Communicants do indeed receive Christs very Body and Bloud by receiving the Elements and that Christs Body and Bloud are verily tendred and offer'd even to the unworthy though they receive them not For were it not thus I would gladly understand how it cometh to pass that unworthy receiving brings upon a mans Soul some peculiar and extraordinary Guilt If it be a special sin as S. Pauls words argues it to be against the Body and Bloud of our Lord it must follow that the Body and Bloud of our Lord are there For a sin is of a peculiar nature and consideration when it is acted against an Object that is more peculiarly Interested and Concern'd so the sin against the Holy Ghost seems strictly and and properly to be a malicious resisting and reproaching of the Truth in spight of those Miracles which are wrought by the Holy Ghost for the Confirmation of the Truth A man is then said to be peculiarly guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost because in the working of Miracles the Holy Ghost is concern'd and interested after a peculiar manner To this purpose it is observable that when our Saviour spoke of this sin it was after some Miracle that he had done and by occasion of the Jews reproaching it as if it had been done not by the Power and Spirit of God but by Beelzebub It was especially a sin against the Holy Ghost because in the Miracle the Holy Ghost was specially concern'd Even so here unworthy receiving makes a man guilty of a sin against our Lords Body and Bloud because his Body and Bloud are peculiarly Interested in the Sacrament Evil men strike at Christ then after a most sinful sort because his Body and Bloud are present there after a singular manner and therefore doth the sin bring an extraordinary guilt because it is the doing despight to the very Body and Bloud of Him who made himself an offering for us For these and the like reasons the Catholik Church of Christ hath in all ages believed a real presence of his Body and Bloud in the Sacrament nor do I know any one Doctrine of Christianity which hath come unto us with less Contradiction then this came down from the very days of the Apostles even to the times of Berengarius And so true is this that the Learned know well that the Ancients grounded their Faith of our real Union with Christ upon this Principle because his very Body and Bloud are really communicated to us by our receiving the Eucharist As they believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys in 1 Cor. 10. 16. vide Iren. multos alios a Supernatural Union between the Natures in Christ so they believed a Mystical Union between all the Faithful and Christ and this they concluded because they believed a Sacramental Union between Christ and those Creatures of Bread and Wine whereby we receive Christ S. Hilary calls our Conjunction Hilar. de Trinit lib. 8. with Christ a Natural conjunction because as Our Nature was before united to his by his Incarnation so now his Nature is United to Ours by the Communion Our Church calls it the Communion of the Body and Bloud of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation and S. Austin himself Homily of the Sacram 1. Part. used the same Expression and all the Ancients acknowledged this real Union to be wrought by means of that Real S. August Ep. ad Iren. Communion of our Saviours very Body and Bloud at and by the Holy Sacrament For the Opening now of this great Mystery I shall shew these Five things 1. That we are to distinguish between Christs Natural and his Spiritual Body 2. What is meant by his Spiritual Body 3. Why it is so called 4. That Christ hath a Spiritual Body indeed 5. That this Spiritual Body is received by us in the Sacrament 1. We are to distinguish Christs Spiritual from his Natural Body not as if he had two different Bodies but because that One and the same Body of his is to be considered after a different manner Now this is S. Pauls own distinction 1 Cor. 15. 44. There is a Natural or Animal Body and there is a Spiritual Body The Apostle there treats of that Exalted state our bodies shall be in after the Resurrection how they shall be delivered from all Mortality and Corruption and shall be the everlasting Temples of the Divine Spirit and shall shine with light like the Stars and shall be like Angelical Substances and Spirits in Comparison and all this because our Saviour is risen and gone before us into heaven and there remaines in a Glorious Body as 't is called Philip. 3. 21. Now this Body of Christ may be considered either in respect of its own Natural Substance as it consisteth of Flesh Bones and Bloud and other Constituent and Perfective parts of humane nature and in this sense no man can partake of the Lords Body Or else it may be considered with respect to his Divinity as that is united to it as it is clothed with infinite Majestie as it is replenisht with the Presence and energy of the God-head as it casteth live Influences upon his Church by virtue of the God-head dwelling in it and filleth all things with Spiritual rayes and emanations of his Grace In this respect our Lord is called a Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a Quickning Spirit because he giveth life to every Humble and Obedient heart here below and through his Humane Nature dispenseth to every one the Vertues of his Passion and in this respect every good Christian participates of Christs Body that is of the Spiritualities of his glorious Body The Ancient Christians acknowledged and insisted much upon this distinction between the Natural and the Spiritual body of Christ confessing the one to be in the Sacrament but not the other There is Saith Clemens Alexandrinus a Twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. l. 2. in mitio Blond of our Lord there is his Fleshly Bloud whereby we were redeemed from destruction and there is his Spiritual Bloud whereby we are now Anointed and this is to drink the Bloud of Jesus to be made partakers of our Lords Incorruption In like manner Origen Shewing that even in the New Testament there is a letter which killeth if men do not understand that which is said after a Spiritual Si enim secundum liberam sequaris hoc ipsum quod dictum est nisi manducaveretis carnem mean biberitis Sanguinem meum occider haec litera Orig. in Lev. 10. Homilt manner instanceth in that Phrase of eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud for saith he if you understand this according to the sound and clink of the Expression it is a killing letter S. Jerome also tells us that the Bloud and Flesh of Christ is to be Duplicitur verè sanguis Christi caro intelligitur
but remained perfectly United to it by a Substantial Conjunction and by reason of that Conjunction it was restored to life after so many hours In like manner when we give up the Ghost the Body parteth with the Soul and during this state hath no manner of sensation or Motion having lost the Natural Principle of Both but yet it is not separated from Christ though it Corrupteth in the Grave while its Mate is in the enjoyment of Bliss yet it is still United to its Lord by a Mystical Conjunction and by reason of that Union it shall be reunited to the soul in Gods good time that Both may have their Partnership in the fruition of an endless Life 3. This consideration were it duely weighed would be of very great Use and Comfort to good men when they are going out of this world But there is besides a third thing to be considered viz. that as we are united to Christ so Christs Nature is also communicated to Us by means of this Sacrament which doth further conclude an Assurance of an Happy Resurrection This Nature thus communicated is as it were a Spark of the Divine Nature which gives the Body a Disposition and Aptitude to Rise again like that Vital Principle in wheat that makes it Apt to spring out of the earth again when 't is committed to the ground though it hath been laid up a long time in the Granary S. Cyril calls Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a living Body and so corpus vitae in some of the Latines as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. Living Body meaning the Virtue of it or his Spiritual Body the Quickning Seed that is in us For Christ by Divine Influences from his body giveth vitality to our mortal Bodies by that vivifick Virtue which is communicated by the Bread it entreth into the bodies of the Faithful though it be Substantially absent And hence he argues that if the dead in our Saviours time were raised to Life onely by being touched with his Holy Body out of which there went Virtue certainly the vital 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cyril in Joan. lib. 4. cap. 14. Blessing must be much more abundant which we receive who even Taste and Communicate of it because it transforms Communicants into its own Blessed Condition that is into Immortality In like manner Ireneus proved the Certainty of a Resurrection from the Virtue and efficacy of this Sacrament supposing it a thing very Unreasonable to deny that Flesh to be capable of Incorruption which is nourished with This is plainly the meaning and force of those words of Irenaeus Quomodo dicunt Haeretici carnem in corruptionem scilicet finalem devenire non percipere vitam quae a corpore Domini sanguine alitur Quemadmodum qui est e terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebas constans terrena caelisti sic corpora nostra percipientia Eucharistiam jam non sunt corruptibilia spem Resurrectionis habentia Adv. Haeres lib. 4. cap. 34. Quando mixtus calix fractus panis percipit verbum Dei fit Eucharistia sanguinis corporis Christi ex quibus augetur consistit carnis nostrae substantia quomodo negant carnem capacem esse donationis Dei quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur membrum ejus est Id. lib. 5. cap. 2. that Bread which carrieth with it the vital Virtues of the Flesh of our Lord because those Virtues turn to the advantage of that Body as well as of the soul by reason that our Flesh being United to the Flesh of Christ by the Spirit is by the Eucharist Prepared and Disposed for and made capable of the gift of God which is eternal Life But to conclude this point besides these arguments drawn from the Reason of the thing it self and from the sense and suffrage of Antiquity our Saviours own words are abundantly demonstrative of this matter in S. Jo. 6. The bread of God is be with cometh down from heaven and giveth Life unto the world I am that bread of Life Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye for ever I am the Living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall Live for ever and the bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the world Who so eateth my Flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day for my Flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me These words are so plain that they need no Explication if by eating the Bread the Meat the Flesh here spoken of we understand not of Believing the Doctrines of Christianity as some most Absurdly imagine nor of eating the very Substance of Christs Body as others most Ridiculously conceive but our partaking and communicating of the Virtues of his Flesh and Bloud which is the genuine and Catholick construction Now by a right use of this Holy Sacrament we do this effectually and consequently may be assured that as we are blest with the Spirit and Life and Communion of Christ in this world by so doing so we have an undoubted Title to a Life of Glory and Immortality in the next CHAP. XII Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse I Have now done with the Speculative or Doctrinal part of this Subject having after a plain Didactical manner delivered and asserted the true Catholick Faith concerning this Sacrament and from the consideration of those blessings which it brings with it I shall briefly draw these following Inferences and so conclude the whole matter 1. That we are not to rate this Mystery according to its Face and Outward Appearance nor judge of its efficacy and Dignity by the Elements For though our Senses do infallibly assure us that it is Bread and Wine yet our Faith ought to assure us too that it is not Common bread or Bare Wine but something more By the word and Prayer and by the Secret but effectual operation of the Holy Ghost there is besides the Natural and true Substance of the materials an Addition of Grace which is chrefly und principally to be considered by us And this is that Change of the Elements which the Catholick Church ever did believe meaning not a change of their Nature but of their Use of their Quality of their Condition As when we say such a man is turned a Christian or such a Christian is turned a Minister or such a Fabrick is turned into a Church our meaning is not that
the Holy Sacrament is there if men flinch from their Duty and willfully draw back the Crime is of such a high nature that Gods Soul will have no pleasure in such Apostates Heb 10. 38. The very Heathens accounted the violation of Contracts especially such Contracts as had been made at the Altars of their Gods to be one of the most Execrable Villanies in the World Nay they looked upon those Covenants which were made only by Bread and Salt to have been very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen cont Cels lib. 2. pag. 74. Sacred tyes and obligations For which reason Celsus the Pagan argued against the Credibility of that story concerning the treachery of Judas For said he when one man eateth with another they scorn to betray one another and therefore he thought it impossible for any man to be false to his God when he communicates with him at the same Table Now in this Celsus was guilty of a manifest untruth as Origen rightly answer'd for many such perfidious fellows there have been who have betrayed those of whose Bread they have eaten Origen instanced in Lycambas who was upbraided by Parius for violating the Covenant he had made by the Rite of eating Bread and Salt But yet it is true that mankind in general have ever Hated such treachery and despised all such as were guilty and faithless after that manner and Judas his Sin was very great and monstrous beyond expression and comparison And yet there have been more Judases in the world then One Many Traitours have eaten and drank at Gods Table nay have been admired too for their Treachery have been Canoniz'd for it by such as themselves have been numbred by their fellow Traitours among the Blessed in the Saints everlasting rest However the sin is Abominable and when men receive the blessed Sacrament they are deeply obliged to be steady and true to their promises and to their Contracts which they make with the Divine Majesty St Paul calls mens Apostatizing from the duty the treading under foot the Son of God and the counting the blood of the Covenant an unholy or a profane and common thing Heb. 10. 29. Which expressions are Emphatically applicable to the sin I now speak of the sin of Unfaithfulness after we have participated of Christ after we have drank of his blood this is indeed to despise the Son of God as one of no value and to trample upon his blood as an unprofitable as a contemptible as a vile thing and of what sore punishments shall not such be thought worthy It was an old custome among some people to make Covenants by giving and taking a little quantity of Wool which they had shorn Quibus foederibus qui contrairet turpissimo facinore in expiabili scelere tenebatur Alex. ab Alexand ubi supra from the top of a Lambs Head and they who violated such Covenants were held guilty of the foulest Crime and inexpiable wickedness If Covenants between man and man made by such frivolous and inconsiderable tokens were reputed sacred by the very Pagans how Sacred ought we Christians to count such Contracts as we make with the Divine being by eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of the very Lamb of God I conclude this consideration with those words of Solomon Eccles. 5. 4 5. When thou vowest a Vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay CHAP. IV. A third end of this Sacrament is to engage us to observe the Laws of that Religion to which it doth belong Proved from the Notion of the new Covenant From the design of Mysteries in general From its Analogy to Mystical Banquets in particular both among Heathens and Jews especially the Paschal-Supper The sense of the Church touching this matter TO proceed now to another end of this Sacrament It being already demonstrated that this Mystery was instituted as a Foederal or Covenant Rite to be used under the Gospel it necessarily followeth that a Third End of it is to engage all such as use it to the strict observation of that Religion which is establisht by the Gospel This will evidently appear if we consider well these three things 1. If we consider only the Nature and Notion of the Evangelical Covenant to which this Mystery doth belong 2. If we consider besides the design an Importance of all Mystical Rites in general 3. If we consider also the Analogy which this Rite beareth to the ancicient Mystical Banquets in particular 1. As to the First of these the Nature and Notion of a Covenant is this that it is a Pact Contract or agreement containing certain Conditions and Promises for the performance whereof each party bindeth himself and undertaketh to the other And the Evangelical Covenant is a Pact of this nature For as it containeth promises which it lyeth on Gods part to make good as that he will pardon our sins in this world and take such care of our Souls and Bodies that we shall be everlastingly happy in the next World so it contains certain conditions and terms which it lyes on Our part to perform in order thereunto as that we will believe on his Son whom he sent into the World to be our Propitiation that we will sincerely repent of all the miscarriages we have committed and that we will make it our care and business to lead a Life of Vertue and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Seeing then that this is the Covenant that is between God and us now seeing that this Mystery was appointed pursuant to this Covenant and seeing that at the due Celebration of it the Covenant is Ratified and confirmed it must undeniably follow whatever the Socinians and others affirm to the contrary that by this Sacred Rite God himself is supposed to Seal his part of the Covenant unto us and moreover that we are supposed to Seal Our part of the Covenant unto him I mean we are understood hereby visibly to profess engage and stipulate that we do and will stedfastly believe heartily repent and by the help of Gods Grace unfeignedly resolve to lead our lives so as the Laws of Christ's Religion do require us If it be a Foederal rite as I have sufficiently proved this must be the design and meaning of it in short 2. But besides this we are to observe in the second place that all those Mystical Rites which ever were used in the World by any Sect or Society of men were always designed to engage people to be obedient and True to that Religion to which those Rites did appertain This I note not as if any Religion in the World could compare with the Christian Institution nor as if any Mystical Rites in the World ever were of that importance and dignity as ours are but only to shew what the general sense of Mankind hath
were properly called Sacramentaries and which is the opinion of those black-mouth'd Hereticks the Socinians now This was an Heterodox conceit indeed that was utterly against the Faith of the Catholick Church from the beginning and out of hatreed and detestation of this foul Error the Bishop of Rome and others presently fell into another extreme as foul as that as usually men do when they are in Heat and Passion Then the Doctrine not so much of Christs real as of his corporal presence was laid upon the Anvil and Lancfranck and Guitmund Berengarius his Enemies See the Confession which was extorted from Beren garius at Rome and which he afterwards retracted in Gratian de Consec dist 2. c. 24. fell a hammering at it and then they would not be satisfyed with this which yet had satisfied Christians for above a thousand years that Christs Divine Body is verily communicated after a Spiritual manner to the faithful But they would needs have it that his Natural Body is actually eaten with mens mouths and handled with their hands However this was the sense but of a few men as yet and all men were yet at liberty to opine and dispute as long as they did it Modestly For Fulbertus was against the new opinion and at the second Synod at Rome against Berengarius under Gregory the seventh Anno 1079 they did declare that there was great variety of opinions about the Body Habitus est Sermo de Corpore Sanguine Domini nostri multis haec nonnullis alia sentientibus and Bloud of Christ in the Sacrament as may be seen in the Acts of that Synod and Adelmannus though he blamed Berengarius yet was he against Lancfranck not owning that Conceit of Christs Corporal presence Lancfranck maintain'd it here in England and he was the first man that planted that weed in this Island but all men were not of his opinion here though he was a man of great Authority and in Foreign parts the point continued disputable for a long time for S. Bernard who lived in the twelfth Century current was of another opinion and Peter Lombard who was fifty years after him found it to be a moot point even in his days and he tells us himself what various opinions there were about it then so that for a matter of 1200. years together P. Lomb. Sentent l. 4. dist 11. the Doctrine of Transubstantation you see was not determin'd In the Primitive times and for some Centuries after it was not thought of In later ages it was but dreamt of and when men began to talk of it they talked as if they were asleep and they declared their several opinions as men tell their Dreams 't was no Article of Faith no not in the Church of Rome till the Lateran Council Anno 1215. nay some Learned men are of opinion that it was Vide Mr. Thorndike of the Laws of the Church p. 37 Bish Taylor of the Real Pres p. 267. not determined then neither but some time after But let that rest for me I will enquire after it no further now since we have found it already a child of Fancy and an upstart too that was Begotten of Late and brought into the World by the midwifry of time but cannot derive its Pedigree from any of the Holy Fathers we must lay the Brat at the Church of Romes door it is their own and since they are so fond of it without any sense or reason let them keep it if they please so they keep it to themselves though we wish it had been an Abortive or had dyed a Chrisom specially since it hath cost so much Christian Bloud to Foster and Breed it up CHAP. IX That though there be no Transubstantiation yet Christs Body is really in the Sacrament A distinction between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body What is meant by his Spiritual Body Why so called That such a Spipiritual there is And that it is received in and by the Sacrament TO proceed though there be no grounds in the World for the opinion of Transubstantiation yet we must not conceive that Christ is not verily really and of a truth in the Sacrament he may be really present though there be no reason to believe that he is present after a Corporal manner For two different Substances and Natures may be joyned and go together though they remain distinct in themselves and in their properties as the Soul and Flesh of a man are united in the same Person and as the Humanity and Divinity of Christ were united together in the same Lord. Though we should suppose that Pillar to have been a real cloud which went before the Israelites yet it will not follow that God was not in it though we shoiuld suppose those shapes to have been true Bodies wherein the Spirits of God were wont to appear to the old Patriarchs yet this doth not argue that Angelical Substances were not present in them though we should suppose that to have been a real Dove which lighted on our Saviour and that to have been real Fire which sate upon his Apostles yet this will not argue but that the Holy Ghost was in both In like manner though we grant the Elements in the Eucharist to be Substantially and really Bread and Wine yet it will not follow by any means that Christ is not present in the Sacrament it is easy to conceive it possible for it to be Bread still and Christs Body too and to be wine still and Christs Bloud too There may be an union of these two things though we do not suppose the Nature of the one to be destroyed or turned into the nature of the other And that this is not only possible but is certainly so de facto the Scripture doth strongly oblige us to believe For 1. S. Paul tells us that the administration of the Sacrament is the Communion of Christs Body and Bloud 1 Cor. 10 16. which words are to be understood not only of that foederal Vid. S. Chrysostâ—n 1 Cor. 10. 16. Communion which we have thereby with Christ but moreover of that real Comunication which we have of him so that by drinking of the Wine we participate of Christs Bloud which streamed out of his side and which he gives us here as well as he shed it on the Cross and by eating of the Bread we do not only Partake of his Body but also obtain thereby a close Conjunction and Coherence with him whose Body it is we are united to him by the Bread even as our Flesh is united to Christ himself as S. Chrysostom affirms which doth plainly argue the real presence and communication of his Body and Bloud 2. Again whereas S. Paul saith I Cor. II. 27. Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord he doth seem manifestly to conclude that Christs Body and Bloud is really in the Eucharist that all worthy
receive from Christ are called his Body his flesh and Blood upon these three accounts 1. First because they have the like Natural Properties which Flesh and blood hath and tend to the like Ends and Purposes to which flesh and blood serveth For as this helpeth to corroborate and animate our Bodies so do these Divine Virtues help to strengthen and enliven our Souls In which respect Christ Panis est esca sanguis vita caro substantia panis propter nutrimenti congruentiam sanguis propter vivificationis efficientiam caro propter assumptae humanitatis proprietatem Panis iste communis in carnem sanguinem mutatus procurat vitam incrementum corporibus ideoque ex consueto rerum effectu fidei nostrae adjuta infirmitas sensibili argumento edocta est visibilibus Sacramentis in esse vitae eterne effectum c. Author de Can. Domini Cyprian is to us meat indeed and drink indeed for these Spiritual Influences which spring from him are as Flesh to feed and as Bloud to preserve our Spirits to Life everlasting 2. These Spiritual Virtues do issue immediately from Christs Humane Nature and therefore when we receive them we are truly said to participate of Christs Body For the Body of Christ by being united to the Deity is become a Quickning Body This S. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril Alex. in Joan. l. 4. of Alexandria teacheth us that the Son of God is by Nature Life as being begotten of the Living Father yet nevertheless that his Holy Body is Vivifick too as being joyned and United after an ineffable manner to the Word which Quickneth all things This S. Cyril of all the Ancient Doctors I know of hath given the Fullest the Clearest the most Substantial account of this matter though what he says is very agreeable to the sense of the Rest who by Christs Real Presence in the Sacrament understood nothing else but the Presence of those Heavenly Virtues and Influences which are called his Body because they are the Distillations and Effects of his Glorified Humane Nature For as a Learned Doctor of our own Church hath confidently affirmed though the Divine Nature be the Prime Fountain of life to Dr. Jaekt son vol. 3. l. 2. c. 3. all and an inexhaustible Fountain in it self yet a Fountain it is whereof we cannot drink save as it is derived to us through the Humane Nature of Christ And though God the Father doth convey unto us many inestimable blessings yet he conveys them only through his Son and not only through him as our Advocate or Intercessor but through him as our Mediator that is through his Humanity as the Organ or Conduit So that we are as truly said to partake of Christs Body when we partake of these Blessings as we can be said to partake of a Spring when we drink of the Waters which stream and flow from it 3. Besides nothing is more usual among Mankind than to give the Denomination of things to the Virtue and efficacy of those things So we are said to be warmed with the Fire when we onely feel its Heat and to have the benefit of the Sun when we are comforted onely with its Rayes Which Two Similitudes I make use of the rather not onely because they serve to illustrate the matter in hand but also because S. Chrysostome calls that Heavenly thing we receive at Sacrament Spiritual Fire and because the Holy Scripture it self calls our Ad Pop. Antioch Hom. 60. Saviour the Sun of Righteousness And as it is not Improper to say that the Sun though it be at a vaste distance from us reacheth every corner of the Earth so that in the Fields in our Houses in our Closest Retirements we feel it and nothing is hid from it from the moss upon the wall to the Vegetables that are wrapped up in the bosome of the earth when yet all these are cherisht not by the Sun it self but by its Beans onely so it is not a Paradox to believe that the Sun of Righteousness casteth his Influences from above and quickens his Church and every part thereof so that every heart that is not quite Dead in Trespasses and Sins Ecclesia corpus Christi effecta obsequitur capiti suo superius lumen in inferior a diffusum claritatis suae plenitudinae a fine usque ad finem attingens totum apud se manens totum se omnibus commodat caloris illius identitas it a corpori assidet uta capite non recedat Panis itaque hic azymus cibus verus sincerus per speciem Sacramentum nos tactu Sanctificat c. De Caena Dom. opusc S. Cypriano ascript like a Rotten Root Receives the benefit of his Operations neither is it any Impropriety of speech to say that our hearts are wrought upon by the Body of Christ that we are Partakers of his Body that we are enlivened and comforted by his very Body when we receive those Spiritual Virtues which are darted from that Glorified Body of his which is in Heaven 4. By this time I hope it doth appear how necessary the distinction is between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body and what is meant by that Spiritual Body and why it is so called I proceed next to shew that He hath indeed such a Spiritual Body wherewith he really quickneth and strengthneth every faithful Christian For the clearing hereof we must observe our Saviours discourse which the Jews in the sixth chapter of S Johns Gospel by occasion of their speaking of the Miracle of the Manna he told them that he would give his followers the true Bread from Heaven that his Flesh which he would give for the life of the World should be that Heavenly Bread that his Flesh should be meat indeed and his Bloud drink indeed and that it was necessary for every one who hoped for life to eat that Flesh and to drink that Bloud of his To conceive as the Socinians and some other modern Writers do that by his Flesh is meant his Doctrine only and that by eating his Flesh and drinking his Bloud is meant the Believing of his Doctrine and no more to me seems a forced a foreign and very weak Notion and an inexcusable act of Singularity For all the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Churches do with one mouth interpret our Saviours discourse of that Spiritual Communication of his Flesh and Bloud wherewith every good Christian is blest Now that our Saviour might make this credible and easie to his Auditors that his Flesh and Bloud should be meat and drink to the Souls of his Disciples he opens the matter to them these two ways 1. By intimating to them that he was to Ascend up in his Body into Heaven vers 62. what if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before For this reason saith Athanasius he put them in mind of his Ascension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas in illud si
quis dixerit verbum contra filium c. Tom. 1. P. 979. Edit Par. into Heaven that he might draw off their minds from Gross and Carnal Apprehensions and that they might thenceforth know that the Flesh he speak of was to be Food from above Heavenly and Spiritual nourishment that he S. Cyril Alex. in Joan. lib. 4. c. 22. was to give them And this was no more impossible for him to do than it was impossible for him to fly through the air he could as easily make his Body Spiritual and vital as he could make an Heavenly of an Earthly Substance especially since he was God which he put them in mind of by telling them that he was in Heaven before 2. But to clear the matter fully he Id. 16. c. 23. Interpreted himself to them vers 63. It is the Spirit that Quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing meaning as S. Cyril excellently understands it that though his Flesh considered in it self could not quicken any thing as standing in need it self of a quickning principle yet considering the Mystery of the Incarnation and how the Word dwelleth in the Flesh we are to conclude that even the Body of Christ hath a quickning Faculty being united to that Word which giveth life to all For the corruptible Nature of Man did not degrade the Word by being joyned unto it but became it self exalted into a far better condition so that though it Quickneth not of it self yet it doth by the Energy and Operation of the Word the Spirit or Deity of Christ the plenitude whereof dwelleth in our Saviours Flesh bodily and so maketh it Vivisick This truth being laid down that our Lords Body is full of Vital virtue by being united to the Godhead it followeth very plainly that we must not think of eating the Natural and Heavenly Substance of our Lords Body after a Bodily manner with our mouths But of receiving into our Hearts and Souls the Spiritual Virtues of his glorified Flesh with a lively Faith the words that I speak Ubi supra unto you they are Spirit and they are Life saith Christ meaning thus much according to Athanasius that my Body which is given for the World shall be given for food to be ministred to every one after a Spiritual manner his words are Spiritual and to be spiritually understood as S. Cyril S. Chrysostom and the rest all say that is to be interpreted of that Spirit which is Life and which giveth life and of those Spiritual Influences which come from Christs Heavenly Body by the virtue energy and operation of that Eternal vivifick Word which abideth in it From this whole discourse of our Saviour especially as it is explained by those two great Luminaries of the Church S. Cyril and Athanasius we are to conceive that the Humane Nature of Christ being taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril in Joan. lib. 4. c. 24. into God at his Incarnation and being vested with the Glories of Heaven upon his Ascension is so full of the Energy of the Divine Spirit that it is become a Spiritual Body Not that it hath lost the Nature of Flesh but because it is Hypostatically united to the Godhead by reason of which Union it is endued with an enlivening Quid est eundem nisi quia eum quem etiam nos S. Aug. Tom. 10. Hom. 27. Power and the Man Christ Jesus that Quickning Spirit doth through his Glorified Humanity dispense those Spiritual Virtues which are the proper Food and Nutriment of the Soul and are fitly called Christs Spiritual Body Christs Spiritual Flesh and Bloud This may be further illustrated yet by considering what S. Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. how that our Fathers in the wilderness did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same Spiritual drink meaning that they had the same Spiritual meat and drink with us For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that went with them and that Rock was Christ And how did they eat and drink of Christ but by receiving from him those Graces and Vertues which have all along been the Portion and Sustenance of the Faithful For Christ was with all Believers under the Law before his manifestation in the Flesh they were continually under his care and Providence their Souls lived by his Divine Influence as their Bodies were supported with Manna and were refresht by waters out of the Rock Now these were Figures of good things to come that when Christ the true Manna should descend from Heaven and should be smitten upon the Cross as the Rock which prefigur'd him was smitten with Moses Rod he would ever be life and aliment to those that should believe on his Name and that that Body of his which was to be smitten as the Rock was should send forth such abundant salutary streams of Living waters as would Quench the thirst of every true Israelite to all Eternity And this real but Ineffable presence of Christs Grace and Virtues is that which the Doctors of the Christian Church meant when they speak with such ravishment of the Presence of the Holy Jesus with us poor mortals in this vale of misery They entertain'd not any mean and nauseous conceits of the presence of Christs Natural Body whether in or out of the Sacrament but they were taken up with Noble and Lofty speculations and they fixt their minds upon the Divine and Mysterious consideration of those Beatifying streams of Grace which spring from Christ the Fountain of everlasting life and are conveyed unto his Church through his Humanity by the efficacious operation of his Divine Spirit The Anciens considered that the eating of Christ Natural Flesh and the drinking of his Natural Bloud were the thing possible and consistent with Humanity could not be profitable could not be to any purpose in comparison of those vital and operative Virtues which flow from Christ and Quicken all that are capable and apt to be quickned and therefore their meditations soared high they listed up their own minds to Heaven instead of bringing down Christ upon the Earth they minded and spake of the real presence of his Spiritual Body only And when we find some of them to speak as if the Nature and Substance of Christ were exhibited to us we should consider what they themselves meant by those and the like expressions For they spake like Divines that were full of Lofty and Seraphick notions and were forced to speak of Mysteries in a high strain giving the Elements in the Sacrament becoming and honourable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril ubi Supr Names but intending by the Flesh and Bloud of Christ the Virtue the Grace the Spirituallities and Efficacy of his Humane Nature as it is Quickned and made quickning to us by the Power of the Eternal Word in conjunction with it As S. Austin says Secundam Majestatem suam secundum providentiam secundum Ineffabilem Invisibilem Gratiam impletur quod ab
eo dictum est Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi Secundum carnem vero quod verbum assumpsit secundum id quod de Virgine natus est secundum id quod a Hudaeis prebensus est quod ligno confixus quod de cruce depositus quod linteis involutus quod in sepulchro conditus quod in resurrectione manifestatus non semper habebitis vobiscum S. Aug. Tractat. 50. in John plainly in respect of that Body which was assumed by the Word which was born of the Virgin which was apprehended by the Jews which was nailed to the Tree which was taken down from the Cross and was wrapped up and laid in the Sepulchre in respect of that Body we have him not with us but in respect of his Majesty in respect of his Providence in respect of his Ineffable and invincible Grace that promise of his is fulfilled lo I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the world And speaking of the Eucharist he doth distinguish between Nam nos bodie accipimus visibilem cibum used aliud est Sacramentum aliud virtus Sacramenti S. Aug. Tractat. 26. in John Usque ad Spiritûs participationem manducemus bibamus Id Tract 27. the Sacrament it self and the virtue of the Sacrament calling that the Grace of Christ which is not consumed with our Teeth and the participation of the Spirit This is that which S. Austin elsewhere calls the Intelligible the Invisible the Spiritual Body of Christ that which Ireneus calls the Heavenly thing that which Clement and Jerome call the spiritual Flesh and Bloud of the Lord That which Pseudo-Cyprian calls the Divine Virtue the Divine Essence the Divine Majesty the participation of the Spirit the drink which flowes and streams from that Spiritual Rock Christ Jesus That which S. Ambrose calls the spiritual Aliment and the Body of a Divine Spirit that which others call the Lords Immortality his Divine Body the Truth of his Body the Nutriment of the Inward Man the vital Pulment of the Incarnate Deity and divers other expressions we meet with in old Authors signifying the wonderful vertues of Christs Glorified Humanity whereof every Faithful Soul is made Partaker S. Ifidore Pelusiot conceived that the roasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Pelus Ep. 219. l. 1. of the Paschal Lamb with Fire did Typically fignifie that Christ the true Pasleover was to unite the Fire of the Divine Essence to his Flesh to be eaten of us That 's his Experssion and it shews his opinion that we receive the virtue of his Divine through his Humane Nature Among modern Foreign Writers none seems to me to have explained this thing better than the moderate and Judicious Author of the Diallacticon Eucharistiae a Book written about 130. years ago to compose all controversies Hoc corpus hunc sanguinem carnem hanc substantiam corporis non communi more nec ut humana ratio dictat accipi oportet sed it a nominari existimari credi propter eximios quosdam effectus virtutes proprietates conjunctas quae corpori sanguini Christi natura in sunt nempe quod Pascat animas nostras vivificet simul corpora ad resurrectionem immortalitatem praeparet Dialact pag. 33. 34. Non hic cogitandûm est nos crudas bominis carnes comedere vel sanguinem bibere Sed verba spiritalia esse spiritualiter intelligenda carnem quidem sanguinem nominari sed de Spiritu Vita idest vivifica dominicae carnis virtute debere intellagi c. Ibid. pag. 25. Quia figur a veri corporis panis est jure Corpus appellatur quia virtutem ejusdem vitalem conjunctam habet multo magis tum vero maxime quod utrumque complectitur Ibid. pag 54. Panis Domini Corpus Christi est quia gratiam virtutem ejus vitalem conjunctam habet Quod outem haec non commentitia aut nuper nata sententia est sed ab antiquis recepta approbata Scriptoribus claris ipsorum testimoniis confirmabimus Ibid. pag. 57. about the Sacrament and he too goes altogether this way shewing that that Body of Christ which is present with us is his spiritual Body and that we communicate thereof by deriving Efficacy Power and Vital Virtue from the Body of the Lord. And this account I am the better pleased and satisfied with because it was a Notion that was en tertained and really asserted by a very Learned Doctor of our own Church with Dr. Jack vol. 3. p. 325. Seq whose words I shall conclude this consideration we must not collect saith he that Christs Body because comprehended within the Heavens can exercise no real operation upon our Bodies or Souls here on Earth or that the live Influence of his Glorified Humane Nature may not be diffused through the World as he shall be pleased to dispense it no we must not take upon us to limit or bound the Efficacy of Christs Body upon the Bodies or Souls which he hath taken into his Protection there are Influences of Life which his Humane Nature doth distill from his Heavenly Throne And the Sacramental Bread is called his Body and the Sacramental Wine his Bloud as for other reasons so especially for this because the Virtue and Influence of his most Bloudy Sacrifice is most plentifully and most effectually distilled from Heaven unto the worthy Receivers and many more things he saith to the same effect By this account we may easily undergand the meaning of the sixth chapter of S. John which hath so puzled many Learned Interpreters and we may fairly give the reason of the Sentence of our Lords Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Bloud ye have no life in you For the Principle of life comes from our Lords Glorified Humanity and unless we receive into our Souls the vital Virtue which distilleth from it we can be in no other than a dead Condition I do not mean that 't is impossible to have life without receiving the Sacrament no there is that which Divines call a Sacramental and Spiritual receiving of Christ and a Spiritual receiving only when men eat and drink after a right manner they receive both the Sacrament and also the thing or virtue of the Sacrament but yet men may derive and by Faith do derive virtue from Christ without the Sacrament if they do not abstain through negligence or the love of sin and the like The Grace of God is not tyed to Sacraments so but that God may dispense it as he pleaseth nor are we to conceive that the Blessed Body of Christ doth quicken none but at the Communion CHAP. X. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Viscourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of
Body of Christ that is doth it not work this in Us that our bodies participate of the Immortality and glory of our Head This is the meaning saith he that the participation of the Bread and Cup of the Lord hath this effect that our souls and Bodies are thereby made conformable and Like to the soul and Body of our Redeemer We eat Id. in 1. ad Cor. cap. 11. and drink even to the participation of Christs Spirit so that we are the members of his Body and are enlivened by his Spirit Indeed Anselm was but a late Writer in comparison for he lived in the 11th Century But in this he spake the sense of the Ancient Doctors of the Catholick Church whose faith it was that Christs Humane nature by being united to the Deity hath a Quickning faculty so that all true believers do receive Quickning Virtues from him specially by a due use of the blessed Eucharist That this was the Catholick faith appears by one pregnant instance which hath not been taken notice of by many Writers upon this Subject A little above 400 years after our Saviour Nestorius the Heretick taught that the Divinity and Humanity of our Lord was not united in one person Upon this a General Council met at Ephesus and unanimously condemned this Heresie S. Cyril of Alexandria was a great man at the Council and had a great hand in the condemnation of Nestorius and one Reason he gave to justifie their proceedings was this because Nestorius by that his Doctrine made void the Virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Ephes of the Sacrament And how did they conclude so why this was the principle of S. Cyril and the rest of them that the Body of Christ is Vivifick and that the Souls of Communicants live by receiving Vital Virtue from it Now if as Nestorius said the Divinity and Humanity of Christ be not United it is impossible for his Flesh to yield any Life because no flesh quickneth of it self neither can Christs flesh Quicken but by the power of the Word Seeing therefore that Heretick denyed the Union between the Word and the Flesh of Christ it would follow of necessity that the Body of Christ is not vivifick and consequently that we receive no vital virtue from it at the Sacrament which Doctrine being contrary to the Common Faith the Author of it Nestorius and his followers were very justly Anathematiz'd Whosoever reads the History of that Council with indifferency of judgement may easily perceive that the sence of the Church at that time was that at the Holy Communion men receive Divine and heavenly Virtues from our Saviours glorified Humanity so that we live by Him through the Communication of his Virtues as he himself lived by the Father through the Communication of his Nature And I am sufficiently satisfied that this was the faith of the Catholick Church both before that Councel and also for many ages after it Thus when St. Ignatius intimates that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Christ 't is clear to me that he meant Christs spiritual Flesh as Clemens Alexandrinus and St. Jerome expresly called it meaning the Spiritual Virtue of his flesh by reason of its Hypostatical Union with the Deity When Ireneus said that the Eucharist consisteth of two things the Earthly and the Heavenly thing 't is plain that by the Heavenly thing he meant not Christs solid Natural Body but that Heavenly Grace and Virtue which goeth along with the Sacrament When Justin Martyr compared the Mystery of the Eucharist with the Mystery of the Incarnation I cannot doubt but he meant that as in the one there was a Personal union between Humanity and Divinity so in the other there is a Sacramental Union between Bread and Spirit when the Pseudo Dionysius affirms De Eccl. Hier. c. 3. that by the Sacrament we Communicate of the Divine things of Christ 't is but fair to understand him to speak of those Divine Virtues and influences wherewith the Holy Jesus doth bless every humble and devout heart When Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. 2. c. 2. distinguisheth the spiritual Blood of Christ from that which is fleshly and moreover saith that by drinking the bloud of Jesus is meant the being made partaker of the Lords Incorruption any man may see that he spake of the Spiritual Virtues of Christs Blood whereby we are purified sanctified and fitted for a blessed Immortality When Theodotus affirmed that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodot in fine oper Clem. Alex. pag. 800. the power of the Spirit the Bread is changed into a spiritual virtue his plain meaning was that there is a change not of the substance but of the quality of the Bread so that by the manducation thereof spiritual Virtue is given to the worthy Receiver When Origen speaking of the Bread calls it the Typycal and Symbolical Body of Christ or the figure and Type In Matth. 15. of it and then presently mentions by way of distinction the Word it self which was made flesh and is the true food which whosoever eateth shall live for ever it is most reasonable to understand him to speak of that vital and Divine virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Catech. m yst-8 which goes along with the symbol and is derived from the Word which is the suitable food of the Soul as bread is of the Body When Athanasius understands by the flesh of Athanas in illud quicunque dixerit verbum c. Christ that Heavenly food from above that spiritual Alimony which Christ gives us from Heaven what else could he mean but those Divine and Caelestial Virtues whereby he strengthneth and refresheth every craving Soul tho in the substance of his Natural body he be absent from us When according to Julius Fermicus Ipse ut Majestatis suae substantiam credentibus tradens ait nisi edevitis carnem filiis hominis c. Jul. Firmic de Errore Profan Gent. in Bibliotheca Patrum the receiving the substance of Christs Majesty is the very same thing with the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his Blood what can he mean by the substance of Christs Majesty but those substantial and Divine influences which come from his Throne of Glory whereby we are made partakers of the Divine Nature as St. Peter Si ergo nos naturaliter secundum carnem per eum vivimus id est Naturam carnis suae adepti c. Hilar. de Trin. lib. 8. speaks or as St. Hilary expresseth it whereby we are made partakers of the Nature of his Flesh glorified when St. Cyril of Jerusalem saith of the Bread as he did of the Oyntment which was used in those days that after St. Cyril Cateeh 3. Invocation it is not any common or inconsiderable thing but the gift of Christ and of the Holy Spirit made efficacious by the presence of his God-head how
of a more Noble importance and signification and so they troubled not the Lord with enquiries being sufficiently satisfied of the Nature and meaning of such solemnities And this we may suppose to have been the Reason too why we find so few directions in the Scriptures of the New Testament about preparing our selves for a worthy eating of this Blessed Sacrament For there is little or nothing said upon this Subject setting aside what Saint Paul once occasionally said of self examination in 1 Cor. 11. 28. For the thing was not so very needful because such directions might easily be drawn even from the consideration of the Nature and ends of this Holy Banquet and men already had great impressions and apprehensions of their duty in order to a due celebration of those Solemnities to which this Mystery was Parallel and Analogous With what Religion did the very Heathens prepare themselves by washing their Bodies and by abstaining from worldly and Carnal Pleasures before they addressed themselves to the Tables of their Gods And with what care and curiosity did the Jews pick every Crum of Leaven out of their houses and use other observances before they presumed to eat of the Passeover The very resemblance and Analogy between this Mystery and that is enough to minister directions about preparing and purifying our Spirits in order to it and whatsoever is necessary in that point may be easily gathered and concluded from the consideration of the Purport and reason of this Holy Rite All which is lost by mens taking no notice of that Analogy which it bears to other Sacrifical Feasts and therefore it is no wonder that the Socinians speak so coldly of this matter and that they are as superficial and slight about the business of preparation as they are slovenly Rude and irreverent at the Celebration of this Mystery These things being laid down as the Foundation and Ground-work of what I have to say upon this subject the task I have undertaken will be attended with the fewer difficulties the true notion of this Sacrament will be the more readily conceived the great errors about it will be the more easily removed the truths concerning it will be settled with the greater firmness and solidity and every thing will be apprehended I hope with the greater perspicuity and clearness which is the thing that I much aim at in this whole matter The sum briefly is this that this Christian Rite is a Sacrifical Banquet which beareth some proportionable likeness to those Sacrifical Banquets which were Religiously Celebrated of Old by the generality of mankind So that as Jews and Heathens were wont to feed upon a Sacrificed Beast so we Christians do feed upon a Sacrificed Redeemer after a Corporeal manner we feed upon the Figure of him that is we partake of Bread instead of that his Flesh which is his Natural Body but after a Spiritual manner we feed upon him Himself that is we partake of his Virtues and Divine nature which is his Spiritual Body CHAP. II. Of the Ends of this Sacrament First it is a Memorial of Christs Love proved from Christs own words From its Analogy to other Sacrifical Banquets and from the Practice of the Ancient Church Two inferences the one against Romanists the other against our Dissenters THe Nature of this Mystery being unfolded proceed we in the next place to consider the Ends and Purposes for which it was appointed 1. Now one great End is readily granted on all hands only some differ a little about rendring the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the expression in the Original 1. Some render it Recordatio as if this solemnity was intended to put men in mind of Christs passion and to bring his Love to their remembrance Nor have the Socinians sufficient reason Nisi quis antequam illuc accedat non modo rectè mortis Christi meminerit sed ejus efficaciam fructumjam interiore animo gustet ac sentiat indignus planè est qui eò accedat Socin ubi Supra to quarrel with this interpretation because as they argue men ought to remember the Lords Passion before they come to the Lords Supper 'T is true we ought to do so and 't is as true that this solemnity is a proper means to excite us to do so to engage us to sequester some time for antecedent Meditations to consider of the Divine goodness and of our own unworthiness before hand to view the several parts of our Saviours Life and sufferings and to observe the greatness of his love throughout the whole that we may come to the Holy Table with souls possest with a deep sense of God mercies and with hearts full of zeal of thankfulness of repentance and of Devotion which we are apt at other times not to be so solicitously careful of At the institution of the Passeover the Jews were commanded to take the Lamb into their houses on the tenth day of Nisan and to Keep it up until the fourteenth of the same Month Exod. 12. And one reason which the Jews give of this is that in those four days by having the Lamb under their eye they Paul Fagius in Exod 12. might be stirred up to continual considerations and conferences of their Redemption out of Egypt for which reason they have a Tradition on among them that during those four days the Lamb was tyed by a bed-side And thus do the thoughts of this Christian Feast when it is near at hand very much serve to excite men to the most serious considerations of the Redemption of all Mankind by that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World And besides the breaking of the Bread and the pouring forth of the Wine together with the mention that then is made of our Lords death do abundantly serve to imprint in our minds a memory of the Passion after a most lively end efficacious manner so that it is not in any wise an Unfit or Improper way of speaking to say that this Sacrament is unto us a Remembrancer of our Duty 2. But secondly the generality of Divines render the Word as the Socinians do Commemoratio meaning that this Mystery was appointed as a Test of mens constancy that to the Worlds end they might publickly Profess their Faith in a crucified Redeemer by shewing forth their dear Lords death and by constantly celebrating the memorial of his bitter but meritorious Passion I shew'd before how the Jews were wont at their Paschal Supper to commemorate and express the joyful sense they had of the deliverance of their Nation from the Brick-Kilms and the Cruelties of the Egyptians In like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysoft in Pascha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non solum inter Sacrificia sed etiam in conviviis in omnibus solennitatibus antiquorum erant sermones de rebus ab illis diis gestis Nat. Com. mythol l. 1. c. 1. Inter vescendum laudes diis canere assuer
then to eat of the Sacrifices as a Covenant Rite between them and their Gods To all which let me add in the last place that St. Paul calls the eating of those Heathen Sacrifices the having of Fellowship with Devils 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles Sacrifice they Sacrifice to Devils and not to God and I would not that ye should have Fellowship with Devils Where it is observable what the Apostle saith ver 15. I speak as to Wise men judge ye what I say He knew they could not be so void of common sense as not to understand the meaning of those Mystical Solemnities because all intelligent men in the world knew that they were so many bonds of Friendship and Amity with their Gods 2. This then being so clear I proceed to shew in the second place that those Sacrifical Feasts which were used by the Jews according to the Law were also visible and customary Rites whereby they Covenanted with the true God In Psal 50. 5. saith God gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Hence it appears that the offering a Sacrifice was a Foederal Rite whereby God and his people became One. Upon which account it was that Salt was used in Sacrifices by Gods own direction Levit. 2. 13. Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with Salt with all thine offerings thou shalt offer Salt For all Nations lookt upon Salt as a token of Love a Pledge and Symbol of Peace and Friendship And the reason of it is given by Eustatius as he is cited by Doctor Hammond on St Mark 9. 50. * because as Salt Numa Pompilius deos fruge coli mola salsâ supplicari instituit quam molam ex farre sale aqua composuit sine quâ nullum Sacrificium ratum fieri censuit Alex. ab Alex. genial dier lib. 3. cap. 12 Multi modii salis simul edendi sunt ut amicitiae munus expletum sit Cic. de amicitia Graeci vino madentes oleoperungunt sale qui etiam ante reliquas dapes sal velut Amicitiae symbabolum hospitalibus apponant Alex ab Alex. l. 5. c. 21. being compacted of many drops of Water every one in it self of a Fluid and Unsteady nature becomes one solid body so they that from distant places Conjoyn into a League of Friendship meet together both in place and friendly disposition Hence Dicitur sal faederis dei quod deus exigat tanquam firmissimum faedus ut sal in quavis Mincha adhibeatur alias firma pacta dicuntur pacta salis Numer 18. Hanc cerimoniam à Patribus acceptam etiam Ethnici in suis Sacris observarunt nulla enim Sacra conficiebantur apud eos sine mola Salsâ P. Fagius in Levit. 2. 't is called the Salt of the Covenant Levit 2. 13. ratione Foederis saith Paulus Fagius because it was a Token of that Permanent and firm Covenant which Men made with God by Sacrifice And the Heathens themselves observed this custome of Salting their offerings for the partaking of Salt was an Instrument and Pledge of Amity like a Solemn Oath as He in Origen said which 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. contra Cels lib. 2. pag. 74. Edit Cantab. a wicked and disgraceful thing for any man to violate Sacrificing then being a Covenanting Rite feasting upon the Sacrisice was a Rite of the same Nature Both Solemnities were looked upon but as one and the latter was only the Complement the Close the Finishing os the former And to this purpose Nullum ferê Sacrificium sine aliquo epulo vicissim nullum pâ—nè epulum etiam profanum publicum praesertim sine sacris quibusdam ritibuÌ„s atque cerimoniis fuit celebratum Quin ipsa quoque Sacrificia quid fuerunt aliud quà m quaedam quasi epulae atque convivia secundum illud Poetae Epulis accumbere Divûm Stuckius Sacrific Sacror desorip I understand those words in Psal 50 16. unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy Mouth By taking Gods Covenant into ones Mouth is meant Eating the Signes and Symbols of the Covenant the partaking of those Sacrifical Banquets which were a Token of Gods Covenant As if he had said what have wicked men to do to Feast before me pretending thereby to be in Covenant with me seeing they hate to be reformed This is a Natural and easie explication of that place and it makes it very plain that the Eating of Gods Sacrifices was a Foederal Solemnity And a clear instance of this we have in Exod. 24. where we find the Covenant renewed between God and the Children of Israel they solemnly undertaking and Vowing that they would do all that the Lord had said and would be obedient Upon this burn offerings and peace offerings are Sacrificed upon an Altar built on purpose there for that occasion and then we read that Moses and Aaron with the seventy Nobles of the Children of Israel went up to God and saw his Glory on the Mount and there did Eat and Drink saith the Text ver II. It was a Sacrifical-Feast which they Celebrated in their own names and in the Names of all the Congregation to confirm and ratifie that Covenant which they had openly and universally engaged to keep For want of minding which thing many learned Expositors and the Chaldee Paraphrast himself have been strangely mistaken in their sense of that place of Scripture I doubt not but the Paschal Supper was a Foederal rite too as other the like Sacrifical Feasts were For Moses commanding a memorial of the Passeover in Exod. 13. gave this as one Reason of it ver 9. it shall be a sign unto thee upon thine hand and for a memorial between thine eyes that the Lords Law may be in thy mouth Meaning that the Paschal Solemnity was to be a Token and sign of their Covenant with God to put them in mind of those Obligations they were under to perform the Terms of that Covenant which was sealed with the blood of the Lamb. Nay if the Passeover had not been a very Solemn Foederal Banquet we cannot easily conceive why strangers and uncircumcised persons were forbidden to eat of it For the Law was very strict and express as to that in Exod. 12. No stranger shall Eat thereof but every mans servant that is bought for mony when thou hast Circumcised him then shall he eat thereof a foreigner and hired Servant shall not Eat thereof The reason is plain and obvious because the Paschal Solemnity was a Covenant-rite which did not belong unto those who did not belong to that Covenant which God had made with his pecuculiar People the Children of Israel Having thus made it evident that the Sacrifical Feasts of old were Foederal or Covenant Mysteries and were so esteemed both by Jews and Heathens Satis constat hanc
olim fuisse nunc quoque esse omnium fere gentium consuetudinem ut partim sacris quibusdam ceremoniis libationibus atque victimis partem symposiis adhibitis faedera atque contractus quibus ineantur stabiliantur atque confirmentur Stuck Antiq. convivial lib. 1. cap. 30. I proceed now to shew in the third place that this Evangelical Feast is a solemnity of the like Nature For tho we should suppose that nothing to this purpose was said at the institution of it yet the very Analogy and Resemblance that is between this and other Sacrifical Banquets doth sufficiently argue that this Solemnity was intended to be a Federal rite between the Church and Christ This is the very principle upon which the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 10. where going about to shew how unlawful it is for Christians to eat of things offered to Idols he layeth down this Proposition that by a due use of this Blessed Sacrament we Communicate of Christs Body and Blood and are Foederally united to him so that as the Loaf we eat of is one even so are we one Body with Christ our Head by being partakers of that one Loaf This is the meaning and substance of the 16. and 17. verses And to make this the more evident he draws a Parallel and shews the Analogy between this and other Sacrifical Banquets Behold Israel after the flesh ver 18. are not they which eat of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar i. e. are they not in Foederal Communion with God whose Altar it is Why even so they who sacrifice to Devils are in Foederal Communion with Devils are joyned to Devils have Fellowship with Devils and therefore it is not lawful for us to eat of those Sacrifices because it is not possible for us to Communicate with Devils and with Christ too This is a plain and pregnant proof that this Evangelical Mystery is as other Mysteries of the like Nature anciently were a visible Rite of Covenanting But besides the Analogy of this sacrifical Feast our Saviours words at the institution do sufficiently shew it to be a Foederal Ceremony For speaking of the Cup or of the Wine in the Cup he said This is my Blood of the New Covenant for so it should be rendred instead of New Testament as if he had said this is the Representation of that blood of mine which is the Seal of that new Covenant that is now between us or as St. Luke relates it This Cup is the new Covenant in my Blood that is the sealing unto you the New Covenant As Circumcision is called the Covenant of Circumcision Act. 7. 8. because it was the Token and Seal whereby the Covenant between God and Abraham was ratified so is the Cup in this Holy Sacrament called the New Covenant because it is the Sign and Pledge whereby the New Covenant of Grace is sealed between God and all faithful Communicants Formerly it was a Custome in some parts Grot. in Matth. 26. 27. Alex. ab Alexand. lib 5. c. 3. de Medis Lydis Carmanis Scythis Armeniis Hyrcanis c. of the World for men to enter into Covenants by drinking of Blood as the Learned Grotius and others have rightly observed But because this was an inhumane way people that were more civilized were wont to enter into Pacts and Covenants by drinking of Wine instead of Blood Now since our Saviour said that the Wine in his hands which was instead of his Blood and a Symbol of it was the Cup of the new Covenant we may easily discern that he did intend this as a Foederal Solemnity as an Obsiguation of those promises and Engagements which are on the Churches part and on his part also The Socinians therefore do abuse the World with a very great Error in teaching that there is no manner of Obsignation at the Lords Supper For the thing is evident and clear that this is a Covenant-Ordinance and then it must follow as I shall shew in the next Chapter that here we do stipulate to God that we will live up to Christs Religion according to our Power and that God doth also stipulate to us that upon our so doing he will perform all those promises of Grace and mercy which he hath made to the Church in his only begotten To this that hath been said it may add a little strength if we observe that our blessed Saviour himself exprest the making of Covenants under the the notion of Eating and Drinking So he represents Hypocrites pleading for themselves Luke 13. 26. We have eaten and drunk in thy presence Meaning that some may profess to be in Covenant with him and to hold Occasional Communion with his Church too but yet that all their fair shews and pretences shall not serve their turn in that day when the workers of iniquity shall be cast everlastingly from his presence Thus also when he saith Apocal. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me his meaning is that he will enter into the strictest League and ingage in an unviolable Contract of Love and Friendship with every obedient heart For those vulgar expressions are no other then Condescentions to vulgar Capacities Because such actions were reputed by all Mankind to be Symbols of Peace and arguments of good will therefore our Saviour chose to express his divine Philanthropy after that manner and when Divines do accomodate such expressions to the business of the Holy Sacrament they go upon this ground because this religious eating and drinking is a feasting with God now as it was in the days of old in a Foederal or Covenant way I have been the longer and the more particular upon this point that I might make every thing intelligible as I go along and withal might open the sense of some places of Scripture which otherwise cannot be so rightly understood Now from these premises there are two things which I shall conclude by way of application 6. First that men ought to come to the Blessed Sacrament upon great Consideration and with all imaginable Sincerity We had need be serious when we have to do with God and never more than when we intend to approach before Gods Altar lest by going to it after a rash and inconsiderate manner we take a large step towards our own destruction Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear or obey than to give the Sacrifice of Fools for they consider not that they do evil saith the Royal Preacher Eccles 5. 1. For the Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind Saith the same Solomon Pro. 21. 27. 'T is enough to strike the heart even of an Infidel through with trembling and horrour to consider that people professing so much sanctity and zeal should dare to be such audacious Hypocrites as
Nor am I insensible how wary and Cautious Divines are what they say and how they unfold their thoughts of this matter Indeed it is that which requires of us a great deal of Consideration and Pains aswell to Conceive a Right notion of it as to Express it so as to make it Intelligible to others But not withstanding the Difficulty of the thing it being so very Usefull and Necessary for the Satisfaction of every mans mind I shall take upon me to discourse of it at large but without trangressing I hope the due bounds of Modesty and Truth To clear my way as I go from one foul mistake we are to note that Christ is not so present in the Sacrament as to be eaten after a Carnal and Gross manner neither are the Elements so changed by any act of Consecration as to be turned out of one substance into another out of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Substance of our Lords Natural Flesh and Bloud This indeed is the Faith of the whole Roman Church and they have Invented the word Transubstantiation to signifie and Express their Faith and it implyeth these three things 1. That the Nature and Matter of the Elements vanisheth away 2. That the Accidents thereof as they call it meaning the Colour the Smell the Taste the Quantity of the Elements do all remain without their Proper and Natural suject 3. That Christ's Natural Body supplyeth the room of Bread and that this Bloud is in the Place of Wine Now I might pass over this with quick dispatch by referring you to a great many Learned and Unanswerable Books which have been written against this Monstrous Error to say no worse of it but to save you the charge and pains of so much travel I desire you 1. To Consider in general that there are four things which are Infallibly able to satisfie a mans Judgement as to the Truth or Falsity of any thing whatsoever viz. The Use of our Senses the Suffrage of Right Reason the Authority of Divine Revelation and the help of Tradition And if men will pertinaciously contend for a proposition in spight of the Concurrent Evidence which is given against it by all these Demonstrative mediums which ought and are enough to Convince every man they were as good tell us plainly that they are Resolved to be Infidels or Scepticks or to believe no more than what they themselves please for stronger arguments than these four can never be offered to any Now thus stands the case between Us and the Romanists they dispute for their beloved Doctrine of Transubstantiation and to maintain the Controversie they appeal to the Definitious of their own Church that is they will be Parties and Judges too We plead against their Doctrine that 't is contrary to every Test which should govern Rational Creatures in their Sentiments And though the very Mentioning of this palpable Error be enough to Expose it to Scorn and Laughter yet for the further discovery thereof observe in particular 1. How it contradicted the Testimony of our very Senses We cannot conceive but that God gave us our Senses as helps to inform our Understanding nor can it be supposed with any Colour of Truth that all men should be Constantly deceived in the perpetual use of their Senses when their Faculties are Good and the Object of their Sense is Adequate and Proper this would be as Ridiculous and Absurd as to say that none of us yet ever saw the light tho our eyes be open and the Sun every day Appears Now that which we contend for is as clear to our Sense as the Sun is at high Noon For we see it we smell it we taste it we feel it by Four of our Senses we find what we receive at the Communion to be Bread and Wine and why should we fancy our selves deceived in this case more then S. Thomas was when he put his finger into our Saviorus Side why should not we be satisfied by so many of our Senses that it is Bread and Wine when He was convinced by his bare Touch that it was his Lord and his God Upon two accounts it is impossible for Considering men to think that a Fallacy can be put upon us in this matter For 1. should we Suppose the Omnipotent power of God could turn Bread into Flesh the Species of Bread remaining still yet it would not at all answer that great End for which Miracles have been ever wrought and therefore it is not Reasonable for us to believe that God would do it It would be indeed the Greatest of all Miracles and infinitely beyond that which our Saviour Himself did when he turned Water into Wine for there the Colour the Taste the Smell the Operation of Water was changed as well as the Substance And as it is not in the least probable that every the Meanest Priest should every day do a Greater Miracle than ever our Lord himself did so it is not in the least Credible that God Himself would do a Miracle but to convince men of Some Necessary and Important Truth Should he do a Miracle for no other end but onely to shew his Power of necessity it must must be Seen it must be shewed in some sensible instance for otherwise it could not be a Demonstration of his Omnipotence But God never yet did any Miracle for the Miracle-sake but that thereby he might Attest the Truth of some Doctrine and might Convince men of Something which they could not well be convinced of but by Gods setting his own Seal to it after that manner For which reason all Miracles have been still Apparent and Open to the Senses and 't is Necessary they should be so because they would be of no Use were they not perceived neither could they prove any thing unless they themselves were Manifest And if we reckon up all the Miracles that ever were done in the world from the days of Moses to the times of the Gospel we shall find that instead of being Concealed and Hid from men they have been always Exposed and made Plain to mens Senses Now this doth utterly baffle the groundless pretence of Transubstantiation for that Doctrine supposeth God to do the Highest Miracle that ever was done to no Necessary purpose neither to edifie Us not to shew Himself and how can we think that he will make Wonders and his Power Cheap and with an Almighty hand alter the Course and Nature of things so as not to Glorifie himself nor to do Us Good by so doing This would be a Miracle that could not in any wise serve the Ends of all Miracles and it becomes us not to believe that the All-good and All wise God will deceive four of our Senses at once to no End at all since it hath been all along the method of his Providence to satisfie All our Senses for the Best purposes But this is not all there is secondly a Worse thing behind yet The Romanists by crying down the
Ignatius the Martyr who lived in the Apostolical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrnaeos age that they would not receive the Sacrament because they would not Confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour which suffered for our Sins and which was raised again by the goodness of the Father Undoubtedly the Holy Martyr meant that they would not own the Bread to be the Sign and Figure of Christs Body as all Catholicks then believed For the Question was whether our Saviour lived and dyed and rose again in a true Humane Body The Church proved that he did so because he appointed bread to be the Figure of his Body But had they believed the Doctrine of Transubstantiation it would have proved that Christ had a Body which was made of meal not of the substance of the Virgin a Body which did not suffer upon the Cross nor Rise again but it would never have proved that which the Catholicks contented for and so they would have Lost the Question in hand and made Si propterea Corpus sibi finxit quia corporis carebat veritate ergo panem debuit tradere pro nobis Faciebat ad vanitatem Marcionis ut panis cruâ—ifigeretur Tertull. adv Marcion lib 4. themselves Ridiculous to their Adversaries Seeing then the Church in those times believed the bread to be the Figure and Image of Christs Body as Tertullian and Origen affirmed and S. Ignatius meant it is Nonsence to conceive that they believed it to be his very Natural Flesh For how can it be the Figure of a thing and the very real thing too How can I call this the Picture of Christ if I believe it to be Christ himself How can I say it is the Image Nemo potest ipse sibiâ— Imago sui esse Ambros de Fide lib. 1. Neque ipse sibi quisquam imago Hilar. Imago corporis non potest esse ipsum divinum Corpus Concil Nicaen 2. Actione 6. Pignus imago alterius rei sunt id est non adse sed ad aliud aspiciunt Bertram de Corp. Sang. Christi of his Flesh if it be the very Same This doth evidently shew that the Ancient Church did not in the least imagine that the bread is turnd into his very natural Body 3. It is observable that the Primitive Christians aknowledged two distinct Natures in the Sacrament meaning the material Element and that blessed Spiritual thing which goes along with it Thus we are told by Ireneus who was but one remove from the Apostles that the bread which is of the Earth after the calling upon God is no longer || E terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena caelesti Iren. adv Haer. l. 4. c. 34. Common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things an Earthly and an Heavenly thing Thus also Origen doth distinguish the Typical and Symbolical body of Christ meaning the †Materia Panis Orig. in Matth. c. 25. Haec quidem de Typico Symbolicoque corpore Multa porro de ipso verbo dici possunt quod factum est caro verus cibus Ibid. Bread from his True Humane Nature which he calls the Word that was made Flesh the true Food of life So likewise * Nec panem reprobavit Christus quo ipsum corpus suum representavit Tertull. adv Marcion l. 1. Tertullian doth distinguish the Bread which represents Christs Body from the Body it self which is represented by it In like manner the Author of the book de Caena Domini ascribed to S. Cyprian doth distinguish between the bodily Substance of the Holy Viands and that Divine Virtue which is present with them Lastly S. Austin Hoc est quod dicimus hoc modis omnibus approbare contendimus Sacrificium scilicet Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili Elementorum specie invisibili Domini nostri Jesu Christi carne sanguine Sacramento Re Sacramenti id est Corpore Christi August apud Gratian. de Consecratione distinct 2. c. 48. as he is quoted by the Collector of the Decrees is positive and plain that the Sacrifice of the Church is made up of two things consisteth of two things the visible Substance of the Elements for that is the meaning of the word species among the Ancients and the Invisible Flesh and Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament or the thing Communicated by the Sacrament namely the Body of Christ To which purpose S. Austin speaks himself up and down in many places of his Writings By this it doth appear that the Christian Doctors for the Quia omnis res illarum rerum naturam veritatem in se continet ex quibus conficitur Id. Ibid. first 400. years acknowledged two distinct and real natures to make up the Eucharist for every thing contains in it the Nature and Truth of those things whereof it doth consist saith S. Augustin which they could not have acknowledged had they conceived the Nature and Substance of the Elements to be turned into the Nature and Substance of Christs Body and Bloud Transubstantiation implyes the total Destruction of the Earthly Nature and Substance which is utterly repugnant to the sense of the Ancients of whom we confidently affirm that as with one mouth they still called it Bread even when 't is broken distributed and received so they distinguisht it still from that which is Represented by the Bread And so true is this that the Whereas in the genuine Epistle of Ignatius ad Philadelph it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Interpolator renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. very Interpolator of Ignatius and the Ancient Interpreter of his Epistles speaking of the Eucharist say There is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus and one Bloud which was shed for us and there is one Bread or Loaf which is broken for all Which Observation makes it clear that the Bread and Christs Flesh were believed to be two distinct Natures and so that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation was not thought of in that age wherein that Interpolator and Interpreter did live whensoever that was 4. For the further clearing of this thing yet it is observable in the fourth place of the Primitive Fathers that they Resembled the Union of those two Natures in the Sacrament to the Union of the Two Natures in our Saviours Person To this purpose Justin Martyr discoursing of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the words of Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Eucharist saith we do not receive those things as common bread or common drink but as Jesus Christ our Saviour was by the word of God made Flesh and had Flesh and Bloud for our salvation so we believe that Food which is blessed by Prayer and by
his word whereby our Flesh and Bloud are by alteration nourisht to be the Flesh and Bloud of our Incarnate Saviour As Christ was God and man by the union of two real and distinct Substances the Humane and divine Substance so must the Eucharist be believed to consist of two real and distinct Natures the visible and invisible nature which Joannes Langus observed to be so strong an Argument against Transubstantiation that the Expurgatory Indexes have ordered his Annotations upon those words of Justin to be Quod Transubstantiationem non agnoseit sed apertè contendat cum corpore sanguine Christi remanere veram panis vini Substantiam Ind. Belgic p. 76. blotted out So he that wrote the forementioned book of the Lords Supper affirmeth that as in the Person of Christ the Humanity was seen and the Divinity was hid so in the visible Sacrament the Divine Essence infuseth it self after an invisible and ineffable manner S. Augustin S. Hillary and others of the Antients use the very same similitude and conclude that the Mystery of the Eucharist where two real Vide Augustin in Gratian de Consecr Distinct 2. c. 72. Hilar. de Trin. 1. 8. Ibid. c. 82. Natures go together in the same Sacrament is like the Mystery of the Incarnation where two real Substances were united together in the same Person For the Romanists themselves dare not say that only the Accidents of Humanity were in our Lord at his Incarnation and therefore they ought not to say neither that only the Accidents of bread and wine are in the Eucharist after Consecration At least they ought not to appeal to Antiquity for this conceit it being plainly the sense of the Primitive Church that as the Nature of Man was neither abolisht nor changed into Christs Divinity when 't was united to it so neither is the nature of bread abolisht or changed into Christs Body when 't is administred with it 5. It is observable that whereas some Hereticks in the Ancient times denyed our Saviour to have two several Natures the Catholicks proved he had so by this known received Principle because there are two several Natures in the Sacrament which is a Figure of Christ This is a thing which requires particular observation because it will clearly and undeniably prove that the sense of the Church which I have shewn for the first 300. years was the same still and indeed more plain if possible for the two Centuries next following The occasion of their speaking so plainly was this Between the third and fourth Century there brake out the pestilent heresie of Apollinaris S. Aug. de Haeres c. 55. who held that our Lord took not his Body of the holy Virgin but that the Word was made Flesh so that the Deity was turned and transubstantiated into the Manhood Against this Heresie S. Chrysostom undertook the defence of the Catholick Faith that Christ at his Incarnation was both God and Man one Person of two Natures joyned together which are not one Substance but each hath its Properties distinct from the other And how doth he prove this Why he argues from the condition of the Holy Sacrament wherein there are two Natures so that neither is the Bread turned into Christs Flesh nor his Flesh into Bread but both are distinct Sicut enim antequam Sanctisicetur panis panem nominamus Divina autem illum Sanctificante gratia medinate Sacerdote liberatus est quidem ab appellatione Panis dignus autem habitus est Dominici Corporis â—appellatione ersi Natura panis in ipso Permansâ—t non duo corpora sed unum flii corpus praedicatur sic hîc divina insidente corpori natura unum filium unam personam utraque haec fecerunt S. Chrysoft Ep. ad Caesarium contra Appollinarem in themselves though they go As saith S. Chrysostom before the Consecration of the bread we call it bread but when the Grace of God hath sanctified it by the Priest it is delivered from the name of Bread and is exalted to the Lords Body though the Nature of Bread remaineth still and so two things make one Eucharist so here the Divine Nature is in the Body of Christ but these two Substances are distinct and make one Son and one Person This is a very plain testimony on our side Afterwards the Apollinarians were divided in their opinions for they shifted and were Unstable for want of truth and then Theodoret took up the quarrel against them all in his book entitled Polymorphos For then the Heresie of Eutyches appeared abroad whose opinion was that though Christ had at First two Natures yet after the Union of them the Humanity ceased was quite absorpt and Transubstantiated into the Divinity To prove this those Hereticks drew an argument from the Eucharist Christs Body said they was turned into his Deity at the Ascension even as the Bread and Wine are turned into his Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret Dialog 1. and Bloud upon Consecration But to his Theodoret answered roundly that Christ honoured the visible Symbols with the name of his Body and Bloud not changing their Nature but to their Nature adding Grace And whereas it was urged again by those Hereticks that the Symbols of the Lords Body and Bloud are one thing before Invocation and another thing after Theodoret told them that they were taken in their own nets because the Mystical Signs do not Id. Dialog 2. depart from their own Nature after Sanctification but Remain in their former Substance aswell as in their Figure and form If this be not Home and Plain I know not what can be and yet we have a Further Testimony from the mouth of Gelasius who was Bishop of Rome too about 500 years after our Saviour He wrote an Excellent Book of the Two Natures of Christ against the Eutychians and Nestorians and how doth he argue Why he clears the Catholick Faith by arguing from the Eucharist too and these Gelas de duabus Naturis in Christo are his words Indeed the Sacraments of Christ Body and Bloud which we receive are a Divine thing for by them we are made partakers of the Divine Nature and yet it doth not cease to be the Substance or Nature of Bread and Wine The Image and Similitude of Christs Body and Bloud is in the Action of the Mysteries and by this it appears that we must think that to be in Christ which we Profess celebrate and take in the Image that as they pass into a Divine Substance by the Operation of the Holy Spirit the Nature of the things remaining still in their own Propriety so is the Principal Mysterie the Efficiency and Virtue whereof the Sacraments do Represent by their Continuing what they were it appears that they shew one entire and true Christ to continue also If this be not enough yet we will produce Ephraim the Patriarch for another witness after Gelasius He wrote very learnedly against
the same heresies and even he draws one of his Arguments from the blessed Eucharist likewse and he is as Positive as can be that the Body of Christ meaning the Symbolical Body as Origen In Photii Biblioth cod 229. called it that is the Bread which is received by the Faithful doth not depart out of its sensible Substance and Nature and yet remaines undivided from the Spiritual Grace and to clear his meaning fully he shews in the very next words that the Elements in the Eucharist are no more changed than the water is in Baptism which Remaineth still water after Sanctification Thus these four Great men S. Chrysostome Theodoret Gelasius and Ephraim delivered the Sense of the Catholick Church in their times and if you add them to the forementioned Fathers who lived in the Primitive times before them it will be manifest beyond exception that for above 500 years together after Christ the Christian Doctors did no more believe the Elements in the Sacrament to be Transubstantiated into Christ's Flesh and Bloud than they did believe the Manhood of Christ himself to be Transubstantiated into his God-head or his God-head to be abolisht and turned into his Humanity Now the sense of Christians in those ages ought to satisfie the minds of Christians in these for certainly the faith of Christ was never more clearly more Learnedly more solidly maintained than in the first five Centuries and one reason of it as I conceive was this because Heresies of all sorts were then so very thick and Numerous the Providence of God permitting it so to be that the zeal of good men might be exercised continually whereby it came to pass that the Doctors of the Church were industrious and learned and the true faith was throughly sifted and establisht for so it is ever that as evil manners in the State are the occasion of good Laws so evil Doctrines in the Church are the occasion of Sound and Excellent Definitions I do not wonder if in the following ages we have not such great Plenty of witnesses to appeal to They were times wherein learning did much Decay and mens Industry and zeal were much abated for want of those Incentives which had formerly been like goads in the sides of the holy Fathers and I remember what Boniface the Martyr said of the times he lived in that whereas Golden Priests were formerly forced to use wooden Chalices Then wooden Priests did use Chalices of Gold And yet we may well be Astonisht at their Monstrous confidence who tell us that Transubstantiation was believed in those declining times If it had been so indeed the Argument from it would have Signified nothing because there can be no Prescription against truth and the sense of some in latter ages ought not carry the cause against the general Judgement of the Primitive and best times But in good earnest upon the strictest search I can make I do not find any grounds for the credit of the present Romish Doctrine either in * Unus idemque secundum humanam substantiam absens caelo cum esset in terra dereliquens terram cum ascendisset in caelum Secundum divinam verò immensamque substantiam nec caelum dimittens cum de caelo descendit nec terram deserens cum ad caelum ascendit c. Fulgent ad Trasimud l. 2. c. 17. Fulgentius or in Christi sanguis non jam in manus infidelium sed in or a fidelium funditur Gregor apud Gratian. de Consec dist 2. c. 73. Mysterium est quod aliud videtur aliud intelligitur Quod videtur speciem habet corporalem quod intelligitur fructum babet spiritualem sed cum Mysterium sit unde corpus sanguis Christi dicitur Consulens ommipotens Deus infirmitati nostrae qui non habemus usum comedere carnem crudam Sanguinem bibere facit ut in pristina remaneant forma illa duo munera est in veritate Corpus Christe Sanguis Id. in Glossa ex Alcuino ibdi Gregory the Great who lived in the sixth Century or in * Christus in caelum ascendens discessit quidem carne sed presens est majestate c. Isid Hisp Sentent lib. 1. Sacrificium dictum quasi sacrum factum quia prece mystica consecratur in memoriam pro nobis Dominicae passionis Unde hoc eo jubente corpus Christi sanginem dicimus quod dum fit ex Fructibus terrae sanctificatur fit Sacramentum operante invisibiliter Spititu Dei Id. Origin lib. 6. c. 19. Isidore Hispalensis who flourisht in the seventh or in venerable Finitis veteris Paschae solenniis quae in commemorationem antiquae de Egypto liberation is agebantur transit in novum quod in suae redemptionis memoriam Ecclesia frequent are desiderat ut videlicet pro agni carne sanguine suae carnis sanguinisque Sacramentum in panis ac vini figura substituens c Beda in Luc. 22. Panis ac Vini Creatura in Sacramentum carnis sanguinis Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur sicque corpus sanguis illius non infidelium manibus ad perniciem ipsorum funditur occiditur sed fidelium ore sumitur asl salutem Id. Homil. de Sanctis Bede who was in the eighth Age no not in Damascen himself neither tho he be brought forth by the Romanists as a Champion on their side The Learned Arch Bishop Cranmer hath drawn up the sense of Damascen into this sum that the Bread and Wine are not so changed into the flesh and bloud of Christ that they be made one Nature but they remain still distinct in Nature so that the Bread in it self is not his flesh nor the Wine his blood but unto them that worthily eat and drink the bread and Wine to them the bread and Wine be his flesh and blood that is to say by things natural and which they be accustomed unto they be exalted unto things above Nature For the Sacramental bread and Wine are not bare and naked figures but so Pithy and effectuous that whosoever worthily eateth them eateth spiritually Christs flesh and blood Wherefore saith the Holy Martyr they that gather out of Damascen either the natural presence of Christs body in the Sacraments of bread and Wine or the Adoration of the outward and visible Sacrament or that after Consecration there remaineth no bread nor Wine nor other substance but only the substance of the body and Blood of Christ either they understand not Damascen or else of wilful frowardness they will not understand him which rather seemeth to be true by such collections as they have unjustly gathered and noted out of him For Damascen saith plainly that as a burning coal is not wood only but fire and wood joyned together so the bread of the Communion is not bread only but bread joyned to the Divinity He that desires further satisfaction as to this may peruse the whole vindication of Damascen in the
Ireneus tells us particularly of that Wizard Marcus Iren. adv Haer. l. 1. c. 9. that he became familiar with Demons and fascinated his Disciples especially of the female Sex after this manner Now this I take to be the full importance and design of that Phrase 1 Cor. 10. 20. where S. Paul saith I would not that ye should have fellowship with Divels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Communicants with and Partakers of Divels meaning that they should not have any the least society with them lest by sitting at their Tables they should come to be governed acted and inspired by them as Demoniacks were And this gives a great deal of Light to those places of Scripture where we are said to have the Communication of the Body and of the Bloud of Christ and to be partakers of the Lords Table For the full meaning of these expressions is that by feasting together at the Table of the Lord we do participate of our Lords Spiritual Body and of his Spiritual Bloud so as that we are Influenced by him and receive Spiritual Virtue Power and Energy from him that as the Possessed of old were thought to have a Divine Numen in them so every devout Receiver of the Lords Supper may be said to have God and Christ in them because they are lead by Hence Demoniacks were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maxim in Pseudodyonis de Eccl. c. 3. So the Saints of Christ were ancienly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ignatius the Martyr was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Trajanus dixit Quis est Theophorus Ignatius respondit Qui Christum habet in pectore vide Acta Ignatii pag. 3. c. the Spirit and receive the Graces of the Spirit of God Christ in Virtue of Christs Body and Bloud The Socinians go a great way round about to fetch a wrested interpretation of these words of S. Paul The Cup of bessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Bloud of Christ the bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10. 16. For whereas they understand those words to this effect that our celebration of the Eucharist is a Declaration of that Communion we have with that sacred Society the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ the Interpretation is Impertinent Idle and Ridiculous because that place of Scripture doth plainly signifie a Communication of Christs Bloud as well as of his Body nay of that bloud which was shed and of that Body which was given for us and this cannot be meant of his Body Mystical Some again are as wide on the other hand who though they grant a Communication of Christs very Body yet never the less Deny the Reality of its presence which is a meer Riddle and an unintelligible notion for how can we conceive that we really partake of Christs Body at the Sacrament if it be not really there to deny him to be Present and yet to affirm that we receive him Spiritually Mystically and Sacramentally is nothing else but to use so many dark expressions to cover Non sense it being impossible to imagine how we can Communicate of that which is Not and 't is as plain a Contradiction to say that we eat of Christs Body and drink of his Bloud if his Body and Bloud be not Present as it is to say that we receive Christ and yet not receive him at the same time Nor doth it mend the matter to say that we receive Christ by faith For if Christ be not Present and at our hand I cannot see how all the faith in the world can help us to receive him Christ doth dwell indeed in every Believers heart and faith doth dispose and qualifie us for the reception of him but how can faith bring that to me which is not nigh me and which is not her below to be gime Faith is a perswasion of the mind and this perswasion worketh upon mine own heart but cannot work upon the object of my faith so as to bring that to me which is really above in heaven onely Nay we must suppose the Body and Bloud of our Saviour to be in the Sacrament or else we cannot Rightly believe that we do receive him for to believe that I receive Christ at the Sacrament when at the same time I believe that he is not Really there is a Lying faith that contradicteth and confuteth it self Seeing then 't is reasonable to believe that Christs Body and Bloud are actually and verily in the Sacrament it must be granted that they are there either in respect of their Natural Substance or in respect of their Spiritual but Real Virtues and in respect of those Divine Influences which are by means of the Sacrament derived from the man Christ Jesus But the first of these is a proposition so uncouth so irrational so repugnant to Scripture and all Antiquity and upon every account so impossible to be true that it nomore agreeth with Christianity then darkness doth agree with light Therefore if men well understand and speak sense they must grant S. Paul to speak in the fore-cited place of the Communication of Christs Spiritual Body and Bloud and so the thing will be obvious rational and intelligible for in regard that by the use of the blessed Sacrament we receive virtues and influences from our Lords Glorified Humanity we are very rightly said to Communicate of his Body In regard that these Virtues are not imaginary Ideas but Real things Real in themselves and of real effect and operation it is very proper to affirm that Christ is Really present in the Sacrament Lastly in regard that these virtues are of a Spiritual Nature and flow from him who is a Quickning Spirit and are dispensed by the Holy Spirit and are receive by and work upon our Spirits and are efficacious in order to our Spiritual Life and do make us partakers of the Divine Nature it is easie to conceive the reason why Christ is said to be present in the Eucharist after a Spiritual manner and so by this construction of the matter the Doctrine of Christs Real but Spiritual Presence and of the Real but Spiritual Communication of his Body and Bloud is secured and the darkest part of this Mystery lyes open and fair and easie to be understood by men of the most Vulgar capacities To this purpose Anselm understands those In 1. ad Cor. cap. 10. words of the Apostle the Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communication of Christs Bloud that is doth it not make those who drink of it worthily partakers of the Life of Christ which is designed by his Bloud doth it not make us partakers of his blessedness and Glory wherein our souls are made One with his by the Communication of the same Glory And so the Bread which we break is it not the participation of the
can we understand it but of that spiritual Energy and Virtue wherewith the Element is indued Epiphan in Anaceph and which efficaciously worketh by the power of Christ upon the soul of every worthy Communicant When Epiphanius speaketh so positively and so home that the Bread in the Eucharist and the Water in Baptism have their Virtue from Christ that 't is not the Bread it self that is efficacious but 't is the Virtue of the Bread wherewith Christ indues it and that the Bread indeed is Food but 't is the Virtue in it which serveth for vivification what can any man desire more plain more emphatical more full when St. Ambrose saith if the Book be his that we take Ambros de Sacram. lib. 6. c. the Sacrament as the Similitude of Christs body but do really receive the Grace and Virtue of Christs Nature 't is plain that he means those spiritual influences which are derived from him When St. Chrysostom Chrysostom Hom. 50. in Matth. to shew what benefits we have by receiving of Christ shews the benefits which they had who touched but the Hem of his garment undoubtedly he meant that we receive these benefits as they did by virtue which goeth out of him When St. Austin so often speaks of not the outward Symbols only but chiefly of the thing in the Sacrament of the Virtue of the Sacrament and of our eating and drinking even to the participation of the Spirit and saith that the Truth and virtue of Christs body is diffused every where what can any reasonable man suppose him to mean but that though Christ be in Heaven in his Body yet he is with us by his spirit and blesseth us all with his Spiritual influences but especially when we Celebrate the memory of his Passion When St. Cyril of Alexandria so frequently affirmeth that the Glorified Body of Christ is vivisick and makes the Sacrament vivisick too and saith that God condescending to our weakness Carene Thomae in Luc. 22. sendeth the Virtue of Life into the Bread and Wine that are before us turning them into the Energy or efficacy of his own flesh so that a quickning principle may be in us the sense is so plain and satisfactory that I will presume to say were St. Cyril alone allowed to be judge in this case there would hardly be any â—â—â—â—â—oversie at all in the Christian World about the blessed Sacrament unless it were this who should receive it oftnest and with the great est reverence This Divine and spiritual virtue derived from Christ and conveyed into the Sacrament is that which Theodoret means by that Grace which he saith Gratian. de Consecdist 2. c. 28. is added to the Nature of the Elements This is that too which Pope Leo and the Synod of Rome meant by the virtue of Theophyl in Marc. 14 Hugo de Mysteriis Eccles cap. 7. Gelas de duab Nat. in Christo this heavenly food that which Theophylact meant by the Virtue of Christs Flesh and Blood that which Hugo de St. Victore meant by the efficacy of the Sacrament by the spiritual Grace and by Christs spiritual Flesh that which Pope Gelasius meant by that Divine thing in the Eucharist whereby we are made partakers of the Divine Nature that which Beriram Bertram de Corp. Sang. de Domini meant by the invisible Bread the Power of the Divine word the Virtue of Christs Body and blood the invisible efficacy the spiritual flesh and blood of our Saviour and abundance of expressions more to the same purpose in his admirable Book to Carolus Calvus 'T is that too which Isidore Hispalensis meant Isidor Hispal de Eccl. Offis by the Divine Virtue which worketh salvation under the cover of earthly things That which Haymo meant by the grace of Haymo in Cor. 11. Sanctification whereby he saith the Plenitude of the Deity and the Divinity of Paschas Ratbert de Euchar. the Eternal Word filleth the Elements That which Paschasius Ratbertus himself meant by the Spiritual Flesh of Christ that vital Portion which every good Communicant receives of the fullness of Christs Divinity Lastly 't is that which Panis iste quem Dominus Discipulis porrigebat non effigie sed leg seu natura mutatus omni potentia Verbi factus est caro Et sicut in persona Christi Humanitas videbatur latebat Divinitas ita Sacramento visibili ineffabiliter Divina se infundit Essentia c. Pseudo-Cyprian de Caen. Dom. Et Superius lumen in inferiora diffusum claritatis suae plentitudine a fine usque ad finem attingens totum apud se manens totum se omnibus commodat caloris illius identitas ita corpori assidet ut a capite non recedat Id. ib. the Pseudo Cyprian meant by that Divine Vertue which he acknowledged to be in the Sacrament that Supersubstantial Bread as he calls it that Divine Essence and Majesty which accompany the Elements that effect of Eternal Life and that Latent Spirit whereof every devout and well disposed Christian doth participate I have not time to look into every particular Church-Writer but this I will presume to affirm that where any of the Ancients do harp upon Christs presence in the Sacrament they mean his presence by his Grace and Virtue and where they speak intelligibly and distinctly of this matter they speak plainly to this purpose intending by the body and bloud of Christ which we receive neither more nor less then those efficacious Virtues which are derived to his Church from his glorified Humanity this they call his Body and Bloud especially when they call it by way of distinction the spiritual Body and the spiritual Bloud of our Blessed Redeemer And this account is the rather to be received by us for several good Reasons 1. Because it makes this great Mystery very easie to be understood so that without any straining of our wits or forcing of Scripture we may readily and clearly conceive how we are said to Communicate of Christs Body and Bloud For do but conceive a notion of Christs spiritual Body and the account is very short and the matter is very intelligible 2. It shews the sense of the Catholick Church in former Ages to be the same with ours now For Christians did ever acknowledge two different things in this Mystery the outward sign and the inward Grace and accordingly they did every set a different Price upon these two things valuing most of all the spiritual Grace but yet Honouring the Element for the Grace sake Many times indeed they called the bread Christs Body because it signifies and represents and exhibits it but usually they called the Elements the Types the Antitypes the Figures the Images the Signs of our Lords Body and Bloud so the Author of the Constitutions Pseudo Dionysius Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Theodoret Eusebius Chrysostom Origen Cyril Basil Macarius Jerome Gregory Nazianzen and divers more so that we may well laugh
at those who are pleased to talk as if the Fathers believed Transubstantiation Yet nevertheless they all with one mouth confessed the Body of Christ to be in the Sacrament and so do we now but in that sense which the Ancient Church meant they believed the presence of Christ spiritual Body and after a spiritual manner and that is our Faith also and we cannot be condemned for Hereticks but the old Catholick Church must lye under the Anathema too 3. This account serves for ever to break the neck of their pretences who to defend their new Doctrine of Transubstantiation and other pestilent Errors which are built upon it do stifly urge the literal and strict construction of those words this is my Body and this is my Bloud supposing that it passeth the skill of the Protestants to give a better Interpretation whereas this account gives such a fair such an Intelligible such a Rational such a Catholick explication of the thing that the Romanists themselves if they would consider it well may look upon their Construction not only a very absurd but as a very needless one too 4. This account may serve to reconcile and make up those differences which are between some Reformed Churches about this matter For whereas 't is granted by us on all hands that the Elements retain still their own Nature and Substance even after Consecration and yet the Lutheran Churches hold that Christs Real and Substantial Body is delivered together a long with the Elements methinks this should not be enough to maintain a breach if men were considerate and candid and would not insist too much upon Phrases For if by Christ real and substantial Body be meant as I believe the old Lutherans did mean the real and as they may be called in some * For the Ancients themselves used the words Nature Substance c. to this sense as is well observed by the Judicious Author of the Diallacticon commended by Lavater in his Historia Sacrament Cum agitur de Sacramentis mentionem faciunt Patres Naturae Substantiae non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est non ut Philosophi naturales loquuntur sed ut homines de Divinis rebus disserentes Gratiae Virtuti Efficacitati Naturae Substantiaeque nomen impertientes nimirum Sacramenti natura id postulante Diallact .. pag. 63. Edit Anno 1557. Est autem virtus corporis Christi efficax vivifica quae per gratiam Mysticam benedictionem cum pane vino conjungitur vino conjungitur variis nominibus appeilatur quum res eadem sit Ab Augustino Corpus intelligibile invisible spirituale Ab Hieronimo Caro Divina Spiritualis Ab Irenaeo Res Caelestis Ab Ambrosio Esca Spiritualis Corpus Divini Spiritus Ab aliis aliud simile quippiam Et hoc multo etiam magis efficit ut hoc Sacramentum dignissimum sit veri Corporis Sanguinis nomenclaturâ quum non solum extrinsecus figuram imaginem ejus prae se ferat verùm etiam intus abditam lâ—â—entem naturalem ejusdem corporis proprietatem hoe est vivificam virtutem secum trahat ut ham non inanis figura aut absentis omnino rei signum existimari posset sed ipsum Corpus Domini Divinum quidem Spirituale sed presens gratia plenum virtute potens efficacitate Ibid. pag. 56. 57. sense the Substantial Virtues and Influences of Christs Body I do not see but all Reformed Churches in the World mightshake hands and be Friends as to this matter 5. This account serves to the clear meaning of several Doctors of our own who are wont to say that Christ is present in the Sacrament and received in and by the Sacrament and that really but yet Spiritually Mystically Sacramentally Effectually Virtually and the like all which expressions otherwise hard to be understood are very Intelligible if we do but take this notion along with us that the Virtues and Influences which flow from Christ are by the due use of this Sacrament actually really and effectually dispensed CHAP. XI Other Blessings which we receive by the Sacrament As the Assistance of the Holy Spirit Proved from the Words of Christ and S. Paul The Confirmation of our Faith An intimate Union with Christ What that Union is explained and Proved Lastly a Pledge of an Happy Resurrection THis then being a Fixt principle that by means of the Holy Bread and Wine we do really participate of Christs Body and Bloud divers other Blessings do necessarily follow which depend upon this as upon the Prime and Fundamental Blessing And as I have shewed already that pardon of Sin is the effect of our feeding upon Christ in a Mystical sence so I am to shew you next that there are more Blessings which accrue to us by our Communicating of Christ after that real and spiritual manner which has been explained now And the next is this that hereby we receive such large supplies and measures of Christs Spirit as are suitable to our necessities Our condition by nature is so miserable that we are not sufficient of our selves no not to think any thing that is good as of our selves therefore unless we receive supernatural aids and assistances from Heaven it is impossible for us to make our selves meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Without me ye can do nothing as our Saviour told his Disciples Joh. 15. 5. without the communications of his Holy Spirit 't is in vain to conceive that either we can have our fruit unto Holiness or reap in the end everlasting life For this reason he there compares himself unto a vine and us unto the branches because as the branches cannot bear fruit of themselves except they abide in the Vine so neither can we except we abide in Christ That spiritual assistance which is derived from Christ unto every particular Christian is like that vital Sap which is conveyed from the Root unto every particular Twig And by means of his vital Spirit it is that we thrive and grow and bring forth fruit unto perfection Hence Christ is called our Life because he is the Authour of that quickning Principle whereby we live unto righteousness and from Him it is that the whole Body of the Church by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and being knit together increaseth with the increase of God Col. 2. 19. Now this Heavenly assistance this quickning Principle this Divine Nutriment is given to every Soul by the Mysterious and Gracious Energy of the Spirit and by the due celebration of the Eucharist the assistances of the Spirit are the more plentiful and his Irrigations are the more abundant a dew is then increased into a showre and every thirsty Communicant is largely refresht with distillations from above as the parched ground in Summer is refresht with Rain This appears two ways first because as hath been proved by this Blessed Mystery we are
there is a Substantial but an Accidental So Philo saith of Cajus Caesar when he changed the Temple of God at Jerusalem into a Temple bearing his own Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. lib. de legatione noted by Eusebius Eccles Hist 2. cap. 6. mutation an alternation of the state Condition and Quality of the man or the thing but not of the Substance or Nature for the Convert is a man still but something more that is a Servant of Christ and the Minister is a Christian man still but something more that is an Ambassadour of the Gospel and the Fabrick is an House still but something more that is the House of God In like manner when St. Chrysostome and the rest of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Prodit Judae Tom. 5. p. 559. say that upon repeating the words of Institution the things which lye before us on the Holy Table are Changed the meaning clearly is not that their Nature or Substance is Destroyed but that the Condition of them is altered so that they are Bread and Wine still but something more that is they are now become Sacraments the vehicles of Grace the means and Instruments whereby the Spiritual Body and Bloud of Christ are conveyed and communicated to us Upon this account when we go to the Holy Communion we should think we go as indeed we do to an Ordinance of the greatest Consideration and Consequence we should value it highly for that Divine stamp which the Holy Jesus hath set upon it we should prize it according to the Purport and Ends for which it was first instituted and we should regard not so much the things themselves which we eat and drink as the Institution of the thing together with the Power and Blessing of God which doth attend it Men that do not look into the Inside of this heavenly Mystery but judge according to Appearance are apt to entertain mean and low thoughts of it because they see none but a weak and Sinful man that Ministreth and nothing but the Common Creatures of Bread and Wine that are distributed But when we present our selves before the Lords Table we should Lift up our Hearts and Raise our Thoughts above those things which are obvious to the Sense we should bear in our Hence that very Ancient Admonition extant in S. Cyprian de Orat. Dom. and in divers Ancient Liturgies Sursum corda Lift up your hearts minds the Truth the Goodness and the Power of God and consider that it is the Usual method of his Providence to bring the Greatest Ends about by the use of such means as to our thinking are the most Unlikely and incompetent for those purposes Thus it was as to his choice of Persons in the beginning of Christianity he employed such men for the great work of the Ministry as in the esteem of the world were of the least and Meanest consideration One a Publican another a Tent-maker many that were Fishermen few that were Learned none that were Noble or that bore a great Figure in the world and yet by these weak these contemptible Instruments I mean weak in themselves and Contemptible in the account of others by these instruments were Philosophers Princes Kingdomes and infinite numbers of Jews and Idolaters Captivated and brought in obedience to the Faith of the Son of God we have this Treasure of the Gospel in Earthen vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of Us saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 4. 7. Thus it hath been Gods method too as to his choice of things He hath been wont to use the most Ordinary the most Contemptible means to effect his purposes of Grace and Mercy that he might shew the greatness of his own Power and convince the world that nothing is so mean but that it shall be serviceable and effective of Noble ends as long as it is the hand of an Almighty Agent What was Circumcision that it should be the Seal of Abrahams Righteousness and a sure Token of Gods Covenant with him and his whole Issue what was the noise of a few Rams-horns that it should tumble down the walls of Jericho or a Cake of barly bread that it should be seen to overturn the Tents of the Midianites or a Brasen Serpent that the sight of it should cure the wounds of the Israelites or a little lump of Figs that it should presently heal Hezekiah what was a manger that it should be the Cradle of the Lord of Glory or a Cross that it should be the Altar for the great Propitiatory Sacrifice to be offered up upon it what was St. Peters Shadow that it should restore the sick and cast Unclean Spirits out of their Holds and Possessions nay what is a little Water that it should Cleanse and Sanctifie all our souls and make Baptized persons the Vessels of Election And yet S. Paul calls it the Washing of Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. And the operations of Christs Spirit are so effectual by Baptisme that to every Faithful man it becomes the instrument of Salvation And why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should bless the use of the Bread and Wine or make it productive of those Spiritual Benefits which have been afore-mentioned Our Faith ought not to stumble at this we should not look upon the Elements but upon the Institution not take an estimate of this Ordinance by the Creatures we receive but by the Divine Benediction that cometh down upon them For when Christ Blessed the Bread and the Cup and commanded the use of them he intended that this Mystery should ever be successful and effectual to every Soul that should be rightly Disposed 'T is S. Chrysostoms observation S. Chrys ubi Supr that when God blessed his Creatures in the beginning and commanded them to be Fruitful and Multiply that word though it was given so long ago yet 't is powerfull still and will be powerful to the worlds end and by Virtue thereof the least grain of mustard seed groweth up to a great plant In like manner that Blessing wherewith the Son of God blessed the bread and Wine at the Institution of this Solemnity ceaseth not now but is as effectual as ever so that they are still the Instruments of Our growth in Grace as they were to the Disciples in the beginning not indeed by any Natural Causality that is in them but by the good Pleasure and Blessing of God and by the Operation of the Holy Ghost For the workings of the Spirit though they be Mysterious and Secret yet are they certain and True and at this Heavenly Solemnity the work of the Spirit is done So that we must draw our minds off from the things which are below which are before us which we see and taste of and Fix our thoughts upon the Spiritual Body and Bloud of Christ which are as it were wrapped up in them and as the Ancients were wont to admonish we