Monthly preparations for the Holy Communion by R.B

Quest. 8: doth all unworthy receiving make a man liable to damnation? Or, what unworthiness is it that is so threatened?

Quest. 8: doth all unworthy receiving make a man liable to damnation? Or, what unworthiness is it that is so threatned?

Answ. There are three sorts of unworthiness ⟨p. 27⟩(or unfitness) and three sorts of Judgment answerably to be feared. 1. There is the utter unworthiness of an Infidel, or impenitent, ungodly Hypocrite. And damnation to Hell fire, is the punishment that such must expect, if Conversion prevent it not. 2. There is an unworthiness through some great and scandalous crime, which a regenerate person falleth into; and this should stop him from the Sacrament for a time, till he have repented and cast away his sin: And if he come before he rise from his fall by a particular repentance, (as the Corinthians that sinned in the very use of the Sacrament it self) they may expect some notable temporal judgment at the present; (and if Repentance did not prevent it, they might fear Eternal punishment.) 3. There is that measure of unworthiness which consisteth in the ordinary infirmities of a Saint; and this should not at all deter them from the Sacrament, because it is accompanied with a greater worthiness; yea, though their weakness appear in the time and manner of their receiving: But yet ordinary corrections may follow these ordinary infirmities. ⟨p. 28⟩(The grosser abuse of the Sacrament it self, I join under the second rank.)

Answ. There are three sorts of unworthiness ⟨p. 27⟩(or unfitness) and three sorts of Judgment answerably to be feared. 1. There is the utter unworthiness of an Infidel, or impenitent, ungodly Hypocrite. And damnation to Hell fire, is the punishment that such must expect, if Conversion prevent it not. 2. There is an unworthiness through some great and scandalous crime, which a regenerate person falleth into; and this should stop him from the Sacrament for a time, till he have repented and cast away his sin: And if he come before he rise from his fall by a particular repentance, (as the Corinthians that sinned in the very use of the Sacrament it self) they may expect some notable temporal judgment at the present; (and if Repentance didnot prevent it, they might fear Eternal punishment.) 3. There is that measure of unworthiness which consisteth in the ordinary infirmities of a Saint; and this should not at all deter them from the Sacrament, because it is accompanied with a greater worthiness; yea, though their weakness appear in the time and manner of their receiving: But yet ordinary corrections may follow these ordinary infirmities.