be assign'd so is that into which they who deny the Corruption of Nature are wont to resolve the universality of sin For neither first is even Example of so great force as infallibly and universally to draw Men to the imitation of it For some Men are Vertuous even when they have an ill example before them and others as Vitious where they have a good Neither secondly hath it any force but what it receives from Men's aptness to imitate those with whom they converse Which as it will make it necessary for us to have recourse to an inward principle even for those effects which are produc'd by the mediation of example so make our very aptness to imitate the evil examples of others a branch of that inward principle which we affirm to be the cause of so universal an impiety Only because we are yet upon Scripture proofs and which the more express they are so much the more convictive Therefore I shall yet more particularly endeavour to evince from thence that as all Men are under sin so they are so by an innate principle But so S. Paul gives us clearly enough to understand because both asserting such a principle and that all actual sins are the issues of it The former where he represents even the Man who was under the conviction of the Law and who therefore might be suppos'd to be most free from the contagion of sin as Carnal yea sold under it (q) Rom. 7.14 as one who had sin dwelling in him for so he affirms no less than twice (r) Rom. 7.17 Rom. 7.20 and as one too who had a law in his members (ſ) Rom. 7.23 that warred against the law of his mind or as he afterwards entitles it a law of sin The latter where he represents that carnality and sinful captivity under which the Jew was as the cause of his doing what he would not (t) Rom. 7.15 and omitting what he would That sin which dwelt in him as doing all the evil (u) Rom. 17.20 he committed And that law that was in his members as warring against the law of his mind (w) Rom. 17.23 and bringing him into Captivity unto the law of sin For what more could be said on the one hand to shew the thing S. Paul there speaks of to be an inward evil principle and which because even in those who were under the Law is much more to be supposed in the Gentiles Or what more on the other to shew that evil principle to be the parent of our actual sins yea that which gives being to them all And I know nothing to take off the force of it but a supposition of St. Paul's speaking in that place of Evil habits and which as they must be confessed to be of the same pernicious efficacy with Original Corruption so to have been for the most part the condition both of Jew and Gentile before they came to be overtaken by the Gospel But how first supposing the Apostle to have spoken only of evil habits for nothing hinders us from assigning them a part in that Body of sin How first I say doth that agree with the account he before gave concerning sins entring in (x) Rom. 5.12 by Adam and our being constituted (y) Rom. 5.19 sinners by him For though Original Corruption may come from him yet evil habits can be only from our selves and consequently those sins that flow from them How secondly supposing none but evil habits to be here intended can we make that Body or law of sin whereof S. Paul speaks to be the portion of all that are under an obligation to Baptism as that Apostle plainly supposeth when he makes the design of Baptism (z) Rom. 6.6 to be the destruction of it For to say nothing at present concerning the case of Infants because the best evidence of their Obligation to Baptism is the Corruption of their Nature and that Obligation therefore rather to be prov'd from Natural Corruption than Natural Corruption from it Neither can it be deny'd even from the Commandment * Mat. 28.19 that our Saviour gave concerning Baptism that all adult persons are under an Obligation to it nor therefore but that they carry about them that body of sin which Baptism was intended for the destruction of But so all adult persons cannot be supposed to do if that body of sin be no other than evil habits Because it must be sometime after that maturity of theirs before they can come to those evil habits or therefore to be under an Obligation to that Sacrament which is to destroy it In fine how supposing none but evil habits to be intended by that body or law of sin whereof the Apostle speaks can we give an account of so holy and just a Law as that of Moses is stirring †Rom. 7.9 Concupiscence in those that are under it and not rather hindring it from coming to effect For as nothing hinders the proposing of that Law before such persons come to any evil habits and therefore also before there is any thing in them to stir them up to such a Concupiscence So nothing can hinder that Law when duly proposed to them from preventing all such Concupiscence as it was the design of the Lawgiver to forbid Because as the persons we speak of must be supposed to be without any contrariety in their Nature to the matter of that Law which is propos'd So they must also be suppos'd to be in that state wherein God had set them and because God cannot be thought to place Men in any other estate than that of uprightness in such a state as will make them willing to listen to the divine Laws and receive their directions from them By which means the divine Laws shall rather keep Men's Concupiscence from coming to effect than give any occasion for the stirring of it I conclude therefore from that as well as the former arguments that the evil principle spoken of by S. Paul cannot be evil habits and consequently nothing more left to us to demonstrate than that it is derived to us from our Birth or rather from our Conception in the Womb which is all that is affirmed concerning Original Corruption Now that that evil principle whereof we speak is derived to us from our Birth will become at least probable from what was before said concerning the earliness of Men's being under sin yea their being so as the Scripture instructs us even from their Youth For as it is hard to believe that all Men should be so early under sin if it were not from some inward principle that was antecedent to that Age For what should otherwise hinder some of them at least from preserving their integrity for some time especially supposing as that tender Age maketh it reasonable to suppose a more peculiar watchfulness of the Divine Providence over it So it will be much more hard to believe supposing that evil principle to be antecedent
wherein our Nature was at first Created were no other than a Supernatural Grace as is at least highly probable from the former reasonings and the declarations of the Scripture We shall need to assign no other relation of that Corruption of Nature whereof we speak than that of a simple privation of the other For if the desires of the Flesh could so far prevail even under a supernatural Grace as to carry our first Parents to the eating of that fruit which God had so severely forbidden them The simple privation of that supernatural Grace may well suffice to give birth to all our evil inclinations and consequently pass for a sufficient account of that Corruption of our Nature whereby as I said before we become inclinable to Evil as well as averse from Good and which what evidence we have of the being of is in the next place to be enquir'd II. Now as we cannot certainly better inform our selves concerning the present state of our Nature than from him who as he was the Author of it so is intimately present to it So I will therefore begin with that account which he hath given us of it and which we shall find to bear an ample Testimony to that Corruption whereof we speak For the evidencing whereof I will shew First that it affirmeth all Men whatsoever to be under sin yea under a perpetual course of it Secondly that it affirmeth them to be so from the time they begin to be in a capacity to offend Thirdly that they are so from a principle bred in them and derived to them from their birth 1. That all Men are under sin S. Paul doth so fully declare that we shall need no other Testimony than his to evince it More particularly where he affirmeth that both Jews and Gentiles (h) Rom. 3.9 are all under sin That though the former may seem of all others to have been most free from it yet the Law (i) Rom. 3.19 had not stuck to affirm that there was none (k) Rom. 3.10 c. righteous even among them no not one That there was none that understood none that sought after God That they were all gone out of the way they were altogether become unprofitable that there was none that did good no not one In fine that all the World must thereby (l) Rom. 3.19 be look'd upon as guilty before God because as he afterward (m) Rom. 3.23 speaks all have sinned and come short of the glory of God But so the same Scripture did long before declare with an addition of all Men's being under a perpetual course of sin as well as in some measure tainted with it It being not only the voice of God concerning that part of Mankind that liv'd before the flood that every imagination (n) Gen. 6.5 of the thought of their heart was only evil continually but alike intimated by him concerning that part which was to follow even to the end of the World For affirming as he doth (o) Gen. 8.21 that he would not any more drown the World because the imagination of Man's heart is evil from his youth he both supposeth that Mankind would again give occasion to it by their evil imaginations as without which otherwise there could be no occasion for God's suspending it and that Mankind would do so also in every individual and Generation of it The former because he speaks of the imaginations of Mankind in the general and which are therefore to be extended to all the individuals of it The latter because if any Generation of Men were likely to be free from those imaginations there would so far forth have been no need of his declaring that he would not drown the World because no ground for bringing it on the Inhabitants thereof But therefore as we have reason to believe from the places before recited that the World always was and will be under sin yea under a constant course of it So we shall be yet more confirmed in it if we compare the latter place with the former as the likeness that is between them will oblige us to do There being not a more apt sense of that latter Speech of God than that he would not again drown the Earth because he knew the imaginations of Men would be as evil as they had before been and he therefore if he were dispos'd to take that vengeance to bring a flood often upon it to the no profit of those that inhabited it as well as to the defacing of the Earth it self Which will make the condition of Man to be so sinful that it cannot be otherwise unless by some powerful means delivered from it 2. But so also may we inferr from thence which was the second thing to be prov'd that all Men are under sin from the time they begin to be in a capacity to offend That as it affirms the imagination of Men's heart to be evil so to be evil from their Youth and as I should therefore think from the time they begin to be in a capacity to be guilty of it Not that that Age to which we are wont to give the denomination of Youth is the first wherein Mankind begins to be in a capacity to offend for there is but too much evidence of that in the riper years of Childhood but that we cannot well understand that Text of any other youthful Periode than that wherein Mankind begins to be in a capacity to reason and consequently also to offend Partly because the word we render Youth is sometime us'd even for infancy (p) Judges 13.7 Exod. 2.6 and ought not therefore without manifest reason to be removed too far from it But more especially because it is the manifest design of God in the place we speak of to aggravate the evil of Men's imaginations from the earliness thereof and that earliness therefore to be carried as high as the capacity Men are in to imagine evil will suffer the doing of it 3. Now as nothing therefore can be wanting toward the proof of Original Corruption than that they who are so universally and so early under sin are so also from an inward principle and such an inward principle too as was derived to them from their birth so we shall not it may be need any other proof of that than their being so universally and early under the other The former of these perswading Men's being under sin from some inward principle the latter from such an inward principle as is deriv'd to them from their Birth That I make Men's being so universally under sin an argument of their being so from some inward principle is because as so general an effect must be supposed to have some general Cause so no external Cause how general soever can be supposed to produce it without the assistance of the other As will appear if we consider the force of example and which as it is the most general and the most effectual external Cause that can
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
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
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 〈◊〉
washing away their guilt or washing away the pollution of them we shall still find it to be the immediate issue of an inward and spiritual Grace It being the blood of Jesus Christ as the Scriptures (q) Explic. of the Creed in the word Dead every where declare that washeth us from sin in the former sense and the sanctifying Graces of God's spirit (r) Expl. of the Creed in the words I believe in the Holy Ghost which purifie us from it in the other If therefore the Sacrament of Baptism may be said so to wash and purifie it must be as it is an Instrument whereby it conveys to us those graces to which that purification doth belong But so the same Scriptures do yet more expresly declare as to that other Sacrament of our Religion even the Supper of the Lord St. Paul telling us (Å¿) 1 Cor. 10.16 of the bread of it that it is the Communion or Communication of Christ's body as of the Cup that goes along with it that it is the Communion of his blood For what other can we well understand by that expression of his than that they are an instrument whereby God conveys and we accordingly come to partake of that body and blood of Christ which is signified by them This only would be added for the clearer Explication of it that when were present the Sacrament as an instrument whereby God conveys to us that grace which is signified by it we do not mean thereby that it is a natural one or such as contains that grace in it as a Vessel doth liquor or a cause its effect but rather as the Judicious Hookes (t) Eccl. Pol. li. 5. sect 57. speaks as a moral instrument thereof That is to say as such a one to the use whereof God hath made a promise of his grace and which accordingly he will accompany with the exhibition of the other I deny not indeed but there are who are otherwise perswaded and who accordingly either attribute a greater efficacy to a Sacrament or deny even that which we have attributed to it Of the former sort are they who not contented to affirm that a Sacrament is an instrument whereby God conveys grace to the worthy receiver of it do moreover represent it under the notion of a Physical one yea of such a Physical one as contains grace in it as a cause doth its effect and accordingly contributes by its own internal force to the producing of it as well as to the possessing us thereof Even as a Chezil for so they (u) Hist of Counc of Trent li. 2. explain themselves contributes to the formation of a Statue or as a Hatchet to that Bed (w) Aquin. sum Part. 3. Qu. 62. Art 1. which is shaped by it But as it appears by Aquinas (x) Ibid. who was it may be the first framer of it that that conceit had its original from the fear of making a Sacrament to be nothing but a bare sign of grace contrary to the opinion of the Holy Fathers so nothing more therefore can be necessary toward the overthrowing of it than to shew the groundlesness of that fear which the doctrine before deliver'd will sufficiently evince For if it be but a moral instrument whereby God conveys his own graces it is certainly more than a sign yea it may in some sense be said to be a cause as well as the instrument thereof For as they who attribute to a Sacrament the efficacy of a cause make it to be no farther a cause of grace than that it produceth in the Soul a disposition (y) Hist of Counc of Trent li. 2. to receive it by which means it is not so much the cause of grace as of our receiving it so such a kind of causality will be found to belong to it though we make a Sacrament to be no other than a means whereby we attain it Because it is so far forth by the force of a Sacrament that grace comes to be in us that without that we cannot ordinarily hope to attain it nor fear to fail of it where the other is duly receiv'd The only difference as to this particular between the one and the other opinion is that whereas the former makes a Sacrament to dispose us to the reception of Grace as well as to convey it The latter supposeth that disposition already produc'd and consequently leaves no place for the former operation In that respect yet more agreeably to the Doctrine of the Scriptures because not only pre-requiring certain qualifications (z) Act. 8.36 37. 1 Cor. 11.20 of those that are to receive it but assuring them that if they come so qualifi'd they shall not fail * Mark 16.16 Act. 2.38 of that grace which the Sacrament was intended to convey These and the like assertions as they suppose the Soul to be before dispos'd so leaving no place for any other causality in a Sacrament than its serving to us as a means of conveying that grace which we are so disposed to receive And indeed as it doth not appear by any thing that Schoolman hath alledg'd that the Antients ever attributed any other causality to a Sacrament for though St. Augustine as he is quoted by him affirms the power of God to work by a Sacrament yet he doth not affirm it to do so as by a Physical instrument As it appears farther even from that Schoolman that St. Bernard was of opinion that Grace is no otherwise conveyed by a Sacrament than a Canonry in his time was by a Book or a Bishoprick by Ring so there is no defect in the Instances of that Father supposing a Book or a Ring to have been as much a means of conveying of those preferments as we affirm a Sacrament to be of the divine Grace For in that case the delivery of a Ring or a Book would not only have been a sign whereby the delivery of those preferments was declar'd as Aquinas argues in the place before but a ceremony by which they were actually made over and without which they could not have been Canonically invested in them I conclude therefore that if a Sacrament be an instrument of Grace it is a moral one and such as contributes no farther toward our partaking of it than as it is a means to which God hath annex'd the promise of it and which accordingly he will not fail where the receiver is rightly dispos'd to accompany with the exhibition of the other But because there are some who are so far from owning a Sacrament to be a physical instrument of grace that they will not so much as allow it to be a moral one And because such a conceit may tend as much to the depretiating of a Sacrament as the other seems to tend to the overvaluing of it Therefore consider we in the next place the pretensions of those that entertain it and the strength or rather weakness of those pretensions There are who have
save that (c) Luk. 22.61 of penitential tears Nay we find him admonished (d) Luk. 22.22 as well as licensed after that conversion of his to set himself to the strengthning of his brethren Which in all probability he would not have been without a foregoing Baptism if our Saviour had meant for the future that nothing but a new Baptism should be able to convert such Apostates to himself His passing over so great an Apostasie in a prime disciple of his upon his bare repentance being apt to encourage other men to presume of the same unto themselves Neither will it avail to say that this instance will not reach the case because it doth not appear that S. Peter was baptiz'd before For supposing that he were not which yet as was heretofore (e) Part 2. observ'd in all probability he was the case of the Rebaptizers will not be render'd better but rather so much the worse for it For if he was not baptiz'd before there was the more reason he should be baptized now if nothing but a new Baptism generally can wash away Apostasie The instance of Simon Magus is yet more clear and unexceptionable where the regeneration of Baptism hath not been before receiv'd or forfeited after the receiving of it For that Simon Magus either never receiv'd or had now lost the Baptismal regeneration is evident from the words of S. Peter to him That holy man not only cursing him (f) Acts 8.20 for his offer of money but telling him in express terms that he had neither lot nor part in the matter (g) Acts 8.21 of Christianity and that his heart was not right in the sight of God in fine that he perceiv'd that he was in the gall of bitterness (h) Acts 8.23 and in the bond of iniquity Which notwithstanding the same S. Peter directed him only (i) Acts 8.22 to repent of that his wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him Which how could S. Peter have done especially in so notorious a case if a second Baptism had been necessary to wash away that sinful estate which the former Baptism had not purg'd or at least which had returned after it My second Argument against the repetition of Baptism is the no necessity of it in either of the foremention'd instances As will appear whether we consider it as a means of obliging us to that piety which our Religion requires or as a means of conveying the graces of it For in the former notion it is as really and effectually an obligation to a Christian life in an unsincere person or one who afterwards apostatizeth as if it had been never so heartily intended The obligation thereof arising not from the secret sentiments of the person that is baptized or his constancy to his profession but from the nature of the thing it self and the Institution of God that prescrib'd it Provided therefore we take upon us the Sacrament it self we tie our selves by it without remedy neither can there therefore be any need of our obliging our selves by it a second time unless he who instituted it should require it of us It is true indeed so far as we have departed from it whether by Apostasie or impiety so far it will concern us to own it again to our Lord and Master by our repentance of the breaches of it and a repetition of the same vows unto him And it will concern us too if the Church requires it to satisfie that also that we do so repent and will amend But as both the one and the other may be done without the repetition of our Baptism so a frank acknowledgment with our mouths together with the receit of the Lord's Supper may very well serve for those purposes because serving a like to declare them But it may be the principal difficulty in this affair lies in what concerns Baptism as a means of conveying the graces of it and particularly our regeneration and new birth And I must confess I was for some time at a loss what to think in it till I consider'd that the Sacrament of Baptism was not either a physical cause or conveyer of Grace that we should think the grace of it could not be in the receiver of Baptism unless it were either presently produced in him or conveyed to him but a moral instrument thereof or a means to which God hath annexed the promise of it For such a one by the favour of that God who hath annexed the promise of his Grace unto it may operate at a distance as well as in presence and accordingly may convey it to the receiver of Baptism as well after his Baptism as together with it yea convey it after the baptized person hath lost it as well as it did at first Which suppos'd the only remaining difficulty will be whether we may reasonably expect it from God supposing the baptized person to return and repent A thing which they have little reason to question who believe God to allow a second Baptism upon it and we shall have far less if we reflect upon the former instances of Peter and Simon Magus For if God will allow of the remedy of a second Baptism upon repentance why not also allow the first Baptism to be the means of conveying his graces and our health and soundness Especially when the breaches of it come to be acknowledged and the vow thereof renewed And if God accepted of S. Peter upon his bare repentance and directed Simon Magus to no other remedy than that and prayer We may as well suppose that if he accept us at all he will accept us upon that and our old Baptism and so make that co-operate to the respective graces of it These I take to be sufficient Arguments against the repetition of Baptism and the more because they also suggest as satisfactory answers to what hath been before alledged for it For neither can they be look'd upon as Heathen and consequently as standing in need of a new Baptism who however they may have renounc'd the old whether by their Impiety or Apostasie yet ever were and ever will be under the obligation of it And much less after their repentance and return can they be thought to want it toward the producing of that regeneration which they are without Their former Baptism through the favour of him who annex'd the promise of regeneration to that Sacrament being as effectual for that purpose as any new Baptism whatsoever Baptism is indeed generally necessary to regeneration it is so necessary that no man living can promise it to himself without it But if it be of as much value as necessity it may and no doubt will induce him who is the dispenser of his own graces to confer it upon a former as well as upon any new administration of it FINIS OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER For a Conclusion of an EXPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE Church of England
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