Disciples and requiring them to take and eat of it The words This is my body next taken into consideration and more particularly and minutely explain'd Where is shewn at large that by the word This must be meant This Bread and that there is nothing in the gender of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hinder it That by body must be meant that body which Christ now carried about him and was shortly after to suffer in and that the sigurativeness of the proposition lies in the word is Vpon occasion whereof is also shewn that that word is oftentime figuratively taken that it ought to be so taken here and that accordingly it imports the Bread to be a sign and a memorial and a means of partaking of Christ's body This part of the Institution concluded with an explication of the words which is given or broken for you and a more ample one of Christ's commanding his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him Where the precept Do this is shewn to refer to what Christ had before done or enjoyned them to do And they enjoyn'd so to do to renew in themselves a grateful remembrance of Christ's death or prompt other Men to the like remembrance of it That part of the Institution which respects the Cup more succinctly handled and enquiry made among other things into the declaration which our Saviour makes concerning its being his Blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in it Where is shewn What that is which our Saviour affirms to be so what is meant by his Blood of the New Testament or The New Testament in it and how the Cup or rather the Wine of it was that Blood of his or the New Testament in it pag. 173. The Contents of the Fourth Part. Of the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper BRead and Wine ordinarily the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper and the Heresie of the Aquarii upon that account enquir'd into and censur'd The kind of Bread and Wine enjoin'd in the next place examin'd and a more particular Enquiry thereupon Whether the Wine ought to be mix'd with Water and what was the Ground of the Antients Practice in this Affair The same Elements consider'd again with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the Vsage that Body and Blood of his receiv'd when he was subjected unto Death or as to the Benefit that was intended and accru'd to us by them In the former of which Notions they become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred and by the separate administration of them In the latter by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us Of the Obligation the Faithful are under to receive the Sacrament in both kinds and a resolution of those Arguments that are commonly alleg'd to justifie the Romish Churches depriving them of the Cup. pag. 197. The Contents of the Fifth Part. Of the inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it THE inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it is either what is signified on the part of God and Christ or on the part of the Receiver of it The former of these brought under Consideration and shewn to be the Body and Blood of Christ not as they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or as they now are but as they were at the time of his Crucifixion as moreover then offered up unto God and offer'd up to him also as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World The Consequences of that Assertion briefly noted both as to the presence of that Body and Blood in the Sacrament and our perception of them The things signified on the part of the Receiver in the next place consider'd and these shewn to be First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before described Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us of that Body and Blood Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them The two latter of these more particularly insisted on and that Communion and Resolution not only shewn from the Scripture to be signified on the part of the Receiver but confirmed by the Doctrine and Practice of the Antient Church pag. 213. The Contents of the sixth Part. What farther relation the Sign of the Lord's Supper hath to the Body and Blood of Christ THE outward Part or Sign of this Sacrament consider'd with a more particular regard to the Body and Blood of Christ and Enquiry accordingly made what farther relation it beareth to it That it is a Means whereby we receive the same as well as a Sign thereof shewn from the Doctrine of our Church and that Doctrine confirm'd by Saint Paul's entitling it the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood and by his affirming Men to be made to drink into one Spirit by partaking of the Cup of it Enquiry next made what kind of Means this Sign of the Lord's Supper is how it conveys to us the Body and Blood of Christ and how we receive them by it To each of which Answer is made from the Doctrine of our Church and that Answer farther confirm'd by the Doctrine of the Scripture The sum of which is that this Sign of the Lord's Supper is so far forth a Mean spiritual and heavenly That it conveys the Body and Blood of Christ to us by prompting us to reflect as the Institution requires upon that Body and Blood of his and by prompting God who hath annex'd them to the due use of the Sign to bestow that Body and Blood upon us In fine that we receive them by the Sign thereof when we take occasion from thence to reflect upon that Body and Blood of Christ which it was intended to represent and particularly with Faith in them What Benefits we receive by Christ's Body and Blood in the next place enquir'd and as they are resolv'd by our Catechism to be the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul so Enquiry thereupon made what is meant by the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul what Evidence there is of Christ's Body and Blood being intended for it and how they effect it The Sign of the Lord's Supper a Pledge to assure us of Christ's Body and Blood as well as a Means whereby we receive them pag. 219. The Contents of the Seventh Part. Of Transubstantiation THE Doctrine of Transubstantiation briefly deduc'd from the Council of Trent and digested into four capital Assertions Whereof the first is that the whole substance of the Bread is chang'd into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood The grounds of this Assertion examin'd both as to the possibility and actual being of such a change What is alledgâ—d for the former of these from the substantial changes mention'd in the Scripture of no force in this
her But as if any thing be of the substance of the Sacrament the doing of that must be which tends most apparently to set forth the Sacrifice of Christ's Death upon the Cross as which was one great end of its Institution and the most clearly expressed in it So nothing doth or can tend more apparently to the setting forth of that than Men's partaking of that Cup which was by our Saviour himself intended to represent the Blood of that Sacrifice of his as poured out for our Expiation and Remission PART V. Of the inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it The Contents The inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it is either what is signified on the part of God and Christ or on the part of the Receiver of it The former of these brought under Consideration and shewn to be the Body and Blood of Christ not as they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or as they now are but as thâ—y were at the time of his Crucifixion as moreover then offered up unto God and offer'd up to him also as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World The Consequences of that Assertion briefly noted both as to the presence of that Body and Blood in the Sacrament and our perception of them The things signified on the part of the Receiver in the next place consider'd and these shewn to be First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before described Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us of that Body and Blood Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them The two latter of these more particularly insisted on and that Communion and Resolution not only shewn from the Scripture to be signified on the part of the Receiver but confirmed by the Doctrine and Practice of the Antient Church II. THE outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper being thus accounted for Question What is the inward part or thing signified and that shewn to be no other than Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be receiv'd Reason would as well as the Method before laid down that I should entreat of the inward part thereof or the thing signified by it Answer The Body and Blood of Crhist which are verily and indeed taken and received by the Faithful in the Lord's Supper Which on the part of God and Christ is that Christ's Body and Blood As on our part a thankful Remembrance of them our Communion with those who partake with us thereof and a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them That which our Catechism obligeth us especially to consider is that which is signified on the part of God and Christ and which accordingly it declares to be that Christ's Body and Blood A thing which consider'd in the general admits of no dispute because the plain Assertion of the Scripture as well as the Acknowledgment of all sorts of Men however otherwise divided about the Sacrament thereof or the presence of that Body and Blood in it They all agreeing as they must that the Body of Christ is that which is signified by one of its Signs and the Blood of Christ which is signified by the other But as it is not so well agreed under what Notion we are to consider that Body and Blood nor for ought that I have observ'd much attended to which is it may be the principal Cause of all the Controversie in this Particular So I shall therefore for the farther clearing of the thing or things signified by this Sacrament enquire under what Notion we ought to consider them which if we have a due regard to the words of the Institution will not be so difficult to unfold For from thence it will appear first that we ought to consider Christ's Body and Blood here not in the state wherein they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or in that more happy one to which they are now arriv'd but as they were at the time of our Saviour's Crucifixion To wit the one as given to Death or broken and the other as shed for us Which St. Paul farther confirms when he tells his Corinthians * 1 Cor. 11.26 that as often as they ate the Bread of this Sacrament and drank the Cup of it they did shew forth the Lord's death till he came The consequent whereof will be secondly because that Death of Christ is represented by the Scriptures as a Sacrifice that we ought to look upon that Body and Blood of Christ which we have said to be signified by this Sacrament as offer'd unto God by him and as such to be consider'd in it Which they of all Men have the least reason to refuse who do not only affirm †Conc. Trid. Sess 22. cap. 1. with us that this Sacrament was intended for a Memorial of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross but that the Body and Blood of Christ is even now * Ibid. offer'd up to God in it under the respective Species thereof It is as little to be doubted thirdly That as we ought to consider the Body and Blood of Christ here as offer'd up to God for us so we ought to consider them as offer'd up as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of those Persons for whom it is offer'd Which is not only evident from the words of the Institution because representing the Cup of this Sacrament as the Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins but abundantly confirm'd by the suffrage of those Men with whom we have most to do in this Affair They not only representing the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are pleas'd to call this Sacrament as one and the same Sacrifice with that which our Saviour offer'd upon the Cross but as a truly propitiatory one (a) Ib. cap. 2. and which accordingly is of force for the sins of the quick and the dead and tends to the remission of them Of what use these Considerations are will more fully appear when I come to entreat of that relation which the outward Signs of this Sacrament have to the inward part thereof or the things signified by them At present it may suffice briefly to note that the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as broken and shed upon the Cross having now no Existence in the World nor any more capable of having such an Existence than that which is past can be recall'd They cannot be substantially present either to the Sacramental Elements or to the Person that receiveth them nor be substantially eaten and drunken by him that eats and drinks the other That they must therefore be present to the Sacramental Elements in a Figure or Mystery and to the Receiver by their respective Vertue and Efficacy That being as was before said to be consider'd as offer'd up to
for the former their representing Baptism as the laver (k) Tit. 3.5 of Regeneration which is a thing we must have from God (l) Joh. 3.5 and as a thing by which we must obtain forgiveness of sins (m) Act. 2.38 which is as undoubtedly (n) Expl. of the Lords Pr. forgive us c. another For the latter the same Scriptures requiring us to look upon the elements thereof as that body of Christ which was (o) Luk. 22.19 given for us and that blood which was shed for many (p) Matt. 26.28 for the forgiveness of sins For as these and the former benefits are such as manifestly come from God so they are alike manifestly represented as the consequents of the former Sacraments and a Sacrament therefore as such to be looked upon as having a relation to that which flows from God to us The only difficulty in my opinion is to shew a Sacrament to relate equally to that which passeth from us to God and imports our duty and service But besides that the Antients apprehended no such difficulty in it because giving it the title of a Sacrament in respect of that Obligation * See the prec Disc which it lays upon the Receivers of it The Scriptures have said enough concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper to confirm us in the belief of this relation of them Only because I would not too much anticipate my Discourse concerning those Sacraments and beside that may have another occasion to speak more largely to this Argument I will content my self at present with what St. Peter hath observ'd of Baptism (q) 1 Pet. 3.21 and which I have elsewhere (r) Explic. of the Prel Quest and Answers c. given a more particular account of For if as that Apostle insinuates and hath accordingly been more largely confirmed the stipulation or answer of a good conscience toward God be a considerable part of Baptism If it be so considerable a part of it as to give it much of that savingness which it hath Then must that Sacrament be thought because the stipulation of a good Conscience is of that nature to relate to something that must come from us as well as to those things which flow from God to us It is true indeed that our Church where it sets it self to define a Sacrament takes no notice of this object of it Whether it were through a simple inadvertency and from which our Church doth no where pretend it self to be free or which I rather think that it might give so much the more particular an account of that other and more considerable object of it even that inward and Spiritual Grace which it was intended to signifie and exhibit and assure For that our Church did not wholly forget this second object of a Sacrament even that duty and service of ours which it doth equally signifie and prompt us to declare is evident from its before minding the Catechumen of his Baptismal vow (ſ) Prelim. Quest and Answ of the Cat. and from the declaration it elsewhere (t) Office of Publ. Bapt. makes that they who are to be baptized must also for their parts promise the renouncing of the Devil and his works and both Faith and Piety toward God That as it shews her to have looked upon Baptism as a federals rite or ceremony so that she equally believed it to relate to our duty and service as well as to those divine benefits we receive from the Author of it Let it remain therefore for an undoubted truth and the acknowledged Doctrine of our Church that a Sacrament relates as well to what is to pass from us to God as to what is to come from God to us and that accordingly it may be so far forth defined such an outward and visible sign whereby we make a declaration of our piety toward God as Mr. Calvin (u) Instit li. 4. c. 14. §. 1. hath very well observed I may not forget to add for the farther clearing of this head that as a Sacrament relates first and chiefly to that which passeth from God to us so we are to conceive of that to which it so relates under the notion of a Grace given unto us yea of an inward and spiritual one That we ought to conceive of it under the notion of a grace given unto us is evident from those Texts which I but now made use of to shew that a Sacrament relates to that which passeth from God to us For instancing in such things as have the nature of benefits and so far forth therefore are to be looked upon as Graces or Favours instancing moreover in such benefits as are manifestly the issues of the Divine Goodness yea which the Scripture expresly affirms to be given to us by him for so it doth as to that (w) Luk. 22.19 Body of Christ which is the foundation of them all they must consequently oblige us to conceive of that to which a Sacrament relates as a Grace given unto us But neither will there be less evidence from thence if those Texts be well considered that that Grace to which a Sacrament relates is an inward and Spiritual one For as our Church means no other by an inward and Spiritual Grace than that which conduceth in an especial manner to the welfare of our inward man or Spirit as is evident from its making the Body and Blood of Christ the inward and Spiritual Grace of the Lords Supper and which it cannot be in any other sense than that it hath such an effect upon us so the Texts before alledged attribute such Graces to the Sacraments as are in that sense at least inward and Spiritual ones Witness their attributing to them the Graces of regeneration and forgiveness which are as it were the formal causes of our welfare and the grace of Christs Body and Blood which is the meritorious cause thereof and under God and by his acceptation in the place of an Efficient also I observe farther that as a Sacrament relates to such things as have the nature of divine Graces or humane duties so those graces and duties being parts of the New Covenant and receiving all their force from it a Sacrament must consequently relate to that New Covenant to which they do belong and from which they receive all their force Of which yet if there remain any doubt it will not be difficult to clear it from what the Scripture assures us concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper St. Peter (x) 1 Pet. 3.21 representing the former under the notion of a Stipulation or Contract as our Saviour the Cup of the other (y) Luk. 22.20 Matt. 26.28 as the New Covenant in his Blood for the remission of those sins for which it was shed For that that is in truth the meaning of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not as we usually render it the New Testament in it is not only evident from the word 〈◊〉
words Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine Which said he first of all tasted of it himself and then reach'd it out to all that sate with him Presently after he took a Loaf of Bread and holding it with both his hands consecrated it in these words Blessed be thou O Lord our God who bringest Food out of the Earth Which said he brake it and after he had eaten a piece of it himself gave the like to each that sate with him Thus that Learned Man informs us that the Father of the Family did at their sitting down at their more solemn Feasts As after the Feast was over that he or some other person to whom he committed it taking a second time a Cup full of Wine into both his hands prayed Let us bless him who hath fed us of his own and by whose goodness we live Passing on from thence to other Blessings and Prayers and particularly to bless God for the Food which he had afforded to them all and for all the Benefits bestow'd either on their Fathers or themselves and to pray unto him in like manner for the state of their Nation for the restoring of Jerusalem for the coming of Elias and the Messiah and particularly for their Domesticks and Kindred After which the same person began as before Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine and thereupon again drank a little of the Wine himself and then gave it in order to his Guests Now as it is easie to guess by the likeness there is between our Sacrament and this Usance that our Sacrament or rather the Author thereof took his Pattern from thence if that Usance be ancienter than the Sacrament it self So there is just ground to believe it was both from what we find in St. Luke's account of Christ's celebration of the Passover and this Sacrament and from the manner wherewith this Sacrament was celebrated in the first Ages of Christianity For St. Luke in his account of the former Solemnities takes notice of our Saviour's taking a Cup giving thanks over it and distributing it among his Disciples (d) Luke 22.17 18. with this farther Remark that he said he would not drink any more of the fruit of the vine the particular title here us'd until the kingdom of God should come And the Ancients in their mention of the celebration of the Lord's Supper speak of the Symbols thereof as alike intended for memorials of their thankfulness to God for the Blessings of this World as well as for the Blessing of their Redemption For thus Justin Martyr first affirms the Bread of the Eucharist to have been given by our Saviour to us (e) Dial. cum Tryph. pag. 260. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we might at the same time give thanks to God for having made the World with all things in it for the sake of Man and for delivering us from the evil in which we sometime were by him whom he made passible for us As Irenaeus (f) Adv. haeres lib. 4. c. 32. Sed suis discipulis dans consilium primitias deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est corpus meum Et calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem confessus est novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in novo Testamento in like manner that Christ giving his Disciples counsel to offer to God the First-fruits of his Creatures not as to one that wanted them but that they themselves might not be ungrateful or unfruitful he took Bread and gave thanks saying This is my Body And the Cup in like manner which is of that Creature which is according to us he confessed to be his Blood and taught a new oblation of the New Testament Which Oblation the Church receiving from the Apostles offers in all the World to God even to him who gives us Food the First-fruits of his Gifts in the New Testament Agreeable hereto is that of Origen though not so clearly express'd as the former passages were For these Reasons saith he (g) Contr. Cels lib. 8. p. 399. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Celsus who knows not God pay the testimonies of his thanks to Devils even for the Benefits of this World But we being desirous to please the maker of the Vniverse eat even those Loaves which are offered with Thanksgiving and Prayer over the things bestow'd upon us being now made by Prayer a certain Holy Body and one which sanctifies those who use it with a good intention Plainly intimating by the opposition he there makes between Celsus's paying the testimonies of his thanks to Devils for the Benefits of this World and our eating of the Eucharistical Bread with respect to the maker of the Vniverse that the Christians of old ate of it with regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof as well as with respect to the redemption of it by the Body of his Son Now from whence I pray considering the no intimation there is of any such thing in the Institution of Christ or Saint Paul's rehearsal of it from whence I say that regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof but from those Thanksgivings which from old descended to them from the Jews together with the Institution of Christ And which being so will prove the Usance before remembred not to have been the Usance of the latter Jews only but of those who were as old as our Saviour's time and that Passover which he celebrated among them Add hereunto what is apparent from the Ancient Liturgies of the Church the Prayers of the Eucharist descending to such Intercessions for all sorts of men as the Prayers of the Jews over their Eucharist appear to have done For these are a yet farther proof of the Antiquity of that Jewish Service and that our Saviour copied his own Institution by it What use these Observations may be of will be more fit to declare elsewhere neither shall I therefore at this time set my self to the investigation of it At present I desire only it may be remembred that in this Exemplar of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper both the one and the other Element thereof were consecrated with Thanksgivings and the Bread of it though consecrated in the mass or lump was yet carefully broken off from it in order to a distribution of it That as the Cup as well as the Bread had a place in that Eucharist so it was alike distributed among the Communicants yea distributed at the end as well as at
because Ite Missa est is the conclusion of the Mass even now and which considering the place it hath in this service as well as the word Ite to which it is joyn'd cannot be thought to denote any other thing than that the Deacon doth by those words of his Missam or Missionem facere give leave to the people to depart and so justifie yet more the account we have before given of the title of that service For when it is evident from the story of the Church and particularly from Dionysius the Areopagite * Eccl. Hierarch c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Catechumens and others were formally dismist the congregation upon the finishing their respective service When it is farther evident from the present Canon of the Mass that the faithful were alike dismist after that their service was over and not only so but by these very words Ite Missa est Depart you for you have now a dismission or free leave to do so What can be more clear than that the word Missa or Mass had its original from that dismission and that the several services of the Church and this of the faithful in particular had that name because they who pertained to it and attended on it were at the end thereof solemnly dismist and sent away to their own home Only if any be fond of that Rabbinical notion which makes it to import a voluntary oblation because of the near cognation it may seem to have to that sacrifice which they are willing to advance Let them in God's name enjoy it provided they look upon it as only an Eucharistical one of which nature the Missah in Deuteronomy was or a commemoration of that voluntary oblation which Christ made of himself upon the Cross For whatever may be said against that Etymology of the word nothing can be said from Antiquity against the supposed sense of it Because all Antiquity acknowledg'd that which hath the title of the Mass to be either an Eucharistical or commemorative Oblation PART III. Of the Institution of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Contents The Story of the Institution first set down out of the Evangelists and St. Paul and animadverted upon in the several parts of it Where after an account of the time of it the consequents whereof are also declar'd entrance is made with the consideration of the Bread and both the quality of that Bread and Christ's taking it explain'd This followed by a more ample declaration of Christ's blessing it and that Blessing both shewn to have the Bread for its object and to consist in making it useful for the purposes of a Sacrament or rather in Christ's addressing himself to his Father to make it such That address of his thereupon carefully enquir'd into and because it appears from St. Luke and St. Paul to have been by Thanksgiving enquiry also made what benefits he so gave thanks for what use that Thanksgiving was of toward the procuring of the blessing desir'd and whether it did not also contain some express request to God for the granting of it Of Christ's breaking the Bread its signification and momentousness as also of his giving it to his Disciples and requiring them to take and eat of it The words This is my body next taken into consideration and more particularly and minutely explain'd Where is shewn at large that by the word This must be meant This Bread and that there is nothing in the gender of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hinder it That by body must be meant that body which Christ now carried about him and was shortly after to suffer in and that the figurativeness of the proposition lies in the word is Vpon occasion whereof is also shewn that that word is oftentime figuratively taken that it ought to be so taken here and that accordingly it imports the Bread to be a sign and a memorial and a means of partaking of Christ's body This part of the Institution concluded with an explication of the words which is given or broken for you and a more ample one of Christ's commanding his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him Where the precept Do this is shewn to refer to what Christ had before done or enjoyned them to do And they enjoyn'd so to do to renew in themselves a grateful remembrance of Christ's death or prompt other Men to the like remembrance of it That part of the Institution which respects the Cup more succinctly handled and enquiry made among other things into the declaration which our Saviour makes concerning its being his Blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in it Where is shewn What that is which our Saviour affirms to be so what is meant by his Blood of the New Testament or The New Testament in it and how the Cup or rather the Wine of it was that Blood of his or the New Testament in it IT is very observable Question Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordain'd Answer For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the benefits we receive thereby and was accordingly long since taken notice of by Isaac Casaubon * Exercit. 16. s. 28. That when Baronius was to give an account of the Institution of this Sacrament which three Evangelists and St. Paul had carefully describ'd instead of producing the words of those Scriptures as he often doth upon less occasions and bestowing as was but reasonable a just Commentary upon them he slubbers it over with this imperfect story †Baron Annal. Eccl. ad Ann. Christi 34. num 45. shall I say or rather with this perverse interpretation of it In which Supper speaking of that of the Paschal Lamb that ineffable Sacrament was instituted whereby Transubstantiation was made of Bread and Wine into the Flesh and Blood of Christ into the very body of Christ entire under both species Then also the Apostles when the Lord commanded them to do the very same thing in remembrance of him were made Priests and that very sacrifice which they should offer was ordain'd A Man would have thought that whatever interpretation he had afterwards made of it one who pretended to be an Historian should at least have given a more particular and perfect account of that whole action and as near to as might be in the words of some of those Holy Men that had transmitted it to posterity And so no doubt this Historian would have done if there had not been somewhat in the words of the Institution to which the practice of his Church had made a non obstante to be necessary But as he saw but too well how ill the practice of his Church answer'd what was then done and enjoyn'd by our Saviour so he therefore chose rather to give that imperfect as well as insincere account of it and endeavour to supply what was wanting by an account of those names which were antiently given to
this Sacrament with the declarations of the Antient Fathers concerning them God be thanked we of the Church of England are under no such necessity of either slightly passing over or any way perverting the Story of this Holy Sacrament And therefore being now by the order of my discourse to entreat of the Institution of it I will set down the Story thereof in the words of those that first deliver'd it and bound my Observations by them Mat. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. 1 Cor. 11. 26. And as they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the disciples and said Take Eat This is my body 22. And as they did eat Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to them and said Take Eat This is my body 19. And he took Bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread    24. And when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take Eat This is my body which is broken for you This do in remembrance of me 27. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it 23. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them and they all drank of it 20. Likewise also the cup after Supper saying 25. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins 24. And he said unto them This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you This cup is the New Testament in my blood This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me 29. But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom 25. Verily I say unto you I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day I drink it new in the kingdom of God   Now the first thing I shall take notice of in the History of this Sacrament is the Time of the Institution of it Which we learn from St. Paul to have been the same night in which he was betray'd from the context of the several Evangelists at the Celebration of the Feast of the Passover or rather toward the close of it It being whilst they were yet eating that two of them affirm that he took the Bread of it and bless'd and brake and gave it but so near the conclusion of that Feast that St. Luke and St. Paul tell us that it was after Supper before he took the Cup and gave thanks over it and gave it to his Disciples And though I do not pretend to affirm neither do I know any sober Man that doth that there is any obligation upon us for celebrating it after Supper or any other Meal Our Saviour's celebrating it then being in compliance with those Jews whose Institution he now transcrib'd and reform'd and probably also to intimate its succeeding to that solemnity Tho I acknowledg it to have been an antient usage * Tert. de Cor. cap. 3 in the Church to celebrate it at their Meetings before day and where it was not so soon yet before †Aug. Epist 119. ad Janu. their eating of any thing else as that too out of respect to that Sacrament Yet I see as little reason to grant that there is any more of religion in receiving it fasting than what the custom of the Church or the Laws of decency give it It being not otherwise to be thought that our Saviour would have instituted it at Supper time or rather presently after it And much less that St. Paul would have given it in command to the Corinthians (a) 1 Cor. 11.34 that if any Man hungred he should eat at home before he came to the participation of it and of those Agapae that attended it From the Time of the Institution pass we to the Institution it self and the several things done and said in it Where the first thing I am to take notice of is Christ's taking Bread to wit into his hands and probably from off that table on which it was plac'd Agreeably to that usance of the Jews which he fram'd his own Eucharist by and where as was before * Part 1. observ'd the Father of the Family held it in both his hands whil'st he us'd the words of Consecration or Blessing over it However he so took it to be sure as to separate it from what other Bread then was upon the Table as which the word took in the most simple notion of it will oblige us to believe This importing the choice of some particular Bread from out the rest and leaving the other to the ordinary uses of it Now the Bread which our Saviour thus took was either some whole Loaf of Bread answerably to the former usance or at least some larger but entire piece of one as appears by the breaking of it into several pieces answerably to the several persons that were to partake of it And it was also agreeably to the time when it was made use of unleavened Bread as the Latines have truly observ'd against the Greeks It being upon the first day of the feast of unleavened Bread as three of the Evangelists †Mat. 26.17 Mark 14.12 Luke 22.7 have observ'd that that Passover which immediately preceded this Sacrament was celebrated and consequently that this Sacrament also was But why it should be so far urged against the Greeks as to make it the matter of a quarrel is a very unaccountable thing unless there were somewhat either in the words or in the rites of the Institution which directed to the use of unleavened Bread only For leavened or unleavened matters not after the taking away of that Law which made the difference And much less where the present Law requires only (a) 1 Cor. 5.8 the laying aside of the leaven of malice and wickedness and keeping our Passover feast with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth It followeth in the Story And Jesus took Bread and blessed as St. Matthew and St. Mark deliver it or as St. Luke and St. Paul after him gave thanks A thing which will require a more accurate consideration because of the momentousness thereof It being to that Blessing or Thanksgiving probably that we are to assign that both change in it and effects of it which are afterwards attributed to it That therefore we may the better understand this whether Blessing or Thanksgiving we will consider
they were first to mention even our Saviour's taking it and giving it to his Disciples because liquid things cannot well be taken by our selves or convey'd to others but by a Cup or by an usual Metonymy of the continent for the thing contained in it set to denote the Wine wherewith it was replenished This Cup as we shall afterwards understand being given them to drink of and as appears from what our Saviour subjoins in the close of St. Matthew's and St. Mark 's account of this matter of the Fruit of the Vine or Wine Now this Cup as he had done before with the Bread he in like manner (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22.20 1 Cor. 11.25 after he had supp'd took into his Hand or Hands as the fashion was in the Eucharistical Cup of the Jews but however so took as was before observed concerning the Bread as to separate it from what other Wine then was upon the Table and appropriated it to his own purposes The Cup being thus taken by our Saviour into his Hands and held by him there till he gave it to his Disciples Two of the Evangelists tell us he gave thanks over it and as appears by what was said before in the matter of the Bread and by St. Paul's elsewhere (g) 1 Cor. 10.16 entitling it the Cup of blessing which we bless by that Thanksgiving and Prayer blessed it or rather recommended it to the Father to be blessed by him and made useful for those purposes for which it was design'd and particularly for the Communion of his Blood Which Blessing there is no doubt the Father granted thereupon and fitted it for that for which it was so separated and recommended to him As because he readily promis'd the like or a greater Blessing to the Blessing (h) Num. 6.23 c. of the Jewish Priests and may therefore be presum'd as ready to grant this to the Blessing of his well beloved Son So because our Saviour when he gave this Cup to his Disciples told them even then that it was his Blood of the New Testament and St. Paul that being blessed by such as himself it was the Communion of Christ's Blood which it could not have been in either instance without the Blessing of the Father Our Saviour having thus taken and given thanks over the Cup or blessed it gave it to his Disciples saying Drink ye all of it But whether as was said before in the matter of the Bread he gave it into each of his Disciples Hands or to him only that sat next to him and by him to be handed to the next is not material neither will I therefore concern my self about it Sure it is that by the words accompanying that Gift he signified it to be his Mind that they should all drink of it and St. Mark in particular tells us that they all drank of it Upon the strength of what Motive is in the next place to be enquir'd but which we shall not need to go farther than St. Matthew for or at least not for the general notion of it For this saith he in our Saviour's name is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins The thing which I now offer you is my Blood of the New Testament and it is upon that account I both invite and oblige you all to drink of it And if it was even when he offer'd it to them to drink his Blood of the New Testament one would think it should need no new Blessing or Consecration to make it such and much less that those words by which he declar'd it to be so should be that blessing or Consecration it self But be that as it will at present for the fuller discussion of these things belongs to another place most certain it is from the other Evangelists and from St. Paul that our Saviour when he gave the Cup to the Disciples made use of these or the like words upon what occasion soever they were employed by him And as certain it is from the Controversies now on foot that the words consider'd in themselves will require an explication to which therefore I shall now address my self In order thereunto as I did before in the matter of the Bread enquiring what the subject of this Proposition is what the thing predicated of it and what the importance of the word Is which is made use of to joyn them together And here in the first place it is easy to see that whatever difficulties the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or This may be encumbred with when set to denote the Bread because of a different Gender from it both in the Greek and the Latin yet it is encumbred with no such difficulties here Because even in St. Matthew and St. Mark where it hath no Substantive affixed to it it is of the same Gender with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Cup before spoken of and which they were also commanded to drink of as well as with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Blood that follows it It is alike easy to see secondly that whatever pretence may be made for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or This in the former Proposition having respect to some individuum vagum yet there is not the like pretence here Because though St. Matthew and St. Mark add no Substantive to it yet St. Luke and St. Paul in their History of the Institution add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it and so shew This Cup even the Cup before spoken of to be the thing whereof our Saviour spake And indeed as the rules of Construction require us so to understand it even where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Cup is not express'd and much more where This is my Blood is assign'd as a motive to the Disciples drinking of the Cup For how could it otherwise be any motive to it if that Cup were not the Blood here spoken of So our Saviour's commanding his Disciples to drink of that Cup in order to their partaking of his Blood and his afterwards describing it by the title of the Fruit of the Vine shews the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Cup to be set to denote the liquor that was contained in it and particularly the Blood of the Grape Which is a proof that figurative expressions are no such strangers to the Doctrine of a Sacrament because one is of necessity to be allow'd in the subject of this important Proposition and is accordingly allow'd by the Romanists themselves The subject of the present Proposition being thus found out and shewn to be no other than the Cup before spoken of or rather the Wine of it Let us in the next place take a view of the thing affirmed of it and wherein indeed there is some variety even between those who give an Historical account of this affair St. Matthew and St. Mark representing the Cup here spoken of as Christ's Blood of the New Testament or
Covenant which was shed for many for the remission of fins but St. Luke and St. Paul as the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood which was shed for them For which cause I will consider the thing here affirmed under each of these notions and first as Christ's Blood of the New Testament or Covenant which I conceive to be the clearest and most proper declaration of it Because it appears even by that St. Paul who makes use of the other expression that the Blood of Christ is the principal thing signified by it even in that very Chapter where he entitles it the New Testament in his Blood For not only doth he before (i) 1 Cor. 10.16 entitle the Cup the Communion of his Blood as he doth the Bread in the same verse the Communion of his Body but immediately after the words of the Institution declare him who eateth that Bread and drinketh that Cup with due preparation to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come as him who eateth and drinketh unworthily to be guilty of his Body and Bloody The Blood of Christ therefore being the thing principally signified and consequently the principal thing predicated of the Cup by the one and the other reason would that we should enquire what our Saviour meant by it that is to say whether that Blood which now ran in his Veins and was shortly after to be shed or only a memorial of it A Question which will soon be voided not only by what I have before said concerning the Notion of Christ's Body but by the Adjuncts of that very Blood whereof we speak The Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as appears by a Text of the Author to the Hebrews (k) Heb. 9.14 c. and by what I have elsewhere (l) Expl. of the Sacrament in general Part 2. discours'd upon it being no other than that Blood which the Mediator of it shed at his Death For that Author tells us that neither that nor any other Testament or Covenant can be firm without it And the Blood that was shed for remission of Sins the very same It being by means of the same Death that the Redemption of Sins against the First Testament or Covenant is procur'd which is but another Name for the Remission of them And I shall only add for the better explanation of those words even the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant that as of old God would not enter nor did enter into the First Covenant with the Israelites till he was aton'd and they sprinkled by the Blood of their Sacrifices So neither would he enter into the New till he was first aton'd and we sprinkled by the Blood of the Sacrifice of his Son and that Blood therefore conformably to what was said of the Blood of the First Covenant stiled the Blood of the New There will be no great difficulty after what I have said of the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as to the meaning of that New Testament or Covenant in Christ's Blood which St. Luke and St. Paul bring in our Saviour as affirming the Cup to be Because thereby must consequently be meant that New Covenant which was brought about by the Bloud of his Cross even that by which the same Saint Paul elsewhere (m) Col. 1.20 tells us that Christ made Peace between us and God Which will consequently leave nothing more to us to enquire into upon this Head than the importance of that is which joyns the subject and the foregoing predicates together and how the Cup of this Sacrament was and is his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and how the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood For the understanding whereof though it may suffice to remit my Reader to what I before said upon the account of the Bread's being Christ's Body because that mutatis mutandis may be apply'd to the Particle Is here Yet I shall add ex abundanti that there cannot well be any doubt of its being taken figuratively here either in the one or the other predication concerning it Because the Cup of this Sacrament cannot literally and properly be both his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and the New Testament or Covenant in it which yet in some or other of the Sacred Writers it is affirm'd to be Which as it will make it so much the more reasonable to allow of that figurative Sense here which we have attributed to the same Particle Is in This is my Body So consequently make it reasonable to understand by This is my Blood of the New Testament which answers directly to the other This is a Sign and a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance as well as the Bread is of my Body And indeed as the Cup or rather the Wine of it may well pass for a Sign of that Blood as for other Reasons so for that effusion which is attributed to it So that it is both a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance is evident from St. Paul's bringing in our Saviour subjoining the words Do this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me to the Story of the Cup and elsewhere representing the same Cup as the Communion of his Blood This I take to be a fair account of the Particle Is as it is made use of to connect the Cup and Christ's Blood of the New Tescament or Covenant And it will be no less easie to give as clear an account of it as it is made use of to connect the same Cup and the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood That Cup representing to us God's exhibiting together with it Christ's Blood and the Merits of it and our receiving that Blood and the Merits of it with that thankfulness which doth become us and a Mind resolv'd to walk worthy of those Benefits we receive by it I will conclude this long Discourse concerning the Institution of this Sacrament when I have lightly animadverted upon that which St. Matthew and St. Mark bring in our Saviour subjoining to all he had said concerning the Elements thereof To wit that he would not any more drink of this Fruit of the Vine for so St. Matthew expresseth it until he should drink it new with them in his Father's Kingdom For though it should be granted what Grotius contends for out of St. Luke that these words were spoken just before the Institution of this Sacrament and only plac'd here upon the account of Christ's being again to speak of the Cup Yet thus much must be granted to St. Matthew and St. Mark 's placing it here that it was the Fruit of the Vine that our Saviour gave them and they accordingly drank of even in this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper There being no more reason nor so much neither considering that that is the immediate Antecedent to deny this Fruit of the Vine's referring to what our Saviour gave his Disciples and they all drank of than there would be to deny
Blood by the separate administration of them when they are For as our Saviour's Body and Blood were parted by Death and accordingly requir'd to be consider'd the one as broken and mortifi'd the other as shed or poured out of it So our Saviour did not only appoint divers Symbols to represent them but administred them apart and by themselves and if there be any force in Do this in remembrance of me commanded them to be so administred afterwards By which means they become even by that separate administration a yet more perfect and lively Representation of Christ's Body and Blood as to the usage they receiv'd when he whose they were was subjected to Death for us But because the Body and Blood of Christ are consider'd in this Sacrament as to the Benefit that was intended and accru'd to us by them as well as to the usage they receiv'd For This is my Body which is given or broken for you say St. Luke and St. Paul and This is my Blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in it which is shed for you say all the Evangelists upon this Argument Therefore enquire we wherein the Elements of Bread and Wine are a sign of his Body and Blood as to that Benefit they were so intended and given for Which will soon appear if we consider what the proper use of those Elements is what we are requir'd to do with them and what is elsewhere said concerning that Body and Blood when consider'd with respect to our welfare and advantage These several things making it evident that they become a sign of Christ's Body and Blood by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us For as we cannot lightly think but that when our Saviour made choice of such things as those to represent the usefulness of his Body and Blood to us he made choice of them for that purpose with respect to their proper usefulness as which is both most notorious in them and most apt to affect the Mind of him to whom they are suggested So much less can we think otherwise of them when he moreover requires us to eat of the one and drink of the other which are the ways by which we are to receive that nourishment and refreshment which we have said them to be so useful for Otherwise any thing else might have been as proper for the purpose as Bread and Wine Or if God who may no doubt make use of what Methods he pleaseth thought good however to make choice of Bread and Wine to represent Christ's Body and Blood yet he might have contented himself to have enjoyn'd upon us the casting our Eyes upon them and not as we find he doth prompted us to eat and drink of them as that too in remembrance of him and them For what need would there be of eating and drinking those Elements in remembrance of his Body and Blood or indeed what aptness in so doing to call them to our own Minds or the Minds of others were it not that there were somewhat in them to represent the usefulness of Christs Body and Blood which was not to be drawn from them or so sensibly perceiv'd in them as by eating and drinking of them This I take to be a competent evidence of Bread and Wine 's becoming a sign by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us But I am yet more convinced of it by what is elsewhere said concerning Christ's Body and Blood when consider'd as they are here as to our Benefit and advantage Even that his Flesh or Body was food * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed and his Blood drink indeed (g) Joh. 6.55 and that accordingly except his Disciples ate that Flesh of his and drank his Blood (h) Joh. 6.53 they could have no life in them but if they did (i) Joh. 6.54 they should have eternal Life In fine that the flesh (k) Joh. 6.51 which he should give for the life of the World was in the nature of Bread to them and so represented by him throughout that whole Discourse For if Christ's Body and Blood be in the nature of Food and drink to us If they be so far such that we are requir'd to eat and drink of them and so also that we cannot promise our selves life without them That Bread and Wine which in the present Sacrament are appointed to signifie and represent them cannot be thought by any more proper way to be a Sign or Representation of them than by their usefulness as Bread and Drink to nourish and refresh our Bodies to maintain them in their present beings and fill them with joy and gladness 4. The fourth thing to be enquir'd as concerning the Bread and Wine of this Sacrament is what evidence there is of Christ's commanding us to receive them A question which one would think might soon be voided by the words of the Institution it self Take Eat This is my Body being the voice of our Saviour concerning the Bread and Drink ye all of it and This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me being the words of the same Jesus in St. Matthew and St. Paul concerning the Cup which one would think to be sufficient expresses of Christ's command concerning it But as nothing is enough to those who are prejudic'd against any Doctrine as it is apparent that the Church of Rome was against the use of the Cup when this business came to be debated in the Council of Trent So that Council did not only determine that whole and entire Christ is contained under either species and particularly under the species of Bread (l) Sess 13. cap. 3. but that the faithful are not oblig'd by any command of the Lord to receive both species (m) Sess 21. cap. 1. and that accordingly if any shall say that all and singular the faithful people of Christ are oblig'd to take both species either by vertue of any command from God or as of necessity to Salvation (n) ib. Can. 1. he ought to be anathematiz'd for it or rather hath already incurr'd it For which cause it will be necessary for us to shew that the faithful are obliged by the Command of Christ to receive the Cup and then answer the principal reasons that are brought against it And here in the first place I would gladly know whether there be or ever were any command from Christ for the receiving of the Cup whether by the Apostles at first or the Priest that consecrates now whatsoever become of simple Laymen or the Priests that do not officiate and are therefore so far forth reckoned in the number of the other The ground of which question is because the Council of Trent doth not say that there is no command from Christ for the faithful's receiving the Cup but that the faithful are not bound by any command of his to the taking of both species and again that if any shall say that all the faithful
thing enjoin'd to perswade it For as there is no difference so far as we can see between Take Eat the Bread and drink ye all of the Cup that we should think one to respect the Clergy any more than the other So one would think the reason assign'd by our Saviour in St. Matthew for their drinking all of it even because it was his Blood of the New Testament which was shed for many for the remission of Sins should concern the Laity as well as the Clergy that consecrate and consequently that Precept also which it was intended to enforce Unless we should think or indeed could that the Laity and fuch of the Clergy as do not consecrate have no interest in Christ's Blood or the Benefits thereof or at least that they were no way oblig'd with due thankfulness to remember it But beside that our Saviour's Disciples had no interest in consecrating that Eucharist which he celebrated with them and were therefore so far forth to be look'd upon rather as Lay-men than Clergy-men and consequently Representers of those that were such where there was nothing enjoin'd upon them that was not manifestly peculiar to them as Priests St. Paul where he repeats the same Institution of Christ doth not only make no difference between Priest and People as to this particular but rather suppose the Cup to be common to all and accordingly both warns all to beware of such an unworthy receiving of it as they had been before guilty of and exhorts them as indifferently after they had well examin'd themselves to drink of the Cup as to eat of the Bread Thereby farther intimating that they were all alike concern'd in the thing it self I mean as to the receit of it So that for ought that hitherto doth appear we must not only look upon the receit of the Cup as a thing under Command but under such a Command too as respects People as well as Priest yea as well as that very Priest that consecrates it and the other Element Which will consequently leave nothing more to enquire upon this head than whether as the receit of the Cup even by the Faithful be a thing under Command so those Faithful are under the obligation of it and bound by it to the receiving of the Cup. Now though a Command as such doth naturally oblige and consequently they that are under it are obliged by it and to that which is the matter of it Yet because question may seem to have been made by the Council of Trent rather concerning Men's being bound by any Precept of Christ to receive the Cup than concerning the Precept it self therefore I will set my self more particularly to the resolution thereof and together with that of those Objections that are made against it In order thereunto asserting first that if there be such a Command as we have before evinc'd they for whom that Command was intended are generally obliged by it to that which is the matter of it This being no more than what the very nature of a Command enforceth and the Credit of the Author of it perswades For as it is of the nature of a Command to oblige and consequently they that are under it generally obliged by it as without which otherwise that Command would not have its end So it is not for the Credit of him that gave it either to prescribe that which cannot generally be observed or not to hold those that can to the obligation of it This opening a way to the contempt of his Authority and not only to reject this or that particular Command but all From whence as it will follow that it must be only as to some Persons and some Cases that the Precept of the Cup must be thought not to oblige if indeed it do not So that alone being granted the depriving of whole Towns and Provinces and Kingdoms of the Cup will admit of no Excuse which will be enough to justifie us for separating from the Church of Rome in this Affair and to condemn the Church of Rome for usurping so much upon the World against a Divine Institution and Command Only to dispense with a Law as to the Major part being rather to destroy than dispense with it How much more then to hinder the Major part from the observance of it by contrary Decrees and by Anathema's upon those who shall not acquiesce in them But because all we have hitherto said tends only to shew that the generality of Christians are oblig'd to the receit of the Cup which is an intimation unless we proceed farther that some Persons and in some Cases may be exempted from the Obligation And because the Church of Rome pretends that she is not without reasons to shew that there is no Obligation upon all and singular the Faithful to receive it Therefore I will now proceed to consider the reasons of that Pretence and shew whether or no and how far they ought to be admitted And first it is pretended that there are some Countries in the World which are not furnished with Wine nor can it may be with any Conveniency furnish themselves from other places or at all for publick and general Communions And I will not deny but such places there may be and that they cannot therefore because no one can be ty'd to that which is impossible be oblig'd either to celebrate or receive the Eucharist in it But as this signifies nothing to the defence of those who forbid it where it may be had and is therefore very frivolously alledged in the present Case So I shall upon the strength of what I have before said refer it to Consideration whether some other generous Liquor which I suppose few Nations want may not be substituted in the place of Wine and so the Cup be preserved though that specifical Liquor cannot It is pretended secondly which I doubt not might give the first occasion to the taking of it away that there would be great danger of irreverence otherwise by shedding the Liquor of it either in the Church by carrying it to the Communicants there or in carrying of it especially over the Mountains in Winter to sick Persons By the hanging of some part of it in the Beards of the Laicks wheresoever it was delivered to them or by its growing sowre by being kept For to these and the like Purposes did some of the Fathers of the Council of Trent discourse (q) Hist of the Council of Trent li. 6. p. 521. and as it should seem too out of Gerson the learned Chancellor of Paris But a Man would wonder first that if these were just Reasons for abridging the Laity of the Cup they should not have prevail'd with our Saviour who certainly knew all that might hereafter happen not to admit them to it at the first but however that they should not have taken him off from enjoining them to drink of it A Man would wonder as much secondly why there should be thought to be so great
a danger of shedding in carrying about the Cup in the Church when among us who practise it in great Congregations no such danger doth appear and when that danger may in a great measure be prevented by bringing those that are to receive to the Rails of the Communion Table to take it from the Priest there And a Man would wonder no less thirdly why so much ado should be made about the carrying of it to sick Folks and the danger that attends it especially when it is over Mountains Because if Men were prompted as they ought to a frequent Communion in the publick Assemblies there would be the less need of carrying it to them when sick Or if it were thought meet however that they should receive the Communion when sick it might be consecrated as well as administred to them at home and a reasonable number of Communicants provided to receive with them as it is with us Or if that were not thought fit neither but that they must by all means be debar'd the Cup because of the danger of the Liquors growing sowre by being kept for them or of its shedding in the carriage yet is there no imaginable reason why they that are whole and come to it instead of expecting its being brought to them should be therefore deprived of it even in the Church because it may not be convenient to be brought to their Houses it may be once These things I say a Man might well wonder at but especially when they are urg'd as they are for a total removing of the Cup. But a Man would more than wonder fourthly if he did not know the force of Prejudice and Custom that the hanging of the Liquor in the Lay-men's Beards should be made so great a difficulty and danger as to debar them of the use of it For not to say that it is strange that if that were so considerable a thing neither our Saviour should be aware of it when he instituted the Cup nor the Church in so many Centuries of Years take care to prevent it especially when Beards were more in Fashion than they have been of late A Man would think that if the Blood of Christ and the observation of a Command of his were a matter of as great moment as the fear of the loss of any of that Blood in the Lay-mens Beards A Man would think I say that in such a Case both the Priests should have enjoin'd the Laity and the Laity for that time have willingly submitted to the shaving of their Beards rather than have suffered themselves for the sake of such an excrement to be robb'd of Christ's Blood or go against his Institution and Command To take away the Cup of the Sacrament for such like Fears as these being somewhat more extravagant than Lycurgus King of Thrace's cutting down all the Vines of his Kingdom for fear of the ill use that might be made of the Fruit of them In fine a Man might wonder if such like things as these were an affront to the Holy Sacrament and as such of sufficient force to remove the use of the Cup why our Saviour should not have found out some more decent place than the Stomach of the Faithful to bestow one Element of the Sacrament in or than the Stomach of the Priest to bestow them both They who are acquainted with the inside of that knowing it in that respect to be a more unseemly place for one or the other Element to be lodged in than many of those which they seem to be so jealous of and for fear of any pollution by which they deprive the Faithful of the benefit of the Cup and of that whether Wine or Blood that is contained in it The third thing pretended for depriving the Faithful of the Cup is that whole and entire Christ is contained under one only Species (r) Trid. Conc. Sess 21. cap. 3. Which the Council of Trent doth so peremptorily affirm that it pronounceth an Anathema upon any one that shall deny (s) ib. Can. 3. that whole and entire Christ the Fountain and Author of all Graces is receiv'd under the only Species of Bread For if that be true what need is there of the receit of the Cup by them or indeed what presumption of Christ's having given any Command concerning it But are they so sure as they would be thought to be that whole and entire Christ is contain'd under the sole Species of Bread Or if it were that it were therefore indifferent whether we receiv'd the Cup or no Nay is there not sufficient reason to believe that whole and entire Christ is not contained under it but under the one and other Species For beside that our Saviour by making choice of two distinct Elements to become them made as manifest a separation between his Body and Blood in the Sacrament as he did upon the Cross and may therefore be presum'd to give them if he gave them at all in their sense not conjunctly but apart and in that separate estate in which he had put them Beside that he requir'd not only two distinct and separate Acts those of eating and drinking I mean but two Acts that were distant in time toward the partaking of that Body and Blood and may therefore be yet more presum'd to give them not conjunctly but apart and agreeably to those Acts which he enjoin'd for the partaking of them If the Body and Blood of Christ are contained under and received with the sole Species of Bread as to be fure they must if whole and entire Christ be It must be either by vertue of those words Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body or by vertue of those words and the words that follow even This is my Blood of the New Testament As one would think that they who lay so much stress upon those words should readily grant either the one or the other or by vertue of that natural Connexion and Concomitancy to speak the words (t) Sess 13. cap. 3. of the Trent-Council whereby the parts of the Lord Christ who is now risen from the dead no more to die again are joined together between themselves If they who maintain whole Christ and consequently his Body and Blood to be contained under the Species of Bread affirm that to be by the sole vertue of those words Hoc est corpus meum or This is my Body They must consequently make them signifie This is my Blood as well as my Body as without which even in their own opinion so omnipotent an Effect is not to be produc'd Which suppos'd I would fain know whether they signifie so much always or only when the Sacrament is administred in one kind and to those alone to whom it is so administred If the words Hoc est corpus meum signifie so always and the like will follow if the Body and Blood of Christ be by any means brought together under the Species of Bread then is there no
in the Eucharist yet they specifie nothing as to the modus of it and much less intimate any thing concerning their being under the Species thereof That that Body and Blood which is the fourth Capital Assertion in this Matter are truly really and substantially under the Sacramental Species shewn to be as groundless and Evidence made of the contrary by such Arguments from Sense and Reason as are moreover confirmed to us by the Authority of Revelation Some brief Reflections in the close upon the Worship of Christ in the Sacrament and more large ones upon what the Romanists advance concerning the real eating of him in it Where is shewn that that which they call a real eating is a very improper one that it is however of no necessity or use toward our spiritual nourishment by him and not only no way confirm'd by the discourse of our Saviour in the sixth of St. John's Gospel but abundantly confuted by it BUT because whatever Sacramental Relations our Church may content it self with yet it is certain that that which calls it self Catholick hath advanc'd one of a far different nature and those of Luther's Institution another before I pass any farther I will examine both the one and the other the grounds upon which they are built and the supposed Reasonableness thereof That which I intend to examine here is the relation which the Church of Rome advanceth by which as the Council of Trent * Sess 13. c. 4. instructeth us the whole substance of the Bread is changed into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood There remaining no more after that †Can. 2. of the Bread and Wine saving only the Species thereof and the Body and Blood of Christ together with his Soul and Divinity coming in the place of those Elements and truly really and substantially * Can. 1.3 contained under the Species of them By which means the same Christ comes to be worshipped with divine Worship in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (a) Can. 6. and to be really (b) Can. 8. eaten in it as well as either Spiritually or Sacramentally Now as such Assertions as these had need to be well prov'd because apparently contrary to Sense and Reason So especially such of them as are the Foundations of Transubstantiation which are these following ones 1. That the whole substance of the Bread is changed into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood 2. That those Substances of Bread and Wine are so changed into the substances of Christ's Body and Blood as to retain nothing of what they were before save only the Species thereof 3. That the true Body and true Blood of Christ together with his Soul and Divinity are under the Species of those Elements 4. That they are truly really and substantially contain'd in or under them Which four Assertions I will consider in their order and after I have examin'd the grounds upon which they stand oppose proper Arguments to them 1. That which is first to be consider'd is that the whole substance of the Bread is chang'd into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood An Assertion which though it require as substantial a Proof yet hath nothing of moment to support it whether as to the Possibility or actual Existence of it For though the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament make mention of substantial changes and from which therefore we may infer a Possibility of the like For thus we read of Moses's Rod being changed by the Divine Power (c) Exod. 4.3 into a Serpent and from a Serpent again (d) Exod. 4.4 into a Rod of Lot's Wife being turn'd (e) Gen. 19.26 into a Pillar of Salt and of Water (f) Joh. 2.9 into Wine Yet is there no appearance of their being chang'd into things that had an actual Existence at the instant when they were chang'd into them which is the change that Transubstantiation imports If there be any change of that Nature to make out the Possibility of this it must be that which is made of the Nourishment we receive into the substance of our Body and Blood But beside that this is a change by augmentation and must consequently be either preceded by an impairing of Christ's glorious Body which is not so consistent with that estate or make it in time grow into a monstrous one It is a change which will not do the Business of Transubstantiation even to bring whole and entire Christ (g) Conc. Trid. Sess 13. cap. 3. under either Species A change by augmentation being a change of the Object of it not into the whole substance of that into which it is chang'd but only into a part of it But it may be there is better proof of the actual being of the change we speak of than there is in any thing else of the possibility thereof As indeed such a stupendous change as this ought to be without Example Be it so But let us at least see so clear and express a Proof that our Faith may acquiesce in it if our Reason cannot let us see it affirm'd by him to whom so great a change is ascrib'd And neither are we without one if the words This is my Body and This is my Blood may pass for such a Proof as they have been hitherto represented to us I will not now say because I have elsewhere shewn it (h) Parts 3-8 that there is much more reason to believe that they ought to be figuratively taken and cannot therefore be any ground for such a change as is sought to be established by them I shall choose rather for once to allow that they may be literally taken and leave it to those that can to inferr such a change from them For whether by the word This in This is my Body be meant the Bread before spoken of As indeed how the change of the substance of the Bread into the substance of Christ's Body can be proved from those words which profess not to speak of that Bread is as hard to conceive as Transubstantiation it self But whether I say be thereby meant the Bread before spoken of or The thing which I now give you there is no appearance in the proposition of any substantial change and much less of such a substantial change as is intended to be inferred from them All that the words profess to say supposing them to mean Bread by the Particle This is that one thing is the other but in what manner or by what kind of change they do not in the least pretend to affirm And if the Text do not determine either where is that clear and express proof of such a substantial change as they profess to speak of Or where our either stupidity or infidelity for not being convinced by it But it
occasion of those words of our Saviour This is my Blood of the New Testament or The New Testament in it which is shed for many for the remission of Sins For since it should seem by those expressions that that Sacrament was instituted under the form of a Testament the words whereof ought in reason to be taken in the literal sense as without which all Testaments would be very uncertain and litigious Therefore the words of this Sacrament and particularly such of them as respect the principal Legacies in it ought to be taken in the literal sense and not in a figurative one If a Man should make answer as I have elsewhere (a) Expl. of the â—â—â—r in Gen. Part â— done and I think too not without great reason that what we render Testament ought to be rendred a Covenant all that argument would be spon'd and whatever the promoters of it have brought concerning Testaments out of the Body of the Civil Law or the Interpreters thereof But I will however allow for once the usual rendring of the Word and answer directly to that Argument which is formed from it As indeed what should hinder me when those very Laws which they pretend to do not prove what they are designed for For such I look upon that (b) Ille aut ille D. de legat fidei commiss which saith that when there is no ambiguity in the words there ought to be no question made concerning the Will of the Testatour For who will allow these Men to suppose that there is no ambiguity in the words of the present Testament strictly and literally understood and particularly in those words that are the subject of the present controversie As little force is there in that Law (c) L. Non aliter D. de legatis c. which saith that we ought not otherwise to depart from the natural signification of words than when it is manifest that the Testatour meant somewhat else than what seems to have been expressed in them For one would think that should consider what impossibilities and contradictions the literal sense of This is my Body and This is my Blood involves one would think I say that those alone should make it manifest enough that the Testatour meant somewhat else than what the literal sense of the words will necessarily lead Men to So little reason is there to believe that there is any thing even in the Civil Law to persuade a strict and literal interpretation of all that a Testament contains And they who produce the two former Laws to persuade such an Interpretation are the more inexcusable in it because if they had pleas'd to read on to the paragraph Titius in the latter of them they would have seen enough to make them asham'd of their pretensions Because it is there affirm'd in express terms that we are not in a cause of Testaments to descend to a strict definition of words since for the most part Testatours speak abusively neither do they always use proper Names and Titles All which things I have said not as constrain'd thereto by the force of the present Argument For I know no reason why the sense of the New Testament should be judg'd of by the niceties of the Law but to let the World see how partial Men are in the allegations of such proofs as they think to be of use to them For beside what was before quoted from the Law concerning Testatours speaking abusively and improperly the same Law gives us to understand (d) L. ex facto D. de haered institu Paragr Rerum aubem Italicarum that the will of the deceased doth all and that (e) L. Siquis â—ta D. de adimendis vel tâ—ansferendis c. Par. Condit Legati his sense is more to be regarded than the words Which could have no sense in it if Legitimate Testaments were alway to be taken in the strictness of the letter For then the will or sense of the Testatour and the words of his Testament would be perfectly the same The next argument for the literal sense of the words in question is taken from the Majesty of him that instituted this Sacrament and from all those glorious Attributes that make it up Such as are his Truth and the place he holds under God of our Instructer his being the very wisdom of the Father and omniscient his being nigh unto death when he instituted this Sacrament and so much the more likely still to weigh all the words he utter'd in this important affair as in fine his being so far from giving any indication of other than a literal Interpretation of the present words that when he was advanced to Heaven he reveal'd the Doctrine of the Eucharist in the very same words wherein he had before exhibited it Things which for the most part must be acknowledg'd to be duly attributed to Christ but which have no force at all to conclude the thing in question For what if Christ be true and appointed by God to be our Instructer Will it therefore follow that we must understand all he saith in the Letter though we want not sufficient Indications even from some of his own words that we ought to understand him in a figurative sense All that they who press us with Christ's Truth and the Place he holds under God seem to pretend to is that we ought to hear him and be guided by him in our Belief Which I suppose they do to very good purpose who submit their Belief to that which all things consider'd they are firmly perswaded to be his Mind and Will But it is farther alledg'd that Christ is the very Wisdom of the Father and one who could therefore express his Mind clearly and plainly and in proper and literal Expressions as well as in figurative ones And whoever doubted of it or could doubt of it who look'd upon him but as an ordinary Prophet and not as one who was also of the same Essence with the Father But as the Question is not What Christ could do but What he hath done So we find no reason to grant but that our Saviour hath spoken plainly enough to those that are willing to understand him The Argument goes on to alledge that our Saviour was omniscient and as he could not therefore but know what Contentions would arise about this part of heavenly Doctrine to the certain destruction of Souls So it is not at all likely that he would so far contribute to it as of set purpose to wrap the true and certain meaning of this holy Mystery in the dark coverings of figurative words But as I do not find any necessity to grant that Christ was bound to do all he could to prevent the Contentions that might afterwards happen because as St. Paul spake (f) 1 Cor. 11.19 concerning Heresies this Good might accrue by them that they that were approved might thereby be made manifest So I see as little reason to grant that Christ did
the Heathen can expect the whole of our Victime upon them which is expresly contrary to the Doctrine of the Romanists So supposing the similitude between them not to be exact as no similitude they say runs upon all four there may be place for partaking of our Victime by means of that Bread and Wine which is prepared for us as well as for the Heathens partaking of their Victimes by means of those parts thereof that were set before them Because how far soever that Bread and Wine may be in themselves from being parts of our Victime or Sacrifice or possessing us of the Benefits thereof Yet they may by the appointment of God become a means of exhibiting that Victime or Sacrifice to our Souls and possessing us of the happy Fruits of it I know not whether I ought to take notice of what is added in the close That this is that Oblation which is figur'd by the several Oblations of former days as well those which prevail'd in the time of Nature's Law as those which were in use under that of Moses Because it doth not appear to me which is the proof the Council of Trent gives of it that it contains in it all those good things that are signified by the other as the consummation and perfection of them For neither for ought that doth appear from the Roman Missal doth it any way contain in it an Atonement for the unconverted World Neither doth it contain in it what it doth as the consummation and perfection of those Sacrifices or Oblations which were made in antient times This as I shall by and by shew being the Priviledge of that Sacrifice which our Saviour made of himself upon the Altar of the Cross and no other way belonging to the Eucharist than as a means appointed by God to convey to us the Benefits of the other 3. Now to make it appear to the World that we are no more without Arguments against this pretended Sacrifice than we are unprovided of Answers to what the Romanists alledge in its behalf I will make it my Business to shew 1. That this Sacrifice as explain'd by them is inconsistent with it self 2. That it is contrary to the present state of our Lord and Saviour 3. That it is extreamly derogatory to the dignity of that Sacrifice which Christ made of himself upon the Altar of the Cross That this Sacrifice as explain'd by those that advance it is inconsistent with it self will need no other proof than that unbloody Immolation or Offering which is attributed to it For how is that an Immolation or Offering understanding it as they do of a propitiatory Sacrifice which is without any shedding of Blood when both the Old and the New Testament assure us that it was the Blood which was to make the Atomement and that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission For what is this but to say that it is a Sacrifice and no Sacrifice that it is a truly propitiatory Sacrifice for the quick and dead and yet hath nothing of that which is to make a Propitiation for them It is true indeed that an unbloody Immolation or Offering is an Expression that may pass well enough where it is attributed to that which is rather the Commemoration of a Sacrifice than any true and proper one But to attribute such an Immolation or Offering to a Sacrifice properly so call'd is to deny it to be what we affirm it and indeed rather a piece of nonsense than any legitimate Predication or so much as a witty one But beside that this Sacrifice as explain'd by the Romanists themselves is inconsistent with it self and as such therefore might be reasonably rejected We shall find it to be as inconsistent with the present state of our Lord and Saviour and indeed directly contrary to it For if there be any kind of Propriety in the Immolation that is offer'd to it it must betoken some kind of violence to be offer'd to that Body which is the subject of it and consequently of a glorious Body make it an inglorious one Which they of all Men ought not to refuse who do sometime tell us of the bleeding of the Host and so turn this unbloody Immolation into a bloody one Neither will it avail to say as the Council of Trent doth and their Authors commonly gloss this Immolation That this Body of Christ is offer'd under the Species of Bread and Wine and again under the visible Signs For whether under the Species or no yet still according to them Christ is truly immolated Neither is there any more difference between the Immolations than there would have been between the murdering of an Infant covered over with Meal as the Heathen in Minutius Felix chargeth the Primitive Christians to have done and the murdering of one under no such disguise For as the Murder is the same in both so the Immolation must be so too and those Species can no more priviledge our Saviour's Body from violence than the Meal wherewith an Infant is covered can hinder the violence that is offer'd to it to be really a Murder or those that offer it from being really guilty of one But that which is most to be consider'd in this Affair and is in truth the greatest prejudice against this pretended Sacrifice is that it is extreamly derogatory to the dignity of that Sacrifice which Christ made of himself upon the Altar of the Cross For whereas it is the peculiar Priviledge of this Sacrifice to be so perfect as not to need to be repeated whilst those of the Levitical Law daily were For every Priest saith the Author to the Hebrews (s) Heb. 10.11 c. standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices which can never take away Sins But this Man after he had offer'd one Sacrifice for Sin for ever sat down on the right hand of God From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool The Sacrifice of the Mass doth at the best pretend to repeat that Sacrifice and though in another way to offer it up again yea makes our Saviour himself to do it by the Ministry of his Priests Whereas again it is the Priviledge of that Sacrifice which our Saviour made of himself upon the Cross to procure eternal Redemption for us (t) Heb. 9.12 and such a Redemption too (u) Heb. 9.15 as should draw after it the receit of an eternal Inheritance in the mean time so perfecting for ever them that are sanctified (w) Heb. 10.14 that they should not only not need any more offering for Sin but have boldness by the Blood of it to enter into the Holiest The sacrifice of the Mass by pretending to be a truly propitiatory one makes the redemption of that former Sacrifice to be imperfect as without which there could have been no need of a farther propitiatory one and much less of the frequent offering of it Neither will it suffice to argue as the Council of Trent
of the death of the same Mediators In fine that I render the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is never of force whilst he who so makes it lives is because those words as the former are a continuation and confirmation of the foregoing Argument and so still to be understood with reference to the same Mediator All which things I have laid together not so much out of a desire of being thought the Author of a new Interpretation from which no man is more averse where there is not some kind of necessity for it but to clear up an acknowledged and important truth and which the Text I have so long insisted upon hath helped more than any thing to obscure For as there is nothing more certain from the Scripture nor more attested to by our own Translators than that the dispensation of the Gospel ought to be looked upon under the notion of a Covenant As there is nothing in like manner of more importance to us to know and consider because it will prompt us to the doing of our part in the Covenant if we mean that God should do his so setting aside this Text of the Hebrews there is not one where this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mentioned which will not as commodiously or more be interpreted of a Covenant than it can be thought to be of a Testament Only if some men swayed by their former prejudices or by the Latins giving the Codex of the Old and New Law the title of the Old and New Testament †Tertull. de jejun c. 11. Secundum utriusque Testamenti paraturam though they also give them the more general title of Instrumenta * Idem Apol. c. 19. Primam Instrumentis istis auctoritatem summa Antiquitas vindicat Ib. c. 21. Sed quoniam edidimus antiquissimis Judaeorum Instrumentis sectam istam esse suffultam Adv. Marc. li. 1. c. 13. Quantas autem foveas in ista vel maxime epistola ad Romanos nempe Marcion fecerit auferendo quae voluit de nostri Instrumenti integritate parebit But if some men I say swayed by the one or the other think fit to continue to the former Text and some others the notion of a Testament As I shall not contend with them about it for the reverence I my self bear to the judgment of the Antients so I shall ask as is but reason their acknowledging in like manner that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do equally import a new Covenant and particularly where mention is made of the Cup of the Lord's Supper being the blood of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it Partly because that old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which it was opposed had the nature of a Covenant and could not unless very improperly be stiled a Testament And partly because it was not only sealed with blood but that blood also stiled the blood of (k) Exo. 24.8 the Covenant For that is enough to perswade especially when we otherwise know that the dispensation of the Gospel is undoubtedly a Covenant that our Saviour when he represented the Cup of his Last Supper as the blood of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant the blood of the New Covenant and consequently that that Sacrament and the other have a relation to it I will conclude what I have to say concerning those things to which a Sacrament relates when I have taken notice of its relating to that body of men with whom this New Covenant is made as well as to the Covenant it self For that it doth so we have the former instances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper to assure us or rather what we learn from the Scriptures concerning them St. Paul giving us to understand that it is into that body that we are baptized (l) 1 Cor. 12.13 as in like manner that though we be many yet we become one bread and that one body (m) 1 Cor. 10.17 by partaking of the bread of the other Sacrament II. It appearing from the premises what those things are to which a Sacrament relates and the way therefore so far plained toward the discovery of the properties thereof enquire we in the next place into the nature of that relation which I have affirmed it to bear unto the other For my more advantageous discovery whereof I will resume each of those things to which it doth relate and shew what kind of relation it beareth to them Now as the first of those things is an inward and Spiritual Grace that is to say such a one as conduceth in an especial manner to the welfare of our inward man or spirit so we shall find a Sacrament as to it to have the nature of a sign or visible representation of it A thing so acknowledged by all by whom the Sacraments are acknowledged in any measure that it will hardly be worth our while to insist upon it It may suffice here to say that as a sign is so much of the Essence of a Sacrament that it is the very Genus of it and must therefore be supposed to be such as to all those things to which it relates so we shall find the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper to represent even to our eyes those inward and spiritual graces which are attributed to them For thus the water of Baptism doth by that cleansing quality which is natural to it and which as such is a representation of that spiritual Grace which purgeth (n) Heb. 9.14 the Conscience from dead works which are as it were the filth (o) 2 Cor. 7.1 and pollution of it And thus too the Elements of the Lord's Supper do as by other ways and means so by that which is done unto them The breaking of the one serving to set forth the breaking of Christs body upon the Cross as the pouring out of the other doth the shedding of his blood at those passages which were made for it by the Nails and Spear that pierced him But beside that a Sacrament hath the relation of a sign to that inward and spiritual Grace which belongeth to it it hath also the relation of such a sign as is moreover an apt instrument to convey that grace which is signified by it I instance for the proof hereof in the Scriptures attributing such effects to Baptism and the Lord's Supper as are the immediate issues of those graces which are signified by them For if it attribute such effects to them it must consequently intimate them to be the conveyers of those Graces from whence they result as which otherwise they could not be in a condition to produce Now that the Scriptures attribute such effects to the Sacraments before remembred as are the immediate issues of those graces which are signified by them will appear as to Baptism by their attributing to it a power of washing away (p) Acts 22.16 the sins of men For whether we understand thereby the
Presbyters of those very Churches that differ'd from them about the observation of Easter And the like was done by other Churches as appears by the fourteenth Canon of the Council of Laodicea till it was forbidden by that Council because of the inconveniences thereof The third thing signified on our part by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of Christ's Body and Blood For the evidencing whereof we are to know that as this Sacrament hath been shewn to be a Sign of the New Covenant (f) Expl. of the Sacraments in Gen. Part 2. which as such implies a Profession of something to be done on the part of God So the taking of this Sacrament must consequently imply our Covenanting to perform whatsoever that New Covenant obligeth us unto Which what it is will need no other Proof than what I have shewn in another place (g) Expl. of the Prelimin Quest and Answ c. to be the importance of that Sacrament whereby we enter into it For if that Sacrament import the Profession of a good Conscience toward God That new Covenant of which it is a Sacrament must consequently have the same good Conscience for the Object of it and therefore also make the like Profession of it to be the Duty of that Man who takes this other Sacrament thereof And though it be true that this part of the signification of the Lord's Supper is not so clearly express'd in the Stories of the Institution of it Yet as they give us to understand that we ought to take the Elements thereof in remembrance of Christs giving his Body and Blood for us so they do consequently imply our taking them also with a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them That Remembrance as it can be no other than a thankful one because the remembrance of such Benefits as do above all others require such a Remembrance of us so connoting as such a readiness to walk well-pleasing unto him by whom those Benefits are bestow'd Agreeable hereto is the both Language and Practice of the Antient Christians as appears by that account which I have before given of them (h) Expl. of the Sacr. in Gen. Part 1. They not only giving this Institution as well as Baptism the Name of a Sacrament in consideration of that Obligation they supposed it to lay upon the Persons that took it but obliging themselves by this Sacrament not as too many have since learn'd to do to the perpetrating of any notorious wickedness but to avoid all Thefts and Robberies and Adulteries the falsifying of their Trusts or the denying of any thing that was committed to their Custody when they were call'd upon by the true Owner to restore it For that those words of Pliny are to be understood of this Sacrament is not only evident from its being represented as a constant Attendant of the Christians publick Assemblies and particularly of their Assemblies before day which the Eucharist is known to have been (i) Tert. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. but from the no mention there is in Ecclesiastical Story of any other Sacrament in them PART VI. What farther relation the Sign of the Lord's Supper hath to the Body and Blood of Christ The Contents The outward Part or Sign of this Sacrament consider'd with a more particular regard to the Body and Blood of Christ and Enquiry accordingly made what farther relation it beareth to it That it is a Means whereby we receive the same as well as a Sign thereof shewn from the Doctrine of our Church and that Doctrine confirm'd by Saint Paul's entitling it the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood and by his affirming Men to be made to drink into one Spirit by partaking of the Cup of it Enquiry next made what kind of Means this Sign of the Lord's Supper is how it conveys to us the Body and Blood of Christ and how we receive them by it To each of which Answer is made from the Doctrine of our Church and that Answer farther confirm'd by the Doctrine of the Scripture The sum of which is that this Sign of the Lord's Supper is so far forth a Mean spiritual and heavenly That it conveys the Body and Blood of Christ to us by prompting us to reflect as the Institution requires upon that body and Blood of his and by prompting God who hath annex'd them to the due use of the Sign to bestow that Body and Blood upon us In fine that we receive them by the Sign thereof when we take occasion from thence to reflect upon that Body and Blood of Christ which it was intended to represent and particularly with Faith in them What Benefits we receive by Christ's Body and Blood in the next place enquir'd and as they are resolv'd by our Catechism to be the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul so Enquiry thereupon made what is meant by the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul what Evidence there is of Christ's Body and Blood being intended for it and how they effect it The Sign of the Lord's Supper a Pledge to assure us of Christ's Body and Blood as well as a Means whereby we receive them III. WHat the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper is and what the inward Part or thing signified by it enough hath been said to shew neither shall I need to resume the Consideration of them That which will more concern me to intend is What farther relation beside that of a Sign that outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper hath to the inward part or thing signified and particularly to the Body and Blood of Christ Where first I will declare and confirm the Doctrine of our own Church concerning it and then enquire into the truth of those Relations which the Church of Rome hath advanced on the one hand and the Lutheran Churches on the other Now as our Church hath defin'd a Sacrament to be such an outward and visible Sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace as is also ordain'd as a means whereby we receive the same and must therefore be suppos'd to have the same opinion of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper So it hath said enough both in its Catechism and elsewhere concerning that Sacrament to shew this to have been its opinion of it For it gives us to understand * Catechism that the Faithful for whom to be sure this Sacrament was principally ordain'd do verily and indeed receive the thing signified even the Body and Blood of Christ as well as the Signs of them and that they do verily and indeed receive that Body and Blood in the Lord's Supper which one would think were a competent Evidence of that 's being a Means whereby we receive them It consequently thereto teacheth us to pray †Pray of Cons in the Commun Service which one would think to be of equal force as to this Particular that we
Reason and Nature and manifestly prescrib'd by the dictates of it not only we but all Christians whatsoever think themselves licensed if not oblig'd to put a figurative sense upon those words which command the pulling out an offending eye or cutting off an offending hand yea though there should not be as perhaps there is not any so express precept of Scripture against the mutilation of our selves But let us examine yet more nearly the purport of the former Argument as it relates to such divine precepts and promises as may seem to have a more particular regard to the life to come and so may be rather reckoned to supernatural truths than moral ones For neither here is it so clear that the literal sense is to prevail unless some text be produced which shall oblige us to the contrary Neither if it were would it be of force to conclude against a figurative interpretation of those words for which this Argument is alledged I instance for the former of these in what was but even now †Part 7. quoted out of St. Augustine concerning our looking upon that as a figurative expression which enjoyns the eating of Christ's Flesh and drinking his Blood in order to eternal life For as that Father thought it enough to prove that expression to be such because it seem'd to command a great wickedness without so much as taking notice of any Scripture that represented it as such so I do not see what text can be produc'd that is so express against the eating of humane Flesh and drinking humane Blood as this is for the eating and drinking them in the present instance In which case that wickedness which St. Augustin affirms the former precept to lead to in the literal sense must be pronounc'd as such by the law of Reason and Nature and no necessity therefore of sticking to the literal sense of any Scripture till we can find as express a text elsewhere to take us off from the embracing of it But let us suppose that the literal sense is to prevail till some text of Scripture can be produc'd which shall oblige us to a contrary one Yet will it not therefore follow but that the words we are now upon may and ought to be figuratively taken because there is enough in those that follow to oblige us to it I alledge for this purpose our Saviour's representing the things he gave as his Body broken and Blood shed which his natural Body and Blood were not at the Institution of this Sacrament nor can now be since his Resurrection from the dead For if the Body and Blood of Christ were not then broken or shed nor can be so since his Resurrection from the dead what our Saviour then gave or we now receive cannot be that Body and Blood and therefore to be understood rather as Signs and efficacious Means of conveying the Merit of that Body and Blood to us than as the letter of the words seems to import that Body and Blood it self The same is yet more evident from our Saviour's requiring his Disciples to do that whole action and particularly to eat and drink the things given in remembrance of him and of his death That which is design'd as a memorial of any thing being in reason to be look'd upon as a thing distinct from that which it was intended as a memorial of and design'd to supply the place of Neither will it avail to say as it is in my opinion idly enough that if the last suggestion were true Christ's Body and Blood must have been absent from that Sacrament which our Saviour celebrated with his Disciples which it is certain from the Story that they were not For as that Sacrament it self was principally design'd for the times succeeding our Saviour's passion and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or remembrance in all probability made use of with a particular relation to them So Christ's Body broken and Blood shed were as much absent from that Table and Sacrament as they are from our Sacramental Tables or any other Those general Arguments of the Lutherans being of no more force let us cast our eyes upon their special ones or at least upon such of them as seem most worthy of our regard Whereof the first that occurs is taken from the nature of a Sacrament which as they say being a thing perfectly new and accordingly unknown to all Men till it come to be reveal'd is in reason to be delivered in proper and literal expressions as concerning which otherwise there can be no certain knowledg Which suppos'd the words that declare this Sacrament must be concluded to be such and as such understood and asserted A Man would wonder to hear Learned Men argue at this rate concerning the Sacraments of our Saviour when it appears by what I have elsewhere (‖) Expl. of the Sacr. in Gen. Part 4. said that there were several such things before and by which St. Paul tells us that the Jews did all eat the same spiritual meat with us and drank the same spiritual drink even Christ Yea though the natural Body and Blood of Christ were not then in being and consequently could not literally be eaten or drunken For how come our Sacraments to be such new and unknown things when there were the like long before Or how under a necessity of being deliver'd in literal and proper expressions when there were not only such like Sacraments to give light to them though figuratively delivered but the Doctrine of those Antient Sacraments deliver'd even by St. Paul in those very figurative expressions which are thought to be such absurdities in ours For however we may be thought literally to eat and drink Christ's Body and Blood yet they to be sure cannot be thought to have done so who liv'd before that Body and Blood of Christ were in being Though granting that our Sacraments were at first as new and unknown as it is pretended that they are Yet will it not therefore follow but that they might be delivered in figurative as well as in literal expressions Because figurative expressions according to themselves may be easily enough understood if there be but a Key to open them Now whether there be not such a Key to open the figurative expressions of the present Sacrament I shall leave to those to judge who shall reflect upon our Saviour's representing the Symbols of this Sacrament as his Body broken and Blood shed and willing us moreover to eat and drink of them in remembrance of him and of his crucifixion Those two things being enough to assure us that the things given by our Saviour were rather Memorials of that Body and Blood of his and conveyers of the Merits of them than either the substance of that Body and Blood or the Means of communicating it to the Mouths and Stomachs of those who were to partake of them But it may be there is more force in what they argue from the nature of a Testament upon