00212, 6d5d08ae36113a1482fce72f1a010a6c

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.��an adulterer, or be in malice, or envie, and in any other grievous crime andpresumed to go unrepentant to the table, he or she would risk being enteredinto by the Devil as was Judas at the first supper and likewise being filledwith all iniquities and being brought to destruction both of body, & soul. 61In the service itself the minister exhorted communicants to repentance andthankfulness; if partakers were spiritually to eate the flesh of Christ, anddrink his Blood, they must do so worthily.If unworthily, we are guilty of thebody and blood of Christ our Saviour: we eat and drinke our own damnation.[W]e provoke himto plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds ofdeath. 62Pondering the behavior of English parishioners, Archbishop ThomasSecker observed that Some imagine that the Sacrament belongs only to per-sons of advanced years, or great leisure, or high attainment in religion, and it isa very dangerous thing for common persons to venture on. 63 The illustriousDr.Samuel Johnson, serious and devout Anglican Christian as he was, felt ableto partake of Holy Communion only once each year at Easter.In preparationhe devoted the week prior to a strenuous regimen of self-examination, prayer,and fasting.64 The Duke of Newcastle was tormented by fears of his own un-worthiness to receive the sacrament. 65 Hanoverian churchmen approachedthe Holy Communion with a sense of awe, and upon occasion with a haunt-ing fear lest unworthy participation should provoke not a blessing but a curseupon them, is the conclusion reached by Norman Sykes.66English behaviors had their counterpart in Virginia.Communicants were aminority of parishioners.Any or all of the reasons for nonparticipation sug-gested above were likely operative though in what proportions it is impossibleto tell because Old Dominion parsons had no one to whom they regularlyreported.67 Numbers of communicants listed in response to Bishop Gibson squeries in 1724 varied greatly from parish to parish.Lawne s Creek Parishapprised the bishop that participation ranged from twelve to thirty personsamong its several congregations.Ten to thirty communicants were claimed aswell by Upper (Isle of Wight) and James City Parishes.By contrast, over twohundred communicants each were reported by Stratton Major, Christ Church(Middlesex), and Accomack Parishes.Numbers in other parishes fell some-whereinbetween.68 But it is not clear whether the figures represent the numberof individual parishioners who received the sacrament in the course of a yearor the cumulative totals for the observances of Holy Communion within theyear.Whatever the numbers involved, Holy Communion was regularly celebrated.198 divine services [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Podstrony