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 Chriſtian profeſſion: But he ſpeaks of their actual fitneſs and worthineſs at that time when they came to receive the Lord's Supper. And for the clearing of this matter, we muſt conſider what it was that gave occaſion to this diſcourſe. At the 20th verſe of this Chapter he ſharply reproves their irreverent and unſuitable carriage at the Lord's Supper. They came to it very diſorderly, one before another. It was the cuſtom of Chriſtians to meet at their Feaſt of Charity, in which they did communicate with great ſobriety and temperance; and when that was ended, they celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Now among the Corinthians this order was broken; the rich met and excluded the poor from this common feaſt: And after an irregular feaſt (one before another eating his own ſupper as he came) they went to the Sacrament in great diſorder; One was hungry, having eaten nothing at all; Others were drunk, having eaten intemperately; and the poor were deſpiſed and neglected. This the Apoſtle condemns as a great profanation of that ſolemn Inſtiſution of the Sacrament, at the participation whereof they behaved themſelves with as little reverence, as if they had been met at a common Supper or Feaſt. And this he calls, not diſcerning the Lord's body, making so difference in their behaviour between the Sacrament and a common meal; which irreverent and contemptuous carriage of theirs he calls, eating and drinking unworthily; for which he pronounceth them guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, which were repreſented and commemorated in their taking of that bread and drinking of that cup. By which irreverent and contemptuous uſage of the body and bloud of our Lord, he tells them that they did incur the judgment of God; which he

calls, eating and drinking their own judgment. For that the word xpiete which our Tranſlators render damnation, does not here ſignifie eternal condemnation, but a temporal Judgment and chaſtiſement in order to the prevention of eternal condemnation, is evident from what follows; He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh Judgment to himſelf: