This appears to me pardon my Confidence an unquestionable rendring of the sense of these words and a manifest clearing of all Difficulties yea and of all Differences too which have been raised about them if men would but follow the conduct of Truth and Reason For let it be considered though we find a distinction of Gods Covenants with Mankind viz. the old and the new yet I ask Is not the Covenant of Grace the same now for Substance which it was from the beginning Was not the same Spirit of Christ in his Ordinances given unto the Fathers under the Law which is now given to the faithful under the Gospel excepting only in the Accidents and Circumstances of Effusion and Manifestation How else can Christ be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same yesterday and to day as it is said he is Heb. 13.8 and will be so for ever Had the Fathers a Saviour and Deliverer exhibited unto them in the Paschal Lamb otherwise more than symbolically than we have in the Lords Supper Did they not all eat the same spiritual Meat and did they not all drink the same spiritual Drink the same not only with and among themselves as Popish Writers would have it but the same with us Christians also For the Apostle addeth they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 Can any truth revealed in Scripture be more plain than this viz. that Christ was their Expectation their Comfort their Refuge their Rock in all their Troubles the Food and Sustenance of their Souls the Object of their Faith even as he is now in this time of the Gospel to all true Believers And consequently that this Sense which is here rendred of our Lords words is most true Well may it therefore be an Amazement unto all men as it is God knoweth unto me that such a pudder hath been made in the World about these words of our Saviour which do and can signifie no more in this case unto us than the Sacramental Form of Instituting a new Sacrament did necessarily require in Rome of the old Let therefore the vain words of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation and the Questions de modo sine modo as they have been well called of Christs Presence in his Sacrament about which this giddy Generation hath been quarrelling so long be for ever abandoned by us and let us for shame content our selves as becometh us and as the Fathers of old under the Law did with the Overtures of God's love in the Arbitrary Dispensations of his Grace for we never hear of such Annimosities and uncharitable Differences among them about this matter as have been among us and whatsoever is in it which for the present surpasseth our Understanding when we come to see God as he is we shall undoubtedly see more clearly the secret of his Covenant and have a more perfect knowledge of this Mystery than we can now be able to attain unto or than indeed is fit for us while we are cloathed with Mortality to reach at much less throughly to understand In fine the Judgment of Venerable Mr. Hooker concerning this point way well be accounted a ne plus ultra to all sober men His words are these The real Presence of Christs most Blessed Body and Blood is not to be sought for in the Sacrament but in the worthy Receiver of the Sacrament And with this the very order of our Saviour's words agreeth first take and Eat then This is my Body which was broken for you first drink ye all of this then followeth This is my Blood which was shed for you I see not which way it should be gathered by the words of Christ when and where the Bread is his Body or the Cup his Blood but only in the very Heart and Soul of him that receiveth them As for the Sacraments they really exhibit but for ought we can gather out of that which is written of them they are not really nor do really contain in themselves that Grace which with them or by them it pleaseth God to be stow If on all sides it be confest that the Grace of Baptisin is poured into the Soul of man that by Water we Receive it although it be neither seated in the Water nor the Water changed into it what should induce men to think that the Grace of the Eucharist must needs be in the Eucharist before it can be in us that Receive it Now the Reason hereof is in my Judgment beyond all exception For as in the Sacrament of Baptism all that the Minister doth or can do is to Baptise with water after he hath with solemn Prayer and Supplication set it apart from other water it is Christ himself that Baptiseth us with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Our Ministery is but very Wash in comparison of that which Christ doth unto us when we are Baptised So in that other Sacrament of the New Testament the Priest can do nothing but give the outward Elements after he hath by Prayer and reciting the words of Christ put a distinction between them and other ordinary Bread and Wine it is Christ only who by that means feedeth the Soul of a worthy Communicant with his broken Body and his Blood poured out for the sin of the World only as unless we be Baptised with Water we cannot ordinarily expect to be Baptised with the Holy Ghost so unless when we are invited unto the Lords Table we come worthily unto it and there Take and Receive the Consecrated Elements at the Hands of the Minister our Souls must want that spiritual nourishment from and by Christ which otherwise they might be sed with and made strong in the Grace of God Which being so as it is a truth not to be denied what need all those bitter Conflicts that have been and are about this matter We should rather say as that worthy Author had written a little before in the same Paragraph Shall I wish saith he that men would give themselves more to meditate with silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner how If any man suppose that this were too great stupidity and dulness let us see whether the Apostles of the Lord themselves have not done the like It appeareth by many Examples that they of their own Disposition were very scrupulous and inquisitive yea in other cases of less Importance and less Difficulty always apt to move Questions How cometh it to pass that so few words of so high a Mystery being uttered they receive with gladness the gift of Christ and make no shew of doubt or scruple The Reason hereof is not dark to them who have any thing at all observed how the Powers of the Mind are wont to stir when that alone which we infinitely long for presenteth it self above and besides Expectation Curious and intricate Speculations do hinder they abate they quench such inflamed Motions of Delight and Joy as divine Graces use
Whether Christ intended thereby that a new Sacrament should be ordained and continued in his Church till his fecond Advent or because his words being spoken in this manner viz. Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you whether his Apostles should at that time take that Bread which was then broken with his own Hands in their sight and which they did then Eat in his Presence whether I say they should take that Bread for his Human Body made of a Woman Gal 4. which was the next day to be Buffeted Scourged Crowned with Thorns nailed to a Cross and pierced to the Heart with a Spear And this his Body which was present with them sitting at the Table and speaking these very words should contrary to his own meaning and Resolution often before declared by himself in express terms and contrary to the clear Apprehension of his Apostles be free from all this Cruelty and extream hard Usage A very easie Passion certainly it must needs be which Christ endured if this be granted as it must if their Doctrine of Transubstantiation be from that instant time allowed being the thing which they contend for Neither indeed can we say as it is commonly and truly said that there was never Sorrow like unto his Sorrow if he had such a Proxy to suffer for him But without controversie Divine Justice would not now be satisfied with Figures Shadows Representations and Resemblances but seeing the Body is come which they did all typisie the Body it self must be Sacrificed or all mankind must perish for ever This latter part therefore of this Hypothesis must be cashiered and the former retained viz. that Christ intended only by these words This is my Body to ordain a Sacrament in his Church which should be a standing Memorial and Declaration of his Death as the Apostles word 1 Cor. 11.26 signifies till his coming again And herein there cannot or should not at least be any difference between them and us Well then if our Saviours intent was by these words to institute a Sacrament will not all men say that he used a sacramental kind of Speech to that purpose in his forming of such an Ordinance Hither to have we dealt only with our Romish Adversaries those Psendo-Catholicks about this matter We should now shew the Sense which Orthodox-Catholicks have rendred of it But first because there have been some who have joyned with us against those our common Adversaries that have in their haste given such an interpretation of these words as is inconsistent with Truth and Reason lest their Sense should be objected against us as if we were wounded with our own Weapons it will be necessary to shew in one or two particulars what is not the Sense of the Catholick Church of England nor of most of the Reformed Churches that harmoniously agree with it First then the misconstruction which is made of the excellent Form of sound Words in our Liturgy is not the sense of the Church whose Children we are There it is said the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper which is a most true saying and worthy of all Acceptation But to infer from thence that there is a areal Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in that Bread and Wine is such an Error that they who make this Inference do in Effect pass over to the Tents of the Romanists or Consubstantiate themselves with the Lutherans in their Heterodox Opinion which is also very absurd The truth is those words are not to be understood with a Reference to the Bread and Wine immediately after Consecration as our Venerable Mr. R. Hooker hath excellently declared his Judgment in this point which shall be shewed at large hereafter but to the time in which they that are worthy do really entertain Christ and feed on him in their Hearts after they have Received So the words spoken to them by the Minister when he gives them the Sacramental Consecrated Bread do plainly signifie which words are these Take and Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving And this feeding must necessarily imply a reall Presence of Christ unto them not to any other This mistake therefore of the premised form of sound words in our Liturgy doth not shew the true sense which we are inquiring into Much less doth that form of unfound words devised in the time of the late unhappy Schism and Rebellion among us give any satisfaction herein The words which were imperiously imposed in those times upon every Minister to use when he gave the Bread of his God after he had broken it were these Take ye Eat ye this is the Body of Christ which is broken for you But now I appeal to the Conscience of any man that is able to discern in this Case could these words be thus spoken without assuming presumptuously a power which Christ had not given yea could they be spoken without great offence to the Communicant For might not he well demand how can this man give us the Body of Christ to eat which hath been in Types and shall be really broken for us And what can he think when he heareth these words of the Bread which he seeth with his Eyes and feeleth with his Fingers Ends but that either the Minister is Blind or that he intends to deceive him or that he believes as the Church of Rome believes viz. that the Substance of the Bread is vanished the Accidents of it only remaining and that the Body of Christ is really substantially present in it I know well what they will alledge for their Justification i. e. seeing our Blessed Saviour used this sacramental Form of Speech in his first Institution they likewise may use it in a Conformity to him when they Administer the said Sacrament Which is somewhat like unto him whom I mentioned before who will say unto God at the day of Judgment Tu docuisti thou hast taught me But they may hear that now which possibly they never heard of before or at least did not well consider viz. Because our Saviour like a King that hath command over his Broad-Seal to Confirm or alter it as he pleaseth spake this word This is my Body when he first Instituted this Sacrament it will be too bold an Arrogancy for any man since whatsoever he be who pretendeth to be a Subject unto him to say the Bread is the Body of Christ when he Administreth it Sure I am the great Apostle St. Paul doth not word it in so bold a manner as to say The Cup which we Bless is the Blood of Christ or The Bread which we break is the Body of Christ no but with a pious Modesty worthy of Imitation only thus The Cup of Blessing which we Bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we break is it not the
Communion of the Body of Christ And this it is like was the Form which all the Apostles used in their Ministrations of this Nature for he speaks it here in the plural number We we Neither indeed is there the same Reason for us nor the same occasion before us to speak these words as there was for Christ to speak them He spake them discriminatim in a way of forbidding the former Sacrament of the Passover to be used any more and appointing this of his last Supper in its stead as shall appear more at large in the following parts of this Discourse upon which account it is that he then spake this word so expresly This is my Body to the end that his Apostles and after them his whole Church might understand his meaning in abolishing the old Sacrament and ordaining the New Which being so doubtless we are not to follow his example in speaking the words that he spake which brought on this change And accordingly I knew a man at that time Domino teste non mentior who for Conscience sake did not use that indirect Form when he Administred that Sacrament but varied from it using the aforesaid words of the Holy Apostle when he gaue tho Bread This Bread is the Communion of the Body of Christ adding thereto the words prescribed in our Liturgy viz. Take and cat this in Remembrance that Christ died for thee c. and when he gave the Cup This Cup is the Communion of the Blood of Christ Drink this in Remembrance c. For knowing assuredly that the real Presence of Christ is not in the outward Element but only in the Hearts of the worthy Communicants he durst not say so plainly and so punctually as he was then commanded that the Bread is the Body of Christ which is broken for his People A large mention hath been here made of the form that was then commanded to be used in Administring the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Not as if it were worthy of any Regard rather it deserves to be expunged out of the World with an Anathema fixed upon it but that our Enemies may not upbraid us with it and that the World may take notice how apt those that separate themselves from the established Orders of our Church will though they be associated in an Assembly as they were in those days at West minster and applauded by their followers for their Piety and Learning will be to fall into the worst of Romish Errors though they will seem most to protest against them Having removed the Rubs that lay in our way we may now go on in a plain Path which will lead us to hear the Voice of our Lord walking in his Garden which is in his Church where he commonly meets his People and makes his mind known unto them There it is where we have learnt the true Sense of his words in this Mystery Let us then hear what the Spirit hath said of it to the Church which is our Mother and to her Children amongst the rest to one who is the meanest of Gods poor Servants who rejoyceth that he hath attained to some Understanding in this Mystery And if his particular Judgment which shall be added towards the close of this Discourse be accounted by those who are to judge in such cases sit to be built upon the Foundation his song shall ever be Deo Gloria mihi venia The sense of the Church in general is declared in the twenty eighth Article of her Confession which is of the Lords Supper in this manner The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the Love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christs Death insomuch that to such as worthily and with saith receive the same the Bread which we break is partaking of the Body of Christ and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ The Body of Christ is given and taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual Manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is Received and Eaten in the Supper is Faith This is the Voice of the Turtle which is heard in our Land the Echo whereof is heard in Heaven which makes sweet Musick in that Celestial Symphony The word which our Apostle useth 1 Cor. 10.16 in this case is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Emphatical Word which makes Heaven and Earth intercommon together First on Gods part it is Communicatio for God by his Ministers in all ages Communicates or Distributes this spiritual Food among his People 2. On their side it is Participatio when they by Faith take and receive this Food into their Hearts for then and not before it turns into Nourishment in them and is digested by them From these two springs another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. A Communion or Fellowship not only among our selves but with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3.7 a most sweet and apposite word a word which the said Apostle seems to delight in as appeareth by his repeating it in the same instant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surely it pleased him very well as well it might and to me it soundeth as if he would have us to account this Vinum generosum to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Wine that passed between God and his Guests at his Holy Table Much pains likewise have been taken by Orthodox Catholicks to smooth the way to a right understanding of this great Mystery R. V. But I shall not here multiply Quotations of that which is written hereof by them Their Sense shall be shortly summed up in that Form of words which is to be seen in a late Writer and is in effect used by them all When Christ said This is my Body what Body did he mean even his own natural Body which is given for us Luk. 22.19 which is broken for us 1 Cor. 24.10 but how can this be It 's impossible that Bread while it is Bread should be Christ's Body or Wine while it is Wine should be his Blood It 's very true that it is impossible Disparatum de disparato non proprium praedicatur We must therefore seek for a possible meaning and of necessity conclude with Calvin Sacramentalem esse Loquutionem that it is a Sacramental Form of Speech the sign bears the name of the thing signified as both in Vulgar and Scripture Language is common in Scripture signs either figuratively Representing or sacramentally Sealing do bear the name of the things Represented or Sealed v. g. Gen. 40.12 The three Branches are three Days Gen. 41.26 The seven Ears of Corn are seven years the seven Kine are seven years so Ezek. 37.11 These dry Bones are the whole House of Israel Dan. 2.38 Thou O King are this Head of Gold Dan 4.17 The four Beasts are four Kings Gal. 4.25
threatning as you call it of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 I will tell you the right meaning of those words after I have first shewed you your weakness in the Construction that you make of them You will now you say pag. 24. speak a word for the Comfort of Repenting Sinners that examining their Lives and squaring it you should say them according to that terrible Threatning in 2 Cor. 5.10 which frightens them in such a manner as to take from them all hopes of finding Pardon and Grace at the last day It is say you but the diligent Reader will easily see your Incoherence here it is if those words of St. Paul were to be understood according to the Letter that there should not be one saved no not Moses Caleb Joshua David Daniel St. Peter and St. Paul Strange But it is no novelty with you to mis-interpret Scripture Know therefore those words are to be and God forbid but they should be understood according to the Letter for there is as much Comfort arising from them to Penitent Sinners as you can gather Terror to the Impenitent as is evidently to be seen the Inference therefore that you bring from thence is utterly false viz. that if so there should not one be saved not Moses Caleb Joshuah c. You say further St. Paul would contradict himself when he makes mans Righteousness to consist in the Remission of Sins But I believe you do wrong to St. Paul in putting this upon him and consequently to the holy Ghost can you tell where the Apostle saith Mans Righteousness consists in the Remission of sins Have you thus learned Christ Alas man there is as much difference between these two as there is between Habitus and Privatio It was the Death of Christ that brought on Remission of sins and it was the Resurrection of Christ that was the efficient of our Righteousness This doubtless is the Apostles Doctrine uti patet Rom. 4. 25. He was delivered for our Offences to take them away and was raised again for our Justification to make us Righteous But you say St. Paul in the following verse makes it plain enough to be understood that he only used that way of speech to give Terror and to perswade men to fly to Jesus Christ c. Here I must tell you Mr. Reflector by the way you have so delighted to act the part of a Boanerges though your thundring Sounds in the Ears of wise Men but as the discharge of a Pot-Gun that it is a hard matter for you to be a right Barnabas as appeareth here by your words which you intended for Comfort For will not the poor desponding Sinner be ready hereupon to reply unto you is this your Comfort to tell me the Apostle used that way of speech only to give Terror Alas this needed not I find it to be true by sad experience upon my Soul and Conscience but I find not here that he doth perswade me as you say to fly to Jesus Christ That which he saith in the next words is only to shew how necessary it is for Ministers if they have any true fear of God in them to be diligent in the performance of their Duty by perswading men to prepare themselves for that dreadful Judgment But this reflecteth not upon me for my Comfort In fine it is true what you say Jesus Christ is our Righteousness even of the very worst of Sinners say I how deeply soever they have been drencht in sin provided that they Repent and Believe their sins shall not be imputed to them being already imputed to Christ But it is not true that by his Righteousness our sins are pardoned rather you should say our Persons are justified thereby as for sins they are pardoned by the satisfaction which Christ made to the justice of God through the Blood of the Cross for by his stripes are we healed saith the Prophet Es 53.5 and thus saith the Apostle he was made sin for us having born our sins in his own Body on the Tree that is now made a Sacrifice for sin and when sin is thus done away then is Jesus Christ become our Righteousness for so it follows that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Thus you see Mr. Reflector how unhappy you have been in expounding the Scripture Doubtless you are an Interpreter one of a Thousand but it is the wrong way for there are but few I hope that will be so bold with Gods holy Word as you are in rendring the Sense of it according to vain Fancy as you have done But what then you 'll say is the right meaning of those words I answer the Context will plainly declare it Some there were it seems to me that would be cavilling against the Apostle as if he Commended himself too often unto them to whom he wrote needing their approbation of him and his Ministery This Exception he was willing here to remove We saith he perswade men not upon such a low account as you imagine to curry Favour with you but First because we know we must appear as well as others before the Righteous Judge at the last Day and that will prove a woful day unto us if we preach not the Gospel to you 2. We appeal to God and your Consciences to judge of our Fidelity in the discharge of our Duty to the same purpose in the following words of the 11th verse and this in short I humbly conceive to be the Reason why the Apostle makes mention here of the Terror of the Lord with a direct Reflection we see upon himself I am not ignorant there are other Reasons rendred but this I may be confident is one As for your words whereby you make such a pudder viz. of the startling and thundring thereby upon others which you call Terrors though the Apostle doth not so that is to be taken obliquely not as the chief thing that he intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 albeit there be Terror enough in them to drive us all to Repentance I shall now for it is high time shut up this Reflection with an Allusion to that which the Prophet writeth of the Church of old concerning her deliverance from the Assyrian Is 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Every word is Emphatical and may well be applied to our present purpose The Lord is our Judge To him it is may all poor Sinners say to whom God may be pleased to grant Repentance unto Life throughout the World to him it is that we stand or fall A small thing it is Mr. Reflector that we should be judged by you or of mans Judgment the Lord who is our true Friend and Elder Brother is our Judge and he will certainly take care of us that we shall not perish It is true a Judge must not be partial he must give Sentence according to Law otherwise he is not a Righteous Judge well
this Agar is Mount Sinai Rev. 7.9 The seven Heads are seven Mountains So in Sacramentals Circumcision is called the Covenant Gen. 17. â—3 and a token of the Covenant ver 11. And a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.11 The Lamb is called the Passover Ex. 2.21 The Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 and in this of our Lords Supper This is the Cup of the new Testament These and the like Instances are commonly used in this case and the Form of Speech is so plain that a Child may understand it Thus he But if Similitudes may be of any force I say not in Argumentation but Illustration in my Judgment there can be nothing more Pregnant to this purpose than a Resemblance that may be made between our Saviour himself and this his own Holy Ordinance Two Natures we believe are personally united in Christ the Divine and Human Now as the distinct Properties of these Natures are by vertue of this Hypostatical Union sometimes applyed and made common to both yet remain themselves entire without any Confusion each with other or Conversion into one another in like manner there being in this Ordinance of our Saviour a Sacramental Union between the ontward visible Sign and the inward and spiritual Grace well may the one be denominated by the other yet remain themselves entirely in their own Nature and Substance as they were before the said Union without any confused mixture one with the other or any real Conversion into each other So the Soul and Body of Man while they are united are oft-times put distinctly for the whole Person of a Man yet are both bounded within their original Beings But the truth is this real corporal Conversion of the Bread into the Body of Christ notwithstanding the Confidence which the Roman Party useth by it to bring on their Oral Manducation of Christs Body in the Mass hath no such Warrant as they dream of from these words of our Saviour which they so much harp upon For it is well known among the Learned as my aforesaid Author observeth out of Cameron and Moulin that the Hebrew Tongue or Syriack in which Christ spake doth not use in this form of Speech any Copula of Subject or Predicate either is or signifieth But sometimes and not always Pronoun as in those places before cited in the old Testamenr no is nor was nor any other Verb is there But thus The seven ears of Corn they seven years the four Beasts four Kings which when they come to be Translated into Greek or Latin then the Idiom of the Language requires it and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is e. g. The Rock is Christ So that they are much mistaken who to bolster up their devised Transubstantiation place the Emphasis here in this word Is which Word probably our Saviour did not speak when he instituted this Sacrament though it be as it must be so rendred by the Evangelists according as it hath been said to the Idiome of the Language in which they wrote Thus in short we see the Sense which hath been wont to be given of these words of our Saviour by Pious and Learned Men and which passeth for current among us of all sorts To which Sense I also for my part do readily subscribe though I do humbly conceive there is something lacking in it and so not fully comming up to our Saviours meaning I come therefore now according to my Promise to deliver my particular Judgment of it My particular I say because I never heard of it before nor in all my Reading met with it in any Author elder or later that hath written of this Subject And it is as followeth Our Lord Jesus Christ intending as it appeareth to put an end to the old Sacrament of the Paschal Lamb for which his Disciples had been so sollicitous and to Institute this of his last Supper in its stead he therefore having first lifted up his Eyes and Hands to Heaven that he might in the Name of his Father Consecrate the chosen Element of Bread and Wine speaks to his Disciples in this manner and form saying This is my Body and this is my Blood q.d. you have taken that for my Body hitherto according to the Rudiments of the Law of Moses for indeed Christ the Lamb of God was praesigured thereby but now This shall be it hereafter till my Coming again So placing the Emphasis in the word This as by way of distinction from the former Sacrament calling it likewise his Body in opposition to the former shadows not making any other change at all but only one Sacrament instead of another which it's true is generally acknowledged but the premised Emphatical Distinction hath not been heeded as it ought to have been from whence have sprung the differences and hot contentions about the manner of Christs Presence The Apostles themselves so understood it for they never after were inquisitive as they had been about the Passover but were no doubt obedient to the Command of their Lord and Master for he had laid this charge upon them in these words Do this in Remembrance of me as much as to say leave the other undone or use it no more and let none other use it in my Name hereafter The Apostle St. Paul who laboured more abundantly than all the rest of the Apostles kept himself precisely to this command in his Apostolical Office So he telleth the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 11.23 that saith he which I have received of the Lord meaning not from Moses but of Christ have I delivered unto you Yea the very words of our Saviour himself which he spake of the Cup do seem to point out this Sense unto us for as he saith of that This is my Blood of the New Testament so his meaning very probably may be of the Bread This is my Body of the New Testament that is which in the time of the New Testament you and all other to the Worlds end shall take for my Body not that which hath been taken for it under the old For by these words he takes away the first Sacrament of the Passover how else comes it to be out of date And establisheth this of his last Supper the first being an ordinance of the Law to continue during the old Covenant the second he will have to be an ordinance of the Gospel as being more apt to agree with his new Covenant This this I say is clearly the thing that our Lord intended by using this form of Speech when he ordained this new Sacrament in his Church viz. This is my Body He would that his Apostles and his whole Church after them should take his meaning as spoken in this manner This Emphatically This Specifically This Substantially This not the former yet this mystically even as the former was is my Body whereby you shall be united together in bortherly Love your Faith also shall be Confirmed and your Souls strengthned and refreshed unto Life Eternal
to raise when extraordinarily they are present the mind therefore feeling present Joy is always unwilling to admit any other Cogitation and in that case casteth off those Disputes whereunto the intellectual part at other times easily draweth c. Thus he And certainly it must be granted by all that he was in the right unles we will be still inquisitive after that which is infinitely above our reach and consequently break into Gods Pavillion where we shall find the dark waters that encompass it will inevitably swallow us up Neither will it be the pretended suffrage of the Antients that will keep us from sinking in this bold Presumption Pretended I say for all that our Pseudo-Catholicks of Rome have boasted of the Antient Fathers as if they were their Coryphaei in their Heterodox Opinions which they hold of this holy Sacrament are but Vanity And let this Eminent Divine approved even by them for his great Learning as shall here be made manifest be heard speak his Judgment also in this particular It appeareth not that of all the Antient Fathers of the Church any one did ever conceive or imagine other than only a mystical Participation of Christs both Body and blood in the Sacrament Neither are their speeches concerning the change of the Elements themselves into the Body and Blood of Christ such that a man can thereby in Conscience assure himself it was their meaning to perswade the World either of a corporal Consubstantiation of Christ with those sanctified and blessed Elements before we receive them or of the like Transubstantiation of them into the Body and Blood of Christ Both which to our mystical Communion with Christ are so unnecessary that the Fathers who plainly hold but this mystical Communion cannot easily be thought to have meant any other change of Sacramental Elements than that which the same spiritual Communion did require them to hold Which being so let the impartial Reader judge whether the Church of Rome hath not lost one of her strongest holds wherein many of her most able Champions have thought themselves to be impregnable It will be no offence I presume to transcribe thus largely the words of that Renowned Author For the plain truth is we who are Clergy-men are obliged in many Respects to be more diligent in perusing his Works then I doubt we are But however though we in this Generation sleight them they have certainly been of very high account with Learned men in former times And which is a thing not common two Kings there have been in our Land who for Learning and Piety were second to no Princes in their Generation that did much exâ—ol Mr. Hocker and his Works First King James of famous Memory gave this Commendation of him that he had received more satisfaction in reading a Leaf on Paragraph in Mr. Hookers writing of the Sacraments then he had in reading large Treatises of that subject written by others though very Learned Men. Again King Charles the blessed Martyr the day before his Death gave a charge to one of his Children the Lady Elizabeth which was to be imparted to the rest to be very conversant in good Books and among others he was pleased to name Mr. Hookers Ecclesiastical Policy which as he said would arm them against Popery And well may this be a Reflection upon us all that survive him If a Father when he is ready to dye shall thus instruct his Children and such a Father who is Pater Patriae Tanti Meriti Tanti Pectoris Tanti Oris Tantae Virtutis Pater as St. Austin said of St. Cyprian a Father so worthy so Wise so well Spoken so Virtuous so Learned a King that was as it hath been said of him in a publick Phrontistery a Defender of the Faith not only by his Title but by his Abilities and Writings a King who understood the Protestant Religion so well that he was able to defend it against the whole Conclave of Rome and Hell And when he knew it so throughly and died so Eminently for it it will concern us to be very wary how we depart from his Judgment by falling off to the apostatical Church of Rome But for such as have forgotten their Duty and Reverence to the late King our common Father and the Pious Advice that he left us such had need to have a very profound Judgment of their own to bear them out but that it is much to be doubted they will not in the end prove to be wiser than Dapiel as the word of Scripture is no nor so wise as our good Father King Charles the faithful Martyr who gave us all good Counsel if we had the Grace to follow it However if we be willing to be arm'd against Popery let us make use of such means which he commended unto us whereof this is one viz. to be diligent in Reading Mr. Hookers Ecclesiastical Policy Once more therefore I shall add here what the said Author writeth to our present purpose in the close of the same Paragraph wherein he hath not only excelled in casting down strong holds but all vain Imaginations 1 Cor. 10.4 or foolish Reasonings so the Apostles word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie that are exalted against the simplicity of the Gospel When I behold saith he with mine Eyes some small and scarce discernable Grain or Seed whereof Nature maketh a Promise that a Tree should come and when afterwards of that Tree any skilful Artificer undertaketh to frame some exquisite and curious Work I look for the Event I move no Question about performance either of the one or of the other Shall I then simply credit Nature in things natural shall I in things artificial rely my self on Art never offering to make doubt and in that which is above both Art and Nature refuse to believe the Author of both except he acquaint me with his ways and lay the secret of his skill before me Where God himself doth speak those things which either for Height and Sublimity of matter or else for secresie of performance we are not able to reach unto as we may be ignorant without Danger so it is no disgrace to confess we are ignorant Such as love Piety will as much as in them lieth know all things that God commandeth but especially the Duties of Service which they owe to God as for his dark and hidden Works they preserve as becomes them in such cases simplicity of Faith before that knowledge which curiously sisting what it should adore and disputing too boldly of that which the Wit of man cannot search chilleth for the most part all warmth of Zeal and bringeth soundness of Belief many times into great hazard Let it therefore be sufficient for me presenting my self at the Lords Table to know what there I receive from him without searching or enquiring of the manner how Christ performeth his Promise Let Disputes and Questions Enemies to Piety Abatements of true Devotion and hitherto in this cause but over-patiently
prove to us to be but as a Preface to their Writ de Comburendo for their merciless burning of our Bodies But blessed be God we have hitherto been kept out of their reach and blessed for ever of God be the Government which is set over us whereby under God we are still preserved Yet neither do we sleight the words of our Lord which he spake saying This is my Body God forbid that such a Thought should ever enter into our Hearts no but taking them in the sense which he intended they are the Crown of our rejoycing His Promise herein is the greatest Blessing that we can be capable of in this World It is our Life and without it we shall ever be dead in our Sins and Trespasses whatsoever spiritual Quicknings we have in us to heavenly things it is the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ which we have Received into our Hearts by Faith that worketh them in us for we live not as the Apostle St. Paul said but Christ liveth in us It is the Body of Christ and it is the Blood of Christ which filleth the whole inward man inlightning the Understanding Rectifying the Will ordering the Affections putting courage into the Heart to encounter any Difficulties for Christ to suffer any Torments for his sake that can be inflicted upon us by Men or Devils Nay more It is the Body of Christ and it is the Blood of Christ separated each from other which were so taken and Received in the Lords Supper and which continue to be so in the Hearts of those that worthily Received that Holy Sacrament which fully satisfieth all their Hunger and Thirst as bringing a clear Evidence of Christs Death and consequently a full Assurance of the Pardon and Remission of their sins unto them the memorial of Christs Death being the main end why the Sacrament was ordained This in short is that real Presence of Christ in this Holy Ordinance which the Church the Spouse of Christ expecteth so as to be entertained by her Lord at his holy Table and which indeed is only to be desired as being most advantageous unto her As for that Presence of Christ in this Sacrament which Papists contend for let it pass for a Dream as it is It shall even be to use the words of the Prophet As when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth Is 19.8 but he awaketh and his Soul is empty And as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath Appetite So shall their hoc est Corpus meum I mean their Doctrine of the Transubstantiation of the outward Elements in the Lords Supper into the Body and Blood of Christ prove to be unto them but a miserable Delusion Never never O my God let my Soul enter into their Secret nor be baptised with a Baptism that they are Baptised with And with this Confidence I do shut up this whole Discourse God Almighty give a Blessing unto it FINIS POSTSCRIPT BUt now it seems to strengthen the Popish Interest Hell is broke loose seditious Pamphlets now flutter about for the discrediting our Religion and our Church which hath been acknowledged the best Reformed Church in the Christian World such Pamphlets I say as are not only against the Doctrine of the true Protestant Religion but against the best Ecclesiastical Discipline also witness that scandalous and scurrilous Piece Gratum opus Agricolis Romanis atque Atheistis Entituled the Naked Truth Second Part whereas in many parts of it I say not in all it rather deserves the Title of impudent Untruth as shall be here made manifest past all Contradiction The Author thereof whom I care not to know being he is Prava Avis in Templis nigroque simillima Spectro begins his Epistle to the Reader with a colloguing Insinuation I had almost said with much Craft and Cunning in this manner No man does more Reverence good Bishops than my self and why so But because he does it may be account himself to be one it is an ill Bird then that will defile his own Nest nor saith he does any man less dread them with a slavish fear But non obstante all his Confidence I who am a poor inconsiderable man shall here take the boldness before I go with him a foot further to expostulate with him in this case Who Sir is there that doth so dread them I know a man who is in the seventy seventh year of his Age and in the fifty third year of his Ordination to the office and order of an Evangelical Priest yet in his full strength blessed be God at which Age fears do commonly as other weaknesses take hold of a man but although he hath in his time lived under the Inspection of many Bishops yet had he never such a fear of them upon him nor have I at this day for the plain truth is there neither was nor is any the least need of it Nor is there I believe any one of our Bishops who is willing to be so dreaded for if curteous Affability fatherly Instruction brotherly Condescention tender Compassion towards the weaker sort be to be found in them and that very frequently constantly upon all emergent Occasions presented before them as I know by experience to be in some of them what do these boasting words signifie but a vain-glorious hussing If they be not a most unchristian Suggestion and slanderous Susurration sufficient to make all that followeth in the whole Tract liable to suspition among wise Men. As indeed many other of his following words do I admire them saith he at my distance which he presumeth is not very great but I do not Idolize them and God forbid that he or any man else should I Honour them but I do not fall down and Worship them as if none could kneel unto them to crave their Blessing like dutiful Sons of their Grave and Reverend Fathers and as all good Subjects do to the King being so in Duty bound because he is Pater Patriae can none I say do this but they must thereupon make Idols of them and Worship them I can say saith he my Lord and not add my God But let me ask again does any do so or say so Sure there is not such a Polytheism to be found among us here in this Nation though there be God be merciful to us much Atheisin which is like to grow up to a more prodigious Height than it hath yet attained by the means of this and the like prodigious Pamphlets that are scattered among us The man goeth on in his Apology thus You will not find in this ensuing Inquiry the least tang of Bitterness or yellow Choler no not so much as one tart or harsh Expression being so far from justly disgusting any that I shall not so much as set their Teeth on edge so insipied and simple an Humour have I cherisht all-a-long through this whole Discourse for
her faithful Children to bow their Bodies in token of Reverence unto him at the mentioning of his Name in their Solemn Assemblies when they are gathered together for the holy Service of Almighty God I have here given my Reader a sight of some of the ugly Errors contained in that scandalous Pamphlet unjustly called Naked Truth which but a few days past came into my hands And having perceived that a leading man here in our Countrey hath been seduced by it who hath as I have heard spoken these words What will Mr. Lane say to this Let him try if he can answer it I was willing to set Pen to Paper for the Vindication of Truth which hath been miserably abused by this Pretender unto it But having since heard also from some of the Seniors of our College by Winton that one hath already set forth an Answer unto it I shall forbear any further medling therewith And though the Author of it calls them Babies and Boobies such are his immodest terms that will write against him yet I am confident such a work as it may be managed will be acceptable to God and all good men Nevertheless I wish with all my heart that Abuses in our Ecclesiastical Courts those I mean that are not Imaginary but Real if there be any such that they may be removed which I believe the Chief Governours of the said Courts will be heartily willing unto FINIS The Contents of the foregoing Discourse upon the words of our Saviour viz. This is my Body 1. OF the sad Differences that have been about the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Page 71 2. The Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation proved to be but a late upstart Doctrine p. 72 3. Is is a Doctrine which is destructive to the nature of the Sacrament p. 73 4. It is a Doctrine that disanuls the Verity of Christs Humane Nature p. 74 5. Gods Omnipotency not questioned by us in this case but vainly urged by our Adversaries in it p. 75 6. Of the words used in our Liturgy viz. The Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed Taken and Received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper p. 76 77 7. The Sense of the Church of England in her twenty eighth Article concerning this Point p. 79. 8. The Sense which Orthodox Interpreters give of these words viz. This is my Body approved p. 80 9. A Resemblance taken from the two Natures of Christ Divine and Humane and â—pplied p. 81 10. An Additional Sense of these words viz. This is my Body is here offered to Consideration p. 82 11. Venerable Mr. Hookers Judgment of the real Presence of Christs most blessed Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist p. 84 12. How the words of our Lord which he spake saying This is my Body are the Crown of our Rejoycing 91 13. The Popish Opinion of the real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament is but a Dream 92 Books newly Printed for William Crooke viz. 1680 1681. 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