Proposition ver 26. is not the Lords Supper but This Bread and This Cup. The Praedicate is utterly useles and wors toward such a design VI. 2. Positively The Proposition pointeth at som Determinate Bread and Cup. The Argument reduced to a Syllogism CHAP. II. Concerning the Clause AS OFTEN AS Pag. 70. I. The unhappiness of this Clause II. The true sons of the words mesured by parallel precepts III. Serviceable remarks 1. With what care the Apostl recordeth this Claus IV. 2. With partiality he treateth the Cup. V. The justice he doth the Bread joining it with the Cup in his deductions VI. The Conclusion with an Objection answered CHAP. III. Concerning the Vulgar interpretation of as often as pag. 85. I. The Distinction between Suppositive and Absolute stated because made the mesure of obligation II. The words of the Author set forth and III. Examined IV. The merely suppositive sens enervates our Lords Command And V. The Apostl's own Argument VI. The two senses ballanced in order to Conscience CHAP. IV. Objections answered pag. 100. I. The First Objection That the Tradition may be novel answered 1. By mater of Fact II. By passing judgment upon it 2. No necessity of difference in point of frequency between the breaking of bread before meat and Grace-cup after it 2. If the Jews Antiquities be against us we may reject their authority III. 3. Seeing a party of them are on our side we may well prefer that party above the opposite So great an agreement as is between them could not be 1. From Chance IV. 2. Nor the Jews conforming their custom to Christs Institution bicause it is incredible they should have such 1. care 2. or wit V. Another Objection That we must have Fests or no Sacrament adjourned VI. A third Objection That the Jews used their Grace-cup in their Houses not their Synagogs Answered by six steps VII The last Objection The universal silence of all Ages Answered 1. By shewing reason why both Primitive and Later ages should be silent and 2. by shewing that the best critiks have observed it CHAP. V. Mater of Fact recorded in Scripture pag. 117. I. A transition to Mater of Fact Not so easily understood as might have be'n expected Two things considerable 1. The Backwardness of the Apostl's in Understanding our Lords mind 2. The means which our Lord used to recommend it unprosperos The night of Institution by its terrors II. Our Lord's conversation with the two Disciples in the way and at Emaus so ordered as to discover the meaning of his Institution as well as the truth of his Resurrection ineffectual upon a contrary reason Their ignorance 'till the coming of the Holy Ghost III. The second observable Their diligence in obeying our Lord's will when discovered That by their breaking of Bread must be meant the Lord's Supper appears by 1. The exercises accompanying it 2. The Phrase expressing it IV. 3. The Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signifie the Meeting house where the first Christians held their Conventicles for fear of the Jews V. 4. The time The Apostl's a d Brethren at Hire daily The Remote Churches on the Lo d's day VI. The first day of the week consecrated to this office and for that reason stiled the Lords day dishonored by derivation from the Fourth Commandment cannot be worse profaned than by neglect of this office to which it oweth its sacredness CHAP. VI. The Practice of Antiquity pag. 131. I. The constant Practice of Christ's Church in it's best ages proved by one evidence of each kind viz. 1. Canon the 9th Apostolik II. 2. One Father Justin Martyr 3. One Historian Socrates The Church of Rome under pretence of tradition innovated against the Church Universal III. 4. Enemies of each kind 1. Protestants IV. 2. Papists V. 3. Junior Fathers particularly St. Augustin whose words are recited wherein we must distinguish between Father and Doctor As Father he stateth the question The question and the practice of the Church both in Doctrine and Discipline very different between St. Augustin's time and Ours VI. As a Doctor he determins the question 1. His stile very diffident bicause his Opinion is opposit to all other Fathers 2. His determination reacheth not Our question Yet have later ages caght at his words and strained them beyond his intentions with unhappy success His Syncretism rectified PART III. Concerning the word DO CHAP. I. We must answer such a Command no otherwise but by Performance Pag. 149. I. The cause of our disobedience to this Command too much Fear II. We may not commute Doing for any other service III. The reason why som think best not to do this often and their appeal to the Church of England IV. The Church vindicated V. The two opposite opinions personated The Vniversity Statutes the best comment upon the Churches Rubrike The Greek Church in great Churches celebrateth the Holy Communion every Sunday and Holy day VI. Those who omit the Communion it self greater Non-conformists than those who neglect the Communion Service CHAP. II. We may not omit This duty without warrant pag. 164. I. Necessity may be complied with A doubl question II. Difference between Laws Moral and Positive The Apostl's vouching our Lords revelation a proof of the valu of the Sacrament Fear of cheapness no reason why we should make it scarce III. Omission compared with unworthiness IV. Our Warrant must be either Countermand or Dispensation V. Defect of preparation no Dispensation VI. All other Duties in the same danger CHAP. III. The Obligation ceased not upon the change of the Manner of the Festing in the Church but must be accommodated thereto pag. 174. I. The Apostle hath prevented such a consequence by saying our Lord appointed us to do this 'till he com II. The adequate mesure of our doing this is not Eating but Meeting in the Church As change of the Ceremony hindereth not Perjury from being a sin Nor doth change of the season hinder us from stiling it a Supper III. The Church careful to preserve the memory and titl of Festing VI. The Apostl's argument holdeth by vers 20. more for the Thing than for the Manner wherein we cannot now be guilty as the Corinthians were V. The Equitable and Moral sens of the Argument accommodate to the present manner of Church-meetings VI. Distinguish between yielding and justifying PART IV. Concerning the End In Remembrance CHAP. I. It is the badge of a Christian pag. 183. I. This the only rite whereby we honor our Lords Person Three Considerations 1. Every Religion distinguished from Every other by som proportion This Nature taught the Heathen and Gods Law the Jews II. The New Testament contracteth the multitude of Jewish rites to two whereby Christians ar known as the Knights of the Garter 1. By a rite of admission III. 2. By continual wearing the badge IV. Those distinguishing rites must be highly valued It was mortal to a Jew to omit any of them and to a Heathen to wear them V. This wors in
see that none could stay out the Prayers but they must be at least by-standers at the Communion Or if any thoght to avoid them Both they were not thereby excused as appears in the case of the Alexandrians for when many of them after reading of the Gospel went away John surnamed the Alms-giver then Patriarch followed them out of the Church sharply reproving them telling them He came to administer the Eucharist to them and never giving over his importunity till he brought them back to the Holy Table Even those who were go'n out of the Church as resolved not to Communicate and therefor certainly both Unprepared and Unworthy did he promiscuously even compel And This zele of so Eminent a Prelate might I vouch as my second Topik since he cannot be denied the title of a Father of the Church But I urge not This however Venerable Authority further than as Expositor of the true meaning of the now mentioned Canon since by the shifts the People made to avoid the Letter by not staying out Prayers and the importunity the good Prelate used to recal them both to Prayers and Communion we may best Avoid any Evasions that our Modern Teachers may use who in Reverence to the Sacrament fright the vulgar from it and Justify my self in my professed endeavor to compel them to it And from the first Testimony thus cleared I com to II. 2. ANcient FATHERS among whom Justin Martyr shineth with great lustre He florished in the midl of the Second Century and is so Clear and so Particular that his words may serv as well to Describe as to Prove the Practice of Those days consonant to the Apostls This excellent Father having before described the other Sacrament and to its Description added what the Church constantly did to its Celebration That of the Lords Supper proceeding afterward to giv a Several account of This he thus reporteth its Constant Revolution And That day which is caled Sunday there is a meeting of all that dwell in Town and Country and the Reader having do'n his office the President makes an Oration wherein he exhorteth the people to imitate such goodly things Then we all rise and pray and as I have said at the end of prayers Bread Wine and Water are brought forth and the Prefect again poureth out with all his might Prayers and Praises and the people answereth aloud Amen And there is a distribution and communication made of those things over which thanks have be'n given to every one that is present but to the absent it is sent by the Deacons But those that are wealthy and willing contribute what they see good c. These words do so exactly suit the Practice of the Church to her above-recited Censure that I know not what Light can be Added or what Evasion Pretended if we consider how expresly they declare 1. That this was Every Sundays exercise And that it was not confined to the Sunday appeareth by what he had said before in the description of the Other Sacrament whereof he made This a certain attendant without declaring that it was do'n only upon Sundays 2. Every Christian was thoght obliged to Communicate every Sunday at least bicause the Church-officers were appointed to cary the Holy Supper even to the Absent 3. They mingled Water with the Wine This we may very reasonably believ to have be'n do'n in Conformity to the Jewish Tradition which forbiddeth the Cup of blessing to be otherwise celebrated For so the Misna in Berachoth endeth the 7th Chap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They bless not for the Wine until Water be put to it This Action they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mingling of the Cup as they do the other the Breaking of the Bread 3. The third sort of testimony promised was an HISTORIAN I might plead performance of That promise by the now recited words of Justin reporting Mater of Fact But that you may see this was no short lived practice I shall further offer you the testimony of a profess'd Historian that wrote about the midl of the fifth Century Socrates in lib. 5. cap. 21. describing the differences between several Churches in their Rites thus speaketh concerning the Subject now in question Althogh All Churches All the world over in every week on the Sabbath day celebrate the Communion yet the Alexandrians and Romans upon an ancient Tradition refuse so to do But the Egyptians which dwell near Alexandria and in Thebais celebrate also the Communion on the Sabbath but receve it not after the manner of other Christians for after they have Fested and filled themselves with sundry meats in the Evening making the Offering they Communicate in the Mysteries Behold here a Testimony as full and as clear as can be expected from an Historian yea from a Witness for he nether speaketh by hear-say nor transcribeth other mens Writings of former ages but reporteth what himself certainly knew of the Universal practice of the whole Christian World at the time of his Writing And for our better satisfaction let us consider 1. That He should say the Sabbath was the day of Celebration whereas Justin Martyr puts it upon the Sunday can make no objection The analogy between them having given the One the name of the Other in our own days 2. Whereas the Egyptians Fested first and Communicated in the Evening after they had Fested themselves this may well be taken for a continuation of the Primitive practice in their Fests of Charity banished at That time out of other Churches bicause of rhe abuses they suffered from the Intemperance of the Peopl 3. Concerning the singularity of the Roman Church 1. It is not hard to reconcile Socrates with St. Hierom who saith That in His days there remained plain foot-steps of daily Communions in That Church which also continueth true in Our days without any contradiction to our Historian She hath still evident Foot-steps of more than Daily Communions yet no Face of so much as Weekly It seems that even in Socrates's days they had put it in Maskerade 2. We see what right That Church hath to ingross the title of Catholik It is one contradiction to confine so large a Word to any One part of the World and it is a Greater to confine it to That part which was singular as differing from All besides the Alexandrian Church 3. We find what pretence that Church hath to equal her Traditions with the Scripture since Universality is essential to a Tradition and here she pretendeth One unknown to the whole Christian World But most pertinently to our present purpose 4. We see whence we are to derive the neglect of Weekly Communions When the Roman Church got the Power to impose her own Singularities upon All other the Ambition to usurp the title of Catholik as if she were not only the Head but the Whole and the Confidence to set up her Inventions as authentik Traditions then must the Universal Practice of All the Christian World be
Remote Churches on the Lords day VI. The first Day of the Week consecrated to This office and for That reason stiled the Lords day dishonored by derivation from the 4th Commandment cannot be worse profaned than by neglect of This office to which it oweth it's sacreduess HITHERTO I have labored to serve the Learned and the Inquisitive the Able and the Willing to search both the ground of our Lords Institution and the Apostl's discourse concerning it which reciprocate such light to one another that I hope every such Reader is fully satisfied both in Conscience and Curiosity But there ar many other who ether understand not such work or will not suffer the fatigue whom I shall now endeavor to fit with less troublsom Discourses It is much easier both to Understand and to Attend the the process of an History than that of an Argument and the sens of Mater of Fact as it is more Obvious so is it generally more Potent than That of Mater of Right What therefor I have hitherto be'n proving to have be'n our Lord's and Apostl's mind concerning our obligation to constancy I shall now authorise by the suitable Practice of All the Apostl's and Primitive Churches In This Chapter I shall search the Scripture for the Former and in the following I shall look into humane Writers for the Later In This Chapter let us vieu the Scripture and see the strange unhappiness of This Subject We might well hope to ' scape all disputes concerning Mater of Fact when the witness is infallibl what can we need more but to hear him Yes we need understand him too and as in the Apostl's argument we have found difficulty bicause those expressions which were familiar to His age are worn out in Ours So the same difficulty still pursueth us in the very History We must not only vieu what is written but we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Search and Examin and that carefully too what is meant when report is made even of Mater of Fact But we have This comfort that as the troubl will be now less so will our discoveries be more various and at every step we shall meet somthing worth the no great labor of the inquiry Two things will be worth our observation 1. How careful our Lord was to recommend his Institution and how backward the Apostls were in Apprehending his meaning 2. How diligent the Apostl's were in Obeying his will when well informed concerning it 1. It is worth observing be it but for our own justification that notwithstanding our Lords care to instruct them the Apostl's themselves were as hardly broght to understand his mind in his Institution as we ar now And it is more particularly observable that Those endeavors which he used to recommend it to their affections met the same success as we have seen follow those very words of the Apostl whereby he endeavored to prove the necessity of constancy Our Lord's care to recommend it appeareth especially by two Actions 1. His timeing the Institution Secondly His care to mind them of it while fresh in memory 1. He chose the fittest Time for the Institution The Apostl observed it and we shall anon find another occasion more fully to consider how observable it is that it was the Last night and That wherein he was betrayed and the Evangelist is careful to commemorate with what affection he embraced That Passover for This very reason bicause it was the most proper for This Institution But That dismal night however seasonable to endear it to Future times was least so for it's publication to the Present It was natural that the dreadful Tragedy then impending should so confound both their Apprehensions and Memories as utterly to rob them of all other consideration but of their Lord's and their Own dangers leaving them no power to regard the at-such-a-time-scarce-considerable action To cure This inconvenience he applyeth a contrary remedy and that speedily II. HIS Resurrection was matter of as great Joy as his Passion was of Grief or Fear and he makes That an opportunity to remedy the Other After his Death they met together not to Fest but Fast bicause the Bridegroom was taken from them the news of his Resurrection must give them the garments of gladness for the spirit of heaviness and invite them both to turn their Fasting to Festing and to close their Fests with his Supper as he had both very Carefully and very Lately commanded He therefor contriveth a way whereby he may at once assure them of the truth of his Resurrection and the meaning of his Institution The story we meet in Luke 24.13 which bicause we as litle heed now as the Apostl's did then will require som Animadversion Finding Two Disciples traveling together to complete the necessary number himself makes a Third He joins himself to them discourses with them gives them sufficient opportunity and occasion to observ his countenance his voice his meen and whatever els he might be know'n by But these it seems were Disciples in extraordinary not such as ordinarily conversed with him and they knew him not so perfectly as to discover him in such circumstances He suppeth with them and having by his discourses manifested himself a Rabbin takes the office of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Breaker and performs it not in the Accustomed but his Own New form points not so much to the Bread as to his own Body and thereby so manifested his Person that immediatly they knew him This gives us an Hypothesis suitable to all the Phaenomena of the story otherwise unaccountable and if our eyes be withholden that we no more know his Meaning now than the Disciples did his Person by the way let us look how we shall answer these questions How came their eyes to be opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or by the breaking of the Bread more than by all his other appearances You say he might discover himself When and How he pleased True but the question concerneth not his Power but his Will which governs that Power and is it self governed by his Wisdom We therefor further demand Why he that Could do it in what circumstances he pleased should Chuse to do it in These rather than any Other This say you is a saucy question we are not to call our Lord to account for his actions But may we not be bolder with his servants his Disciples and Evangelist Let us then inquire concerning them Why were the Disciples so careful to report This very Circumstance Why the Evangelist so punctual to record that they reported not only the Thing but the Manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How or in what manner he was knowen to them by the breaking of the Bread Here meet an unaccountabl Will of our Lord choosing This very Manner of discovering himself the no less unaccountabl Care of the Disciples reporting This Manner and of the Evangelist recording both the One and the Other Must All this be imputed to a fortuit concurs without
legacy so serviceabl both to his own honor and his Churches happiness yet so unkind as to clog it with such condicions as must render it Inaccessibl to the Most Tormentive to the Best Dangeros to every Single person Mischievous to the Church in general and Necessary to None whereas by a plain determination of his will inforced by his Command he might have prevented all Inconveniences and promoted all Good effects Had it not be'n better that the Christian World had never heard of it than suffered so many mischievs by it What Fires hath it kindled What blood hath it drawn What wounds hath it made in the authors Mystical body more grievos to him than those it commemorateth of his Natural What member which it hath not tormented What Church what Person hath escaped its mischievous influence And on the other side Where ar its good fruits Where is that Church Where is that Person that can in these last Ages boast of any so great benefits obteined by it as may in any proportion pretend to recompence so many and great mischievs The Conclusion reflecting upon the whole I. All reduced to three questions Qu. 1. By what Authority do we depart from Constancy By that of the Church of Rome II. No Doctrine hath so much Popery as This. III. Qu. 2. With what Success 1. By loss of Constancy we have lost tolerabl Frequency IV. 2. By too much advanceing Reverence we have made it mischievos 1. To the honor of our Lord 2. to the peace of his church V. Qu. 3. Upon what Need No such danger as is feared of loss of reverence or if there were any it is much outweighed both by prudential and conscientious considerations VI. The Reverence which is due to the Sacrament is not such as belongs to Gods Decrees which require our Forbearance but such as belongs to his Laws which require our Performance MAY not so many and great abuses make This holy Sacrament ashamed as the Prophet is described in Zachary of it's Commission May it not say of the wounds in its hands These ar the wounds wherewith I have be'n wounded in the house of my friends They ar indeed but in the Hands not in the Heart destroy not its Being but leave it such an one as Epicurus allowed God incomprehensibl in Majesty Glory and Idleness exalted as much above our Concerns as our Understandings but wounded in the Hands maimed and pained unserviceabl and troublsom to the Church in General and every member in Particular And This in the house of friends Reverence for it's mysteries Zele for it's honor Care for it's service by being wise overmuch and righteous overmuch Wise overmuch even wiser than our Lord himself and Righteos overmuch even more than can well stand ether with the nature of a fest or the frailty of mankind By spinning our Lords institution to such fineness as robbeth it of it's strength and straining the Apostl's discours to such rigor as maketh the duty impracticabl By practising upon the body of Christ as Empiriks do upon those of their patients against all Rules and often without any Need. Yes 't is even so The Sacrament they say was grow'n Plethorik it must therefor bleed away somthing of Constancy for preservation of Reverence and these ar the wounds it receved from the hands of Chyrurgeons exerciseing Phlebotomy But 1. By who 's Prescription 2. With what success 3. Vpon what need ar questions so important that it may be worth our labor to sum up all that we have said or can be said into those three enquiries 1. By who 's Prescription What Doctor durst presume thus to practise upon the Body and Blood of the Lord contrary to his own Institution Were we to answer by conjecture we should not long deliberate but we have better evidence than bare suspion even as good as can be wished the testimony of an Historian beyond exception who could neither dare to impose upon the world nor could himself be deceved in matter of Fact notoriously known even to the most ignorant We have already heard from Socrates who made an end of his History in the year of our Lord 441. and shall now again more heedfully take his report Whereas saith he All Churches over the whole world on the Sabbath days in every week celebrate the Mysteries they of Alexandria and Rome upon som ancient Tradition refuse so to do But the Egyptians who ar neighbors of the Alexandrians and the inhabitants of Thebais do indeed meet on the Sabbath but partake not the Mysteries after the manner of Christians for after they are filled with all manner of meats about evening they offer and receve the Mysteries And again in Alexandria on the fourth day and that which is caled the preparation-day the Scriptures ar read and the Teachers interpret them and all things belonging to a meeting ar performed except the celebration of the Mysteries As the first clause of these words speaketh the Holy Sacrament constantly celebrated every Sunday so doth the last witness the same for every other Holy-day for by observing it as a singularity in the Church of Alexandria that their weekly Lectures were defective for want of This he plainly supposeth it notorios that it was celebrated every where els in all Church-assemblies And concerning the Sundays-Sacrament we must observ 1. The Church of Alexandria was but Accessary and that of Rome Principal For as the former furnished the later with her Corn so was her self filled with the Wealth and Merchants of Rome for who 's sake she complyed with her customs But the voisinage who had no such tentations liked not the trade but refused to consent to their own Metropolis in so gross an innovation Yea they thence took such jealosie as to stand the more stifly to such other customs of their Ancestors as all the rest of the World thoght fit to be changed Nor indeed could they well justify the One without the Other For if they refused to reneg constancy for This very reason bicause their Ancestors practised it then could they not deny the consequence which was pressed upon them that they must upon the same reason stick to the ancient but now generally disused circumstances which made it the close of a Fest 2. The Evidence whereon This innovation was founded was not derived from Scripture or Reason or any other competent Topik but a pretended Tradition a private Tradition a Tradition whispered to the Church of Rome and her Zany of Alexandria so close in the ear that it could not be heard by any other Church equally Apostolik not more contrary to the practice of the rest of the World than to the very Nature of Tradition which cannot be but Universal 3. The vantage they have since made of This invention hath made it plain that they therefor wer thus industrios to advance this Sacrament obove all other offices of Worship that they might thereby advance both their own Church above other Churches and their Priests
thence taken encouragement to believ you would much more easily pardon such a Presumption than such an Omission I therefor humbly recommend not so much these Papers as their Sacred subject Our Lord's Institution and our Churches Constitutions to your Grace's protection as I do your Grace's Person and pious Labours to that of Almighty God who that He be pleased to make your Grace a glorious Instrument of His service in This World and a more glorious partaker of His rewards in a better is the hearty Prayer of Your Graces most humble and Dutiful Servant A R. BVRY THE CONTENTS Of the whole I. WE are not at liberty to Receive or Refuse the Lords Supper Proved by 1. Scripture which must be regulatly examined PART I. Chap. 1. 1. Our Lord's Institution wherein 1. The word THIS pointeth at som singular Bread and Cup. Chap. 2. This singular Bread and Cup hunted out and found in a Jewish Tradition Chap. 3. No dishonor to the Lords Supper Chap. 4. This origination more plainly proved from 1 Cor. 10. Chap. 5. 2. The word DO requireth Performance PART III. We may not omit it without warrant Chap. 2. Our obligation ceaseth not thogh Church festing be not the same Chap. 2. 3. The END PART IV. The Livree of a Christian Chap. 1. Appropriate to our Lord's Person with signal marks of his favor Chap. 2. Serviceable to our own interests Chap. 3. 2. The Apostl's Explication PART II. His primary design was not to assert the Reverence but the Constancy due to the Lords Supper Ch. 1. The Clause as often as examined by several Phaenomena Chap. 2. The vulgar interpretation examined Chap. 3. Objections answered Chap. 4. 3. The Examples of other Apostls and their Churches Chap. 5. 2. The Practice of Antiquity Chap. 6. 3. Answers to Objections PART V. Deference paid to former Ages and the Sacrament Chap. 1. Concerning Unworthiness Chap. 2. Concerning Self-examination Chap. 3. Allegories of a midl nature between Reason and Scripture answered Chap. 4. II. Were we at liberty Reason would perswade us to Frequency The very Being of the Sacrament must not be hazarded Chap. 5. Distant Communions Useless for Conversion of Sinners Too much Aw Vexatious to the Godly Pernicious to Peace and Charity THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS THE INTRODUCTION Shewing it necessary to enquire how often we are obliged to receive the Holy Communion I. The seeming impossibility and real necessity to add to what hath be'n already written concerning the Lords Supper II. A double Objection slighted yet answered and turned to a double plea. The former concerning the dignity of the Sacrament III. The other concerning the deference due to Antiquity A short retrospect upon the several stages of our departure from it How later Fathers departed from the first The Papists from the Fathers IV The Reformed Churches from the Papists The Moderation of the Church of England blamed by the Non-conformists who dissented heretofore in One extreme and now in Another V. Our own Divines of the last age less justifiable than those of the present who do better yet not enough VI. The sum of the account A request for rigid examination and its reason An example of noble Ladies An advertisement to the Reader PART I. Concerning the Particle THIS Pag. 1. CHAP. I. The Scripture cleared from the scandal arising from our contentions by shewing the true cause and cure I. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper highly esteemed by our Lord and all his Churches In later Ages many differences of Opinions concerning it II. Not the number only but mater of the differences scandalos to the Scripture both toward Papist and Jew III. The blame removed from the Scriptures to the Doctors IV. The Papists best perhaps silenced by our claiming the literal sens in the Wine as they do in the Bread Our own Divines neglect the former part which yet is the Head of the Apostl's discourse V. The regular way to understand his meaning Two Suppositions taken upon trust with engagement VI. The whole Discourse Paraphrased VII The whole Argument Analysed And reduced to Logik form The great Limbs more minutely to be dissected in four considerable Members And all to be closed with an answer to what is said to the contrary CHAP. II. Of the Necessity to fit the word THIS with som singlar Bread and Cup. Pag. 18. I. The difference of our Lords stile towards this Bread and Wine from That towards litl children II. This subject requireth the clearest expression III. The Particle THIS most considerable IV. Grammar and Logick In Logick it is considerable 1. As a singl word a Demonstrative must have somthing for its object precedences Every word must be answered by som Idea V. 2. As the subject of a Proposition The meaning of the Predicate must be mesured by the capacity of the subject Offers at the import of the word rejected 1. That Individual 2. The whole kind 3. Somthing indeterminate 4. The Action CHAP. III. The singular Bread and Cup hunted out and found Pag. 28. I. Customs of that time and place to be enquired 1. The Custom of Festing in publik worship fitteth the Apostl 's Argument but not our Lord's Institution II. 2. The Passover fitteth our Lord's Institution but not the Apostl's Argument Three incidental remarks upon the Jews Paschal form III. A Jewish custom pitch't upon exactly fitting both our Lord's and the Apostl's words IV. An Objection answered with a story CHAP. IV. Pag. 37. I. No more dishonor to This than to the other Sacrament to be derived from a Jewish Tradition This Tradition more worthy than That II. In what sens our Lords Table is an Altar Were our behavior at Table more pious the Sacrament need not be ashamed of such a relation III. Our Lords form of consecration derived from the Jewish Forms both Festival and Sacrificial CHAP. V. Pag. 44. I. A plainer proof from Chap. 10. From the sameness of names In the Cup the Greeks aped the Jews The Apostle stileth the Cup of the Lord the Cup of blessing which is a perfect translation of the Heb ew name II. The breaking of Bread a Jewish phrase III. Some Phaenomena not salvable but by this Hypothesis IV. He expresly telleth us that each part of the Jewish Tradition by name is a part of our Lord's Supper V. An Illustration from our Grace-cup VI. A Sacrament What PART II. Concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. I. The Apostl's design was not to assert Reverence to the Lords Supper Pag. 55. I. The Apostl's proper design first to be enquired into II. Three steps 1. What might be the Corinthians case III. 2. What might becom the Apostl to do in such a case IV. 3. How doth the Apostl's procedure agree with such Suppositions 1. The former part very well agreeth with them V. 2. The later part necessarily requireth them Proved 1. Negatively He did not design to assert Reverence due to our Lords Supper precisely taken The subject of the
care to press the almost forgotten duty Yet still so that their labors have not answered the necessity For they all write Ad populum and accommodate their Discourses not to the amplitude of the Subject but to the narrowness of their Readers capacities whereby they are obliged to shun the strongest and confine themselves to the weakest Arguments Whereas he that will stem an Error pretending both to Piety and Universality and backed with the rarely combined assistance of the Peoples inclinations and the Pastors silence yea and encouragements must consult rather the necessity of the Subject than the capacity of the vulgar whose office is not to judge of Arguments but obey Exhortations For correction of Manners indeed a plausible Rhetorical Suasory may therefore suffice because the Readers judgment is of the Authors party But for conviction of Errors where the Judgment concurs with the Affections in joint opposition there must be such greater strength as may not only fairly perswade but forcibly subdue Both. If such Elenctik Discourses be too unweildy for the weak vulgar it is to be considered that those only are able to Reform an Error who are so to Understand whatever can be said to prove it one And such though comparatively few in number are not therefore less worthy our best service For every Learned person is a Publik one and may be reckoned for as many as his Example or Discourses may influence Nor can this Holy Office ever be restored to it s long lost observance but by Their conduct who are guides to the people VI. THIS therefore is the sum of my account I see the Holy Communion ly under the unhappiness of Gideon's Fleece denyed the blessing of Restoration which all other Offices of our Worship enjoy The most Pious and Prudent complain not only in relation to the Sacrament it self but to those good ends which it was designed to serve and which wither for want of it Those who labor the Remedy do Well but not Enough I have long expected that some better hand would proportion the Remedy to the Need But finding those Hopes disappointed and the Evil unabated can no longer forbid my self to undertake a Work so necessary wherein though I be obliged to comply with every understanding yet am I rather to leave Many Vulgar Readers Ignorant than One Learned one Unconvinced and therefor must not balk any thing however difficult to be understood if it have force answerable And if I appear singular in any my Positions That also must be imputed to the singularity of my Task I must dig deeper than others have done prove what they have supposed disprove what they have connived at search the bottom of those Expressions whose Surface they have built upon and so state the whole that every Practical Question especially those necessary ones above-mentioned may be satisfied both fully and convincingly We are to travel antiquated ways over-grown not only with Weeds which hide every path but Briars and Thorns which incumber them not only with the Forgetfulness but Prejudices of Many Generations which to grub up will require both strength and labor learning and care 1. Some Learning will be requisite but not much We shall not need capt Fathers or Councils or School-men c. tumble our Books or torment our Brains to reconcile One Author with Another or the Same with Himself There is but one only Text which at all speaks to the matter and a little Logick with sufficient Care will discover its meaning 2. But as much Care as you please For I profess to fear any Learned Readers Hast more than his Rigor and therefor I intreat and provoke him to view and review examine and cross-examine sift and search every clause in this whole Dissertation and spare me not if he find any one inconsistent with any other either in This Work or the Apostles Discourse or other Scripture or with any other authentick Evidence or any other rule of Reasoning I very well know what appearances my fundamental notices will make to the first glance They will seem extravagant and perhaps ridiculously contemptible bicause not only far out of the Rode but short of those awful apprehensions that we have growen up in toward the Holy Sacrament Yet am I fully perswaded that the more strictly they are examined the more will they appear not only Suitable and Serviceable but absolutely Necessary to a clear understanding of our Lords Institution the Apostles dissertation and our own duty And were I mistaken and confuted in any collateral Position yea in almost all yet if any One evidence remain unanswered That One must not suffer for the defects of its fellows but claim such submission as is due to its however single power I therefor pray my capable Reader by all the above-mentioned and all other concerned Interests For the Lords the Churches his Own and Others Souls sakes if he values the Power of Godliness much decayed the publick Peace much endangered or this Holy Sacrament the great promoter of both much neglected By all that ought to be dear to Christians or Men I pray him to be as severe but withal as impartial in examining what is here offered as the dignity of the Subject and the neglect it suffereth both from Doctors and People require and rhen to put That sentence in execution which he so finds to be just That I may not only exhort but provoke you and withal prevent an Objection supposing it unpracticable I tell you what our Lord said in another case The very stones will cry out is in a sort verified in this When the defection of our Nation is almost as general as was that of Israel in Elijah's days and those to whom it properly belongs neglect the redress to the shame of us Priests yea of us Men but to the honor of the weaker Sex and more tempted Quality in a place promising as little as the condition of the persons as if Piety wrought by Antiperistasis a number of noble Ladies emulating the Primitive Christians as in other offices of Devotion so in This also have combined themselves with their suitably pious Ministers in a Holy Society paying our Lords day his Supper and his Poor their joint rights by celebrating the Holy Communion with its Offertory at least every Sunday Wherein probably they design not barely to Perform but to Exceed the utmost Obligations of strict Duty and by That very error so surmounted deserve the applause of doing things that are more excellent Yet leaving them the honor due to such extraordinary good Intentions I must rob them of the glory of supererogating in the performance by proving that they hardly do all that is commanded them Which since I cannot do with any reasonable hope or considerable success but by convincing the Learned nor that but by carefully tracing the Apostles discourse through its various turnings which will require more Care than learning as well in Reader as Wrirer lest those who are either
people in the Templ vers 20. And in the last verse we find their obedience such that daily in the Templ and in every house if the Translation speak truth they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ But the Greek speaketh as before In conformity to the Angels command they preached to the people in the Templ that they might Convert the yet Unconverted and they did the same and more in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to confirm those that were already Discipled Thus far we have found fair Probabilities Now I add a Demonstration not heeded by the above-named Learned Authors Hitherto we have found it in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but upon cogent reason we shall find it in the plural Acts 20.20 St. Paul having convened the Disciples of Asia thus justifies himself to them I have kept back nothing from you but have preached publikly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may now be more tolerably thogh not exactly translated from house to house Now I demand any colour of reason for this change of number other than This plain one Asia was a large Province There were Therein divers Churches in divers Cities and it was proper that every City should have it's proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently the Apostle must there preach as from City to City so from Hous to Hous But Hierusalem was no more than One thogh perhaps greater than two or three Cities and required no more but One so it were a great Meeting-house and There breaking of Bread might well be celebrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Domo As certainly therefor as the Plural number signifieth more than the Singular and a Large Provnice needeth more Meeting-houses than a City and the Apostl changeth numbers in conformity to the need so certain it is that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signifie such a House as is appropriate to such a Meeting and such an Exercise V. 4. THE TIME when this was do'n is severally stated one way for Hierusalem and another for remoter Churches 1. At Hierusalem the Apostles and Brethren continued Daily in breaking of bread as well as in supplication and prayers but it was not could not be so in other places Hierusalem was the Metropolis There the Apostolik College kept their constant residence they deserted their Secular calings devoting themselves entirely to the propagation of the Gospel preaching in that Mother-city and thence issuing their Emissaries and Orders to other Churches There all that believed were together and had all things common sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need Acts 2.45 and 4.35 This was no more than necessary that those who had nothing but their hands might not be compelled to imploy them with their time for their bodily maintenance and in consequence hereof when all the Believers were impoverished in Particular and their common stock spent then must they be maintained by Contribution from Other Churches whom their Emissaries had converted to the same Faith receiving Carn I things in exchange for Spiritual things 2. To These Churches therefor another life was necessary Being to minister not only to their Own necessities but to those of the now poor Saints at Hierusalem they were caled to Work as well as to Believ To his Corinthians our Apostle prescribeth that in what ever caling any man is caled he therein abide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Gods name and to the Thessalonians That if any one would not Work neither should he Eat Yet as the poor Saints must have a Portion of their Goods so must God have of their Time The Law had directed to the Seventh day Upon that day they Might and they Did join with the Jews in their Sabbath Devotions in their Synagogs as the Apostls did at Hierusalem in the Templ But for This holy Supper That Day was for the same reason no less unfit than That Templ What therefor we said of the necessity of another Place is no less true concerning another Day necessary to be consecrated to this Anti-Jewish office And what Day more proper than the Next not only nearest in Time but superior in Work On the Seventh day God rested from his work of Creation and fested Himself in the complacency he receved from the vieu of its perfection But upon the First day our Savior triumphed in the accomplishment of the to Him harder and to Us happier work of our Redemtion And as this Office was to take it's time after Reading Preaching and Prayer as we shall see more anon so was it congruos that it should succeed the Sabbath consecrate by the Law to those Offices The next day therefor as every way fittest is set apart for this Greater Mystery in memory of our Saviors Passion and Benefits This we find expresly declared Act. 20.7 Upon the First day of the week the Disciples came together to break bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for breaking breads sake And for this reason was it stiled the Lords day as appropriate to the honor of His Person Rev. 1.10 And in aftertimes the day of Bread Chrysost Hom. 5. De Resurrect And since we cannot better manifest our Love to him than by charity to his members and this Supper was both an Emblem and a Means of mutual Love therefore must it be attended with Liberality to the Poor recommended specially at this time by our Apostl to the Corinthians as before to his Galatians exhorting that Upon the First day of the week every one should lay by in store as God had prospered him 1 Corin. 16.1 2. And for this constantly attending Offertories sake no less than for the influence they had in promoting mutual love among the Communicants were these stiled Fests of charity under which character St. Jude mentions them as the ordinary exercise of all visible Members of the Church which els had not be'n so obnoxious to the Spots he complains of Yet so incorrigibl was the General sensuality that by Tertullians time they were relapsed into the same profaneness with that reproved in the Corinthians the Fests forgot their relation to the Lords Supper and a while after were banished out of his Church For som Ages did the now dead Sabbath ly in state not as still in force by vertu of the Law which it self was dead but in charity to the Jews in order to whose more probable conversion Christians complyed with them as far as lawfully and conveniently they Might and they Might so in All offices of Natural religion as in their Templ so on their Sabbath thogh the Sanctity of Both were equally abolished But with This difference that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were without any Positive Command honored by the Jews as so many Chappels of ease even while the Mother-templ stood and therefor were not by the Apostl's first consecrate to this office But the Lords day was never sanctified by the Jews nor upon any other account by the Apostls
greater Mysteries If saith he I tell you Earthly things and ye believe not how will ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things Meaning by Earthly and Heavenly as St. Paul afterward did Phil. 2.10 and in several other places by the Former the Jewish by the Later the Christian Mysteries whereof he giveth a Specimen in his coming from Heaven his returning Thither and his being There and his crucifixion for the salvation of the world That which we mention This for is to shew that our Lord manifestly adopted the Jewish Tradition of Baptism into the Gospel making it then a necessary badge of a Disciple as he also afterward did when he returned to Heaven requiring his Apostles to go and Disciple all nations Baptising them for this reason bicause whoever believeth and is Baptised i. e. publikely professeth his Discipleship shall be saved By all which it is apparent that our Lord appointed this as a Livree whereby his servants must profess to own Him for their Master if they should by him be own'd and saved III. YET is not this the Adaequate nay nor the Principal badge of a Christian For we receve This but Once and that without our own consent As were we when this Seal was put upon us so was its Impression when we came to age we wer at liberty to Own or Reneg it and whether we do This or That appears by no other visibl mark but only our Receving or Neglecting This more Critical Sacrament in due season appointed by our Lord as a more Lasting and Alway Visible cognisance I say our Lord appointed this Other Sacrament in Due season For had he do'n it sooner his Disciples would have forgotten his Command before they understood it yet could he not forbear to Prophecy of it saying He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life But since his Death must needs be understood when he had suffered it even by Those who before knew not what it meant he therefor took the time when it was in a manner Present as fittest for the Institution which was both to Commemorate it and Distinguish his Disciples by such constant Repetitions whereof Baptism was incapable Those who are honored with the Noble Order of the Garter as they are solenly Installed so ar they Obliged ever after to wear the George and the Star as permanent badges of the Honor and Vow they have receved and if Any person however solenly Installed shall afterward lay his Habit aside he doth not only Offend against the Law of the Order but Disclaim his Interest in it as refusing to be esteemed a Brother of that Royal Fraternity This Sacrament is our George and our Star This if we constantly wear not we tacitly renounce our Christianity Those very Persons who perhaps will not Admit certainly do not sufficiently Press this for a Necessary Duty abundantly urge it to other purposes When they are required to assign the marks of a true Church they name Administration of the Sacraments for One and it will troubl any reasonabl man to deny that if the Administration be the mark of a True Church the Reception must be so of a True Member of the Church And som Ultramarine Churches have found it necessary to declare as the Council of Agatha did of old that those who receve not the Sacraments oght not to be reputed as Christians For which censure thogh we have already seen Reason sufficient yet perhaps we may see more IV. 2. THOSE Rites whereby One Religion is Crititically distinguished from Another however slight the Mater may seem ar highly to be esteemed for That office Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing said the Apostl yet was the One mortal in the Old Testament and the Other in the New and Both upon the same Reason He that was circumcised was a debtor unto the whole Law To eat an Apple or any other Fruit of a Tree is a small matter but when the forbearance was made a Sacrament i. e. a Specimen of the new made Creatures owning the dominion of the Creator Then Eating was condemned not only as an act of Misdemeanor but Rebellion and the Smith which thoght it too much that God should be so severe for an Apple might be answered that it was not for the Apple but for the experiment he thereby gave of his disowning Gods authority over him And for This reason did God make Those offences Capital which had otherwise be'n Venial He that was uncircumcised He that kept not the Passover He that brake the Sabbath c. That soul must be cut off from his people bicause God had said of every one of those otherwise slight performances This shall be a sign between Me and You. This dubl care of God as well in Negative as Positive Ceremonies taught his peopl to infer That if a Jew must forbear the Rites of Gentilism then must the Gentile as for the same Reason so upon the same Penalty forbear those of Judaism Since the One no less than the Other was necessary to the Discriminarive which was the Adaequate vertu of the Law As God therefor made it mortal to the Jew to Neglect such Rites so did the Jews make it to a Gentile to Usurp them as thereby robbing them of their proper vertu since by being common to Both they wer disabled to distinguish the One from the Other The Gentile saith the Gemera Babylonica which observed the Law of Moses was guilty of death How so bicause it is said Moses commanded us a Law for an Inheritance It is an Inheritancs to Us not to the Gentile Yea their most Learned Maimonides saith that if a Gentile celebrated a Sabbath thogh he mistook the day yet if he did it with intention to keep the Sabbath he was guilty of death They did not indeed inflict death on such offenders but stripes only yet not without admonition that he was guilty of death thogh not punished with it Since therefor our Lord left us This Law as Moses did His Ceremonial for an Inheritance the Reason being the Same in the Law the Crime must be the Same in the Disobedience V. THE Same in its Reason but incomparably Greater in Haynosness For by how much the Covenant is Better the Law-giver Greater the Redemtion more costly c. by so much more criminal must it be to omit This than any Mosaical Rite And how much That is if we enquire we must do it in the stile of the Author to the Hebrews not to seek satisfaction but to express amazement He that despised Moses 's Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath do'n despight to the Spirit of Grace I grant that This dreadful Thunder is not leveled against the neglect of This Institution as
shall not think any thing more probabl than This that wer they now aliv they would change their Stile with the so changed state of the Question and Correct or Confute whatever they have said in abatement of the Obligation to Constancy in the performance For proof hereof I give you the words of the excellent Person whom I have so often created as an adversary To such persons as these he speaks of Neuters in Religion not so bad as to deserv Excommunication nor so pios as to be discernably in the state of grace I can give no other advice but that every one take his mesures of frequency by the Laws of his Church and add what he please to his numbers by the advice of a Spiritual guide who may consider whether his penitent by his conjugation of preparatory actions and heaps of holy duties at that time usually conjoined do or is likely to receve any Spiritual progress And a few lines after To such persons as these the Church hath made Laws for the set times of their Communion Christmas Easter and Witsuntide wer appointed for all Christians that were not Scandalos and openly Criminal by P. Fabianus and this constitution is imitated by the best constituted Church in the world our dear mother the Church of England and they who do not at these times or so frequently communicate ar censured by the Council of Agathon as unfit to be reckoned among Christians or members of the Catholik Church Now by these Laws of the Church it is intended indeed that all men should be caled upon to discuss and shake off the yoke of their sins and enter into the salutary state of repentance and next to the perpetual Sermons of the Church she had no better means to engage them into the returns of Piety hoping that by the grace of God and the blessings of the Sacrament the repentance which at these times solenly begins may at one time or other fix and abide By which and many other words of this admirabl person it appeareth That thogh he denied our Lords Institution to amount to a Command lest the Sacrament by too much Familiarity might lose that Awe which he thoght most useful to make it Powerful yet did he upon other grounds suppose every one obliged to such Frequency as Wise and Pios persons judge most conductive to Godliness which as it was our Lords designe in his Death must needs be the best mesure of our behavior toward it's Representative St. Chrysostom expressly declared This I speak not that you may absent your selvs but that you may com worthily And we may well believ the same to have be'n the intentions of All our pios divines wer there No Other reason for it but This That otherwise Their Own injunctions must be as insignificant as our Lord's For if it be not necessary for us to Receve the Lords Supper neither will it be so to Prepare our selvs in such manner as they prescribe in Order to it And then all those Cautions against Unworthiness and Directions for Self-Examinations may be serviceabl perhaps to other purposes They may be useful to try the truth of our Repentance when upon other reasons we may set our selvs to that work but 'till then may well be laid aside notwithstanding any obligations deriveabl from This Institution Since therefor All obligations but such as ar bound upon us by our Lord and his Apostl ar too weak since contrary to All Expectation as much as All Law we have seen this greatest office of the Church sequestred but not restored with it's Officers Since the declared intentions of our pios Predecessors ar so grossly not onely Disappointed but Inverted that it is generally thoght as much more Safe as more Easie to Forbear the whole than to venture upon such difficulties and Dangers as ly in the way to the performance we may very well believ them so far from fondness toward their formerly Hopeful but now Unhappy opinion that they would be as forward as any of our present Divines to contribute to the remedy which the present state of the Church calls for II. 2. MY secund Protest is That I am so far from any design to rob the Sacrament of its due Reverence that I have already said sufficient to secure me from any such suspicion were I not now obliged to speak such things as look't upon in separation from my task may represent me half a Corinthian But this is the necessary consequence of opposing errors For Truth is usually seated like Vertu between two Extremes whereof whoever opposeth the One must seem to defend the Other The zeal of som Fathers for Aw toward the H. St. is taken as an implicit denial of our obligation to Constancy and then improved to a contrary obligation to Forbearance And while I renounce this Later I may seem to break those bonds in sunder whose Obligations I do not pretend either to Break or Unty but only so far to Slacken that they may not by too streght binding disable us from performing our necessary duty I therefor here invert St. Chrysostom's Protest This I speak not that you may com Vnworthily but that you may com Constantly I dash not One part of the Apostl's cautionary precept against the Other to the destruction of Both no nor put asunder what he hath joined together But I endevor to shew how he hath so fitted the One to the Other that they ar not onely Consistent but Serviceabl each to other For when he yoked Let a man examin himself with let him eat c. there was no strife between them and som ages they drew very lovingly and prosperosly together But after ages made the former draw cross and too hard for the later The Greek Church appointeth a Lent preparatory for every of the four Solemn tides whereon the peopl ar obliged to Communicate And such among our selvs as think it a necessary duty only upon those three great Festivals which ar attended with their Octaves suppose it Ushered with an Octave of preparation But the first ages which celebrated it every Sunday and other Holidays could allow it no more than the ' foregoing Eve I deny not for it cannot be avoided that if we conform to them in the One we must also do it in the Other More than every such Eve the necessity of most mens affairs will not allow nor the constitutions of our Church be satisfied with less Whether this be more agreeable both to the Apostl's mind and the honour of the Sacrament it self than either of the other we com now to consider And first we must see what is said on the other side II. THAT I may here again keep my self from any suspicion of injustice I give you our worthiest Adversares opinion in his Own words First he layeth down This for his foundation No man is fit to Communicate who is not fit to dy And having thereupon raised several completeth all with This coronis The
bent their endeavors to advance the honor of the Sacrament to the highest pitch of veneration and might well suspect lest such a discovery should depress its esteem They saw how short the Greek Fests fell not only of Jewish Piety but Ordinary Sobriety and thought so base a descent too great a disparagement to so venerable a Mystery which they therefor thoght might lose much of its honor if its pedigree were not cast into the den of time to be there devoured And who can secure us that upon This very reason we may not have lost som of the Primitive Writers informations in This particular We know the labors of Earlier ages lay at the mercy of the Later to be ether preserved or suppressed as they should judge most suitable to their own conceptions we know how industrious they have be'n to strain their inventions for dignifying the Sacrament with such mysteries as may dazel our understandings and it is hard to imagin they should be very careful to preserve any such Papers as must bring light to confute their dearest Opinions Yet hath the Last inquisitive Age in victory over the dubl hindrance Expresly discovered the One and Virtually the Other half of the lost Hypothesis Whether our Lord in his Institution adopted som Jewish Tradition is at least half the question And this is affirmed by several of the most celebrated Critiks of this Century Our admirable Dr. Hammond in his excellent Annotations hath said enough to justifie me from affectation of novelty in That Half which relates to our Lords Institution thogh without any eye to the Apostl's Argument and our Duty On Matth. 26.26 He hath this Paraphrase And whilest Judas was there before any of them was risen from the Table Jesus in imitation of the Jews custom after Supper of distributing Bread and Wine about the Table as an argument of charity instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a contesseration of charity among all Christians telling them that this taking and eating was now instituted by him as an holy rite c. And Luke 22.20 he thus Paraphraseth In like manner after they had do'n eating he took the cup of charity usual among the Jews and said This cup is at this time c. It is true in both these places and in his note upon 1 Cor. 10.16 He referreth the Institution to the Paschal Supper which seemeth better to fit our Lords Institution but coming to the words I have so much insisted on 1 Cor. 11.26 he found himself necessitated to enlarge the mesure for thus he Paraphraseth those words And do ye in all your sacred Festivals thus show forth c. Munster likewise upon Matth. 26.21 Caeterum quando in textu subditur Dominum accepisse panem benedixisse atque fregisse sciendum quod is mos olim celebris fuit inter Judaeos multaque scripta habent de Fractione panis Benedictione calicis The same saith Cameron on the same Text. The same and more hath Grotius who further proveth That the Greeks as well as the Jews closed their Fests with a cup of Wine solenly consecrated And this Virtually discovereth the Other Half which so naturally followeth that it is strange how One could be admitted without the Other That the Primitive ages should wholely omit any mention of our Lords regard to the Jewish Customs upon supposition that it was sufficiently evident That the Midages should industriosly hide it upon fear of prejudice to their admirable Mysteries That the Last age should retrive it in their search of Antiquities Nothing of all This is so wonderful as it is that those who had the skill and happiness to discover These Indies should not care to inrich themselves with such Treasures as without digging offered themselves especially the wind blowing so hard as almost to compel them to Land For since we derive all our practical Doctrines concerning This duty from the Apostl's discourse to the Corinthians and That discourse appealeth to This Institution it is manifest we oght not to sit down by any such Customs as can only answer That Institution as abstracted from This Argument and not consist with This Argument so built upon That institution Nor is it less manifest that the Paschal Customs however large enogh for That were too narrow for This. Dr. Hammond could not Paraphrase the 26th vers without extending it to All Festival meetings If then there were two sorts of Customs Som only Annual Others ordinarily Festival Those agreeing with our Lords Institution but destroying our Apostl's Argument and These exactly agreeing with Both it cannot be very disputable which of the two we are to receve for our standard Whatever weight therefor might have be'n in the Objection upon supposal of such an Universal silence the same must be in our Answer or rather our Plea For the authority of such eminent persons will bear me out in my fundamental Hypothesis viz. that our Lords Institution was derived from a Jewish Custom and plain Reason will bear me out in what I further add viz. that it must be Such a Custom as may agree not only with our Lords Text but the Apostl's Gloss too So the wise master-bilders have laid the foundation and I have taken such care how I bild thereupon that I hope my good Reader will find no cause to complain otherwise than our Modern bilders do of ancient Houses that they are Stronger and Darker with Thicker Walls and Less Windows than needed To the Former part of such an Objection I answer that Thickness of Walls may be a falt in a dwelling House but not in a Castel which must expect to be battered and stormed by the whole Country To the Later part That if I cannot be justified by the necessity which obliged me to dispute in such manner as the Subject mater required yet I hope I shall be Pardoned upon amendment in the remaining part of my Work to which upon That hope I now apply my self CHAP. V. Mater of Fact recorded in Scripture I. A transition to Mater of Fact Not so easily understood as might have be'n expected Two things considerable 1. The Backwardness of the Apostl's in Understanding our Lords mind 2. The means which our Lord used to recommend it unprosperos The night of Institution by its Terrors II. Our Lord's conversation with the two Disciples in the way and at Emaus so ordered as to discover the meaning of his Institution as well as the truth of his Resurrection ineffectual upon a contrary reason Their ignorance 'till the coming of the Holy Ghost III. The second observable Their diligence in obeying our Lord's will when discovered That by their breaking of Bread must be meant the Lord's Supper appears by 1. The Exercises accompanying it 2. The Phrase expressing it IV. 3. The Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must signify the meeting-house where the first Christians held their Conventicles for fear of the Jews V. 4. The time The Apostl's and Brethren at Hier daily The