon all those grounds upon which obedience to Ecclesiastical Ru∣lers is built.

5. It is lawful for the Guides of souls to admit to the Communion such persons whom they be∣lieve not to be fit and worthily prepared, if they will not be perswaded to retire: It is evident in the case of Kings and all Supream Powers, and great Communities, and such who being rejected will be provok'd into malice and persecu∣tion.* 1.7 [

Such indeed the Church sometimes tolerates, lest being provoked they disturbe the people of God: but what does it profit them not to be cast out of the Assemblies of the godly, if they deserve to be cast out? To deserve ejection is the highest evil; and to no purpose is he mingled in the Con∣gregations of the faithful, who is excluded from the society of God, and the mystical bo∣dy of Christ.

] And it is also evident in the Societies of the Church, which we know by the words of Christ and by experience are a mixt multitude: And since the Scripture does not exempt a secret sinner from the Communion, why wilt thou endeavour to except him? It

is St. Austins argument. And who shall rej••ct every man that he be∣lieves to be proud,* 1.8 or covetous, or envious? Who shall define pride, or convince a single person of a proud heart, or of his latent en∣vy? and who shall give rules by which every single man that is to blame can be convinc'd of cove∣tousnesse? If it be permitted to the discretion of the Parish Priest, you erect a gibbet and a rack by which he shall be enabled to tor∣ment any man; and you give him power to slander or reproach all his neighbours; if you go about to give him measures you shall ne∣ver do it wisely or piously; for no rules can be sufficient to convince any proud man; and if you make the Parish Curate judge of these rules, you had as good leave it to his discreti∣on; for he will use them as he please: and after all, you shall never have all the people good; and if not, you shall certainly have them hypocrites; and therefore it cannot be avoided, but unfit persons will be admitted: for since the Kingdom of Grace is within us. and Gods chosen ones are his secret ones, and he only knows who are his, it will be strange that visible Sacraments should be given on∣ly to an invisible Society: and after all, if to com∣municate evil men be unavoidable, it cannot be un∣lawful.

I do not say that persons unprepar'd may come; for they ought not, and if they do, they die for it: but I say, if they will come it is at their peril,

and to no mans prejudice but their own, if they be plainly and severely admonished of their duty and their danger; and therefore that every man must judge of his own case with very great severity and ••ear, even then when the Guides of souls must judge with more gentlenes•• and an easier charity; when we must suspect our little faults to be worse than they seem, and our n••gligences more inexcu∣sable, and sear a sin when there is none, and are ready to accuse our selves for every indiscretion, an•• think no repent••nce great enough for the foul∣nesse of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sin••, and at the same time when we judge for oth••••s, we ought to esteem their certain good th••ng•• better than they do, and their certain evils less••, and their disputable good things certain, and ••h••ir u••certain evils none at all, or very excu∣sable. And ••herefore it was to very great purpose that th•• Apost••e gave command, that eve••y man should examine hims••lf and so let him ea•• * 1.9, that is, let it be done as it may be done thorowly; l••t him

do it whose case it is, and who is most concerned that it be done well; let it be done so that it may not be allayed and lessened by the judgment of cha∣rity; and therefore let a man do it himself: For when the Curate comes to do it, he cannot do it well, unless he do it with mercy; for he must make abatements, which the sinners case does not often need in order to his reconciliation and returns to God, where severity is much better than gentle sentences. But the Minister of Religion must re∣ceive in some cases such persons who ought not to come, and who should abstain when themselves give righteous judgment upon themselves.

For if it be lawful for Christian people to com∣municate with evil persons, it is lawful for Christi∣an Priests to minister it; it being commanded to the people in some cases to withdraw themselves from a Brother that walks inordinately; but no where commanded, that a Minister of Religion shall refuse to give it to him that requires it, and is within the Communion of the Church, and is not yet as an heathen and a publican: and it is evident, that in the Churches of Corinth the Communion was given to persons who for unworthiness fell un∣der the divine anger; and yet no man was reprov'd but the unworthy Communicants, and themselves only commanded to take care of it. For he that says the people may not communicate with wic∣ked persons, falls into the errour of the Donatists, which St. Austin and others have infinitely confu∣ted; but he that says the people may, ought not to deny but that the Priest may; and if he may communicate with him, it cannot be denied but he may minister to him. But this was the case of the Sons of Israel, who did eat Manna, and drank of

the rock * 1.10; and yet that rock was Christ, and that Manna was also his Sacrament, and yet with ma∣ny of these God was angry, and they fell in the wildernesse. And if Ba∣ptism was given as soon as ever men were converted, in the very day of their change, and that by the Apostles themselves, and yet the same Christ is there consigned and exhibi∣ted; we may remember that in Scripture we find no difference in the two Sacraments as to this parti∣cular. But in this there needs not much to be said; they that think things can be otherwise, and have tried, have declar'd to all the world by the event of things, that although the guides of souls may by wise and seasonable discourses persuade and pre∣vail with some few persons, yet no man can reform the world; and if all were rejected whose life does not please the Curate, some will not care, and will let it quite alone; and others that do care, will ne∣ver the more be mended, but turn hypocrites; and they are the worst of men, but most readily com∣municated: Some other evils do also follow; and when we have reckoned schisms, partialities, reproaches,* 1.11 animosities and immortal hatreds between Priest and People, we have not reckon'd the one half.

6. When to separate Criminals can be prudent and useful, and is orderly, limited, and legal, it ought not to be omitted * 1.12 upon any consideration, because it is the sinews and whole strength of Ec∣clesiastical discipline, and is a most charitable ministery to souls, and

brings great regard to the holy Sacrament, and pro∣duces reverence in the Communicants, and is a de∣letery to sin, and was the perpetual practice of the best Ages of the Church, and was blest with an ex∣cellent corresponding piety in their Congregati∣ons;* 1.13 upon which account, and of other considera∣ons, S. Cyprian (a) 1.14, S. Basil (b) 1.15, S. Chrysostom (c) 1.16, and divers others, call upon Prelates and people to exercise and undergo respectively this Ecclesiastical discipline.

* 1.17But this hath in it some variety 1. For if the person be a notorious, a great and incorrigible Criminal, refusing to hear, the Church proceeding against him upon complaint, confession or noto∣reity, and consequently to be esteem'd as a Hea∣then and a Publican; then comes in the Apostolical rules;* 1.18 with such a one not to eat; and withdraw from such a one, for there is no accord between Christ and Belial, between a Christian and a Heathen or an Unbeliever; that is, one who is thrust into the place and condition of an Infidel, and give n••t th••t which is holy unto Dogs. 2. But if he be within the Communion of the Church, and yet a Criminal, not delated, not convict, not legally condemned; and yet privately known to be such, or publickly suspected and scandalous; the Minister of Religion must separate him by the word of his ministry, and tell him his danger, and use all the means he can to bring him to repentance and amends before he admits him; if the Minister of Religion omits this duty, he fals und••r the curse threatned by God in the Prophet,* 1.19 If he does not warn him, if he does

not speak to the wicked to give him warning to save his life; his blood shall be upon him. 3. If there be a regular jurisdiction established, and this spi∣ritual authority be backed with the secular, it must be used according to the measures of its establish∣ment, and for the good of the Church in general, and of the sinner in particular; that is, although the person be not as a heathen, and excommuni∣cate by the Churches sentence, yet he must be rejected for a time, and thrust into repentance and measures of satisfaction, and as he must not refuse, so must not the Minister of the Sacrament otherwise admit him; and in this sense it was that S. Chrysostom said, he would rather lose his life,* 1.20 than admit unworthy men to the Lords Table.

7. But because piety hath suffer'd shipwrack; and all discipline h••th been lost in t••e storm, and good manne••s have been thrown over board; the best remedy in the world that yet remains and is in use amongst the most p••ous sons and daughters of the Church, is that they would conduct their re∣pentance by the continual advices and ministery of a spiritual guide; for by this alone or principally, was the primitive piety a••d repentances advanced to the excellency which we often admire but sel∣dom imitate, and the event will be, that besides we shall be guided in the wayes of holiness in gene∣ral, we shall be at peace as to the times and man∣ner of receiving the holy Sacrament, our peniten∣tial abstentions and season••ble returns: and we sh••ll not so frequently feel the effects of the Divine anger upon our persons as a reproach of our folly, a••d the punishment of our unworthy receiving the Divine mysteries. And this was ear∣nestly advised and pressed upon their people by the

holy Fathers, who had as great experience in their conduct, as they had zeal for the good of souls [

Let no man say; I repent in private; I repent before God in secret. God who alone does pardon, does know that I am contrite in heart. For was it in vain, was it said to no purpose; whatsoever ye shall loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven? we evacuate the Gospel of God, we frustrate the words of Christ] so S. Austin. [And there∣fore when a man hath spoken the sentence of the most severe medicine,* 1.21 let him come to the Pre∣sidents of the Church, who are to minister in the power of the Keyes to him; and beginning now to be a good son, keeping the order of his Mother, let him receive the measure and man∣ner of his repentances from the Presidents of the Sacraments.* 1.22

] Concerning this thing, I shall never think it fit to dispute, for there is nothing to inforce it, but enough to perswade it, but he that tries, will find the benefit of it himself, and will be best able to tell it to all the world.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Nam ejici remedium est & gradus ad recuperan∣dam sanitatem. lib. de dupl. Martyr.
• * 1.2

  See Rule of consci∣ence, l. 3. c. 3. & 4.
• * 1.3

  Omnibus Episcopis & Presby∣teris in∣terdici∣mus se∣gregare aliquem à sacrâ communione, antequam causa monstretur propter quam sanctae regulae hoc fieri jubent. Collat. 9. tit. 15. c. 11. de Sanctissimis Ep••scopis.
• * 1.4

  Nos à communione quen∣quam prohibere non possu∣mus, nisi aut sponte con∣fessum, aut in aliquo judi∣cio Ecclesiastico vel saecu∣lari nominatum atque con∣victum. Homil. 50. & de Medicin•• poenit. super illud 1 Cor. 5. si quis frater.
• * 1.5

  De celebrat. Missar.
• * 1.6

  See Rul•• of Con∣science, l. 3. c. 1. &c. 4.
• * 1.7

  S. Cyprian, sive quicun∣que sit Author libri d•• duplici Martyrio.
• * 1.8

  Ad hoc enim altare quod nunc in Ecclesiâ est, in ter∣râ positum, ad Mysterio∣rum Divinorum signacula celebranda, multi etiam scelerati possunt accedere: quoniam Deus commendat in hoc tempore patientiam suam, ut in futuro exerat severitatem suam. Ad illud autem altare quo praecur∣sor pro nobis introivit Je∣sus, quo caput Ecclesiae praecessit, membris caeteris secuturis, nullus eorum ac∣cedere poterit, de quibus dixit Apostolus, Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum Dei non possidebunt. S. Aug. homil. 50. c. 9.
• * 1.9

  In hâc ergo poe∣nitentiâ majorem quisque in se severit••tem debet exercere ut à seipso judicatus non judicetur à Deo, sicut idem Apostolus ait. Si enim nos judicaremus, à Do∣mino non judicaremur. Ascendat itaque homo adversum se tribu∣nal mentis suae, si timet illud quod oportet nos exhiberi ante tri∣bunal Christi, ut illud recipiat Unusquisque quod per corpus gessit, sive bonum, sive malum; constituat se ante faciem suam ne hoc ei postea fiat. Nam minatur hoc Deus peccatori, dicens, arguam te, & statuam te ante faciem tuam. Atque ita constituto in corde judi∣cio, adsit accusatrix cogitatio, testis conscientia, carnifex timor. Inde quidam sanguis animi consitentis per lachrymas profluat. Po∣stremò ab ipsa mente talis sententia proferatur, ut se indignum ho∣mo judicet participatione corporis & sanguinis Domini: ut qui sepa∣rari à regno coelorum timet per ultimam sententiam summi Judicis, per Ecclesiasticam disciplinam à Sacramento coelestis panis interim separetur. Versetur ante oculos imago futuri judicii, ut cum alii accedunt ad altare Dei, quo ipse non accedit, cogitet quàm sit con∣tremiscenda illa poena, quâ percipientibus aliis vitam aeternam, alii in mortem praecipitantur aeternam. S. August. homil. 50. c. 9.
• * 1.10

  Quemadmodum tu co∣medis Christi corpus, sic il∣li Manna; & quomodo tu bibis sanguinem sic illi a∣quam ex petrâ. S. Chrysost. homil. 18. in 2 Corinth.
• * 1.11

  Ne dum purgatissimam Ec∣clesiam volunt instituere, brevi nullam habeant. Bul∣linger ad Bezam.
• * 1.12

  Quantum ruboris civita∣ri turpiter se gorendo in∣cusserunt, tantum laudis gravitèr puniti adferant. Valer. Max.
• * 1.13

  Ezek. 13.18.
• (a) 1.14

  De lap∣sis & lib. 3. ep. 15.
• (b) 1.15

  Epist. ad Amphil. c. 2.84.85.
• (c) 1.16

  Non parva vobis imminet ultio, si quem cujuspiam conscium ne∣quitiae, hujus mensae participem concedatis, sanguis ejus de vestris manibus exquiretur. S. Chrysost. homil. 60. ad pop. Antioch.
• * 1.17

  See Rule of consci∣ence, l. 3. c. 4. rule 9. p. 257.
• * 1.18

  1 Cor. 5.11.

  2 Thess. 3.6.
• * 1.19

  Ezek. 3.18.
• * 1.20

  Homil. 83. in Matth.
• * 1.21

  Homil. 49.
• * 1.22

  Ibid.