other in some respect XXII The first that felt death is also the first that sacrifised with Blood representing the bloody Oblation of Jesus Christ XXIII The Blood which was shed for one man alone or for some small number of persons never entred into the Holy Place but only that which was shed for many i. e for the multitude or for the Church in generall The Blood of Jesus Christ hath pierced the Holy Places as having been shed for many XXIV That which moved our Saviour to ordain Bread rather than Flesh to represent his Body is not because that Flesh hath served heretofore in Sacrifices For Bread and Wine were also employed in Legall Oblations But it is that he would shew that after him no creature should any more dye for the sin of man Therefore it is that he hath ordained Sacraments which require not the slaughter of any Creature as being compounded of signs which are of themselves without life and of other substance than of flesh and blood XXV All the properties of Bread and Wine enter not into the Analogy or Sacramentall relation which these Elements have with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Many similitudes which the Learned introduce in this matter are impertinent and abusive as when they represent the violent death of Jesus Christ by the Baking of Bread in the Oven c. XXVI God never repeats the same thing but it is with some diversity It is to the end that things which are obscure in one place may be made unto us intelligible by another This is the scope of the difference which is found among the Evangelists reciting the Institution of the Supper XXVII Before the Passeover there was no Sacramentall Eating Jesus Christ celebrated the first and the last Sacrament of the Eating of his Body viz. the Passeover and the Eucharist on one and the same table XXVIII The Passeover that Jesus Christ celebrated is the seaventh and last of those which are recited in the Scripture as being the perfection and conclusion of all those aforegoing In this last Passeover the true Lamb is there found in person Moreover as the Passeover came from Egypt there where it was first celebrated so Jesus Christ also was called out of Egypt XXIX The Sacraments of the Christian Church have already dured longer time than the Mosaicall Ceremonies have subsisted XXX The Institution of the Passeover is recited very largely this of the Eucharist is comprised in very few words It is because That contained many Ceremonies This here but a very few But finally the Institution of the Passeover speaks much more of the sign than of the thing signified This is the style of the Law to be prolix in the narration of Ceremonies and to speak very briefly of spirituall graces represented under such figures XXXI The Sacraments of the Christian Church were formed of matters and actions simple naturall and Common to the end that they might not be subject unto Change but remain unvariable to the end of the world XXXII The difference of times of places and persons whereto God had bound the most notable Ceremonies of the Law tended to facilitate their abrogation But on the Contrary our Saviour hatâ— not prefixed any time for the Celebration of the Supper to the end that it might be universally practised in all times and in all places XXXIII That in the Supper Jesus Christ is represented as he was on the Crosse and not as he is in Heaven as dead and not as glorified this is because the Sacraments tend rather to assure us of the glory that Jesus Christ acquired unto us than to describe that which he possesseth himself Now it is by his death that he hath gotten us this glory From thence it comes that having Instituted two Sacraments which represent him dead he hath not ordained any one which might represent him glorified XXXIV That Our Saviour hath not Instituted more illustrious Signes and the reason why they are not miraculous is among other reasons forasmuch as the end of Miracles is to shew the greatness and power of God But on the contrary the end of our Sacraments chiefly of the Eucharist is to shew the infirmity the death and humiliation of Christ XXXV According to the Maxims of the Roman Church a man may without thinking of it and not knowing any thing of it eat the Body of Christ Jesus XXXVI There is none of us who knows all the particular Reasons of all the Circumstances of the Passion XXXVII That the History of the Passion of Jesus Christ doth not move us so much as that of many others whose afflictions are recited in Scripture is forasmuch as the sufferings of Jesus Christ are not the Object of any naturall Commotion such as we may have for other men but of another kind of resentment which being Spirituall is not so easie to be raised XXXVIII From thence it also comes that the superstitious are sometimes more moved at the rehearsall of the Passion of Jesus Christ than the true Christians XXXIX Here we consider why it hath been easier for many to resolve to suffer death for the love of Christ than to shed so much as one tear for the love of him XL. Although the Spirituall Communion of the Body of Christ be a Super naturall Act nevertheless it is not done by a miraculous transportation and ravishment of Spirit as was that of the Prophets XLI A Roman Catholick hath need of much more time to learn his Religion than an Orthodox to understand his And particularly concerning the Eucharist An Orthodox man will sooner learn all that he ought to know concerning it than a Roman Catholick the tenth part of that which his Religion teacheth him concerning this point XLII The style of the New Testament is composed of six kinds of phrases and termes of different originall some proper others figurative XLIII The Figurative Speeches which are in the New Testament are drawn from five divers sorts of matter XLIV The Figure which is in this word Eating for to denote the Communion of the Body of Christ is not simply derived from the naturall Act of Eating in generall but from the Action of the Faithfull of the Old Testament Communicating of the Flesh of Sacrifices and other Sacred meats XLV In the Old Testament there were but two other Holy For they were exhibited either by Washing or by Nourishment Baptism and the Eucharist doe answer to these two kinds of Actions This iâ— the Reason wherefore we have these two Sacraments and in these two manners above-sayd FINâ—S
Cross was a mark or token of malediction Gal. 3. 13. a quite contrary quality from that of the Altar which is to bless and to sanctifie 3. Also the holy Scripture speaking of the same Cross on which our transgressions were expiated never gives it the Title of Altar and the holy Ghost always abstains from this phrase although that in many places of the New Testament it seems to come much to the purpose 4. Men speak very inconsiderately to say that the Altar of Burnt-Offerings or that of Incense did represent the Cross on which Jesus Christ ought to be sacrificed There is more appearance that the Cross on which Jesus Christ was put was signified by the wood on which they placed their Victims And indeed Isaac carrying the wood on which he was to be sacrificed was a figure of Jesus Christ bearing the Cross on which he was to die CHAP. III. What is the Subject of the thoughts which Christians ought to have when they receive the holy Supper The Spiritual presence ill understood among the Vulgar TWo men shall produce an action of the same kind and the same quality in which nevertheless the one hath more noble thoughts then the other And for example both may give Almes with like sincerity of heart equall measure of charity and with the same resentment of affection and yet nevertheless in this act one carries more fair and rich conceptions So among many Christians who receive the Sacrament by faith and are carried to this action by motions tending to salvation there are som whose thoughts surpass those of others being more sublime and compleat and so of a higher dignity and which render them nearer to the bosome of Jesus Christ Now the most excellent thoughts which a Christian communicating at the Supper can have are those which Jesus Christ had and did suggest unto us in this action expressing them in words full of an incomparable richness To know then what cogitations are there required the words of Jesus Christ rightly understood will furnish us with the Subject of them But such a one presumes best to understand them who is not yet topick enough in every point appertaining to this matter For I let alone the superficial intelligence wherewith Ideots content themselves When they can say that as the bread nourishes our bodies so the flesh of Christ nourishes our souls they think they know enough Even so many do very ill understand this spiritual presence of Christ that is now so much disputed of Then when they present to themselves a man nailed to a Cross they imagin by this Idea Christ is made present to their thoughts and that in this act consists the participation of the body of Christ 'T is true we cannot call to mind his death and the manner of it but by conceiving such an object namely a humane body as it is painted in the history of the Passion his side being pierced and the bloud streaming from the wound c. But all this is but an historical representation much different from the spiritual communion of the body of Christ For when I represent unto my self Jesus Christ dying on the Cross in the most lively manner possible for me to do this figure or image which I have in my mind is not all this while Jesus Christ himself CHAP. III. A Brief of all that men teach touching the Point of the Lords Supper ALL that we consider in this Doctrin is reduced principally to these things The divers names by which this Sacrament is called It s Institution and the time of it The two Signes employed at this Table and the Censure of those who deny the Cup to the people The Analogie between the Bread and the Body of Christ between the Wine and the Blood The breaking of the one and the powring forth of the other with their signification The Thanksgiving or blessing by which Jesus Christ consecrated these Elements The difference between the corporal reception of the signe common both to the faithfull and the wicked and the Spirituall Communication of the Body of Christ peculiar to believers The examining of these words wherein we finde that there is a Figure the name of the thing signified being attributed to the Signe according to the ordinary custom of Sacramentall locutions That the substance of the Signes remain entire That the Body of Christ is not enclosed in the Bread of the Eucharist nor in any place of the earth That this bodily presence is not requisit to the true and reall Communication of it That this Communion is made by the efficacy of the Spirit on the behalf of Christ and by the Organ of Faith on our part That this Faith reacheth even unto Heaven and doth truely joyn us unto Christ That the end of this action is not there to make an Expiatory Sacrifice but a Commemoration of him That this Commemoration is not idle and vain but full of efficacy and affection That the Supper is unto us a Seal of a new Covenant an earnest of our Resurrection a tye of our Union with the Church and a Badge of our Profession To these are joyned the precepts which shew the preparatory Exercises the examination which every one ought to make of himself for to partake worthily of it and finally the acknowledgement or thanksgiving which we ought to make for it But as this matter is now almost all reduced to controversie the most part of those who undertake an exact description of all that may be said upon the Point of the Eucharist do make stop principally at those things which are in dispute And in this regard it is a hard matter to add to their writings having there neither question which they have not discussed error which they have not encountred difficulty which they have not cleared syllable which they have not culled argument which they have not pressed objection which they have not dissolved But we shall find that we may yet bring hither many other important considerations and without which this Doctrin cannot be compleat CHAP. V. Observations extracted out of the Jews Liturgie THey who have read the Books of the Rites of the ancient Jews have drawn from them some lights which shew the reason of many particulars expressed in the Institution of the Supper For the proceeding of Iesus Christ in the Eucharist answers to that which the Hebrews observe in the Passeover Now besides the Divine Laws which prescribe the form of this sacred Feast the Jews had Rules for those Circumstances which were not mentioned in the Law As for example Moses having pronounced nothing touching the Drink of this Solemn Feast their Ecclesiasticall Canons ordained that which was convenient for the Action They relate therefore among the ordinary Formalities of this Banquet That at the beginning the Master of the house took the Cup and praising God caused it to pass from hand to hand to the end that all who sat at the table might tast of it Thus
every one of them So that if one of my sins hath been Expiated in this Blood all my other sins have there their Expiation also for it is generall and entire So then the termes of the Institution if wee know how to weigh them cause us to know that Jesus Christ hath sounded all the profundities of the Old Testament and drawes from thence those points which shew the excellency and advantages of the New by comparing them together CHAP. XVI The eighth Consideration upon the words of the holy Supper I Intend not to reiterate that which hath been so much written how the Bread is the Body of Christ but onely to observe something upon a question which is common enough viz. Why our Lord did not ordain Flesh rather than Bread for to represent his Body For it seems that this Symbole should be more analogick and significative According to the saying of many it is forasmuch as Flesh hath served in old time in the Sacrifices and in the Passeover and that it behoves that the Sacraments of the Christian Church should be of other Elements than those that have served under the Law But this answer is ill grounded for 1. The Bread and Wine were also used in Sacrifices There was by name an Oblation of Bread and Wine Numb 15. not to speak of the Shew-bread and of the Offerings of Cakes 2. The Element of Water served for Legall purifications Under the Law there was nothing so ordinary as the washing with Water to signifie the clensing of the Soul Yet neverthelesse God would that Baptism should be with Water 3. The contrary is rather true and this is that also which some ancient Fathers say of it That in this action Jesus Christ useth Bread and Wine because that these Elements had already been used under the Law to represent his Body and his Blood And this to the end we should know that it is the same Christ represented by the same signes But why then hath not the Flesh of living Creatures as well place in the Sacrament of the Eucharist sith it hath represented Christ in that of the Passeover and in so many kinds of Sacrifices We say indeed that Christ hath rather chosen Bread because it is the most common and the most nourishing food and so most proper to represent his Body But this excludes not other reasons which we may give thereof Moreover the Eucharist represents not the Body of Jesus Christ simply as nourishment but also as dead Now some may say which neverthelesse is not without contradiction that the Death of Christ was in Old time more ocularly represented by the killing of a Lamb than at this day by the breaking of Bread So it is this is the point I am to handle that Jesus Christ instituting signs of his Dead Body and of his Blood shed did choose things without life and Elements wherein there was no Blood Whereby he would shew that after him no creature should any more lose his life for the sins of man and that no other Blood should be shed in Expiation For the Sacraments of the Old Testament were Bloody to denote the Blood which was to be shed by the death of Christ But this effusion being made the Sacraments which represent it as done and accomplished are without effusion of Blood to shew that there shall be no more Blood shed for sins Hence it is wee have no more a Sacrament which requires the killing of any creature but Signes wherein death doth not intervene as being of themselves without life and of another substance than of Flesh and Blood CHAP. XVII The ninth Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ MEn principally the common people do naturally love Similitudes because they are drawn from things perceptible to the senses or otherwise common and easie to be conceived But similitudes represent not the essence of a subject and doe not say what a thing is but what it resembles So our Lord would not tell us simply that his Body had resemblance unto Bread nor onely that the Bread is a Seal unto us of the Communion of his Body but also hath shewed us the causes and qualities of this Communion These words To eat the Body of Jesus Christ signifie not onely to take it for the Sustenance of our Souls as we take food for the nourishment of our Bodyes This Similitude if we specifie no more teacheth us but very generally the nature of this Communion and doth not set forth the entire sense of the words of Jesus Christ For in the Eucharist our Lord doth not propound himself as Flesh in generall but as Flesh sacrifised for our sins which is a point of great consequence in this matter I have already said that the word Eating is attributed to the Cōmunion of the body of Christ which is as much as to say that this Communion is in substance that which was in Figure the eating of Sacrifices of the Manna of the Passeover c. And namely that in this Communion we have that which the Law forbad us to wit the eating of the Flesh offred for our sins They who content themselves with the generall similitudes between the Food of the Body and the nourishment of the Soul attain not unto the specifick difference of the subject of the Eucharist But I have yet somewhat to say of an abuse which is committed in the deduction of this Similitude For as many omit that which is contained in the words of the holy Supper so there are some I speak even of Orthodox Divines who adde thereto something of their own CHAP. XVIII The tenth Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ in the Supper WEe know that wee ought not to carry a Similitude beyond its end For when two divers things are compared to one another it is never in all and through all but onely in some regard When for example our Lord in St. Matth. 13. v. 46. compares the kingdome of Heaven to a Pearl of great price his intention is but to express the greatness of the value and richness of the Gospell Now he that would under pretence of this word Pearl dispute philosophically of all the kinds and proprieties of Pearls search of what matter they are made and how they are formed and subtilly fit all this to the kingdome of Heaven would surpasse the bounds wherein Jesus Christ hath confined the similitude For he doth not in all qualities compare the kingdome of Heaven to a Pearl but onely in the price or esteem which men have of it Notwithstanding there are few found among those who expound the Scriptures who keep themselves within these limits There are even of those who regard no measure when they handle a comparison If our Saviour say that he is a Vine they will name all sorts of Vines and their differences and tell you what territory is proper to them when they are to bee planted how they are to be pruned and kept Also what are the parts of
this Plant even unto the least leaf And likewise if their text speak of the Sower they will display all husbandry On a time a knowing man expounding unto us that which is said of the Longitude and Latitude depth and heigh of the love of God Ephes 3. v. 18. preached unto us all the Matheticks from a Point even unto the Squaring of a Circle so that one would have thought him an interpreter of Euclide and not of Saint Paul Also many handle the doctrine of the Supper who teach that among the Analogies by which the bread represents the body of Christ this is one That as the Bread was baked in the Oven by the heat of the fire so the Body of Jesus Christ passed through the furnace of torments and of death Also that as the Bread is made of Wheat which was ground and broken so the Body of Jesus Christ was broken to be made bread for us Likewise as for the other sign that as the Wine warms the entrailes so doth the Blood of Christ warm our hearts to Charity That as the Wine doth loose the tongue so the Blood of Christ makes us eloquent to confess his name That as the Wine makes ruddy the face of man so the Blood of Christ drives away the paleness of death Now saving the respect due to Predecessours and not to speak of that which would seem ridiculous in such Allegories I cannot abstain from saying that they stretch this analogy beyond the intention of the Son of God for first his death is not represented unto us by the baking of Bread but rather by the breaking of it nor by the bruising of the grain under the mill-stone Moreover in the Eucharist the Bread and Wine are not considered universally in all their proprieties and conditions For bread and wine have also qualities wherein they have no analogy with the body and blood of our Lord. And even all the qualities wherein the bread and wine have any similitude with the body and blood of Christ are not sacramentall but onely those that are comprised in the Institution That which is Sacracramentall in them is that they are Meat and Drink that we Eat the one and Drink the other in which respect they are signs of our Communion of the body and blood of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 10. 16. The other conformities which are to be found between the body of Christ and the bread between the blood of Christ and the wine have no place in the Eucharist neither are there to be considered Wee ought not to multiply the â—nalogy between the signe inasmuch as a signe and the thing signified And finally when these analogies which we there meet with are not proposed as Sacramentall but onely as termes serving to illustrate or amplifie we see manifestly that in the most part of them in stead of fitting the Similitude to the Subject which they would represent they fit the Subject to the Similitude drawing it by force into the Comparison Now this is not to clear but to make more intricate And in such amplifications there is more words than substance The Third Sect. CHAP. I. Of the difference between the Evangelists reciting the Institution of the Supper THe Apostle St. Paul and the three Evangelists who have wrote this History doe report something diversly the words of Jesus Christ This difference may easily be perceived by hearing them speak together Now it is not necessary to repeat what the Expositors answer thereupon The whole being well considered there will alwayes be found an excellent harmony and one and the same sense But forasmuch as the Jews object unto us this diversity as a note of discord among the writers of the New Testament wee must bring to their remembrance the difference which is found between Moses and Moses writing the Decalogue in two severall places viz. in the 20. of Exodus and the 5. of Deuteronomy By Comparison of both we see not onely that there is diversity of termes but also in the one there are things which are not expressed in the other I omit the difference which wee see in the order of words conteined in the last Commandment We must observe that God doth never repeat the same thing but it is with some diversity at least for the most part This is seen by comparing the Histories which treat of the same subject as Deuteronomy with the three precedent books the books of Chronicles with those of Samuel and of the Kings the Evangelists one with the other Besides an infinite number of passages which are of like sort wherein is alwayes observed some difference It is an effect of the care which God hath of us explaning himself by divers wayes by a divers order by divers termes and by divers matters to the end that those things which are obscure unto us in one place should be made intelligible unto us by another And indeed the sence of Sacramentall words is better known by the diversity wherein they are propounded unto us than if they weâ—â— all rendered in the same syllables throughout all the Evangelists Finally it may be observed as wee goe that as the Decalogue wherein God speaks unto us is written twice at large in the Law so the Lords Prayer in which we speak to God is written twice at large in the Gospell and also with some diversity viz. in St. Matth. 6. and St. Luk. 11. CHAP. II. Of the first and last Sacrament of the Eating of the body of Christ FRom the fall of man even untill Moses there was no Sacramentall Eating during all that time the Church had no Sacrament which consisted in eating nor yet any Sacrifice whereof it was ordained to eat Before Moses they spake ordinarily of nothing but of Sacrifices laid whole on the Altar whereof none was eaten For this kind of Sacrifice was entirely burned The first Sacrifice which was ordained for meat was the Paschall Lamb. The eating of Sacrifices is come up since as that of Manna which yet was extraordinary Now this is worthy to be observed that in one and the same supper Jesus Christ celebrated the first and the last Sacrament of the Eating of his body viz. the Passeover and the Eucharist And from the same bread and wine which made part of the Supper of the Passeover he hath taken the signes whereof is composed the holy Supper So the first and the last Sacrament of the Eating of the body of Christ are met and touch one another at the same Table and the first resigning his place to the other hath furnished it with matter whereof it is formed CHAP. III. Of the first and last Passeover mentioned in Scripture ALthough the Passeover was celebrated yearly among the people of God nevertheless holy history recites particularly certain memorable Passovers amongst others solemnized at divers times The first when the Israelites prepared themselves to go out of Egypt Exod 12. The second in the Desert the year after their going out of Egypt Numb
9. The third when they were entred into the land of Canaan Jos 5. The fourth at the Reformation of the Church made by Ezekias 2 Chronic. 30. The fift under King Josiah 2 Chron. 35. The sixt after the Return from the Captivity Esdras 6. This is the number of those which were mentioned in the Old Testament four whereof were celebrated in the Land of promise But the seventh which is the perfection of all the rest was yet to come And it is that which Jesus Christ hath celebrated the last of all whereto immediately succeeded the Supper In this last Passover the Lamb it self is there found in the very Flesh which had been represented by the Lambs of former Passovers Wee must also note that Jesus Christ who celebrated the last Passover was there where the first was celebrated to wit in Egypt Neither is it without a mystery that as the Passover came from Egypt so Jesus Christ who is the true Passover was called out of Egypt Matth. 2. 15. CHAP. IIII. Of the time of the Institution of the Supper and that its durance surpasseth that of the Mosaicall Ceremonies AS for the Circumstance of time wherein the Eucharist was instituted although it be not of the Essence of it nevertheless it is very considerable in that it concurrs with the time of the most notable Ceremonies of the Law There are some Chronologers who think that the same year wherein Christ was put to death was a year of Jubilee For from the Conquest of the Land of Canaan by Josuah untill the death of Christ they account 1400. years which contain 28. Mosaicall Jubilees the last whereof fell just in the year wherein our Lord made overture of the spirituall Jubilee the day after the Institution of the Supper We might quote many other the like conformities The hour wherein Jesus Christ gave up the Ghost upon the Cross was the third in the afternoon which the Jew accounted the ninth hour of the day The Law names it the time between two evenings And in that hour there was a daily Sacrifice for all the people Exod. 29. v. 39. So that our Lord presented his Body in Oblation in the same hour wherein they offered according to the Law the last Sacrifice of the day making it also the close of all Sacrifices But besides the Sacraments of the Christian Church have already dured longer than the Legall Ceremonies to which they succeeded For it is certain that from the first Supper untill this day there is more time passed then between the first Passover and the last destruction of the Temple And these Ceremonies of Moses have been already buried longer than they subsisted But this last Sacrament of Eating of the Body of Christ shall remain till he comes 1 Cor. 11. v. 26. CHAP. V. Of the difference of the style betwixt the Institution of the Passover and that of the Eucharist WE way see in the 12th Chapter of Exodus the Institution of the Passover recited very amply whereas that of the Eucharist is comprised in very few words Now this difference proceeds certainly from this that the one contains a multitude of Ceremonies which requires many more articles and the other consists in the simplicity of an action which may be declared in few words Hereby also we see that the Church hath been discharged of many burthensome observations The Jews having calculated all the Commandements contained in the Law of Moses as well Morall as Ceremoniall and Politick have found them to amount to the number of 613. Among which there are many which are yet subdivided into divers branches Now of so many Commandements it is not possible for them at this day to observe so much as the one half of them But I observe that the Institution of the Passover speaks much more of the sign than of the thing signified For Moyses having described at large all that concerned the Lamb and its eating when he comes to the thing signified he expressth it very summarily Exod. 12. v. 26. 27. It is also the style of the law to be prolix in the narration of Sacrifices of washings and outward purifications and to speak very briefly of spirituall graces represented under such figures Now this was the Methode of the legall Pedagogy to teach men rather by Emblemes and rudiments than by an exact doctrine Gal. 4. v. 3. On the contrary the Sacraments of the Christian Church are proposed unto us with lesse Ceremonies and more doctrine CHAP. VI. That the Holy Supper consists in signes and actions common and naturall I Will adde a Reason to those which are more ordinary upon this subject We know that there are many points of the Ceremoniall Law which the Jews cannot practise at this day not because they have no more a Temple but because they are gnorant of the form and the qualities of many things which the Law had prescrib'd to their forefathers Among the examples which may be given in great number I shall observe onely one or two The Jewes think themselves oblig'd by the words of the 30. of Exod. v. 13. to pay yearly for pious works half a shekel for each head Now as they say they know not what a shekel was its weight and its value So that the practice of this Commandement and of many others whose sense is unknown is altogether impossible for them And if suffizes not to say that they might give more than the shekel was worth For this is to be alwayes ignorant of the point wherein the Law consists and whose observation as of all the other Ceremonies ought to be exact and precise under pain of non-acceptance Likewise it is uncertain whether the Phylacteries which the Jews will yet wear according to the Law were of fringe or else of filleting or bordering and of what colour the thred or twist was whether of Purple or of Skie-colour or Sea-green For they are not agreed of it I omit the disputes which there are concerning the Cubits and measures of the Altar concerning the figures of the Cherubims the ingredients destined for the anointing of the High-Priest Urim and Thummim and things of like sort Now we must know that God giving this Law and neverthelesse having an intention to abrogate it after a certain time and foreseeing also the stubbornness of this people who would never quit these Ceremoniall Rudiments composed them of matters and forms subject to change and forgetfulness to the end that of themselves they might be abolished For the weights and measures colours and fashions of vestments of Embroydereries and Pourtraitures and other differences wherein consisted a great part of Ceremonies are changeable things and which are destroy'd with the time as being more of Art than of Nature But on the contrary our Saviour willing to Institute Sacraments which should remain to the end of the world made them of matters and actions which never change nor vary as being naturall simple uniform universall and common to all ages Such
is the washing with water such is eating and drinking Forasmuch as they are actions invariable and perpetuall Jesus Christ hath chosen them for Signes to the end that our Sacraments should not be subject to change and that the time might not make us forget a form CHAP. VII That our Saviour hath not prefixed any time for the Celebration of the Supper THe Passover could not be Celebrated but at a set time of the year But Jesus Christ substituting the Supper to the Passover advertiseth us that without distinction of time as often as we shall take this Bread and this Cup in remembrance of him we shall receive the Supper of the Lord. It is to be noted that the difference of Times of Places and of Persons to which God hath restrained the most notable Ceremonies of the Old Testament tended to the end which we have named to wit to facilitate their abrogation For he tyed the Sacrifices to one place alone whose possession comming to destruction all the Sacrifices ought to cease And consequently bound the Priestly office to one family alone which comming to be extinguish'd of it self as races are destroyed in time there ought to be no more a Priest The which is also come to passe For if at this day the the Jewes should recover and build again the Temple they would find no Priest according to the Law forasmuch as their Tribes having been confounded there is none left who can term himself of the family of Aaron Touching the distinction of times without speaking of Confusions which have since happened by the ignorance of the course of the heavens and of the continuall retrogradation of the Equinox the Jewes have lost the knowledge of the year of Jubilee one of the great points of the Law and know not how any more to find it But the Sacraments of the Christian Church were not subject to this inconvenience nor to divers others which followed the Mosaicall Ceremonies Our Baptism is not fixed to the eighth day nor our Lords Supper to the full Moon or to the Spring time or unto the Sabbath it self If some Christians should be under those Climats where one day dures many moneths and the night as long they would there have no week nor Sabbath day and nevertheless might celebrate the Supper of the Lord and his resurrection as well as wee upon Easter day CHAP. VIII Why Jesus Christ is represented unto us in the Supper as he was on the Cross and not as he is in heaven also why hee hath not Instituted a Sacrament which should represent him in his glory as he hath ordained two which represent him dead ALL the Sacraments speak of Death As for Baptism it is said that wee are baptized in the death of Christ Rom. 6. v. 3 4. As for the Supper Wee shew thereby the Lords death 1 Cor. 11. 26. And both were Instituted when Jesus Christ was yet mortall For no Sacrament was established by Jesus Christ glorified but onely he confirmed those which he had Instituted before his death Wee know then that in the Supper Jesus Christ is exhibited unto us as dead and not as glorified Now this serves to shew the falsity of the corporeall presence for which there is so much dispute For if the body of Jesus Christ be in the Host he is not there living sith that he is in this action as dead It makes us also see the nakedness of that which is called Concomitance and of the unbloody Sacrifice For the Blood of Jesus Christ is presented unto us as separate from his body This likewise makes unprofitable the exception whereby it is maintained that a glorious body may be corporally in divers places at one and the same time For were it so the body of Jesus Christ is not exhibited unto us as glorious nor yet as living but as dead as broken and his blood as shed Let this be said by the way For Orthodox divines have made these reasons of force enough But it may be demanded why Jesus Christ is represented unto us as dead and not glorified Is it there spoken of his Death and not rather of his Resurrection Why had he rather Institute a memoriall of his ignomious humiliation than of his glorious exaltation Why have we no Sacrament which represents unto us his body glorious as we have two which represent him dead For it is very true that the consideration of his humiliation excludes not that of his exaltation on the contrary it leads us to it But properly and formally the Body of Jesus Christ is not represented nor considered in the Supper but as dead brokē This question is easie to be resolved The Sacraments are Instituted in favour of men And the end of a Sacrament is to assure us of our good and salvation So in the Supper the intention of Jesus Christ was thereby to seal and ratifie that which concerns us not that which concerns himself And for this reason he presents himself in this action inasmuch as he procured the glory of others not so much as he possesseth his own Now it is by his death that he hath procured our glory True it is that his exaltation is also our Salvation But he hath received this Glory both for us and for himself whereas his Death was wholly for us Moreover it is by vertue of his Death that his Glorification is profitable unto us For that he hath taken possession of the heavens in our name and that he intercedes for us at the right hand of God all this comes from the merit of his Blood Heb. 9. v. 12. Furthermore Jesus Christ doth give himself unto us in the Eucharist inasmuch as he was delivered up for us Luke 22 v 19 20 Now it was in his Death that he was delivered So that he gives himself unto us as Dead Finally he would leave us a remembrance of the love which he bare us Now the greatest effect wherein this love appeared was that he gave himself to Death for us It is for this cause that he represents unto us rather his Death than his Exaltation From thence it is that in the Supper although wee ought to lift our hearts up to heaven where he is now living in full Majesty nevertheless his body broken and his blood shed are the proper and formall object of our contemplation And the act of our mind consists in this that we there consider his Death past rather than his present Glory This will furnish an answer for the following question CHAP. IX Why in the Supper Jesus Christ instituted not more illustrious Signes and why they are not miraculous THere is none of us who hath not this thought when he sees that this Sacrament as well as Baptism consists in such abject matters Our eye is astonish't to see nothing more glorious The Bow in the heaven which God made Noah to see for assurance that from thence-forth there should no more an universall deluge appear The Pillar of fire and
small fault And we ought not to flatter our selves with this pernicious Maxim of the vulgar viz. wee have no need of so much knowledge But on the other side a Christian who strives to instruct himself more and more ought not to think that these omissions which he is forced to make up doe deprive him of the saving Communion of the Sacrament Not without cause doth the scripture give us to know that even the Apostles themselves when Jesus Christ gave them the Eucharist with his own hands were defiled with notable errours Luke 22. v. 24. And it is certain that we know more of the mystery of this Sacrament and understand better the grounds of this doctrine and the causes of the death of Christ Jesus than his disciples did when they were admitted to that first supper CHAP. II. Why doth not the reading of the Passion of Jesus Christ move us so much as the reading of many other histories of the Scripture WEE know that the Remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ which wee declare in the Supper ought not to be naked and idle or to remain in the Brain It must descend into the heart and stir up the affections Now there is nothing which ought to move us equally with the Passion of the son of God and the least of his anguishes ought to be more sensible unto us than those of all men together Neverthelesse if wee read that sad preparation of Abraham going to sacrifize his son or the pitifull words of Jacob when they told him that some beast had devoured Joseph or the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians yea how they handled that miserable King Zedekias wee are touched more lively and these stories will draw more teares from our eyes than the history of the suffrings of Jesus Christ And as there are tears of joy they will sooner fall from our eyes in reading how Joseph met with his brothers and of the cry which he cast forth when he made himself known unto them than in hearing of Christ comming forth of the sepulchre and the joy which his Disciples had to see him risen again Yet so it is that neither the knife which was to cut Jsaacks throat nor the bloody coat of Joseph nor the desolations and crying in the streets of Jerusalem are not to us of such importance as the suffrings of the son of God And his Resurrection is more considerable to us than the exaltation of Joseph For to resolve this question wee have divers things to consider First the suffrings of those who were but men doe easily move us because there is nothing more naturall than to have a fellow-feeling in the Calamities of those who are like us but the griefes of Jesus Christ present themselves unto us in a person which cannot be the object of any commiseration or naturall commotion For wee think of God himself suffring in form of a servant This is the reason wherefore he forbad the tears of those who bewailed him as a man whose affliction is pittied or the losse of whom is much lamented Luke 23. v. 28. Whereupon it is that the history of the Passion is not written in a pittifull and pathetick style as the Lamentations of Jeremiah or the complaint of David over Saul and Jonathan or the ulcers of Job or the sad solitude of the Jsraelites by the Rivers of Babylon For the Gospell doth not propound unto us a spectacle of human calamity but a point of higher consideration Moreover this condoling which hath place in other subjects is found either excluded or swallowed up in this here by more noble and more spirituall motions as are the horrour of our sins which have crucified the Prince of glory the terrour of that dreadfull severity which God hath displayed upon his own Son the admiration of his incomparable wisedome who could joyn his Mercy with his Justice the unspeakable joy of salvation which is derived from thence unto us and the ardent Love which wee bear towards the Father who hath given his Son and towards the Son who hath given himself to death for us For these are the true resentments which wee ought to have of the suffrings of Jesus Christ Now the subject of the spirituall resentments is not naturally perceptible of our affections but is a stranger unto them Therefore it is that they are not moved towards it but as they are drawn unto it by the finger of God And even this is the cause they are not carried thither with so full a vigour and so much readiness as towards those objects whereto they are enclineable of themselves Moreover the spirituall affections although they are strong and vehement are not so easy to be moved and to be felt For forasmuch as they lodge as it were in the center of the Soul they are far from the sensitive faculty which is the source of tears so that they come not thither so soon nor so easily That which I have yet to say belongs to the question following CHAP. III. From whence comes it that the Superstitious are sometimes more moved with the Death of Jesus Christ than true Christians WEE see sometimes Idolaters who having but very little understanding in the mysteries of redemption will weep at the reciting of the Passion of Jesus Christ And neverthelesse a well-instructed Christian and who prizes the Suffrings of his Saviour a great deal more than they that are ignorant will very hardly be moved with it This difference proceeds hence that the Superstitious have before their faces the Passion of Jesus Christ as a tragicall accident which doth easily touch those hearts that are endued with any humanity But the Christian contemplates it with another eye than that wherewith we regard the Calamities of other men The one brings thereunto an humane Commiseration which tears doe naturally follow But the other finds there the subject of many spirituall affections whereof our heart is not so easily susceptible because they proceed not from flesh and blood And the means of framing them to it consist rather in instructions and doctrines whereby wee must handle this matter than in the oratoricall representations of those who reduce it into a Tragedy Moreover it is not an assured proof that he bears most Love towards Jesus Christ that shal have shed most tears for him For oftentimes they proceed as soon frō a tender-heartednes which is more naturall to some than others as from the abundance of piety Many who never wept for the love of Christ nevertheless suffered Martyrdome for the love of him Such a one could not give him so much as one Tear who gave him all his Blood CHAP. IV. Off the vehemency of the thoughts and of the attention required in the action of the Communion And of the weaknesse of the humane spirit herein I doe not here refute those who for want of well understanding our Doctrine think that the spirituall Communion of the Body or Christ consists onely in thought of imagination
we could object unto them the Souls which they believe to be in Purgatory which according to the saying of the Roman Church enjoy the Communion of Christ and so of his Flesh and Blood A Communion which cannot be otherwise than in spirit For these Souls have neither mouth nor stomack Neither doe I content my self with that which is alleged for proof of the true Communion that sometimes some have fallen into an Extasy in the receiving their host through admiration of pretended wonders which they there presuppose Such Enthusiasmes are neither sufficient nor necessary for the Communion of the Body of Christ For although it be supernaturall yet notwithstanding it is not done by a miraculous transport nor by a motion so vehement as that of the Prophets when they were ravished in Spirit untill they had even lost their sence and remained unmoveable all the functions of the soul except in those of the Intellect being at that time in their intermission Nevertheless we know that a Christian ought to bring the most strong and vehement thoughts that he is able to so high a mystery All other cogitations ought to be suspended all other objects excluded But it comes to pass often that a Christian after having duly prepared himself for the Holy Supper will find himself all on the sudden and unawares surprised with doubts and scruples at the same moment when he receives the Eucharist I omit the inadvertencies the extravagancies and the enormous thoughts which overtake men in this action These phantasms possess the place which ought to be reserved entire for Jesus Christ and although men strive to drive them away it is nevertheless impossible for them This shews that a human spirit is not Master of it self sith that it cannot stop its own thoughts and that they depend not on his will Now although they are not voluntary nevertheless sith that they are ours and that they cross the attention which is due to an action of so great importance they offend the dignity of the body of Christ And in this also is seen the infirmity of man who sins even against the Sacrifice which brings him the remission of his sins But if he condemn these evill cogitations if he strive to scare them as Abraham did the Birds of prey which came to devour his Sacrifice although notwithstanding this they intervene in the instant and at the very act of the eating of the Sacrament Jesus Christ will not refuse to lodge in the soul of this weak Christian For he who is dead for our transgressions hath also expiated those which we commit even in applying this expiation unto our selves CHAP. V. That the act of the Communion consisteth not in mourning for the death of Christ but rather in joy and contentment of Spirit THere is no need of disputing whether the faithfull who lived before the passion of Jesus Christ had reason to be perplexed not knowing whether they ought to wish that the Son might suffer death or rather desire with St. Peter that this might not happen unto him They were invited to the one for the Love of their Salvation and to the other as it seems for the Love of their Saviour Our Lord decided this question both before his death by that sharp censure which he made of it to his Disciples and afterwards when he alleged the Oracles importing that Jesus Christ must suffer to the end he might enter into his glory But it may be demanded whether the Holy Supper be an action of joy or rather of sadness Certainly the death of Jesus Christ wherein we declare the horrible anguishes of his Soul the strokes of that holy Body broken with griefs the effusion of that innocent blood which we there consider as if it were powred forth before our eyes are a subiect of Sadness unto us And that for asmuch more as acknowledging our selves to be the cause of his sufferings we cannot but be touched with regrete that we have procured them Now these resentments seem to exclude from our minds all manner of Joy in the act of the Communion The Law forbade the putting of incense and oyl which is the Symbol of Joy upon the Flesh sacrificed for sins And the Jews at this day observe so precisely that which heretofore was enjoyned them in the feast of expiations viz. to afflict their souls that on all that day they refrain from reading even any passage of Scripture which contains any matter of joy as the comming forth out of Egypt the Conquest of Canaan c. On the contrary their reading is of nothing but sorrowfull things as are the destruction of Jerusalem the cursings of the Law and such like points But omitting that which might be said of this Superstition there is none who knows not that the Eucharist is an acknowledgement of a benefit which is offered unto us in this action which we cannot receive but with joy Also this Sacrament is instituted for our consolation True it is we ought to come unto it with sadness for the Reasons above said That is a necessary fore runner But the proper act wherein lyes the Communion or reception of the Body of Christ consists not in that but in the joy and contentment which our Soul receives in that Jesus Christ hath given himself for it The Superstitious deceive themselves who believe that the Commemoration of his death consists onely in much mourning For in the Eucharist Jesus Christ is not simply propounded unto us as dead but as dead for us To the end that as his death is our life so it should be also our joy CHAP. VI. Of an advantage which we have above those of the Church of Rome in the instruction required for the Communion and of the distinctions which the Orthodox observe in this matter of the Sacrament A Roman Catholick hath need of a great deal more time to learn his Religion than one that is Orthodox hath to understand his Let a man behold a volume wherin is comprised the whole Roman Religion as the Doctors thereof have reduced their Divinity into one Body he shall see that it much surpasseth the ordinary bulk of those wherein ours is contained For I speak not here of writings of Controversy sith that Faith consists not in the Negative of Errors but in the Affirmative of Truths It is to be understood of positive Divinity whose extent if it be compared with that of our adversaries theirs wil be found much more vast and swelling than ours Their Religion is composed of a greater number of articles For they have many which our Theology doth not acknowledge and in those which are common to us both they have heaped up a number of matters which also our Religion nullifies Briefly the Roman Theology contains almost all our Affirmative but over and above that which it professeth to acknowledge with us it hath its own additions From thence it comes that that is more prolix than ours This is seen above all in