for the former their representing Baptism as the laver (k) Tit. 3.5 of Regeneration which is a thing we must have from God (l) Joh. 3.5 and as a thing by which we must obtain forgiveness of sins (m) Act. 2.38 which is as undoubtedly (n) Expl. of the Lords Pr. forgive us c. another For the latter the same Scriptures requiring us to look upon the elements thereof as that body of Christ which was (o) Luk. 22.19 given for us and that blood which was shed for many (p) Matt. 26.28 for the forgiveness of sins For as these and the former benefits are such as manifestly come from God so they are alike manifestly represented as the consequents of the former Sacraments and a Sacrament therefore as such to be looked upon as having a relation to that which flows from God to us The only difficulty in my opinion is to shew a Sacrament to relate equally to that which passeth from us to God and imports our duty and service But besides that the Antients apprehended no such difficulty in it because giving it the title of a Sacrament in respect of that Obligation * See the prec Disc which it lays upon the Receivers of it The Scriptures have said enough concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper to confirm us in the belief of this relation of them Only because I would not too much anticipate my Discourse concerning those Sacraments and beside that may have another occasion to speak more largely to this Argument I will content my self at present with what St. Peter hath observ'd of Baptism (q) 1 Pet. 3.21 and which I have elsewhere (r) Explic. of the Prel Quest and Answers c. given a more particular account of For if as that Apostle insinuates and hath accordingly been more largely confirmed the stipulation or answer of a good conscience toward God be a considerable part of Baptism If it be so considerable a part of it as to give it much of that savingness which it hath Then must that Sacrament be thought because the stipulation of a good Conscience is of that nature to relate to something that must come from us as well as to those things which flow from God to us It is true indeed that our Church where it sets it self to define a Sacrament takes no notice of this object of it Whether it were through a simple inadvertency and from which our Church doth no where pretend it self to be free or which I rather think that it might give so much the more particular an account of that other and more considerable object of it even that inward and Spiritual Grace which it was intended to signifie and exhibit and assure For that our Church did not wholly forget this second object of a Sacrament even that duty and service of ours which it doth equally signifie and prompt us to declare is evident from its before minding the Catechumen of his Baptismal vow (ſ) Prelim. Quest and Answ of the Cat. and from the declaration it elsewhere (t) Office of Publ. Bapt. makes that they who are to be baptized must also for their parts promise the renouncing of the Devil and his works and both Faith and Piety toward God That as it shews her to have looked upon Baptism as a federals rite or ceremony so that she equally believed it to relate to our duty and service as well as to those divine benefits we receive from the Author of it Let it remain therefore for an undoubted truth and the acknowledged Doctrine of our Church that a Sacrament relates as well to what is to pass from us to God as to what is to come from God to us and that accordingly it may be so far forth defined such an outward and visible sign whereby we make a declaration of our piety toward God as Mr. Calvin (u) Instit li. 4. c. 14. §. 1. hath very well observed I may not forget to add for the farther clearing of this head that as a Sacrament relates first and chiefly to that which passeth from God to us so we are to conceive of that to which it so relates under the notion of a Grace given unto us yea of an inward and spiritual one That we ought to conceive of it under the notion of a grace given unto us is evident from those Texts which I but now made use of to shew that a Sacrament relates to that which passeth from God to us For instancing in such things as have the nature of benefits and so far forth therefore are to be looked upon as Graces or Favours instancing moreover in such benefits as are manifestly the issues of the Divine Goodness yea which the Scripture expresly affirms to be given to us by him for so it doth as to that (w) Luk. 22.19 Body of Christ which is the foundation of them all they must consequently oblige us to conceive of that to which a Sacrament relates as a Grace given unto us But neither will there be less evidence from thence if those Texts be well considered that that Grace to which a Sacrament relates is an inward and Spiritual one For as our Church means no other by an inward and Spiritual Grace than that which conduceth in an especial manner to the welfare of our inward man or Spirit as is evident from its making the Body and Blood of Christ the inward and Spiritual Grace of the Lords Supper and which it cannot be in any other sense than that it hath such an effect upon us so the Texts before alledged attribute such Graces to the Sacraments as are in that sense at least inward and Spiritual ones Witness their attributing to them the Graces of regeneration and forgiveness which are as it were the formal causes of our welfare and the grace of Christs Body and Blood which is the meritorious cause thereof and under God and by his acceptation in the place of an Efficient also I observe farther that as a Sacrament relates to such things as have the nature of divine Graces or humane duties so those graces and duties being parts of the New Covenant and receiving all their force from it a Sacrament must consequently relate to that New Covenant to which they do belong and from which they receive all their force Of which yet if there remain any doubt it will not be difficult to clear it from what the Scripture assures us concerning Baptism and the Lords Supper St. Peter (x) 1 Pet. 3.21 representing the former under the notion of a Stipulation or Contract as our Saviour the Cup of the other (y) Luk. 22.20 Matt. 26.28 as the New Covenant in his Blood for the remission of those sins for which it was shed For that that is in truth the meaning of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not as we usually render it the New Testament in it is not only evident from the word 〈◊〉
that strengthening and refreshing of the Soul which it is said to receive by the Body and Blood of Christ Enquire we in the next place what Evidence there is of their being intended for it Which will soon appear from their being intended by Christ as the Meat and Drink of the Soul and particularly as such Meat and Drink as Bread and Wine are to the Body For Meat and Drink being intended for the strengthening and refreshing of Men's Bodies and particularly such Meat and Drink as are the outward part of the present Sacrament If the Body and Blood of Christ were intended as such to the Soul they must be consequently intended for its strengthening and refreshing Now that the Body and Blood of Christ were intended as Meat and Drink to the Soul and particularly as such Meat and Drink as Bread and Wine are to the Body is evident for the former of these from several passages of the sixth of St. John's Gospel * See Part 3. where it is so declar'd in express terms and for the latter from our Saviour's making use of Bread and Wine to represent them and which is more calling upon us to eat and drink of them in remembrance of Christ's giving that Body and Blood of his for us This as it farther shews them to have been intended as our Spiritual Meat and Drink so to have been intended too in a Spiritual manner to be eaten and drunken by us and so made yet more subservient to our strengthening and refreshment 3. Now this the Body and Blood of Christ effect first and chiefly as the meritorious cause of that Grace by which that strengthening and refreshing is immediately produc'd Or secondly as stirring up the Minds of the Faithful to contemplate the meritoriousness thereof and in the strength of that to grapple with all Difficulties and bear up under all Troubles and Disquiets For beside that the Body and Blood of Christ as was before observ'd (m) Part 5. are to be consider'd in this Sacrament under the Notion of a propitiatory Sacrifice and which as such doth rather dispose God to grant us that strength and refreshment which we desire than actually collate them on us There is nothing more evident from the Scriptures than that it is the Spirit of God (n) Eph. 3.15 and his Graces by which we must be immediately strengthened with might in the inner Man and that it is by him (o) Acts 9.31 that we receive comfort and consolation For which cause our Saviour gives him the title of the Comforter and professeth to send him to supply his own place in that as well as in other particulars From whence as it will follow that it is to the Spirit of God and his Graces that we are immediately to ascribe that strength and refreshment which we expect So that we ought therefore to look upon Christ's Body and Blood as conferring to it not so much by any immediate influence thereof upon the Soul as by their disposing God to grant that Spirit by which both the one and the other are produc'd Upon which account we find St. Paul where he attributes the several Graces of a Christian to the immediate Influences of that Spirit affirming those that partake of this Cup to be made to drink into the same Spirit as that which is the immediate Author of them This I take to be in an especial manner that strengthning and refreshing which our Catechism and the Scripture prompts us to ascribe to the Body and Blood of Christ Neither can I think of any other than what the contemplation of the meritoriousness thereof may infuse into the Soul of him who seriously reflects upon it That I mean whereby the Soul becomes so confident of the Divine Assistance and Favour as neither to doubt of his enabling it to do what he requires nor despair of his delivering it from all its fears and troubles I will close this Discourse when I have added that as the Sign of this Sacrament hath the relation of a Means whereby God conveys and we receive the Body and Blood of Christ So it hath also the Relation of a Pledge to assure us thereof or as our Church elsewhere expresseth it (p) Art 19. a certain sure Witness of it A Relation which is not more generally acknowledg'd than easie to make out from the former one For what is ordained by Christ as a Mean for the conveying of his Body and Blood being as sure to have its effect if it be received as it ought to be He who so receives what Christ hath thus ordain'd will need no other Proof than that of his receiving that Body and Blood of Christ which it was so ordained to convey PART VII Of Transubstantiation The Contents The Doctrine of Transubstantiation briefly deduc'd from the Council of Trent and digested into four capital Assertions Whereof the first is that the whole substance of the Bread is chang'd into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood The grounds of this Assertion examin'd both as to the possibility and actual being of such a change What is alledg'd for the former of these from the substantial changes mention'd in the Scripture of no force in this particular because there is no appearance of the actual existing of those things into which the change was made at the instant the other were chang'd into them As little force shewn to be in the words This is my Body and This is my Blood to prove the actual change of the Sacramental Elements whether we consider the word This in the former words as denoting the Bread and Wine or The thing I now give you That supposed change farther impugned by such Scriptures as represent the Bread of the Eucharist as remaining after Consecration by the concurrent Testimony of Sense and the Doctrine of the Antient Fathers Enquiry next made into that Assertion which imports that the substances of the Sacramental Elements are so chang'd as to retain nothing of what they were before save only the Species thereof Where is shewn that if nothing of their respective Substances remain there must be an annihilation rather than a change and that there is as little ground for the remaining of the Species without them either from the nature of those Species the words of Consecration or the Testimony of Sense That the true Body and true Blood of Christ together with his Soul and Divinity are under the Species of the Sacramental Elements a third Capital Assertion in this Matter but hath as little ground in the words of Consecration as either of the former First because those words relate not to Christ's glorified Body and Blood which are the things affirmed to be contain'd under the Species of the Sacramental Elements but to Christ's Body as broken and to his Blood as shed at his Crucifixion Secondly because however they may import the being of that Body and Blood
of the Divine Grace in it self and the aptness of a Sacrament to manifest its approaches to us For as the imperceptibleness of the Divine Grace in it self makes it but necessary for the comfort of mankind to have its approaches manifested to them by some other ways and means so a Sacrament as before describ'd is an apt means to notifie it to us yea assure us of the approaches of it Partly because a means to which God hath annexed the exhibition of his grace and partly because such a means as is apparent to mens senses and which therefore whilst they are so assured of they can as little doubt of that Grace which by the Decree of God is annexed to it Of the relation a Sacrament bears to the Divine Grace I have spoken hitherto and shewn what kind or kinds of relation it beareth to it I come now according to the method before laid down to entreat of its relation to our selves and of that piety and service which we owe to the giver of it For the understanding whereof we are to know that as a Sacrament is undoubtedly a sign of that of which it is such so if it hath a relation to our piety as I have before shewn it to have and as the very title of a Sacrament in the Original notion of it obligeth us to conceive it must be look'd upon as such a sign whereby we may make a declaration of that piety of ours as was before observ'd out of Mr. Calvin But so we do in Baptism as by other ways and means so especially by our receipt of it as a mark of our present acknowledgment of those Divine Persons into whose names we are baptized and a resolution for ever after to keep a good Conscience to them In the Eucharist by the grateful commemoration we there make of the death of Christ by a declaration of our intimate union with those who partake with us thereof and a resolvedness to maintain it by all the offices of love and kindness Which things I do now only mention because I must insist upon them more largely elsewhere and whither it will be more proper to deferr the particular explication of them Only as a Sacrament appears to have receiv'd its Name from the obligation it layes upon us to the performance of religious duties so I cannot forbear to add that as it is a declaration of that piety we owe to God so it is also an obligation to the continuance of it Because as I shall afterwards shew it serves to conciliate or renew that New Covenant by which we are obliged to them From that second thing to which a Sacrament relates pass we to the third even that New Covenant in which both the former are founded and to which I shall not stick to affirm First that a Sacrament hath the relation of a sign because at once representing the concernments of each party what God obligeth himself to conferr and what we make profession of performing But neither shall I stick to affirm that it hath moreover the relation of such a sign whereby the parties concern'd declare their consent to it and so make that which was before but in a disposition to become a Covenant or at most but in a weak and tottering condition to become actually and firmly such Which if any man shall give the title of a Seal unto I for my part shall not be at all displeas'd because seals were sometime (b) Neh. 9.38 made use of for the declaration of such a consent But I have my self avoided to make use of the expression because there may be some Ambiguity in it And because they who have lately employ'd it seem to look upon it as a thing which rather adds strength to mens faith concerning it than to the Covenant it self and much less doth either give being to it or renew it Whereas Baptism in my opinion is that which first strikes the Covenant between God and man and the Eucharist that which continues or renews it after it hath been shatter'd by our miscarriages As is evident as to the former by its being the means of (c) Matt. 28.19 making Disciples and the laver of our (d) Tit. 3.5 new birth and as to the latter by our Saviour's entitling it the New Covenant (e) Luk. 22.20 in his blood and remitting men to it for that remission of (f) Matt. 26.28 sin which had been made over to them by the other This I take to be the true relation of a Sacrament to the New Covenant and so I shall continue to do till I come to be better enlightned in it For which cause I shall only add that as the consent we now speak of is in a Sacrament declar'd by both parties so he who administers it is in that case in the place of God and declares his consent to the Covenant Because doing what he doth by vertue of that Commission (g) Matt. 28.19 which empower'd the Apostles and their Successors to Baptize all that should offer themselves unto it and made them the dispensers of that and the other (h) 1 Cor. 4.1 mysteries of our Religion The fourth and last thing to which I affirm'd a Sacrament to relate is the body of Christ even that mystical one which is made up by those that believe in him and adore him Now to this Body it relates in the general as a discriminative sign of the profession of it and by which the several members thereof may both know and be known by one another and accordingly joyn in such acts as God exacts of their body For because God who made men sociable Creatures was willing they should worship him in society also as for other reasons so to make him an apt return (i) Expl. of the fourth Com. Part 1. of praise for that blessing which they receiv'd by God's disposing them to a sociable life And because as St. Augustine (k) Aug. contr Faust Manichae li. 19. c. 11. speaks men cannot be associated into any Religious body nor indeed into any other but by a community of visible signs and Sacraments of which beside the thus confederating of men of all Religions we have a proof in men's general inability to judge of the profession of their Associates by any other way than by such outward notes or characters therefore I say God and Christ when they meant to erect a Christian body gave it such signs and notes also Partly to give beginning to it and the several members of it and partly to continue them in those joynt Offices and services which they requir'd the performance of The former whereof is done by the Sacrament of Baptism the latter by the Sacrament of the Eucharist And how much these two Sacraments conferr toward the keeping up the profession of Christianity will appear on the one hand from those miserable Christians who live under the Turks and on the other from those much more miserable persons
a Sin to make us the Children of Wrath and to deserve God's Wrath and Damnation The resolution of it is of no small moment toward the right stating of our duty and the valuableness of that remedy which Christianity hath provided for it For neither otherwise can we look upon Original Sin as any proper matter for our Repentance whatsoever it may be for our lamentation nor upon Baptism as bringing any other pardon to Infants than that of the Sin of their first Parents and which they who look upon Original Sin as rather our unhappiness than fault are generally as far from charging them with This only would be premis'd for the better understanding of it that by Sin is not meant any actual transgression of a Law for no Man was ever so absurd as to affirm that concerning Original Sin but that which is contrary to a Law in the nature of an evil habit and both imports an absence of that Righteousness which ought to be in us and an inclination to those evils from which we ought to be averse This as it is no less the transgression of a Law than any actual sin is so making the person in whom it is as obnoxious to punishment and consequently to be look'd upon as yet more properly a sin Now that that which we call Original Sin is really such in this latter notion will appear if these two things be considered First that the Scripture gives it the title of sin Secondly that it represents it as such upon the account of our being obliged by the Law of God to have in us a contrary temper That the Scripture gives that whereof we speak the title of sin is evident from those Texts which we before made use of to prove the being of it More particularly from that (d) Psa 91.5 which represents David as conceiv'd and born in sin and those (e) Rom. 7 17-20 which represent us all as having sin dwelling in us For these having been before shewn to speak of Original Sin make it evident that the Scripture gives it the title of Sin because in the former places representing it under that notion And though I will not from that only Topick conclude it to be properly such because the Scripture makes use of figurative expressions as well as proper yea doth so in this very particular whereof we speak for thus it sometimes gives the title of sin to that which is intended only as the punishment thereof yet as we may lawfully inferr from thence that there is more cause to believe Original Sin to be properly than figuratively such till the contrary thereof be made appear The proper sense being otherwise to be preferr'd before the figurative So that there can be no place for the figurative sense if that which is there represented as a sin be elsewhere represented as such upon the supposition of our being obliged to have in us the contrary temper Which that it is will appear from such Texts as do more immediately affirm it or such as affirm those things from which it may by good consequence be deduced Of the former sort I reckon that which is immediately subjoyn'd by David to the mention of his being conceiv'd in sin and brought forth in iniquity (f) Psa 51 6. Behold thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt or rather hast made me to understand wisdom secretly For as we cannot but look upon what is there said concerning God's requiring truth in the inward parts as spoken with relation to that sin whereof he before complains and to the mention whereof he subjoyns the mention of the other So neither considering it to have been his intent to aggravate his sinfulness before God but look upon it as also his intent to aggravate the sinfulness of his frame by that piety which God required of him Which suppos'd Original Sin will not only be found to be so entituled by the Scripture but to have had that name bestowed upon it upon the account of Men's obligation to the contrary and consequently to be truely and properly such And though there be not it may be many more Texts of that nature or which therefore can be thought so directly to affirm that it becometh the sin of those in whom it is upon the account of their obligation to the contrary Yet will it not be difficult to find others which do as clearly assert those things from which it may by good consequence be deduced Such as are those which make Original Sin to be a proper matter for confession yea to induce a guilt upon the person in whom it is But so the Prophet David doth plainly suppose in that very Psalm which we but now made use of Because not only confessing (g) Psa 51.5 the sinfulness of his Nature together with that of his external actions but begging of God immediately after that confession of his that he would purge him (h) Psa 51.7 with Hyssop from it For as we have no reason to exclude that from the matter of the desir'd purgation which immediately precedes the Prayer that is put up for it So much less reason to doubt after that Prayer for the purgation of it of its inducing a guilt upon the person in whom it is The use of Hyssop in the Old Law as appears by several places (i) Exo. 12.22 Lev. 14.6 in it and a consentient Text in the Epistle to the Hebrews (k) Heb. 9.19 c. being to sprinkle the Blood of the Sacrifices upon those who were any way obnoxious to its censures and so deliver them from the severity thereof For what other then could the Psalmist mean by that Prayer of his than that God would purge him from that and his other sins by the blood of an expiatory Sacrifice Or so meaning be thought to intimate more clearly than that that from which he desir'd to be purg'd stood in need of such a Sacrifice and consequently was no more without its guilt than his actual transgressions were Only if that notion may not be thought to be of sufficient clearness to build so important a Conclusion on it will not be difficult to strengthen it yet more by the word the Hebrew makes us of for purge and those Prayers which the Psalmist subjoyneth to it By the former because literally (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a purification from sin by the latter because importing it to be his desire (m) Psal 51.7 8 9. that God would wash him from it that he would cause those bones that had been broken by it to rejoyce and in fine that he would hide his face from his sins and blot out all his iniquities These as they are known and usual expressions for the remission of sins and consequently importing the guilt of those to whom they are apply'd and their purification from it so with this farther reason to be so taken here because the Psalmist afterwards begs (n) Psal
Sacramental Purposes to which they are to be appli'd it is a needless superstition to be sollicitous about the kind of it or indeed about any thing else of that nature farther than the Laws of Decency or the general Nature of the Sacrament may seem to exact of us The same is to be said and for the same reasons as to the kind of the Wine though the Wines of Palestine were generally Red (b) Psal 75.8 Prov. 23.31 Isa 27.2 63.2 for which cause it is not improbable that they were stiled the Bloud (c) Deut. 32.14 of the Grape and those therefore the most apt to represent the Blood of our Saviour For whatever the Colour thereof may be they may serve by the Liquidness thereof and the pouring of them from one Vessel to another to denote the shedding of his Blood which is all that the Institution obligeth us to reflect upon Upon which account I shall in this place confine my self to enquire whether it ought to be mix'd with Water or no as which seems to me to be the only material Enquiry in this Affair And here indeed they who think it enough to make use of pure Wine may seem to be hardly press'd whether we do consider the Antiquity of the contrary Usance or the Reason which is alledged for it For it appears from Justin Martyr (d) Apol. 2. p. 97. to have been carefully practis'd in his time And it appears too not only to have been pleaded for by St. Cyprian * Ad Caecil Ep. 63. even where he disputes against the foremention'd Aquarii but to such a degree also as to represent the Sacrament as imperfect without it The mixture of Wine and Water being as he saith (e) Quando autem in calice aqua vino miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur Quae copulatio conjunctio aquae vini sic miscetur in calice domini ut commixtio illa non possit ab invicem separari Nam si vinum tantùm quis offerat sanguis Christi incipit esse sine nobis si vero aqua sit sola plebs incipit esse sine Christo Quando autem utrumque miscetur adunatione confusâ sibi invicem copulatur tunc Sacramentum spiritale coeleste perficitur intended to signifie the conjunction of Christ and his People and that we can therefore in the sanctifying of the Lord's Cup no more offer Wine alone than we may presume to offer Water only These things to those that have a regard to Antiquity cannot but appear very considerable and I must needs say they weigh so much with me as to believe that the Wine of the Sacrament might have been from the beginning diluted with Water yea that that very Wine might which our Saviour consecrated into it But this rather with respect to the Custom of the Eastern Country and the generousness of their Wines which might be but needful to be temper'd where the same Liquor was to be the Entertainment of their Love-Feasts as well as the Matter of a Sacrament than out of any regard to the Sacrament it self or that particular Mystery in it which St. Cyprian thought to be intended Because there is not any the least hint either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of such a mixture or Mystery but rather an intimation of Christ's employing only the Fruit of the Vine and his having a regard to the sole Properties thereof and of that Blood of his which he shed for our Redemption If there were from the beginning any Mystery in such a mixture it may most probably be thought to have been intended to make so much the more lively a Representation to us of that Blood which it was designed to remember and which we learn from St. John (f) Joh. 19.34 to have issued from his side attended with Water and accordingly particularly remarked by him Upon which account though I cannot press a mixture of Wine and Water as necessary yet neither can I condemn it or those Churches which upon that reason think fit to retain it and enjoin on their respective Members the due observation of it 3. But because there neither is nor can well be a more material Enquiry than wherein the Bread and Wine of this Sacrament were intended as a Sign Therefore it may not be amiss to pass on to the resolution of it and employ all requisite diligence in it For my more orderly performance whereof I will consider those Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the usage that Body and Bloud of his receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us or as to the Benefit that was intended and accrued to us by them If we consider the Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood as to the usage they receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us So we shall find them again to be a Sign of that Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred or by the separate administration of them when they are For in the former of these Notions the Bread manifestly became a Sign of Christ's Body by our Saviour's breaking of it For which cause as was before observ'd St. Paul in his rehearsal of the Institution attributes that breaking to Christ's Body and describes its crucifixion by it And not improbably the Wine of the Sacrament became a Sign of Christ's Blood by its being poured out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he took and blessed and gave to his Disciples There being not otherwise any thing in it to represent the shedding of Christ's Blood which it appears by the several Evangelists that our Saviour had a particular respect unto Neither will it suffice to say though it be true enough that we do not read either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of our Saviour's before pouring the Wine of the Sacrament out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he made use of for that purpose and consequently cannot with equal assurance make the Wine to be a Sign of Christ's Blood by any such effusion of it For whether we read of it or no such an Effusion must of necessity precede the use of a Cup being not to keep Wine in but to drink out of after it hath receiv'd it by effusion from another and that effusion therefore and the particular mention there is of the effusion of that Blood which is acknowledg'd to be signified by the Wine no unreasonable intimation of that Effusion's being one of those things wherein the Wine of the Sacrament was intended as a Sign or Representation of the other By these means the Bread and Wine become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood as to what is done to them before they come to be administred And we shall find them in like manner to be a Sign of the same Body and
Blood by the separate administration of them when they are For as our Saviour's Body and Blood were parted by Death and accordingly requir'd to be consider'd the one as broken and mortifi'd the other as shed or poured out of it So our Saviour did not only appoint divers Symbols to represent them but administred them apart and by themselves and if there be any force in Do this in remembrance of me commanded them to be so administred afterwards By which means they become even by that separate administration a yet more perfect and lively Representation of Christ's Body and Blood as to the usage they receiv'd when he whose they were was subjected to Death for us But because the Body and Blood of Christ are consider'd in this Sacrament as to the Benefit that was intended and accru'd to us by them as well as to the usage they receiv'd For This is my Body which is given or broken for you say St. Luke and St. Paul and This is my Blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in it which is shed for you say all the Evangelists upon this Argument Therefore enquire we wherein the Elements of Bread and Wine are a sign of his Body and Blood as to that Benefit they were so intended and given for Which will soon appear if we consider what the proper use of those Elements is what we are requir'd to do with them and what is elsewhere said concerning that Body and Blood when consider'd with respect to our welfare and advantage These several things making it evident that they become a sign of Christ's Body and Blood by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us For as we cannot lightly think but that when our Saviour made choice of such things as those to represent the usefulness of his Body and Blood to us he made choice of them for that purpose with respect to their proper usefulness as which is both most notorious in them and most apt to affect the Mind of him to whom they are suggested So much less can we think otherwise of them when he moreover requires us to eat of the one and drink of the other which are the ways by which we are to receive that nourishment and refreshment which we have said them to be so useful for Otherwise any thing else might have been as proper for the purpose as Bread and Wine Or if God who may no doubt make use of what Methods he pleaseth thought good however to make choice of Bread and Wine to represent Christ's Body and Blood yet he might have contented himself to have enjoyn'd upon us the casting our Eyes upon them and not as we find he doth prompted us to eat and drink of them as that too in remembrance of him and them For what need would there be of eating and drinking those Elements in remembrance of his Body and Blood or indeed what aptness in so doing to call them to our own Minds or the Minds of others were it not that there were somewhat in them to represent the usefulness of Christs Body and Blood which was not to be drawn from them or so sensibly perceiv'd in them as by eating and drinking of them This I take to be a competent evidence of Bread and Wine 's becoming a sign by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us But I am yet more convinced of it by what is elsewhere said concerning Christ's Body and Blood when consider'd as they are here as to our Benefit and advantage Even that his Flesh or Body was food * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed and his Blood drink indeed (g) Joh. 6.55 and that accordingly except his Disciples ate that Flesh of his and drank his Blood (h) Joh. 6.53 they could have no life in them but if they did (i) Joh. 6.54 they should have eternal Life In fine that the flesh (k) Joh. 6.51 which he should give for the life of the World was in the nature of Bread to them and so represented by him throughout that whole Discourse For if Christ's Body and Blood be in the nature of Food and drink to us If they be so far such that we are requir'd to eat and drink of them and so also that we cannot promise our selves life without them That Bread and Wine which in the present Sacrament are appointed to signifie and represent them cannot be thought by any more proper way to be a Sign or Representation of them than by their usefulness as Bread and Drink to nourish and refresh our Bodies to maintain them in their present beings and fill them with joy and gladness 4. The fourth thing to be enquir'd as concerning the Bread and Wine of this Sacrament is what evidence there is of Christ's commanding us to receive them A question which one would think might soon be voided by the words of the Institution it self Take Eat This is my Body being the voice of our Saviour concerning the Bread and Drink ye all of it and This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me being the words of the same Jesus in St. Matthew and St. Paul concerning the Cup which one would think to be sufficient expresses of Christ's command concerning it But as nothing is enough to those who are prejudic'd against any Doctrine as it is apparent that the Church of Rome was against the use of the Cup when this business came to be debated in the Council of Trent So that Council did not only determine that whole and entire Christ is contained under either species and particularly under the species of Bread (l) Sess 13. cap. 3. but that the faithful are not oblig'd by any command of the Lord to receive both species (m) Sess 21. cap. 1. and that accordingly if any shall say that all and singular the faithful people of Christ are oblig'd to take both species either by vertue of any command from God or as of necessity to Salvation (n) ib. Can. 1. he ought to be anathematiz'd for it or rather hath already incurr'd it For which cause it will be necessary for us to shew that the faithful are obliged by the Command of Christ to receive the Cup and then answer the principal reasons that are brought against it And here in the first place I would gladly know whether there be or ever were any command from Christ for the receiving of the Cup whether by the Apostles at first or the Priest that consecrates now whatsoever become of simple Laymen or the Priests that do not officiate and are therefore so far forth reckoned in the number of the other The ground of which question is because the Council of Trent doth not say that there is no command from Christ for the faithful's receiving the Cup but that the faithful are not bound by any command of his to the taking of both species and again that if any shall say that all the faithful
her But as if any thing be of the substance of the Sacrament the doing of that must be which tends most apparently to set forth the Sacrifice of Christ's Death upon the Cross as which was one great end of its Institution and the most clearly expressed in it So nothing doth or can tend more apparently to the setting forth of that than Men's partaking of that Cup which was by our Saviour himself intended to represent the Blood of that Sacrifice of his as poured out for our Expiation and Remission PART V. Of the inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it The Contents The inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it is either what is signified on the part of God and Christ or on the part of the Receiver of it The former of these brought under Consideration and shewn to be the Body and Blood of Christ not as they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or as they now are but as thâ—y were at the time of his Crucifixion as moreover then offered up unto God and offer'd up to him also as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World The Consequences of that Assertion briefly noted both as to the presence of that Body and Blood in the Sacrament and our perception of them The things signified on the part of the Receiver in the next place consider'd and these shewn to be First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before described Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us of that Body and Blood Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them The two latter of these more particularly insisted on and that Communion and Resolution not only shewn from the Scripture to be signified on the part of the Receiver but confirmed by the Doctrine and Practice of the Antient Church II. THE outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper being thus accounted for Question What is the inward part or thing signified and that shewn to be no other than Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be receiv'd Reason would as well as the Method before laid down that I should entreat of the inward part thereof or the thing signified by it Answer The Body and Blood of Crhist which are verily and indeed taken and received by the Faithful in the Lord's Supper Which on the part of God and Christ is that Christ's Body and Blood As on our part a thankful Remembrance of them our Communion with those who partake with us thereof and a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them That which our Catechism obligeth us especially to consider is that which is signified on the part of God and Christ and which accordingly it declares to be that Christ's Body and Blood A thing which consider'd in the general admits of no dispute because the plain Assertion of the Scripture as well as the Acknowledgment of all sorts of Men however otherwise divided about the Sacrament thereof or the presence of that Body and Blood in it They all agreeing as they must that the Body of Christ is that which is signified by one of its Signs and the Blood of Christ which is signified by the other But as it is not so well agreed under what Notion we are to consider that Body and Blood nor for ought that I have observ'd much attended to which is it may be the principal Cause of all the Controversie in this Particular So I shall therefore for the farther clearing of the thing or things signified by this Sacrament enquire under what Notion we ought to consider them which if we have a due regard to the words of the Institution will not be so difficult to unfold For from thence it will appear first that we ought to consider Christ's Body and Blood here not in the state wherein they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or in that more happy one to which they are now arriv'd but as they were at the time of our Saviour's Crucifixion To wit the one as given to Death or broken and the other as shed for us Which St. Paul farther confirms when he tells his Corinthians * 1 Cor. 11.26 that as often as they ate the Bread of this Sacrament and drank the Cup of it they did shew forth the Lord's death till he came The consequent whereof will be secondly because that Death of Christ is represented by the Scriptures as a Sacrifice that we ought to look upon that Body and Blood of Christ which we have said to be signified by this Sacrament as offer'd unto God by him and as such to be consider'd in it Which they of all Men have the least reason to refuse who do not only affirm †Conc. Trid. Sess 22. cap. 1. with us that this Sacrament was intended for a Memorial of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross but that the Body and Blood of Christ is even now * Ibid. offer'd up to God in it under the respective Species thereof It is as little to be doubted thirdly That as we ought to consider the Body and Blood of Christ here as offer'd up to God for us so we ought to consider them as offer'd up as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of those Persons for whom it is offer'd Which is not only evident from the words of the Institution because representing the Cup of this Sacrament as the Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins but abundantly confirm'd by the suffrage of those Men with whom we have most to do in this Affair They not only representing the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are pleas'd to call this Sacrament as one and the same Sacrifice with that which our Saviour offer'd upon the Cross but as a truly propitiatory one (a) Ib. cap. 2. and which accordingly is of force for the sins of the quick and the dead and tends to the remission of them Of what use these Considerations are will more fully appear when I come to entreat of that relation which the outward Signs of this Sacrament have to the inward part thereof or the things signified by them At present it may suffice briefly to note that the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as broken and shed upon the Cross having now no Existence in the World nor any more capable of having such an Existence than that which is past can be recall'd They cannot be substantially present either to the Sacramental Elements or to the Person that receiveth them nor be substantially eaten and drunken by him that eats and drinks the other That they must therefore be present to the Sacramental Elements in a Figure or Mystery and to the Receiver by their respective Vertue and Efficacy That being as was before said to be consider'd as offer'd up to
God to atone his Wrath and to procure the remission of our Sins and all other Graces they must consequently be look'd upon not as the immediate producers of those Effects which are attributed to them but as meritorious Causes thereof and disposing God who is the giver of every good and perfect Gift to produce them That therefore if the Body and Blood of Christ strengthen and refresh the Soul of the Receiver as the Sacramental Signs thereof do the Body of him that receives them they must do it in the way of a meritorious Cause and such as disposeth God to grant to the worthy Receiver of the Sacrament the pardon of his Sin which is that which especially refresheth the Soul and Grace whereby he may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner Man In fine that the Body and Blood of Christ cannot otherwise be eaten and drunken than by the Mind meditating upon the Merits and Satisfaction of that Offering which our Saviour made of them and relying wholly upon them for that Salvation which it expects But leaving these things to be discuss'd in a more proper place where I shall also have an occasion to add farther light and strength to them Let us in the next place reflect upon that which I have said to be signified on our part by the Signs of the Lord's Supper which are these three especially First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before describ'd Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us thereof Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them Of the first of these little need to be said after the account I have given of it in my Explication (b) Part 3. of the words of the Institution It may suffice here to observe from thence that as the words of our Saviour are express that we should do what is enjoin'd as to the outward Elements of this Sacrament for a thankful Remembrance of the offering up of his Body and Blood So what is done by the Priest to those Elements and our receiving them from him in that state is a lively Representation to our Minds of the offering up of Christ's Body and Blood and a thankful Remembrance thereof therefore not unreasonably look'd upon as one of those things which are signifi'd on our part by the Sacrament thereof The second thing signified on our part by the outward Elements of this Sacrament is our Communion with those who partake with us of Christ's Body and Blood A thing which St. Paul doth not only fairly intimate where he affirms (c) 1 Cor. 10.17 that we being many are one Bread and one Body because we all partake of that one Bread which he had before affirm'd to be the Communion of Christ's Body But points us to those things by which this Communion of ours is signified even the unity of that Bread which is one of the Elements of this Sacrament and our partaking together of it For as there can be no better account given of St. Paul's calling us one Bread and one Body than that we our selves though many are yet one mystical Body as that Bread though made up of several Granes is one Loaf and ought accordingly to be thereby admonish'd of that intimate Communion which ought to be between us in all Offices of Christian Love and Friendship So there is nothing more usual with the Antients than to represent that Unity of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament as a Symbol of ours and of that Communion and Fellowship which ought therefore to be between us For by this Sacrament saith St. Cyprian * Ep. 63. ad Caecil de Sacr. Dom. Calicis Quo ipso Sacramento populus noster ostenditur adunatus ut quemadmodum grana multa in unun collecta commolita commixta panem unum faciunt Sic in Chrislo qui est panis coelestis unum sciamus esse Corpus cui conjunctus sit noster numerus adunatus Our People is also shew'd to be made one that as many Grains collected into one and ground and mixed together make one Loaf so in Christ who is the heavenly Bread we may know there is one Body to which our number is conjoin'd and united And again Finally saith the same Father †Denique unanimitatem Christianam firmâ sibi atque inseparabili charitate connexam etiam ipsa dominica sacrificia declarant Nam quando Dominus corpus suum panem vocat de multorum granorum adunatione congestum populum nostrum quem portabat indicat adunatum Et quando sanguinem sunm vinum appellat de botris atque acinis plurimis expressum atque in unum coactum gregem item nostrum significat commixtione adunatae multitudinis copulatum Epist 76. ad Magnum de Bapt. Novatianis c. the Sacrifices of our Lord do also declare that Christian Vnanimity which is connected to it self by a firm and inseparable Charity For when the Lord gives the title of his Body to that Bread which is made up of the Vnion of many Granes he shews our People whom he carried to be united together and when he gives the title of his Blood to that Wine which is prest out of many Bunches and Grapes and gathered into one he also signifies our People coupled together by the commixture of an united multitude Thus St. Cyprian and other of the Antients argue from the Unity of the Bread and Wine that Union and Communion which ought to be between the Faithful and consequently shew that Communion to be one of those things which are signifi'd on our part by the Elements of this Sacrament And St. Paul without any Comment upon him will help us to inferr that the same Communion is signified by the Faithful's partaking together of them where he declares us to be one Bread and one Body for that we all partake of one Bread For if barely to eat and drink together be a Symbol of Love and Friendship and accordingly often employ'd both by Jews and Heathen (d) See a Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lord's Supper by R.C. cap. 6. as a Ceremony whereby they declar'd their entring into Covenant or being at Peace with one another How much more may we affirm the same after so clear an Affirmation of St. Paul of Mens partaking of the same mystical Bread and Wine Even of that mystical Bread and Wine which was instituted by him who above all other things enjoin'd upon his Disciples the Love of one another and gave that as the great Characteristick whereby they should be known to be so Sure I am the Antients were so perswaded of this Communion's being a thing signified by this Sacrament that as I have elsewhere (e) Expl. of the Creed Art The holy Catholick Church shewn from Irenaeus the antient Presbyters of Rome in Testimony of that Communion sent the Mysteries of this Sacrament to the
is spiritual as if the latter though undoubtedly the principal were an imaginary one But as we gain thus much by it that that Council by real must consequently mean a corporal one so I shall therefore make no farther use of that opposition at present than to enquire into the truth of that real manducation understood as is before describ'd In order whereunto that which I shall in the next place take notice of is that the word manducare which the Council makes use of signifies primarily and properly chewing and consequently where intended to denote a corporal manducation ought to be understood of such a one as is made by the breaking of the thing eaten by the Teeth And indeed as this is the true corporal manducation and which alone therefore deserves the name of a real one So the Church of Rome appears to have been heretofore of the same mind by the recantation it put into the Mouth of Berengarius The words thereof so far being (g) Baron Annal. Eccl. ad Ann. 1059. that he believ'd the true Body of Christ to be sensually not only in Sacrament but in truth handled and broken by the hands of the Priest and ground in pieces by the Teeth of the faithful And thus if the Romanists were still persuaded they might pretend to a real manducation indeed and such as had some title to that name which they bestow upon it But as they saw such a manducation to agree but ill with that glorious Body to which they ascrib'd it and have not therefore fail'd to set a brand upon those words which were made use of to express the Churches mind So they now put off that manducation to those Capernaites to whom our Saviour discours'd in St. John concerning eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood and make that to be the very eating which our Saviour faulted them for the imagination of and not that more refined one which they themselves advance But what then is that real manducation or eating of Christ which the Romanists advance What is that which they think fit to give that name unto Nothing for ought that I can discern save the receiving of him with their mouth and transmitting him from thence into their stomachs If there be any thing else that looks like manducation the poor species are fain to bear it For that is the Sum and substance of their eating Christ in them But in conscience can this manducation of Christ look like a real one Is this answerable to that literal sense which they seem to be so fond of in other things For why if the letter of the text persuades that the very Body of Christ is in the Sacrament as that too not figuratively or spiritually but properly and substantially should not the same letter persuade that it is eaten as literally and properly and not only spiritually and sacramentally Especially when they themselves advance a real manducation as well as a sacramental and spiritual one But as they who contend so eagerly for the very Body of Christ being in the Sacrament and which is more will have it to be substantially there do yet arbitrarily enough assert its being only spiritually there or after the manner of a Spirit So out of the same meer will and pleasure they assert also a real manducation and yet at the same time make that real manducation to be no other than Mens receiving Christ's Body into their Mouths and transmitting it from thence into their Stomachs As if our Saviour had given them an absolute Empire over his words and empower'd them to give those words a proper and improper Sense as best suited with their own Hypotheses and interests For if the letter of the words will prevail so far as to make us understand the eating enjoyn'd of such an eating as is performed by the Mouth I do not see without the Empire before spoken of why they should not understand it of such an eating as is also performed by the Teeth and profess as Berengarius was taught to do that the Body of Christ is sensually not in Sacrament but in truth handled and broken by the hands of the Priest and ground in pieces by the Teeth of the Faithful Beside to what purpose any corporal eating at all To what purpose our so much as receiving Christ with our Mouths and transmitting him from thence into our Stomachs when for ought appears by the Council of Trent it self this Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood was intended not for the corporal nourishment of our Bodies but for the spiritual nourishment of our Souls That Council where it professeth to intreat of the Reason of the Institution of this most holy Sacrament (h) Sess 13. cap. 2. affirming only that our Saviour would have this Sacrament to be taken as the Spiritual Food of Souls whereby they are nourished and strengthened living by the Life of him that said He that eateth me even he shall live by me For such as the Food is such in reason ought to be that eating by which it is to be receiv'd And therefore if the Body of Christ in the Sacrament were intended for the Spiritual Food of our Souls to be spiritually eaten also and not after a corporal manner But that which will shew yet more the no necessity there is of this corporal eating of Christ's Body any more than of that Body's being really and locally present in the Sacrament is what is assign'd by Mons Claud (i) Resp au â— Traite de la Perpet c. 4. where he intreats of the no necessity of the latter and which because I know not how to do better I will express in that Author's words To wit that the Flesh and Blood of Christ are indeed a Principle of Peace and Life and salvation to our Bodies and Souls not in the quality of Physical Causes which act by contact and by the position of their substances but in the quality of meritorious Causes which act morally or of Causes Motives which do not only operate and produce their Effects being absent but when they themselves are not as yet in being as appears by the Examples of the Antient Patriarchs who were sav'd by the vertue of Jesus Christ even as we For what necessity can there be of any corporal eating of Christ's Body when that Body is not a Principle of Life to us in the quality of a Physical Cause but of a meritorious and moral one And when moreover they who were antienly saved by it as well as we now are were not in a capacity so to eat of it because that which was to be the matter of it had not at that time a being in the World Agreeable hereto is the discourse of our Saviour in the sixth of St. John's Gospel and after which it is a wonder that any Man should think of eating Christ's Flesh after a corporal manner For when they who were present at it desir'd him evermore to give them of that Bread