For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
Ver. 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily] He saith not unworthy (for so we are all), but unworthily, that is, unpreparedly, for a good work may be spoiled in the doing, as many a good tale is marred in the telling, and many a good garment in the making.
Eateth and drinketh damnation] He that came in without a wedding garment on his back, went not away without fetters on his feet. He was taken from the table to the tormentors. God's table becomes a snare to unworthy receivers; they eat their bane, they drink their poison. Henry VII, emperor of Germany, was poisoned in the sacramental bread by a monk; Pope Victor II by his sub-deacon in the chalice; and one of our bishops of York by poison put into the wine at sacrament. God will deal with ill communicants asJob 20:23. They will speed no better than Amnon did at Absalom's feast; or than Haman did at Esther's. Sin brought to the sacrament, picks out that time to petition against them, as Esther did against Haman at the banquet of wine,Ezra 7:2; Ezra 7:6. So that they shall cry out as that emperor beforementioned did, Calix vitae calix mortis, The cup of life is to us a cup of poison.