THE Constant Communicant A DIATRIBE Proving that Constancy in Receiving THE Lords Supper Is the Indispensible Duty of Every Christian By AR. BURY D. D. Rector of Exon. Coll. in Oxford Canon Apostol IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whoever of the Faithful enter and hear the Scriptures but stay not out prayers and Communion ought to be Excommunicated as disturbers of the Church Socrates Hist Lib. V. Ca. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For whereas All Churches through the world on the Sabbath day in every revolution of the week celebrate the mysteries they of Alexandria and they of Rome upon a certain ancient Tradition have refused so to do OXFORD Printed by LEON LICHFIELD Printer to the University for STEPHEN BOLTON 1631. TO The Most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan And one of His Majesties most Honorable PRIVY COUNCIL c. May it please your Grace MANY great miracles do the Romanists pretend to be frequently wrought By the Holy Sacrament of the Altar but none so admirable as what their ancestors wrought Upon it For what more wonderful than This that a particular Church by colour of a Tradition should prevail with All other Churches throughout the whole Christian world to reneg That Constancy which was universally practised as indispensible for more than 400 years That from Dispensing they should proceed to Discouraging and therein so prevail that those who have freed themselvs from their many other gross abuses cannot from This but still believ our Lord more honored by Forbearing his Table than by Frequenting it In opposition to this Vulgar error I have in my narrow Sphaere used all other endeavors but with so litle fruit that I must either sit down in despair or fly to the last remedy Writeing which beside the advantage of fastening conviction better upon those few that ly under My inspection may extend it to as many others as shall bring my papers under Theirs But here also I meet great discoragements I see that many worthy persons have of late be'n as careful to exhort to the Performance of the Duty as to Worthiness in it but with no better success than those first messengers who 's kind Invitations brought nothing to the Lord of the Fest but variety of excuses If therefor I would conform either to the Parable or to Reason I must proceed to rougher means compell by force of irrefragable arguments the unwilling and resisting world and by all cogent proofs assert a Truth which by Many ages was never Doubted by More generally Denyed by Ours somtimes Affirmed but never that I know clearly proved viz. that it is every Christians duty to be a Constant Communicant And this I have do'n with Such evidence that I fear not any mans confutation yet with litl hope to see the Table furnished with guests For alas what can a poor Enchiridion do toward subduing such an error double armed with Prejudice in the Vnderstanding and Partiality in the Affections fortified with long Possession defended by the Priests and beloved by the Peopl I must therefor be unfaithful both to the service I have undertaken and to Your Grace's right should I either expose it naked and unsheltered to a Cold Advers world or seek any other Patron than your Grace For as this Sacrament hath a double aspect so hath your Grace a double right to it's protection As it is the greatest exercise of Love and duty to our Lord by your Eminence in Piety As it is the Principal office of Church-worship by your eminence in Power Ecclesiastical By the former every good christian may claim common with your Grace in most of the following pages but by the Later your Grace hath a peculiar jurisdiction over some particularly a PART III. Chap. 1. Sect. 4. those wherein I have justified the Constitutions of our Church as doing what in such unhappy circumstances is possible for retriving Primitive Constancy Could I say as much for the Practice But be it never so defective it cannot hinder us from justifying our Church as well as St. Paul himself For his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no less generally mistaken for a derogation from That very obligation to constancy which he employed it to prove indispensible than is the three times in every year which our Church defines as the Least that she can tolerate in the Peopl for the most that she expecteth from the Priests who therefor think themselvs exactly conformable if they minister it just so often and no more though without any care either Before-hand to exhort the people to Receve it or Afterward to reprove them if they Neglect it which yet they cannot avoid seeing them generally do being so taught and accustomed during our confusions and still biased by their sloth or worse What may be allowed for the untractableness of the people under our present Distractions is not for Me to determin But that those very Distractions which now toss us between two such parties whereof the One first robbed the Sacrament of Constancy and the Other strippeth it stark naked of All Performance ly on us as a just punishment for our compliance with them is plainly enough to be discovered without any rude intrusion into God's secrets For Constancy in This Office is apparently the most effectual means to unite us as being both by it's own nature most serviceable thereto and by its singular interest in our Lord's Person singularly intitled to his Blessing I therefor conceve it no impertinent disturbance of those great cares wherewith your Grace is too much molested if as a kind of Church-warden-general I make humble presentment of that defect in Parochial Churches especially which your residence in Cathedrals hath hindered you from discovering bicause those Officers who ought to be eyes to your Grace and our other Fathers in God are themselves blinded with the vulgar error Whereof we saw a pernicious experiment in the days of your Grace's immediate predecessor when a General enquiry made upon these Questions 1. How many inhabitants in your Parish 2. How many refuse to join in Communion with the Church proved abortive bicause those who refused to communicate in This Principal office were not noted as refusing to join in Communion with the Church which had they ben the necessity of compulsory means would have appeared so evident that we had not now be'n in danger to have our nineteenth Article urged against us to disprove our being a True Church I know my self chargeable with a double great boldness first in fronting these Papers with your Grace's name and then in the account I make for it But when I first engaged in the work I resolved not to do it by halvs and I think I might better have omitted the better half than This way of advantageing the whole And since your Grace is so well known eminent for zeal in redressing whatever you shall find to need it I have
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
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
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
more evident when we consider that he is no less careful to speak of the Bread in the same Jewish stile caling that also by its traditional â—lame For the Jews throughout their Misna and Talmud call this part of their Tradition by the same Name as doth the Apostle in this place and whereby it is still knowen in the New Testament They call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Phrase cannot be more exactly translated than by The breaking of the Bread Yea this is so expressive with them that it is diverbial to stile the head of the family from this office and the whole performance by one word This you may plainly discover by what the lerned and laborios Doctor Castel in his Heptaglot Lexicon saith upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabb Fractor Sic dicitur Pater familias q. in convivio primus frangit panem s cibum illumque benedicit distribuit convivis sec illud 1 Sam. 19.13 Hinc Phrasis illa in N. T. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 III. LEt us now observ how the Apostle treateth these parts of the Lords Supper under these their Proper names and we shall find still more proof of his respecting This tradition He caleth That the cup of Blessing but he doth not call This the bread of Blessing and why not Two Evangelists more expresly note that our Lord blessed it and the third agreeth with our Apostle that he gave thanks before he brake it On the other side he caleth This the bread which we break but doth not stile That the cup which we distribute yet doth our Lord speak it more plainly of the Cup than of the Bread Take This and divide it among your selves Other reason for this duble difference of stiles we cannot Find and Better we cannot Desire than This that as our Lord borrowed both Parts of his Institution from the Jewish tradition so did the Apostle both their Names Again the Apostle keepeth to the Jewish stile in the Cup saying You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils but in the other part he quitteth the name of Bread changing it for Table and saying You cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of devils And for this he had sufficient reason if the Greeks did not what we find no reason to believ they did consecrate Bread as they did Wine in All yea or Any of their Fests but if we quit This reason we shall hardly find another Yet again The Bread had the First Place both in the Jewish Tradition and the Lords Institution yet ver 16. he giveth the Cup precedence Why doth he thus cross his hands as old Jacob did preferring the Cadet before the First born What 's the reason were his eyes dim or his choice irrespective By no means For we shall again find him in the same partiality and upon the same reason because the Cup was more serviceable to his Argument than the Bread In This place it better demonstrates the inconsistency between the Church of Christ which blessed it and an Idols Temple which did not and in That it better distinguisheth a Fest which requireth the Lords Supper from a common Supper which doth not Yet must not the Bread be so deposed from its primogeniture as to be left without its blessing Thogh the Greeks custom had no rival for it yet our Lords Supper hath need of it and must not be maimed of the one half equally necessary to His Table thogh not to the Apostles argument Thogh therefor he cannot now as in the Cup oppose Name to Name yet he doth Thing to Thing Table to Table and under that stile payeth the Bread the same Justice thogh not the same Deference as he doth the Cup. Look we now which way we will we meet clear evidence Direct in the so careful caling each Element by its proper Name and Collateral in the no less careful Transplaceing them suitably to the aspect they had upon his Design yet doing right to the Institution and Tradition by mentioning the Bread as necessary to These thogh not to That IV. WHat more can be Expected yea What more can be Desired must we prove not only that here are the same Names but the same Person too This is do'n 8.15 16. I speak as to the wise men judge ye what I say The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ Can now any thing be plaine could any Lawyer or Grammarian more clearly and properly have expressed that the same bread and cup whose names he had thus translated from Hebrew to Greek were by our Lord translated from the Jewish Tradition to his Own Institution Are not Those the same with These I cannot pretend any stronger Proof but I shall endeavor to Illustrate it by a Custom of our own in our accademical Fests hitherto unaccounted V. OUr predecessors have no less exactly translated the name of the Jewish cup into English than hath the Apostle into Greek What They caled Blessing the Table We call Saying Grace and This answereth That in Both senses Praying or Praising Imploring a Blessing upon the Meat before we eat or returning Thanks for it after we have eaten Our Grace-cup therefore deriveth its Proper Name from St. Pauls Cup of Blessing by exact translation of the word And this same Cup hath a Sirname derived from the Same original by another Apostle In Acts 20. we find the Primitive Churches met every first day of the week to break bread And 1 Cor. 16.1 Upon this day they made their contributions to the poor so joining their Charity to the Lords Mystical Body with their Honor to his Natural which St. Jude so highly approveth as to denominat those meetings Fests of charity J whence our Ancestors have given this Grace-cup its Surname the Cup of Charity as used in those Fests of Charity I wish they had be'n as careful to preserve the significance as the ceremony and the duble name But if from These we may learn That we find Characters legible enogh to inform us The Cup of Blessing and our Grace-cup have Both the same Name the same Mater the same Circumstances after Grace after Washing in such order that not one of the Guests can be past by It 's the Last action before rising requireth the same Number three at least We find that however the remoter Churches met the First day of the week to break bread yet the Apostles at Jerusalem did it daily and Religios Fraternities think themselves obliged rather to take their paterns from the Apostolic College than the Graecian Churches as our Church requireth more constancy in Collegiate and Cathedral Fraternities than Parochial When the Governors of the Church upon urgent nenessity changed the Season for the people who were not to be trusted after Supper
swallowed up and our Lord's Institution be lost in a private Tradition and an unintelligibl Mass but in the Beginning it was not so 5. The result of all is That the Doctrine of liberty from obligation to constancy in the Lords Supper is Popery most properly so caled both in the Mater and the Derivation in the Mater as differing from the Church Universal in the Derivation as proceeding from no pretence of Scripture at first thogh it be otherwise now but from Tradition of their own making contrary to Tradition worthily so caled and Scripture carefully examined Whoever therefor desireth a Thorogh Reformation from Popery and Popish Superstitions let him not spend his zele about litl Ceremonies and Circumstances but imploy it in service of the most Sacred and most properly Christian office which needs be rescued from utter abolition by the Practices of Rome never more grosly superstitious than in This Subject III. 4. THE Fourth sort of Testimony is That of ENEMIES Those that appear such to the Constancy we assert may be reduced to one of these three Glasses viz. 1. Protestants 2. Papists 3. Junior Fathers Among PROTESTANTS and Abov all others I therefor apply my self to the excellent person above praised bicause I know no other that hath asserted any thing so distinctly as to be capabl of an answer This admirable Person finding the Evidence of the best Antiquity That of the Apostl's and Primitive Fathers undeniable endeavoreth ro Evade what he findeth necessary to Confess 1. Concerning the Former we have heard him say True it is the Apostls did indefinitely admit all the faithful to the Holy Communion but they were persons wholely enflamed with those Holy Fire which Jesus Christ sent from Heaven to make them burning and shining Lights c. And then he spends a whole Page in such a Character as one might think intended for the Apostls themselves did not the question necessarily cast it upon the Faithful and then too one might think that word must be taken in its most rigid sens for the Elect. But was there a Judas among the twelve chosen by our Lord himself and not One unworthy among the thousands of Disciples whom the Apostls indefinitely admitted St. Jude describeth not Such Saints sure where among other black characters he brandeth them with This that they are spots in their fests of charity and as litl doth he blame the officers of the Church for admitting them St. Paul too I take it doth not describe Saintly conversation in those Church meetings for whose debaucheries he reproveth not the Pastors for Admitting such Persons but the Peopl for Committing such Leudness yea and So reproveth them as not to Excommunicate them for their domestik riots but to require them however unworthy in their persons to come but in a manner more worthy Had the Scriptures be'n silent we must have be'n very tame if without any evidence we had believed that All Christians in that better then Golden age deserved so great an Eulogy but after such contrary Evidence we have nothing better to do than to pity such an excellent Person so enslaved and hardly used by an Opinion that putteth him to seek but alloweth him no shifts from such insupportabl Evidence Another Confession with it s annexed Evasion concerns the Ancient Fathers in these words St. Hierom and St. Augustin tells us That even until their days the custom of receving every day remained in the Churches of Rome and Spain And all the ancient Fathers exhort to a frequent Communion But just as Physitians exhort men to eat the best and heartiest meats not the sickly and faint but the strong men and the healthy All the ancient Fathers exhort to a frequent Communion This is more than can well stand with his own positions which discorage the generality from it yet falls as much short of truth as Frequent doth of Constant for we shall presently meet som of them exhorting not only to Frequent but Daily Communions Yea so certainly did the Primitive Christians make This not only their Constant but their Principal exercise in All their meetings that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which primarily signifieth no more than a Meeting became the diverbial word for the Lords Supper in exact conformity to St. Luke's stile who saith They meet to break bread and the footsteps of the phrase remain as plain yet as much corrupted as do those of the Office among the Romanists who express their Church-meetings by Going to Mass As certainly therefor as the Papists make the Mass the Principal exercise of their Publik worship so certainly did the Primitive Christians make the Lords Supper the principal of Theirs the very phrase confirming their express testimony of this truth They exhort men he confesseth but evades the consequence by adding they do it Just as Physicians c. whereas it is undeniable that They exhorted as the Apostls admitted All Indefinitely and until we are shewen that they excepted any besides Catechumens and Excommunicates we must not clip their indefinite Exhortations with unwarrantable Limitations derived from no other reason but their serviceableness to our Hypothesis IV. ANOTHER Class of Adversaries ar the Papists who yet no less manifestly Preserv than Contradict the Primitive Practice For That very Church which obligeth not the Peopl to receve but at Easter only That very Church in whose magnified Synod at Trent a Caveat was entered not to derive even That anniversary obligation from our Lords but the Churches command That very Church to This very day so Prescribeth as to Out-do the constancy of the Primitive Som may think it too much that I have from the Acts of the holy Apostles taken the Lords Supper for the reason of the Disciples meetings the first day of the week But none sure can doubt that with the Papist to go to Church signifieth the same as to go to Mass but to go to Hear Mass is such an errand as the first ages never went upon While they admit the people only to hear or see Their Hoc est corpus meum is an egregiosly and Both words of St. Paul may be applyed to such a Mass To the people belongs This is not to eat the Lords Supper To the Priest As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you shew forth the Lords death And both the One and the Other forsake their Duty and their Patern while they pretend to stick to them Thus the ruins of a beautiful Structure may at once evidence its amplitude and confess their own rubbidge no way answerable to the beauty it formerly served We need not therefor be ashamed of this kind of proof as if we too much honored the Church of Rome in owning her Practice for an evidence of the Primitive We take it not as the Testimony of the Honorable but as a Confession of the Guilty when we make use of their Own words as an evidence against the Speakers practice When we say every Mass ought to
to speak like one as not declaring rhe Doctrine of the Church but his own Private Thoghts and that how modestly how diffidently how contrary to his stile in other cases This is not the Only Doctrine wherein he took the boldness to depart from the Opinions of his predecessors and in those cases he expressed himself with confidence sufficiently why so timoros now The Reason is as plain as the change In the Other Questions they had not declared their minds plainly in this they had do'n it not only Plainly but Zelously St. Cyprian had said This bread we crave to have EVERY DAY given us lest we who are in Christ and daily receve the Sacrament for the food of Salvation by interposing of any grievos crime while restrained and not communicating we ar forbidden the Heavenly bread we should be separated from the body of Christ St. Basil had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To communicate the body and blood of Christ EVERY DAY is good and most profitable seeing himself plainly saith He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life now then who can doubt but that often to partake of the life is nothing else but often to live St. Ambrose had said If the Eucharistical bread be daily offered why do'st thou receve it after a Year as the Greekt do in the East Receve That EVERY DAY which may profit thee every day So live that thou mayest deserv to receve every day He that deserveth not to receve every day deserveth not to receve after a year c. Saint Chrysostom complained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vain is the DAILY sacrifice c. So express and so earnest we see were the Exhortations of other Fathers both Before and In St. Augustin's time that as they gave him sufficient reason to be diffident in declaring his own contrary opinion so do they Us to except against it as singular and out-voted by his equals if it prejudice the Truth we have engaged to assert which whether it do or not we are to judge by his Determination wherein we ar to observ 1. His Design 2. His way of ferving it 1. His Design in determining this Question is the same with that of the whole Epistl which is to perswade compliance in matter of worship The Peace of Christ is dearer to him than his Supper it self which is to serv it and therefor oght principally to be regarded thogh with it's diminution Rectius inter eos fortasse quisquam dirimit litem qui monet ut praecipue in Christi pace permaneant And to This only purpose doth he bring his instance of Zacheus and the Centurion Neque enim litigaverunt inter se aut quisquam eorum se alteri praeposuit He doth not pretend by their Exampls to determin the Question but the Quarrel 2. His Way to serv this good end is by a toleration that every one should do what he thinketh best which he encorageth with This reason that nether of them dishonoreth the body of Christ if saluberrimum Sacramentum certatim honorare contendunt In which last words the good Father may seem to unty the obligation I have so much contended for For if every one may do what he thinketh best if He do not dishonor the body and blood of Christ who striveth to honor the Sacrament by forbearance in sens of his unworthiness then cannot our obligation to constancy be indispensibl but our selvs ar judges of what is best Upon This Authority of so great a Father so confirmed with pios reason have following ages proceeded to the modern way of honoring the Lords Supper Having learned to ballance Reverence against Performance to make the former the more weighty they have loaded it with so many doubts and difficulties that he must be both very good and very confident who will not prefer the Centurions safe and easie complement before Zacheus's costly and troublesom entertainment Thus while every one chuseth to excuse himself as unworthy that Christ should come under his roof He may complain that he hath not where to lay his head And All or at least much of this proceeding from the too much valuing and too little considering the good Fathers words I thoght to rescue both the Truth and Him from so great and unhappy a mistake For as These words will not Require so will not his other writing Permit that we should list Him among our Adversaries He that caled as loud as any other Father He that so earnestly expostulated with the desertors of the Holy Sacrament saying What is the reason O hearers that ye see the Table and come not to the banquet He certainly did not intend to furnish his hearers with an excuse that they did what they thoght best upon the same reason as did the Centurion Nor can we easily so mistake if we regard either the case or his very words Inter Eos and Neuter Eorum restrain his determination to Those two parties between whom he professeth to arbitrate who both of them might plead such good precedents as might entitle them to toleration at least One thinketh it best to communicate Every day Another thinketh it better to do it only upon som certain days The Former voucheth the Apostls and the Hierusalem Church who continued Daily in breaking of Bread as well as in Prayer The Later the Provincial Churches who met the First day of the week to break Bread But how wide is this from our Question wherein One thinketh himself obliged to receive the Holy Sacrament as often as it is offered and another thinketh himself free to take or refuse it as often as he thinketh fit Whether the good Father would have determined This Question Inter Nos in the same manner as he did That Inter Eos is not so apparent as it is that his Instance can here have no place Zacheus had a Command from our Lord to come down and entertene him at his house he did so and honored him by the forwardness of his Obedience The Centurion had no such command and he honored Him by the humility of his excuse Had Zacheus receved no such command who knows but he might have excused himself as did the Centurion Had the Centurion receved such a command who knoweth but he would have receved our Lord with the same alacrity as did Zacheus Had he not his own instance of his servants obedience must have condemned him Both of them honored our Lord but Both cannot be imitated by Us. For either with Zacheus we have a Command or with the Centurion we have None That we have none to receve the Lords Supper EVERY DAY we willingly acknowledge and thereby submit to St. Augustin's determination But whether we have one to receve it as often as it is celebrated that we may understand we must proceed to examin The word of Command DO PART III. Concerning the word DO CHAP. I. We must answer such a Command no otherwise but by Performance I.
Country accordingly His General design we cannot mistake Nothing can be plainer than This that it is to convince the Corinthians of their guilt in profaning the Lords Supper but the Medium whereby he prosecutes this charge is both Generally and Grosly mistaken and since this is the Mother error whence all our Neglects on One hand and all our Earnestness on the Other and all our Disputes on All hands proceed it cannot be too plainly exposed and thogh it be troublesom yet must we crave the Reader to undergo a labor so necessary that without it he cannot understand what the Apostle meaneth throughout his discourse We too hastily believe that he endeavoreth to prove no more but this that our Lords Person was concerned in all the abuses of his Supper taking it for granted that they knew how his Supper was concerned in Those Meetings which he reproved Whereas the more we consider it the plainer we shall find that his Direct and Immediate endeavor is to prove the Later supposing the Former as self-evident upon the first notice of our Lords Institution So the case of the Corinthians toward the Lords Supper was much like the Apostles Own toward the High Priest Acts 23.4 5. They that stood by said Revilest thou Gods high priest Then said Paul I wist not brethren that he was the high priest For it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people He reproveth the Corinthians as the By-standers reproved Him Profane you the Lords Holy Supper And supposing them likewise to excuse themselves in the same manner by saying We wist not that it was the Lords Holy Supper for we cannot but know That must be celebrated with reverence he argueth in such manner as to convince them of what they seemed either not to Understand or not to Own II. THE understanding of This will give us great light towards discovery of every step and that this is true we may the better perceve if we proceed by these Enquiries 1. Whether this might not be the Corinthians case 2. What might become the Apostle to do in such a case 3. How doth the Apostles procedure suit with such a Supposal 1. This might very well be the Corinthians case For 1. Possibly they might suppose that our Lord pointed at the Bread as Paschal not as Festival and consequently preferred not Every Fest but only the Passover to this honor and for This there are appearances of reason not contemtibl 1. He chose the Passover for the Season of his Institution and embraced it with such expressions of Affection as seemed Proper to That Particular solennity saying With a desire have I desired to eat not this Supper but this Passover 2. This above All other Fests best Prefigured his death while Future and was therefor most fit to Commemorate it when Past 3. The Jews said of the Lamb This is the BODY of the Passover and our Lord seemeth to allude to it saying This is my BODY 4. The Jews distributing the Paschal Cake said THIS IS the Bread of affliction c. and our Lord distributing the Bread said THIS IS my Body c. And at That time having newly filled their minds with phrases proper to the Season it is very probable that they might receve our Lords words in such a sens 2. And probably such an error might proceed from want of a proper form of Words to accompany the celebration One of the best Doctors our Church can bost of authoriseth me to say That such a Form of words however Useful is not indispensibly Necessary Our Lord enjoined none and we find not that his Apostles either Practised or Taught their Disciples any and it was prone for the Corinthians to slide into an error concerning That cup which carried no Inscription to declare its contents Certainly from hence came that which Tertullian complains of in his days That Fests of Charity were celebrated in the Church without the Lords Supper and from hence came our loss of the meaning which is the Soul of our Grace-cup And on the contrary the Jews with the Mater retene also the meaning of their Tradition because both the Bread and Cup are accompanied with such a Form of words as will not suffer it to be lost 3. And possibly they might look upon the Whole as a mere outward Performance For knowing how litle fondness our Lord had toward Such exercises they might thence infer that he left it in Their choice to Perform or Omit it as Themselves should judge convenient and their Partiality to their beloved riot might incline them both to Entertene such an opinion and Improve it Our Lords Supper must strike some Aw into their unwilling minds Commanding not only Sobriety but Devotion And how unwelcom such a check must be to the Corinthian humor and consequently how willing they must be to free themselfs from it if we know not already we shall anon Thus far we have considered Probabilities we come now to Certainty 4. Whatever they Really believed it is Certain they might Pretend that they believed our Lords Supper unconcerned in Those Fests which the Apostle thus reproved and the very Possibility of such a Pretence no less required a confutation than a Real profession of such a Belief which requireth us to consider as our next step III. VVHat might become the Apostle to do in such a case If it were but Possibl for them to believ so Himself hath taught us that he ought to suppose they Did For Charity thinketh no evil but hopeth All things believeth All things Since therefor This was much better than Knowingly and Willingly to affront our Lord in his Representative This must in Charity be supposed And Prudence agreed with Charity rather to seek out Excuses for them than to expose them to the Vttermost He was to deal as Sweetly and Obligingly as possibl so to endear Himself and the Gospel to them Praise them as much as possibly he might Reprove them no more than Needs he must and Excuse them when he could not Justifie them And this as it sweetened the Reproof in appearance so did it more bitterly aggravate the Crime if their own consciences upbraided them as uncapabl of such an excuse Since the Guilt must needs be Great which to the Reprover appeared Incredibl Nor could any Inconvenience on the Other side dissuade such a procedure This way he might meet with them at All turns If they wer Really mistaken he might Rectifie their Judgments if they wer not he might Baffl their Pretences and Both waies Reprove their Misdemeanors rescuing our Lords Supper from Profanation if they intended to celebrate it and his Commands from Neglect if they intended it not and Himself from any appearance either of Severity towards Them or Coldness towards our Lords Supper IV. 3. HOW doth his Procedure suit with such Supposals If we carefully observe we find that the former part agreeth very well with them and the later part will agree with
any be will pass from the obediently negligent Subject to the impertinently busie Law-maker who having not Required but Supposed the Action neither Found nor Made any ground for the Supposition It forbids the benevolence it begs For thogh it threaten No guilt of disobedience to the Omission it doth to the Performance While we may ly safe in our Neglect we run a great risk in our Officiosness For he that Omitteth the Performance disobeyeth no command therefor cannot incur any guilt nor deserv any punishment but he that upon such terms approacheth the Holy Table is already gilty of contemt towards the threatnings denounced against Unworthy recevers bicause he needlesly exposeth himself to them and to com safely off had need of more Piety in the Performance than we can Yet discover of Wisdom in the adventure V. IF WE can suppose the Apost'l so regardless of our Saviors command yet sure he had more kindness for his OWN ARGUMENT than to use such solicitos endeavors to destroy it and for his own Credit than to furnish the Corinthians with a Plea whereby they might non-suit his Charge He was sure a better Disciple both to Gamaliel and our Lord than to use such endeavors as by the ordinary rules of reasoning must depose both his own Discours and our Lords Command from all power But such is the unavoidable consequence of the merely Suppositive sens of those important words For it is obvious that the Corinthians Might and therefor supposable that they Would plead thus for themselves We are sufficiently sensible that as often as we eat This bread and drink This cup we shew forth the Lords death and consequently that whoever eateth This bread and drinketh this cup unworthily is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But in these our ordinary Fests which thou so severely reprovest we have nothing to do with This bread nor This cup. We Fest indeed as often as we meet in the Church but without any Intent and we conceve without any Need to eat This bread or drink This cup. We intend to do what all Nations agree to be the proper manner of worshipping God This is the Vniversal notion of mankind in that so common Rite of Sacrificing The Votary therefor offereth his beast that he may become a guest to his God thereby at once Receiving and Expressing a confidence that he is propitious to him And thogh our Lords great Sacrifice of himself have made it needless to shed any more blood by way of atonement yet is that so far from any reason that we should lay aside Festing with Sacrificing that it is a very good one why we should take it up if it had never be'n used before since now we have much greater reason to rejoice in the Communion to which God inviteth us But that in all our Fests we should be obliged to celebrate the Lords Supper since himself hath not expressed it we understand not For either he intended we should receive it only at the same Fest whereat he Instituted it which was the Passover or els he left it wholely to our discretion to receve it as often as we should think convenient Now that we intend not to do it in our ordinary meetings thy self seemest to understand For thou declarest when ye come together it is not to eat the Lords Supper Is it not we own it we plead it It is not to eat the Supper and how do we Profane it when we do not eat it When we do Eat it if our behavior be irreverent we must confess our selves guilty for we submit to thy rule As often as we Eat This bread and Drink this cup unworthily we are guilty but it thence followeth not that we are so as often as we Fest together in the Church It is hard to say whether such a plea were more obvios to the Apostl's Observation or Destructive to his Argument It was therefor infinitely necessary he should answer it and we find no other Answer to it but in these words nor any other Use of Those words but for such an Answer This is sufficient to perswade us so to interpret them that the Argument be not Defective nor Themselves Impertinent But to fasten such a Gloss upon them as shall make them not only Useless but Pernicios and the Argument not only naked of so necessary a defence but irrefragably retorted against the Author is perhaps a greater abuse to Them than the Corinthians profaneness was to the Lords Supper VI. FOR a close of this troublesom dispute let us impartially ballance the rival senses upon This enquiry which of all others is most important viz. which of them affordeth better satisfaction to a pious soul conscientiously enquiting how often he is obliged to receve the Holy Communion A question wherein there are many things doubtful but none more than This Whether it more Deserve or Need to be answered 1 The One sens offereth full satisfaction by shewing us a Certain Mesure to which we must conform And though the change long since made in the Manner of celebrating Church Festivals seem to have confounded it yet if we once know what it was at the time of the Institution we may and must so accommodate the never decaying Reason to the Change as still to answer the first Intention For if the Corinthians were therefor obliged to Eat the Lords Supper in All their Church meetings bicause they Fested in them All in One manner so are we bicause we also Fest in them All in Another manner Since the Manner of Publik worship the Church upon competent reasons may alter but the Institution of our Lord indispensibly closing All Church Fests with his own Supper No human power may abolish at least not in point of the Obligation though possibly invincible necessity may dispense with Actual performance at som times So by This account the clear answer will be That the Church must offer the Holy Sacrament as often as she can persuade the peopl to receve it and every person is so often obliged to receve it as the Church Officers shall offer it and Both the Church and every person oght to come as neer as possible to doing it every Lords day and every Holy day i. e. All days of Church Fests 2. But the other Sens for want of a Standard will pack us off with an answer more Delusory than the Collier's If we ask How often must I do this in remembrance of Christ it will answer As often as you eat This bread and drink This cup If we then ask How often must I eat This bread and drink This cup it will answer As often as you do it in remembrance of Christ This I say is more delusory than the Collier in two respects 1. Bicause it was possible to know what the Church believed Publik Confessions Canons of Councils c. All of them independent upon the Collier or his Faith and all know'n to the Catechist But Here we have No
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
but adaequately for this Duties sake which gave it both Holiness and Name nor as Successor but Superior to the Sabbath And this is worthy our consideration not only for the Sacrament's sake but the Day 's too VI. FOR to derive the LORDS DAY from the fourth Commandment as it is Inconvenient upon other accounts so is it Mischievous upon This that it looseneth its relation to This office for who 's sake alone it was dignified as with the assemblies of the Saints so with it's title of the Lord's day Nor is such an opinion consistent with the practice of the Primitive Church which for several ages celebrated Both the One for the Jews sake the Other for the Sacraments which therefor we ought to celebrate as constantly at least as we do That day which cannot be duly bicause it needs not all be sanctified without it Were this as carefully heeded as in Scripture it is plainly declared in Reason duly accounted for and in the Primitive times publikly practised both the Lords Day and His Supper would have escaped Those Losses which Both of them suffer by their separation the One rob'd of it's greatest Honor the Other of its very Being For as it is higher Honor to the Day to be acknowledged an Evangelical Substance than a Legal Shadow and to be celebrated with this office than without it so is it not only Less Honorable but More Destructive to this Holy office to be spoiled both of the acknowledgement due to it from the Day so preferred by it's interest and of Safety from that Neglect which could never have befallen it while the Day it self is sanctified if that Sanctification were acknowledged to relate to this Performance Those therefor who ar zelos for the honor of the Day are for it's sake obliged to consider whether any Sport or any Lrbor can be so pernicious a desecration of it as the Omission of this Sacrament who 's celebration was the sole reason of the sacredness both of the Day it self and of its Eve which of the two hath the greater interest in the Fourth Commandment as being the same Seventh day which Gods peopl celebrated as thereby consecrated yet had not retained any difference under the Gospel from common days but in order to the better preparation for the Sacrament to be receved the Lords day following and upon That account differenced not by Festing but by Fasting And since necessity may drive to Mean condescensions I beg now not only for the Lord's sake but for the Lord's day's sake for That day's sake in who 's behalf so many complaints ar made not only To our Governors but Against them I beg that those who ar so zelous to have the Day restored to its due honor would do their part to restore this Sacrament to its due celebration whereby the Lord's Day with his Person would be better righted than by Sabbatizing with Rigot more than Jewish but with Worship less than Christian Let us now spell all together The Exercises accompanying this constant breaking of Bread Were they not Holy The Phrase expressing This exercise Is it not proper The Place Was it not consecrated before The Time Was it not consecrated purposely What then can be answered to the Apostls demand The bread which they brake was it not the Communion of the body of Christ Or to Our inference that they were as constant in the Holy Communion as in Common Prayer CHAP. VI. The Practice of Antiquity 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 beeween St. Augustin's time and Ours VI. As a Doctor he determins the question 1. His stile very different bicause his Opinion is opposit to all other Fathers 2. His determination reacheth not Our question Yet have later ages caght at his wonds and strained them beyond his intentions with unhappy success His Syncretism rectified FROM Scripture I am now to descend to Humane Writers to examin whether by Them we find the Practice of the Primitive Churches agreeable to That of the Apostls I. AND now I feel somthing like a Tentation to imploy my Servitor to collect what the Fathers the Eldest especially have writen on This subject and then stifling my Reader with a multitude of Quotations purchase my self at Both their costs the name of Well read in the Fathers and Councils c. But corage Reader I have no more such a Design than my Subject such Need Where none contradicts One competent witness of Each kind may very well claim the belief of any indifferent person and with More I will not troubl you I shall therefor produce but One ancient Canon One Father One Historian and One Enemy of each party 1. Of CANONS I account Those most Ancient which have usurped the title of Apostolical thogh many of them bewray themselves unworthy of it We have reasons more than enough to decline their Authority but None to except against Their Testimony concerning Mater of Fact such as is the Publik practice of the Visibl Church at the Time of their Date which is Therefor certainly Ancient bicause not certainly known since having no Councel to father them they must needs be elder than Any Of Those Canons the 9th thus briefly and plainly delivereth the opinion we ar pleading for All the faithful which enter the Church and hear the Scriptures but do not stay out the Prayers nor receve the Holy Communion ought to be excommunicate as disturbers of the Church To This so clear evidence I know nothing capabl of being opposed unless perhaps the word faithful be supposed to exclude All but such as deserv the highest sens of That title But it is sufficiently know'n that That comprehensive word conteineth All but Catechumens and Penitens All others as visibl Members of Christs Body being in Those days honored with That stile And that it signifies no otherwise Here the words themselvs sufficiently evince For This title is allowed to Those very Persons who at the same time ar censured as worthy of Excommunication Nor can the Last clause be taken so copulatively as if Those passed uncensured who stayed out Prayers thogh they receved not the Holy Communion For This was lookt upon as the greater crime of the Two The Councils of Antioch and Bracara required that such should be driven out of the Church and St. Chrysostom bitterly chides them saying If thou stand by and dost not Communicate thou art wicked thou art shameless thou art impudent And we shall presently
be a Communion what do we more plainly than condemn the Private ones as carrying a Contradiction in the very Terms and the Publik ones as carrying One or More in their Performance For they plainly contradict both the word Communion when there are no Communicants and our Lords Command while in One Element they Dispense and in the Other Prohibit what He commanded Yet still they do well in the Thing thogh ill in the Manner in this very particular deserving to be owned a true thogh corrupt Church V. 3. AND what if we now reckon the Junior Fathers among our Adversaries yea Those very Fathers by name whom we but now found vouched as telling us That the custom of daily Communions continued in some Churches until their days What such Fathers or other credible Writers say of the Doctrines or Customs of the Churches of Christ in their own days we think our selves obliged to believe upon their credit And upon that account we doubt not but This custom of daily Communicating who 's foot-steps remained in Those times wherein they wrote was derived as Catholik from the preceding and if themselves Depart or Detract from what they have so witnessed to be Catholik what can we do better than distinguish the Doctor from the Father and judge his Opinion by his Testimony Whether St. Augustin have so do'n and consequently how far his authority is to sway us in the present Question we cannot take a better way to find than by transcribing his own words the consequences whereof were he alive to see he would doubtless lament His Discours is in his 118th Epistle in these words among others Som will say that the Eucharist is not to be receved every day If you ask why he tells you bicause som days ar to be chosen in which a man may live more purely and continently that so he may com to so great a Sacrament more worthily bicause he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself On the other side another says If thou hast received so great a wound and contracted so violent a disease that such remedies ar to be deferr'd every such man ought by the Authority of the Bishop to be removed from the Altar and put to penance and by the same authority be reconciled For this is to receve unworthily Then to receve when a man should be doing penance and not according to his own pleasure offer himself to or withdraw himself from the Communion But if his sins be not so great as to deserve Excommunication he ought not to separate himself from the daily Medicine of the Lords Body Between those possibly a man may determine the question better if he admonishes that men should abide in the peace of Christ But let every one do what according to his Faith he piosly believes ought to be do'n For neither of them dishonors the Body and Blood of the Lord if they in their several ways contend who shall most honor the most holy Sacrament For Zacheus and the Centurion did not prefer themselves before one another when one receved Christ into his house and the other said he was not worthy to receve him under his roof That by this Discourse we may undarstand what was St. Augustin's Opinion and how far we are to be determined by it it will be requisite that we consider 1. The State of the Question And 2ly His Determination of it 1. In Stating the Question we ar to observ 1. The Question it self And secondly The Practice of the Church at That time 1. The Question it self is extremely different from Ours So different that we may very well subscribe to the Fathers determination It is Whether the Eucharist be to be receved EVERY DAY or some days to be chosen wherein a man may live more purely c. Now we pretend not to EVERY DAY But believ that the Lords day was purposely consecrate and afterward other holy days were added and that every such day hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set aside to the purpose expressed by St. Augustine That a man may therein live more purely and continently that so he may come more worthily to so great a Sacrament If therefor This great Fathers Arbitration which was bounded to Every day be stretched to the modern Question which exceedeth All bounds nothing will be so questionable as This Whether the injury we do the Fathers Discurs or That we do our Lord's Institution be the greater of the two 2. The Practice of the Church for which the Question was calculated was extremely different from Ours and That in two respects 1. In point of Worship For at Thar time the Holy Communion was daily administred by the Priests at least in great Cities and daily received by the devouter part of the peopl Som saith St. Augustine himself Daily communicate in the body and blood of the Lord some receve upon certain days in some places it is offered every day without intermission in som only upon the Sabbath and the Lords day in some upon the Lord's day only 2. In the point of Discipline which in Those days excluded the most scandalous both from the Communion and publik Prayers but This by the sentence of the Bishop This as it is plainly intimated in St. Augustin's above-recited words so is it more plainly expressed by St. Chrysostom in These words Art thou not worthy of the Sacrament nor Communion thou art not then worthy of Prayer Thou hearest the officer standing and proclaiming Whoever of you are in Penance be go'n If thou be one of those that are in Penance thou must not communicate For he that doth not communicate is in Penance Why then doth he say Be go'n you that cannot pray and thou impudently standest by and art not such but one of them that can communicate In which words of St. Chrysostom two things appear very considerable 1. That those who were excluded from the Holy Communion were no less so from publik Prayer which by the above-recited account of Justin Martyr began at the Communion Service 2. That it was not left to every mans private Caprice or Conscience to Com or Forbear But every one must com if he were not under Penance by the Bishops sentence VI. HITHERTO we have heard St. Augustin as a Father discursing in the Early stile a uestion suitable to his own time We ar now to hear him as a Doctor determining the Question by his own Reason And we are to observ 1. The stile he speaketh in And 2. The Determination he giveth 1. His stile is not definitive Doth not give his Sentence but his Opinion yea not his setled Opinion but his staggering unfledged Sentiments Doth not Impose upon our Belief but Propose to our Examination Between these saith he possibly a man determine i. e. No man hath yet so determined nor can I say that any man may but I offer it to consideration In This he speaketh most like a Father that he confesseth himself Not
or Few or Many In which Question we ar grow'n very much bolder than St. Augustin He Questioned but durst not Determin between Every day and Som days we boldly Determin against Daily yea Weekly yea Monthly Communions but stablish not Any at all III. IT is manifest say som that Scarceity advanceth and Plenty abateth the valu of every thing Those acts of worship which are Frequently are also Slightly performed and since we cannot keep Both we were better quit Frequence than Reverence For we shall more honor our Lord by doing this more Reverently thogh less Frequently Than more Frequently with less Reverence And in confirmation hereof they vouch not only Experience which sheweth that Those very persons who strained hard to enjoy the Common Prayer when it was not to be had without difficulty contemn it now it is truly Common but as we com now from saying the Authority of our Church too as satisfied with three times in a year This is their Opinion and thus they defend it It were heartily to be wished that the Antecedent wer as fals as the Consequent is weak That there wer as litl Truth in the alleged contemt of Common Prayer as there is Reason thence to be draw'n against making the Communion common as That And it were further to be wished that those who thus pretend to hear the Church would better consider her declared Judgment But This conceit grave as it looks with its countenance of Piety and Prudence we have found to be the very same with that in the Corinthians against which the Apostle leveleth his whole Argument And plausibl as it looks with its Countenance of Conformity to the Church we shall find it more guilty of Non-conformity than what is by its patrons condemned as such And so much the more injurious to the Church bicause it doth not only rob her of het Authority but her Innocence as making her Accessary to the disobedience she condemns And since I ow a duty to the Church as well as to the Question I shall not proceed further 'till I have vindicated Her from so great Suspicion and This from so great a Prejudice as by This pretence they suffer IV. CONCERNING the sens of our Church in this Question it is strange that there should be any Doubt much more that there should be any Error so plainly doth she declare it in her Offices and Rubriks relating to this Sacrament preparatory whereto she hath provided two Exhortations the One shewing the danger of Unworthiness the Other of Forbearance answering the doubl charge of the Apostl Let a man examin himself and so let him eat I doubt this is News to Them who most are concerned in it For if they had do'n the Church and Themselvs the right to Read and Consider That Exhortation which she hath appointed to be read when the Minister shall see the peopl negligent to come they must needs be convinced if not how great the Error is yet certainly how litle the Church favoreth it For what can be said to This Invitation In Gods behalf I bid you All All indefinitely and beseech you for the Lord Jesus Christs sake that you will not refuse to come being so lovingly caled and bidden by God himself And again I bid you in the name of God I call you in Christs behalf I exhort you as you love your own salvation What to this Warning Take you heed lest you withdrawing your selves from this Holy Supper provoke Gods indignation against you And again Consider with your selvs how great an injury you do to God and how sore punishments hangeth over your heads for the same What to this Argument You know how grievous and unkind a thing it is when a man hath prepared a rich Fest decked his Table with all kinds of provisione so that there lacketh nothing but the guests to sit down and yet they who are caled most unthankfully refuse to come c. which of you in such a case would not be moved who would not think a great injury and wrong do'n unto him What to the close of all These things if ye earnestly consider ye will by Gods grace return to a better mind for the obtaining whereof we shall not cease to make our humbl peticions to Almighty God our heavenly Father The Invitation is Universal I bid you All. The charge lieth upon All Persons and at All Times For as often as the peopl the peopl in general are Negligent to com so often is the Minister thus to reprove and warn them and there is no limitation to dispens with Any Person or except Any Time Thus thus it is that the Church incourageth us to dispens with our Duty thus she discourageth Constancy in it Thus she setteth up Reverence against Frequency But since Error cannot subsist without borrowing from Truth let us see what appearances there may be of the Churches countenance in the contrary opinion She declareth say they three times in a year to be sufficient But 1. Churches as well as States ar many times necessietated to comply with the ungovernabl humors of the People And what if our Church have do'n in This Subject as Moses did in That of Divorce bicause of the hardness of the peopls hearts chusing a great inconvenience as an escape from a yet greater mischief The indevotion of the peopl is so incorrigibl that she saw too great reason to fear lest if she should exact the constancy due to it she should thereby rather draw contemt then Guests to the Holy Table and therefor lest by requiring All she should lose All thoght necessary to accommodate her self not to what our Savior Requireth but to what she might hope to Obtene This appeareth by the two first Rubriks which caution against exposing the Sacrament if there be not a convenient number to communicate i. e. if there be not the same number which is necessary for the Grace-cup for so is the number expresly determined to three at least And if she thus doubted of Three when it is so Seldom what could she hope if it were Constantly celebrated 2. Where she may Hope more she Requires more She doth not think the Priests more Obliged to communicate but more Likely to be devout and obedient than the People When therefor there is a competent number of such as in Colleges and Collegiat Churches there often is where they cannot want Opportunity if they want not Piety There she requireth not only three times every Year but once every Week and in This requiring of the Priests she doth more than intimate what oght to be do'n by All thogh she forbear to enjoin it bicause of the too justly supposed hardness of the hearts of the generality 3. Nether is she satisfied with This either in Priest or Peopl When she saith it must be thus often At least she doth not declare This to be the Most that is required by our Lords Institution but the Least that can satisfie her Own Discipline Those
who com not So often At least must be punishee as Non-conformists those who com not much Oftner thogh they fall not under her Discipline do under her Reproofs as we com now from hearing We can no more infer Three times a Year sufficient for the Communion bicause the Church doth not punish those who come so often than Once in a month to be sufficient for Divine Service because the Law punisheth not those who com so often Rules of Government have mesures different from Rules of Devotion Our Church seemeth to have taken her mesures from the Council of Agatho and Eliberis which declare That those who do not communicate on the Fests of Nativity Easter and Pentecost are not to be accounted Catholik She manifestly declareth her judgment to agree with what we have all this while be'n proving Not every Sunday but almost for every other Holy day she hath appointed a preparative Vigil that we may examin our selvs with Fasting and Prayer and every Festival hath its proper Communion Service to be read at the Time and Place of the Lords Supper Just in the same circumstances as Justin Martyr hath described the practice of the Church in His days when the Reader and Preacher have do'n their offices when the Catechumens are dismissed with the Benediction of The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Then doth the Priest go to the Holy Table accompanied in Collegiat Churches and Chappels with one or two assistants There to read the Communion Service every Holy day throughout the year V. LET us now suppose a Priest of ether party about to read the Communion Service at the Holy Table declaring what he believeth to be the Churches meaning in that office and it will not be hard to judge which of the two will best deserv her thanks He that will make her satisfied with his three times in a year must speak to this purpose Behold hither am I com'n in conformity to the Customs of the Primitive Church and the Constitutions of our own The first Churches celebrated the Lords Supper every Holy dry and Ours ordaineth the Communion Service to be read every such day in the same circumstances After the Benediction with an Offertory at the Holy Table Here am I and my brethren ready to assist me to communicate to you and with you If any Isaac demand Here is the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb Here are all other requisites but where is the Bread and Wine Know that our Church doth as litl intend a Communion as Isaac did to be Sacrificed She doth not indeed affront your sences by Consecrating the Elements without Communicating them as doth the Church of Rome but she is no less willing to withold them from you She is content you should communicate thrice every Year that the memory of the Institution be not quite lost but would have you mannerly and modest not constant and importure guests com by such intervals as may becom the awe due to so venerable a Mystery not with such constancy as may signifie familiarity with it For however our Lord intended and the Apostls and best ages of the Church conformed themselvs to his Intentions that his Supper should be the constant office in every Church meeting yet experience hath proved such Constancy prejudicial to its Honor and therefor our Church hath taken this midl away constantly to do somwhat in obedience to the Lords Institution yet to forbear the complete office in reverence to his body and blood that as plenty hath made it cheap so scarcity may advance its value To this purpose must such an one speak that will father such an opinion upon the Church But he that pleads for constancy may borrow a better speach from St. Chrysostom who complains Here we wait and none com or from St. Augustin who expostulates What cause is there O hearers that ye see the Table and com not to the Banquet Yea or from her Own Exhortation now mentioned which assisted with her Rubrik prescribing to the Priests once every week at the least will complain not only of deserting the Table when furnished but of Discoraging the Ministers from furnishing it as constantly with the Holy Fest as they do with the Office which supposes it For thus may such an one speak Here we attend in conformity to our Lords Institution the Practice of the Primitive Church and the Injunctions of our Own to communicate with you the Lords Supper We do not indeed bring forth the Bread and Wine bicause it is too manifest that in so doing we must either expose them to contemt by not using them at all or use them our selves alone The choice is hard and the Church of Rome hath chosen the Later but without escaping the Former For how can That be caled a Communion as by the Apostl it is where One takes all to himself or how is the holy Supper rescued from contemt when all but one are idle spectators not vouchsafing to be guests at the divine Supper Our Church hath taken the best cours that in so great a streight she could to avoid Both sides of the inconvenience That our Lords body blood may not be so exposed she forbids us to celebrate the Communion unless there be a competent number to communicate and to avoid loss of any opportunity she directs those who intend to communicate that they signifie their readiness by sending their names in convenient season to the Curate By the One she provides that the Fest be not dishonored for want of Guests and by the Other that the Desirous be not hindered for want of the Fest And lest this omission of bringing Bread and Wine should be mistaken for an intimation that it is not our duty to receve them she hath provided that upon Every Holy day we be put in mind of our Obligation Yesterday Eve was consecrate to Fasting and Prayer for This very purpose that we might thereby prepare our selvs to receve the Holy Supper this day And now that the Common Prayer is ended and the rest of the people who are not capable to communicate ar dismissed with their blessing according to the practice of Christ's Church in the best ages we com up to the holy Table in this its proper place and season to read the Communion-service that you may understand there oght to be a Communion joined with This Service if you would not be wanting to your duty in receiving it You know we dare not adventure to expose the holy Viands without giving you a weeks warning nor dare we give you such warnings as Frequently as we desire much less as Gonstantly as we ought bicause we sind you too backward to entertene even Those too rare Invitations which we give you But that you may see with what regret we submit to That necessity you thus put upon us Our Church is careful clearly to intimate how much more she Wisheth than she Dareth to Command What reason
can you imagin for her putting so great a difference between her Injunctions to the Priests and those to the People By our Lords Institution ether the People are not at all obliged or they are cqually so with the Priests Why then should Three times in a year be sufficient for the One and no less than Every Sunday for the Other There can be no other reason but This that thogh there be not more Due yet there is more to be Hoped from the Priests From them therefor she requireth that when they have opportunity they communicate every Sunday At least And how much more they might and would do better to exceed that Least This Communion-service plainly declareth whereby our Church keepeth up the claim to that constancy which in the Primitive Church was practiced of closing every Church-jest with the Lords Supper Would you duly heed it you could not miss either the Churches Doctrine concerning your duty or opportunities to perform it She hath plainly enogh shew'n her Readiness to perform Her part and Your obligations to do Yours Try us Try us by the way she hath directed Signifie your willingness by sending us your names and if you then have not as many Communions as Communion-services let the whole blame lie upon us But while on the Churches part there are such Invitations and on Your part such neglects She may well take up St. Paul's self-justification Your blood be upon your own heads I am clean Such must the Languages be of those that on either side shall pretend the Church of England's authority and if it can be questionable which of the two is the better Expositor of her Rubriks possibly it cannot be put to a better Umpirage if it need any then that of our University And by her Statutes the Communion-service is never read in the University-Church without a Communion nor the Common Prayer without them Both. These Statutes have added Holy days of Our own to those of the Church but still with conformity to This rule We begin every Term as with Common Prayer so with the Communion Nothing therefor can be more apparent than the sens of the University which sure you cannot think ignorant of the Churches Doctrines And it may be worth som consideration that this is the practice of the Greek Church to this very day in their great Churches For thus saith the Learned Mr. Smith an ocular witness At such solemnities the holy and august Sacrament is alway celebrated and that with great pomp and ce emony and indsed is not only a necessary but the principal part of the Festival And that we may not mistake as if this were spoken only of the Principal Fests he saith afterward upon another occasion In the great Churches the Priests celebrates the Sacrament upon the solem Festivals and upon Sundays and at other times upon occasion In the obligation of the Peopl also they com not behind but advance a step further than our Church for saith the same Author The Laiks ace obliged to receve the Blessed Sacrament four times a year With which law of their Church they most readily comply none omitting it especially at Christmas or Easter unless hinder'd by real and urgent necessity In order to their better preparation the preceding Fests i. e. the four Lents fore-spoken of are appointed and observed VI. AND let me provoke the otherwise-minded to Emulation Will they own such Ministers for Conformists if such there be as for many Months and perhaps whole Years together Omit to read the Communion-Service will they not think it the duty of the Church-wardens to Present and of the Bishop to Punish such as Disobedient to the Churches Orders and Mutilators of her Offices Why then must They Escape Presentment yea why must they pass for the best Church-men who for Months and perhaps whole Years together omit either Offering or Receiving That Communion which That Service professeth to celebrate and so by Neglecting the One Expose the Other Let those now who bost themselves the tru Sons of the Church shew themselvs such not by much Talking but Studying her Thoghts yea her Declarations A good son will act not only the express Commands but the Inclinations of his Parent he will Enquire and by all competent indications Search and where there are manifest tokens that More is Desired than Expressed will do not only what the Command makes Necessary but whatever such Indications shew to be Well-pleasing Since therefor the Church so plainly intimateth that she Recommendeth More then she dares Command how can Those pretend themselves her affectionate Sons who do not only Neglect to comply with her so clear Intimations but downright Disobey Those Commands which she plainly imposeth as Necessary to her Communion Where is now that zele for the Church Have we no better way to shew it than by contending for a Vesture or a Gesture Do we think her such a coquet as to prefer a Ribon or a Lace before her Necessaries I speak not this to justifie any Neglect or Disobedience toward the slightest Injunctions of our Governors but by comparing the weightier maters of the Law with tithing mint and cummin to prove that Those who ar earnest to have these things do'n oght not to leave the other undo'n I might further urge that Those ar the worst sort of Non-conformists who not only Deny Obedience but Slander Those very Constitutions which require it and so make themselvs not only Disobedient children but False accusers for they can hardly avoid that dubl character who both refuse to communicate with her in This of all others most sacred and solen office and accuse her as accessary to That very Disobedience which themselvs practice no less against Her Injunctions than our Lords But it is not my business to accuse my brethren further than is necessary to the vindicating of my mother which I hope I have abundantly do'n so as to be secure from having her Name abused to the protection of an Error so Opposite to her Constitutions CHAP. II. VVe may not omit This duty without warrant I. Necessity may be complied with A duble 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 HAVING thus do'n right to our Church I now com to do it to the Question which is not the same in Our days as in St. Augustin's It is nor whether we ought to receve every Day but Whether we ought to do it upon every opportunity How frequent those Opportunities ought to be it is not the Peopl's business to enquire nor mine to determin It must needs be as necessary for the Officers as for the Constitutions of the Church to yield to the invincibl
of their Meeting but in That of their Festing yet his in thrice repeated charge he doth not lay his accusation against These but against Those especially vers 20. When ye com together in one place it is not to eat the Lords Supper From which words especially if helped with the now mentioned clause of ver 26. it plainly appeareth that it Then was and Ever must be the duty of All Christian Churches to celebrate the Lords Supper when ever they meet in his House Otherwise the Corinthians must be unjustly arraigned as Criminal having broken no Obligation God forbad Perjury in This stile Thou shalt not take in the Hebrew it is Thou shalt not lift up the name of the Lord thy God in vain The Phrase is bilt upon their then Custom of lifting up the hand in the name of God Our form of Swearing is not by lifting up the hand above the head but perhaps by bowing down the head to the hand yet no man pretends the power of the Law abolished with the Ceremony it seemeth bilt upon since the Obligation dependeth not upon the variable Circumstance of Swearing but the indispensibl Connexion between our Oath and Truth Just so it is here This Institution relates to Festing as That Law did to lifting up the hand This requireth that our Lords Supper should accompany All our Church-meetings as That doth that Truth should accompany All our Oaths and the Church may be as Innocent and the Obligation as Firm after the One alteration in the manner as after the Other And 't is worth our observation with what temper she hath ever proceeded that in the Great Changes she found Necessary to make the Sacrament might not lose its right It seems not an Accidental but Substantial circumstance That This should be Instituted In and After Supper and consequently that it should be Celebrated in the same Season necessary both to answer its Title the Supper of the Lord and the Tradition whence it was taken Yet to celebrate it before day appeareth by the unquestionable testimony of Pliny to have be'n the practice in Trajan's time But That Persecution which Necessitated did thereby Justifie so Great a variation They wer denyed the use of their Public Churches if they had Any their malicios enemies watched all opportunities to mingle their blood with their Sacrifices Either therefor they must do this before day or not at all This was a great Change but no Robbery for the Sacrament lost not so much as its Name by it but still continued to be caled the Lords Supper That change the Emperors Persecution made necessary and a worse Persecution made a Greater one no less so The unbridled luxury of the people turned it from the Supper of the Lord to a Fest of Bacchus and it seemed impossibl to rescu it from that wors Metamorphosis but by turning it from a Desert after Supper to a Break-fast in the Morning III. AND thogh this seemed a Greater change than the Former as taking away not only the Season of the Supper but the very Nature of a Fest yet was the Church careful to save the Institution harmless The Day first consecrate to This office still enjoyeth the title of The Lords day and of a Fest Four Councils declared it heretical to Fast and many Canons forbad to Kneel upon That day it is honored with a Preparatory Vigil and a Communion-Service and every Other Holy day if they be not expresly consecrate to Festing enjoy the same honor and title of Festivals And why I pray' now why all this care Why so great a Soloecism to Fast upon our Lords day Was he indeed as the Scribes and Pharisees charactered him a riotos person and a Wine-bibber If He were yet certainly St. Michael and all Angels ar not nor wer All the Saints so John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking St. Paul was in fastings often and many other Saints are honored for their very Abstinence How can it be congruos that the Angels should delight in That whereof they are by Nature Uncapable or the Saints in that which by Grace they Shunned But granting this Why then must their Eves be Fasting-days What strange meetings of Contradictions are these That they who in their lives loved and practiced Fasting should after their deaths delight in Festing and yet their very Festing-days be honored by a Fasting Usher Suppose This be only a Preparative To what purpose such a bedel Must we Therefor Fast upon the Eve that we may have the better stomach to the following Fest There must questionless be som Better reason and what Better can there be than what we ar now observing viz. the constant Practice of All mankind and particularly of Christians celebrating the worship of God with Festing not abrogated but thus improved that the Supper of our Lord might be it self a Spiritual Fest attended with a Corporal one and ushered with a Vigil the One proper for its genuine Celebration the Other for our Preparation to it Nor hath the Apostls argument suffered more by this change than our Lords Supper the only difference is this That before it concluded by Enthymem and now by Syllogism While the custom continued of Eating this bread and drinking this cup in Every Meeting the conclusion without more ado followed Ergo He that eateth this bread and drinketh this cup unworthily is guilty But now it requireth the assistance of an Assumtion which Then was the Apostl supposed would Ever be self-evident viz. that as often as they met together they ate this bread and drank this cup. And thogh the 27th verse seemeth to have lost its force bicause we do not eat that bread and drink that cup as the Corinthians then did yet the 20th still retaineth its strength and we ar guilty of the same charge of so coming together as not to eat the Lords Supper thogh we are not to be convicted by the same medium IV. AND if any Claus in the Apostls whole Dissertation teach us That charge must needs do it None of the rest can teach us point blank but only compass and by Analogy with those sensual Debaucheries against which they were leveled It can not now be said one is hungry and another is drunken nor can any other of those Characters fit us by which the Apostl describeth the profaneness he impeacheth But we think our selfs obliged by Analogy to infer that as their Sensual unworthiness made them guilty where they abused a Sensual Fest so any Spiritual unworthiness will make Us so if by it we profane a Spiritual one and for this Analogical reason we must examin our selfs c Now if this seem obliging in point of Worthiness much more must it be so in the Performance it self For he disputeth for That not only by Analogy but Point blank We find no Reproof because no Mention of any but Sensual or Schismatical unworthiness in the Corinthians but Express and thrice Repeted inculcation of their Meetings as
Church exercising Punctual Obedience to such a sens We have found our Own Church laboring what she can to retrive the same From Obligations of Obedience we proceeded to the cords of a man Reason we find requireth that the Badge of our profession should be constantly worn and Kindness obligeth us to embrace an office so Endeared as we find This by all incentivs of Love In the whole journy we have not found the least Inconsistence or Impertinence of any One syllabl but every Word and every Order yea every Disorder of words combine to declare This the true Key to Our Lords and his Apostls meaning And I may Boldly Challenge any one of a differing judgment to match This so punctual Dissection with any other that may suit his own Hypothesis with equal exactness but whether they make the least pretence to it or no will clearly appear by the examination of what they pretend the Apostl to have said to the contrary PART V. Answers to the Vulgar opinion CHAP. I. Deference paid to the Former age and to the Sacrament I. Former ages excused for advanceing Reverence when there was no other danger but of Irreverence and stateing preparation in such manner as might best serv Piety Reason to believ that were they now living they would press the Performance as earnestly as they have do'n Preparation II. A Second Protest against robbing the Sacrament III. The Adversaries opinion set forth in his own words whereby almost all the World must be prohibited IV. A Warrant demanded A confession that a good Consequence is Warrant sufficient SINCE it will be very hard if not utterly impossibl to dispute against Doctrines without boldness toward their Authors or to plead against One extreme without seeming to abett the Other before I proceed to the ill-lookt work I think it necessary to enter a dubl Protestation against Irreverence either toward the worthy Persons whom I am to treat as Adversaries or the H. C. which I am to render less Dreadful 1. Concerning the Pios Learned Persons whom I am to oppose thogh Truth will not permit us to embrace their Errors Justice will require us to excuse them bicause they Yielded to the then present Necessity at a time when there was no appearance of danger on the other hand When a City is Inaccesibl on the One side and Assalted on the Other the defendants think themselvs concerned to leav That side which seemeth safe and run to This which needeth their help and thogh many an otherwise impregnabl place have This way be'n lost yet still have the inhabitants be'n rather pitied as unfortunate than blamed as unfaithful The Antient Fathers saw No danger of loseing Gonstancy in this duty but Much of loseing Reverence and ar therefor to be Justified bicause they applied their labors to what appeared most Necessary But the Later Fathers broght That into Question which their predecessors thoght above Any Constancy first was ballanced against Reverence and then made to Yield to it St. Augustin first put the question Whether it wer better to Communicate every day or omit som days that we might do it better upon som Others This question when it first appeared in the World was no bigger than a mans hand thogh now it have overspread the whole face of the sky It grew from days to weeks from weeks to month's and the Church of Rome claims thanks for having made it necessary Once in a Year This abuse was so gross that the Reformers could not but correct but they did it with such aw both toward the Later Fathers and toward the Sacrament it self that they seem to have be'n more careful to speak what they thoght Best than what they thoght Truest To preserv the Sacrament from being swallowed up by the incorrigibl luxury of Their times the Fathers by way of necessary defence asserted the Reverence due to it as the Body and Bloud of Christ and our Pios divines endevor to advance it to a Power suitabl to That Honor a Power of exalting the Spirit of Christ by help of such Examination as must in all reason be That way most serviceable Sure enough our Lord can not but be well pleased that This Representative of his Death should second it in That great and good design for which he suffered it Thogh therefor they saw nothing in Scripture nothing in Tradition yet seeing in Reason great hopes of advantage they thoght best to lay hold on an expression or two of the Apostl's which however otherwise intended might be made of excellent use This way He had spoken of the Danger of Unworthiness and the necessity of Self-examination for avoiding that danger These two well twisted together and well bound on may be of excellent use to draw men to repentance so much the more speedy by how much neerer the time appears of approaching the dread Table And how can this be better do'n than by persuading men that no man is fit to Communicate who is not fit to dye What injury to the Apostl if useful words be not Confined to his Particular intention in that One place but Extended to a greater serviceablness to the General design of All his Labors or what to the Sacrament if it be so Rescued from Danger as to be made Victorios not only over That Intemperance which it suffered at Corinth but all other Sins of what kind so ever Or what to our Lord if the Representative of his Death be made to promote the good ends for which he suffered it This could not seem more Rational than Safe The Commands of the Church made it Criminal Universal Practice made it Scandalous to fail of appearing at the holy Table at least three times in the year and in all appearance the condicions of Preparation might be strained to Any height with as great Safety as Rigor Our Gratios Lord justified Moses for compliance with the hardness of the peopl's hearts in a case which in the beginning was not so The Pios Fathers in former ages had cast Festing out of the Church thogh This Supper wer by our Lords Institution appendant to it and they had removed the Season from Evening to Morning thogh the very title of Supper contradicted And why should not such apparent Advantages on one side yoked with such Security from any Damage on the other make it reasonabl to press Preparation in such manner that those who wer not prevailed on with Other reasons might be awakened by the approach of the Sacrament to betake themselvs to That work which otherwise they would delay till the approach of death When therefor we read what was written twenty or more years since when the Church had not yet lost her Power nor the Peopl their Shame when neither Atheism nor Schism had taught it needless to Obey our Lords last command when that neglect was thoght Incredibl which we now find incurabl let us consider as well the Reasons as the Words of those pios Authors and we