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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30895	An apology for the true Christian divinity, as the same is held forth, and preached by the people, called, in scorn, Quakers being a full explanation and vindication of their principles and doctrines, by many arguments, deduced from Scripture and right reason, and the testimony of famous authors, both ancient and modern, with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them, presented to the King / written and published in Latine, for the information of strangers, by Robert Barclay ; and now put into our own language, for the benefit of his country-men.; Theologiae verè Christianae apologia. English	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing B721; ESTC R1740	415,337	436

the Jews following him for the Loaves to tell them of this Spiritual bread and flesh of his body which was more necessary for them to feed upon It will not therefore follow that their following him for the Loaves had any necessary relation thereunto So also Christ here being at supper with his Disciples takes occasion from the bread and wine which was before them to signifie unto them that as that bread which he brake unto them and that wine which he blessed and gave unto them did contribute to the preserving and nourishing of their bodies so was he also to give his body and shed his blood for the Salvation of their Souls and therefore the very end proposed in this ceremony to those that observe it is to be a memorial of his Death But if it be said that the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.16 calls the bread which he brake the communion of the body of Christ and the cup the communion of his blood I do most willingly subscribe unto it but do deny that this is understood of the outward bread neither can it be evinced but the contrary is manifest from the context for the Apostle in this chapter speaks not one word of that ceremony for having in the beginning of it shewn them how the Jews of old were made partakers of the Spiritual food and water which was Christ and how several of them thro' disobedience and idolatry fell from that good condition he exhorts them by the example of those Jews whom God destroyed of old to flee those evils shewing them that they to wit the Corinthians are likewise partakers of the body and blood of Christ of which communion they would rob themselves if they did evil because they could not drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils and partake of the Lords table and of the Table of devils ver 21. which shews that he understands not here the using of outward bread and wine because those that do drink the cup of devils and eat of the table of devils yea the wickedest of men may partake of the outward bread and outward wine For there the Apostle calls the bread one ver 17. and he saith we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread Now if the bread be one it cannot be the outward or the inward would be excluded whereas it cannot be denyed but that it 's the partaking of the inward bread and not the outward that makes the Saints truly one body and one bread And whereas they say that the one bread here comprehendeth both the outward and inward by vertue of the Sacramental union that indeed is to affirm but not to prove As for that figment of a Sacramental union I find not such a thing in all the Scripture especially in the New Testament nor is there any thing can give a rise for such a thing in this chapter where the Apostle as is above observed is not at all treating of that ceremony but only from the excellency of that priviledg which the Corinthians had as believing Christians to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ dehorts them from Idolatry and partaking of the Sacrifices offered to Idols so as thereby to offend or hurt their weak brethren But that which they most of all cry out in this matter Obj. and are alwaies noising as from 1 Cor. 11. where the Apostle is particularly treating of this matter and therefore from some words here they have the greatest appearance of Truth for their assertion as ver 27. where he calls the Cup the cup of the Lord and saith that they who eat of it and drink unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and ver 26. eat and drink their own damnation intimating thence that this hath an immediate or necessary relation to the body flesh and blood of Christ. Though this at first view may catch the unwary Reader Answ. yet being well considered it doth no ways evince the matter in controversie As for the Corinthians being in the use of this ceremony why they were so and how that obliges not Christians now to the same shall be spoken of hereafter it suffices at this time to consider that they were in the use of it Secondly that in the use of it they were guilty of and committed divers abuses Thirdly that the Apostle here is giving them directions how they may do it aright in shewing them the right and proper use and end of it These things being premised let it be observed that the very express and particular use of it according to the Apostle is to shew forth the Lord's death c. But to shew forth the Lord's death and partake of the flesh and blood of Christ are different things He saith not as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye partake of the body and blood of Christ but ye shew forth the Lord's death So I acknowledg that this ceremony by those that practise it hath an immediate relation to the outward body and death of Christ upon the Cross as being properly a memorial of it but it doth not thence follow that it hath any inward or immediate relation to believers communicating or partaking of the Spiritual body and blood of Christ or that Spiritual Supper spoken of Rev. 3.20 for though in a general way as every religious action in some respect hath a common relation to the Spiritual Communion of the Saints with God so we shall not deny but this hath a relation as others Now for his calling the cup the cup of the Lord and saying they are guilty of the body and blood of Christ and eat their own damnation in not discerning the Lord's body c. I answer that this infers no more necessary relation than any other religious act and amounts to no more than this that since the Corinthians were in the use of this ceremony and so performed it as a religious act they ought to do it worthily else they should bring condemnation upon themselves Now this will not more infer the thing so practised by them to be a necessary religious act obligatory upon others than when Rom. 14.6 the Apostle saith He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord it can be thence inferred that the days that some esteemed and observed did lay an obligation upon others to do the same but yet as as he that esteemed a day and placed Conscience in keeping it was to regard it to the Lord and so it was to him in so far as he dedicated it unto the Lord the Lord's day he was to do it worthily and if he did it unworthily he would be guilty of the Lord's day and so keep it to his own damnation so also such as observe this ceremony of bread and wine it is to them the bread of the Lord and the cup of the Lord because they use it as a religious act and forasmuch as their

have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World The way which our Adversaries take to evite this Testimony is most foolish and ridiculous The World here say they is the World of Believers For this Commentary we have nothing but their own assertion and so while it manifestly destroys the Text may be justly rejected For first let them shew me if they can in all the Scripture where the whole world is taken for Believers only I shall shew them where it is many times taken for the quite contrary as the world knows me not the world receives me not I am not of this world Besides all these Scriptures Psal. 17.14 Isa. 13.11 Matth. 18.1 John 7.7 8.26.12.19.14.17.15.18 19.17.14.18.20 1 Cor. 1.21.2 12.6.2 Gal. 6.14 Jam. 1.27 2 Pet. 2.20 1 Joh. 2.15.3.1 and 4.4 5. and many more Secondly the Apostle in this very place contradistinguisheth the World from the Saints thus And not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world What means the Apostle by ours here Is not that the sins of Believers Was not he one of those Believers And was not this an universal Epistle written to all the Saints that then were So that according to these mens comment there should be a very unnecessary and foolish redundancy in the Apostles words as if he had said he is a Propitiation not only for the sins of all Believers but for the sins of all Believers Is not this to make the Apostles words void of good sense Let them shew us where ever there is such a manner of speaking in all the Scripture where any of the Pen-men first name the Believers in concreto with themselves and then contradistinguish them from some other whole world of Believers That whole World if it be of Believers must not be the world we live in But we need no better interpreter for the Apostle than himself who uses the very same expression and phrase in the same Epistle c. 5.19 saying We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness there cannot be found in all the Scripture two places which run more parallel seeing in both the same Apostle in the same Epistle to the same persons contradistinguisheth himself and the Saints to whom he writes from the whole world which according to these mens commentary ought to be understood of Believers as if John had said We know particular Believers are of God but the whole World of Believers lieth in wickedness What absurd wresting of Scripture were this And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other for they differ not at all seeing then that the Apostle John tells us plainly that Christ not only died for him and for the Saints and Members of the Church of God to whom he wrote but for the whole world Let us then hold it for a certain and undoubted Truth notwithstanding the cavils of such as oppose This might also be proved from many more Scripture testimonies if it were at this season needful All the Fathers so called and Doctors of the Church for the first four centuries preached this Doctrin according to which they boldly held forth the Gospel of Christ and efficacy of Death inviting and intreating the Heathens to come and be partakers of the benefits of it shewing them how there was a door open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ not telling them that God had predestinated any of them to Damnation or had made Salvation impossible to them by with-holding Power and Grace necessary to believe from them But of many of their sayings which might be alledged I shall only instance a few Austin on the 95 Psalm saith The Blood of Christ is of no less value than the whole World Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. The redeemer of the World gave his blood for the World and the World would not be redeemed because the darkness did not receive the Light He that saith the Saviour was not crucified for the redemption of the whole World looks not to the vertue of the Sacrament but to the part of Infidels since the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the price of the whole World from which redemption they are strangers who either delighting in their captivity would not be redeemed or after they were redeemed returned to the same servitude The same Prosper in his answer to Vencentius's first objection Seeing therefore because of one common nature and cause in Truth undertaken by our Lord all are rightly said to be redeemed and nevertheless all are not brought out of Captivity the property of Redemption without doubt belongeth to those from whom the Prince of this World is shut out and now are not vessels of the devil but Members of Christ whose Death was so bestowed upon mankind that it belonged to the Redemption of such who are not to be regenerated But so that which was done by the Example of one for all might by a singular mystery be celebrated in every one For the Cup of Immortality which is made up of our Infirmity and the Divine Power hath indeed that in it which may profit all but if it be not drunk it doth not heal The Author de vocat Gentium lib. 11. cap. 6. There is no cause to doubt but that our Lord Jesus Christ died for Sinners and wicked Men and if there can be any found who may be said not to be of this number Christ hath not died for all he made himself a Redeemer for the whole World Chrysistom on the 1. chap. of John If he inlightens every man coming into the World how comes it that so many men remain without Light For all do not so much as acknowledg Christ how then doth he inlighten every Man he illuminates indeed so far as in him is but if any of their own accord closing the eyes of their mind will not direct their eyes unto the beams of this Light the cause that they remain in darkness is not from the nature of the Light but through their own malignity who willingly have rendred themselves unworthy of so great a gift But why be lieved they not Because they would not Christ did his part The Arelatensian Synod held about the year 490 Pronounced him accursed who should say that Christ hath not dyed for all or that he would not have all men to be saved Ambr. on Psal. 118. Serm. 8. The mystical Sun of Righteousness is arisen to all he came to all he suffered for all and rose again for all And therefore he suffered that he might take away the Sin of the World But if any one believed not in Christ he bros himself of this general Benefit even as if one by closing the Windows should hold out the Sun-beams the Sun is not therefore not arisen to all because such a one hath so robbed himself of its heat But the

him on whom God therefore truly accounteth Righteous and Just. This is so far from being the Doctrine of Papists that as the generality of them do not understand it so the learned among them oppose it and dispute against it and particularly Bellarmin Thus then as I may say the formal cause of Justification is not the works to speak properly they being but an effect of it but this inward Birth this Jesus brought forth in the heart who is the Well-beloved whom the Father cannot but accept and all those who thus are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and washed with it By this also comes that communication of the goods of Christ unto us by which we come to be made partakers of the Divine Nature as saith Peter ep 2. c. 1. v. 4. are made one with him as the Branches with the Vine and have a title and right to what he hath done and suffered for us So that his Obedience becomes ours his Righteousness ours his Death and Sufferings ours And by this nearness we come to have a sense of his Sufferings and to suffer with his Seed that yet lies pressed and crucified in the hearts of the ungodly and so travel with it and for its Redemption and for the repentance of those Souls that in it are crucifying as yet the Lord of Glory Even as the Apostle Paul who by his sufferings is said to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his Body which is the Church Though this be a Mystery sealed up from all the wise men that are yet ignorant of this Seed in themselves and oppose it nevertheless some Protestants speak of this Justification by Christ inwardly put-on as shall hereafter be recited in its place Lastly though we place remission of sins in the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ performed by him in the flesh as to what pertains to the remote procuring cause and that we hold our selves formally justified by Christ Jesus formed and brought forth in us yet can we not as some Protestants have unwarily done exclude works from Justification for though properly we be not justified for them yet are we justified in them and they are necessary even as causa sine qua non i. e. the cause without which none are Justified For the denying of this as it 's contrary to the Scriptures Testimony so it hath brought a great scandal to the Protestant Religion opened the mouths of Papists and made many too secure while they have believed to be Justified without good works Moreover though it be not so safe to say they are meritorious yet seeing they are rewarded many of those called the Fathers have not spared to use the word merit which some of us have perhaps also done in a qualified sense but no ways to inferr the Popish abuses above mentioned And lastly if we had that notion of good works which most Protestants have we could freely agree to make them not only not necessary but reject them as hurtful viz. that the best works even of the Saints are defiled and polluted For though we judg so of the best works performed by man endeavouring a conformity to the outward Law by his own strength and in his own will yet we believe that such works as naturally proceed from this Spiritual Birth and formation of Christ in us are pure and Holy even as the Root from which they come and therefore God accepts them Justifies us in them and rewards us for them of his own Free Grace The state of the controversie being thus stated these following Positions do hence from arise in the next place to be proved § IV. First that the obedience sufferings and death of Christ is that by which the Soul obtains remission of sins and is the procuring cause of that Grace by whose inward workings Christ comes to be formed inwardly and the Soul to be made conformable unto him and so just and justified And that therefore in respect of this capacity and offer of Grace God is said to be reconciled not as if he were actually reconciled or did actually justifie or account any just so long as they remain in their sins really impure and unjust Secondly that it is by this inward Birth of Christ in man that man is made just and therefore so accounted by God wherefore to be plain we are thereby and not till that be brought forth in us formally if we must use that word justified in the sight of God because Justification is both more properly and frequently in Scripture taken in its proper signification for making one just and not reputing one meerly such and is all one with Sanctification Thirdly that since good works as naturally follow from this birth as heat from fire therefore are they of absolute necessity to Justification as causa sine qua non i. e. though not as the cause for which yet as that in which we are and without which we cannot be Justified And though they be not meritorious and draw no debt upon God yet he cannot but accept and reward them for it is contrary to his Nature to deny his own Since they may be perfect in their kind as proceeding from a Pure Holy Birth and Root Wherefore their judgment is false and against the Truth that say that the holyest works of the Saints are defiled and sinful in the sight of God For these good works are not the works of the Law excluded by the Apostle from Justification § V. As to the first I prove it from Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Here the Apostle holds forth the extent and efficacy of Christs death shewing that thereby and by Faith therein remission of sins that are past is obtained as being that wherein the forbearance of God is exercised towards mankind So that though men for the sins they daily commit deserve Eternal Death and that the Wrath of God should lay hold upon them yet by virtue of that most satisfactory Sacrifice of Christ Jesus the Grace and Seed of God moves in love towards them during the day of their visitation yet not so as not to strike against the evil for that must be burned up and destroyed but to redeem man out of the evil Secondly if God were perfectly reconciled with men and did esteem them just while they are actually unjust and do continue in their sins Then should God have no Controversie with them How comes he then so often to complain to expostulate so much throughout the whole Scripture with such as our Adversaries confess to be Justified telling them that their sins separate betwixt him and them Isa. 59.2 For where there is a perfect and full reconciliation there there is no separation Yea from this Doctrine it necessarily follows either that such for whom Christ died and whom he hath

called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified This is commonly called the golden chain as being acknowledged to comprehend the method and order of Salvation And therefore if justified were not understood here in its proper signification of being made just sanctification would be excluded out of this chain And truly it is very worthy of observation that the Apostle in this succinct and compendious account makes the word justified to comprehend all betwixt calling and glorifying thereby clearly insinuating that the being really righteous is that only medium by which from our calling we pass to glorification All for the most part do acknowledg the word to be so taken in this place and not only so but most of those who oppose are forced to acknowledg that as this is the most proper so the most common signification of it thus divers famous Protestants do acknowledg We are not saith D. Chamierus such impertinent esteemers of words as to be ignorant nor yet such importunat Sophists as to deny that the words of Justification and Sanctification do infer one another ye we know that the Saints are chiefly for this reason so called because that in Christ they have received remission of sins and we read in the Revelation Let him that is just be just still which cannot be understood except of the fruit of inherent righteousness Nor do we deny but perhaps in other places they may be promiscuously taken especially by the Fathers I take saith Beza the name of Justification largely so as it comprehends whatsoever we acquire from Christ as well by imputation as by the efficacy of the Spirit in sanctifying us So likewise is the word of Justification taken Rom. 8.30 Melancthon saith that to be justified by Faith signifies in Scripture not only to be pronounced just but also of unrighteous to be made righteous Also some chief Protestants though not so clearly yet in part hinted at our Doctrin whereby we ascribe unto the Death of Christ remission of Sins and the work of Justification unto the Grace of the Spirit acquired by his Death Martinus Boraeus explaining that place of the Apostle Rom. 4.25 Who was given for our sins and rose again for our justification saith There are two things beheld in Christ which are necessary to our justification the one is his death the other is his arising from the dead By his death the sins of this world behoved to be expiated By his rising from the dead it pleased the same goodness of God to give the Holy Spirit whereby both the Gospel is believed and the Righteousness lost by the fault of the first Adam is restored And afterwards he saith The Apostle expresseth both parts in these words Who was given for our sins c. In his Death is beheld the satisfaction for sin in his Resurrection the gift of the Holy Spirit by which our Justification is perfected And again the same man saith elsewhere Both these kinds of Righteousness are therefore contained in Justification neither can the one be separate from the other So that in the definition of Justification the merit of the blood of Christ is included both with the remission of sins and with the gift of the Holy Spirit of Justification and Regeneration Martinus Bucerus saith Seeing by one sin of Adam the world was lost the Grace of Christ hath not only abolished that one sin and death which came by it but hath together taken away those infinite sins and also led into full justification as many as are of Christ so that God now not only remits unto them Adam 's sin and their own but also gives them therewith the Spirit of a solid and perfect Righteousness which renders us conform unto the Image of the First begotten And upon these words by Jesus Christ he saith We alwaies judg that the whole benefit of Christ tends to this that we might be strong through the gift of Righteousness being rightly and orderly ordained with all vertue that is restored to the Image of God And lastly William Forbes our Countrey man Bishop of Edinburgh saith Whensoever the Scripture makes mention of the Justification before God as speaketh Paul and from him besides others Augustin it appears that the word justify necessarily signifies not only to pronounce just in a Law sense but also really and inherently to make just because that God doth other waies justifie a wicked man than earthly Judges For he when he justifies a wicked or unjust man doth indeed pronounce him as these also do but by pronouncing him just because his judgment is according to Truth he also makes him really of unjust to become just And again the same man upon the same occasion answering the more rigid Protestants who say that God first justifies and then makes just he adds But let them have a care least by too great and empty subtilty unknown both to the Scripture and the Fathers they lessen and diminish the weight and dignity of so great and divine a benefit so much celebrated in the Scripture to wit justification of the wicked For if to the formal reason of justification of the ungodly doth not at all belong his justification so to speak i. e. his being made righteous then in the Justification of a sinner although he be Justifyed yet the stain of sin is not taken away but remains the same in his Soul as before Justification And so dotwithstanding the benefit of Justification he remains as before unjust and a sinner and nothing is taken away but the guilt and obligation to pain and the offence and enmity of God through non imputation But both the Scriptures and Fathers do affirm that in the Justification of a sinner their sins are not only remitted forgiven covered not imputed but also taken away blotted out cleansed washed purged and very far removed from us as appears from many places of the Holy Scriptures The same Forbes shews us at length in the following chapter that this was the confessed judgment of the Fathers out of the writings of those who hold the contrary opinion some whereof out of him I shall note as first Calvin saith that the judgment of Austin or at least his manner of speaking is not throughout to be received who although he took from man all praise of righteousness and ascribed all to the Grace of God yet he refers Grace to Sanctification by which we are regenerate through the Spirit unto newness of life Chemnitius saith that they do not deny but that the Fathers take the word justifie for renewing by which works of righteousness are wrought in us by the Spirit And pag. 130. I am not ignorant that the Fathers indeed often use the word justifie in this signification to wit of making just Zanchius saith that the Fathers and chiefly Austin interpret the word justifie according to this signification to wit of making just so that according to them to he justified

was no other than of unjust to be made just through the Grace of God for Christ. He mentioneth more but this may suffice to our purpose § VIII Having thus sufficiently proved that by justification is to be understood a really being made righteous I do boldly affirm and that not only from a notional knowledg but from a real inward experimental feeling of the thing that the immediate nearest or formal cause if we must in condescendence to some use this word of a man's justification in the sight of God is the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Soul changing altering and renewing the mind by whom even the Author of this inward work thus formed and revealed we are truly justified and accepted in the sight of God For it is as we are thus covered and cloathed with him in whom the Father is alwaies well pleased that we may draw near to God and stand with confidence before his throne being purged by the blood of Jesus inwardly poured into our Souls and cloathed with his Life and Righteousness therein revealed And this is that order and method of Salvation held forth by the Apostle in that Divine saying Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life For the Apostle first holding forth the reconciliation wrought by the death of Christ wherein God is near to receive and redeem man holds forth his Salvation and Justification to be by the Life of Jesus Now that this Life is an inward Spiritual thing revealed in the Soul whereby it is renewed and brought forth out of death where it naturally has been by the fall and so quickned and made alive unto God The same Apostle shews Eph. 2.5 Even when we were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickened us together in Christ by whose Grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together Now this none will deny to be the inward work of renovation and therefore the Apostle gives that reason of their being saved by Grace which is the inward Vertue and Power of Christ in the Soul but of this place more hereafter Of the Revelation of this inward Life the Apostle also speaketh 2 Cor. 4.10 That the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Bodies and ver 11. That the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh. Now this inward Life of Jesus is that whereby as is before observed he saith We are saved Secondly That it is by this revelation of Jesus Christ and the new Creation in us that we are justified doth evidently appear from that excellent saying of the Apostle included in the Proposition it self Tit. 3.5 according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost c. Now that whereby we are saved that we are also no doubt justified by which words are in this respect synonimous Here the Apostle clearly ascribes the immediate cause of Justification to this inward work of Regeneration which is Jesus Christ revealed in the Soul as being that which formerly states us in a capacity of being reconciled with God the washing or regeneration being that inward Power and Vertue whereby the Soul is cleansed and cloathed with the Righteousness of Christ so as to be made fit to appear before God Thirdly This Doctrin is manifest from 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your own selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates First it appears here how earnest the Apostle was that they should know Christ in them so that he presses this exhortation upon them and inculcates it three times Secondly he makes the cause of reprobation or not-justification the want of Christ thus revealed and known in the Soul whereby it necessarily follows by the rule of contraries where the parity is alike as in this case it is evident that where Christ is inwardly known there the persons subjected to him are approved and justified For there can be nothing more plain than this that if we must know Christ in us except we be reprobates ortunjustified persons that if we know him in us we are not reprobates and consequently justified ones Like unto this is that other saying of the same Apostle Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you and therefore the Apostle terms this Christ within the hope of Glory Col. 1.27.28 Now that which is the hope of Glory can be no other than that which we immediately and most nearly relie upon for our Justification and that whereby we are really and truly made Just. And as we do not hereby deny but the Original and Fundamental cause of our Justification is the Love of God manifested in the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh who by his Life Death Sufferings and Obedience made a way for our Reconciliation and became a Sacrifice for the remission of sins that are past and purchased unto us this Seed and Grace from which this birth arises and in which Jesus Christ is inwardly received formed and brought forth in us in his own pure and Holy Image of Righteousness by which our Souls live unto God ond are cloathed with him and have put him on even as the Scripture speaks Eph. 4.23 24. Gal. 3.27 We stand justified and saved in and by him and by his Spirit and Grace Rom. 3.24 1 Cor. 6.11 Tit. 3.7 So again reciprocally we are hereby made partakers of the fulness of his merits and his cleansing blood is near to wash away every sin and infirmity and to heal all our back-slidings as often as we turn towards him by unfeigned Repentance and become renewed by his Spirit Those then that find him thus raised and ruling in them have a true ground of hope to believe that they are Justified by his Blood But let not any deceive themselves so as to foster themselves in a vain hope and confidence that by the Death and Sufferings of Christ they are Justified so long as sin lies at their door Gen. 4. v. 7. Iniquity prevails and they remain yet unrenewed and unregenerate lest it be said unto them I know you not Let that saying of Christ be remembred not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter but he that doth the will of my Father Matth. 7.21 To which let these excellent sayings of the beloved Disciple be added Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous He that committeth sin is of the Devil because if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 3.7 20. Many Famous Protestants bear witness to this inward Justification by Christ inwardly revealed and formed in man as 1. M. Borrhaeus In the Imputation saith he wherein Christ

carnal ordinances no wonder if by their carnal apprehensions they run into heaps and confusion But because it hath been generally supposed that the communion of the body and blood of Christ had some special relation to the ceremony of breaking bread I first refute that opinion and then proceed to consider the nature and use of that ceremony and whether it be now necessary to continue answering the reasons and objections of such as plead its continuance as a necessary and standing ordinance of Jesus Christ. § V. First it must be understood that I speak of a necessary and peculiar relation otherwise than in a general respect for forasmuch as our communion with Christ is and ought to be our greatest and chiefest work we ought to do all other things with a respect to God and our fellowship with him but a special and necessary respect or relation is such as where the two things are so tied and united together either of their own nature or by the command of God that the one cannot be enjoyed or at lest is not except very extraordinarily without the other Thus Salvation hath a necessary respect to Holyness because without Holyness no man shall see God And the eating of the flesh and blood of Christ hath a necessary respect to our having life because if we eat not his flesh and drink not his blood we cannot have life our feeling of God's presence hath a necessary respect to our being found meeting in his name by Divine Precept because he has promised where two or three are met together in his Name he will be in the midst of them in like manner our receiving benefits and blessings from God has a necessary respect to our Praying because if we ask he hath promised we shall receive Now the communion or participation of the flesh and blood of Christ hath no such necessary relation to the breaking of bread and drinking of Wine For if it had any such necessary relation it would either be from the Nature of the thing or from some Divine Precept But we shall shew it is from neither Therefore c. First it is not from the nature of it because to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ is a Spiritual exercise and all confess that it is by the Soul and Spirit that we become real partakers of it as it is the Soul and not the Body that is nourished by it but to eat Bread and drink Wine is a natural act which in it self adds nothing to the Soul neither has any thing that is Spiritual in it because the most carnal man that is can as fully as perfectly and as wholly eat Bread and drink Wine as the most Spiritual Secondly their relation is not by nature else they would infer one another but all acknowledg that many eat of the bread and drink of the wine even that which they say is consecrate and transubstantiate into the very body of Christ who notwithstanding have not life eternal have not Christ dwelling them nor do live by him as all do who truly partake of the flesh and blood of Christ without the use of this ceremony as all the Patriarchs and Prophets did before this ordinance as they account it was instituted neither was there any thing under the Law that had any direct or necessary relation hereunto though to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ in all ages was indispensibly necessary to Salvation For as for the Paschal Lamb the whole end of it is signified particularly Exod. 13.8 9. to wit that the Jews might thereby be kept in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt Secondly it has no relation by Divine Precept for if it had it would be mentioned in that which our Adversaries account the institution of it or else in the practise of it by the Saints recorded in Scripture but so it is not For as to the institution or rather narration of Christ's practice in this matter we have it recorded by the Evangelist Matthew Mark and Luke In the first two there is only an account of the matter of fact to wit that Christ brake bread and gave it his Disciples to eat saying this is my Body and blessing the cup he gave it them to drink saying this is my blood but nothing of any desire to them to do it In the last after the bread but before the blessing or giving them the wine he bids them do it in remembrance of him what we are to think of this practice of Christ shall be spoken ofhereafter But what necessary relation hath all this to the believers partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ The end of this for which they were to do it if at all is to remember Christ which the Apostle yet more particularly expresses 1 Cor. 11.26 to shew forth the Lord's death But to remember the Lord or declare his death which are the special and particular ends annexed to the use of this ceremony is not at all to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ neither have they any more necessary relation to it than any other two different Spiritual duties For though they that partake of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him yet the Lord and his death may be remembred as none can deny where his flesh and blood is not truly partaken of So that since the very particular and express end of this ceremony may be witnessed to wit the remembrance of the Lord's Death and yet the flesh and blood of Christ not partaken of it cannot have had any necessary relation to it else the partaking thereof would have been the end of it and could not have been attained without this participation But on the contrary we may well infer hence that since the positive end of this ceremony is not the partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ and that whoever partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ cannot but remember him that therefore such need not this ceremony to put them in remembrance of him But if it be said that Jesus Christ calls the bread here his body and the wine his blood Obj. therefore he seems to have had a special relation to his Disciples partaking of his flesh and blood in the use of this thing I answer his calling the bread his body and the wine his blood Answ. would yet infer no such thing though it is not denyed but that Jesus Christ in all things he did yea and from the use of all natural things took occasion to raise the minds of his Disciples and hearers to Spirituals Hence from the Woman of Samaria her drawing water he took occasion to tell her of that living Water which whoso drinketh of shall never thirst which indeed is all one with his blood here spoken of Yet it will not follow that that Well or Water had any necessary relation to the Living Water or the Living Water to it c. So Christ takes occasion from

end therein is to shew forth the Lord's death and remember his body that was crucified for them and his blood that was shed for them If notwithstanding they believe it is their duty to do it and make it a matter of Conscience to forbear if they do it without that due preparation and examination which every religious act ought to be performed in then instead of truly remembring the Lord's death and his body and his blood they render themselves guilty of it as being in one Spirit with those that crucified him and shed his blood though pretending with thanksgiving and joy to remember it Thus the Scribes and Pharisees of old though in memory of the Prophets they garnished their Sepulchres yet are said by Christ to be guilty of their blood And that no more can be hence inferred appears from another saying of the same Apostle Rom. 14.23 He that doubteth is damned if he eat c. where he speaking of those that judged it unlawful to eat flesh c. saith if they eat doubting they eat their own damnation Now it is manifest for all this that either the doing or forbearing of this was to another that placed no Conscience in it of no moment So I say he that eateth that which in his Conscience he is perswaded is not lawful for him to eat doth eat his own damnation so he also that placeth Conscience in eating bread and wine as a religious act if he do it unprepared and without that due respect wherein such acts should be gone about he eateth and drinketh his own damnation not discerning the Lord's body i. e. not minding what he doth to wit with a special respect to the Lord and by way of special commemoration of the death of Christ. § VI. I having now sufficiently shewn what the true communion of the body and blood of Christ is how it is partaken of and how it has no necessary relation to that ceremony of bread and wine used by Christ with his Disciples it is fit now to consider the nature and constitution of that ceremony for as to the proper use of it we have had occasion to speak of before whether it be a standing ordinance in the Church of Christ obligatory upon all or indeed whether it be any necessary part of the Worship of the New Covenant-dispensation or hath any better or more binding foundation than several other ceremonies appointed and practised about the same time which the most of our opposers acknowledg to be ceased and now no ways binding upon Christians We find this ceremony only mentioned in Scripture in four places to wit Matthew Mark and Luke and by Paul to the Corinthians If any would infer any thing from the frequency of the mentioning of it that will add nothing for it being a matter of fact is therefore mentioned by the Evangelists and there are other things less memorable as often yea oftner mentioned Matthew and Mark give only an account of the matter of fact without any precept to do so afterwards simply declaring that Jesus at that time did desire them to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. To which Luke adds these words This do in remembrance of me If we consider this action of Christ with his Apostles there will appear nothing singular in it for a foundation to such a strange Superstructure as many in their airy imaginations have sought to build upon it for both Matthew and Mark press it as an act done by him as he was eating Matthew saith and as they were eating and Mark and as they did eat Jesus took bread c. Now this act was no singular thing neither any solemn institution of a Gospel ordinance because it was a constant custom among the Jews as Paulus Riccius observes at length in his Coelestial Agricultur that when they did eat the Passover the master of the family did take bread and bless it and breaking it gave of it to the rest and likewise taking wine did the same so that there can nothing further appear in this than that Jesus Christ who fulfilled all Righteousness and also observed the Jewish Feasts and Customs used this also among his Disciples only that as in most other things he laboured to draw their minds to a further thing so in the use of this he takes occasion to put them in mind of his death and sufferings which were shortly to be which he did the oftner inculcate unto them for that they were averse from believing it And as for that expression of Luke Do this in remembrance of me it will amount to no more than being the last time that Christ did eat with his Disciples he desired them that in their eating and drinking they might have regard to him and by the remembring of that opportunity be the more stirred up to follow him diligently through sufferings and death c. But what man of reason laying aside the prejudice of Education and the influence of Tradition will say that this account of the matter of fact given by Matthew and Mark or this expression of Luke to do that in remembrance of him will amount to these consequences which the generality of Christians have sought to draw from it as calling it Augustissimum Eucharistiae Sacramentum venerabile altaris Sacramentum The principal Seal of the Covenant of Grace by which all the benefits of Christ's death are sealed to Believers and such like things But to give a further evidence how these consequences have not any bottom from the practice of that ceremony nor from the words following Do this c. Let us consider another of the like nature as it is at length expressed by John c. 13. ver 3 4.8.13 14 15. Jesus riseth up from Supper and laid aside his Garment and took a Towel and girded himself After that he poureth Water into a Bason and began to wash the Disciples Feet and to wipe them with the Towel wherewith he was girded Peter saith unto him Thou shalt never wash my Feet Jesus answered him If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me So after he had washed their Feet He said Know ye what I have done to you If I then your Lord and Master have washed your Feet ye also ought to wash one anothers Feet For I have given you an Example that ye should do as I have done to you As to which let it be observed that John relates this passage to have been done at the same time with the other of breaking Bread Both being done the night of the passover after Supper If we regard the Narration of this and the circumstances attending it it was done with far more solemnity and prescribed far more punctually and particularly than the former It is said only as he was eating he took bread so that this would seem to be but an occasional business But here he rose up he laid by his Garments he girded himself he poured out the Water he washed