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THE HOLY COMMUNION:
A Sense of Unwokthiness no Ground fok Keeping Back from it.

->_•- A

Sermon,

PREACHED IN S. PAUL'S CHAPEL, NEW YORK,
JAN. IITH, .1857, AND JAN. IOTH, 1858,

REV. MORGAN DIX,
THEN AN ASSISTANT MINISTER IN TRINITY l'ARISH.

(NEW EDITION.)

NEW YORK:
IJrotestant (Episcopal tract Bocietg.
1880.

THE HOLY COMMUNION:
A Sense of Unwokthiness no Ground for Keeping Back from it.

 *— ¦ —
A
Sermon,
PREACHED IN S. PAUL'S CHAPEL, NEW YORK,
ftlje Srist Suntrctg after €ptpl)ang,
JAN. IITH, l8S7, AND JAN. IOTH, 1858,

REV. MORGAN DIX,
THEN AN ASSISTANT MINISTER IN TRINITY PARISH.

(NEW EDITION.)

NEW YORK:
|Jroleatairt (Episcopal tract 0ocutg.
1880.

THE HOLY COMMUNION :
A SENSE OF TTNWOETHINESS NO GEOUND FOE KEEPING
BACK FEOM IT.

" Whoso eateth my Flesh anddrinketh my Bhod, hath eternal life,
and I will raise him up at thelast day." — St. John, vr. 53.
" And ye witt not come to me, that ye might Time life." — T. 40.

It is a grief to those who have at heart the interests
of the Church of God, that the proportion of communi
cants among her baptized members is so small. Of
the multitudes made hers by the washing of water and
the Spirit, comparatively few come to seek at her altars
the bread of everlasting life. The causes which keep
men away from the table of the Lord, are, no doubt,
manifold and diverse. I shall neither attempt to pen
etrate the motives of individuals, nor venture to decide
how far they are excusable in maintaining their un
happy position. But if, among the causes operating
on them, one may be found which amounts to a mere
misunderstanding ; if, among those stumbling-blocks
there be one capable of removal by simple explanation,
we are constrained to attempt to clear up the diffi
culty- not only by the consideration of our duty, but
by the hope of immediate good results. Every pastor
knows that such a cause does exist, and that many

6 THE HOLT COMMUNION.
conscientious, moral, and even religious persons are
kept thereby, year after year, at a distance from
the table of the Lord. There are those who would
come at once, if persuaded, that they were worthy ;
but who so regard the Lord's Sujjper as to think
that they must have made a considerable advance
in spirituality before they have a right to be admitted
there. To this one point your attention is now
-called. Ought any one to keep back from the table of
the Lord because he does not think himself good enough
to come ? Ought he to wait until he is good enough ?
To consider these questions, and to decide them on the
general principles of our holy faith, are the objects of
the following remarks.
I propose for your reflections these two inquiries :
I. What is the Holy Communion, practically consid
ered? II. What qualifications are required in those
who come to it ?
I. What, then^ is the Holy Communion, practically
•considered ? I say, practically considered ; not theolo
gically. It is not intended to enter into any of the deep
and mysterious questions which present themselves to
the thought of the advanced Christian, as he contem
plates this august and dread sacrament. But, as a first,
question — as a general inquiry, What is the Holy Com
munion . What is it — not to the saint in his retirement,
not to the devout recluse in his nearer walk with God,
not to the priest who tremblingly handles the sacred
things, not to the angels who gaze into these mysteries
with the wish to sound their depths ; but to the world
at large, to the great family of man, to the busy, hard
working classes? What is the Holy Communion to
the sinful and the suffering? What is it to us all ?,
Before answering, let me first refer to a widely pre
vailing error. Many think, or act as if they thought,

THE HOLT COMMUNION. 7
that this Holy Sacrament is a kind of badge of distinc
tion — a symbol which indicates that they who receive
it are more spiritual than others. It is thought to be
the privilege of a class. They who remain when the
bulk of the congregation is gone, and kneel at the altar,
are supposed to be better than the rest, more advanced
in piety, more spiritual ; and, in the reception of the
Communion, to manifest that superiority before a sin
ful world. And it is thought that, until the rest, who
go, have become as good as those who stay, they ought
to absent themselves, and would be playing the part of
the hypocrite if they were to remain and communicate.
I would state this as plainly as possible, that you
may see how numbers of persons think of the sacra
ment, and of the position and qualifications of com
municants. I state the view in order to denounce it.
To this wretched idea that the communion is a badge
-of distinction, and a sign of superiority in holiness, we
owe it in great part that our altars are so thinly attend
ed — I had almost said deserted. And, if there be any
language suited to express abhorrence of such an idea,
that language I should desire to appropriate and ap
ply. Let us banish that notion forever from our
thoughts. Let us drive it. forth into that outer dark
ness,- fit for all that wars against souls, and thwarts the
progress of Christ's kingdom.
What, then, is the Holy Communion ? We reply, in
the language of our Prayer-Book, that it is a Sacra
ment generally necessary to salvation. " Necessabt
to Salvation." These are not the words of the
preacher, but the words of your Prayer-Book. The
Church has authority for saying that, without the two
Sacraments, men cannot (ordinarily) be saved. Our
Lord declared, with reference to baptism ; " Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God." And of the Holy
Communion He said : " Except ye eat the Flesh of the

THE HOLT COMMUNION.

Sonof Man, and Drink his Blood, ye have no life in.
you " To many, no doubt, these are unwelcome truths ;
they are truths which no man could venture, on his own
responsibility, to declare; but still they are truths
because uttered by Him who knoweth all things, and
who styled himself the Way, the Truth, and the Lite.
But why is the reception of the Holy Communion
necessary to salvation ? For this simple and sufficient
reason : that it is the appointed way of coming to
Christ. He who will not come to the Communion
does not come to Christ in the way of Christ's own ap*
pointment. And unless one come to Christ for salva
tion, how can he be saved at all ?
These statements require explanation.
The great mystery of the Gospel is thus expressed.
in Holy Scripture : that the Woed was made Flesh..
The great wonder was this : that the Son of God be
came man, took our nature upon Him, was grafted
into our stock, and. entered into the great human
family. The blessing of "the Gospel dispensation was,.
that God and man were thus brought together, that
the gulf betwixt the infinite and the finite was span
ned, that a Communion was established between heaven
and earth. Why was this done? For an obvious
reason. God became man, that man might come ta
Him without fear, and see Him, and touch Him, know
His glory and His mercy, and be and abide in Hia
society. The holy Evangelists and Apostles are moBt earnest
in declaring this mystery. None is more so than St-
John, who says : " That which was from the begin
ning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands
have handled of the Word of life .... that
which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you."
This it was which called forth his glowing eloquence,
his ardent thankfulness, and his rapturous praise ; that

THE HOLT COMMUNION. 9
his Creator should have condescended to become a
man like himself ; that He had submitted Himself not
only to the knowledge and observation of mortals, but
to the vision and contact of their material organs j
that they had seen Him, and touched Him, and
handled Him. In this lay the wonder of the Gospel.
It was the establishing a Holt Communion between
men and God. And to that end, God took a Body
and Blood, and Flesh and Bones, such as we have, and
in them He came and dwelt among His people. This
mystery we confess as that of the Incarnation.
It was through personal intercourse with Jesus
Christ that His influence was felt. When any one
sought relief from Him, the first and necessary step
was to go where He was Bodily Present. When this
had been done, all blessings followed. The sick were
healed, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the
dead were raised, and sinners received pardon. But
before these effects followed, the Bodily Communion
must be established. He might, by His Divine
Power, have worked His Miracles over all the earth,
but he limited them to Judea. He healed those who
came to Him, who spoke to Him, who looked into
His loving eyes, who laid hold of His garment, who
caught His hand. It was the physical union, the
material touch, the spoken voice, the outward visible"
sign and gesture, through which all these marvels
came to pass.
I conclude, that the life of the Son of Man on earth,
was a Holt Communion between Himself and mortals ;
and that the establishment of that Holy Communion
was His appointed way of giving them spiritual life,
pardon, and salvation.
Let us now apply this to our own circumstances.
Does this Holy Communion at present exist ? Has
it existed since the Lord's departure from this earth \
It has existed : it does. Although. He is separated

10 THE HOLT COMMUNION.
from us in the Flesh, and our eyes no longer behold
Him, nor our hands- handle Him, yet the communion
between Him and His people still remains. As real
as ever, it is maintained by the instrumentality of that
Sacrament whose name announces the special bless
ings it conveys.
To prove this, two things are necessary : 1st, To
show that Christ continues to exist in his Human
Nature, as truly, really, and completely a man as when
He was on the earth. 2dly, To show that we have means
and opportunities of access to Him in that Human
^Nature, as real as they would have been if we had
lived in Judea in the days of His Incarnation.
We claim that both these truths are taught by our
Church. As to the first, no words of mine could express it so
well as do those of the Fourth of our Articles of Re
ligion. " Christ did truly rise again from death, and
took again His Body, with Flesh, Bones, and all things
appertaining to the perfection of mail's nature ; where
with He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth, until
He return to judge all men at the Last Day." Noth
ing could be plainer than this. The Son of Mary is
in heaven in the very same flesh which He took of
her substance, and in which He worked out our salva-
£ion. The second point follows logically from the first.
But let me quote St. Paul. In 1 Cor. x. 16, he asks
these questions : " The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ ? the
bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the
Body of Christ ? We have seen that Christ, in His
Body, Flesh, Blood, and all things appertaining to His
human nature, is at this moment in heaven. But St.
Paul affirms, by implication, in his queries, that in the
Lord's Supper we are brought into Communion with
Christ aa man, and are made partakers of His Body

THE HOLT COMMUNION. 11
and Blood. Again, our Lord Himself announces, in
the words of the text, and generally throughout that
•chapter from which they are taken, that, " Except we
eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, we have no life in
ns ; that His Flesh is meat indeed, and His Blood
•drink indeed ; that whosoever eateth His Flesh and
drinketh His Blood hath eternal life, and shall be
raised among the just at the last day." Now, either
these words have no relation to us and our times, or
else they imply some means whereby Christ, in that
Flesh and that Blood, is now accessible to us. What
the instrumentality is I claim to have already shown
by the words of St. Paul. It is also declared by our
Lord : " Take, eat, this is my Bodt. Drink ye all of
this, for this is my Blood." It is further declared,
by the language of our own Communion Office, in
which the people are warned beforehand, that " Al
mighty God hath given His Son, our Saviour Jesus
Christ, not only to die for us, but also to be our
spiritual food and sustenance in the holy sacrament of
the Lord's Supper / " in which we pray " so to eat the
Flesh of the Son of Man, and to drink His Blood, that
our sinful bodies may be made clean by His Body,
and our souls washed through His most precious
Blood ".; and in which we give thanks after receiving,
for that we have been " fed with the most precious
Body and Blood of God's dear Son." The Eucharis-
tic Office implies a deep conviction of the double fact
which we have stated: 1st, That Christ continues to
exist in His human nature, as truly, really, and com
pletely a man as when He was on this earth ; and 2d,
That we have a mode of access to Him in that sacra
ment, as real as we should have had if we had been
His contemporaries in Judea. I say as real a mode of
access. 1 disclaim the thought that it is in the same
way. The access is a spiritual and mystical one. But
it is not less real than that of those who walked beside

12 THE HOLT COMMUNION.
Him, and saw and touched Him, and dwelt beneath
the same roof with Him, and sat with Him at the same
table. The conclusion from what has now been said is this :
that to come to the Lord's Supper is simply to come to
Jesus Christ; to come to Him in the way of his ap
pointment ; to come to Him in the way especially in
stituted for us by Himself, in view of His departure
from the earth and ascension to heaven. It is this
Holy and Blessed Communion with our Saviour which
has been perverted into a badge of distinction among
brother Christians, and a sign of superiority.
II. The second part of our subject remains to be
considered : What are the qualifications required in
him who would approach the table of the Lord? I
. reply, simply those which were required to" approach
His Person when He dwelt in Judea ; simply those-
which are required to approach His Person when we
must give our account at the Last Day.
Who, then, were fitted for His company and His
personal, visible communion, when He was on the
earth ? Regarded in themselves, none. But was their
unfitness, or unworthiness, a cause for their keeping
away from Him ? What idea could be more monstrous ?
What more effectual to prevent the salvation of souls ?
It is my firm conviction that this notion has been sug
gested and fostered by Satan as a way of -keeping men
from their Saviour. It was not the world that loved
Him first ; but He that loved the world. He came to
a race dead in trespasses and sins. He came announc
ing that His mission was not to the just,- but to sinners.
Suppose that any one of those who needed Him most
had kept away from Him through a feeling of un
worthiness. What mistake could have been more
fatal? the need of His help was the strongest claim
on His favor. Everybody understood this. No one

THE HOLT COMMUNION. 13
who looked at Christ could fail to see it. And what
was the consequence ? Why, that they all flocked to
Him at once; they came just as they were : in their
sins, in their sickness, in their unutterable perplexities,
discouragements and sorrows ; the lame made shift to
crawl towards Him ; the blind strained their sightless
balls in the direction where they knew that there was
light to be had for the asking ; even the leper per
ceived that he, the very outcast of men and the refuse
of the earth, could go to that One without fear of a
repulse. Their infirmities, so far from keeping them
away, were the passport to His presence.
Such were the Saviour's actions. His teachings cor
responded. The parable of the prodigal son displayed
the same principles. The profligate was in a far coun
try, naked, degraded, and miserable ; a feeder of swine,
a victim of harlots, a beggar and an outcast. In that
condition he bethought him of his father's house.
What if he had waited until ready to go ? How could
he have got ready ? How would waiting have helped
him ? He wanted food, and raiment, and shelter. He
thought of his fathers house, because those things were
there. He did wisely to go, just as he was, and cast
himself on his father's mercy. And, as you know, he
was not disappointed of his hope.
Let us make application of our Saviour's acts and
words. If there be any one here present who is in
¦doubt about coming to the Communion, in doubt of
his sufficient preparation, in doubt of ; his possess
ing the necessary requirements, let him ask him
self what he would have done, so far as he knows
his own heart, if he had lived in those days when the
Saviour was visibly present on the earth. Would he
have felt himself free (knowing the character of that
Saviour, and having heard the fame of His miracles,
sanctity, and benevolence)— would he have felt himself
free to go at once to Him and profess the desire to be

14 THE HOL-T COMMUNION.
His faithful follower? Would the consciousness of
sin, sorrowed for and detested, but still lingering within
him, have appeared an insuperable obstacle to the in
terview? Would he have concluded, " I am not fit to
approach Him, but will go when I shall have become
better, holier, and worthier than I am at present"?1
Would not this have been to shut himself out from the
very place whither he ought to go at once? Who
does not see that one must remain away from Christ
forever, if he wait for those qualities which Christ
alone can give ? And who can doubt that in the case
of every applicant to Him for mercy, Christ, if he saw
the heart right, the repentance sincere, and the faith
firm, would never have sent away, and never did send
away, a single human being because of his deficiencies ?
Ye who have never yet come to the Holy Communion,
think rightly of that blessed ordinance. It is the Com
munion with Jesus Christ. To come to it is simply to
come to Him. Perfection is not required in the com
municant as a condition : it is by that sacrament that
he is to be made perfect. Deep spirituality is not to
have been previously attained ; it is in that sacrament
that the spiritual life is to be developed. Entire clean^
ness from sin is not a prerequisite ; for it is to the
very Saviour of sinners that the receiver draws near.
But these three things only are needed of him who
would worthily commune : a hearty sorrow that he ia
a sinner ; a firm faith that Christ can forgive his sins
and cleanse him from all uncleanness ; a sincere wish
to receive those blessings and to lead a godly, right
eous and sober life. And these are the conditions on
which the Holy Communion becomes indeed a savor
of life. Thus saith the Church : " Ye who do truly
and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and
charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new
life, following the commandments of God, and walk
ing from henceforth in His holy ways, draw near with

THE HOLT COMMUNION. 15
faith, and take this Holy Sacrament to your comfort."
This is what the Church requires in communicants,
because this is what the Lord required of those who
came to Him when He dwelt on the earth ; a hearty
sorrow, an honest intention, a firm faith. Without
these none should become a communicant ; without
these none can be saved.
The remarks which have now been made were ad
dressed to such as are kept away from the Lord's table
through conscientious scruples, resulting from errone
ous views. But these persons form a comparatively
small class.
There is another and a much larger class : that of
those who are restrained by the knowledge of habitual
sins which they are unwilling to break off. These
persons are no less conscientious in their scruples than
the others. Their consciences make known to them
the existence of old, deep-seated habits of sin. They
love those sins ; they cannot bring themselves to for
sake them ; and therefore they dare not come to the
Lord's table. This is their position. They know it ;
and the Searcher of hearts knows it. Let no such
person mock us by professing a reverence for the holy
table, and a dread of profaning the precincts of the
altar ; this is the outward pretence ; the true reason
for absence is that the will declines to be subject to
Christ; that men are lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God ; that they cannot bring themselves to
renounce unlawful indulgences ; that they set the
treasure of this world before the riches of the kingdom
of heaven. If any man have such a heart as this, let
him, as he values his own soul, stay away. But let him
also remember that this insincere, unsettled, lukewarm
state, while it keeps him from the altar, keeps him no
less surely from Christ. While he remains in wilful
and habitual sin, he is not indeed fit for the sacrament.
But this is not all. He is not fit to die. For him, the

16 THE HOLT COMMUNION.
making ready for the sacrament is a work no less need
ful than the making ready for the judgment-seat of
Christ. If he fails to accomplish the former, he will
as utterly fail in the latter. And if this should be the
end, and life should close upon such procrastination,
we can do no more but pray that the Lord will have
mercy on his soul. .

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